Extremely Intense -

what's on

2010-01-14T20:44:00.002Z

First of all.... wow I didnt know and wasnt expecting this at all. According to some of those people who talked to me on Yahoo Messenger through this blog, my sociology blog entries are actually helping people with their essays or even exams?!?!?!

I might as well post some dance stuff?

:) At last

2009-06-11T23:56:00.005+01:00

Winnie, Nara, Siyi, Daisy, Chi, Mica, Wendy, Robin, James, Leo, Lex, Long, and everyone else..,

I Love You all :)

even if there's another 10 years, I'll never forget the time we were all together.

一年過得太快, 就算以後是不是有繼續聯絡, 這一年的快樂永遠都會在

想忘也忘不掉, 這就是真正難忘的回憶

You're always on my mind 你們是我心海最美的澎湃:D

As if the memories stay in the camera forever :)

when it's nearly finished

2009-06-11T23:25:00.009+01:00

Haven't been blogging for awhile, most people had already gone home apart from those who are doing further maths. Well, I feel like I should post something on my blog...

Most people were at the ball and we all had a great time that I'd class it as the most precious time of the year.

A year has gone and it passed way faster than the past few years, I felt like it's only February.. If only I could predict what is going to happen or what has been changed.

First I dropped Biology and Sociology, then finally I've dropped Economics and Business Studies as well; most of my subjects really, apart from ICT. Although it seems like a waste of space for coming to EF, still I've learnt a lot as well, especially from Chris, and I wanted to thank you:) .

People come and went but memories stay.

Solar Charging Backpack

2009-03-04T21:52:00.011Z

This is a quite good idea for people use backpack a lot, which they take it to school, work and even camping, etc. Take camping for example, this solar charging backpack would be an excellent invention because people always carry some digital technologies with them, such as Ipod, mobile phone; therefore the backpack gives the convenience when those things need to be charged.

It is technically smart where the bag has light weight with a compartment of a water bladder, in this case, it is suitable for biking and hiking. The Voltaic Converter has 4 watts of solar power which is for fast charging; in addition, it only allows small devices unlike laptops. Battery pack is included where can store power when it's needed, so then people do not have to worry about when the battery is going to run out. It has 11 adaptors for some easy connection to handheld electronic devices, the provision would be enough for people to choose to use.

It can be worn as a backpack and also a sling bag, which is a quite flexible choice for people to know which one is the most comfortable for them. Considerably, the price of the bag £149, it could be consider as a logical and reasonable price to buy this product. It is unique and it also offers different colours for the front panel, which is a quite wide range of style and functions as I have mentioned earlier.

Is it ethical to advertise alcohol?

2009-02-19T18:49:00.003Z

There are lots of advertisements that are trying to convince more and more people to buy alcohol, but is it ethical to advertise it? According to all the possibilities that teenagers who are under the legal age might consume alcohol and also cause problems because of it, etc. However, not all the alcoholic drinks are bad for us, there are some people regularly drink it for their own health.

The way of advertising alcohol is very important. Nowadays, some people get addicted on drinking, sometimes ended up with binge drinking; in addition if the idea of the advertisements lead people to the wrong side, then it's likely to be an encouragement in telling them to drink more and more. On the other hand, for instance, when advertising alcohol for people to drink healthily, such as a glass of red wine everyday, then this could be a benefit for people, on both knowledge and health.

Businesses also want more profit in what they are selling, throughout advertisements they are likely to get more attention from consumers. For my opnion, it's crucial for them to ensure the market research has done it properly, this is all about people's behaviour and attitude towards alcoholic drinks. Even though there are other drinks that are non-alcoholic but the shape/packaging are just like those real alcoholic drinks. In this case, they are trying to satisfy people who are under age but still could feel they are a part of the group.

It's hard to say whether is ethical to advertise alcohol or not because it would remains to be controversial. However, there are both benefits and drawbacks for people to consider when buying alcoholic drinks, so I think advertisements are just playing a role of influences that people might change they think of drinking alcohol, either is good or bad, for example.

Facebook - Online Communication Service

2009-02-10T15:07:00.004Z

What's with the addiction of using Facebook? Most adolescents, even mature adults, they are all getting more and more obssessed with this kind of online communication tool to keep in contact with their friends, relatives, etc. However there's always oppotunities that people don't know they could be set in danger; strangers are everywhere and it's unpredictable and unpreventable, ususally it's out of our expectations.

Of what we have to be aware of is the language being used and various behaviours/actions/attitudes that would appeared on these online communication services. Throughout our personal observation, we should have known what's so fascinating about it; people can simply make friends from all over the world at any time, any place and under any conditions they wished to. It seems friendly and it's convenient comparing to arrange an appointment, for instance.

Anyhow, we really should be careful of this kind of service due to some of the inconvenience, such as fraudulency, spamming, etc. that would cause us a bigger trouble that we might not have thought of.

What does the high divorce rate tell us about the state of marriage and the family?

2009-02-10T13:31:00.006Z

Nowadays, there an increasing number of couples divorced and leads to the high divorce rates. However, what does this imply on any effects on the state of marriage and the family? In fact, it is really a severe issue that there's a relationship that relates them altogether.

As we know the reasons of why the divorce rates are getting higher, it maybe domestic violence, difficulties in satisfying the living of family members, etc. What influences have been made to the state of marriage are that, due to the increasing divorce rates, people are likely to be more cautious about what they are doing or going to do. In the mean time, many people are more likely to be cohabiting with each other rather than getting married so urgent.

On the other hand, when a marriage comes to the development of a family, it just look as wonderful as they thought. However there are still many possibilities for spouses getting divorce and it is just as high as we can see; according to a resource from Guardian.co.uk, "...in 2002 the number of divorces increased by 2.7% to 147,735 - the highest annual total since 1996." Although the extract is from the year of 2003, but still the figure is shocking as it say it was 7-year high for divorce rates.

The influences on families can cause chaos as well, such as the childhood of small children, as they are still innocent but inevitably have to face the complexities made by their parents/adults. The responsibilities within family seems to be disappeared as such decision of getting divorce has been made; in another words, either they rushed for a marriage without any further consideration or couldn't think of a way to sort out the problems between the two.

The Marxist perspective on the family

2009-02-10T12:42:00.008Z

The Marxist perspective comes from Frederick Engel, which it stressed on the patriarchal structure of families. Basically the Marxism suggested males are the dominant of the whole family. For instance, it's essential to solve the problem of the inheritance of the private property in order to pass them to their children/heirs; in another words, it's unlikely for women to be a part of the responsibilities because they've been designed to be controlled by the family in the Marxist view.

The socialisation in the Marxist view is that the family socialise children into accepting values of capitalism, which to be clear with the status/level within hierarchy. The bourgeois nuclear family emerged with capitalism, this leads to the patriarchal power of male to be dominating the inheritance property. Women, on the opposite side, would be powerless for any decisions to be made within the family but only to obey.

Females would have more domestic work at home whilst males are working, communicating and socialising more outside. They rear children and look after their husbands due to the non-costly domestic works/choirs.

Families also act as a safety valve toward those bourgeoisie men, which diverts their stress, anger and frustration. Meanwhile, Marxists also state their perspective of males would be less likely to go on trike throughout families play an important role to take responsibilities of them.

As in unit of consumption, families consume goods and services that provided by the capitalism. The Marxist view doesn't take in part of the family diversity, they believe that the nuclear family is determined by our economy nowadays.

Wildcat Strike

2009-02-04T21:09:00.005Z

Wildcat strike, when you see the word 'wild', it usually demonstrates something that would surprise you or cause people's attentions. However, here the word wildcat strike means the unofficial strike that taken by the trade union; they have secret ballot where they vote surreptitiously.

As we know British workers are complaining about the unfair situation where refineries are employing more foreign workers instead of them; therefore they decided to go on strike. The Lincolnshire refinery has brought in Italian and Portuguese contractors, this results a big issue of the trade union go on strike. It seems totally unreasonable why they would get redundant because of foreign workers, they are the local habitat anyway.

Although for those refineries, they are also suffering under the credit crisis, the current condition is not as well as before. This cause them think of to employ foreign workers in order to reduce their production cost; the workers are all from the EU therefore the UK couldn't take in charge of them.

Anyhow, British workers' action of wildcat strike can be seen as a dilemma just like the refineries are suffering from the economic downturn; thus in some case, they should try to get an agreement on having ACAS in order to balance the complicated situation.

Online pawnbroker for consumers in a pinch

2009-02-02T21:50:00.008Z

Have you ever been to a pawnshop before? This online pawnbroker is a really good idea for people who need to borrow a large amount of money. It's quite convenient that the business brings up the convenient form of short-term credit, rather than the alternative of bank overdraft and payday loans.

