Small business owners already hit by shutdown

Small business owners already hit by shutdown. -October. 4, 2013

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney),”The government shutdown has already caused some small businesses to lose work and money, according to a new CNNMoney/Thumbtack.com survey.”

     “General contractors are finding that they’re booking fewer jobs, and janitorial companies have lost contracts in federal buildings,” said Sander Daniels, co-founder of Thumbtack.com.

    Government roles a very important character in business chain. Any decision made by it may effectively change the business market. In this case, small business like photographers, caterers and DJs lose some job opportunities. In other case, it may directly impact the growth of a industry. Managers should be aware that market was influenced by variable elements. It is not possible to make everyone satisfied, so recognize the order of priority before making a decision.

Oops! BlackBerry even worse off than it thought. -October. 2, 2013

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

“More bad news for BlackBerry. The smartphone company said Wednesday that its business is in even worse shape than what it reported just a few weeks ago.”

BlackBerry is facing a lot of problems these days. BlackBerry announced a $965 million quarterly loss, which included a $934 million stockpile. And it’s going to cost them $400 million, which is four times of what they expect, to lay off employees in the end of the year. Also they are still keep losing customers in their key market.

The problem of BlackBerry is that they did not follow the trend in the market. They strongly keep their original product conceptual design while other companies actively investigate about what their customers are looking for and making changes according to market condition. BlackBerry said it is negotiating with Fairfax Financial, a Canadian insurance company, to be taken private. About BalckBerry’s future the only thing we know is if BlackBerry is going to improve their products by clear understanding of the market and their targets, they will be saved.

                        Company jet too pricey? Rent one by the hour

 VistaJet hopes to shake up the U.S private jet market. – Oct.7,2013

One main selling points of VistaJet, an European-based private jet airline, is its plane-for-rent business model, which allows customers rent private jet by the hour. That’s different from most other U.S.-based private jet companies, which require flyers to buy or to share an aircraft with others.

“Coming out of the financial crisis, people realize that an investment in an aircraft is not necessarily the right investment,” Flohr told CNNMoney. “A much better solution is to [approach flying] as a service.”

This is a great example of creating market differentiation. Exploring international market is challengeable but this time VistaJet found out a new area where they can utilize as a stepping stone. Their new business model attracted medias and spread informations to their potential customers. They also gave clients a specific reason for choosing them instead of USA companies. Making a difference with competitors is efficient for both competition and propaganda.