Hi class,
Apologies on error in posting and thanks for those that sent a note. Please post by the end of day Monday, I’ll accept full participation up to that point.
I enjoyed seeing everyone present in class today and seeing the nod to Dead Poet’s Society at the end of the presentations. I acknowledge expectations of the presentations were not completely clear in advance, but the professor and I appreciate your ability to deal with the ambiguity. In the remaining time after presentations, Professor Darwin gave an Accounting 101 lecture followed by a pop quiz.
For the blog today, please provide your comments/insights on what you found useful from hearing your peers present. Are there things they did well that you can incorporate into your own projects? Self-reflecting, what are the things you’re going to do to take your project in an improved direction?
REMINDER: If you haven’t already signed up to meet with the professor next week, please do so here.
Have a great weekend!
Dan
After watching all the teams present, I noticed that a lot of the companies are experiencing engagement issues. The Coke team stood out to me most because they did a great job explaining why the internal Coke departments were having communication problems. It was clear to me that they knew the structure of Coke really well — great job! I furthermore discovered that the Johnson and Johnson team plans to create an application much like my team, United Health Optum. There may be an opportunity to collaborate with Johnson and Johnson when both teams develop their business models more.
Hi!
I also felt that Johnson & Johnson and United have a pretty similar challenge. I’m from Johnson & Johnson. The main objectives of our challenge is to increase patient engagement through social media platform and the digital app, and to improve efficiency through building a platform for J&J’s Electronic Health Record. I believe that it is a great idea to collaborate or brainstorm together some time.
Towards the end of the presentation, Professor Darwin asked everyone to tear their papers. Honestly, I did not expect that and I was at lost at first. However, I quickly realized the valuable lesson that our professor wanted to teach: Innovation can only come when we decide to leave the past. Yes, past ideas may be exciting and great; however, it is only through constant brainstorming and making changes to existing models that innovation can be born.
I especially enjoyed our last class because we had the chance to see what all the other groups were working on. It was great to see how multiple groups’ ideas involved digital platforms – very fitting given our previous class discussion with Professor Darwin around the ecosystems that platform models create. I also noticed that many other teams created value by driving innovation in the relationship their companies had with consumers, e.g. via mobile applications or platforms for teaching. Our group’s primary challenge is unique in that it takes place within the Coca-Cola organization – we’re not detailing with Coca-Cola consumers as much as we are dealing with the members of the existing Coca-Cola system. It will be useful, however, to think of these internal business units/teams as “customers” that we need to delight with our proposed business model.
Even though we were all put on the spot, it was fantastic to hear what all the different groups were working on. Like Alexandra, I also thought that the Coke team did a really nice job articulating their challenge to the class and how they aimed to solve it. Their presentation also captured my attention because it looked like all the team members were in sync with each other. I think my group and I still need to work on making sure that we are all on the same page. I am sure that our weekend group meeting will help as well as our meetings with Professor Darwin next week! I think it has been difficult for us so far because our challenge is two-fold (create a tele health situation for rural India and the US). After yesterday, I was also very surprised at the number of groups working on developing apps. Maybe GE can collaborate with Johnson and Johnson as well as Optum to discuss what each other’s groups envision. On another note, I was also very impressed with the Optum group’s drive and to hear that they are going to a hackathon this Sunday to pitch their idea! Please share with us how it goes and I wish you all the best of luck.
I also agree that the Coke group was very well articulated. Of everyone’s presentations, the Coke group had a well thought out and organized business model proposal. This presentation made me realize that my own group has a lot to improve on and we will need to develop a more holistic model and gather the information to answer any questions that might come up.
Although it was interesting hearing what the others groups proposed (i.e. mobile apps), I didn’t feel that their ideas would really be applicable to the Wipro challenge. In Wipro’s case, we are focusing on how to expand into the IoT ecosystem and how to better serve our clients. Thus, I don’t see a mobile app being very beneficial for our case. The presentations did, however, make me realize that my team might benefit from looking into the details of our business model.
