Thread:Hamadlh/@comment-5969676-20130124062201

I think this reading was really interesting and will be good for my group to know and have in the future when developing our product/service. Although, it did not really lead me to thinking of any new innovative ideas, I think it is a good reading to think about while trying to come up with a business idea for my group. There are definitely topics that I never had really thought about like, the several different building blocks to building a business plan. I didn’t realize that so much stuff had to go in to it, and now it will be easier for my group to figure out a plan while knowing all of the stuff we must think about before carrying it out. One idea that I think is really important that is talked about in the reading is the five steps to channels. Not only does our company have to think about advertising and selling to customers, but keeping customers satisfied after they purchase the product/service. This is a key to becoming successful because this will lead to customers spreading the word about the product which would in turn lead to more sales. The business model canvas is something I think will become really useful when designing and breaking up the different aspects of my groups company. When I looked up top reasons why small businesses fail, the number one reason came up as “The math just doesn’t work”. This means that there just is not enough demand for the product/service. I think the reading on Business Model’s helps identify if this is a problem prior to beginning the innovation process. One of the building blocks, revenue streams, describes the cash that the company will generate from each customer. Just like in MGT 420, in order to find out what value the customer segment is willing to pay and whether it is something they find of value, a survey must be done of our target market. After reading the Business Model Generation, although it didn’t allow me to think of any new innovative ideas, it did help me think about the idea of doing a JMU apparel line on campus. In order for this to differentiate from the many other students who have done the same, the clothing/items must stand out, as mentioned in the reading when talking about value propositions and the key activities building blocks. After reading about how key partnerships building block could be a key to the optimization of a business model, it got me thinking about how since there are so many JMU apparel lines, if we do want to follow through with this, creating a coopetition with already existing apparel lines could be beneficial. 