Category: comm101-3

At the thought of blogging about entrepreneurship, I figured who is better to blog about than someone my age.

Brian Wong, a nineteen year-old fellow Sauderite, is working on launching a new mobile gaming-ad start-up named Kiip, which raised $300,000 in funding

Kiip exhibits many entrepreneurial qualities. To illustrate this, I will compare Kiip to a fictional small convenience store.

High Aptitude to Pioneer Change and High Risk
Kiip distinguishes itself by not focusing on the virtual goods model, despite an 80% increase in the overall sales of virtual goods in games, reported earlier this year by Flurry Analytics. While the freshly appealing operation concept of Kiip’s may attract attention, it is highly risky considering the growing trend in virtual gaming goods.

On the other hand, a small convenience store is not radical at all, does not press for change and endures lower risks

Speed and Amount of Wealth Creation
As if Oct 29th 2010, Kiip, with a funding of $300,000, has reported five game publisher partnerships and 2 million monthly active users.

A local convenience store would probably require sometime to gain a customer-base as it takes word of mouth and actual visits for the store to be remembered.

Innovation
A convenience store would probably follow a predictable style and format of operation whereas Kiip has a high innovation to revolutionize the way game developers profit from in-game ads.

As for its method, we can only wait and see until it officially launches.

Cisco Systems Inc. recently unveiled the “Umi,” a device which provides internet video calls through home television. The Umi retails at $599, with a monthly broadband fee sitting at $24.99 for its use.

In regards to what we’ve seen in Comm101, is this a strategy or a tactic?

The launch of such a device seems to be intended as a strategy, but it will only function as a tactic for Cisco Systems Inc. I think Umi is a plan to create a short-term effect to put an increased load on networks. Whereas their strategy is to, in turn, drive up a long-term demand for Cisco’s core products: network routers and switches.

It is really doubtful that the Umi, sitting at its current price plus monthly charges, will have a long lasting effect on consumers. Programs such as Skype, that offer video calling for free, are simply better and more accessible substitutes. As we’ve seen in class in Comm101, Blockbuster has reached Chapter 11 due to the accessibility of free movies online. Both situations could be examined with one of Porter’s Five Forces of Rivalry, the Threat of Substitutes. Therefore, the Umi will only be as good as a tactic in terms of having an impactful effect——creating a short-lived hype and would not be able to encourage people afford such a service on a long-term basis when they can have it for free.

Source/Reference:
FP Tech Desk: Cisco brings HD video calling to the living room – Financial Post

It is evident that Apple is the dominant leader in hand-held technology with iPhones, iPods, iPads, the list goes on. The iProducts are so successful and popular it almost seems as if it has its own industry. Remind you of Kleenex, anyone?

Let’s examine this the iProducts industry with Porter’s Five Forces and try to find out just why it’s so strong.

Apple iProducts has minimal threat of substitutes simply due its irreplaceable innovation. There are too many functions beloved by hand-held users that are only offered by Apple, everything from apps, stylish design to multi-touch user-friendly interface. Thus buyers have little power because they can only get these from Apple.

People have low buyer power since Apple sells their iProducts exclusively at the Apply store. Unlike say, Toshiba sells cameras in Futureshop. So buyers have no choice but to purchase from one single designation.

There is tremendous barriers to entry. The technology rights for one, next is design, then it’s functionality such as apps and so forth. Not to mention Apple’s brand itself. Its strong brand is well-know for simplicity in design, powerful functionality, and reputation for quality. It has recently surpassed Microsoft as the most valued technology company just this May.

There is simply no rivalry, no one can offer what Apple can technology-wise.

CONCLUSION: this industry is not attractive to new-entrants, perhaps it never will.

It looks like not much will change in the demand for Apple products before any matchable rivals arise. By the way, this blog entry was written from a MacBook Pro (just so happens I own an iPod Touch too).

When we were introduced to the topic of finance in Comm101, I felt tiny and lost in a gigantic and unfamiliar world.

I think the gist of finance is – analysis of the general flow of huge sums of money. And what’s more huge than the monetary relationship between the US and China for the world at large? Not much, so i decided to blog about it.

Perhaps it’s an understatement when I say the US economy is declining due to hefty debt, causing its steady currency drop (Globe and Mail). Not too long ago, China, along with many other nations such as Japan and the UK, began buying portions of US’ debt (aka Treasury Bonds). And by May of 2010, the US owns China $867.7 billion, Hong Kong 145.7$billion, and Taiwan $126.2 billion.

