Boom for online fashion firm ASOS

a. Possible reasons for the success of ASOS.

I think this business is successful because

they have unique selling point. It is really

good idea to sell clothes of designs worn by celebrities

because demand for them is really high. Also this business

has really good advertisement because everybody can see

this clothes on celebrities and they can pay any amount of

money just to have clothes of their idol. Another possible

reason for the success of ASOS is that this business in a

niche market so there are not a lot of competitors.

b. Who the main competitors are?

The main competitors of this business might be famous

brands such as D&G, Versace, Gucci, Louis Vuitton etc.

Some celebrities prefer to buy their clothes from this brands

so they might be the main competitors.

c. Strengths/weaknesses of their products.

The main strengths of this business that they have

advertisement from celebrities and it is quite cheap clothes.

Also you can buy it on Internet. Weaknesses might be

that it will be hard to get clothes and get exactly right

sizes.

d. What steps can they take to ensure continued success?

I think they should advertise it more all over the Internet,

maybe give some discounts and organise sales.

Evaluations

1. "Add an 'I'm NOT Feeling Lucky' button to Google
that would automatically take users to a random
webpage that would NOT be the topmost return for
their query. This option would complement the 'I'm
Feeling Lucky' button, giving the search process a
creative twist." - would this be popular? Would this
increase Google's revenue?

I think that it is a good idea. People will more often visit
sites that they usually not visit. It is a good advertisement
for sites with poor popularity. The main weakness is that
it might be not so popular. People mighy think that it is
just for advertisement.

2. "Introduce mugs and cups with special sensors that
would give a voice alert like 'This is your third coffee
today', 'Your coffee is getting cold', 'I am empty; refill
me if you want', and so on." - would these sell well at
Christmas?

This product might be really popular especially at
Christmas Time. It is such a good present and very
nice souvenir. I think the only weakness of this
product is that it can be sold only at Christmas times,
New year etc.

3. "Insist that, instead of giving extra money to people
to help pay for fuel bills, the UK Government gives
everyone a voucher with which they could purchase
a good quality sweater/pullover or blanket. This
would encourage people to think about putting their
central heating on - thus reducing the size of fuel bills
and carbon footprints alike." - would this work/be popular?

I don't think that it is a good idea. People anyway will need
fuel and a good quality sweater/pullover or blanket can't
be close substitutes for fuel. I don't think that people will
use less fuel because they have sweater.

4. Is this a product extension strategy: "Make all car
windshields out of photochromic glass that darkens to
a moderate sunglass tint when exposed to sunlight.
This innovation would improve driver comfort and
safety, especially when traveling into the blinding
glare of a rising or setting sun."

I think it is brilliant idea. Usually people use
sunglasses to protect their eyes from the blinding
glare of a rising or setting sun but it will be more
comfortable if cars have that kind of windshields.
I don't see any weaknesses. That is great idea.

5. "Create a website where people could submit
tunes or songs native to their country/culture
that are unlikely to have been heard by people
around the world. The site would be easy to use,
allowing people of any age to easily grasp the
concept of uploading content or even recording
it directly using the website" Is this a viable business
idea?

I don't think that it is a good business idea. There are
lots of weaknesses. First of all I don't think that a lot of
people will use this site. Also there are a lot of
competitors.

6. "Produce CDs that sit in the CD player of rental
cars so that, when a new driver gets in, the CD can
tell them about the car, the local area, driving laws,
etc. It could also feature advertising for local businesses.
" Would you invest in this product idea?

That will be a good idea. I think it will be really
useful for tourists so they will know everything
about new city, laws, local shops and restaurants.
The main weakness of this idea is that it can be
successfully sold only in famous cities and tourists
might prefer special booklets.

Christmas sites!

I have looked up to the several sites about
Christmas. As we everybody know Christmas
time is really soon and everybody start to think
about Christmas presents. We should buy presents
for parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters and
of course for our lovely teachers! =) That is what this
sites about.

There are a lot of advises about what presents we
should give to teachers and what presents we shouldn’t.
For example, last year a lot of students gave to teacher
candles, sweets, pillowcases etc. Also in south-east London
one teacher received a Victoriana cat-in-a-basket
ornament from six different pupils on the same day.
That is a record!

So that it is not really good to give the
same presents to teacher and these sites help to find
really good ideas about presents. One of these sites
(http://www.christmasrants.com/) has a lot of links to another
Christmas sites where we can find lots of information
about Christmas which is really useful. People can buy
some presents and other things for Christmas such as
Christmas tree, cards on the Internet. All of these sites
encourage people to buy presents.

