The Blog.

I think the idea of having us to write a blog was a very interesting and fun way for us to learn and earn our grade rather than doing a term paper and write about a topic. This blog definitely provided a way for us to share our thoughts and ideas. It even served as a tool for the class to get to know each other better. Without the blog, I don't think we would have the chance to interact with one and another since we would be busy doing our own simulation and group project. This blog was a good way for us to indirectly interact with each other, while leaving thought to each other entries and feedback. The topic assigned in the blog was able to simulate our creative mind by applying our own perceptions and knowledge about a particular topic or subject material instead of referring according to the textbook. A lot of the topics in this blog deal with problem and issue that we, as student will encounter later in our career and this would be a good way for us to get started. I think this blog will even benefit us in the future in which we can look back at our entries and refer to each situation and continue to learn from it. Prof’s blog was another effective way to get value from this class since all of the entry from prof’s blog deal with a lot of the philosophy of how to be a successful leader which I was inspired by it. These few entries contain valuable insight that we would benefit from and need to keep on reminding ourselves in our future as being a great leader. I would definitely plan on continuing to post my thought and ideas about my everyday life as a personal diary that I can refer back to if I need to. One way that this blog can be improve, if the professor himself can give us some comment on our entry which it can further simulate our mind and creative thinking.

Diagnosing Strategic Problem

Many symptoms can be served as an indicator that a particular firm may have some strategic problems. One such symptom is when a firm is having too much debt. When a firm is having too much debt it usually lead to a weak financial performance. Having too much debt in a financial statement will cause a firm's debt to equity ratio to increase which will increase the business risk. Too much debt will increase the likelihood that an individual creditor will not be paid in full if the company is unable to meet its obligation or a firm may simply liquidate to pay for the debt. Another symptom that indicate strategic problems could be a firm with a low market share in a commodity product. Lower market share within a industry serves as a weakness for a firm since lower market share result in lower sales.
Kodak Company mainly sells consumer and professional imaging products. Kodak have been losing market share in the US digital camera market from being the first to the third place. Competitors like Canon and Nikon have been stealing Kodak market share due to their innovative product, like the new low-cost digital single lens reflex cameras. Kodak needs to invest more money in R&D and try to keep up with its competitors by launching products that can distant its brand with the other brand in the industry. Kodak recently reported a high debt of $2,714 million when compared with the total shareholders' equity of $1,388 million. Also, the company have other high liabilities such as pension and other post retirement liabilities. As a result, high debt and other liabilities combined with the declining of market share which lead to decreasing net cash from operating activities could end up with a liquidity crisis for the company.

Managing Strategic business policy

Apple had established its own market share within the industry of media player. Some future scenarios that might seriously threaten the success of Apple would be its competitors over take its market share. Competitors like Dell and Sony will try to introduce new products, like media player, to expand its market share within the industry which will post a threat to Apple. The fact that Apple's revenue is driven mostly by its innovative products like the iphone, ipod, etc...as a result, increase of competition would affect Apple's financial performance. The probability of this future scenario to happen will be 100. A strategy that Apple could enforce to successfully deal with the problem with its competitors would be to introduce more innovative products that would stand out from its competitors to maintain its market share within the industry. Another future scenario would be the market for the media player industry might be saturate. This will create a disadvantage for Apple since Apple relies heavily on its media player products as its source of revenue. The probability of such scenario to happen would be 100%. One strategy Apple could use to deal with this future scenario would be to expand its product line by focus on other products development and try to promote such product and do not just devote its company's focus on just media player. In addition, the future economy might be decline in turn affect the general market as a whole which will decrease Apple's sales performance. The probability of this scenario to happen would be 50% since the economy is stable. There is no one strategy to deal with such scenario since the decline of the economy will affect the whole market.

Competitor Advantages

Coca Cola's global brand name recognition is one their competitive advantage if not the most important one. Coca Cola’s established a brand that is international known and recognized which dominant the nonalcoholic beverage market.

Dell Computers leads its way over its competitors due to its superior low cost model positions and supply chain efficiency. One of dell source of competitor advantages are it’s directly sells to customers without any intermediaries. By this, Dell can save intermediaries cost and at the same time offer competitive price to customers. In addition, Dell uses its technology to coordinates customer orders and had established a network of suppliers to ensure that products are produced on time. Under this model, Dell holds a minimum of inventory and still able to responds quickly to customer orders which are typically filled in just a few business days which also save on inventory storage cost.

