Interaction 1: Tuesday, aprox. 4:30 pm
I am friends with three out of the four people who live next door to me so I introduced myself to their fourth roommate and after finding out what he was studying and how he liked the school, I asked him if he could help me with a quick assignment for my entrepreneurship class. He seemed happy to oblige. These were his answers:
Make: LG
Model: Dare
Provider: Verizon
Usage: Calls, Texts, Picture/Video Messaging, Alarm Clock, photo/video recording, recording dates
I asked him a couple more questions about why he bought the phone and when. It seems like he is in the early majority category because his explanation was simply that his 2 year plan was renewed and he wanted a new phone and the LG Dare "looked pretty cool." The Dare was one of LG's first two predominantly touch screen phones, however he was not looking to be ahead with any sort of 3G network phone.
Interaction 2: Thursday, aprox. 9:30
My fraternity hosted a party at a bar in Fells Point, and I went early to help set up. I spent a great deal of time talking to the manager about the bar, how often they had people host parties, and general questions like that. She actually ended up giving me tips on how to get more people to come out to the parties and how to effectively run a bar.
(showed interest, smiled, asked a lot of questions, talked about the bar, made her feel like she had a lot to teach me)
Interaction 3: Thursday, aprox. midnight
Instead of a short summary, because there were multiple cases in which I asked the same questions and acted the same way, I wanted to comment on how the last three principles from HTWFAIP are very similar to what an older brother or father would give on talking to women. And that's what I did, many times.
(seem genuinely interested, smiled, asked many questions, asked more questions based on answers, did not talk to other people when talking to her)
Interaction 4: Sunday, aprox. 10:30 am
I went to Summit Point Motorsports Park for an event and ended up talking to the private photographer for about fifteen minutes. I told him I was partially in the film program at my school and he talked to me a lot about previous events he has been to and how he runs his business.
(showed interest, smiled, encouraged elaboration on his business)
Interaction 5: Sunday, aprox. 2:30 pm
Also at the race event, I talked to one of the event models. I found out that she actually has her own car that she like to work on and take to events such as this, but because of the type of race she was not on the track. I also found out that she attends communitiy college and gets payed to model for events and for private shoots.
(definitely showed interest, smiled a lot, seemed very interested in her and her car)
Conclusion? I really need to work on remembering names.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Assignment 4: Enterprise Value
Apple:
Enterprise Value = Outstanding Shares * Individual Share Cost - Short-Term Debt
=54,215,332 * 22 -9,353,870
= $1,183,383,434
Microsoft:
Enterprise Value = Outstanding Shares * Individual Share Cost - Short-Term Debt
=3,095,000 * 22 -0
= $68,090,000
Apple's enterprise value was aprox. 17.4% higher than Microsoft's enterprise value.
Enterprise Value = Outstanding Shares * Individual Share Cost - Short-Term Debt
=54,215,332 * 22 -9,353,870
= $1,183,383,434
Microsoft:
Enterprise Value = Outstanding Shares * Individual Share Cost - Short-Term Debt
=3,095,000 * 22 -0
= $68,090,000
Apple's enterprise value was aprox. 17.4% higher than Microsoft's enterprise value.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Assignment 4: Friend's Cell Phone
I asked my fraternity brother and roomate, Jake, about his cell phone.
Phone: Palm Treo700w
Carrier: Verizon
Usage:
(While in School) Calls, text messaging, voicemail, alarm, picture, and video recording
(Working over the summer) all of the above, and e-mail
Technology Adoption Life Cycle Category:
I believe that Jake is in the Early Majority category, because he definitely was not one of the first people in line to buy the phone when it came out, nor does he have any sort of deep appreciation or interest in the advancement of the model's technology since its predecessor. However, at the time of buying his phone, it was one of the better choices for what he needed for work, so he purchased it to stay somewhat ahead of the rest technologically.
"What phone would you buy?": Apple Iphone
I do not think this changes his Cycle category.
Phone: Palm Treo700w
Carrier: Verizon
Usage:
(While in School) Calls, text messaging, voicemail, alarm, picture, and video recording
(Working over the summer) all of the above, and e-mail
Technology Adoption Life Cycle Category:
I believe that Jake is in the Early Majority category, because he definitely was not one of the first people in line to buy the phone when it came out, nor does he have any sort of deep appreciation or interest in the advancement of the model's technology since its predecessor. However, at the time of buying his phone, it was one of the better choices for what he needed for work, so he purchased it to stay somewhat ahead of the rest technologically.