It gives people the convenience where they couldn't borrow a short time loans from banks. The progress is really simple, just by filling out the application form to describe the value of the thing they want to pawn, also according to the resource, it says a borrower is offered a loan of up to 40% of an item’s value, which is reasonable for people to be beneficial from this online pawnshop.

Everyone is offered the same rate which indicates the equity of the service. However, Borro is now only available in the UK but they are still trying to advertise throughout the Europe and US, in order to devote into a bigger market therefore there could be more feedbacks from customers; moreover, they could think of more to enhance their service.

Hyperlocal newspaper turns blogs into print

2009-02-01T21:17:00.003Z

People get real time information from the newspaper, online news website, etc. Here's an invention that would turns newspaper blogs into physical prints, it sounds normal to me; however I found out something that's quite interesting after I read the article of this novelty idea.

Basically the idea is telling us that online news blog entries will be printed out, the important thing is the layout of the newspaper will be just like the same as the online blogs. It would be quite interesting to have the layout similar with the contents which appear on the Internet. Imagine you are holding a newspaper just like you're browsing a website, that would be very fascinating.

The printed newspaper will also include photos, puzzles, events, reader comments and as it says that other items of local interests. They also offer services such as newspapers will be distributed to neighborhood pickup points in the morning and afternoon, especially it will be different editions.

This might substistutes the original local newspaper, however it depends on how people think and need them.

Why are there inequalities among children?

2009-01-28T12:15:00.004Z

Nowadays, more and more children are suffering from the inequalities. There's an increasing amount of children have been put in risks, both materially and emotionally.

Why do inequalities happen? As we know the society in no longer as peaceful as we thought, the most commonly form of family is Nuclear Family, which involving mother, father and their children. It seems that nuclear families are disappearing gradually, more children are living with lone-parent family, either living with mother or father. This really does an impact on those innocent children.

Poverty has a significant influence on the inequalities among children. Adults are likely to be at work for most of the time, in order to ensure their current living standard and family income. On the other hand, children wouldn't have enough child-care, therefore children's way of thinking could be isolated or there may be lack of dependency.

Abortion and its impact on families

2009-01-27T18:53:00.016Z

It is a worldwide issue, abortion is getting in a wider range that nearly 46 million pregnancies are terminated every year; this can be seen as one-fifth of all pregnancies. According to a resource, it says there are some countries allow abortion and some of them are on a limited health ground of abortion.

Of the 133 countries in this study, 49 allow abortion on request or on broad social and health grounds. Only 13 of these nations are in developing regions and include Bangladesh, India, China, Tunisia, Turkey, South Africa, and Cuba. Another 40 countries—including six developed countries—permit abortion on limited health grounds. It is quite astonishing when we look at these figures and try to find out the reasons and the motivations of having abortions.

Abortion evolved from those unwanted pregnancy where women would usually take high risks, only to abandon their unborn babies. Whether it is legal or illegal, surely that now has becoming a prevalent trend from careless contraception. Laws are remained to be liberal where health problems should be a significant concern; there's nearly 70,000 women die each year and for sure, this is a quite serious number as there's one die in every 7 minutes.

Here's something that I think is quite important. Restrictive abortion policies mainly affect the poor who rely on the public sector for all their health needs; women who have the means can usually obtain abortions from the private sector. Women are likely to have the priority to obtain their needs from the private sector while the policies have been an influence on poor who can only get helps from the public sector.

How does abortion affect on families? In fact, abortion does not only impact on women but also the family itself. As we can imagine that abortion is a wound of marriage, it means the complicated situations between wife and husband, either conducted by disagreement or fear in misunderstanding. A child is also a human life where has the equal right as everyone else, it's a serious problem to solve and the decision-making is also a dilemma.

If we hypothesise a woman has been insisted to give an abortion by her husband, the possible reaction of this woman would likely to have different attitude towards her view of the family as time goes on. In the mean time, the woman has a child after the previous abortion, it seems to be a replacement of her grief from that unborn child; but actually things are not always this simple. It is interesting yet serious that why women would change their emotion towards this. It might be a feeling of segregated from the first child, feeling alienated and apathy towards the family.

Whether abortion is legal or not, the best solution should always stay on the principle of being more careful on contraception; even it has become inevitably unavoidable, women really need to consider more wisely about the consequences of abortion would brings along.

Oakley's rise of the housewife role

2009-01-25T19:28:00.007Z

Ann Oakley conducted a research on the housewife role. She has interviewed women who are housewives from the 1970s about how is it like being a housewife.

They work 77 hours for average hours per week, also the interviewees commented on the aspects of their work that they like/dislike. Ann Oakley refers to the social isolation which housewives don't have a chance to interact apart from the children at home. And it's a repetitive nature of having the same housework take in turns. They also commented on the household techonology, how it liberates women from the housework.

However, Ann Oakley made an adjustment on some of the aspects from those housewives that don't really make things any different, and the housewife role is emphasising on women's role as a domestic labourer.

Elizabeth Bott's conjugal roles

2009-01-25T18:26:00.012Z

Conjugal roles appear when husbands and wives get married and starting to have their own family and house; but this is just the simple way of saying. More in-depth, the conjugal role is a segregation between husbands and wives, results that came from the division of labour in a family. For example, the house keeping between family members, how should it be separated?

In Elizabeth Bott's classic study of Family and Social Network (1957), she gives a observation of one spouse devoted in the financial part of the family, and the other one who keeps those domestic part within the household, such as chores, for instance.

She has studied a more in-depth of 20 predominantly working-class London families. It shows the variable issues among spouses in sharing the same house, interests and outdoor/indoor activities, etc. This is due to the division of labout between husbands and wives. On the other hand, there are also families that shared the common interest and houseworks, which indicates not the whole amount of couples are in the sex role segregation.

Also joint conjugal means that women work on jobs and men are responsible for the domestic tasks.

Nature v.s. Nurture

2009-01-22T23:23:00.006Z

What does the word 'nature' implied? Some people believe we were born in the way of how we live which means it's the genetic reason influenced us. However, nurture also take a part within this controversial argument, that people are actually affected by the surroundings and what they've learn/seen from others. There's no an absolute answer to this, it will keep staying at the same stage as people always have different point of view towards this.

Comments on ...

2009-01-20T22:40:00.016Z

1. About the family

According to the resource, we can see that pets are part of the family as well as the children does. What I think is that pets can always be part of the family but in fact, they can never replaced the children because pets arent human being. Although there's a saying that the studies of kinship brings out pets as a substitute of children and providing emtional satisfaction; but what about communication? Does pets and the elder family members communicate in the same way? There was quite an astonishment as I read through it.

2. Goth. Identity, Style and Subculture

Right... Goth? Ive read through the extract but didnt understand well, but basically Ive been thinking that it's about identity, style and subculture, which indicates another important role that could be dedicated outside of a society, perhaps? Ok, I looked at the introduction of that book and it says"From dress and musical tastes to social habits and the use of the internet, Hodkinson details the inner workings of this intriguing group" The author, Paul Hodkinson has made some theory in order to cover all of those he wrote about culture.

3. To but or Not to buy

In nowadays, children has always got the unbelievable power that gradually to tell their parents what they wanted to buy and they must have it, the pester power as we called. Parents might feel quite an absurd that why and how their children arent the same as they were. The qualitative study conducted out a research of children living in families that have a proportional influence building up a dynamic in their contemporary consumer culture. Anyhow I think parents need to be able to keep learning in order to deal with their children.

Pen wallets/pencil cases made of leather or fabrics

2009-01-20T20:20:00.003Z

Use leather or fabrics to make pen wallets and pencil cases. Sell the wallets and cases empty. Or buy pens and pencils at trade prices and add them to the wallets and cases respectively to make the finished products.

If a business produce a product that contains such material, I think the cost is likely to be higher, therefore their pricing strategy might go with skimming pricing in order to obtain people's trusts on their quality; also its demand would conditionally become inelastic.

Firstly, lets say they sell the wallets and cases empty; customers might think of buying more pens or pencils in order to fill in their new wallet/case, though they might not to. In this case, the business may consider of loss leader pricing instead of skimming.

On the other hand, if they choose to buy pens and pencils at trade prices and add them to the wallets and cases respectively to make the finished products, customers might think the service is even more sufficient than they expected thus would be willing to pay more so the business would gain.

Sociology experiment

2009-01-20T18:11:00.008Z

This Sociology experiment is conducted by students of The George Washington University in the US. Basically it's about how people react when a stranger walks right next to them.

