Good Discussions Essay Example

Discussion 1

Today, many US businesses fail. One of the reasons why businesses fail is poor choice of location. Indeed, location is key to the success of a business. To avoid the potential risks of poor location, a business must undertake a major market research. Such research should aim to determine: where the customers are; accessibility, traffic, parking and lighting; competition in the immediate environment; incentives for start-ups, among others.
Indeed, today’s marketplace is dynamic and complex. Consumers have more power. They are informed about the alternatives in the market. This means that there is high competition in the market. However, price is not the central factor. On the contrary, consume are also looking for high quality products and services. Apple’s iPhone, for example, competes fairly with Samsung’s smart phones despite the latter being cheaper. In fact, Apple boasts the highest customer loyalty. IN other words, as long as consumers believe they are getting value for their money, price is not a major purchase factor.

Discussion 2

One of the problems that start-up businesses struggle with is the choice of legal structure. However, it is not that businesses may not be able to make the right choice. Rather, the problem is that there is the risk of a business adopting a structure that has worked for other businesses. Unfortunately, such a structure may fail for a particular organization. To avoid such a risk, a start-up business must adopt what works for the unique factors in the internal and external environments, including industry, market trends, political, social and economic factors, among others.
This case study also touches on a number of ethical factors. Three of these are tax evasion, avoidance of liabilities and lack of transparency. These are common unethical business behaviors. For example some business may not be honest about the terms of partnership to avoid liability.

Discussion 3

Indeed, Facebook is a technology-driven company. This is s in two way. First, technology is the company’s business (i.e. product and services, including WhatsApp and Instagram). Secondly, for the company to be able to provide its products and services to the consumers, it uses technology, primarily the internet.
Looking at the current trends (especially with WhatsApp and Instagram) the company seems to be heading further away from its main (i.e. FAcebook) platform. In this respect, Facebook looks increasingly headed for more mobile-based platform. This is helped by the fact that the company boasts a billion mobile users.

Three of the key issues of intellectual property that Facebook has to deal with are

Invasion of user privacy

IP violations

It is the task of Facebook to prevent private information from reaching unauthorized persons. Content privacy is a major problem, especially the use of user images for advertising. Although Facebook may choose not to use private pictures for ads, the best way to ensure the company respects that situation is through the law (external forces). The control of IP violations can be done by the organization (i.e. internally).

Discussion 4

In this case, the business idea is to create a baby-sitter company as well as a virtual platform where parents can hire temporary or long-term babysitters for their children of varying ages. The most important requirements here include babysitters for hire and a website, as well as major marketing to publicize the service and the website. All these would cost about $100,000 for a start. This should carter for the payment of babysitters, web design and marketing.
Working full-time allows the proprietor time to focus fully on the business and not have to give it to investors. However, this is only possible if there is enough funds to run the business. Otherwise, one may have to take another part-time job to help support fund the business. However, while this avails more financial resources, it takes away time, forcing the proprietor to give up some control to other investors.
Loans can also be valuable source of capital. This takes, among other things, sound personal credit management. This involves using alternative banking options and avoiding bad credit loans.