[12days]

By watching more Sociology videos, Ive also learnt something new :)

And... can the Sociological experiment be anything from our own country? Is that what you meant, Chris?

[13days]

Although it's all getting really stressing now, but I will still try my best, no matter what is going to happen...

Sometimes I think I love to live because people live to love.
Sometimes a song make you happy or even make you cry; sometimes it also brings the decision-making along.

Maybe everything's not going so well at the moment, but it will finally get better someday :) ... Hopefully .

Ps. Watched more Sociology videos today.

[14days]

Ive watched the Sociology videos and they were pretty interesting :) Ive learnt something new today!

Also Ive done some Business quiz on tutor2u that Chris has given us the website on his blog.

Later on Ill be continue to do some more work.

[15days]

Finally I can go into Chris's blog and Ive done a Business quiz just a few minutes ago.

Time has passed pretty fast and only 2 weeks to go, school is starting soon and so are exams :/
Also it's only 3 days until 2008 to end... I will be staying at home on new years eve :) I really need to concentrate on my studies. For the past few days, I got distracted by talking to my parents because... well it was complicated. ;)

Ok Im going to do some Business revision now.

[17days]Boxing day

Ok... now here it is what is like when everytime I try to go into Chris's blog...

I have no idea and dont know what should I do about it...

But anyway, it's boxing day today :) we meant to wear our pajamas and stay in the whole day, just to relax :D Haha

Well, Ill still read some Business notes later though.

[18days]Merry Christmas!

Im feeling all better now :) and It's Christmas day today! But unfortunately, I still couldnt go into Chris's blog and couldnt get into the website that he gave me either :( ...

Although it's Christmas day today...but there's nothing exciting for me to do actually, so I think I might just do some revision.

[21days]Feeling ill

I am absolutely tired and Im feeling so ill.... I dont know why my whole body is sore!

Ok.. plus I have high temperature again :)............

I will try to do something if I feel well later.

[22days]Back to normal...

Okay...Im back...

I have done something last night(before the party) and today.

I read through the Business textbook and revised the Financial planning part, which is all those about cash flow(forecast), setting budget, what are the advantages and the problems, why may start-ups fail and so on :D

I will continue with this later on :)

[23days] :D

Yeah I can still use the Internet :P

Yesterday I was travelling by coach, it took me about... 6 hours to get to the destination ... and I still had to catch a bus to where my host family lives... so it was 7 hours in total!!!! But I enjoyed it :"> While I was on the first coach, I was having a rest and then had to change 1 coach in Coventry; when I got onto the second coach, I started to revise through all the vocabulary because I brought that little booklet with me ;)... Well anyway, yesterday wasn't too bad because when I arrived, my host mom and sister came to pick me up :D and then we had a Chinese for dinner =)

Haha, later I will be going to my host mom's birthday party ... :) and I just found out that I dont have any DRESSES!!!(Not because I didnt bring it...but I dont have any =_=) Luckily, my host sister lend me something nice to wear :)

Im thinking what to revise for tomorrow on the coach :P

[24days]Okay Im ready...

to go out :)... But still, I have listened to 2 podcasts this morning:

• Innovation (this is quite fun, it's about hair extension!)
• Climate change

And yesterday I was talking to my dad on Skype.... we were discussing Business Studies, haha.

I told him what I have learnt so far, although he didnt know what are those vocab in English...etc, but still I have a bit of revision throughout that chat ;)

Ok, I better get going now :)

Santa calls friends and family for gift ideas

It's nearly Christmas! Although some of us don't celebrate for Christmas but there's a good idea available for those who are still concerning about what gifts should they buy for their family, relative, friends...and so on. Actually, I know how hard it is to think of an appropriate gift for other people because I have done this before last year, and then I ended up with buying a few boxes of chocolate sharing with my roommate. :)

Here is an idea that going to helps people out with the problem, I Am Saint Nick can simply offer you the service by submitting your phone number, then The company's very own "Santa" will then place a discreet, anonymous call to each challenging person and ask them what they'd like for Christmas. This is amazing! And of course, each of those calls will be recorded and then posted online to the gift-buyer.