Imagine walking on the street all by yourself and suddenly a stranger starts to walk right beside you and wouldnt leave; what would you react? According to this experiment, most people has the similar reaction; at first, they didnt notice there's someone near them but when they gradually find out, some of them confront the guy, some just stared at him, some are angry and some are scared. Although different people have different reaction towards the weird action from a stranger, but their reaction in common is they wouldnt just ignore the stranger.

Something must be done

2009-01-19T22:34:00.021Z

The question is - what?

From my point of view, I think it's true that there's something must be done to bridge the imbalance condition in learning progresses. The simplest way of dividing it into 2 groups, one who has the enthusiasm and keen to work hard and the other one who has the thought of being relaxed and preferred the slower pace of learning.

According to the resource, it mentioned the team-building work which there are 7 activities in order to improve all sorts of skills how to work as a team, such as cooperation, negotiation, communication, problem-solving, division of labour, leadership, etc. What always comes into play is that the most important thing which stands out for the whole team, people ought to know the significance of working together and in a way to encourage each other.

Take blogging as an example, people who write daily blogs could be an encouragement towards others; also communication and negotiation, for me, I think is quite important as the peer influence may be powerful. Furthermore, after communication, we should think back of what we've been told or discussing about, and as well as in a quiet space with only yourself; the purpose is to refresh your mind and get back to the team, it could help with finding out what you think now isn't what you thought anymore, perhaps.

One thing that I think to achieve the top is what you have tried your best, not meaning that you thought you have Tried but Actually done something where you can checked back by any evidence. If everybody has tried their best within a team, although in some occasion the team doesn't succeed, for instance; but the progress they've made/experienced can make the most out of the whole thing.

The Halo-effect

2009-01-19T21:48:00.009Z

Get to know about the Halo-effect.

The Halo-effect, basically is about what you think about one thing that you could also judge as it's similar with one another.

When reading through those Sociology topics that we are going to be tested on, I found this word in topic 4 which it talks about "Differential achievement" that in terms of social class, why middle-class children do better at school; the Halo-effect is one of those factors.

If applying the Halo-effect on this question, despite all the material things the children could get, how they appeared in front of everyone, even teachers, the possibility of getting better impression would results; meanwhile, the Halo-effect from teachers might cause distort among students where the middle-class children could be easily praised but not the others.

The phrase is also now well-known and being used in the Business world which can be applied on the similar condition.

What is Sociology?

2009-01-18T22:50:00.027Z

For our curiosity, we've been always thinking about what does the word Sociology mean? Sociology is the study of how society is organized and how we experience life. But is it just that simple? In fact, Sociology is involved in one of several Social sciences, which Social sciences study humans and the social worlds they create; therefore in another words, Sociology is the science of human behaviour as it's coming from a group of people's way of living.

Sociology is define as how we function in everyday life in order to build societies and form different cultures and also it's about the interaction among people who belongs to similar and different part of social structure.

Social structures are made up of arrangements between people within a society. These arrangements include patterns of behaviours that are characteristic of the people involved. As we know people's characteristics and behaviours play an important role of forming social structure, thus it includes people from different societies evolve into different social structure that can be varied in a larger society. For example, the relationship between students and teachers result in individuals' behaviours make up social structures.

Societies are groups of people who share a common culture, also refer to intricately structured arrangements of relationships among people. In nowadays, different societies are formed by many groups of people where they interact with each other throughout
working,learning,social settings,workplace,universities and even fighting; nevertheless, not everyone in a particular society shares the same culture, people participate in cultures different from the larger culture of that society.

When talking about Sociology, we have to get a sociological perspective which is a way of seeing the world. It helps us to understand the social reality in a way of knowing how it get to forms the field of Sociology. People gives out their observation from everyday life.

Also, by talking about societies, it mentioned the word culture, what is culture? Culture is a collection of shared beliefs, behaviours and products of a group of people. We are all having different culture and therefore it build up many cultural events that might specified a particular area; such as Chinese new year, Moon festival, etc.

In order to grasp the complexities of Social Science, we need to think like a sociologist and to be aware of daily circumstances around the society.

How is Sociology Research Conducted?

2009-01-18T19:51:00.011Z

Source.

A Sociological research is based on 2 principles, Conceptual and Empirical, which is logically accpeted. People usually explain things based on a concept so that others can gradually understand what they are talking about; so does in Sociology, there are several type of norms such as Folkways, Mores, Laws and Values. These norms are trying to explain how things can be allocate to a particular part of concepts where people can clarify them more easily, for instance.

Reasearch based on empirical seems to be necessary as people has the previous knowledge for doing the particular thing; even through active investigation, how people can be affected by media programme and the way of how to interact, etc. It forms a conneciton between itself and and several concepts therefore enabling people to check on the research progress for its logicality.*

*"These twin aspects, the conceptual and the empirical, and the fact that they must be constantly related, make sociology not only a respected academic discipline but also a valuable contribution to other human activities."

Sociology Forums

2009-01-18T17:01:00.016Z

There are 6 Sociology forums in Chris's blog that I've looked at.

1.The Student Education Forum

This forum is basically more of a asking-and-answering(based on giving opinions) space where people's questions can be solved by others. It's generally talking about Education, such as democratic school, pupil sub cultures, gender gap(i.e. girls versus boys), etc.However there's a topic that attrat me is "What best explain working class underachievement". The top voted reason is 'Material deprivation', which means parents couldnt afford material things like books, computers, etc. for their children; therefore the result of the discussion gives an interesting conclusion, which I think it's quite good for everyone sharing their ideas and thoughts here.

2.The Forum Site

This one is very similar to the first one, but it's talking more about Sociological essay writing or life history, etc. Although it basically talks about everything within the subject Sociology.

3.ScienceCentral.com

It comes up with the title of The Society for Applied Sociology. I've clicked on the Details button and looked through the 4 topics that are shown in another web page, it talks about applied Sociology. This is more likely to be a site for people who wished to know what's in applied Sociology and what is it about, etc.

4.INTJ Forum

This forum, for me, is more formal somehow, although it works based on the same funtion just like the first and second one does.

5. Explore ideas

Does it worth exploring? I dont quite like the layout of the site and maybe it could be clearer with its articles. In fact, I dont really know how to browse the site...

6.The Student Room

This is a suitable forum for students who are studying Sociology. As we can see there are topics like needing help for Sociology essay, different exam board's topic contents, etc; I think it is worth to explore and would get what we wanted to know/learn.

Mnemonics

2009-01-18T15:00:00.002Z

DVDS for sources of finance.

Debentures
Venture capital
Debt factoring
Share capital

:)

Is Internet Explorer a monopoly?

2009-01-18T14:30:00.009Z

There are various of enterprises that has developed different version of browsers to which letting people to use it as a more convenience resource to search for what they wished to know. The browser ecosystem has already including a few firms such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Sleipnir, Safari, etc; whereas Internet Explorer is seemingly dominates the current browser market with the figure of 80%.

However, Google has recently comes up with an innovation called Chrome, which might be another invention that has the potential of being a dominant browser in the browser market; in addition that Google Chrome can become a strong competitor towards the IE. Throughout a list of their own benefits and drawbacks, e.g. IE is slow, cumbersome, shaky, poor at following standards and perceived by many to be a security vulnerability, therefore how users think about it can be the next essential step to help through with their work in the market.

"Mozilla's Firefox is very well respected and yet it commands less than 20% of the browser market which just shows how hard it is to overtake an incumbent although Google does have almost unparallelled ability to promote it to almost the entire online audience" According to the BBC news of Google launches Internet browser, Nate Elliot stated the truth of how Firefox is powerless in the browser market. Also those who are competing with other established browser names should be aware of the survival within the market.

As Google has already accomplished the reputation of a well-known website for everyone to browse/search, most people which represents the average users, Google, to their extent, is the Internet; thus for Google to compete with Internet Explorer, it has better potential comparing to others. They've got the idea of how to satisfy users' need and knowing how to make things even better.

In order to sums the whole thing up, I think Internet Explorer is not essentially a monopoly, especially it now has its new competitor, Google Chrome. They could both be improved in some ways to keep their competitions going; also for what could have been an influence towards the users, it is the choice have been made and the motivation being connected through the browsers.

Motivation and Behaviour

2009-01-18T12:02:00.004Z

"Most modern psychologists agree, however, that motivation stems from a mix of inborn characteristics and external learning."

As you think about it more carefully with this statement, it's very logical as we all (at least most of us) live it this way!

What you have seen/known from childhood and what you have learnt from school/other people, it's always an influence which constantly shaping your characteristics. In this case, what you think can be affected straight away from your own characteristics, which means think in a preconscious way, that how are you going to get works done, for instance.

Motivations are variable as how people think what they are and how they really motivate them.

How to keep generation Y motivated?

