Apple vs Microsoft

Microsoft's Current Enterprise Value= $1,249,448,400
$18.00 X 69,413,800

Apple's Current Enterprise Value= $2,442,354,240
$91.20 X 26,780,200

Apple's current enterprise value is 195.47% greater than Microsoft's.

Social Interactions 1 & 2

Last week I made an attempt to apply the three strategies from “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” The first attempt went fairly well although I did not reap any benefit. Last Wednesday I was in Panera Bread getting lunch with a couple of my teammates and I noticed the cashier had made her own name tag. As I approached the register I greeted Summer with a hello and a big smile. She was not making eye contact at the time in which I said her name, but as I continued the conversation. I began asking questions like how she liked working there or if she was in college. She slowly looked up in amazement as to why I was asking her these personal questions. But she had asked if I knew her from somewhere and I explained that I noticed her name tag was designed to incorporate the theme of summer like her name. She started to smile and enlightened me to the fact that I was the first person to ever ask about her name tag and how her day was going. At the end of our conversation she wished my team good luck during our season and to have a good day. Overall it was a pleasant experience. (First Assigned Attempt)

This week I made another attempt to apply the three steps incorporated in “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Unlike the first attempt I received a 10 % off discount of my total bill at Lil Abners. This interaction was a lot more in depth because the atmosphere was laid back and we had mutual knowledge of the same things. As I entered the store I walked passed the cashier and said hello. I began to get the items in which I wanted and came back to the front to then pay for them. As I approached the counter I smiled and asked how his day was and then followed up with asking what’s his name and gave mine in return. Before even ringing me up he noticed I went to UMBC and started to ask various questions about how we were doing in basketball, and if I liked the school. I noticed that not only was I asking questions and getting personal he was doing the same. So by the end of our conversation he rang up the items in which I brought to the front and gave me a 10 % off discount. Therefore, I plan on having a personal interaction with Dave every time I enter Lil Abners in hope of the benefits. (Second Assigned Attempt)

Enterprise Value

Apple Enterprise Value (1980) :

$ 54,215,332 x $ 22= $1,192,737,304
$ 1,192,737,304 - $9,353,870= $1,202,091,174

Total Enterprise Value : $ 1,202,091,174


Microsoft Enterprise Value (1986):

3,095,000 shares x $22.00 per share= $68,090,000

Total Enterprise Value: $68,090,000

Apple's Enterprise value was approximately 1,700% greater than Microsoft's at the time of its initial public offering.

Cell Phone Interaction

The person I approached and interviewed for the cell phone assignment was a girl named Nicole, who is one of my close friends from home. She has the iPhone 3G from AT&T. Nicole explained to me that she uses her phone for basically everything.

Nicole continued to explain that she would not be able to get through her day without her cell phone because she religiously checks her email, IM’s her close friends, and navigates her way through the city with the GPS system. After speaking with Nicole I found it very odd how one piece of technology could be so important for one person to have.

Based off the technological device in which Nicole uses I would say she is between an innovator and the early adopters. I say this because Apple has made major improvements to their technology and she uses it for any and everything. She expressed how impressed she was with her boyfriends iPhone that she just needed to have one for herself. Which led me to asking if she could have any other phone regardless of cost she immediately said she would never alter from the iPhone 3G.

Here's my PP Slide :