However, this may cause the concern of legislation because recording phone calls without permission might be illegal in some case; otherwise I think this idea is actually really good and may lead to a prevailing trend of people using it.

On the other hand, imagine that you are the one who has been recorded and received the gift from one of your friend; you might be surprised or might not be impressed because you could have guessed what the purpose of that call was for. Also, it's possible that you are using this service and you get the phone call at the same time! That would be a little awkward :P

BY THE WAY , I have took this from Chris's blog and he talks about all those interesting idea, so that I thought it's a good opportunity to practice evaluation skill :)

Inspiration

“Without lecturers who inspire and teach well, you will not gain an interest in economics, and without peers who challenge and support you, you will not strive for a better understanding of economics. Without understanding or motivation you will not learn, and it is because of these two things that I have learnt so much from my time at university.”

I totally agree with what Rachel Waterworth has written in the conclusion of her prize-winning essay :)

Also I have read some other winning essays that are in Chris's blog...and I found that to write a good essay, there must have a good research to be done, therefore to support your own opinion...

[26days]Hmm...

Well basically, Im still working on my ICT coursework... :(

Also I have listened to 2 podcasts today:

• Interest rates
• EMI and Business models

I think the second podcast is quite interesting :)

Ok, Im going to bed early tonight because Im planning to get up at 7 tomorrow... (It's a top secret, haha.)

It's going to be so busy tomorrow :( ... and by the way, Im off for 2-3days because Im going to visit my previous host family in Corby, Northamptonshire from Friday until Sunday. I will be back at Oxford in the afternoon. (There's gonna be a birthday party on Saturday for my host mom =] )

Haha, Good night. (Maybe I will sleep at 10 and now Ill read some Economics notes..)

[27days]Oh I remembered...

By reading through the ICT textbook has improved my vocab :">
Although Ill have to go back and revise them so that I wont forget them.

I have found some good graphs about the digital divide in the UK :D and that can go into my essay to be an evidence and to be a support.

Im still working...... :)

[27days]Today and Yesterday

Actually I have been working yesterday but didnt have chance to post what Ive done because...I really had to concentrate on ICT work.(...)So far, Ive read through most of the information and ready to start to write something about 'The digital divide'.

Now I must get back to my ICT work again and later Ill listen to podcasts, perhaps do some revision for Economics if Ive got time.

(By the way, Ill try my best to revise the key knowledge of Economics that we've learnt so far.)

[29days]Revisions

Today I have listened to 2 podcasts:

• End of an era

In one of those 5 questions below the article, I found the second question quite interesting as it's really important as well.

Describe the four elements of the Boston Matrix and explain what this tool is used for.

Basically, we all know that what are the 4 elements, Star, Problem child, Dog and Cash cow. As the command word here is telling us to 'Describe' rather than 'Explain', then what we should do is to briefly state out the answer for the first part of marks.

The second part of marks, we can see the word 'Explain', therefore it require more details on how the Boston Matrix works. According to the hint, it says the Boston Matrix is used in product portfolio analysis as a means of aiding decision making.

Also, we should refer to decisions that include:

1. Investment in a product
2. The degree of support of a product
3. Decisions relating to production levels
4. The ability to be able to manage the cash-flow generated by different products

...in a portfolio in a more effective manner.

• Coffee competition

And then went through some vocab :)

Now Im off for some ICT works ;)

[30days] Business, Business and Business...

I have found a website from BBC news and actually learnt and revised some words form it as well!

• GDP - Gross Domestic Product. A measure of economic activity in a country, namely of all the services and goods produced in a year. There are 3 main ways of calculating GDP - through output, through income and through expenditure.
• Hedge fund - A private investment fund with a large, unregulated pool of capital and very experienced investors. It used a range of sophisticated strategies to maximise returns - including hedging, leveraging and derivatives trading.
• Hedging - Making an investment to reduce the risk of price fluctuations to the value of an asset.
• Bond - A debt security - or more simply an IOU. The bond states when a loan must be repaid and what interest the borrower (issuer) must pay to the holder. Banks and investors buy and trade bonds.
• Commodities - Commodities are products that, in their basic form, are all the same so it makes little difference from whom you buy them.
• Deflation - The downward price movement of goods and services.
• Leveraging - Leveraging, or gearing, means using debt to supplement investment.
• Warrants - A document entitling the bearer to receive shares, usually at a stated price.