2009-01-15T21:47:00.003Z

Before reading through the passage and listening to the podcast, I wasnt sure what generation X and Y stand for; but now I have a clearer image as to how they differ from each other and Im quite impressed with the differences in motivation that X and Y have.

The generation Y, also called the New Millennials, were born in the 1980s and early 1990s who have become established members of the workforce; on the other side, generation X, those who borned in the 1960s and 1970s that are the predessor of those generation Y.

Is there any correlation between these 2 different generations? Also, how are these different age groups get on with each other?

In the podcast, Tammy Erickson the author of 'Plugged In' talks about the generation Y and how they behave within the work place. What makes generation Y distinctive is a quite interesting key point; they usually have a very interesting teenage hood which can dominates/shaped their characteristics during that certain period of time; where people give their thoughts of how the world works, for instance.

There are other things that are very interesting about Gen Y. When Adam Jones asks Tammy about how Gen Y uses technology whereas an increasingly growing has been happening among them and how does it affect them; She called them as the 'first generation of unconsciously competent technology users' which referring to a pre-conscious memory that they have. I think this is a quite impressive way of interpreting it.

Another interesting thing is that how different between Gen X and Y, when they are doing actually the same thing but in a totally diverse way. Gen X must have a schedule to plan what they want to do in a few weeks time; unlike Gen Y, they dont.

Gen Y likes to be challenged by many different things in any area, even if they havent had the experience before. They like to figure things out by themselves, in addition to test their ability of how far they can get on. But in the meantime, Gen X often dont truly understand how these undermanned learners, if they're suitable for the work they've been give. That somehow developed a gap between the 2 generation and would be misunderstood.

To keep a company happy, the relationiship betweent the managers and the employees must be improved from their actual position where there's a gap of the present and the traditional; furthermore, Gen X may need to explore how to keep Gen Y motivated and the way they act motivated; one thing is very important as a key feature, they love to be challenged.

Something.

2009-01-14T18:19:00.004Z

Oxford University Dance Society

Contemporary: Monday - Main Hall, Oxford & Cherwell Valley College, Oxpens Rd (6.00-8.00pm) OYDC Performance company for 15-25 yrs. Directors, Cecilia Macfarlane, Joelle Pappas & Claire Thompson. Contact Cecilia on 01865 515576

Something REALLY funny!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-13T18:22:00.002Z

You will actually laugh until you die...(Haha, well not really but it's incredible)

Okay, now go and have a try :D

3 days left

2009-01-09T21:30:00.001Z

After the 2-hour Business revision, I went to the library for an another hour to revise.

During this weekend, Ill go through the Business websites that are in Chris's blog, also practise some past papers again to check the particular parts that I need to be aware.

:)

Exams are coming

2009-01-08T21:52:00.002Z

Honestly, I dont know what's really happening in the past few days, but the overall problem is that my DEAR host family :) ! Anyway, we'll sort it out sometimes.

First of all, I'd like to say I've been trying quite hard these days, although I know I might not reach the top or the best, but I will keep it this way as hard as I can...

I went to the Business revision class today and have been discussing some past papers, well it's not that hard and it's true, the possible reason may be that Im still not working hard enough. But Im really trying and still am.

Ok, the next thing is Ill try to prove what I have done and post on the blog as often as I can...

I really will TRY to update as often as I can.

[12days]

2008-12-31T13:17:00.003Z

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]

2008-12-30T21:19:00.002Z

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]

2008-12-29T21:09:00.003Z

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]

2008-12-28T20:54:00.005Z

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

2008-12-26T13:44:00.003Z

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!

2008-12-25T13:53:00.002Z

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

2008-12-22T17:24:00.001Z

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...

2008-12-21T18:41:00.003Z

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

2008-12-20T16:55:00.006Z

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...

2008-12-19T09:19:00.003Z

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

2008-12-18T18:56:00.011Z

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

2008-12-17T22:26:00.002Z

“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...

2008-12-17T20:46:00.003Z

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...

2008-12-16T23:46:00.005Z

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

2008-12-16T18:38:00.003Z

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

2008-12-14T19:03:00.001Z

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:

Investment in a product
The degree of support of a product
Decisions relating to production levels
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...

2008-12-14T02:49:00.000Z

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

2008-12-13T00:02:00.000Z

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.

- 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.

Agent is a kind of intermediary and is an insurance broker.
Agents make their money from the commission on sales achieved.
Dell sells entirely directly to customers, comparing to Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba. (Is this because Dell is a wholesaler?)
The choice of distribution channel will NOT be influenced by the infrastructure of the economy.
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?????

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

Pricing

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

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??)
Predatory pricing is a type of pricing tactics that is illegal under competition law.
A distributor or other intermediary might benefit from a trade discount on a price.
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.

The product portfolio analysis is used to examine the current strategic position of a firm's products.
(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

2008-12-12T17:46:00.000Z

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...

2008-12-11T23:56:00.000Z

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...

2008-12-11T22:56:00.000Z

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

2008-12-09T19:18:00.000Z

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

=) =(

2008-12-07T13:47:00.001Z

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

你們都快點回來吧我在等你們..

Lost Butterfly...

2008-12-06T20:18:00.000Z

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

2008-12-01T21:06:00.001Z

DIY Customised Sleeping Bags

2008-12-01T17:54:00.000Z

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

2008-11-26T18:38:00.000Z

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

2008-11-26T18:04:00.000Z

Website evaluation - Wolff Finess

2008-11-25T23:21:00.001Z

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

2008-11-25T20:18:00.000Z

"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

2008-11-24T19:54:00.001Z

"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

2008-11-20T21:36:00.000Z

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

2008-11-20T19:16:00.000Z

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.

Question 10 - EasyClean

2008-11-19T18:45:00.000Z

EasyClean has been involved in the production of a range of cleaning products since the early 1970s, with the aim of producing affordable, high quality goods. Over the years, EasyClean has developed a wide product range in response to changing consumer demands.

CreamClean is the oldest product in the range and is a multi-purpose, no frills cleaner. In attempt to boost flagging sales in the early eighties, the product was repackaged and two new fragrances were added. Sales levels improved a little, but over the last ten years, demand for CreamClean has steadily dropped.

HandyClean range was initially launched just over ten years ago and comprises of a kitchen and bathroom cleaner, both packaged in an easy to use spray bottle. HandyClean was an instant success and sales still remain high.

FoamClean is a relatively new foam-based product that has not been as successful as EasyClean had hoped. Although initial demand for the timesaving product was high, to EasyClean’s surprise, sales have recently started to fall.

AntiBacClean is a hugely successful product, which entered the market just over two years ago. Since then, sales have steadily increased and show little sign of slowing down.

QuickClean simply requires the user to spray the product and leave it to clean. It is the latest product to be launched onto the market and demand is still low.

ProtectClean, a product that contains an active protective ingredient to prevent staining, is currently undergoing development. The development process is becoming very costly but the managers at EasyClean are determined to continue with it. In the competitive market of cleaning products, innovation and product development is a key way to protect market share.

Questions
1. a) Describe the stages of the product life-cycle. (2 marks)
There are 4 stages in the product life-cycle.

Introduction (birth)
Growth
Maturity
Decline

Also there's a stage for a firm to continue with the product, it's called Product Extension strategy.

b) At what stage of the product life-cycle are EasyClean’s products? (4 marks)
EasyClean has already been at the stage of Maturity and now they're on the product extension stage.

c) Comment on the balance of EasyClean’s product portfolio. (4 marks)

2 a) Explain what you understand by the term ‘extension strategy’. (3 marks)Extension strategy means the business keep the product in a market with their improvement in packaging or other features that can help the product to be selling continuously; therefore to extend the product life cycle.
b) Explain the reasons for the failure of the extension strategy used for CreamClean. (4 marks)

3. Evaluate the likely success of ProtectClean. (8 marks)

The success of ProtectClean may levied on its innovative ideas of active protective ingredients to prevent staining, which customers need more new product, suppliers need to improve their idea frequently to satisfy people. Also the undergoing development shows the extent that it can still be improving and more developed comparing to others. The demand for ProtectClean would likely be successful if they keep their innovation on the right track.

PS. Im not sure what is meant by 'flagging sales'... I couldnt really find the meaning.

Charity Vending Machine

2008-11-16T20:54:00.000Z

A vending machine that offers nothing but a feeling of contribution as we have donated the money to one of the nominated charities. This idea is quite fascinating as customers usually think that a vending is ought to come out with something when they insert some money into the machine.

According to the resource, they show their idea and goal for the vending machine. 'Our mission reflects our strategy to deliver new profit to retailers and a range of services to consumers at the front of the store. This mission is to become the world's premier provider of business solutions for the retailer's front end, offering a network of consumer products that are convenient, reliable, safe and fun. Through an innovative spirit and strong company values we continue to deliver on this mission.' Simply by setting this machine at any place that most people would pass by, it therefore create more and more opportunities for making new profits, also benefits those retailers or suppliers.

