Economic trends:
1. (a) The first economic trend that I found is more related to financial economics and corporate governance. Since I am a graduating exchange student, I recently wrote my bachelor thesis on board gender diversity and their impact on financial performance. In my research paper I conducted statistical analyses with a large scale dataset of US firms and found that gender diversity in board of directors leads to increased financial performance.
(b) The fact that independent boards perform better led me to study this phenomenon
(c) The most likely customer are firms which benefit from improved corporate governance.
(d) The opportunity is difficult to exploit, since first, the people (female directors) with the right qualification has been found.
I saw this opportunity because I have been developing an extensive dataset on gender diversity, and therefore, because of my major in finance. (educational background). Moreover, I am generally a very open-minded person, who is looking to find out new things.
2. (a) Stock markets are becoming more volatile.I observed this phenomena when I was looking at the dow jones and DAX in october 2018. Moreover, several practitioners such as employees of the bank Berenberg which i visited in December 2018 gave further evidence on their losses that arised because of this volatitlity
(b) The opportunity for financial options arises, since they benefit from huge fluctuations in the stock market.
(c) Investment banks, hedge funds, equity traders
(d) It is relatively hard to benefit from this opportunity since you need an in-depth knowledge of stock trading.
I saw this opportunity because I am interested in equity trading. Hence, my desire to invest in stocks helped me.
Regulatory trends:
1.(a) Minimum wages are increased. This is one of the recent regulatory trends in Germany. Evidence for it is that it is actually enforced for all people over 18.
(b) The opportunity here is that people who beforehand did not earn enough money to support themselves, will now reap the benefits.
(c) Low earning workers
(d) It is easy to benefit, if you are a low earning individual.
1.(a) The adaption of apple pay in Germany. This was spread all over the news in December 2018.
(b) The opportunity is for shops to offer more easy payment systems for customers.
(c) Tech savvy shoppers
(d) very easy, since you just need an Apple device that works.
Friday, January 25, 2019
5A-Identifying Local Opportunities
1.
Title: Santa Fe student files to run for mayor
Description: Amazon is about to open its 10000 square foot facility to Gainesville, near the airport. The reason for this is that in the area many online shoppers are living. The facility will bring up to 100 new jobs.
Problem: Gainesville was suggested as one of the new headquarter locations, but did not receive this opportunity.
Who has the problem: In this case it is not a problem but more of an opportunity for people such as students who are looking for a job. Additionally shoppers will most likely receive their orders more timely.
4.
Title: Downtown Gainesville could see a $26 million Hyatt Hotel
Link: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0118%21January%2B18&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/1698CF8A349F3CB8
Description: A company wants to acquire an old building in downtown Gainesville in order to build a luxury hotel. The problems that they face is whether they receive enough support from commissioners. Moreover there are regulatory and administrative hurdles.
Problem: In order to build the hotel, many obstacles have to be solved.
Who has the problem: Investors and supporters of the hotel who have to outweigh the costs and benefits of this investment.
5.
Title: Blood donations lag, thanks to rain
Link: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0526%21May%2B26&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16C2FEF0EEF8FE70
Description: Bad whether has caused blood donations to lag behind demand.
Problem: There is not enough blood for people who need it.
Who has the problem: Most likely those who need a blood donation. It also creates an opportunity for new blood donors who donate for the first time since it is needed more than usually
Title: Santa Fe student files to run for mayor
Link: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0122%21January%2B22&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/17128118E275A3D8
Description: A 20 year old student named Marlon Christian Bruce is filing to run for mayor. He has Jamaican roots. He has intrinsic motivation to do so. He is politically very active and is a republican. He has to overcome some hurdles, such as proving his eligibility, since candidates must have lived in the area for a specific time period.
Problem: Bruce feels that he would understands peoples problems only by a one to one relationship. His main issue is that he has to prove that he lived in Gainesville for more than six months. Now he has to come up with confirmatory evidence to state the opposite.
Who has the problem: Most likely Bruce himself has the problem, but moreover his possible voters and supporters who would want him as a mayor.
2.
