Week 6 Reading Reflection

I thought this article was the most interesting reading we have done yet.  I was intrigued to read about how profitability is the most important factor in competition of businesses.  The size or intensity of the business and the product is less important, the key is how profit the business or industry is.  For example, soft drinks or toilet paper could be a more profitable business than an airline company.  Even if the product or service is intense, like in the restaurant industry or the airline industry; the profit margins could still be very slim, because there are many substitutes and high costs of supplies.  It was a bit confusing to hear about how some products can be considered substitutes or considered competition to a firm, even if it is a very different product or service.  It's interesting how one type of product can effect another's sales, even if they don't seem closely related. I would ask the author how connected these 5 forces that shape strategy are.  I would want him to go into detail about how they effect each other and how forces can be considered as more than one.  Also are there any other forces that are almost as important than the top 5? I do not think the author was wrong about anything in the article, I was just interested to read how some businesses can effect others who are distantly related, and how businesses can be more profitable with small, unsubstantial products, than companies with very important and highly respected services.

Customer Interviews No. 3

I wrote out a paragraph description of the SafeCard product, and asked my interviewees to read the paragraph.  Then I asked them what their reaction was.  Four of my interviewees liked the product a lot and said they would use it because it is applicable to their lives.  One of the interviewees was confused about what the product was, and didn't see how it would help her find her wallet.  I think she did not read the paragraph carefully enough, or my description wasn't clear that the device was a tracker.  In her response, she seemed to think that the device was just a fake credit card, with no real purpose.  If I was to do this again, I would write a different description of the product that would focus more on the fact that the card is a tracker, and less on the fact that the tracker resembles a credit card.  I was not clear enough in my description.  Similar to the previous round of interviews, I got a positive reaction to the product, and it was better to ask "What is your reaction?" because it is not a "yes/no" question.  During the first round of interviews, I got a lot of yes/no answers from my interviewees, and it was hard to analyze their reactions from that. This time around, interviewees had to answer in complete sentences, so it was interesting to see how they justified their responses. During the interviews, I was a little surprised that my product description was not clear enough, but I was not surprised by the reactions of most of my interviewees.