TEAM:
This past week we focused on competition. We need to find as much information on our competition as possible. This is because within the next week we are going to contacting them, hopefully to find out some more information about distribution, margins, potential threats, etc... It was a lot of the due diligence that needed to get done in order for us to objectively classify the size, and dynamics of the market.
PERSONAL PROJECT:
Since we are about half way through the semester, i have looked at the projects that i have completed, the progress that i have made in both visual basic and in the visual presentation functions of excel. i am quite excited and happy with the skills that i have gained and the progress that i have made throughout this semester. i also looked at what i have planned over the next half and tweaked a few things so that my learning is more productive. this week was good, i felt great about the skills i worked on this week, in excel i focused on how to get the three dimensional graphs to visually be effective across various types of inputs and when used for different information. visual basic was about formulas, it takes longer than i though, or i just dont understand enough about writing pre-made formulas. i am trying to get them to work but i didn't get as many done as i thought i would, i am going to work on that next week.
CLASS:
in review of the Apple case, i think it was important how we delved more into what aspects add value to the company, if by getting rid of Steve Jobs they will lose their innovative persona.
TEAM:
This week we broke down our assignments to do some competitive analysis for the chemicals that we are dealing with as main products for NIFUT. i was given the product SF4 which i found to be used in the pharmaceuticals industry. i started contacting companies that might be able to give some information on what they use it for and various standard non-invasive questions. i might be able to this week hear back from Pfizer and make some head way with the chemical.
PERSONAL PROJECT:
everything is good. i am back on schedule and making progress with my projects. i was able to overcome and understand where i was having issues previously. now i am back on my schedule with the tasks that i have planned out. i have not had many struggles except for just the understanding and implementation of visual basic. i am learning though, so it is expected.
CLASS:
In our discussion about the Apple Inc. case, i was intrigued more about the idea and concept of, "where is Apple to go now? what are the future industry projections? what business structure is more apt to falter in a changing industry?" Anything along those lines was really what i would have liked talking about. i thought it kind of trivial how we were just re-hashing the same information and arguments that have been around since the early 80's. i wanted to talk about what was going to happen from here and into the future? also, i would like to talk about whether it is a good business model that Apple is sticking to with the updates and new products every couple months to a year. begging the question of whether or not they have the technology already developed but are holding back because they will make more money with the updates and new product development, with the downside of customer annoyance.
TEAM:
We got to meet with Bam, the entrepreneur of NIFUT, and discuss in further depth our project. it helped give us a greater focus on what we were to do. we were given individual things to look up and focus our research on. it has been great to delve into information pertinent to specific product development as well as commercial ability of potential markets.
PERSONAL PROJECT:
while looking up methods of learning on the Visual Basic Developer Center i was able to identify some methods and modules that they prefer to teach and help in the understanding process of visual basic, i went through some of those modules, some were review as i tried to catch up through the many examples and assignments they want you to cover in order to grasp concepts. I have been making up for last week in my excel skills development. i have gone through many of the tools in the option menu, in order to emulate a dashboard i found off the web and something similar to one given to me after discussing with Brother Kunzler some effective dashboard layouts, i got stuck on the formatting of a graph for finding statistical variances, i plan on discussing where i went wrong with Brother Kunzler as well as going step by step through the example.
CLASS:
In our discussion about blue ocean strategy and that way of viewing value and markets, i felt somewhat skeptical of the weight placed on such a way of valuation. I can see the principles and methods used to find such information and think outside the box to be very valuable, i do not know if you can look at opportunities though in such a methodical process as the blue ocean strategy though. maybe that's just personal skepticism. it can be a very difficult process to break away from current market strategies and ideals to change the horizons of the market or industry.
TEAM:
I am real excited about our team project! we are working on the NIFUT project, a start-up pharmaceuticals company, and we get to do market analysis. for this week my project is to do an analysis of Specialty Gases of America and Air Products and Chemicals. These are established companies that have had success in the industry that NIFUT is trying to start into. What does their marketing strategy / revenue model etc look like? What do they do good / bad? What can we learn from these companies? Also, find contact info of people that we could contact. It is fun and interesting!
PERSONAL PROJECT:
This week i have found some valuable videos in visual basic, that have helped me implement some of the ideas and where i was held up last week. some even gave me new ideas and put me onto new projects this week that i had not anticipated. i got a lot of help from the Visual Basic Developer Center. for excel i have tried to find material on making graphs dynamic by creating the graph within an array that changes. i have found little support information, so i have been having a lot of trial and error, it set me back a couple days which i will try to make up next week.
CLASS:
In class as we talked about financial ratios, it was redefined in my mind the multitude of types of financial ratios that can be used for different kinds of analysis. there are certain combinations of ratios that can be looked at when in the position of an investor, banker, buyer, etc.. that look for different things. it is important to assess always what position you are in, that you can correctly identify the ratios that matter to you and figure out if the company in question meets your guidelines of financial health. Global economics was also fairly intriguing, as we identified ways and patterns that the market is going through our reading and video. it is definitely a global economy, it is up to us to figure out if we will be around with our jobs to enjoy it, or it
The Book: what stuck out to me the most about my reading was knowing the RIGHT questions to ask. the right questions do not just get us from point a to point b, but rather they invite discussion, thought, and a more cautioned approach. in chapter 4 of What Management Is, they discussed how not every strategy creates the desired outcome, and also not all strategies for organization and business is meant to work in every business, but instead it is supposed to be varied and tweaked for each companies goals.
Class: Having the guest speakers in last week and pouring over the case studies, i felt that my reading had a great influence on the way i approached each case and situation each company was going through. The companies were in a predicament that they either had to assess the value added by their company and whether it was worth it to expand, or how to do it given the competitors and barriers to entry. In order for me to understand each case i had to look at the companies goals, where did they want to take the company? Was this in that direction or along that path? Do they have the infrastructure/means to expand? Do they want to expand?
Personal Project: for my excel presentation skills i was able to watch microsoft videos as well as some designer videos that discussed graphs. graphs are a main struggling point for me, the adaptation of graphs through multiple variables and situations. for my Visual Basic skill activity, i did a simple button command that populated a field, to do it the way i wanted was hard because it had to be within a certain strict criteria, i am looking for videos that will address how to make it a formula or something that acts like an add-in.