Charity vending machine

Concept: Most machines offer a product in return
for inserting money. This one offers nothing except
a feeling of contribution as you have donated that
money to one of the nominated charities on the
"vending" machine. A variation of this machine is
that you buy an item and have the option of donating
your change to a charity of your choice from the options
available.

I think the main strength of this idea is that people
always use vending machines because they are
available everywhere. Also they can easily donate
money to charity while they are buying some drinks
or snacks. So as I said before vending machines can
be located everywhere. That is another strength.
They can be located in schools, universities, offices etc.
I can't see any serious weaknesses. Maybe only that
not everyone would like to donate money for charity.

Discussion....New business idea =)

As we were discussing the previous Kirill's idea
about service in restaurants we thought about
new business idea which is actually connects with
the previous one. One of the most hardest business
is to start up restaurant business. There are a lot of
problems such as competitors, staffs, location etc.
We should have brand new idea to attract customers.
The first idea is to set up `Healthy Fast Food` cafe
such as McDonald's or Subway. The main strength
of this idea is that every food or products will be
healthy and also will include organic products such
as vegetables, fruits etc. Also it will be `fast food`
which is good for office workers, students because
service is really fast and cheap.
As I said before this idea connects with the previous one.
In this cafe we can put that slogans on the table so
customers will decide to pay or not to pay for service.
Actually they will pat if they like service.
Weaknesses are:

• staff
• location

Evaluating of Kirill's idea

First of all I'd like to explain his idea
because as I know a lot of people didn't
understand what it is about.
As we everybody know when we go to
the cafe or restaurant we should pay some
amount of money to waiters (usually it
is 10% of the bill) for their service.
Sometimes in some restaurants service
is not good enough. So we don't want to pay
for service because we don't enjoy it but we don't
have any choice because the bill is include
money for service. In this situation customers
start to feel presure and disappointment as
Kirill does in "Dong Dong" cafe.
So the main idea is to do not make any pressure
to customers and to take money from them by
another way. Kirill counted that in local pubs
and restaurants waiters and barmens gets
approximately 1.5 pounds for service per each
customer. In restaurants or in pubs on the tables
should be some kind of slogans where it will be
written: `We are happy to see your gratitude
for our service that you will leave on the table`.

I think that the main strengths of this idea is that
customers don't feel any pressure. They can decide
by theiselves if they want to pay for service or not.
Weakness of this idea is that some customers
may not like service so therefore they will not pay
for it. Restaurants should have qualified staff who
will be nice and kind with customers so maybe
restaurants should train staffs or motivate them.

It's an emergency. Long-term cures must wait

I've read an article about current credit crunch.
Anatole Kaletsky presents the credit crunch
as one kind of illness of the world economy like
cancer. He was talking about the main reasons
of this `cancer` and ways of solutions.

The main reasons of this credit crunch is excessive
borrowing, property speculation and reckless and
dishonest banking practices. Another cause of
this credit cancer was the global imbalance between
exuberant consumption and house-price speculation in
America, Britain, Spain, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe,
on one hand, and excessive saving and austerity, on the
other, in China, Germany and Japan.

Because of this problems required consumers in the US
and Britain to spend and borrow less, while the surplus
countries invested and spent more. Govenment must
support and subsidise banks to make eaier conditions
for people to borrow and spend money. They should do
everything to encourage consumption.

The best way to do it is to cut interest rates and taxes,
especially taxes on consumption and on lower income
households. As Mr.King said policymakers all over the
world must be willing to cut interest rates to levels never
imagined before. If it is necessary to cut it to the zero point.

If interest rates will be near to zero and taxes will be cut for
a big amount then probably in the middle of next year recovery
of the world economic system will begin. It will start in
America and China, spreading to Britain and eventually reaching
continental Europe in 2010.

Barclayloan for Business

I want to describe a loan scheme of one

of the UK's bank which is called Barclays.

I think everybody know this bank because

it is quite famous.

So the main idea of this scheme is that

with loan from £1,000 to £1,000,000,

you can use a Barclayloan for business to

finance a wide range of general business needs

from buying equipment and machinery to funding

your working capital requirements. Barclay promises

a quick decision and fast access ti the money.

For loans up to £25,000 you can borrow for up to

10 years and benefit from fixed monthly payments

so you know just what it is costing your business.

An optional 12-month repayment holiday and no early

repayment fees gives you even more breathing space.

If your business needs to borrow more than £25,000

you can borrow for terms up to 20 years with a choice

of fixed or variable interest rates and an optional

two-year upfront repayment holiday.