The presentations by the other groups really made me think a lot about the shortcomings of our business model proposal. In particular, the UH and Fujitsu’s idea ofbuilding an app to showcase their business model really inspired me to look into whether the Wipro project can do a similar thing as well, in order to more concretely demonstrate our ideas in the business model, as well as its feasibility and usability in a real world environment. Their talk also made me think about the possibility of Wipro focusing towards the health care sector as a very lucrative market to go into.
I was actually thinking something similar while listening to the presentations. It is interesting that we both came up with similar thoughts about an app in parallel. Our business model has some strong points in terms of developing a standard for internet of things communication protocols and using the data and knowledge to preemptively solve problems. However, in doing this we didn’t really consider business engagement. Wipro is different from many of these other firms as it is a B2B business, but engagement is still extremely important and something that we didn’t dedicate enough thought to. It was surprisingly hearing about how many groups wanted to develop an app for their solution and this seems to reflect a very mindset common to this area. There seems to be an app for just about everything now! This seems like an interesting aspect to consider for our team as well.
I thought it was interesting hearing about how many of the other groups wanted to create an app for their business model. This actually got me thinking as well about how Wipro can engage its customers more. Even though Wipro is slightly different in that it is a B2B business, I believe that engagement is still an extremely important part of the business that we didn’t dedicate enough thought to yet. However I’m not sure if developing an app is a worthwhile direction for us to go since this doesn’t seem to work as well with our challenge of penetrating into the Internet of Things industry. But, hearing the though processes of other groups has given me a better grasp of how to approach this issue of engagement.
Listening to everyone’s presentation was an eye opening experience. I was able to hear new methods and ideas that could be applicable to Coke’s challenge. Even though Coke’s challenge is quite different from other groups’, we can still transform and apply little ideas e.g. digital platforms to further expand our solution. What truly intrigued me was the fact that we tore our business models to pieces. Professor Darwin’s explanation to the exercise (we should be open to all ideas, despite having one) was very realistic. I was set on making our model work, but after hearing that our ideas will, more than likely, be ripped apart, I will constantly look for new solutions.
It was fun to hear about the other groups challenges and how they are planning on improving their business models. Several groups had thought of mobile applications to help their customers with availability while lowering costs. Although apps sounded like a good idea for their business model, it will also be important to analyze the smartphone penetration rate in different companies like India before implementing this idea. When it comes to our challenge at Wipro, it is more about developing the eco-system they have with customers and suppliers. By tearing apart our canvas and by listening to the other groups I think we will be able to refresh our way of thinking to come up with alternative models and to improve the once we already have.
I also thought that it was interesting that a number of groups proposed to make an app to reach out to consumers and make the experience better for the customers. I’m also interested in what features would be on the app and how they propose to overcome obvious challenges in less developed markets. I think that it would be interesting to talk to other teams on how they propose to implement the apps in their business models.
I would agree with the pervious posts- I loved hearing about everyones challenge and potential solutions to their challenge. I am looking forward to watching everyone project evolve and hope to be able to contribute to all of the groups.
The lecture was important. I understand the fundamentals and would like to understand more of the minutia. That being said I wish the lecture was a little longer and that it went into more detail about looking at more complex balance sheets and some of the terminology.
I agree with the previous posts as well. It was fun seeing the creativity of some of the other teams (i.e. different ways of integrating platforms). I’m also curious to see the tabulated results of the quiz we had at the end of class, and different people’s reasoning for why they chose what they did.
I thought it was great to see what ideas other teams were coming up with and how they were approaching the problem and constructing a solution. I definitely am looking forward to seeing what other approaches and solutions the teams will be coming up with as the course continues.
I’m not a business major so I haven’t had many opportunities to give formal presentations. Seeing how professional and composed many of the presenters were I realized how important it is for our team to better articulate our idea and make it understandable for everyone (ie. avoiding acronyms or technical terms that don’t add value to the explanation). It was slightly difficult for me to come up with feedback or other ideas for these groups because I didn’t know the background of the companies (what resources and partners they already had, etc). That being said, I was very impressed by the caliber of all the presentations and I think there are a lot of innovative ideas circulating around.
