Example of strategic positioning

I'm not sure if I'm going to use this in my paper yet or not, but I thought it was a great example of the strategic positioning that Porter talks about in his Harvard Business School article. He defines it as "...doing things differently from competitors, in a way that delivers a unique type of value to customers."

One of the first things that came to mind was when Progressive Auto Insurance started advertising that they'd feature a ticker on their website so you could see what rates different people are quoted (from Progressive and a few other competing insurance companies). To me, the whole thing of Progressive showing rates from other companies was intriguing, especially when there's the possibility of displaying even lower rates from competing companies!

This morning, I read an article in the Detroit News about T-Mobile's Personal Coverage Check. (Click the Check street-level coverage button) to see the very cool popup app in action.

The article is very interesting - it talks about how customers usually choose wireless carriers based on price and coverage. However, since current prices among carriers are all so competitive, customers will use coverage as the main decision point.

I appreciate how T-mobile is being proactive about trying to win and keep happy customers by letting them know whether the phone service will fit their lifestyle even before the "risk free" trial period. The interactive tool seems to be a win for everyone.

One last thing of note - in the article, it talks about an unhappy customer that found out the T-mobile service was a bad fit for her lifestyle after the trial period had ended. Now, she complains about the service to anyone who asks. The bad experiential testimonial is quite damaging to T-mobile since many who shop for a new wireless carrier solicit opinions from their friends and family. By minimizing these unhappy customers and letting potential customers see for themselves whether the service is a good fit will give T-mobile a distince advantage in the wireless carrier arena.

Assignment 2 - Part 2

...Take your personal photo and put it in your blog. In the same entry, type a short narrative on why you're in graduate school and what you hope to accomplish after graduation.

Me on the beach in Florida. :)


Woohaa – That was an ordeal trying to figure out to post this picture :)

Which, by the way, I have a strong aversion to being in pictures. Ugh. I just like looking at other people’s pictures and being on the other side of the camera I guess…

Just in case you were wondering, the picture was taken on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, late last year. I hope to go out there again this year – maybe somewhere different, haven’t decided yet – let me know if any of you have any suggestions on where to go.

So ok, back to business (well, the assignment, really)…

The details of my life are quite inconsequential…

Just kidding - so ok, where do I start?

I decided to start my graduate program at Walsh because I felt I needed more of a business background than what I had from my previous academic background (B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Information Science, both from Michigan). I work in the Information Technology field now, so the MSBIT seemed to be a good fit to build on my current education and experience.

Honestly, after graduation I’m not really sure what my plans are. I’ll have to see how things go at that time. I know I will have the potential to choose from many potential opportunities.

-Kirk

Assignment 2 – Part 1

Please read this article and this article on the semantic web. In your blog, post a brief opinion piece on what you've read. Try to explain why you think this is (or isn't) an important topic of discussion for an E-commerce practitioner.

The idea of the semantic web seems to be the next logical progression of information on the Internet. Similar to how people started figuring out networked computers were much more useful than standalone, this next level of information sharing will be key in making the Internet an even more effective informational tool for its users. So far, search engines like google and yahoo! have done a fine job in trying to aggregate relevant information for us – And they will continue to do so until the semantic web truly takes off. I definitely look forward to someday doing searches on the web and finding information that is exactly what I need, without having to sift through superfluous sites and irrelevant information.

Even the more simple ideas closer to home, such as the appointment scheduling example given in the Eric Miller article could be beneficial. Imagine having all meeting information in your PDA, desktop calendar, and mobile phone synchronized with one mouse click! I’m sure many people have felt the pain of maintaining separate contact lists on their personal organizers (PDA or planner) and mobile phones.

The other idea given about aggregating separate services to create one can have a tremendous effect on e-commerce services for both large and small organizations. For instance, product manufacturers can continue to be experts and concentrate on developing specific products while leaving other aspects of services (e.g., packaging and shipping) to their partners. Small companies can easily find and form affiliations with others to take advantage of business opportunities that may be out of reach acting alone. For those that are starting up e-commerce ideas, making their services semantic web friendly can lead to even more prospects for additional success.

Unfortunately, one thing rather disappointing was the fact that the idea of the semantic web has been in existence over for many years (The ERCIM article was written in 2002 and the article cited below was written in 2001) but it doesn’t seem like much visible progress has been made in this area. Hopefully, more people will continue to learn about this idea and be more willing to participate – it seems to be a great concept that will benefit everyone.

Additional Resource:
The Semantic Web: An Introduction

Assignment 1 - Pre-course Knowledge Assessment

Instructions:

...you will need to answer these questions in an entry titled "Pre-course Knowledge Assessment". Please do not use any resources other than what you already know to answer these questions (that mean no books, friends, or google). Please attempt to answer all of the questions even if your answer is "I do not know".

1) Describe Porter's Five Forces model and describe how it's relevant to issues in electronic commerce.

I don't know.

2) What is a PSP (Payment Service Provider)? Give three examples and explain how they operate.

My guess is that a PSP is a service that takes care of all the financial tasks on your e-commerce website. So you just take care of the order receipt and fulfilling process - The PSP will worry about the billing, credits, disputes and whatnot. Examples are like PayPal?

3) What are some common security threats that a typical E-commerce site might face? What are some risk mitigation strategies for dealing with these issues?

• Fraud - People using stolen credit cards
• Denial of service - If a site is attacked, they could potentially lose serious revenue
• Identity theft - If a site is hacked and customer data (e.g., personal information, purchasing behavior, billing information) is disclosed
• Phishing attempts - An organization's reputation can be damaged if their customers are fooled by phishing
  

4) Describe what is meant by the Semantic Web. What are some technologies that make use of this theory.

I don't know.

5) What are managerial process plans? How are they relevant to software requirements specifications? Name and briefly describe an example plan.

I don't know.

6) Describe three distinct E-commerce revenue models

I don't know.



(don't laugh - that's what this class is for, right?) :)

Too there always are...

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

A warm welcome to all of my new readers from class.

As nerdy as it sounds, I think using a blog instead of a cheesy class sanctioned online discussion tool is an excellent idea. For those of us that have had to work with the lovely online tool that has left us wanting more (e.g., Educator) we now get to take matters into our own hands - If we don't like the interface, we now have the power to change it. If we think the color scheme is boring, then we can change that as well.

Along with the delegated usability responsibility, I'm very interested to read what other people in the class have to say. The whole idea that people are answering questions and whatnot in their own element should yield more animated and honest responses, as opposed to the more sterile institutionalized discussion that we get in a more traditional setting.

(see where I'm going here?)

Unfortunately there is one drawback though - The whole thing of checking everyone's blog to see what they have to say. Without using some fancy schmancy reader, it can turn out to be a pain in the arse.

I think we may be able to remedy this by utilizing our rss feeds, right? Anyone know of a good reader / aggregator?

Anyway, thanks for reading. If you want to see my non-academic side, you might want to check my other blog.

-Kirk

1st post.

This is my first post :)

-Kirk