Today's class was much like our other classes except I brought breakfast, which was an awesome idea, and I presented Beatbox Wine, which was interesting to research and learn about.
A few of the interesting things that we talked about in class were new buy v re-buy, the breakeven graph, and the ethical theories.
I'm pretty sure we talked about new buy and re-buy before in class, but as I said in yesterdays post, writing about it and recapping on it really helps me grasp and remember it. So, new buy is when a company or business is buying the product for the first time. An example of this could be a company buying any product or service that they have never bought before. There are two types of rebuy, modified rebuy and straight rebuy. Modified rebuy is when the purchaser in the situation wants some type of change in the original good or service. A example of this is if a company would like to buy a product or service a second or third time but want the price or quality etc., to change. A straight rebuy is when the purchaser reorders a product or service and doesn't look for new information or changes.
We also talked about the breakeven graph, which is shown below. This graph shows the breakeven for units (bottom axis) and breakeven for price (left axis) To get the breakeven units, you divide the fixed costs by the price-cost. To get the breakeven price, you multiply the breakeven units by price. The place where the point should be on the graph is where the sales revenue and total cost lines intersect. The fixed cost line is always a straight horizontal line, the total cost line is always diagonal but starting at the fixed cost starting point, and the sales revenue line starts at (0,0) and goes up. The region between the sales revenue and the total cost is the profit region, and the region across from that is the loss region. The region between total cost and fixed cost is the variable cost region.
We also talked about the different ethical theories and applied them to the shark tank video. There are five different ethical theories that're talked about in the book, and those include Deontology, Utilitarianism, Casuist, Moral Relativism, and Virtue Ethics. The Deontology theory states that people need to adhere to their personal duties and obligations when analyzing ethical dilemmas, because upholding one's personal duty is what is considered ethically correct. An example of a Deontologist is someone who always keeps their promises to a friend or family member. The next theory is the Utilitarianism theory, which we learned about in our business ethics class. This theory states that one can predict the consequences of an action, and the choice that has the greatest benefit on the most people is the most ethical action or choice. An example of a Utilitarian is someone who wants to do the best for the most people. The next theory is the Casuist theory, which compares current ethical dilemmas to examples of similar ethical dilemmas and looks at the outcomes, which allows a person to choose the best possible decision according to others experiences. An example of this theory was the video we watched today. The CEO if the medication wanted it to be a stimulant like adderall, and hopes for similar outcomes as adderall, without testing it first. Another ethical dilemma is the Moral Relativism, which states that the truth depends on the individuals and groups holding them. An example of a Moral Relativist is someone who steals food for his starving family. I remember learning about these in business ethics and psychology, and I find these kind of things fascinating!
A few interesting things that we didn't talk about in class are open ended questions (161), virtual shopping (a personal favorite), and the advantages of internet surveys (167).
An open ended question is a basic type of question usually located on questionnaires that encourages an answer phrased any was the interviewee wants it to be. The other types of questions usually on questionnaires are close ended questions, which is an interview question asking the respondent to choose an answer from a list of given responses, and scaled response question, which is a type of close ended question that is designed to measure the intensity of the respondents answer. I thought these were interesting concepts because we just finished learning about them in my communications class, and out assignment was to interview someone (I interviewed my roommate) asking them open questions (such as what do you want to do when you're older), closed questions (such as do you like vanilla ice cream), probing questions (such as why do you want to have that specific job when you're older), etc. However, we were not required to ask scaled response questions, so that was definitely a new one to learn about.
Virtual shopping is an extremely poplar way of shopping these days, especially on Cyber Monday. On most sites, you can add items to your cart or to your wish list, which other people can access; you can rotate the product or look at different pictures showing all angles of it; and much more. Virtual shopping has many advantages including duplicating the cluttered market of an actual market, researchers can set up and alter tests quickly, production costs are low and the simulation is very flexible. Virtual shopping is growing each year, and according to the US Department of Agriculture, 45,000 new packaged goods are introduced to supermarkets. Now, other companies are experimenting with virtual shopping, such as telecom, aviation, fast food and more.
Internet surveys are becoming more and more popular and this is the result of the many advantages that come with them. For example, one advantage is the rapid development and real time reporting. Internet surveys are able to broadcast to thousands of people at a time, allow simultaneous completions of the survey by multiple people, and the results can be tabulated and posted so clients can get their results in less time. Another advantage is dramatically reduced costs, because the internet can cut costs from 25-40% and provide results much quicker than paper surveys. Another advantage is that they can personalize questions and data, making the questions more relevant to the respondent. Another advantage is the improved respondent participation, because the surveys can be taken at the respondents convenience, are more stimulating and engaging, and take half as long to complete. Another advantage is the contact with the hard-to-reach aspect, because it makes it easier to get in contact with the most difficult, yet most surveyed, people, such as doctors.
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