"What phone would you buy?": Apple Iphone
I do not think this changes his Cycle category.
Assignment 4: Three Social Interactions
Interaction 1: Wednesday Feb. 11 (around 5:00pm)
I was able to talk once more with the woman who makes sandwiches at the UMBC dining hall. I asked her about how her weekend was, and while that conversation was merely small talk, the subject landed upon her day at work so far. To put it simply, she doesn't seem to enjoy her job or most of the students she deals with. While making my sandwich, she added extra meats that I did not order and told me that I was a growing boy and needed my food. Works for me.
Interaction 2: Friday Feb. 13 (around 1:30 pm)
I went to Party City on Route 40. Upon checkout, the cashier was very polite and friendly. I asked her how her day was going so far, which then led to her asking about what I was buying the outfits for. After paying, she wished me a good time and told me to stay safe that night.
Interaction 3: Saturday Feb. 14 (around 9:30pm)
Feeling hungry, I went to a Wendy's fairly close to campus. After figuring out what I wanted to order, I decided it would be a good time to get in my final HTWFAIP interaction. The man behind the counter's name tag said that his name was Chris. He seemed fairly young so I asked him what's up and if he went to school in the area. Turns out that he used to attend community college, but now just works there. He seemed more upset after answering the question, so my last interaction ended there.
I was able to talk once more with the woman who makes sandwiches at the UMBC dining hall. I asked her about how her weekend was, and while that conversation was merely small talk, the subject landed upon her day at work so far. To put it simply, she doesn't seem to enjoy her job or most of the students she deals with. While making my sandwich, she added extra meats that I did not order and told me that I was a growing boy and needed my food. Works for me.
Interaction 2: Friday Feb. 13 (around 1:30 pm)
I went to Party City on Route 40. Upon checkout, the cashier was very polite and friendly. I asked her how her day was going so far, which then led to her asking about what I was buying the outfits for. After paying, she wished me a good time and told me to stay safe that night.
Interaction 3: Saturday Feb. 14 (around 9:30pm)
Feeling hungry, I went to a Wendy's fairly close to campus. After figuring out what I wanted to order, I decided it would be a good time to get in my final HTWFAIP interaction. The man behind the counter's name tag said that his name was Chris. He seemed fairly young so I asked him what's up and if he went to school in the area. Turns out that he used to attend community college, but now just works there. He seemed more upset after answering the question, so my last interaction ended there.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Assignment 2: American Entrepreneur re-write
Brian Bell
INDS 430
January 2009
Dreams: The Secret Ingredient
“Wes Jackson is fond of saying that if your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough” (Chipotle 2007). Wes Jackson, a plant geneticist who founded a nonprofit working to use less harmful chemicals in agriculture, is not my favorite entrepreneur, nor had I even heard of him until I found an empty Chipotle cup in the grass right outside of my apartment. Printed on the side of the cup were the previously stated quote and a short biography of Jackson. And although this man is relatively overlooked, his one quote became the basis in deciding my favorite American entrepreneur: Preston Thomas Tucker.
I am willing to bet that whoever just read that last sentence is thinking to his or herself, “He cheated. All he did was take the other assignment and turned it into two.” But isn’t using one idea or product and expanding and improving upon it the principle of business? Nonetheless, there is a deeper reason that Tucker is now my favorite American entrepreneur.
In researching different entrepreneurs for this assignment, I quickly realized that I could not pick a favorite. I had always admired Ferdinand Porsche due to my obsession for cars and the Porsche Company in general. Unfortunately, halfway through my explorations into his life, I remembered that he was not an American. One of the obvious alternatives would have been Henry Ford, but my prejudices and hatred for the current American auto industry would have completely hindered my ability to write a paper without thinking about dropping the class. The movie “Tucker: The Man and his Dreams” not only appealed to my automotive passion, but it tugged at heartstrings of all viewers by demonstrating pure and true dedication despite the odds and technicalities which plague the entrepreneurs of the 21st century.