Entrepreneurship in America

Moguls and tycoons, they are people that have built empires from their businesses and thrived. They are the envy of the common folk, but as per the definition of entrepreneur: they take great risk for the potential of great reward. They are only humans and they have their own faults and weaknesses. Entrepreneurs were not necessarily born great, but achieved greatness through their business savvy and the indomitable entrepreneurial fortitude. They all had their fair share of trials and tribulations that they needed to overcome. Entrepreneurs are a financial inspiration for the rest of us and their methods are simply incalculable regarding wealth and success.
For anyone involved in athletics, you know that perspiration can be the depths of despair. Kevin Plank’s unremarkable career as a college football player hardly ranks him with the greats of the network. But Under Armour, a vivid idea emerging during his days as a walk-on fullback at the University of Maryland, has taken Plank, 31, to the promise land in the sports apparel industry.
Plank set out to capitalize on the perspiration that goes hand-in-hand with sports by creating clothing that wouldn’t become saturated with body sweat. After playing fullback for the Terrapins, Plank knew what just about any other athlete knows… equipment, clothing, and shoes reek after several intense games.
Under Armour was started with a twenty thousand dollar budget, and a lot of groundwork. The company never spent money on print or media advertising, but instead, relied on word of mouth. They passed out samples of their clothing to football players from Georgia Tech. The players fell in love with it almost instantly, and Under Armour received it’s first order… for $15,000.00. Still relying on word of mouth advertising, fledgling this business into the limelight needed a great breakthrough.
Pure word of mouth. UA's marketing misses the mark with anyone here, When you find something that allows you to do the activities you really love without dealing with crappie gear, you tell your friends. In fact the company snuck up on the industry. It's not really revolutionary and I would argue that it's not well branded, but the products work really, really well. Perhaps under the radar a little bit, but certainly benefiting from the explosive growth of organized youth sports, both team and individual, as well as the increasing number of young people who are regularly exercising and working out, you might not think of Under Armour, unless you visited a high school gym lately, because they are everywhere. Now, after creating this new category niche of apparel in the performance space and forcing top behemoth competitors like Nike and Adidas to innovate quickly and bring a similar product link to market, Under Armour has set its sights on the other gender, and my prediction is that they will succeed. Why? For the same reasons they have been wildly successful targeting high school and college aged men who participate in organized sports or regularly work out. Guess what, the girls are doing the same thing, and in some cases, even more so. Plank no longer has one set target market for his product because both male and female desire to exercise in apparel well suited to their fondness and sport.
Furthermore, I do not feel like the concept “targeting the point of attack” fits entirely into Under Armours image. Yes, at one point it was directly specified to a specific target market, but Plank and his colleagues have realized they can no longer can “divide the universe of possible customers” because there is no remaining market segment.
After a weekly lunch visit, Kevin Plank received a call asking if he could make the shirts long-sleeved as well. Kevin, without an advertising budget, nor a well-recognized brand made his first sale to the Atlanta Falcons. Well known connections between the Falcons and Georgia Tech led to Planks success receiving orders of hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise from professional sports teams and apparel shops all over the world. Under Armour therefore established a firm grasp on the industry by signing contracts to provide athletic apparel to all major pro sports, and most college sporting programs as well.
I admire Plank due to the fact that he was able to identify a void that lurked within the sports world, and was able to accomplish his thoughts and ideas through simple self motivation and the desire to work for himself. He was quoted by Claire Koehler in an article stating, “"If you want to do something, you need to practice it and you need to have confidence and the know-how to realize what it takes to start a business.”
Dale Carnegie author of How to Win Friends & Influence People mentioned precise fundamental techniques in handling people amongst business and personal lives. One principle in which Plank seemed to achieve very well was the fact that he was able to arouse an eager want in other people. Initially, Plank felt that his game apparel was not of high quality and further pursued a better fitting material for game day. Once he realized his invention was merely brilliant he became a huge advocator for his design. Plank showed great interest in his product and advised others that they too should be fascinated by the performance in which it held up in game days. Enabling others to see the enchantment behind a specific product allows them to think there is nothing better on the market then that exact development, and Plank did just that!
Although our life stories do not exactly fit the mold of one another, we have some qualities in which I can relate to. Being an athlete myself I have internal motivation that allows me to strive for what I want and the fear of failing has never been an issue. Plank, like myself did not always succeed on the first attempt, but the never ending fight to accomplish what we had started out for is something that one needs to excel amongst intense competition. As a result, Planks achievements are an outcome of his hard work and leadership in bringing Under Armour to the forefront of the apparel industry. Furthermore, I too wear Under Armour sporting apparel from the T-shirts to the socks. Purchasing a product from a former athlete gives me liberation knowing that he can relate to what I experience on the playing field during those intense nail biting games.


