Sydney Ren's Blog

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.

The story of Avison Young illustrates how crucial a strong business strategy is in a rising company. In less than five years, the company revamped its vision to expand beyond Canada into the States and is already competing alongside international real estate giants.

In last week’s class about business plans and strategies, the concept of sustainable competitive advantage was introduced. Basically, it is an advantage that the company gains when it runs a combination of activities differently relative to competitors. Avison has a sustainable competitive advantage because…

• It is independently owned, not publicly traded or owned by a strong shareholders
• It focuses on the longterm (clients’ needs) over the short term (shareholders’ interest in profit)
• It carefully targets its markets, choosing cities in the US by analyzing their recovery from the recession
• As a new player, the company can enter markets cheaply

Overall, Avison has a clear mission, vision, and objectives with short term implementations that lead to long term approaches at strategy. In addition, it has BGHAGs to compete with large firms like CBRE and Colliers International with a relatively small brand image.

As an interesting thought, would Avison have had as much success if a Canadian CEO had taken over instead of an American one? Is Avison’s combination of Canadian roots with an American CEO confusing to consumers?