Innovative Technology: The Snuggie!

The snuggie is innovative because it took a regular blanket and created a more useful tool to keep people warm. Instead of having to stay under the blanket, it has arm holes so you can still do things with your hands.

SAP Game

I was on team N and we ranked first in the class after the game. We did this by keeping a constant eye on the inventory, which was our key indicator of which products were selling and which ones were not. If the inventory level was high, we would lower the price to make the product look more attractive. If the inventory level was low, we would raise the price because obviously that was a highly demanded product. The clear pure water was the most popular product so we had the those prices really high. This helped our net income increase higher than other teams even if we didn't have the highest amount sold. Also, we kept our marketing at a minimum, but made sure we were marketing products that didn't sell a high amount in a specific area. By keeping marketing costs low, we had less expenses to go against our income.

In this game the main goal was to get the highest net income possible. In reality, there are other things to consider such as the financial statements and other ratios that tell how successful a business is.

I think our team worked well together. We communicated  really well by one person doing the pricing, one the marketing, one did the reports, and lastly someone focused on replenishing inventory. Even though that's what we were supposed to do, I think each person did their job effectively. I think we could have done a better job replenishing the inventory. I think sometimes we did it too fast and had too much inventory in stock.
I learned that having this type of job would be very stressful because the success of your company rides on your pricing, marketing, and inventory decisions. Also, I learned a very basic idea of how businesses make these decisions and how to use certain reports effectively.

Firing Employees over Facebook Comments

After reading this article, I think that Apple had every right to fire the employee for posting negative comments about the company. They laid out the rules about social media clearly, and the employee chose not to abide by the rules, thinking they would not get caught because it was "private". People need to realize that nothing is private on the internet. If you post something, people can find it. It's so important for companies to maintain a good reputation to the public in order to stay successful. Social Media is an essential way for business' advertisement and is widely viewed by people. Any negative views about a company can spread like wildfire on the internet. As an employee, I think we need to understand this part of business and violating these rules could end with serious consequences. As an employer, I would take social media very seriously and make it known to my employees that there is to be no negative comments about the company and go over the consequences.

Decision Support Software

We use many things on a day to day basis to help us make decisions. Some software that I use on a regular basis is google. Google can help me find things I want to buy, places I want to go, and so much more. For example, when I want to try a new restaurant, I look it up on google to see how far away it is, how expensive it is, etc. Also, I use my calendar in my cell phone. It helps me keep track of appointments, classes, and events going on in my life. Another one that helps me a lot when creating my class schedule is Gullnet. It can tell me all the classes available and their times so I can build a schedule for a future semester. It also tells me which classes I've completed, so I can decide which classes I need to take next. Lastly, online banking is pretty much my life saver. I can log in and see how much is in my account to decide what I can and can't afford.

Plagiarism Increasing at Alarming Rates

Plagiarism is becoming a major problem among college campuses. Technology seems to be a main contributor to this increase because it "blurs the lines" of plagiarism as the New York Times said. Not only does the internet make it easy to copy and paste blurbs into a paper, but the major issue seems to be the accessibility. The article said that information found on the internet is easily viewed as belonging to the whole online community because there is so much available by the click of a mouse. To students, many ideas and information on the internet doesn't seem to have an author, and therefore doesn't need to be credited. I agree with this, but I think this sounds more of an excuse for students that plagiarize. We've all been taught since middle school when we first started to write research papers how to cite resources. I think the internet just makes it easier for students to not have to critically think about their writing and come up with their own ideas. There's nothing wrong with using aids such as the internet to help write papers, but not citing the resources is just pure laziness. In the article, it said that 40% of undergraduates in a test admitted to plagiarizing some in their writing. Colleges are cracking down on academic honesty codes, and many professors are using plagiarism detectors online that scans papers for it.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?pagewanted=all

Ethics in the Workplace

Ethics in the workplace is a pretty debatable topic because good ethics can be different for each person's opinion. When I was 16, I got my first job as a busser at a local restaurant near my home. My manager was very strict and usually came down pretty hard on the bussers and servers. She was very serious most of the time. One night, it got extremely busy quickly and everyone was scrambling around trying to get all the tables served. My main job was to bake off rolls and get them to tables when they first walked in. During the rush, I was in the kitchen baking more rolls because we were nearly out and I knew my manager would be really mad if we didn't have any available. While waiting for the rolls, the cooks always used to tease me and make me laugh. As that was happening, my manager walked back and found- what it looked like- me not doing my job and goofing around in the back. She yelled at me so bad that I cried. My manager thought I wasn't doing my job, but really I was doing exactly what I was supposed to. After she yelled at me, my other manager saw that I was crying and he asked me to explain the situation. I told him exactly what happened. Afterwards, he talked to my other manager so that I wouldn't get in more trouble. Also, the cooks defended me and explained to my manager that it wasn't my fault and I was just doing my job.

American Education System

Before doing this blog, I haven't really thought about our education system, even though it surrounds me on a daily basis. After doing some research, it seems to be a general consensus of the main issue within our educational system. Compared to top notch systems such as China, we don't have the competitive edge obviously present within the Chinese education system. In China, students study hard for about five hours per day to increase their test scores and overall their ranking. They know that if their ranking isn't high enough, then college isn't an option. In America, there is a lot more freedom within the education system. I think students feel that if school doesn't go well for them, then there are many more options for them to have a successful future. This thought process doesn't make education a priority as it should be.However, I think the American system has a strength of creating more innovative thinkers. In China, there system is strictly based on test scores, which results in students who can regurgitate information easily. Americans focus more on critical thinking, which is a very useful tool in the real world, especially the business world.

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/the-failure-of-american-public-education/

http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2011-02-01-asia_education01_ST_N.htm

http://www.mannmuseum.com/american-education-system-versus-asian-education-system/

Technology in the Classroom

I have used technology in many of my classes in the past and I think it's an awesome way to help students learn in a more interesting way. I know for me, it keeps me more focused instead of just listening to a lecture. In my communications 101 course last year, we had to do several speeches. For many of them, we could choose to use a youtube video to go along with our speech. Videos are good visuals and keep people more attentive. Also, in my Biology 101 class, we used clickers in lab for our quizzes. Personally, i don't think these are very effective tools because it's just as easy to write answers on a piece of paper and students wouldn't have to pay thirty dollars for a clicker. We all know textbook expenses are enough as they are. In my calculus class, my professor showed us a website from google that could help us with our homework. When we didn't know how to factor something or another calculus skill, we could plug in the equation and the website would show us how to finish the problem. Overall, I think technology in the classroom is a really effective way to learn material.

Technology and Marketing

Fave Blogs

 I don't follow any blogs but I like to check out some websites online. I like people.com because I can see  gossip and fashion trends going on in the celebrity world. I also like it cause then I don't have to buy the magazine, since I am a penny pinching college student.

http://www.people.com/people/

I also love to watch movies, so one of my friends showed me rottentomatoes.com (which I'm sure a lot of people have already heard of) It gives me ratings for movies so I can see how other people liked the movie I want to watch. 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

I just recently found this website. It's called www.baltimorebeatdown.com where Ravens fans blog about the games and players. I'm a huge Ravens fan, so I like seeing what people have to say about the games.

http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/

A Little About Me

Hey, my name is Alyssa Sproat and I'm a sophomore as a Marketing major. I'm from Westminster, Maryland where I live with my mom, dad, nana, and my brother, Alex, who is a junior in high school. I love college, I've made the best friends here, but I also love to go home and hang out with my family. My favorite things to do are shop, go to the gym, and hang out with my friends. Everyday I try to live my life for Jesus :)