How does it work? It's really simple. When using the Coinstar charity vending machine, just choose the 'donate' option, select a charity, and then you can put the amount of money in coins into the machine while the donation will be complete.

Coinstar has cooperated with a wide range of valued non-profit organizations, including The British Heart Foundation, The British Red Cross, Cancer Research Campaign, The Children's Society, UNICEF and The World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

There are a list of retail customers,

ASDA
Sainsbury
Tesco
the Co-operative group
Morrisons

This is a quite good business idea and it works because it cooperate with charities and it's supportive for those who need helps.

Brain Sex

2008-11-16T16:44:00.000Z

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml?users=1

This is an interesting test for finding out your 'Sex I.D'

According to the resource, it says 'Some researchers say that men can have 'women's brains' and that women can think more like men.'

I just found it quite interesting =).

New Website

2008-11-15T20:10:00.000Z

This is my new website, but... nothing much has been included at the moment.

http://fantiasv.synthasite.com/

Metal/Frosted Translucent Business Cards

2008-11-13T17:51:00.000Z

They have 2 types of cards which are gold metal business card and translucent plastic business card.

A metal business card that would makes a business special and stands out in the market, this is a good idea which features specific skills to make the card, also offering a free design service without extra charge.

Their metal business cards are manufactured using stainless steel, which they chemically cut through the card with precision, in order to produce a beautiful, unique design to differentiate from others. On the other hand, customers may also design it by themselves if they'd like to!

What makes the translucent plastic card special is that the cards are made from frosted clear plastic; therefore it got the contemporary look to attract people to buy it. Meanwhile, the company, PlasmaDesign has got years of experience in how to make their cards creative and more fascinating.

The service including international shipping to many different countries, such as Canada, Australia, Germany, France...etc. Therefore they are building up a worldwide reputation.

According to the website, http://www.plasmadesign.co.uk/metalbusinesscards.htm, we can see that they show a detailed information for their card's features, structures, additional services and also pricing! In one of the resources said that the price are listed in British pound sterling and including VAT but shipping charges aren't included; this indicates the purpose of including VAT in the product is usually necessary in almost every businesses who are selling specific things/designs.

Here's an example of specifications about the translucent plastic card.

Dimensions:86mm x 54mm
Thickness: 760 micron
Corner radius: 3mm
Design service: FREE
Minimum order quantity: 100
Lead time from artwork approval: 5-7 working days

The pricing they have provide, for instance,

Although they have got all these benefits that form an attraction for business people, but do people really needs these kind of special cards to promote or impressed customers? or do they need to invest part of their business just to make a unique business card? As we know that the siginificance of how we can reduce the cost in a business; in fact, we shouldn't spend too much on advertising, that means sometimes a specific business card would be unnecessary; therefore PlasmaDesign may need to drop their price in some case.

GCSE Business studies revision guide, Chapter 3

2008-11-12T20:38:00.001Z

Enterprise and management

Entrepreneurs, the risk taker,are those who can think of a business idea an have enough confidence to try to make it work. Enterprise is the quality that Entrepreneurs show.

Why bother?

Independence - the desire to work for themselves

The pleasure comes along with success

A higher income, as long as the business is working and making profit

Using their own skills, knowledge or experience

Needing new challenges to keep them on the ball

Business failure

Not including all costs

Taking on too much debt

Not meeting customers' needs (lack of market research)

Not having the right skills, knowledge or experience

Being over-optimistic about sales

Being unable to pay suppliers or other business debts

Why is management needed?

organised and managed ---> people do not automatically do what they are supposed to do, or carry out jobs in the most efficient or effective manner.

Time management

Having the self-discipline to know when jobs need to be done by, and to make sure that enough time is devoted to them.

Delegation and trust

Responsibility needs to be delegated

Trust people to get on with the job

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are people who have a stake in a business.

Internal stakeholders

People who have a direct interest in the business which they are employed by it/who own it. They rely on the business and their income.

Owners

Sole trader

Partnerships/Cooperatives

Institutional owners/Holding companies

Government (public sector businesses)

Shareholders ---> take the sare of the profits [Dividend]

Employees

Managers ---> The link between the employers and the employees

External stakeholders

People or other businesses that have a less direct stake in a business.

Customers

Suppliers

Financial stakeholders

Community

Government

Pressure groups

Conflicts

Sometimes stakeholder groups have conflicting aims.

E.g.

Customers may want lower prices while shareholders want higher profits

A business may want to expand operations while the community would like to keep it small.

Business aims and objectives

Aim is a long-term goal that businesses usually set to themselves. Objectives are usually more clearly defined than aims; they are the steps on the way to achieving an aim.

SMART targets

S pecific - should be definite
M easurable
A chievable
R ealistic and relevant
T ime related - targets should be achieved within a set time period

Maximum aims versus minimum aims

Maximising aims involve making the most of something.

Sales revenue

market share

Growth

Minimising aims involve making the least of something.

Low employee turnover

Low numbers of complaints

the least possible impact on the environment

Small businesses

Small businesses often have less fat-reaching aims than large business. They are likely want to,

Survive as a business

Reach a breakeven point at which costs are covered

Satisficing aims, owners may have other aims they want to achieve; for instance, independence, a good reputation and loyal customers.

Business organisation

For any business to operate, it needs to have some structures to work it out.

Functions

Finance

Marketing and sale

Administration

Production

Customers service and human resources

Communitcation

Small businesses

In a small business it is unlikely that the functions will be divided into separate areas.

Larger businesses

They need a more formal organisation structure.

Geography - where the barious parts of the business are located

Product - what each part of the business makes

Process - what each part of the business does in the chain of production

Organisation charts

The most common type is the 'family tree' chart, showing each 'family' of workers undera manager or director.

Each manager has a number of people under his/her control, it called span of control.

Authority - the power that a manager has in a business

Delegation - the right within the organisational set-up to make decision; sometimes this authority may be passed on.

Vertical organisations

Most organisations are hierarchical.

Hierarchical pyramid - people at the top have more authority than those at the bottom.

Horizontal organisations

There are few layers and many people in each layer, this kind of structure can make decision making hard.

Business size and growth

Businesses can grow internally by increasing market share/product range.

Measuring size

Number of employees

Value of assets

Value on stock market (value of each share x no. of shares issued)

Size of sales revenue

Share of market

Small or large?

Employees

Small - Fewer than 50
Medium - 50 - 249
Large - 250+

Revenue

Small - Less than £2m
Medium - £2-8m
Large - £8m+

Assets

Small - Less than £1m
Medium - £1-3m
Large - £3m+

SMEs

It stands for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, a special groups of businesses that the fovernement tries to help.

A definition that includes micro businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

Growth

Internal growth

When a business grows larger from within by increasing sales, using new tecnology...etc.

External growth

When a business grows by joining with other businesses; either merger or takeover

Why stay small?

It's already achieving its objectives without getting any bigger

It's providing a local service - hair dressing, for instance

It's supplying specialist products to small markets

Management style

The style that managers shoose to use will affect how efficiently the business operate and how well staff react to their decisions.

What is management?

Strategic decisions - Top managers

Have an overview and decide on the general direction of a business

Tactical decisions - Middle managers

Decide on intermediate targets and how they will be reached

Operational decisions - Other managers

Involves the day-to-day running of a business

Motivation

Many businesses include representatives on management boards because employees work much better if the're motivated.

Management styles

Autocratic

Democratic

Laissez-faire

Bureaucratic

Communication

Clear communicatoin is vital to all businesses. Any communication consists of 5 parts,

the sender

the message

the medium - the way the message is sent

the receiver

the feedback

Types of message

Communications may be internal or external.

Internal ---> organisation

External ---> with people or bodies outside the organisation

Businesses communicate with all their stakeholders.

Formal communications

Reports

Letters

Memoranda

Forms

Informal communications

This can take place at any time, using any medium.

The role of ICT

ICT stands for Information and Communications Technology. It is used for internal communication, within a business, and external communication, with other businesses and individuals.

Hardware

It refers to communications equipment.

Laptops

Destops

Screens

Projectors

Servers

Peripherals (Scanners, printers...etc.)

Software

It refers to the programmes run on computers.

word processing

spreadsheets

databases

publishing

presentation

control technology

Networks

Networks inernal to a business are called intranets. To ensure that everyone in a large organisation gets the same messages at the same time.

The biggest external network is the internet.

ICT and the customer

Provides the business with records of what customers have bought and can even update stock.