Title: $15 minimum wage closer to being on Florida ballot
Link:https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0122%21January%2B22&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/17128118EF4983B8
Description: An attorney is becoming closer to putting a higher minimum wage on ballot. To do so he must gather signature. However, he already has experience with doing so. He contributed much of his personal funds to gathering votes in order to legalize marijuana. His intuition about the new vote is that he feels like there is income inequality and rich people become even richer. Businesses are strictly against his plan.
Problem: The attorney has, in order to translate his idea into reality, overcome the hurdle of getting signatures.
Who has the problem: The attorney himself obviously, but apart from that also all people who are in desperate need of higher income because they have to rely on government aid.
3.
Title: Amazon brings delivery station to Gainesville
Link: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A1116%21November%2B16&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16FC12EF11CEE238
Problem: Gainesville was suggested as one of the new headquarter locations, but did not receive this opportunity.
Who has the problem: In this case it is not a problem but more of an opportunity for people such as students who are looking for a job. Additionally shoppers will most likely receive their orders more timely.
4.
Title: Downtown Gainesville could see a $26 million Hyatt Hotel
Link: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0118%21January%2B18&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/1698CF8A349F3CB8
Description: A company wants to acquire an old building in downtown Gainesville in order to build a luxury hotel. The problems that they face is whether they receive enough support from commissioners. Moreover there are regulatory and administrative hurdles.
Problem: In order to build the hotel, many obstacles have to be solved.
Who has the problem: Investors and supporters of the hotel who have to outweigh the costs and benefits of this investment.
5.
Title: Blood donations lag, thanks to rain
Link: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0526%21May%2B26&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16C2FEF0EEF8FE70
Description: Bad whether has caused blood donations to lag behind demand.
Problem: There is not enough blood for people who need it.
Who has the problem: Most likely those who need a blood donation. It also creates an opportunity for new blood donors who donate for the first time since it is needed more than usually
Friday, January 18, 2019
4A-Forming An Opportunity Belief
1) My beginning point
I have the belief that there is an opportunity to decrease plastic waste. This belief comes from one of my first experiences in the US. When I went to Publix and Walmart there are plastic bags at every corner. For example in the fruit/vegetable section, then at the deli and finally at the check out counter.
2) Description of my belief.
The unmet need is that we have to be conscious about our environment. You hear politicians and activists constantly talking about earth warming etc. and in my opinion switching to reusable bags is one big step to help our planet.
Basically everyone, especially the people in the next generations (our kids, grandchildren) will benefit and should not suffer from our bad behaviour.
The need has been there ever since we harm our environment (pollution for example) and has become stronger in the last decades. At the moment people are trying to become more aware, but the specific supermarket/grocery store example shows that we are still using the easiest and most convenient but also most dangerous alternative of using plastic bags.
Since I live in Germany and I am here as an exchange student I can state that we have much better solutions back home. Many supermarkets have a policy of the customer having to pay for plastic bags (in general 0,5 dollar for each one) if they did not bring their own reusable bag. Other supermarkets have completely abandoned plastic bags. I am about 70% sure that the US supermarkets can move toward new solutions regarding their plastic bags.
3) Identify the prototypical customer
In general the prototypical customer can be anyone who goes to the supermarket. Especially students have to go grocery shopping all the time, but I also decided to ask one working adult.
4+6. Iteration No. 1+2 (students)
When do they become aware of the need:
Student 1 states that he recognises the need all the time when he goes grocery shopping and also that he feels bad when he throws away the bags at home
Student 2 states that he has never really thought about it because he takes it for granted and has never really thought about the problem since it has always been the case and he thinks it is very normal
When did they first become aware of their need? Why?
Student 1 states that he has seen a documentary on Youtube about plastic waste and since then he is way more aware of the problem. It even made him change his behaviour by not using straws whenever he buys a soda.
Student 2 knows about the problem but has never really thought about it, mostly because it is just ''normal'' in the US to do certain things such as the high usage of plastic bags.
How satisfied are they with this solution?
When I presented both students the way we do it in Germany they both said that this seems very reasonable and considered it as a good idea. However, they see a problem in the implementation since many people who do not care about the environment would not want to pay for plastic bags.