Also the 2 podcasts I have listened to:

• Budget commentary
• Fairtrade

And an article from BBC news - Santander to shed 1,900 UK jobs

:)

[31days]Business Revision

It has been a good time having these revisions :)

I have listened to 2 podcasts:

• The labour market
• Ethics and entrepreneurs

Also have done 4 quizzes for 4Ps (Place, Promotion, Pricing, Product). There were some mistakes that have been made and something that I have leart as well.

• Place(distribution)

In this section, it mentioned the distribution channel. What does it mean?

- The route a product takes from producers to end consumer.

OR

- The stages of ownership that take place as a product moves from manufacturer to consumer.

I have learnt that a channel with NO intermediaries is know as a Direct Channel, which has nothing to do with those wholesalers and retailers.

1. Agent is a kind of intermediary and is an insurance broker.
2. Agents make their money from the commission on sales achieved.
3. Dell sells entirely directly to customers, comparing to Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba. (Is this because Dell is a wholesaler?)
4. The choice of distribution channel will NOT be influenced by the infrastructure of the economy.
5. An advantage of using a retailer is to provide a convenient place for customers to buy.

• Promotion

Actually I don't really get what is meant by direct marketing and why sales promotion isn't an example of direct marketing whilst "A promotional letter to members of a local club" counts as an example; but "30 second advert on local radio station" doesn't?????

1. A disadvantage of personal selling is that there's a limited number of customers who can be met.
2. Press release isn't an example of sales promotion. (Comparing to loyalty points of purchase, competition and money-off coupon.)
3. Sponsorship is a form of public relations.

• Pricing

In this section, it mentioned the PED and something to do with elasticity.

1. A business that sets prices in line with the market average is said to be a price-taker. (But still...I don't really get what it meant by the market average??)
2. Predatory pricing is a type of pricing tactics that is illegal under competition law.
3. A distributor or other intermediary might benefit from a trade discount on a price.
4. A designer fashion label would generally adopt premium pricing. (Why not Skimming pricing???)

• Product

In this section, it mentioned the Boston matrix and the USP.

1. The product portfolio analysis is used to examine the current strategic position of a firm's products.
2. (I didn't get why's this...) Music CDs is in the decline stage of the PLC. (Comparing to cinema admissions, HDTV sets and SatNav units.)

:) I will be continuing to do some other revisions tomorrow.

[31days]English reading

I have been memorising some vocabulary today and have read some english books to improve my reading skills and getting more new vocabulary, I also wrote down some words into my vocabulary book:).

And I went to BBC news website and have watched some Business videos.

Later I will listen to 2 podcasts and then come back for another post :).

[32days] By The Way...

Oh one more thing that I forgot to mention, Ive learnt how to make our own exam paper and mark scheme and it was taught by Mary again :D

THANKS!

I will try to make one and it's true that it is an another way of revising :)

[32days] I have Found...

Thanks to Mary!!!!!!!!!! :) If it wasnt her, I wouldnt be doing this blog for today I guess...
Anyway, now Im back on track and thanks to Mary again, haha :D

I went to tutor2u website and did a quiz called 'Costs Revenues and Profits'. Ok, I got 7 out of 10. Now I know that:

• Costs which only change when there is a large change in output are known as Semi-fixed costs.

And.. there are 2 mistakes come from numerical questions...=_=

Secondly, Ive learnt some Business glossary

• Adviser - An external contact of a business who provides support and advise, sometimes for free. Government provides support to small businesses via advisers such as Business Link.
• Bank loan - A fixed amount loan from a bank which is generally used to finance long-term assets. It will have a rate of interest applied to it and a repayment schedule.
• Bank overdraft - Borrowings from a bank on a current account which are payable on demand.
• Best case - A scenario used in cash flow or any other forecasting where the most optimistic assumptions come true.
• Bias - A term used in market research and it is the factor that causes research findings to be unrepresentative of the whole population.