Problems

ICT still has some drawbacks:

A computer is only as good as its operator. It known as GIGO (garbage in, garbage out)

Losing the personal touch

Speed of development

Viruses can destroy records and attack software

Misuse of emails

Electronic media have made sending messages cheaper and more efficient, but there are still many drawbacks regarding privacy, security and firness for purpose.

*Next Im giving it to Robin*

Balance Sheet

2008-11-12T20:30:00.000Z

Chain of Production

2008-11-12T20:27:00.000Z

SLEEEPT

2008-11-12T20:25:00.000Z

Barclays

2008-11-12T18:29:00.000Z

How does Barclays help with small businesses start-ups? I have found some information thourghout its website.

They offer instructions for entrpreneurs to follow, step by step. Firstly, we have the idea that they can help us to turn it into working business, which by ordering a free guide can therefore enable us get lots of information from the experts. Secondly, be sure with the idea and the market research must be done carefully; for instance, we have to be clear with how does it work, how long can it lasts for, also be aware of any competitors in the market. Then the instructions take us to the final step, which is to build up our plan; the most important thing is to make sure how much money we are going to need in the business.

Not only the 3-step instructions, also there's a start-up packages which help people to get to know what kind of account is suitable for them. There are 3 types,

Barclays Business start-up package
Barclays Business Essentials Packages (from £17.50 + VAT per month depending on option chosen)
Barclays Business Manager Package (from £23 + VAT per month depending on extra options and service level chosen)

A table shows all the details about what it is involved in each package; for example, they all have flexible banking, Extra advice and support from local experts...etc. But what the Essentials and Manager package have but the Start-up dont have is something to do with ICT, which for instance the cashflow management software, Business and software skills training courses and videos and so whatever.

On the other hand, there are resources enable people to know where can they get helps from. Such as Patent Office, The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)...etc. For the last one, it provide information on income tax, capital allowance, National Insurance, customs and excise duty and VAT.

ClearSpeed Technology plc.

2008-11-12T17:27:00.000Z

The company report I have ordered is a public limited company called 'ClearSpeed'. Here's the website: http://www.clearspeed.com/

ClearSpeed, the world leader in acceleration technology for high performance computing. Their products include chips, accelerator cards, rack modules, software and support. Clearspeed is unrivalled in meeting the most intense processing needs with maximum energy efficiency and full programmability. It is listed in London on the Alternative Investment Market.

Basically the company is significantly based on offering higher computing speeds other than the most powerful CPUs (Conventional Computer Processors) with less electric power.

They have listed the Business and financial highlights, which there are something quite important including,

Distribution agreements set up with Asia Pacific operators

£19.4m raised from share issue to strengthen balance sheet

At the end of the financial year, the Group had cash reserves of £19.6m

Technology licensing agreement signed with BAE, leading to revenue and royalty income

BAE System plc is the combination of British Aerospace (BAe) and Marconi Electronic Systems (MES).

Expanded routes to markets with wider indirect sales

Embedded processing growing

On the 'Company income statement', it shows all the information about revenue, cost of sales, operating loss and operating expenses...etc. Also the gross profit in 2006 and 2007, which in 2006, it was £663,000 and £758,000 in 2007. It shows there's an increase in revenue which affects the gross profit.

Lecture at LSE - Navigating economic and financial change

2008-11-12T00:15:00.000Z

At about 3 O'clock in the afternoon, Chris took us including me, Mary, Elvi, Anastasia, Aidana, David and Sairan to a lecture at LSE, which held by the author of When Markets Collide, Mohamed A El-Erian. Although the lecture wasnt as that we have expected, but it was quite good that we have actually been to a real lecture about Economics.

To be honest, I can hardly understand the things he was talking about, maybe 30% of it. However, thanks to Chris that we had some preparation for building up a liitle of our basic knowledge. Basically, he was talking about the economy has essentially dealt with transformation. I think I'll buy the book When Markets Collide and then try to understand or attempt to read the book, then think as if Im an economist.

Animated Business Cards

2008-11-11T22:55:00.000Z

After watching this video, I thought it was amazing! It is unique, easily reproduced and stays in the standard form, which people would find it attractive and interesting.

It is based on 'magic motion' card technology and can easily impressed people. Basically, it sells its novelty way of function that people may haven't seen it before, therefore it built up a good impression of it. On the other hand, USP which stands for Unique Selling Point, it can represents this business idea due to its unique features. At the mean time, it doesn't have to worry about it's competitors because there will rarely be any competitions.

According to a resource, it says it's only $175 for 300 business cards, which is they have achieved their cheapest price for a 3D animated card! Also its advertising is quite successful, 'Challenge the ordinary'. There are other features that people might want to know about that is these animated cards are nearly as lightweight as paper, but durable due to the plastic construction.

Finally, a particular business whom uses these kind of animated cards will be differentiated from others as they can choose their own special logo and fonts, thus to have a specific card design, also to impress people.

http://www.snap3d.com/businesscards.htm

A song...

2008-11-09T19:29:00.000Z

Heinz Bean Bars

2008-11-09T18:49:00.001Z

A pub in London has created a novelty combination of beans and beer, which the baked beans are poured from the taps and also have different flavour on tap! What they are promoting is their 'Saucy Beanz' range; therefore there will be something new instead of Pinot Grigio with pasta, etc.

Apart from the interesting idea, it's actually selling its brand because it has got a strong brand; in another words, they have got the strength to promote their new idea. Furthermore, some customers are usually loyal to a certain brand or even because of the famous brand, they would think it has got better quality comparing to others. Thus opening a Heinz Bean Bar is a good idea for people to go and the demand will also goes up, meanwhile the business would get more and more profits.

Secondly, as we know that beer is so popular among people in the UK, which indicates a great forming of interest/habit and a product with strong brand. Customers who go to pubs frequently, for sure that they always buy alcoholic drinks; at the same time, they may be attracted by this combination therefore would buy it together.

Nevertheless, there may be more and more competitors appear as time goes by, which means they might have to think of other newer concepts or try to improve the idea. At the same time, as it for me, I wouldnt buy beans with beer because I thought it's pretty weird for the taste of them joining together; there might have some people have the same thought as me and therefore the demand may not be as high as we thought.

Baby Clothes Rentals

2008-11-09T12:26:00.001Z

Children does grow fast enough to cost a fortune, therefore this would be a good idea for parents to consider! Baby clothes rental offering by a German company, they provide different style of clothes in which parents dont have to worry about spending too much on their children, in order to give them suitable clothes as they keep growing rapidly.

First of all, customers would consider about the price of rentals. According to the sources, it says it costs at about $30 per month and parents receive a shipment of neutral, 100% organic cotton clothing in the requested size. This is a quite good offer to stop parents' concerns.

The idea of the business is of reducing, reusing, and recycling, which is a thoughtable service for everyone and also the environment. On the other hand, though, there are still some concerns which would inevitably comes along.

Firstly, does this only suitable for a family with one child at a time? Imagine that a family with 4 children, then maybe it means that parents have to pay extra money for the rentals, also the amount of stock for clothes may becomes a problem. Despite of having additional children, sometimes children might make a mess when eating, therefore clothes will get dirty; or just by playing around and rolling on the floor...etc, it would finally get difficult to clean somtimes. Thus some of the concerns form the weaknesses for this business idea.

Crucifix MP3 Player

2008-11-05T18:09:00.001Z

http://www.allproducts.com/manufacture97/oksupplier/product3.html

The basic idea of this product is to sell its novelty appearance. An MP3 player in cross-shaped attracts young Christian people who are interested in music. As we know, there are many different brands which sell MP3 players, such as Apple sells ipod, Sony, Panasonic...etc. Therefore it's important to ensure that the market research has been done properly.

Apart from the appearance of this crucifix MP3 player, there are other things that attracted customers which are the features of it.

It supports multiple audio formats, such as MP1, MP2, MP3 adn WMA...etc.

FM radio (it automatically search for the radio channels)

Telephone book function

Electronic files

Record/repeat

7 acoustic equilisers (this enable the customers to choose whatever the kind of sound environment they wanted.) eg. Natural, Rock, Pop, Classical, Soft, Jazz and DBB

Timing shutdown (it's capable to set sleep mode or power saving settings, which
which saves the battery)

Multiple playing modes (e.g. Normal, repeats once, repeat all, repeat folder, random…etc.)

The business should be aware of the other competitors’ actions; for instance, if there are any new improvements within the product, innovative ideas has been put into the product…etc.

For sure there are competitions everywhere. As an example, here's a website with the same idea of the product: http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2007/12/crucifix_mp3_pl.php

What is with the product that offer 1 GB of internal flash memory and a 2-colour LCD display, which it costs you $48 for this much storage; I think the pricing is reasonable whereas the creative idea of this product is innovative.