Iteration No. 1+2 (employed adult)
When do they become aware of the need:
Every time he goes to the supermarket the employed adult notices the need for a better solution when it comes to plastic bags
When did they first become aware of their need? Why?
Ever since the upcoming of concerns about damage to the environment by our behaviour.
How satisfied are they with this solution?
The adult stated that he has traveled for work to Norway and people often use bags made of recyclable paper instead of plastic which is in his opionion the much better solution
5) Reflect
In general I was not really surprised about the results, but I am happy that 2 out of 3 people are very aware of the problem. I think my opportunity is reasonable and feasible, but it would need a lot of effort to change something regarding plastic bags, since the implementation has many steps to overcome.
7) Summarize
I think most of the original opportunity is still there, since it is a topic that concerns basically everyone.
In terms of accuracy I do not think there has been much of the change, since the need is still there and the solutions are the same.
Customer feedback is definitely the most important thing, since customers are in the end the people that you want to address and who create revenue. All in all I think my idea of changing the policy regarding plastic bags could be firstly be implemented in a pilot project to see how customers react.
I have the belief that there is an opportunity to decrease plastic waste. This belief comes from one of my first experiences in the US. When I went to Publix and Walmart there are plastic bags at every corner. For example in the fruit/vegetable section, then at the deli and finally at the check out counter.
2) Description of my belief.
The unmet need is that we have to be conscious about our environment. You hear politicians and activists constantly talking about earth warming etc. and in my opinion switching to reusable bags is one big step to help our planet.
Basically everyone, especially the people in the next generations (our kids, grandchildren) will benefit and should not suffer from our bad behaviour.
The need has been there ever since we harm our environment (pollution for example) and has become stronger in the last decades. At the moment people are trying to become more aware, but the specific supermarket/grocery store example shows that we are still using the easiest and most convenient but also most dangerous alternative of using plastic bags.
Since I live in Germany and I am here as an exchange student I can state that we have much better solutions back home. Many supermarkets have a policy of the customer having to pay for plastic bags (in general 0,5 dollar for each one) if they did not bring their own reusable bag. Other supermarkets have completely abandoned plastic bags. I am about 70% sure that the US supermarkets can move toward new solutions regarding their plastic bags.
3) Identify the prototypical customer
In general the prototypical customer can be anyone who goes to the supermarket. Especially students have to go grocery shopping all the time, but I also decided to ask one working adult.
4+6. Iteration No. 1+2 (students)
When do they become aware of the need:
Student 1 states that he recognises the need all the time when he goes grocery shopping and also that he feels bad when he throws away the bags at home
Student 2 states that he has never really thought about it because he takes it for granted and has never really thought about the problem since it has always been the case and he thinks it is very normal
When did they first become aware of their need? Why?
Student 1 states that he has seen a documentary on Youtube about plastic waste and since then he is way more aware of the problem. It even made him change his behaviour by not using straws whenever he buys a soda.
Student 2 knows about the problem but has never really thought about it, mostly because it is just ''normal'' in the US to do certain things such as the high usage of plastic bags.
How satisfied are they with this solution?
When I presented both students the way we do it in Germany they both said that this seems very reasonable and considered it as a good idea. However, they see a problem in the implementation since many people who do not care about the environment would not want to pay for plastic bags.
Iteration No. 1+2 (employed adult)
When do they become aware of the need:
Every time he goes to the supermarket the employed adult notices the need for a better solution when it comes to plastic bags
When did they first become aware of their need? Why?
Ever since the upcoming of concerns about damage to the environment by our behaviour.
How satisfied are they with this solution?
The adult stated that he has traveled for work to Norway and people often use bags made of recyclable paper instead of plastic which is in his opionion the much better solution
5) Reflect
In general I was not really surprised about the results, but I am happy that 2 out of 3 people are very aware of the problem. I think my opportunity is reasonable and feasible, but it would need a lot of effort to change something regarding plastic bags, since the implementation has many steps to overcome.
7) Summarize
I think most of the original opportunity is still there, since it is a topic that concerns basically everyone.
In terms of accuracy I do not think there has been much of the change, since the need is still there and the solutions are the same.
