In Response to Chris Beland

I do not think that it will ever be possible for BP to regain a good reputation. To be honest, I'm not sure if they ever did have a "good" reputation. But, now that they have compromised the well being of the people who live in the gulf region, as well as the ecosystem, I believe the damage is irreparable. The best thing they can do now is to remove their oil operations from the Gulf region, and try to repair the region. They certainly owe a great deal to the region both financially, and culturally. If I am not mistaken I saw on the news that they had reached a settlement with the "victims" of the oil spill. This will help the victims out, but, ultimately the damage done will never be totally resolved.

Will mobile drive more e-commerce revenue than PCs?

The argument of whether mobile phones will overtake PC's has begun to become more of a "when" question, than an "if". The technology within mobile phones increases continually, therefore so will the functions that are able to be performed on the phones. On my phone I have an Ebay app, where I can search for items right from my phone. There is no need to take the time to log onto my computer, so why would I use anything other than my smartphone?

The true answer to the "when" factor is reliant upon the organizations that provide the services. Not all suppliers have the capabilities for consumers to purchase goods from their smartphones. But, eventually they will be forced to conform to this or else they will lose market share. So, it is only a matter of time until smartphones totally dominate the e-commerce industry.

Personally, although I do have the app on my phone I would rather go onto my PC to do my shopping. The screen is larger, and I can navigate more quickly than I can on my smartphone. As smartphones increase in size and quality I could foresee a change in my preferred mode of online shopping.

How long will it be before people no longer have PC's, and only have smartphones?

In Response To Aislynn Sherry

I also believe it is very important for companies and organizations to change their company objectives and marketing objectives as their product and competitors change. It is especially important for a company like AT&T to change frequently because their mobile phone industry could be one of the  most dynamic industries there is. New phones and technology are constantly appearing, and without constant improvement they will be left in the dust.

Although change is necessary, I believe it is still important to keep your core business principles. It is important to keep a positive brand image in order to retain customers. Especially in such a competitive market such as mobile phones where customers are constantly changing suppliers and looking to where they can get the best deal. Change is good, but too much change can jeopardize your image, and your relations with your customers.

Are there some industries that require no change within an organization?

Conspicuous Consumption

The video we watched in class this past week was the second time within the week that I had been introduced to the idea of conspicuous consumption. Although the principle of this had been familiar with me, I had never been able to put a name to it. Conspicuous consumption is the idea of people purchasing or acquiring items that will enhance their social status, or the view others view them. An example would be purchasing a t-shirt with a logo on it, rather than a nameless t-shirt that is made of the same material and size.

Everybody has made a decision like this, and more often than not the consumer will choose the item with the desirable logo if they are similarly priced. As mentioned in the video, it was not until pretty recently in our history that items have begun advertising logos on the outside of items in easily visible places. With the increased competition within markets it has become more and more important to maximize advertising and promotion for a product. Brand name has also become increasingly important as the competition within markets increases.

Companies that established good brand names early in the revolution of advertising and promotion on memorabilia have continued to maintain them for the most part throughout time. Nike is a perfect example of this, by continuing to have success from the 1980's until the present day. They are known worldwide, and there logo is one of the most recognizable there is. There are many occurrences where they make sales just because of their brand name alone. If you placed 2 identical sneakers in front of someone and they were the same price, but one had a Nike swoosh  on it, I can almost guarantee that they would choose the Nike shoe. Whether or not this good, bad, or indifferent, it is in fact reality.

Do you think conspicuous consumption will become worse as time goes on? Or have we reached the peak?

In Response To Evan Woollacott

There is no doubt in my mind that technology is expediting the rise of trending within the smartphone market. One year ago I bought a new Blackberry, which at the time was as good as any phone on the market. Now, it is looked at as an inferior phone in comparison to the new smartphones. The competition between brands today is rapidly expanding, and if you are not moving forward you will be left behind. Mobile companies often lock you into long multi year contracts, but what if they gave you the option to upgrade to new phones more often within your contract? I think this would be a great way to increase revenue, as well as make your clients more satisfied with their contacts. I know I would personally spend some extra money if I had the opportunity to upgrade from my Blackberry.

In five years, will tablets and smartphones surpass PCs in e-commerce sales?

There is no question that the sale of smartphones and tablets are on the rise, and continue to surge. The question is, how long until they totally eclipse the PC market? You rarely hear about a consumer itching to buy a new PC, but you commonly hear this regarding the iPad ir iPhone. These new technologies are trending, and are much easier to use and transport than their elder counterpart. 

I believe that there still will be a large market for PC's though, due to the fact that businesses and education facilities will still be desiring stationary modes to access the internet. PC's are much better suited for this type of work, most importantly because they are capable of retaining more information, and do not need to be portable. Personal sales of PC's will take the biggest hit. Personal usage of internet is more catered towards portability and  easy access, which is provided with tablets and smartphones.

If you think back 10 years, laptops were just being integrated into society and cell phones were very simplistic. In the past 10 years we have developed both into highly intelligent information systems that are capable of doing just about anything we desire. What will our technology look like 10 years from now? There is no way of predicting where technology will take us, but if we look back on how far we have come, there doesn't seem to be any imitations.

How long do you think it will be until PC's are totally extinct?

In Response To Chris Beland

Facebook deciding to go public is an inevitable decision that everybody saw coming. I believe it is in the best interest of Facebook to go public, and the owners of stock while it was still private will become instantly wealthy. There is no doubt in my mind that the stock will continue to rise, but the question is for how long? If you rewind time 8 years Facebook was just a fledgling company, in a market that was absolutely controlled by MySpace. Jump ahead to the present and you would be hard pressed to find someone who still used their MySpace account. Trending is something that is constantly occurring, and I'm not sure if Facebook has the longevity that everyone thinks. Speaking of trending, Twitter is the new kid on the block and has a growing following that is poised to compete with Facebook. I believe over time the price of stock in Facebook will begin to decrease, but, I would certainly look into buying some share in Facebook in the meantime, and flip some cash quick. But, I certainly would not put my whole retirement fund into the Facebook basket.

How long do you think Facebook has left atop the social networking throne?