When Markets Collide

2008-11-04T21:07:00.000Z

The book has a understandable context that build up my interest in reading it through. Mohamed A. El-Erian is one of the most respected financial and economic analysts. He shared his insights and perspectives in the world of global economy, which the fundamental changes have taken place in today's financial and economic system.

For what I've read so far, there are some basic things which El-Erian has investigated the underlying drivers of global change to shed light on how we should,

Think about the new opportunities and risks

Construct an appropriately diversified and internationalised profolio

protect your portfolio against new sources of systemic risk

Best think about the impact of central banks and financial policies around the world

In order to conduct all of these things he wanted to emphasise on, he provides his insights on how best to exploit new opportunities and minimise exposure to changing patterns of risks.

The focus is attemtping to meet the objectives which are the ability to address on the results that anchor the belly of the distribution of ourcomes, and the fat left tail of the distribution. What's within it is the implications of the emerging global markets.

At the same time, El-Erian talked about the transformations. The fact that it is not easy to navigate transformation at which the features of initially unanticipatd and the rapid evolving. For instance, the transformation in a business is by gathering momentum.

'The markets of yesterday collide with those of tomorrow.' It implicates the dynamic changes within the fact of noises can affect the siginificance of how the markets would be easily shaped by those signal opportunities.

Dealing with some inconsistencies, there are many anomalies which have been discussed a little bit in Chapter 1. For example, Alan Greenspan has described as a 'conundrum' as successive and meaningful affective upward moves in short-term interest rates had been accompanied by downward moves in long-term interest rates in the US. Meanwhile, the emergence of inconsistencies are seemingly to have the sequential occurring within the tendency of inconsistencies occurring simultaneously, which stands for another example of anomalies.

The most interesting part is that the consideration involving the behaviour that has been noticed and understood by investors, which indicates the meaning of a adjustment if it's needed and to be aware of those factors of trade wars, high unemployment, financial market instability...etc.

Sunscreen Vending Machine

2008-11-04T19:20:00.000Z

A fantastic idea when summer comes! People usually like to go to the beach because it is a kind of outdoor activity in which they find it entertained. Therefore sun screen would be a necessary product because the ultraviolet rays from the sun is harmful for our skins. The idea of setting up a sunscreen vending machine/booth would be profitable if it's in the right location - near a popular beach, for example.

Sunscreen Mist is the exclusive distributor of the Sun Treatment Center. The machine/booth automated spread out sunscreen adn tanning mist which is quite convenient for people who only need a instant use. The founders of Sunscreen Mist were inspired by the conventional sunscreens that are usually inadequate when applying it, thus they improved the original idea into a quicker, easier and more fun experience for all ages.

It's crucial for suppliers to use their own experience into the idea from travel, hospitality, skincare...etc. There are some facts about the purpose of the machine.

Easy for buyers to set-up and maintain and promote
Customizable, so the exterior fits in a variety of settings
Extremely durable
Quick and easy for users of all ages
Safe and comfortable to use

They also considered their suitable ideal location. Including hotels, luxury residential, golf courses, theme parks, beach, swimming pools and other outdoor activities.

90 Second Dual Pizza Oven

2008-11-04T19:03:00.000Z

Imagine people are starving and they want to have some pizze for dinner, but the worst thing is that they need to wait for ages until the pizza is ready? Now here's a good option for they to consider. A double deck pizza oven that cooks two 12" fresh pizzas in 90 seconds (or frozen pizzas in three minutes). It just sounds great for the short period of time to spend on waiting!

This differ from the traditional oven for its special features. The powerful device heats to 790 F which will comes out a result of cripy but also tender crusts. For the most attractive thing for people buying it is the initiative ideal of to 'do it faster' and this also includes within the business of their market research.

Both oven decks hasve 1440-watt high speed which capable for the coil-heating elements that make it a nice caramelized cheese and toppings; in the meantime it distributes the heats evenly therefore to absorb excess moisture that could make a pizza become less crispy and tasteful.

Recycling Vending Machine

2008-11-04T18:03:00.000Z

For we have concerned about the problems in saving our environment, this is a fantastic way to solve it. Reverse Vending Corporation is a British company which creates the recycling vending machine to improve the way we have dealt with all these recyclable things; it speacialise in reverse vending machine system, installation, material recovery and recycling, through its experienced management team in RV technology, recycling and waste management. This is surely made throughout a higher technology and the purpose of reducing the unnecessary wastage.

Users can simply bring their empty beverage containers to the reverse vending unit and the machine will sorts out the material into recyclable groups and then crushes it. It's an innovation which enable people not to worry about how can they recycle it or where should they bring it to.

Who do they sell the service to? Think of the places we usually go, such as school, for example. Meanwhile the income is made by the local supplier of the machine to governments and other large organisation as well. The reverse vending machine has been proved that it utilises advanced technology to identify, sort, collect and process used beverage containers; it clearly shows the feasability of this business idea.

The most interesting is the use of technology which The data acquisition capabilities, the software allows a working data to captured bottle/can type, quantity, brand, therefore to be assessed from a computer throughtout an internal modem. Furthermore, the data will highlight how much is the quantity that received in each hour, each day, each month and so whatever.

Also the service offers vouchers/coupons, which enable people to get discount/special offer that involved on the refund receipt. This encourage people to get to use the machine more often and to stay loyal to the service due to its features and reputation comparing to other competitors.

Mohamed A. El-Erian

2008-11-04T08:12:00.000Z

Mohamed A. El-Erian is the CEO of PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company), the world’s largest bond investor which has been seemed as the most respected financial and economic analyst in the world. He first graduated from Cambridge University and got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees; then second master’s and a doctorate from Oxford University. There’s no doubt of what makes him a successful person.

Mr. El-Erian has been working in the International Monetary Fund for 15 years. He left in 1997 and became part of the member at Salomon Smith Barney as a managing director until joining PIMCO. Apart from this, he has taken the head of Harvard’s $30 billion endowment, which has the ability to affect today’s investing world by bringing a unique understanding of global markets.

He has written a book that published in May 2008 called, ‘When Markets Collide’. Hence he’s well known in his endowment of Harvard and as being a co-CEO in PIMCO, the view that involves in the book is as crucial as the way he emphasises how important the shifts are for those investors who wanted to be successful within a substantial portion of his career at the IMF.

In fact, after going through the information about the book’ When Markets Collide’, I started to realised that how important the world of economics means to people in our everyday life. It involves how emerging markets affect the global economy and also are seeing increasing internal demand; as it said the inflationary pressure for the U.S. is likely leading higher within the growth in emerging market. In the meantime, he’s the person who has firstly seen the start of the credit crunch, which he has mentioned the’ recognition by the financial institutions of losses’ whereas he has previously predicted the situation when people are yet thinking of the collapsing of banks.

He has devoted some of his work on the area of finance and economics which including some analysis in the financial times. The sources he gave out are thoughtful and reasonable due to the purpose of current condition of nowadays’ world of economy.

Podcast - Business revision 2

2008-10-31T16:28:00.000Z

In-Store Surfing Simulator

2008-10-31T14:07:00.000Z

Instead of going to a water theme park, this is an alternative for people who likes surfing and it is an indoor environment that they dont have to worried about whether the weather is good or bad.

The FlowRider uses pressurised water to create an indoor simulation experience with wakeboards, which they provide an unique retailing experience. It's an ideal attraction for the customers with the board-riding lifestyle and it allows the rider to drop in with unbroken wave, feel the power and acceleration...etc.

How does it work? It generates a thin sheet of water that flows over a stationary wave form. The resulting “wave-like” shape permits riders to slide down, carve a turn, and ride up the simulated wave surface. The strengths are obviously attractive for the customers but on the opposite side, the idea it needs a good location and a big range of area.

Drink-Mixing Vending Machine

2008-10-31T11:10:00.000Z

A new idea of an interesting vending machine variation, a British comapny has created a machine capable of mixing drinks. The vending machine uses high technology offering new kind of drinks and also it's specific for its innovative internal pouch system.

The PouchLinkTM system is patented by Waterwerkz which it's being protected for its design. It enables water-based drinks to be freshly provided in a vending machine; in addition, the quality of the drinks is considered. Also it says, 'filled in resealable pouches and served chilled, on demand.' They use pouches to fill the drinks and put it into the machine, this is another good idea of reducing the cost for a business.

The feasability of the idea is working, hence 'The machine filters mains water and makes flavoured drinks using widely available bag-in-box syrups'. It therefore forms a new category called PostPack. On the other hand, the vending machine is able to hold up about 2000 pouches with capacities ranging from 200ml to 500ml. In fact, the idea eliminates the need of labour, transport, and bulky cans and bottles, which benefits our environment as well.

