Sunday, 21 October 2012
Entrepreneurs & Calculated Risks
Entrepreneurs & Calculated Risk
- Entrepreneurs take calculated risks by seeing the upside that could come from any business situation.
- They stack the cards in their favor by calculating the potential for profit vs. the potential for loss.
- Most people see risk as a negative thing whilst entrepreneurs see opportunity.
"Calculated
Risk Taking" is one of the skills we should describe entrepreneurs as having.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
What is a "Repeat Purchase?"
As some will know (Mrs Oates included...) I have a bit of a gaming hobby. Anything from Guild wars 2, Skyrim and The Witcher 2 to FPS' like Call of duty, Fear 3 and a bit of Borderlands2. The question is why do I often buy games which come from the same series? My wife of course seems to think that surely if you have played one game they are all the same right? Hmmm not quite...
Games are like books, each with a story-line to follow (of varying degrees of quality) and characters to immerse yourself with. So in a way these games developers have developed a great deal of customer loyalty with me and convinced me to make purchases of their products each time they come out with newer versions. However, some of my games are played on the XBOX platform and as such to play online I have to purchase a gold membership annually. My wife of course thinks this is a waste of money... You, I hope, will explain to her why this is not the case!
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/359067/xbox-live-membership-jumps-15-per-cent-in-single-year/
My Question is as follows: Identify what is meant by a repeat purchase and Assess the reasons why XBOX Live has so many repeat purchases year on year whilst PS3 has a free online gaming option.
Games are like books, each with a story-line to follow (of varying degrees of quality) and characters to immerse yourself with. So in a way these games developers have developed a great deal of customer loyalty with me and convinced me to make purchases of their products each time they come out with newer versions. However, some of my games are played on the XBOX platform and as such to play online I have to purchase a gold membership annually. My wife of course thinks this is a waste of money... You, I hope, will explain to her why this is not the case!
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/359067/xbox-live-membership-jumps-15-per-cent-in-single-year/
My Question is as follows: Identify what is meant by a repeat purchase and Assess the reasons why XBOX Live has so many repeat purchases year on year whilst PS3 has a free online gaming option.
A lesson on "Product Trials"
I challenged by my business students to choose from a set of 6 topics to teach the class leaving me one to cover. I was hoping for Market Mapping simply because I have a pretty good lesson on this already. However, I got left with the above so here goes I guess...
Product Trials
Consider the above trial shown on the BBC website here. It is quite straight forward to Identify what a product trial is so start by giving me a quick definition.
Now Apply your understanding of product trials and Analyse the advantages Facebook will have gained by conducting a product trial before rolling out their new mobile as system.
However, this sort of product trial is not without its pitfalls... Explain what you think the possible negatives of this product trial could be and then Judge whether you feel that Facebook should have gone ahead with the trial in the first place.
Post your answer in the comments below and write in how many marks you think out of 8 you think your answer is worth.
Product Trials
Consider the above trial shown on the BBC website here. It is quite straight forward to Identify what a product trial is so start by giving me a quick definition.
Now Apply your understanding of product trials and Analyse the advantages Facebook will have gained by conducting a product trial before rolling out their new mobile as system.
However, this sort of product trial is not without its pitfalls... Explain what you think the possible negatives of this product trial could be and then Judge whether you feel that Facebook should have gone ahead with the trial in the first place.
Post your answer in the comments below and write in how many marks you think out of 8 you think your answer is worth.
Competitive Advantage
One of my Business Students had a go at explaining competitive advantage using this Tutor2U article
This is a really good article explaining some ways in which firms can gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, what I think is important to point out to students is that Competitive Advantage does not need to be overly complicated. Different firms find different ways to create a competitive advantage. It is sometimes easier to consider it with the use of the 4P's.
You could adopt different Pricing strategies to open up an advantage to your competitors. Price leadership would require economies of scale but that is not the only pricing strategy you could use to have an advantage over your competitors. You also don't have to be the cheapest in an entire country, could you not simply be the cheapest most convenient supplier to your customer base?
Firms don't have to be the biggest, if they can find a USP as this business has managed to find. Are Apple Macbooks and tablets popular because they are the best? I cant stand Macbooks but the article here suggest they are quite reliable. Shame they struggle to connect to our school internet depending on which way the wind blows...
Years ago another firm brought out an innovative product in 2001... A tablet PC with the CEO claiming "This will be the most popular computer bought in america within 5 years..." That CEO was Bill Gates and business was the mighty Microsoft. Why did that product fail when 10 years later Apple bring out pretty much the same thing but it succeeds? Apple has a massive competitive advantage as it stands but why is this? Is it their product? Is it the brand? As with everything Apple seems to defy the odds and come out on top! Microsoft have a history of doing this to their competitors which is why they are so big which makes it all the stranger.
Some other ideas about competitive can be found in the below article... 37 in fact!
http://www.smarta.com/advice/business-planning/market-research/37-ways-to-beat-your-competitors
What about R&D being a means to creating competitive advantage?
http://paidcontent.org/2011/08/30/419-samsung-investing-a-small-fortune-in-rd-will-webos-be-included-in-that/
This is a really good article explaining some ways in which firms can gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, what I think is important to point out to students is that Competitive Advantage does not need to be overly complicated. Different firms find different ways to create a competitive advantage. It is sometimes easier to consider it with the use of the 4P's.
You could adopt different Pricing strategies to open up an advantage to your competitors. Price leadership would require economies of scale but that is not the only pricing strategy you could use to have an advantage over your competitors. You also don't have to be the cheapest in an entire country, could you not simply be the cheapest most convenient supplier to your customer base?
Firms don't have to be the biggest, if they can find a USP as this business has managed to find. Are Apple Macbooks and tablets popular because they are the best? I cant stand Macbooks but the article here suggest they are quite reliable. Shame they struggle to connect to our school internet depending on which way the wind blows...
Years ago another firm brought out an innovative product in 2001... A tablet PC with the CEO claiming "This will be the most popular computer bought in america within 5 years..." That CEO was Bill Gates and business was the mighty Microsoft. Why did that product fail when 10 years later Apple bring out pretty much the same thing but it succeeds? Apple has a massive competitive advantage as it stands but why is this? Is it their product? Is it the brand? As with everything Apple seems to defy the odds and come out on top! Microsoft have a history of doing this to their competitors which is why they are so big which makes it all the stranger.
Some other ideas about competitive can be found in the below article... 37 in fact!
http://www.smarta.com/advice/business-planning/market-research/37-ways-to-beat-your-competitors
What about R&D being a means to creating competitive advantage?
http://paidcontent.org/2011/08/30/419-samsung-investing-a-small-fortune-in-rd-will-webos-be-included-in-that/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)