The Hidden Talent

By: Brendan Kelley

Finding a job is really hard. It is especially hard when you lack social and networking skills. How are you able to succeed in an interview let alone get one? Could you imagine trying to get a job, while also suffering from autism. Well many companies are trying to change this.

            A German Software company called SAP is making an initiative to hire more people suffering from autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. It all started two years ago when they hired a woman named Janis Oberman as a software specialist. Janis had been diagnosed with Asperger’s as an adult and for years and went in and out of temporary jobs. Even though Janis had a master’s in multimedia fro California State University, she still had trouble finding a job. She got hired as part of the company’s global initiative to recruit candidates with autism and Asperger’s.

            People with Autism can be very smart. Sometime it is just the social skills that are slightly lacking. Strengths of people with autism include, the ability to find patters in data, and focus of highly repetitive work. These qualities are perfect for jobs in data analysis, IT, software design and multimedia.

            Tim Weiler says, “They’re diligent and capable of a period of prolonged focus. If you can alter your sourcing strategy by not unconsciously screening them out when you interview them, you can solve management issue.” So far the information technology services company for SAP, CAI, has hired 50 people with autism and is aiming to hire 120, 3 percent of their work force.

            I think that this is a great initiative. Because autism can effect people’s social skills it makes it hard for people suffering from it to excel in interviews and face-to-face discussions. With all the benefits of these hard working individuals it would be idiotic to not hire them because they present talent that can be extremely useful for companies.

Sources:

Che, Jenny. "Why More Companies Are Eager To Hire People With Autism." Huffington Post. 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

Opportunity Cost in Business

By Jinsui Y.

What is opportunity cost?

In economic theory, Opportunity cost of one activity is the value of the next-best alternative. For instance, if you spend extra one hour watching TV or playing video game, you will have one less hour to playing volleyball. So, TV is the next-best value. The opportunity cost for TV is the one hour on volleyball court. Also, it can also be measured in dollars. What is the opportunity cost of spending $40 on a pair of jeans? The opportunity cost is that those $40 will not be available to be spend on something else. In a word, Businessmen always want to minimize opportunity cost when they making commercial choice. Opportunity cost is one of the most essential standards in business activity. 

What are the prerequisites for using opportunity cost?

1.      The resources are scare.

2.      The resources have multiple uses.

3.      The resources have been already used efficiently.

4.      The resources are free mobility in market.

How can we use opportunity cost in market?

As the development of modern society, most of us begin to have very busy and fast-paced lives. In that case, time become valuable for us as a scare resources. We could use one hour to take a wonderful dinner, have a meeting in company, watch a fantastic moving, or have a talk with family. We can use it in different ways. Also, many people use it efficiently. Also, it is free mobility in market because of the employment relationship. Therefore, time meets all the prerequisites for using opportunity.

Nowadays, many people did a great job on using opportunity cost about time. For example, McDonald did a good job on it because this company knew that saving time is important for people. Compare to waiting some good and healthy food for a long time, people are willing to get fast food. In that case, getting good and healthy food is the opportunity cost for time. So, McDonald understands the thought of people and get a lot of profits through using opportunity cost.

In a word, opportunity cost is always an essential consideration for consumer and firm before they make commercial choices. So, if a consumer could minimize his/her opportunity cost he/she would get highest degree of satisfaction through little cost. A firm could get largest profits, if it could use opportunity cost in proper way.

Image from:

McDonald's Franchise. Digital image. https://www.franchisehelp.com/franchises/mcdonalds/. Web. 29 March 2016.
Joshua, kennon. 3 Types of Opportunity Cost That Influence Your Investment Portfolio. Digital image.  http://beginnersinvest.about.com/od/Opportunity-Cost/a/3-Types-Of-Opportunity-Cost.htm. Web. 29 March 2016.

Reference:

Joshau, Kenon. about money. 3 Types of Opportunity Cost That Influence Your Investment Portfolio. Web 29 March 2016.

Competing For Customers

By Heidi G.

    Over the past few years, online travel websites such as Expedia, Hotwire, and Travelocity have been competing with hotels and airlines for customers.  While you would assume that websites such as these would benefit your business, hotels and airline companies think otherwise.  As these companies are attempting to create a brand loyalty, travel websites are ruining this.  Travel planning websites are designed to give the customer the cheapest options, regardless of the hotel or airline company.  In return, this makes it so that less people book directly with any hotel they would like to stay at.
    Hotels are changing their ways, by attempting to create loyal, lasting customers.  Hotels like Marriott and Hilton are being forced to advertise loyalty programs to ensure that people will stick to their hotel brand.  Marriott loyalty customers are offered free wi-fi as well as being able to check-in and check-out using their mobile app.  Hotel and airline companies are trying to build trust, so that in the future customers will have loyalty to their company ensuring them their business.
     While hotels and airlines are doing this, your best bet is still to book using a travel website.  Travel websites don't pick favorites when it comes to major hotel and airline companies.  They ensure that the customer finds something that meets their needs, at the cheapest price possible.  When you book using travel websites, the hotel or airline must pay them a commission regardless of the company.  This is why companies such as Marriott and Hilton are pushing for people to book directly using their own websites.  Although competing for customers is very prominent in the travel industry, it's something commonly found in all forms of business.