Good night :)

[34days] Tuesday - Business Studies

I was really ill for the past few days... for example, on sunday night, I have slept from 18:00 until 00:00 and then couldnt sleep anymore because of my high temperature and the noises in my house... Then I got up and watched 2 English films. (thought that could improve my english somehow?) Surprisingly, I got better afterwards and went to sleep at 8 in the morning... then got up at 15:00...

So, I have done some revision today and it's about Business Studies. First of all, I went through some of the notes and has briefly read through the textbook.

I have also listened to 2 podcasts:

• Branding

What is Market presence?

The degree to which a consumer considers a particular product in a purchasing decision. Or the message your organization communicates to its prospect and customer base.

• Markets

=) =(

Everyone's gone(well, except David) and Im all alone plus Im ill = =

Hopefully Ill get better after some good rests..

I miss you all so much already............

LAUWANI <3>

Mica =)

Siyi =)

Daisy =D

Nara =))

6 of US, We are The Best =D <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Lost Butterfly...

Small business: Short-term fixes lend a hand to small firms

DIY Customised Sleeping Bags

Despite the novelty idea of the business, its website is actually fascinating that can attracts people to find out more and to be interested in this product. The idea basically divided into 2 routes, free route and guided route; the free route is for those who are experienced, thus the guided route is for those who are newcomers to the technicalities of sleeping bag.

Firstly, the free route offer different style to which the customers know the function of it and to choose the style. There's lightweight style and H-tech style. The lightweight style is essential for saving weight and for flexible extra warmth. Also it is easy to access due to the wide opening at the top of the bag. The design of H-tech style is suited to extreme expedition use and high altitude environment; it filled with maximum capacity that can protects you down to a temperature of -50 C.

Secondly, the guided route offer choices at the minimum and maximum temperature for the newcomers, from minimum -50 C to maximum 10 C. Meanwhile, they also separate into 2 different style as same as the free route.

PHD (Peter Hutchinson Designs) was launched in August, 1998. Short on history, but long on experience and enthusiasm. They have calculated their weight of bags accurately as possible therefore to build up a good effort for customers to get to understand and know how to use it properly.

Business reaction: Bosses give a guarded welcome

ECONOMY: The growth that simply vanished - and now Labour will drive national debt to more than £1trillion

Website evaluation - Wolff Finess

http://www.wolfffitness.co.uk/home.htm

The website is for people who want to get fit or get their body trained, it is all about home fitness and personal training. This is a type of advertising gives out opportunities for people to get to know about exercise from the experts, etc.

When scanning through the website, the information provided is actually quite sufficient and allocative; however if we look at it in-depth, there are some strengths and weanesses somewhere.

Firstly, as we can see in the 'about' section, there are 3 experts' personal information and a map for the location of their sports centre. A picture of Daniel Wolff, his clothing doesn't fit for the purpose; in addtion, it does not match with the image of fitness training.

Secondly, there's a picture that is located on the right hand side; the woman's hair style looks like as if she's going to a fashion party with her red lipsticks on, but trying to hold a weight. This shows that the picture is meaningless and not suitable. Meanwhile, there's another picture with a man wearing suit and tie and holding a weight; but maybe they wanted to indicated that of those hard-working workers need appropriate training to keep them fit, although it's just an assumption.

Thirdly, there's no information about the training fees on the website; this might makes people change their focus onto other training website, which would be one of those competitors for Wolff Finess.

Nevertheless, people can still get some basic knowledges and information for what they want to know about fitness training throughout this website, thus it somehow has reached to its purpose.

A CD player(with CDs) in a rental car

"Produce CDs that sit in the CD player of rental cars so that, when a new driver gets in, the CD can tell them about the car, the local area, driving laws, etc. It could also feature advertising for local businesses." Would you invest in this product idea?

This is a good idea for people who want to rent a car just for their short-stay holiday or even for emergency...etc; the CD in the car can direct them to the right place, providing information about the driving laws of the local area, the features of that car and so on. Although there are still some other concerns that people may think as a disadvantage.