90 Second Dual Pizza Oven

Concept: One of the mantras of successful small
initiatives is to `do it faster` than your competitors.
This is 1440-watt high speed pizza oven certainly
fits that criterion.

Strengths:

• 15 times faster than traditional ovens
• High quality pizza
• It is new idea

Weaknesses:

• High price
• Competitors. There are a lot of ovens which are cheaper than this one.

About universities

I think it is time for all A-level students to think which

university we want to study in. Of course everybody

want to study in the best universities such as Oxford

university, Cambridge university, LSE or Imperial

College but there are a lot of things that we should

do before applying to univrsities.

First of all we should think about our subject combinations

because there are some subjects that were blacklisted by

TOP universities.

As we can read in newspapers "soft" sublects are accounting;

art and design, business studies; critical thinking;

communication studies; dance; design and technology,

drama/ theatre studies; film/ media/ TV studies; health and
social care; home economics; information and communication

technology; leisure studies; music technology; performance

studies; performing arts; photography; physical education;

sports studies; travel and tourism; business and management;

IT in a global society, theatre arts; visual arts.

So TOP universities prefer pure subjects such as Mathematics,

Further Mathematics, Economics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics

etc.

I have looked at LSE website and this is what they tell about it.

`The School considers not only the subjects offered by applicants

at A level (A2) and AS level, but also the combination of them.

The School generally prefers certain subjects because it considers

they are more likely to serve as effective preparation for studying

at LSE. Admissions Tutors will normally consider one of the subjects

listed below only if it is offered in combination with subjects that are

not included in the list. For example, Mathematics, French and

Economics would be a suitable combination for almost any of our

degrees. Mathematics, French and Business would be acceptable,

but we would prefer the first example. On the other hand,

Mathematics, Accounting and Media Studies would not normally

be considered as suitable as this combination includes two subjects

on the list. You should also note that we are less concerned with subject

combinations at AS level.`

Sunscreen vending machines

Concept:
If situated near a popular beach, this automated
sunscreen and tanning mist vending machine/booth
should do extremely well.

Strengths:

• People don't need to take their bottles of suncare cream and they will use this machine.


• Can locate near to famous beaches, golf clubs, hotels etc.


• It doesn't need any staff


• It is easy to use vending machine


• Early adopter. It is a new idea

Weaknesses:

• Quality of product. There are different types of suncare creams and people may prefer their own creams.


• It is not cheap. For example in the beach people need to use cream not just once. They will need it immediately after swimming. So they will use it at least 4-5 times therefore it is not as cheap as buying a bottle of suncare cream.

Cadbury's gorilla

Cadbury's gorilla becomes one of the most
famous advertisements in the UK.
I think that it is really nice advertisement
which I will definetely watch and interested in it.
So what makes this video so famous?
First of all I think it is really good
idea to make gorilla as a main character. He looks
like real one and everything especially his face
and eyes looks like real gorilla's.
The second thing that makes this advertisement
so famous is the music. Last year's soundtrack
was In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins, the reworked
version features Bonnie Tyler's classic 1980s hit
Total Eclipse of the Heart.
However even ifhis advertisement was really famous
it doesn't affected on Cadbury's sales because
Cadbury's is quite famous.
The original advertisement won the Film Grand
Prix at the prestigious Cannes Lions International
Advertising Festival in June.

My website!

I've created my first website =)
http://aidana.synthasite.com/

Ice Cream Vending Machine

Concept: A clever Massachusetts firm have created

an ice-cream vending machine capable of offering up

to 12 flavours and 6 mix-ins at once. Yum.

Strengths:

• Can locate anywhere


• Good quality of a product


• A lot of flavours of ice-creams


• Natural ingridients


• Cheap


• Don't need any staff

Weaknesses:

• I don't see any weaknesses. I think it is such a good idea!

Mohamed El-Erian

Mohamed El-Erian was born in 1958. He is a
famous economist. He got bachelor's and master's
degrees in Cambridge University and a second
master's and doctorate from Oxford University in
England. He speaks in Arabic, French and English
languages.

He heads up Harvard University’s $30 billion
endowment and also he is co-CEO of The Pacific
Investment Management Company (PIMCO).
PIMCO is one of the leading global investment
management firms, with over $500 billion of
assets under management.

He joined PIMCO in May 1999, after working
at Salomon Smith Barney/Citibank in London,
where he was a managing director. El-Erian
also has worked with the IMF for 15 years,
having joined the institution in 1983 through the
"Economist Program."