Sources:

 "Home - Expedia, Inc." Expedia, Inc. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

 "Marriott Removes Ad Likening Agents to Creepy Petrol Station Attendants | Traveltalk." Marriott Removes Ad Likening Agents to Creepy Petrol Station Attendants | Traveltalk. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

Tugend, Alina. "Hotel Chains and Travel Websites in a Tug of War for Customers." The New York Times. The New York Times, 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016. 

Prompt 4: Considering Delivery And Style

By: Ian O.

      One of this main dilemmas anyone is going to run into when researching is whether the source they are looking at is right for them. This can either range from whether it is professional enough, accurate enough, or even if it fits their audience. To look at this further, we are gonna look at both a blog post about marketing, found here, and a scholarly article about marketing, found here. We will analysis the use of both styles, look at delivery, and determine when to use both kinds of writing in order to make your research as good as possible.

                                                                The Articles: 

      To start, we have our example of the blog post. This is a post written by Micheal Andrews, a freelancing content strategist who has a wealth of experience in the field. The article itself is delivered in a way that makes the reader think they are having a discussion opposed to being lectured at, allowing a more casual feel. The article isn't backed by huge amounts of statistics, but instead consists mostly of the authors own experiences and stories.

     On the other side, we have the scholarly article. This is written by Yoo Myongjee, a graduate student out of the University of Nevada. This article is very cut and dry, relying on a basic claim followed by example format. The examples are typically based on statistics and polls, and has a very professional feel to it, almost feeling like a lecture.

                                                           
                                                            What They Bring:

     In terms of style, the blog post brings a much more casual sort of feel, with the scholarly article being very professional and strict with it's focus. This can be seen in both the language being used as well as how examples are supported. Much like how I mentioned before, the blog post was typically supported by personal experiences and stories as opposed to the scholarly article which was based around statistics. This means if you are looking for something that showcases the cold facts, a scholarly source might be better, however a blog post might be better if you are looking for something you want your readers to relate to and feel more. Some concerns, however, can be biases the writing has as well as inaccuracy within the examples.

     On to the delivery, the first thing to notice is that the blog post tends to be much more loose with how it addresses the reader. It feels more like a conversation, with the professionalism sprinkled on but overall a casual tone with it's word choice. The scholarly article was much different, with the delivery being completely based around statistics and facts, and much of the dialogue being strictly third persona and professionally based. It feels more like a lesson then it does a conversation and can be difficult to read for many.


                                                               Which to Use?
 
       With both article examples analyzed, it is time for us to look at when to use each type. The blog post shows a much more casual and free versed style of writing, sacrificing cold facts for experiences and stories when it comes to it's examples. This means it might not benefit when researching for a research paper or a analysis report, but instead should be used for a persuasion article or a blog post. It's casual feel makes it great for getting the audience to relate and think while still presenting information.

     The scholarly article is a much different type, showing strict professionalism and cold facts with statistics. This does mean is sacrifices a lot of relate ability, making it hard for a persuasive point. With this in mind, it is much better to use scholarly articles when writing research papers and analysis papers, as opposed to blog posts or other casual styles of writing. It's upfront facts and professionalism makes it great for a paper that needs that professionalism or  paper that relies on being backed by a multitude of facts and statistics.




Citations:

Andrews, Micheal. "Content Strategy for Product Reviews." Web log post. Http://storyneedle.com/.              31 July 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. 

Myongjee Yoo , Sojung Lee , Billy Bai , (2011) "Hospitality marketing research from 2000 to 2009 :              Topics, methods, and trends", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,            Vol. 23 Iss: 4, pp.517 - 532

Pic One: http://connect-prod.mheducation.com.s3.amazonaws.com/connectmarketing/prod/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Flip_v3-02.png

Pic Two: https://www.audioconferencing.com/img/illustrations/question@2x.png

Engel's law

by zeyang wu

The mid-nineteenth century, the German economist and statistician Engel on consumption of different income households in Belgium conducted a survey to study the effect of increasing income on consumption expenditure components of demand, put forward the theory with regularity; thereby Engel's Law is named. Engel’s law is the proportion of total food expenditure in the total consumption of individual consumption.