Podcast - Business revision 1

2008-10-31T11:08:00.001Z

Business revision course - Tuesday

2008-10-28T16:56:00.000Z

In today's lesson, I have began with Sources of Business ideas, which is how people get their ideas for setting up a business. It came out a conclusion of when people are getting/searching for the sources, it normally involves experiences from others, such as interviewing retired business people, checking out other people's marketing strategy...etc.

Next came along with our favourite part of business which we do it everyday in our blogs, EVALUATION. When we evaluate a business, what do we consider?

Strengths and Weaknesses

In this section, we also talked about what are the components involved. Furthermore, we have a in-depth discussion about the importance of location for a business.

Feasability (Is it possible to make or not?)

Quality

Market research (Primary & Secondary)

Pricing

Competition

Patent, copytight, trademark

How does the product work?

Legislation

Is there a company or not? (Sole trader, Partnership or Private company...)

Market demand

Then when going on to the aims of business, which includes:

Maximise profit

Survive

Benefit society

Launch prestige products

BREAK EVEN

Which consists no profit and no loss and doesnt consider the external environment.

What's safety margin? It's quite simple. The difference between current output and break even.

Lastly, we talked about the diagram of stock control.

Business revision course - Monday

2008-10-28T16:10:00.000Z

It's necessary that we need to be clear with what's marketing (Identifying, Anticipating, Satisfying.) Therefore I started the course with Marketing Mix.

Obviously we all know about what's including in marketing mix, for example...

Advertising

Promotion

Branding

A.S.S (After Sales Services)

Product life cycle --------->

Pricing

And there are still other things that's involved. Meanwhile the 4Ps are important as well.

Product

Place

Price

Promotion

Then next we went on to the different types of pricing.

Skimming - High price

Penetration - Low price

Psychological - Setting a price based on the expectations of the consumers within your target market.

Predatory - Setting a price that is low enough to drive competitors out of the market.

Loss leader - Price beneath the cost of product.

Also we talked about the differences between enterprise and entrepreneur. Thus the following related topics have been discussed as well.

The characteristics of entrepreneur

Risks and Rewards

Opportunity cost of being an entrepreneur

Government support

Finally came to the crucial part of starting up a business, MOTIVATIONS.

Maslow - 5-level hierachy

Herzberg - Praise and achievements; Motivators and Demotivators.

Taylor - Tooling, Training, Pay and Organisation

McGregor - The X & Y theory

Mayo - Hawthorne effect

Vroom - Expectancy theory

I hope that it would be a bit helpful for who came to the lesson. =)

Acting Troupe for Home Performance Hire

2008-10-26T18:36:00.000Z

The idea is quite interesting and novelty which would probably attracts many families therefore can make a good profit. But what is the concept all about? Teatr Rozmaitosci in Warsaw, Poland. offer clients an in-home theatrical performance from a group of professional actors. What will the key word be? Yes, the word PROFESSIONAL will make an effect on attracting people to invest in this business.

It's fun that when they have a certain topic in a suitable location, which it builds a strong strength that can be supportive enough. On the other hand, the pricing may be expensive; according to the article, it says having a living room perfomance would costs GBP 103, which it might the cause of having professional actors to perform.

In fact, the idea is part of the entertainment to which people would seen it as a new interest, therefore they would invest the business without hesitation because it's a break for relaxing and watch. This makes another benefits for it.

Hair Straightener Vending Machine

2008-10-26T18:15:00.000Z

What a wonderful idea for female user! Well, not exactly. As we know that some guys are starting to use this product just as often as girls; or even more often! Therefore the idea of having a vending machine for hair straightener is logically profitable as time goes by.

We all know that what the advantages for having a vending machine are, such as making shopping more efficient, saving time, greater convenience...etc. Besides, a hair straightener is getting more and more popular among the females and some males day by day, therefore a consideration of putting them in a vending machine would make the business a good profit; IF the machine is placing in good location.

What's the function of hair straightener? Basically it's for beauty in general speaking, but also to get hair from fuzzy into smooth and shiny. I guess the product will hardly never get out of fashion because some people just love them so much.

Free Photocopies on Advertising-Sided Paper

2008-10-26T17:24:00.000Z

The business idea is pretty novelty that they offer free photocopies especially for students, while they would get an advertisement on the other side of the paper. This shows an importance that how a business get into a market by advertising.

Tadacopy is an innovative Japanese company that offer university students free photocopies, simply by setting the machine at some campuses to attract student's attention. The so called 'free love' indicates nice stuff that comes for free and gratis. Therefore, the business could make profits thoughout an amount of students who often need a lot of photocopies. It's a good idea that they targeted on the audience who has involved such necessaties.

On the other hand, it sells its own branding as well as the reputation. As everyone get to know the product and the brand, they also know the features and the usage. The more famous it becomes, the more popularity it will be; thus the business will gradually come to a success.

Half-term Revision Course

2008-10-26T15:46:00.000Z

Everyone of you are welcome to the half-term revision course for Economics and Business Studies! If you want to improve your knowledge or even just have some revision for you January exam, then remember to come to the revision course!

Here are some details:

Economics : Mon. - Wed. [12 am - 1.30 pm]
Business : Mon. - Tue. [1:30 pm - 2:30 pm]

MARY ----> Economics teacher

ME ----> Business Studies teacher

Lessons will be held in one of the classrooms in the Cherwell building.

If you'd like to bring some money with you, you're welcome and it'll be great! All the money will be send to the charity to help people with lung cancer.

Thank you. =)

Soccer Ball Vending Machine

2008-10-23T18:18:00.000+01:00

Here we have vending machine again! Basically, the purpose of having vending machines is really simple that the business reduces their cost by replacing staff and premises into a technological vending machine!

Remember what's guerrilla marketing? Nike football vending machine has built up an effect for promotion of an excellent guerrilla campaign. It's an advantage to promote the products throughtout a machine, which gives consumer an ideal of novelty.

Meanwhile, not only the machine will impressed consumers but also the image of branding, which Nike is a famous brand that can attract people to buy their products from a vending machine! Also, the idea saves time for consumers; as an instant that they dont have to listen to any staff in the store, they can just buy it straight away without any interruption. It's really convenient.

T-Shirt Air Cannon

2008-10-22T18:05:00.000+01:00

With people shouting and screaming at a sport venue, we can see that there are many different logos on their t-shirts in which indicates what team they support. This novelty idea of T-shirt air cannon would be interesting, especially for those people; in addtion, we could say that the business is trying to earn their proftis from them because they know that those people are loyal to their specific interest.

On the other hand, of course, the product is not only for people who has a team to support; also as it mentioned in the concept that it can be used to promote businesses and for company promotions as well! For instance, people who are helding a concert, selling cheeseburgers, corporate training, Free product give-a-ways...etc. Therefore I think it's a worthable business idea to invest on due to its wide scope of usage.

As they say that their t-shirt cannons are the most popular choice for fun interaction, there are reasons why they succeed.

Customise an Air cannon for consumers

They listen to consumers' own idea and concept, which they work on specialising in custom of production. Furthermore, the service would satisfy the customers with their wants and needs.

Built to last

What does it mean by the word 'last'? Surely that they used high quality material and constructions techniques to build the product; also they attached a lifetime warranty for the customers which give them a feel of buying a secure product.

'Living' Triceratops Toy

2008-10-21T17:37:00.000+01:00

Kids might like this very much! The picture shows us who are the target audience for their market and obviously it would be profitable if the feedback from consumers are positive.

The structure of the product is quite fascinating, which the size is about 40" tall and it's a simirobotic Triceratops that can move its head, mouth, horns and tail in addtion to movement sensors. To what extent I think that the product is profitable or not; let's imagine parents are taking their kids to shopping and the children noticed this Triceratops toy, then they started shouting and crying over it, just to let parents buy it for them. As a result, a market that is selling products especially for kids, they somehow can win the children's heart by certain special, attractive features or appearance; therefore the so called 'pester power' is actually powerful enough to affect a business!

Are there any competition going on at all? Yes, of course. So if the price of the Playskool Triceratops toy goes up, consumers may go to other stores instead of buying it from them; thus we can tell that the demand of price elasticity is elastic. On the other hand, though, this may related to income elasticity of demand as when consumers' income goes down, they would probably lost some profit by comparing to other cheaper stores.

Even though it's true that children likes these novelty toys, but they may get bored of it somedays and then what will happen with the business? Well, I think until then the business will have to lower their pricing to get more profits. OR maybe not; in fact, perhaps they can think of some other new ways to renew or recreate the product to make it interesting for the kids again. Meanwhile, this is also a strategy that a business should keep their ideas fresh.