From a purely professional standpoint, Tucker was not a successful marketer, learning almost nothing about public demand after his rather unsuccessful armored car. His radical new car design was years ahead of his time, but went nowhere after falling through the first crack of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle (Moore 12). The new product must go through the innovators, early adopters, cross the chasm to the early majority, to late majority, then finally to the laggards. While the chasm between the early adopters and early majority is the most challenging part of marketing a new product, Tucker was unable to even reach that point. The first crack between the innovators and early adopters “occurs when a hot technology product cannot be readily translated into a major new benefit” (Moore 17). While Tucker had a very dedicated group of workers and the support of a few important and wealthy people, the “Big Three” were already producing cars that, as far as the public was concerned, worked just fine. Tucker also did not have a well-established name that early and late adopters look for to mark his company. So why would such an unsuccessful entrepreneur be a favorite on anyone’s list?
Growing up under the guidance of a first-generation immigrant mother, I understood that her dream for me was to study hard, get into a good school, and then get a high-paying and stable career. Interdisciplinary studies in business and film is hardly the ideal for what she had in mind. Not only was it not the ideal, but similar to what people told Tucker, I was also told many times that a future in the entertainment industry is a foolish pursuit and that it will never work, whether it be because I do not know the right people, the industry is too hard to get my foot in the door, or that there are many other people trying to do the same thing. But entrepreneurship is about more than grand success and fortune, although it is a nice plus. Not only did Tucker want to start his own automotive company, he wanted to revolutionize the automotive industry. His plans for disc brakes, fuel injection, torque converters, safety features, and rear-engine placement were scoffed at, ridiculed, and even attacked by the government and large corporations. But just like Wes Jackson said many years later, Tucker’s life work was not to start a company and make a lot of money, after all, he only produced fifty cars and then his company was destroyed. His designs and ideas are still being used in the cars that you and I drive every single day. And whether the final dialogue at the end of the movie was a product of the writers or if it was non-fiction, it represents the backbone and secret ingredient to entrepreneurship: after the court case and fall of his company, it was said that even though people loved his cars, they couldn’t be built. “We made them,” said Tucker, and his partner told him they were only able to produce fifty. Tucker’s sole response? “What’s the difference? Fifty or fifty million, that’s only machinery. It’s the idea that counts, and the dream” (DVD).
Works Cited
Moore, Geoffrey. Crossing the Chasm. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2002.
“Part 5.” People We’re Pleased to Know. Chipotle. 2007.
Tucker: The Man and his Dream. Jeff Bridges. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2000.
INDS 430
January 2009
Dreams: The Secret Ingredient
“Wes Jackson is fond of saying that if your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough” (Chipotle 2007). Wes Jackson, a plant geneticist who founded a nonprofit working to use less harmful chemicals in agriculture, is not my favorite entrepreneur, nor had I even heard of him until I found an empty Chipotle cup in the grass right outside of my apartment. Printed on the side of the cup were the previously stated quote and a short biography of Jackson. And although this man is relatively overlooked, his one quote became the basis in deciding my favorite American entrepreneur: Preston Thomas Tucker.
I am willing to bet that whoever just read that last sentence is thinking to his or herself, “He cheated. All he did was take the other assignment and turned it into two.” But isn’t using one idea or product and expanding and improving upon it the principle of business? Nonetheless, there is a deeper reason that Tucker is now my favorite American entrepreneur.
In researching different entrepreneurs for this assignment, I quickly realized that I could not pick a favorite. I had always admired Ferdinand Porsche due to my obsession for cars and the Porsche Company in general. Unfortunately, halfway through my explorations into his life, I remembered that he was not an American. One of the obvious alternatives would have been Henry Ford, but my prejudices and hatred for the current American auto industry would have completely hindered my ability to write a paper without thinking about dropping the class. The movie “Tucker: The Man and his Dreams” not only appealed to my automotive passion, but it tugged at heartstrings of all viewers by demonstrating pure and true dedication despite the odds and technicalities which plague the entrepreneurs of the 21st century.