El-Erian was a subject of important newspaper
articles such as Barron's, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek,
Dow Jones Newswire, Euromoney, Fortune, Latin
Finance, and the Wall Street Journal.

Also Mohamed El-Erian is a member of the International

Center for Research on Women, the Peterson Institute

for International Economics, the US Threasury Borrowing

Advisory Committee, the International Monetary Fund's

Capital Markets Consultative Group and a lot of another

organisations.

Now I would like to talk about the famous book which
is called `When markets collide` written by Mohamed
El-Erian. This book was published in May of 2008.
The main idea of this book is that we can see significant
changes in the structure and flow of global capital markets
and that investors should know if they are to be successful.
Mohamed El-Erian gives in this book quite important
advices such as how to explain the markets, benefit from
global economic change and navigate the risks. This book
is the best book for investors and policy makers around
the world.

In this book Mohamed El-Erian presents some imortants

ideas such as emerging markets are seeing increased internal

demand and its growth leads to higher inflationary pressure

for the U.S., and the ideal allocations to U.S. equities

are diminishing.

Mohamed El-Erian is world's leading economists and his works

are vry important in economics.

Yes, my Mind Manager is working now! Thanks, Dimaaaaauuunt))

Hair StraightnerVending Machine

Concept: One innovative UK company has released a form

of vending machine tahat allows (predominantly women?)

users to straighten unruly hair with the device. Perfect for

women's bathrooms everywhere.

Strengths:

• New idea
• Very useful for women especially in clubs, restaurants etc.
• Can locate anywhere: gym, clubs, restaurants etc.

Weaknesses:

• Quality of machine

iPod Vending Machine

Concept: A company specializing in "automated retailing" now offers iPods through vending machines. They also sell Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, digital camera and other electronic products via sophisticated vending machines.

Strengths:

• We don't need staff


• Can located in big stores


• Easier to use it

Weaknesses:

• Cost of machines

Binge drinking

a) How does binge drinking represent a market failure?

Drinking is a demerit good because it has negative effect

on your health also drinking can be negative externality.

It means that drinking has negative effect on third parties

as well. For example if somebody gets really drunk they will

do something very bad such as murder, theft etc.

As we know negative externality and demerit goods cause

market failure.

b) What are the new proposals?

The government wants to ban free drinks for women also

they want to put particular alcohol messages on each

table where alcohol is sold and pubs' staff should be trained

according to new regulations

c) To what extent do you believe any one, or the combined proposals,

are likely to be successful?

I think that banning free drinks for women is not a good idea.

If government ban free drinks people will buy them but anyway

it will not solve the problem because people are addicted.

Training staff should help to this problem. If people get drunk

they will persuade them to do not drink anymore or something

like that.

The last proposal is to put special message about alcohol on

each table. I think it will not help at all. Everybody see

the same message on cigarettes but they still buy it. The

same situation with alcohol. I think people will not pay any

attention on this messages.

Electronic cigarettes

a) What is the information failure in the electronic cigarette market?

At first we should know what does information failure mean.

Information failure is a type of marker failure when consumer or

producer has wrong information about product such as quality,

negative or positive effect of a product, demand on product etc.

Producers of this cigarettes says that this product absolutely

safe and it will not affect on health of smokers but specialists

in The World Health Organisation said that this information can't

be true because it wasn't tested and proved.

So the main problem of this electronic cigarettes is a lack of

information about external costs or benefits.

b) Does this represent asymmetric information in the market?

Asymmetric information is another type of market failure.

It happens when a part of consumers or traders have

more correct information than the others.

In this case electronic cigarettes can be assymetric information

in the market because consumers don't know real information

about this product but producers definetly know more.

c) What is the outcome in the free market of this information failure?

People buy this product because they think it will help them to stop

smoking usual cigarettes and also they think that electronic cigarettes

are less harmful then usual cigarettes. Smokers can smoke electronic

cigarettes in public places because it is not against the law.

So that is why demand on electronic cigarettes is high even if price is

high as well. If The World Health Organisation test it and find something

dangerous for health demand for this product will be lower.

d) What actions could government take to reduce/eliminate the market failure?

I think that government should test every new products such as electronic

cigarettes and it will not be an information failure.

Also they can ban smoking any types of cigarettes in public places.

Negative externality in China

About 450 people have fallen ill in southern China after

drinking contaminated water. Industrial waste from a

metal company has been blamed. Water included really

dangerous element such as arsenic. (BBC News)

a) Explain why the people falling sick is an example of a

negative externality?

Well, negative externality is a negative effect on third parties.

People who live near to that factory are third parties.

Factory produce something and they pollute water

and it affects to people who live in that village.