Similar to Dell, Wal-Mart's advanced information technology and inventory management systems served as a source of its competitor advantage. Wal-Mart was able to link directly from its stores to its central computer system and from that system to its supplier’s computers thus allowing automatic reordering and better coordination. By this, Wal-Mart was able to save cost in inventory.

Business Strategy

1. Dell uses cost leadership and differentiation as its business strategies to compete against competitors thus increase its profitability. Dell applied its cost leadership strategy in its business model. Dell sells all of its products both to end-use consumers and to corporate customers, using a direct-sales model which Dell uses the internet and the telephone network thus cutting its operation cost. Also Dell uses just in time inventory management meaning Dell will build computers only after customers place orders and by requesting materials from suppliers as needed. As a result, Dell can avoid overproduction and save on its inventory charge. In addition, Dell was able to provide customizable systems at an affordable rate by using the internet in which Dell differentiate itself from other competitors by building a specific and customize computers for each customer.

2. Bloomingdale department store applied its focus toward middle and upper class customer group as its business strategies to compete against competitors. Bloomingdale sells designer clothing which its target customer group is middle toward upper class people or simply meaning rich individuals. Bloomingdale merchandises are much more luxurious and expensive compared to similar department store like Macy’s. As a result, Bloomingdale was able to differentiate itself as being an exclusive department store that sells exclusive designer clothing.

3. On the other hand, retailer store such as K-Mark focus its customer group as average individual as a business strategy to compete against its competitors. K-Mark sells typical discount merchandise targeting customer that are below middle class by applying the concept of everyday low price.

Porter's Five Forces.

When deciding whether or not to enter into a particular industry, doing extensive research is essential. Especially doing a thorough industry analysis is necessary into determine the success of a business. By applying porter’s five forces, we can better understand an industry context in which our future firm will operates in. The logic behind porter’s five forces (supplier power, barriers to entry, threat of substitutes, buyer power, and rivalry) is to determine if an industry is profitable or not by using the five forces. The five categories describe by porter are problems that a business often encounter in a industry and greatly influence the outcome of the business. Porter’s five is an effective way to analysis an industry by examine the supplier and buyer power which in turn can determine our bargain for better terms and to minimize our cost factor. For example, for suppliers, we need to find out how many suppliers is within the industry, the number of buyers, if anything, what is the switching costs to buyers and the important one, the availability of substitutes in case we need to switch a supplier. For buyer, we need to examine the number of sellers or competitors within an industry to determine our bargain power with the buyer to come up with a gross profit. This leads to our next two forces, the current competition and potential competition which are critical for a business to decide whether or not to enter into a particular industry.

To apply the porter’s five forces to the nonalcoholic beverage industry we can say that this industry has high barriers to entry; as a result it keeps potential new competitors out of the market. For example, there is brand loyalty of existing firms, like pepsi and coca cola that dominant the market which is one of an existing barrier to enter to this industry. Other factor should as capital requirements to establish a factory, research development, advertisement to promote your existing product which will be costly.

MY MISSION

As of now, my focus will be devoted mostly to my current registered classes, especially to BPL. This class is somewhat different and more challenging compare to what I have been taking in Baruch. The simulation requires a lot of planning and decision making that I have never encounter before in other classes. Also, this class requires me to engage into a lot of teamwork, learn how to compromise and tolerate with team members. This class will greatly enhance my interpersonal skills and surely it will benefit my future career.

After graduation, I will have to battle with a new transition in my life, from being a student into being a professional, pursuing on my dreams and life. In order to make my dreams come true, one of the most essential pieces of this dream is to get my CPA license. I have devoted most of my college career in preparing for getting ready to take the CPA exam and I am determine to get this license by committing even more time after graduation to review for the CPA exam. I know this license is not easy to attain but I will do whatever I needed to do to ensure my title as being a CPA. I truly believe that my future is in my hand and my goals will be achieve as long as I never give it up.

Mission Statement: My goal is to become a successful CPA accountant, having my own reputation in the accounting field.