Not sure about you, but these sound like Legacy Costs to me, a term we were introduced to in Comm101, which are costs
 associated
 with 
“deals”
 that
 were 
made 
in
 the present 
which
 create
 a 
liability
 for 
the
 future.


However, on China’s part, I feel it is an investment. According to Comm101, an investment consists of assigning some of the current wealth to the counter party in the investment contract (China lending money to the US), in return, you receive future payments that may be safe or risky (US paying back the loan plus interest).

All figures and terminology aside, the thing that grabbed my attention was that China now earns more than $50 billion a year in interest (The New York Times) from the United States.

The primary purpose of some investments is to transfer wealth across time.
And I think China does this in a BIG way. As far as I know, an investment of this scale, in terms of both rewards and risk, has never been attempted before.

As seen in Comm101, the most important characteristic of an investment to understand is its return. And Wen Jiabo, Premier of China expresses his thoughts in an interview with CNN, “We believe that the US is a credible country. Particularly at such difficult times, china has reached out to the US and actually we believe such a helping hand will help to stabilize the entire global economy and finance and prevent an major chaos from occurring in the global economic and financial system, I believe now cooperation is everything.”

As we’ve seen in Comm101, Social Media is extremely important in today’s business world, where the flow of information is key to any firm’s success.

First, let’s distinguish the difference between social media and media. In media, information flow is one-way. However, in social media, the flow of information is two-way, interactive, thus making it ‘social.’

The reason why social media is so powerful is because the information shared is diversified. Not only do you have the brand/marketer trying to establish an image, you also have consumers on the other end either resonating or dishing out the dirt. Thus the result from this combination is more authentic, raw, and unpretentious.

This new authentic way of sharing information goes completely against the conventional ways of advertising where the information flow was only one-way. Though the connection might be hard to spot, a parallel can be drawn between this phenomenon and the emerging blogging freedom in China. Han Han, an immensely popular Chinese blogger who was recently voted as TIME’s 100 Most Influential People says in an interview with CNN: “[the government] thought the internet was just like any other form of media. You can simply control and regulate the websites to show what they chose, but they forgot that people not only have a computer monitor, they also have a keyboard.”

Likewise, when using social media to advertise, one has to consider the fact that the audience on the receiving end now has a voice to respond back. And while this very interaction is very powerful to spread information, it should be considered that it simply cannot be controlled by the initiated-end like it was in the conventional media.

References/Citation

Although the concept of opportunity cost is a fundamental one in Econ101, I’ve actually first heard the term from Comm101.

I’ve been, and still is, a heavy procrastination addict. I’ve been trying pin-point its source for years, and recently I had a interesting observation.

I was sitting on the bus one day, and I started reading my OB textbook after thinking, ‘I should be doing some school work because I have nothing better to do.’ That’s when it hit me, the opportunity cost of reading a textbook on the bus is zero because I had nothing else better to do. Whereas at home, the opportunity cost of reading a boring text book is doing something more interesting. That is why I procrastinate and don’t do work until the opportunity cost of slacking off, which is suffering later, gets too high.

Does this cure my procrastination? No. But at least now I can think of procrastination on a different level and know that it is perfectly economically rational to procrastinate, it’s just a matter of how much you value its opportunity cost.

By the 21st of September, the last day to drop any course without a W standing, a bunch of my friends had either dropped or considered dropping Comm101:Business Fundamentals. And from hearing opinions here and there, the general reason was due to an unclear sense of what was to be learned. However, here are my thoughts.

I think the point of the course is exposure, rather than mastery of every aspect in business. Speaking for myself, as a fresh high school graduate, I need a source that provides me with exposure and insight to the business world, especially when I am completing a business degree. So in this regard, I don’t think it makes sense to withdraw from such a business course, particularly one that is designed and tailored specifically towards Sauderites. Look at it this way, transfer-hopefuls from other faculties can take Econ and Math this year, but they don’t have the opportunity to take specific commerce courses available in first year such as Comm101, so why take something that’s handed to you for granted?

In addition, every upper-year student I’ve talked to said they found the course really beneficial. And the fact that the course got promoted to a regular course this year from being a trial course last year shows that it was a successful and well-received course with enough support. Sure, the assignments, blogging, and tweeting can be tediously hard at times, but which course isn’t? Furthermore, I personally feel this is a more practical and relevant way to learn about the functionality of the business world than writing exams. Besides, in which other courses can you say “I get to use twitter for this course because its required.”

I feel the exposure and the learning outcomes we get from this course are worth the teeth-clenching required to pull through the undesired assignments and homework.

lastly, I would like to conclude this entry with a quote for consideration:
“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”
– Aristotle