This is a short video that introduces what a “coin” is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Sx34swEG0#t=48

Coin is designed to be a universal card holder that has all  your cards in one- including credit cards, gift cards, membership cards, loyalty cards and any card that can be swiped. (The Coin app can hold unlimited cards, but the actual coin can only hold up to 8 cards.)

With the size of a standard credit card, Coin holds a point of difference in having an interface that lets one cycle through his or hers stored cards, which ultimately solves the problem of a fat wallet. “A small screen displays your name, expiration dates, card security codes, and anything else a merchant needs to verify the transaction, with the exception of a signature,” describes the Bloomberg Businessweek. On top of that, this innovative technology has a lifespan of 2 years and is said to be waterproof.

Personally,  I see Coin as an opportunity for the future, yet there are quite a few issues surrounding it. For example, Coin is only limited to American users as of now, plus there are high risks involved where coin may be rejected by credit card issuers/ network, or ,even worse, the customers who remain dubious on this novel concept.

Sources:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-15/a-startup-thats-building-a-universal-credit-card

http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/17/technology/innovation/coin-startup-credit-card/

For more information on Coin, please see https://onlycoin.com/support/faq/

Bitcoin, a digital currency that is not controlled by any central authority, has been growing in popularity lately. The idea of this so-called “cryptocurrency” first came from the financial crisis of 2008 and was later introduced on Janurary 3rd of 2009. Just last month,  the world’s first Bitcoin ATM went live in Vancouver.

Michael Bliss ,the co-founder of Bitcoin Ltd, calls it the “Money of the future” and describes it as “A money that could only be brought to existence at a predictable rate” in an interview. The anonymity serves as a benefit to protect users while transactions and exchanges are made. In addition, the low fees in payment processing also poses a competitive advantage for the company. The main weakness now for Bitcoin, however, is to gain acceptance. Because there are still people such as Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, who is “weighing in on the hearing, saying that it has no plans to regulate the currency.”

Despite the fact that some are still skeptical about the stability and viability of Bitcoins, many sides with Michael Bliss who sees it as an opportunity, including The Department of Justice and Securities of US.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/world-s-first-bitcoin-atm-goes-live-in-vancouver-tuesday-1.2251820

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-18/u-s-agencies-to-say-bitcoins-offer-legitimate-benefits.html

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/11/12/bitcoin_entrepreneurs_want_to_put_virtual_coins_in_your_wallet.html

LollaCup, an innovative infant/toddler straw sippy cups that are BPA-free, has recently gone famous after an episode on Shark tank in April 2012. Their value proposition of targeting infants and toddlers with a point of difference on health issues made them extremely popular. Yet, this popularity also caused an issue in the supply chain.

Originally, the packing and shipping of products ordered online was done by the owners of Lollacup, Hanna and Mark Lim, in their own living room. But as the order increased significantly after their appearance on TV, they decided that something has to change. Ultimately, the owners decided to “outsource their orders to a third-party logistics provider, known in the business as a 3PL, in exchange for a percentage of revenue.” Quoting Ms. Lim saying that, “We’re probably going to save about $50,000 this year doing it this way,” and that “Once we went the 3PL route, it could have been easy to say, O.K., that’s done. But instead we kept questioning and evaluating. We still are.”

This is a great opportunity for their business to develop and grow. Since Lollacup’s target market is internationally ranged, it is a good idea that they update their supply chain and produce a faster way of packaging and shipping.

Sources:

http://lollaland.com/whats_lollacup.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/business/smallbusiness/selling-on-the-web-and-seeking-reliable-shipping.html?ref=smallbusiness

Children’s health: http://children.webmd.com/news/20080212/so-long-sippy-cups-hello-straws

In one of the lectures, the professors posed an interesting clicker question that made me think: What will I be doing after I graduate? The answer I chose was “C”- I want to raise millions of dollars to start my own company.

Yet after reflecting upon my original answer, I would argue that my answer should be a combination of A, B and C. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, experience is required. Nolan Watson, the Sauder graduate who later on became the CEO of Sandstorm Gold Company, told us during the skype call that he worked with a CEO for a large corporation in order to gain experience before becoming the CEO himself. Another quality of an entrepreneur is the ability of being innovative. Wade Larson, another Sauder graduate who started up Urthecast, showed us their company’s innovative idea that seeks to film earth from high definition cameras located in space and streams footage directly to the web.

Both of them demonstrates the fact that success is not build in a day, and that all startups are risky and requires innovation- but in the end, that is also what entrepreneurship is all about.

Links to class slides: https://connect.ubc.ca/bbcswebdav/pid-1463077-dt-content-rid-5089333_1/courses/SIS.UBC.COMM.101.101.2013W1.17404/SIS.UBC.COMM.101.101.2013W1/Lecture%20Slides/Lecture%2020.pdf

https://connect.ubc.ca/bbcswebdav/pid-1463065-dt-content-rid-5089344_1/courses/SIS.UBC.COMM.101.101.2013W1.17404/SIS.UBC.COMM.101.101.2013W1/Lecture%20Slides/Lecture%208.pdf

This blog post makes reference to Peony Au’s Blogpost “Is Money the Best Motivator?” 

In both of my Comm101 and Comm292 classes, we have learnt about motivation and how it effects an employees’ behavior. Out of all the motivational theory, McClelland’s Need Theory states that three main needs have to be fulfilled in order to motivate a person: the need for achievement, the need for power and the need for affiliation. In Peony’s blog, she states that intrinsic motivators(ie. creating a sense of autonomy) are more effective than extrinsic motivators (ie. Paying them more money). I too believe that is true because extrinsic motivators, such as giving a higher pay, may motivate the employees in the short term, but not necessarily in the long term. Instead, of giving out money, companies should create long term solutions that will motivate their employees such as fostering a sense of community and shared goals.

Relating this topic back to the video we’ve watched in class- Zappos, an online shoe and clothing website, successfully uses intrinsic motivators to keep their employees motivated rather than giving them higher pay for performing well each and every single time. This then generates a long term solution and results in the company in having low turnover rates and high employee performance within their workplace.

References:

http://blog.clarity.fm/how-money-can-hurt-employee-motivation

http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225041

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/three-things-that-actually-motivate-employees/e

In Jake B’s blog “Nike’s Big Mistake,” he mentioned that it is a terrible mistake for Nike to have their second generation of fitness tracker: FuelBand SE to only support  iOS (Apple) users, seeing the fact that 80% of the global market mobile platform is Android. Jake also mentioned that relating to the things we have learnt in COMM101, this would be regarded as an operation problem in their business model.

However, I don’t entirely agree with him. I believe that there are both pros and cons in making Nike’s FuelBrand SE only available on iOS platforms. Although it does limit the number of people using fitness tracker, their target market is quite narrow to being with. Like Nike stated, “iOS users are typically consumers that are more affluent. While there are a fair number of high-end Android phones, including the HTC One or Galaxy Galaxy S4, there are also many more low-end devices purchased by consumers who may not necessarily spring $149 for a band that tracks your movement.” In addition, since Nike has such a strong brand positioning that it gained great customer loyalty over the years, they won’t loose the majority of their customers just because they subjected to only iOS platform devices.

Sources:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57607611-94/nikes-no-android-stance-on-fuelband-is-a-huge-mistake/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24538852