So thats why it is an example of negative externalities.

b) Suggest 2 courses of action the government could

take to try and reduce the possibility of such an incident

happening again.

I think that government should create special committee

that will check and fine if they will pollute environment.

The other way is to put really big tax on that factories

and spend this money to clean water.

Also they should make them to build new filtres which

will clean all dangerous things.

Smoking as a Market Failure.

First of all I'd like to talk about article about smoking

problem in the UK.

It says that smoking costs to NHS billions. Only in this

year it costs £2.7 bn compared with £1.7 bn a decade ago.

It is really huge government spending and the government

is trying to control smoking.

The first way of controlling smoking is to putting tobacco

products under the counter so customers can't see cigarettes.

I think that it is a good idea because the first thing that

customers see is a lot of cigarettes next to a seller and

of course it is remaind them about smoking. So I think

it will help.

The second way is to removing branding and logos from

all tobacco packaging. Young people prefer to buy cigarettes

with beautiful packaging with different colours and with words

such as `smooth` etc. They think that this cigarettes

are less harmful. So maybe if government band all logos and

branding it will help to decrease number of smokers.

The third way is to band all cigarette vending machines

It is really good idea because it is easier to use vending

machines and everyone will buy it also they are everywhere.

So why smoking is a market failure? At first we know that

smoking is a negative externality because it has negative

effect on third parties.

Also cigarettes are demerit good because it has negative

effect on your health. The main problem is that we can't

measure this negative effect and can't include it in price of

this good.

a) What is the economic argument for banning smoking in

public places?

As I said before smoking is a negative externality thus it

effects on third parties. For example if I'm non-smoker

and I stay with somebody who smokes it will affect on me too.

b) To what extent do you think a £50 fine for being caught

will reduce the market failure?

Well I think it will help because people will not smoke in

public place rather than pay £50 fine. Of course it will not

refund externel cost that society pay for this negative effect

but still it's better than nothing.

Fully Retractable Umbrella

Concept: The Lotus 23 is a self-cleaning (think rainy water), fully-retractable umbrella with flexible ribs that allow it ton flow with the wind. It is also cheaper to manufacture and move durable than a conventional umbrella.

Strengths:

• This product solves every problems that normal umbrella has.
• It is cheaper than normal umbrella
• High technology
• New idea

Weaknesses:

• Competitors

Portable Espresso Maker

Concept: From the ever-expanding world of high-tech camping equipment comes the Handpresso Wild, a lightweight espresso maker that only requires hot water in order to work.

Strenghts:

• Portable
• Early adopter
• Can buy on internet
• Can sell accesorises with the main product

Weaknesses:

• Price
• Quality of coffee

Credit Crunch

Nowadays we can often hear about credit crunch.
This is the main problem of our time.
So at first we should understand what does "credit crunch"
mean. Credit crunch is an economic condition in which
it is difficult to get investment capital. Banks and investors
become wary of lending funds to corporations, which drives
up the price of debt products for borrowers.
So the main reason of credit crunch is collapsing of
housemarkets. Few years ago prices for houses was really
high. Then started overbuilding during boom period. It means
that there were built a lot of new houses which weren't so
necessary. 
After that housing bubble was burst. When houses were so
expensive it was useful for banks. People gave their houses
if they couldn't pay back money that they borrowed. So
banks sold their houses and made profit from it.
After the decline of house prices it was impossible to
refinance mortgages.  It was affect on the situation in
banks because they started to loss. Thus bank capital
levels reduced.  It caused to bank failures. This happened
with a lot of banks such as Lehman Brothers, Warchovia,
Washington Mutual.
If banks fail it is harder to get loans and interest rates
for loans are  although higher. So it will affect to the business.
If it is affect to the business so it will be risk of increasing
unemployment, business investment although declines.
So as you can see collapsing of housemarket affected
to the financial market and finally government tryes to
solve this problems by decreasing interest rates to motivate
people to invest their money.

Freakonomics

I've read "Freakonomics" by Steven D.Levitt & Stephen J.Dubner.
It is rally interesting book. It is new vision of economic through
the modern life. There are a lot of unusual question in this book.
For example:

• What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
  
• Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?
• What makes a Perfect Parent?

At the first time we think what is the relationship between this
questions and economics?
Well, this author tryes to tell about economics by the riddles of
everyday life— from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing.
The main idea of this book is how to get something that you need,
even if other people need it as well and it is scarce. They look at
the secret side of every day life.
For example, in Chicago there was a law that the government
will give 25,000$ to a schoolteacher whose pupils will pass
exam with the best results.
Actually, it is good motivation to schoolteachers, but unfortunately,
they started to cheating. So they did everything to get something 
that they need.
So it is quite interesting book. It is a new way of looking to economics.