I believe that the fact that we had to present helped give us direction where we needed to go with our project since we had many good ideas during our meetings but we needed a clear direction where we can decide on a idea and work on it in detail. Presenting to the class kind of forced us to take a direction and this helped us to make further progress on the project. It was also motivating and inspiring to see how my other classmates are doing in their respective projects.
It seemed that many of the other groups had done extensive research on the products their companies offered, however, were unable to incorporate that into the value creation and added portion of the business model. My own team, as well, the GE group, had difficulties making a distinction between what is too specific or not specific enough in the business model. In the future, I hope to get guidance from our point of contact on what to do.
-Saundarya Mehra
I believe this class was very useful in several ways. First of all, doing the presentation and listening to the presentation of my peers was a very good of breaking the ice and getting to know the whole class. I think that this exchanging of knowledge is a great way of assessing ourselves and also for helping our classmates. I also liked the idea of tearing our model canvass and learning the lesson that we do not have to be tied to our ideas because that is the manner of progressing.
The accounting class was really interesting and I think it will be very helpful for our project. In particular, I found the fact that the market value is different to the real value of the company surprising.
I believe this class was very useful in several ways. First of all, doing the presentation and listening to the presentation of my peers was a very good of breaking the ice and getting to know the whole class. I think that this exchanging of knowledge is a great way of assessing ourselves and also for helping our classmates. I also liked the idea of tearing our model canvass and learning the lesson that we do not have to be tied to our ideas because that is the manner of progressing.
The accounting class was really interesting and I think it will be very helpful for our project. In particular, I found the fact that the market value is different to the real value of the company surprising.
Many thanks to all the groups who shared their company challenges and business model proposals last Thursday! It was a great way to check in with the entire class and gain inspiration/ideas for our own business model (Coke). For example, I liked how some groups decided to leverage mobile apps as a platform for solving their challenges – even possibly taking the initiative to develop it themselves. This just shows how much ownership we are starting to take with our projects and how this class is presenting new learning opportunities for us every day.
Just as everyone else, I thought it was very interesting to see the other group’s presentation and how far everyone has come. To see how each group approached their problem was very rewarding and also in some cases applicable to our business model. For instance creating an app, which several of the groups planned and is something we haven’t discussed previously. It’s going to be interesting how we proceed from here since we tore our canvas apart.
Thursday’s class was a great chance for me to see the work that the other groups have been doing. The types of business challenges that my classmates are working on are very diverse. I noticed that my team’s (Coke) challenge was quite different from the challenges of other teams. While theirs involved more external-facing issues (e.g. developing a new product such as an app), ours seems to be the only internal-facing problem (i.e. it primarily involves Coke’s organizational structure and intra-company communication).
I was somewhat familiar with the group’s challenges, so it was great to hear how they plan to tackle them. I particularly liked how the Coke group articulated the challenge; I think their ideas are on the right track and I’m looking forward to exchange thoughts with them. My group (UH) is slowly but steadily building over our original idea and we all hope to be at par with the great quality of all the other groups.
On a different note, it was nice to have a refresher on Financial Accounting from Professor Darwin. Even though I didn’t love the course when I took, I do understand its importance -it’s the language of business!
The pop quiz was fun, though I doubt I had many correct answers. I was relieved to know the quiz is for participation purposes only, though.
I really enjoyed the presentations of every group, specially because they were coming up with innovative ideas that I hadn’t think about. However the thing that impressed me the most was Mr. Darwin telling us how the first idea should not be considered as the solution, but just as a starting point, and how we should re-innovate over it. I’m looking forward to see how every group iterate on their canvas.
Last Thursday’s lecture was full of innovative ideas and new trends on corporate innovations. Our team, Fujitsu, spent a lot of time on how we are better off with the higher education challenge. And we came up with the idea of a combined one-stop platform for college experiences. In the future I think we should also input the idea of MOOC. Our presentation got some feedback on how the business model would be better, and during the Q&A session we were able to answer with more confidence. I also benefited a lot from others’ presentations. A lot of teams are doing healthcare related topics, and it was such an coincidence that most teams came up with mobile healthcare solutions. But in my opinion, there are a lot of startups on mobile healthcare. In order to differentiate the idea from most startups, they should dig more into the mobile internet industry and study more on the customers’ behaviors.