Class with Can Kaya

Sole traders

Unincorporated businesses owned by and individual for profit.

The individual runs the business on their own and has sole responsibility for its success and failure.

Owner is also the manager.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Owners retain all profits	Unlimited liability
Easy to form	Financing limitations
Owners have flexibility	Management deficiencies
	Lack of continuity

Internal locus of control: they believe that the future is under their control

External locus of control: believe in faith or chances

Partnership

More managerial help, more finance but more conflict.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Expended financial capacity	Difficult to solve
Easy to form	Interpersonal conflict
Management skills	Unlimited financial liability
	Lack of continuity

What I learned on class last week

Public sectors are important:

• -       Resources are taken under control
• -       Non-trustable things like defense must be controlled.
• -       Employee
• -       Ownership of strategic resources
• -       Country may lack capital in private sector
• -       Protection of the public interest
• -       Is able to provide goods for social benefit

Outsourcing: obtain (goods or a service) from an outside or foreign supplier, esp. in place of an internal source

Government doesn’t have enough money for running prisons so it outsources it to a private firm.

Public Goods: provided equally to everybody so people don’t have to compete for its use.

Non-excludable (quantity available) ---- Non- rivalrous (benefit available)

If you were a private sector company would you be supplying public goods?

Because of the free rider problem you won’t get any money. Profit must come from the people using the lighthouse but you can’t get that money. Private investors have no reason to provide public goods because of the free rider problem.

Merit goods: everybody needs them but not everyone has the ability to pay them if it is provided by the private sector.

Franchisor- IB

Franchisee- Koç school 

What we did in class...

Matrix:

1.Dictionary meaning, the tissue between the cells

2.In terms of business, the structure

• What values do we share? Friendship, respect, honesty
• Negative values: prejudice, hate, intolerance, and selfishness

Style: Koc school: how do people behave? What things are tolerated and in tolerated

Kadikoy Anadolu Lisesi : is it the same spirit as Koc school? The way people talk to each other is different

• Shared values shape up the other elements

Structure in an organization: departments, sub departments

Relate to the organization itself: top 3 = the people in bottom 3 create them

The systems are created because people decide that they are needed

Strategy = answer to the 3rd Q

• Technology: internal systems, external factor: provides us with the resource: what makes the technology available to us
• Data management systems in our school: ara karne, e-okul (eziyet okul☺ ) system,

Generate strengths and weaknesses = by looking at 7 –s and how they are related to each other and if its powerful

Collection of facts no subject

What makes the piles build the building? The 7 – S Matrix

"More than just a pile of bricks, every single organization is more than just a collection of people."

Strategy of school = improve the performance of the students

The goal is wrong = it should be the future life, not the report card

Hit by the QUIZ

Because I wasn't at school on Friday I didn't know that we had a quiz on Monday. When I learned the time there was a quiz, it was too late. The paper was in front of me and Mr. Sen was assigning the questions. So without any choice I started to answer. You can check some of the questions and the answers about the quiz below.

1.Define private sectors

It is the sector in which the government doesn’t own the business.

2.Name the service sectors of an economy

Tertiary and quaternary sectors are service sectors.

***Service is related to a process from bringing a product to consumer. Q3

***What they provide to the customer isn’t a process of using natural goods ex: Google Q4

4. Define the mission of a business

The mission of a business can be defined as its purpose and to fulfill the needs of customers.

5. Why are external factors important for a business?

A business will take action according to the external factors. It is important in planning but for planning you have to know where you are. To know where you are you must know the external factors (steeple) and the internal factors. 

Except for the quiz but with the help of the answers we got from the quiz we discussed SWOT and STEEPLE

SWOT- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Externals: OT    

Internal: SW

***Swot analysis is essential in planning because it shows where the business is. The first step of planning.

                    7-S matrix: where the strengths and weakness come from.

+

                    Steeple: (external factors) opportunities and threats

                                                                                 =

                                   SWOT: What should we do to get where we want.