Night Study...

I'm trying to concentrate and do all my homework untill this morning...
Is it possible? I hope so... As usual my night study co-worker is Mary =)
I should do a lot of homework. Oh, it is so hard. One thing that motivates me is
Mr.Sivewright's news that "will change our life". What is it can be?
I have no idea, but I hope something really interesting =)
Ok, It was just a few minutes break. I will come back to my homeworks!

Organising our work

This is a post about our review work on OCR Economics book. As long as David is not responding on our telephone calls, we (me, Mary and Bibi) have decided to divide all the work by ourselves to start it today. So read carefully, what you need to do:

Me:
Chapter 6: Externalities
Chapter 8: Government intervention and government failure
Chapter 16: The international Economy

Bibi:
Chaptr 3: The nature of supply
Chapter 10: Aggregate demand
Chapter 11: Aggregate supply and macroeconomic equillibrium

Nastya:
Chapter 1: Introducing economics
Chapter 4: Using the demand and supply model
Chapter 9: Measuring economic perfomance

Dima:
Chapter 12: Balance of payments and the exchange rate
Chapter 13: Macroeconomic policy objectives
Chapter 15: Macroeconomic policy instruments

Mary:
Chapter 2: The nature of demand
Chapter 5: Prices, resource allocation and market failure
Chapter 7: Other forms of market failure
Chapter 14: Economic growth

The cover must be designed by any student who studies ICT (Bibi, Mary or Anastasia)

What do you need to do with your chapters:
1. Read it carefully, write a detailed review.
2. A mind map on each chapter
3. Also you should put a vocabulary list on each chapter
4. Don't forget about book reviews!!!

Each of you must read the introduction and two reviews sections in this book. Index will be also useful for you. If you don't have this book, Mary has got one and Anastasia probably has it too.

deadline is Wednesday, by this day you should give your reviews to David and he will check it by Friday.

we meet tomorrow at 11 in new cafeteria. don't be late.

and a little notice in russian:
если опоздаете, вам будет фигово (русская и казахские девушки вас отпинают).

Apologise

I'm trying to be a "good student", but it is difficult!
I was late for class for 4 minutes, I know that it is not
good but everybody sometimes can be late, so do
Mr.Sivewright... I'm realy sorry about that.
Next time I will try to do not late for classes.
And I'm sorry that me and Bibi was doing faces in
window even if Mr.Sivewright asked us to go away...
Sorry that we disturbed all class!
And I want to apologise that I wrote that BAD things
on my profile. I just coppied it from somewhere.
I didn't read it. So sorry. Next time I will be careful
about that... Now I've changed it. I've changed photo
as you can see.
So I hope that I will learn on mistakes that I've done.

Gold/Gemstone Prospectors Store

CONCEPT: A specialized store for amateur/semiprofessional gold or gem prospectors. Many individuals enjoy this pastime as an outdoor hobby and are willing to spend considerable sums on getting the right equipment – dredges, metal detectors, sluices etc. One variation is to set up the business as an online store, possibly within eBay, even as a stepping stone to a ‘real world’ store.

Strengths:

• Quite cheap
• Can buy it on Internet
• Fun

Weaknesses:

• Not a lot of customers. Only people who inerested in this kind of hobby

Old-Fashioned Barber with Cheap Men’s Haircuts

CONCEPT: Men (especially older ones) want cheap, fast, no-frills haircuts. Even barber shops are franchised in today’s franchise-mad small business world! Also consider variations where attractive women are the ‘barbers’, like the ‘bikini car wash’ business model as a point of difference.

Strengths:

• Tradition
• Cheap

Weaknesses:

• A lot of competitors
• Staff
• Location
• I think it is more demand for modern haircuts than for old-fashioned Barber

$1/$2/$5/$10 Store

CONCEPT: This small business revolves around a discount store where every single item inside is under $1 or $2 or $5 or $10. This can be operated as either a standalone venture, which is harder given the need to source all of the cheap inventory, or as a franchise where that side of the business has been sorted out. The websites below have more information on such franchises.

Strengths:

• Cheap


• Everything in the store have the same price

Weaknesses:

• Quality of the product is lower


• A lot of competitors such as small shops or supermarkets


• Not a lot of types of product

Gourmet Ice Cream/Frozen Yoghurt Stand/Gelato Stall/Shop

CONCEPT: Gourmet Ice Cream stores appeal to impulse-buying behaviour and thus can do very well in high traffic locations. They also offer novelty appeal compared to other fast-foods that consumers feel jaded with.

