Hey Class!
An innovative product is a product that is made better or more effective due to new and better technology. The product I found on Youtube.com is a refrigerator with a blast chill box. The box chills drinks quickly, so you can enjoy them without the wait. It's pretty interesting, because I know in the fast paced world that we all live in, nobody likes to wait. The video gives an example of two men watching football, so I think a lot of the guys in the class will relate and like this innovative invention!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
SAP Distribution Game
Hey Class!
During the past two classes ,we played the SAP distribution game. The game was kind of hard. There was a lot to focus on all at once, and a short amount of time to do so. At the end of the game, my team ranked in at the 4th spot. I don't think we did too bad. Our strategy was pretty much to constantly refresh the inventory and if inventory dropped, we raised prices, and as inventory stayed the same, we dropped prices. While doing this, we also compared our prices to the market prices, to try and keep them as close as possible with those, that way we were not over pricing or under pricing (and losing profit). The game ranking was solely based on profit, however, in the real world, that should not be the only thing to consider. There are other things that can be looked at when ranking businesses, such as return on equity. A business should be receiving back more than they invested in the original inventory. A company should also be able to work, by computing the lowest costs possible, and a company should also be able to market their products well by keeping costs low as well. All things should be considered when ranking a business. I think my team did well on communicating, and telling eachother when prices needed to be changed, or when the amount of money used on marketing needed to be changed. I think what my team could have done better on, is looking at the areas better. We mainly focused on prices and money for marketing, when we should have focused on what areas we needed to market to (north, west, etc.). I learned some things during this game. For one, I learned that setting your prices low will get inventory sold, however, the businesses profit will still be low because some of the costs may not be covered. I also learned that prices have to be changing constantly based on demand and supply. The more demand there is, the supply plummets, and in order to not lose all of the inventory, prices have to change at a rate where they are still being sold, but not being depleted at a fast rate. Running a business seems confusing! There is so many aspects of the business that need to be looked at all at one time in order for the business to run efficiently. Being a management major, I seem to have a lot to look forward to!
During the past two classes ,we played the SAP distribution game. The game was kind of hard. There was a lot to focus on all at once, and a short amount of time to do so. At the end of the game, my team ranked in at the 4th spot. I don't think we did too bad. Our strategy was pretty much to constantly refresh the inventory and if inventory dropped, we raised prices, and as inventory stayed the same, we dropped prices. While doing this, we also compared our prices to the market prices, to try and keep them as close as possible with those, that way we were not over pricing or under pricing (and losing profit). The game ranking was solely based on profit, however, in the real world, that should not be the only thing to consider. There are other things that can be looked at when ranking businesses, such as return on equity. A business should be receiving back more than they invested in the original inventory. A company should also be able to work, by computing the lowest costs possible, and a company should also be able to market their products well by keeping costs low as well. All things should be considered when ranking a business. I think my team did well on communicating, and telling eachother when prices needed to be changed, or when the amount of money used on marketing needed to be changed. I think what my team could have done better on, is looking at the areas better. We mainly focused on prices and money for marketing, when we should have focused on what areas we needed to market to (north, west, etc.). I learned some things during this game. For one, I learned that setting your prices low will get inventory sold, however, the businesses profit will still be low because some of the costs may not be covered. I also learned that prices have to be changing constantly based on demand and supply. The more demand there is, the supply plummets, and in order to not lose all of the inventory, prices have to change at a rate where they are still being sold, but not being depleted at a fast rate. Running a business seems confusing! There is so many aspects of the business that need to be looked at all at one time in order for the business to run efficiently. Being a management major, I seem to have a lot to look forward to!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Fired because of Facebook?
After reading this article, I believe that Apple had every right to fire the employee. "According to the initial report, Apple “made it absolutely plain throughout the induction process that commentary on Apple products, or critical remarks about the brand, were strictly prohibited”", this line, being pulled directly from the article, proves that the employee knew the companies policies on social networking, and yet still decided to make the negative comment that they did. As the employee, yes I would be mad about the decision, because to many it can still be seen as an invasion of privacy. Social networking is about being social and a job deals with your career, the two should not coincide, however, since more businesses now use social networking to reach new customers, they do coincide and you have to watch what is said. As an employer, I would fire the employee, because we may lose business due to them and their negativity. An employer could have easily hired someone more positive and willing to bring in new customers and talk highly of the business.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Decision Making Software
Decision making software is used so often to help support the decisions people have to make. I use online banking software to make decisions about what purchases I should and should not make. By knowing that I have bills and payments to make, I can easily look at my statement on the PNC website and decide if after subtracting the amount for my bills, if I will have enough for personal purchases, such as a pair of shoes, or maybe a movie ticket. This is a good tool to use, as it helps me stay on track and budget my finances wisely.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Plagiarism in College
Hey everyone,
Ive done some research on plagiarism in colleges and found that "in a study of 1800 students at nine state universities, statistics show that 70% of the students admitted to cheating on exams, 84% admitted to cheating on written assignments and 52% had copied a few sentences from a website without citing the source." So many students plagiarize, and with the use of technology, its become easier for students to do so. By doing more research I found that there is a new term for plaigiarism called "cyber-plaigiarism" or "patchwork plagiarism," which is the act of "copying and pasting" infromation found online into your work without citing where it came from. Copy and paste is so easy to do, and many students will just change a word or two around and feel comfortable with saying it is their own work.
Plaigiarism has happened so much lately that colleges and professors have had to take measures by using plaigiarism detection software. This helps professors quickly see what was copied and where it was from. This is a great method for colleges, and it takes the long search work out of it.