The less a family income, household income used to buy food, the greater the proportion of expenditure, with the increase in household income the proportion of household income used to buy food spending will fall. By extension, a poorer the country, the average income for every citizen of the proportion of expenditure on food, the greater, with the rich countries, the percentage decline.

Engel's law is expressed primarily food expenditure to total expenditure ratio varies with changes in income certain trend. It reveals the relationship between household income and food expenditure, the total consumption expenditure, with the proportion of food expenditure to illustrate the economic development income increased degree of influence on life consumption. As we all know, eating is the first need of human existence, at lower income levels, which inevitably plays an important role in consumer spending. As income increases, in the case of food to meet the basic needs of the consumer focus will begin to wear, use and other aspects of the transfer. Thus, the greater the Engel coefficient of a country or family life more poverty; on the contrary, the Engel coefficient is smaller, more affluent life.

Engel coefficient of 59% or more for the poor, 50-59% of normal, well-off 40-50%, 30-40% for the wealthy, less than 30% for the richest.

resource:
Carle C. Zimmerman, "Ernst Engel's Law of Expenditures for Food," Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 47, No. 1, , p. 80.November 1932. book. Mar. 2016

Airlines Plummet

Brendan K.

Terrorism is a terrible thing. It puts our people in a state of fear and insecurity. It is hard to track and a lot of times once the government is on its trail, it is too late. On March 22, 2016 there was a bombing in Brussels, Belgium by the terrorist group know as “ISIS”. 31 people were found dead and over 200 injured. The news of this event left people all around the world in shock and fear. But the people around the world weren’t the only ones to feel the after shock.

            Shortly after the reported bombing occurred airline stock started to plummet. Airline-France decreased by 4.8 percent hours after the attack and many American and Delta airlines decreased by 1.63 and 1.42 percent. These stocks falling most likely have something to do with the location of the Brussels bombing. The first bomb of two went off in an airport leaving people running for their lives, while the other went out on in the subways.

            The occurrence of this terrorist attack taking a toll on the people and the airline stock markets is similar to what occurred on September 11^th in the United States. After 4 planes were hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, many people were fearful to fly for a few years following. It is also proven that less people fly on September 11^th and airline tickets were much cheaper every year up until 2010 because many people refuse to fly on that day.

            The effect that terrorism has on the global economy is unbelievable. It can cause a stock to fall in minutes. Human emotions have a big impact on buying habits and when we aren’t happy we are less likely to and buy things. I think that the marketing world is amazing because of all the outside factors that contribute to people’s buying habits. It’s an unpredictable field and tricky to figure out what will happen in the future.

 Sources:
Kaufmen, Alexander C. "One Account. All of Google." Huffington Post. 22 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. 

Wagner, Laura. "Terrorist Bombings Strike Brussels: What We Know." NPR. NPR, 22 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

Wheatstone, Richard. "Live Updates in Brussels as ISIS Terrorists Are Unmasked by Authorities." Mirror. 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. 

Office Environments Impact on Productivity

By Heidi G.

     Many working environments are very bland in order to ensure that workers don't get too distracted.  As time goes on, the workplace is expanding and conditions are becoming better than ever before.  More and more people are being able to work from home, or places other than work such as a restaurant or coffee shop due to technological advances.  For people who unfortunately must still work in an office environment, there's plenty of ways that companies are making up for this.
     Working from home can cause many distractions, so many companies don't allow it.  Family matters, and personal matters are much more likely to get in the way of productivity at home, whereas there are few distractions when working in an office setting.  When stuffed in a solid colored, basic cubicle, there's not many other things to do besides getting what needs to be done, done.  Although, there's many benefits to having employees come into the office, there's also many downfalls.  To compensate for this offices should do all they can to increase creativity and production.
     Bright colors can go a long way.  Bright colors are proven to increase creativity.  It does so by inspiring people and generally making them happier.  Who wouldn't be happier when sitting in a colorful room rather than a white one?  The answer is not many.  Picking the correct color is also very important depending on what the business or office is about.
     Another thing to boost creativity and production is to not sit employees in the stereotypical office cubicles.  Allowing employees to work where they can also interact with peers is important for creativity, because it makes for interaction about new ideas that would otherwise not have been thought about.
    Comfort is key when it comes to productivity.  Not many people are going to want to get much work done sitting in uncomfortable, stiff chairs.  Although, it may not seem like it, providing to employees needs can be more productive in the long run.

Sources:

 Gray, Sherry. "Can Office Environment Boost Creativity?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.