It is convenient and reasonable to produce CDs that sit in the CD player of rental cars; but if we try to think of some safety problems, it might be where will the CD player be placed, what will the temperature of the CD player be, what will be the effect when drivers are concentrating on listening to the CD but not on driving? These are the possibilities that may form a list of disadvantages; thus for my opinion, the investors should be more aware of these concerns.

'I'm NOT Feeling Lucky' button on Google

"Add an 'I'm NOT Feeling Lucky' button to Google that would automatically take users to a random webpage that would NOT be the topmost return for their query. This option would complement the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button, giving the search process a creative twist." - would this be popular? Would this increase Google's revenue?

When we type into the google site, obviously we are about to search something or going to have a research for certain project...etc; there are two buttons which are 'Google search' and 'I'm feeling lucky'. What's the difference between them? Well, if you want to have a faster speed for your research, then click on the 'I'm feeling lucky' button and therefore it brings out more relevant results that you are looking for.

Here's an idea to create a button which is opposed to the 'I'm feeling lucky' button. It says 'I'm NOT feeling lucky' button option would complement the original one, it gives a creative twist; I think this idea would be popular when it first comes out, but it wouldn't last for too long because sometimes people need information straight away, thus they wouldn't choose the button.

Although it could probably make the research more interesting than the conventional way, but due to the purpose of necessities, people may not click on the new button unless they are trying to find some interesting way to search things; therefore I don't think this idea would increase Google's revenue very much in this case.

Boom for online fashion firm ASOS

a. possible reasons for the success of ASOS

As people likes to be fashionable, they may think it is a good idea to buy clothes from ASOS because it's designed for celebrities and also they design unique clothes to sell it at a cheap price to convince people to buy it. On the other hand, some customers who like to go to parties or just to make themselves look beautiful, they would buy the clothes whereas the website is totally persuasive due to its attractive layout.

b. who the main competitors are

The main competitors are probably those who sell fashion clothes online or in the shops, such as Zara, River Island...etc. E-bay would be the competitor that's available online.

c. strengths/weaknesses of their products

Obviously, its strengths are those reasons Ive mentioned previously for their success, which it has the feature of unique, also it's simple to order therefore it's more convenient for people to get it.

The weaknesses may reflected on its online feature because sometimes it may be delayed or causes delivery mistake..etc.

d. what steps can they take to ensure continued success?

• Discount or loyal card for customers who purchase every often
• More advertisement
• Special offer
• Special event

Pick a Christmas present for teachers

http://www.christmasrants.com/dont_forget_your_teachers_christmas_present.html

Here are 4 websites that telling us about how important it is to get a Christmas present for our teachers. For sure, there are some differences among them; therefore we will be finding out the information they've provided, also to see if the websites' sources are useful or not.

The first website, as shown above, it gives a brief explanation of why we should buy the present and then suggested some examples of what to buy. I think it's quite good enough for us to know the purpose but maybe some students wont be persuaded by this. The colour and layout has touched the edge of a Christmas feeling, as it shows on the left hand side; the overall structure of the website is quite good but I would prefer the 4th website as Chris has given us.

http://theydeserveit.com/christmas-gifts/teacher-gifts.html

This website shown above has given us more information about gifting a Christmas present to teachers, the contents are more in-depth than the first one, and the picture absolute suits its purpose! Furthermore, the visual effect is pretty good as they have suitable background and the right colour. Meanwhile, they have an instruction on how to Personalised teacher's scrapbook, which to impress our favourite teacher by showing the appreciation of it.

The 2nd website as shown below is more formal as it is published by Telegraph.co.uk.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3353684/Picking-teacher%27s-present-is-a-gift.html

It gives a short story on the main topic and leads out the meaning and purpose of how significant it is to pick a Christmas present for teachers; therefore I think until now, all these 3 websites have different reaching to people and it might make them somehow specialised if they would have achieved the most important thing, the colour and pictures using to attract people then gradually persuade them by the content.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061212085632AABmOxG

This website shown above has only provide the information about what to buy for a Christmas present to teachers; thus there are only questions and answers that given by everyone who has the intention to show. It's not enough to persuade people or even the colour and pictures are not fit for the purpose.