From a purely professional standpoint, Tucker was not a successful marketer, learning almost nothing about public demand after his rather unsuccessful armored car. His radical new car design was years ahead of his time, but went nowhere after falling through the first crack of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle (Moore 12). The new product must go through the innovators, early adopters, cross the chasm to the early majority, to late majority, then finally to the laggards. While the chasm between the early adopters and early majority is the most challenging part of marketing a new product, Tucker was unable to even reach that point. The first crack between the innovators and early adopters “occurs when a hot technology product cannot be readily translated into a major new benefit” (Moore 17). While Tucker had a very dedicated group of workers and the support of a few important and wealthy people, the “Big Three” were already producing cars that, as far as the public was concerned, worked just fine. Tucker also did not have a well-established name that early and late adopters look for to mark his company. So why would such an unsuccessful entrepreneur be a favorite on anyone’s list?
Growing up under the guidance of a first-generation immigrant mother, I understood that her dream for me was to study hard, get into a good school, and then get a high-paying and stable career. Interdisciplinary studies in business and film is hardly the ideal for what she had in mind. Not only was it not the ideal, but similar to what people told Tucker, I was also told many times that a future in the entertainment industry is a foolish pursuit and that it will never work, whether it be because I do not know the right people, the industry is too hard to get my foot in the door, or that there are many other people trying to do the same thing. But entrepreneurship is about more than grand success and fortune, although it is a nice plus. Not only did Tucker want to start his own automotive company, he wanted to revolutionize the automotive industry. His plans for disc brakes, fuel injection, torque converters, safety features, and rear-engine placement were scoffed at, ridiculed, and even attacked by the government and large corporations. But just like Wes Jackson said many years later, Tucker’s life work was not to start a company and make a lot of money, after all, he only produced fifty cars and then his company was destroyed. His designs and ideas are still being used in the cars that you and I drive every single day. And whether the final dialogue at the end of the movie was a product of the writers or if it was non-fiction, it represents the backbone and secret ingredient to entrepreneurship: after the court case and fall of his company, it was said that even though people loved his cars, they couldn’t be built. “We made them,” said Tucker, and his partner told him they were only able to produce fifty. Tucker’s sole response? “What’s the difference? Fifty or fifty million, that’s only machinery. It’s the idea that counts, and the dream” (DVD).
Works Cited
Moore, Geoffrey. Crossing the Chasm. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2002.
“Part 5.” People We’re Pleased to Know. Chipotle. 2007.
Tucker: The Man and his Dream. Jeff Bridges. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2000.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Assignment 1
Brian Bell
INDS 430
January 2009
Dreams: The Secret Ingredient
“Wes Jackson is fond of saying that if your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough” (Chipotle 2007). Wes Jackson, a plant geneticist who founded a nonprofit working to use less harmful chemicals in agriculture, is not my favorite entrepreneur, nor had I even heard of him until I found an empty Chipotle cup in the grass right outside of my apartment. Printed on the side of the cup was the previously stated quote and a short biography of Jackson. And although this man is relatively overlooked, his one quote became the basis in deciding my favorite American entrepreneur: Preston Thomas Tucker.
I am willing to bet that whoever just read that last sentence is thinking to his or herself, “He cheated. All he did was take the other assignment and turned it into two.” But isn’t using one idea or product and expanding and improving upon it the principle of business? Nonetheless, there is a deeper reason that Tucker is now my favorite American entrepreneur.
In researching different entrepreneurs for this assignment, I quickly realized that I could not pick a favorite. I had always admired Ferdinand Porsche due to my obsession for cars and the Porsche company in general. Unfortunately, halfway through my explorations into his life, I remembered that he was not an American. One of the obvious alternatives would have been Henry Ford, but my prejudices and hatred for the current American auto industry would have completely hindered my ability to write a paper without thinking about dropping the class. The movie “Tucker: The Man and his Dreams” not only appealed to my automotive passion, but it tugged at heartstrings of all viewers by demonstrating pure and true dedication despite the odds and technicalities which plague the entrepreneurs of the 21st century.