For the most part, to avoid plagiarism as much as possible, I would just suggest to stay away from the copy and paste method. By reading something, and having to rewrite it, it is easier to rewrite it in a simpler form that would be your own words. Or just learn to cite properly, there are plenty books and websites out there that help you create citations easily. So although technology enables plagiarism, it always enables a way to make easy citations.
Heres some links to where I found all the stastics and other information....
http://orange.eserver.org/issues/5-1/kennedy.html
http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_did_you_know.html
http://www.ehow.com/info_7994370_colleges-doing-fight-plagiarism.html
Ive done some research on plagiarism in colleges and found that "in a study of 1800 students at nine state universities, statistics show that 70% of the students admitted to cheating on exams, 84% admitted to cheating on written assignments and 52% had copied a few sentences from a website without citing the source." So many students plagiarize, and with the use of technology, its become easier for students to do so. By doing more research I found that there is a new term for plaigiarism called "cyber-plaigiarism" or "patchwork plagiarism," which is the act of "copying and pasting" infromation found online into your work without citing where it came from. Copy and paste is so easy to do, and many students will just change a word or two around and feel comfortable with saying it is their own work.
Plaigiarism has happened so much lately that colleges and professors have had to take measures by using plaigiarism detection software. This helps professors quickly see what was copied and where it was from. This is a great method for colleges, and it takes the long search work out of it.
For the most part, to avoid plagiarism as much as possible, I would just suggest to stay away from the copy and paste method. By reading something, and having to rewrite it, it is easier to rewrite it in a simpler form that would be your own words. Or just learn to cite properly, there are plenty books and websites out there that help you create citations easily. So although technology enables plagiarism, it always enables a way to make easy citations.
Heres some links to where I found all the stastics and other information....
http://orange.eserver.org/issues/5-1/kennedy.html
http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_did_you_know.html
http://www.ehow.com/info_7994370_colleges-doing-fight-plagiarism.html
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Professional Ethics
Hey everyone,
In a lot of the jobs I have had, I have the opportunity to make recommendations to customers. Sometimes, that calls for lying to the customer in order to make a better profit. This goes against my ethical values, as I do not like to lie. However, in the business world, lying is accepted and usually encouraged, because although you may not like a certain item, that item may be the most expensive and by lying and saying you like that item, your company will gain profit from the purchase.
Just this past week, while I was at work, a table asked my opinion on a burger. Although, I did not personally like the burger, I knew it was expensive and told them it was good anyway. Going against my morals at work helps me by gaining profit for the business, which makes my mangers happy. In business, ethics sometimes get pushed aside in order to succeed. It's wrong, but also works very well and is a good tactic for businesses to use, especially in marketing.
In a lot of the jobs I have had, I have the opportunity to make recommendations to customers. Sometimes, that calls for lying to the customer in order to make a better profit. This goes against my ethical values, as I do not like to lie. However, in the business world, lying is accepted and usually encouraged, because although you may not like a certain item, that item may be the most expensive and by lying and saying you like that item, your company will gain profit from the purchase.
Just this past week, while I was at work, a table asked my opinion on a burger. Although, I did not personally like the burger, I knew it was expensive and told them it was good anyway. Going against my morals at work helps me by gaining profit for the business, which makes my mangers happy. In business, ethics sometimes get pushed aside in order to succeed. It's wrong, but also works very well and is a good tactic for businesses to use, especially in marketing.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
U.S education falling behind?
Hey Everyone,
I did some research using Google, and found a news article discussing the reasons why the author, Grishma Athavale, believed that the United States is falling behind other countries when comparing our education systems. You can read the article here... http://www.saratogafalcon.org/content/us-education-falling-behind-those-other-countries
I found that a lot of the facts that she stated could all be a reason why the US is falling behind other countries in the education department. The fact that US children aren't pressured to take extra classes after their schooling hours are finished seems to be a big reason why education is falling behind. Apparently in countries like Japan and India, students are practically pressured to take after school classes. The extra time and commitment allows their education level to surpass the US.
Also through my research, I found that, while the US only makes students go to school for an average of 180 days, Germany makes their students stay in school for 195 days. The extra days allow more information to be taught and learned.
This website also allowed users to comment on this article. One comment I read stated that Americans are lazy. I sort of agree with that statement as mothers and fathers come home from work and are tired. The last thing they want to do is complete homework for a class that they are not enrolled in. This is true for single parents too, who are not only tired from their job, but also have a lot more responsibility to take care of, so they do not have time to do homework.
Pretty much, the main point that I found through out, was that other countries spend more time in class and outside of class teaching and learning. Which is why the US is falling behind.
I did some research using Google, and found a news article discussing the reasons why the author, Grishma Athavale, believed that the United States is falling behind other countries when comparing our education systems. You can read the article here... http://www.saratogafalcon.org/content/us-education-falling-behind-those-other-countries
I found that a lot of the facts that she stated could all be a reason why the US is falling behind other countries in the education department. The fact that US children aren't pressured to take extra classes after their schooling hours are finished seems to be a big reason why education is falling behind. Apparently in countries like Japan and India, students are practically pressured to take after school classes. The extra time and commitment allows their education level to surpass the US.
Also through my research, I found that, while the US only makes students go to school for an average of 180 days, Germany makes their students stay in school for 195 days. The extra days allow more information to be taught and learned.
This website also allowed users to comment on this article. One comment I read stated that Americans are lazy. I sort of agree with that statement as mothers and fathers come home from work and are tired. The last thing they want to do is complete homework for a class that they are not enrolled in. This is true for single parents too, who are not only tired from their job, but also have a lot more responsibility to take care of, so they do not have time to do homework.
Pretty much, the main point that I found through out, was that other countries spend more time in class and outside of class teaching and learning. Which is why the US is falling behind.
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