Customer feedback is definitely the most important thing, since customers are in the end the people that you want to address and who create revenue. All in all I think my idea of changing the policy regarding plastic bags could be firstly be implemented in a pilot project to see how customers react.
3A -Your Entrepreneurship Story
My entrepreneurship story is one that has to do with an entrepreneurship course from my home university.
We had to come up with a business idea and afterwards film a short advertisement video for this idea. It has been really challenging since you have to be creative, outgoing and at the same time realistic. Luckily my group was really motivated and we were able to come up with an idea.
It is called the Social Chef and is basically a food-sharing app.
I chose to participate in this course because I am from Germany and would like to see how people from the US engage in entrepreneurship and whether they have a different view on it. I am looking forward to gaining a holistic understanding of what drives the entrepreneurial spirit. Moreover, I am happy to share how things work back in my home country.
We had to come up with a business idea and afterwards film a short advertisement video for this idea. It has been really challenging since you have to be creative, outgoing and at the same time realistic. Luckily my group was really motivated and we were able to come up with an idea.
It is called the Social Chef and is basically a food-sharing app.
I chose to participate in this course because I am from Germany and would like to see how people from the US engage in entrepreneurship and whether they have a different view on it. I am looking forward to gaining a holistic understanding of what drives the entrepreneurial spirit. Moreover, I am happy to share how things work back in my home country.
2A-Bug List
1. That Apple removed the headphone jack on its new devices.
They probably did that to make the iPhone waterproof and also to get people start buying bluetooth headphones which is one of their business sectors (Beats).
2. That I throw away many groceries, even though I try to avoid it.
Most likely because supermarkets sell things in bulk and they force you to buy 2 instead of 1 package of many items.
3. My phone battery dies really quickly and I have to recharge at least once a day.
Because technology is not as advanced or companies want you to stay up to date with the latest phones by reducing the effective battery life over time.
4. High parking prices for parking close to the city center.
Most likely because of supply and demand, and the government wants to make the most money out of it.
5. Greyhound or Red Coach being very late or even canceled.
Maybe because there has been a congestion or an accident. In those cases you cannot really do anything.
6. The shared Kitchen in my floor is very dirty.
People just don't feel like cleaning up because they know that the cleaning lady will do so for them.
7. Constantly being tired.
Stress, not enough sleep and when I try to go to bed early, I simply cannot sleep.
8. Shops that do not accept credit cards.
I am an advocate of a cash-free lifestyle, and if I cannot pay by card it is extremely annoying. Some shops simply do not have the technical ability or just don't want to install card reader machines.
9. When you forget the password to social media accounts.
Because it is normally saved, but if you have to access from a different device, you have to reset the password.
10. Being on the line when calling customer service.
They simply do not have the capacity to handle all the requests.
11. When the traffic lights turn red even though it is 3 am and noone is driving on the streets.
Some traffic lights have not upgraded to motion detectors.
12. Always needing an adapter because the power outlet is different in the US (I live in Germany).
Basically something that has not been given an international standard, even though it makes sense in a globalised world.
13. Long lines in supermarkets.
Sometimes unexpectedly high customers enter and the staff can not handle quick enough.
14. High prices for drinks in most clubs.
The clubs want to make the most money they can and therefore, it is reasonable.
15. Netflix offers a different set of shows here than it does in Germany.
They simply cannot get all licenses for all countries.
16. People being overly noisy in the library.
Even though libraries are supposed to be quiet places, rules are not enforced, hence it is often very loud.
17. Many American restaurants serving mostly unhealthy/greasy/sugary/ food.
Mainly just a cultural thing.
18. People who are driving and using their phone at the same time.
This is just egoistic and dumb since it puts other passengers in a dangerous position.
19. Use of plastic packaging, for example grocery bags or fast food containers and straws.
Convenience and cheap prices are the main reason, but this is something that has to be changed.
20. High amount of advertisements on TV.
TV channels want to make money and therefore place those ads.
Reflection:
I personally found the bug list more challenging than expected because I found out that many things that bug me are not worth mentioning because they are solely "first-world problems". This suggests that my life quality is high and I can be happy with what I have.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
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