Growing up under the guidance of a first-generation immigrant mother, I understood that her dream for me was to study hard, get into a good school, and then get a high-paying and stable career. Interdisciplinary studies in business and film is hardly the ideal for what she had in mind. Not only was it not the ideal, but similar to what people told Tucker, I was also told many times that a future in the entertainment industry is a foolish pursuit and that it will never work, whether it be because I do not know the right people, the industry is too hard to get my foot in the door, or that there are many other people trying to do the same thing. But entrepreneurship is about more than grand success and fortune, although it is a nice plus. Not only did Tucker want to start his own automotive company, he wanted to revolutionize the automotive industry. His plans for disc brakes, fuel injection, torque converters, safety features, and rear-engine placement were scoffed at, ridiculed, and even attacked by the government and large corporations. But just like Wes Jackson said many years later, Tucker’s life work was not to start a company and make a lot of money, after all, he only produced fifty cars and then his company was destroyed. His designs and ideas are still being used in the cars that you and I drive every single day. And whether the final dialogue at the end of the movie was a product of the writers or if it was non-fiction, it represents the backbone and secret ingredient to entrepreneurship: after the court case and fall of his company, it was said that even though people loved his cars, they couldn’t be built. “We made them,” said Tucker, and his partner told him they were only able to produce fifty. Tucker’s sole response? “What’s the difference? Fifty or fifty million, that’s only machinery. It’s the idea that counts, and the dream” (DVD).
Works Cited
“Part 5.” People We’re Pleased to Know. Chipotle. 2007.
Tucker: The Man and his Dream. Jeff Bridges. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2000.
INDS 430
January 2009
Dreams: The Secret Ingredient
“Wes Jackson is fond of saying that if your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough” (Chipotle 2007). Wes Jackson, a plant geneticist who founded a nonprofit working to use less harmful chemicals in agriculture, is not my favorite entrepreneur, nor had I even heard of him until I found an empty Chipotle cup in the grass right outside of my apartment. Printed on the side of the cup was the previously stated quote and a short biography of Jackson. And although this man is relatively overlooked, his one quote became the basis in deciding my favorite American entrepreneur: Preston Thomas Tucker.
I am willing to bet that whoever just read that last sentence is thinking to his or herself, “He cheated. All he did was take the other assignment and turned it into two.” But isn’t using one idea or product and expanding and improving upon it the principle of business? Nonetheless, there is a deeper reason that Tucker is now my favorite American entrepreneur.
In researching different entrepreneurs for this assignment, I quickly realized that I could not pick a favorite. I had always admired Ferdinand Porsche due to my obsession for cars and the Porsche company in general. Unfortunately, halfway through my explorations into his life, I remembered that he was not an American. One of the obvious alternatives would have been Henry Ford, but my prejudices and hatred for the current American auto industry would have completely hindered my ability to write a paper without thinking about dropping the class. The movie “Tucker: The Man and his Dreams” not only appealed to my automotive passion, but it tugged at heartstrings of all viewers by demonstrating pure and true dedication despite the odds and technicalities which plague the entrepreneurs of the 21st century.
Growing up under the guidance of a first-generation immigrant mother, I understood that her dream for me was to study hard, get into a good school, and then get a high-paying and stable career. Interdisciplinary studies in business and film is hardly the ideal for what she had in mind. Not only was it not the ideal, but similar to what people told Tucker, I was also told many times that a future in the entertainment industry is a foolish pursuit and that it will never work, whether it be because I do not know the right people, the industry is too hard to get my foot in the door, or that there are many other people trying to do the same thing. But entrepreneurship is about more than grand success and fortune, although it is a nice plus. Not only did Tucker want to start his own automotive company, he wanted to revolutionize the automotive industry. His plans for disc brakes, fuel injection, torque converters, safety features, and rear-engine placement were scoffed at, ridiculed, and even attacked by the government and large corporations. But just like Wes Jackson said many years later, Tucker’s life work was not to start a company and make a lot of money, after all, he only produced fifty cars and then his company was destroyed. His designs and ideas are still being used in the cars that you and I drive every single day. And whether the final dialogue at the end of the movie was a product of the writers or if it was non-fiction, it represents the backbone and secret ingredient to entrepreneurship: after the court case and fall of his company, it was said that even though people loved his cars, they couldn’t be built. “We made them,” said Tucker, and his partner told him they were only able to produce fifty. Tucker’s sole response? “What’s the difference? Fifty or fifty million, that’s only machinery. It’s the idea that counts, and the dream” (DVD).
Works Cited
“Part 5.” People We’re Pleased to Know. Chipotle. 2007.
Tucker: The Man and his Dream. Jeff Bridges. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2000.
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