Strengths:

• Fresh ingridients
• Different flavors
• Heathy
• Didderent types of serving

Weaknesses:

• A lot of competitors such as "Buskin&Robin's" and others

Economics. Market in action

Today I've read the book which is called 'Economics. Marketing in Action'. It is quite interesting and useful book but everything that I've read we have already discussed in class. So there is my review of this book.
Content guidance.

• The reasons for individuals, organisations and societies having to make choices.

The hersh fact that there are not enough resources to satisfy people's demands means that choices must be made. Consumers make choices that determine what is made by producers. This unit requires you to study the market as a system for allocating scarce resources to the production of goods and services.

• Competitive markets and how they work.

This requires you to understand the outcomes that result from the response of consumers and producers to changes in price.

• Market failure and government intervention. This considers the causes and consequences of why market may not work efficiently, including the market failures of externalities, public goods, merit goods, demerit goods and information failures. This part of the unit considers the ways government pursue their economic , social and distributional objectives to intervene and correct market failure through taxation, subsidies, price controls, state provision, regulation , information, provision and competition policy.

1. Opportunity cost is a measure of production or consumption in terms of the lost option or the forgone alternative. (The Next Best Alternative).

   Factors of production:

   • Land - the free gifts of nature
   • Labour - the people involved in the production of goods and services.
   • Capital - prodeced means of production
   • Enterprise - the ability to being together all the factors of production in an efficient and profitable way.
2. In an economy based upon a market system, consumers and producers interact in a market place. Consumer Surplus is money consumers are willing to pay to obtain a product but do not have to because they can demand all they want at one price. Producer Surplus is money received by producers over and above the minimum required to bring forth that supply of the product.

• more or less supplied or demanded at the same price is a SHIFT!
• more or less supplied or demanded at the different prices is a MOVEMENT!

Elasticity formula identifies the responsiveness of demand or supply to a change in price: PED or PES.

XED - measure the relationship between the change in price of one product and the quantity demanded of another product.

YED - measure the relationship between changes in income and quantity demanded.

Allocating efficiency means allocating goods to consumers such that their wants are satisfied in the possible way.

Market failure.

Private costs - costs incurred solely by the decision-makers.

External costs- incurred by third parties.

Social costs - total cost to society measured by adding together both private and external costs.

Private benefits - incurred solely by the decision-makers.

External benefits- incurred by third parties.

Social benefits - total benefits to society measured by adding together both private and external benefits.

Externalities and public goods.

Externalities - spill-over - third party effects.

An externality occurs if a third party (someone not directly involved) is effected by the decisions and actions of others. There are 2 types of externality: positive and negative.

Negative externalities is said to exist when the action of one person or firm imposes a cost on to a third party. This cost is known as an external cost.

Positive externalities is said to exist when the action of one person or firn benefits a third party. This benefit is known as an external benefit.

Public goods.

• non-rival - conscemption by one person doesn't diminish the amout of the good that is available for other consumers.
• non-excludable - once the good is provided for just one person it is impossible to prevent any other person from benefiting from the good.

Quasi - public goods.

Lies between these 2 extremes: it has characteristics that will some of the time - though not always - lead it to be close to a public good. Examples: national parks, beaches.

Information failures and merit gods.

Information failures. Markets will fail if consumers and producers do not have access to this perfect information.

Merit goods - one that is better for an individual than the person who consumers the good may realise.

Demerit goods is one that is worse for the individual than the person who consumes the good realises.

Methods of government intervention in markets.

Methods of intervention:

• regulation
• financial intervention (tax and subsidy)
• state production
• income/other transfers:

1. income - pay cash benefits to families on low income
2. in-kind - free goods and services to poor families.

Information failures

• provision of information - helps consumer make an informed choice
• controls and regulation
• financial intervention (tax, subsidy)

Redistribution issues

• redistributive taxation - high % tax from the rich
• redistributive social security payments
• benefits paid in kind
• subsidy of essential goods - make up a large proportion of a poor person's income but a relatively small part of a rich person's income.

Novelty/Fancy Dress Costumes for Kids (Online/Market Stall Sales)

CONCEPT: As mentioned in several new small business entries here, those ventures that can appeal to impulse buying spontaneity - especially with children - are usually on to a winning entrepreneurial formula. Look at coin operated gumball machines, an ancient technology, but
still profitable in 2008/9. Here, we are tapping into children’s love of costumes and fancy dress, especially through a market stall where children can see, touch, and try on dazzling costumes.