Sources:
Crossing the Chasm pg. 89
How to Win Friends and Influence People pg. 50

Clip Analyzing

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gq-qex3fwSI

Television now days have grew to be very controversial with major representations in certain areas such as race, gender, and social class. My semester topic, CSI: Miami is overflowing with stereotypes in which labeling specific groups and certain individuals have been taken to the next level. I found that every episode has pushed the issue of classifying folks whether it is from the clothes they are wearing or to the cars they are driving. The clip that I have chosen depicts the various issues we have been discussing, and is the perfect episode to see the vast differences in society and how producers hide their message with a simple play by play.

When the video begins there is a shot of the Miami Beach line, and then it skips to females playing volleyball on the sand. As it continues, the camera scans the audience toward young, white, beautiful, females in their bikinis. Meanwhile, the producers made it a point to show you who were playing on the sand, but no other then the famous female duo of Walsh and May. Finally, it shows Detective Eric Delko and one of his co-workers walking along side the game when just so happens Walsh dives for a ball and notices a dead body buried in the sand. Seeing that there was an issue Delko called Horatio (the head detective) and reported the incident, as the day continued the crime scene investigators arrived and continued to do their job. The video concludes with Delko finding evidence and Alexx Woods (the coroner) examining the body.

Continuing on and with that being said, I will carry on by discussing the overt message of the actual clip. Within every television show there is always a message that the producer is trying to get across, whether it is blatant or hidden. Seeing how the show starts out by showing a volleyball tournament being held in Florida, it only correlates to the fact that around the same time that this show was being aired, Misty May and Kari Walsh were competing in an actual competition down south as well. I feel that the two women were aired in this specific episode is due to publicity on their behalf and wanting some sort of media coverage. The clip also consists of the same set up as summer vacation targeted toward young college kids. As for hidden messages I would say that there were many “advertisements” for various products from scene to scene. For example, there were the Wilson sporting goods, Speedo, Nautica, Chanel, and finally the Blackberry telephone. If I was a third party and did not look deeper into the fact that there are subliminal messages throughout the episode I would not truly notice the fact that companies advertise their product within other cultural viewings.

Besides the fact that there are hidden products there are also stereotypes that are being portrayed in the show as well. I say this because the dancers that were on the stage consisted of majority African American females and Hispanic beauties, where as the white, athletic women were on the sand playing volleyball. Then there is the scene were Delko gets into a confrontation with a young, athletic, male who acts immature, like most college males. I feel that the producer was trying to use him as a demonstration as to how most summer males act with the opposite sex. Furthermore, the age stereotype came into play when Delko and the other officers were wearing nice suits and covered head to toe in clothing, revealing no part of their body. On the other hand, the young women that held a conversation with officer Delko seemed to be very young and only wearing a bikini top and shorts. The elders were portrayed to be much more sophisticated then the younger crowd who only wanted to have a good time. In conclusion, I do feel that the stereotyping is intentional because the producers always have an objective and a point to get across, and obviously they wanted to have each character do what they do for a reason. In some ways I do find the clip very offensive because I do not feel that certain groups should be singled out for their race or ethnicity.

Therefore, when analyzing this clip I took into effect what John Storey was saying about the West Coast counterculture. At that time in society middle class cultural groupings – hippies, yippies, freaks, heads, flower children, student radicals, etc attempted to created an alternative society, almost exactly what college kids and teens are attempting to do as well. For the simple fact that in today’s society there are distinct groups such as jocks, rockers, Goths, geeks, bandies, and preps. Many people are classified under different grouping but they all have one thing in common, the age difference from there parents in which they pride themselves for. So no matter how someone is classified everyone has one thing in common with one another.

All in all, I feel that producers and advertisers alike should try not to single out any specific groups when filming an episode or endorsing a product, because everyone sees the true meaning behind what they are doing.