Reflection on Chapter 4: Creating a Strategy

A strategy can be viewed as a plan that integrates a firm's goals and actions into a cohesive whole that draws effectively on its resources and capabilities.
To form a strategy, you must know your goal, analyze the market, develop SWOT analysis.

S: one's strength
W: one's weakness
O: Opportunity to act your mission and goal
T: Treats in its competitive environment

There is a Chinese sentence: 知己知彼, 百戰百勝
The concept is the same, to know your competitors as well as yourself, and win always.
So, before plan a strategy, study yourself and your enemy is the way to victor. 


A good strategy design can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage.

Reflection Chap 5

This chapter focus on Innovation, which is a change in the thought process for doing something, or the useful application of new inventions or discoveries

How do we innovate? The book says: Creativity leads to invention and thus to innovation.
Creative thinking is a core competency of most new ventures, and entrepreneurs strive to have creative people on their team.
This concept reminds me of Apple Inc, which is the World's Number One Innovative Company, three years in a row according to BusinessWeek's 2007 list of the world's 50 most innovative companies. And iPod driving Apple to Number One Innovative Company. IPod combines outstanding design, easy-to-use interface, superb performance, and an experience like no other.

When we say Innovative product, it must has produced economic value in the marketplace, or it is just a piece of product in the shopping mall. So how do we know the market demand? What's the sources of innovation? Besides research laboratories, universities, and independent inventors, ultimate customer is another possibly important source.  
Developing an understanding of what customers value may be a far more useful exercise than merely asking them to submit their own solutions. The process of innovation begins with identifying the outcomes customers want to achieve; it ends in the creation of items they will buy.


Here are elements of an attractive innovation strategy:
1. Well-defined customer
2. Key customer benefit that is measurable in dollars
3. Short period until economic payback and positive cash flow
4. High benefit-to-price ratio for he customer
5. Proprietary advantage that can be maintained or defended
6. Core competencies required to exploit the new technology are present or available to the new venture
7. Access to the necessary resources

personnel strategic planning

Vision:
Experience the beauty, and the difference of the world

Mission:
Travel around the world

SWOC:
Strength: Personality (Passion, brave and open mind), friends from different countries
Weakness: Financial burden, poor-time
Opportunity: Study abroad, work oversea.
Challenge: family, culture, physical issue.

Strategies:
1. Make friends from all over the world (either online, or through friend)
2. Study different country's culture (by reading a book, or watch travel TV show)
3. Work at the field (Flight attendant, or in travel agency)
4. Regular Exercise to keep self flexible.

Week 11

I have been curious about PR, about what they do and what their importance in a corporation.

So I talked to my new PR and here is what I learn from her:

The first thing a PR do is brainstorming, and then write out working schedule.

Working schedule includes two major things: Logistic and Media.

Event logistic means contacting with third party when there is a conference event. Including reserve an event place, table and stage set up, music setting, event performance...PR has to make sure the product presents in the best state.

Media is another part that PR needs to handle. PR will write the press release, they work with media, however, they are not journalist.

After everything has been listed out, manpower planning is the next step.

Usually the whole project takes one month or less.

Besides product event planning, enhancing corporate image is another job a PR handles. This can be divided into two part: external communication and internal communication.

A role a PR plays is like a bridge between employer and employee and all the stakeholders. A good PR will smooth the relationships among the corporate, and make the corporate image stronger as well.

For our newspaper, News for Chinese, the first thing she does is to enhance the visibility in bay area. She tries to let as many people know about our newspaper as possible. She organized several activities for readers to participate and tried to expose in every media gathering.

In this talk, she is confidence and clear what she is doing. I believe her experience and ability will bring our newspaper to a different level.

Week 10

There is one specific page that is one of our reader's favorite, which is restaurant review. Usually I will contact with the restaurant owner and go to the store with our reporter and try the food. This is one of my favorite time because I get to try the best dish that the chef makes for us to report.

Usually those restaurant will end up putting advertisement in our newspaper.

I found out that if the restaurant has been reported, the business grows up a lot. It is like a product is been proven by an expert. The chance people read the report and visit the restaurant is really high. I personally like to read restaurant review because it usually comes pictures and their commend on the food. I think this is really a smart way to promote their restaurant and our newspaper as well.

week 9

From this month, our PR person proposes a project.

The purpose is to increase the interaction between the readers, customer and the newspaper.

We will organize an activity every month and open to the readers to participate.

This way, our customer will have chance to promote their business directly to the reader, and the reader will have direct information from our customer.

I think it is a good idea to promote our newspaper and our customer's business as well. Really impressive work!!

Week 8

Our newspaper has being published for about one and a half year, and we are going to remodel our website. Today our IT person came to the office and we had a talk.

I will be the one design the website layout and he will take care of the coding part.

I am really excited because this website is going to be popular if we well promote it through our newspaper.

For inspiration, I visit many websites. TW Yahoo is my favorite because it is full of information, however it is not complicated and messy. User friendly and clear navigation is the key.