Strengths:

• Fun


• Pester Power


• Don't need any location or staff, we can sell it on Internet;

Weaknesses:

• Can sell it only on special carnavals such as Halloween or New Year

Philosophy

Today we discussed the philosopher's fundamental question: : "Who am I?"
The three centres: mind, heart and body, maintained in harmony by reason.
It was quite interesting. We discussed some questions such as "What is the love?"
Our teacher said that love is everywhere, in everything, in everybody. But is it true?
Next question is "What is the Truth?" Our teacher said that the Truth is something
that doesn't change. Love is the Truth. But does love not change? I think that Love
may change in time...
We should live in a present, not in the past or future. But does it mean that we
shouldn't have any dream? Yes, we should. So it's really difficult to understand
how we can live only in present....
The next interesting thing is "What exactly we want?" Sometimes it's really difficult to decide what we really want. We can dream about something but when we reach our dreams,
we don't enjoy it all. We just realise that it's not something that we really want...
So it's easier to do not think about it a lot.
So it is my opinion about abot today's lesson.

Waterless Urinal

Concept: ZeroFlush is a waterless urinal that - according to the manufacturer - can save over 150,000 litres of fresh water per year/per urinal. In a world running short of resources like water, products like this one have an obvious market.

Strengths:

• save water


• low bacteria levels in a waterless environment provide a superior hygiene solution.


• can sell it in a big stores or on the Internet, so don't need location.


• early adopter

Weaknesses:

• high price

The Instant Internet Income

I've seen a DVD about The Instant Internet Income.
It's quite interesting. It tells about how we can do a business on Internet.
For example we can sell e-books.
At first, we should think what about we want to write a book. It can be
anything. For example Fishing. If you can't write a book, you can find a ghostwriter,
who will write it for you for peanuts.
Secondly, we should find a market. Look for relatively large groups of people
who are passionate about something to the point of irrationality, who spend money.
And then find as much information as it possible about market you've chosen.
How to find an information? Look at magazine, keep your ears open - talk to any
fanatics you come across.
Look for conventions, clubs and associations, watch TV and look for "crazy" people.
And finally we can advertise it on Google, for example.

Philosophy

Today I went to the philosophy classes.
It was really interesting. It made me think about things
around me, about myself and about my feelings. It is really
useful, it helps to take right decisions, to hear voice inside you.
We did one exercise. It is easy. You should seat down, close your
eyes, try to hear every voice around you, try to feel a ground under
your feet, try to feel clothes on your skin and try to hear a voice inside
you. It is quite difficult but if you will train a lot, it is possible. It will
help you to make right decisions by hearing your own voice.
So I found it really interesting...

$100 Cups of Cat-Poo Coffee

Concept: By mixing extremely rare Kopi Luwak bean freshly "expelled" from a rare Indonesian cat through its faeces into coffee, one London entrepreneur has created an exotic new coffee brew in London that sells for $100 a cup. Would Ripley believe this?

Strengths:

• New idea

Weaknesses:

• Location
• Expensive

Starbucks Hot Coffee Vending Machines

Concept: In their attempt to colonize the entire coffee-consuming world, Starbucks have now introduced their own branded hotcoffe vending machines as a way to reach places where their ever-growing branch of stores cannot.

Strengths:

• No staff
• Can located anywhere
• Fast

Weaknesses:

• Poor quality of coffee
• Need money for machinery

Massaging Backpack

Concept: If you have to wear a backpack whike camping or travelling the world, why not get one that massages your back as you carry it?

Strengths:

• It's a new idea, so it can be interesting for customers
• Early adopter
• No competitors

Weaknesses:

• need location, where we will sell product
• need staff

The problems a British business faces in trying to do business in Kazakhstan.

The first problem is employees.
Because I think it will be hard to find employees
who can speak in English. It is a lot of really good
specialists who have great education and experience but they don’t speak in English.

The second problem is to get the government permission.

The third problem is taxes. It can be very big taxes.

Why are colour prints so much more expensive than black and white?

Colour prints so much more expensive than
black and white people prefer things that
appear good. For example, colourful photos
much better than black and white photos, they
are more beautiful. So, demand for colour prints
more than demand for black and white. I think
that is why colour prints so much more expensive.

Why prices in a hotel min-bar co expensive?

I think that prices in a hotel mini-bar so expensive
because owners of hotel know that customer would
better buy drinks in the mini-bar than going to the
next supermarket. It’s very popular business strategy.
People think that it is easier take something that next
to you than waste your time by going somewhere
where you can buy things for cheaper price.