Sydney Ren's Blog

This post is a response to Dylan’s post about the potential security concerns of UrtheCast.

UrtheCast, created by Sauder alumni Wade Larson and his brother, will be the first streaming HD video camera installed on the International Space Station (ISS); it is also a platform that allows users to playback the video. Larson has termed UrtheCast to be “like Google Earth, but better”. There is also a function that allows users to also see in realtime social media interactions from sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Dylan argues that this social media layer is an invasion of privacy, which I disagree with. The posts that UrtheCast shows are ones that social meda users have placed on a “public” setting. By having public settings, users already acknowledged that their posts can be seen by anyone with an internet connection. If one’s Twitter is private to followers or Facebook has higher security settings, that person’s posts will not show on the site in realtime.

I agree with Dylan that this social media layer will be off-putting to the general public. People with higher security settings will still feel unsafe about their information floating around the internet, and may dislike UrtheCast because of it. I sincerely hope they don’t, though, because UrtheCast is amazing and I can’t wait to see it take off.

This past weekend, I received a phone call from a cousin that lives in China. We ended up talking about her small business and online shopping. She revealed to me that eBay would be returning to China to sell designer goods. I guess eBay couldn’t resist the tempting Chinese market of 500+ million online users. A search on Google results in this article by the BBC, boasting a “40% […] increase of goods” purchased by the Chinese on eBay’s English site.

Despite the large potential, I believe there are problems that eBay faces in re-entering the Chinese market.

• Five years ago, when eBay faced competition by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao.com, the company, which already had trouble gaining popularity in Asia, fled China – fast. The Chinese haven’t forgotten this massive failure.

• Other e-commerce giants, like Amazon.com Inc., had a difficult time penetrating the Chinese market, even with designer goods and a well-known brand. eBay will need some serious product differentiation from other online retailers if it wants to stay in the game. It doesn’t help that the new site’s name is ebay.xiu.com, forcing eBay to share the spotlight.

• If incumbent Chinese online retailers somehow manage to sell designer goods in the near future, eBay will lose majorly. The young, wealthy middle class people that shop online want designer goods, but they want them fast. Shipping will take at least 7 business days since the goods are sourced from the US. Most of my family members in China that shop online still prefer Chinese sites like Taobao.com.

Sauder alumni and Energy Aware CEO Janice Cheam’s recent presentation to our class gave me a lot to ponder about.

During the final Q&A portion of the talk, classmate David Kelly asked whether Energy Aware’s products could be bought directly by the consumer. Cheam responded that the company’s products are not sold directly and it has only recently started one e-commerce site that caters to San Diego, California. Since Energy Aware’s products require the locations to have prior infrastructure of smart metering, it is easier for them to provide their products to a larger audience through partnerships with energy management services and distributors.

In addition, Cheam mentioned after class during our quick conversation that the PowerTab is not patented because it costs serious cash (and cashflow is hard to maintain in entrepreneurial businesses) and the software for the product is constantly evolving, rendering a patent useless. These two choices reinforces the strategic concept that companies must choose what they don’t provide in order to establish a sustainable competitive advantage over competitors.

Also, while I don’t think of myself as an entrepreneurial thinker, Cheam’s talk prompted a fuller comprehension on how fundamental innovative thinking is to any specialization or industry. PowerTab was developed through a collaboration of engineering and business students, specializing in different fields; however, all shared the same passion for an innovative product. Innovative thinking, especially the collaborative type, is a skill that can take one far in the workplace.

This question was asked during class this week: should Greece exit the EU?

I say no. Greece shouldn’t exit simply because this action would worsen their current economical and financial problems. Greece’s debt does not simply disappear if it leaves the EU – and boiling tensions between Greeks and Germans show that is unlikely that countries like Germany and France will “absorb” Greece’s debt. In addition, if Greece exits, it will have to return to using its older currency, which most likely has lower value than the euro. So what should Greece do, given that it should stay in the EU?

The bailouts that the IMF and EU gave Greece have been put towards narrowly-passed austerity reforms, several of which are starting to see success. There are at least two areas where change has been too slow. The privatisation of state-owned enterprises, which hopes to attract foreign investment and replenish state funds, will be difficult to attain since few investors see Greece as a secure investment. The second area that needs major work is tax reform. Greece is infamous for tax evasion, among citizens and businesses alike. If Greece doesn’t restructure it’s tax systems, the inefficiencies will continue and Greece will continue to lose public revenue.