How OTHER people will characterize you as leader?

Vision, commitment, Management.

As I see myself, I will put vision > commitment > management. (About 50:30:20)
From other people’s view, probably the vision will still be higher than the other two. Even though I am not experienced, my idea and the way of thinking might be innovative and creative compared to those people who are already working in a fixed mode, and they are not easy to change the way they think.
My management skill will be the weakest one due to the look of me is too young and un-reliable enough as a leader. I will need to working on gaining more experience on both industry and life, so I will be more capable of leading others.

What are the competitors doing

Since I want to open a design firm serve only in local area, my competitor will be local design company. Usually those companies don’t do advertisement on the print media but internet. A lot of time the resource of customer is based on referral in this industry.

Here is my research on design firm in bay area.

Luna Graphica

Their service includes graphic design, web design, and internet marketing which pretty much cover the whole branding. By viewing their website, they have strong portfolio and large client list. I even emailed them and pretended myself as a client who was interested in making a website, just tried to see how they treat their clients and interact with them. Their response was pretty fast, and they follow up pretty often. They also provide free consultation. The whole website make viewer really clear what they are selling which is good. The only thing I don’t like that much is that their website outlook can be designed better.

Dystrick

Dystrick is a design firm that serves from brand identity to print system, which makes customers easier from finding different companies to do different jobs. Their portfolio page requires long loading time, however, the style of presenting their portfolio seems more interesting than Luna Graphica. Overall is okay to me since the website isn’t too attractive besides portfolio page.

Economic

It has been a while not updated my blog..........I know...just been busy...haha, an excuse that everyone always use. I guess been busy is a good thing though, which means the economic is getting better, isn't it? So, let's talk about econoice!

The economy of Asia (52 countries) consists of >4 billion people (about 60% of the whole world population).

The wealth margin of Asia differs widely between countries and this phenomena is due to its vast size, cultures, environments, and government systems and administration.

Japan, China, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Iran is the largest economies in Asia in terms of GDP .

But, in terms of GDP by purchasing power parity (PPP), China is currently the largest economy in Asia and the second largest economy in the world. Japan falled behind China.

East Asian & South East Asian's economic growth rely much on industrial manufacturing and trading.

Middle East depend more on the production of commodities, principally oil, for economic growth.

With the overwhelming rapid economic growth and large trade surplus with the rest of the continent, Asia has accumulated over US$4 trillion of foreign exchange reserves - more than half of the world's total.

From what I see, one thing i am happy about is that I speak Chinese!! YA!!

Organizational behavior

It seems easy to understand how to be a good leader and in what way we can make the organization to be a better one by just reading a book, however, it is totally out of control when it comes to real life sometimes. We all know the theory, but how to make it happen is another story. My boss always told me that working experience is much valuable because a lot of time, a theory doesn't apply to real life. Also, the result may be various depending on cultural diversity.

But reading the book actually give me some ideas of what an organization should pay attention to and focus on to make everyone a better performance.

Today's class

It's been a long day!!
For some reason, the atmosphere today was not quite right..maybe it was a little bit stuffy in the room. Everyone looked just not as active as the previous class.

The lecture today covered a lot, maybe too much information in too little time into my too small brain. I think I did not even digest 50% of it. Maybe it's the trad off of having only one class every two weeks.
Even though I did not get the whole thing today, I glad I came to the class because I did learn a lot today, at least know something new.

I heard that MBA is for people who have working experience at least two years. I don't know the reason until I really take MBA class. For most of the lecture, it relates to our market environment and the business relationship which for a just graduated student is totally unknowledgeable. I felt a little helpless while Dr. Tao was throwing a question and most of everyone can easily offer an answer. However, I felt myself really lucky because I can learn from those people who have professional working experience in different field.
Many people told me that I still have time because I am young. There are still many opportunities out there for me to try and learn. I believe one day, I will be as successful as everyone is. I am looking forward to it!!

Marking Strategy 1. Consumer Analysis

I will implement what I have learned from this chapter into my future business plan, which is a web/graphic design studio.

Seven-Part Process of Marketing Strategy

1. Consumer Analysis

2. Market Analysis

3. Review of the competition and Self

4. Review of the Distribution Channels

5. Development of a “Preliminary” Marketing Mix

6. Evaluation of the Economics

7. Revision and Extension of Steps 1-6 until a consistent plan emerges

Consumer Analysis

What is the need category? Who needs us and why?

Every business needs packaging design and a website to promote their product.

Because:

1. Consumers buy a product a lot of time because of its graphic design better than its function.

2. Consumers willing to pay more on a better looking product.

3. Consumers now search the web for business instead of looking through yellow page.

4. Consumers spend more time searching and comparing a product on the Internet before they leave home to buy.

Is the product a high- or low-involvement product?

I will consider doing a graphic/website design a low-involvement product because it is not really necessary to the product, but! I believe it will help the business somehow, at least it helps catching consumer’s attention at the beginning.

Do I intend to segment the market? Why? How?

Geographic - Bay area (locally serve)

Demographic - 35-60 years old, own personal business, Asian business owner

Psychographic- People who exposed to Internet more often, or more aggressive on advertisement.

Behavioral- going to own a business, or a business owner who has no branding system and a website yet.

My ethical challenge

For a start up company, every spending has to be critical.
For myself, who want to own a design studio, using design programs such as Adobe products will be a must. However, every design program would cost more than I can afford.
So, my ethical challenge will be "copyright."

Nowadays, free downloading is readily available along with the Internet penetration. Less and less people buy CD album at the store because they can download the whole album on the Internet for free. I will definitely face the same situation that my design work might be copied once I put it on public.

One hand I want to keep the cost down, another hand I want my work get payed.
How do I make it work? hard hard hard......