Process of planning:

1.    Where we are now (swat)

2.    Where do we want to be at a particular time in future (in time x=horizon)----objectives

3.     What should we do to get where we want.  (Answers the question what my strategy is?)

4.    How do we know we are getting there. (control)

Time is an important factor and you can not make a plan about it.!! Everything is related to time without the precision of time you can not be able to accomplish something in business.

Continuing in the Steeple analysis of the school:

Legal aspects: In law we are all the same but in particular we are not all the same. The law does not always tell you what is right and wrong. You do not find all the laws written down in somewhere.

Students have right because the courts have behaved as they had rights.

Sometimes laws fail to reflect ethics.

What can and cant be thought? Ex: ban of political discussions.

Ethical factors: judging a student whether you like or not, fake reports.

Ethics change from generation to generation. Ex: girls being able to got to school.

Businesses show their selves as green and environmental when they are not because: 

** *Being environmental friendly can be costly but they do it in order for their reputation in society, it is about the image.

Do companies adopt environmental policies because they are good or do they adopt it because they are ethical?

In ethical thinking you think in terms of cost and benefits when you study business.

Don’t always judge something, if it is good or bad according to its benefits. 

I heard from other business students

On Friday I wasn't at school but I learned what was done in class by other business students. Here is how I developed what they told me:

Steeple- external factors effecting business growth 

Social technological economic ethical politics legal environmental

Social- schools reputation students and their families background

It is about occupation, ethics and demography

Political- is about what students and parents think, if they all agree on something that is wrong than there is a need for change.

In case of the government it is what the public thinks.

Economic- if dollar weakens it is an advantage for you if your doing imports.

Disadvantage; when dollar goes up if you have a debt to be pay in dollars then the amount of money you will pay will go up.

THE HİGHER THE RİSK THE HİGHER THE REWARD

Here we go..

Below you can find our (me and Ecem S) criteria for blogs :


                          Excellent (5)         Good (4)        Satisfactory(3)      Mediocre(2)     Poor(1)

Engaging	The ideas and information are truly engaging, compelling and convincing. The blog is visually appealing and matching colors are present with a catching layout. The visuals and writings are in an excellent harmony.	Generally there are interesting, relevant ideas with few visual elements. The blog is mostly engaging.	The ideas are sometimes irrelevant with few major errors but the blog is overall catching.	No use of visual elements, the blog is frequently flat, the ideas are repetitive and mostly not interesting.	The blog is tedious, including very poor or no ideas. No visual elements.
Informative	There is a use of also other resources, the information is rich, highly accurate and precise. Excellent interpretations, point of views and comments are present.	Generally informative, there are no other resources used. There are limited point of views which sometimes include minor errors.	The information is mostly accurate with few major errors about business concepts, theories and models, but the comments are not enough and sometimes wrong.	The business concepts, theories and models are frequently not applied correctly, there are few accurate information, with major errors.	The information is not accurate; there are lots of mistakes and misconceptions about business terms, theories and concepts. There’s no proof of critical thinking.
Persuasiveness	The rich information and highly interesting ideas contribute to the general idea. Excellent comments, interpretations and opinions which truly affect or add to the audience’s point of view.	Ideas and information are generally related, the resources and examples mostly support the ideas and there are almost no major errors.	The information occasionally justifies the ideas but the resources and examples given are limited and poor, which do not create a truly persuasive effect on the audience.	There is an attempt in persuading and convincing the audience, but the ideas and information are not justified correctly.	The ideas and information are not convincing and mostly wrong. Unrelated/opposing ideas are defended.
Language	Able to captures the interest of future employers. The language used includes the correct utilization of business terms, concepts and theories with excellent interpretations and metaphors.	The business terms, concepts and theories are generally used correctly. The interpretations are mostly logical.	The business terms, concepts and theories are occasionally irrevelant and there are some major business language mistakes.	There is an attempt in using the business terms, but not successfully used. Unable to draw future employers’ attention.	No business terms used or the used ones are mostly wrong. Major errors and misconceptions. The language is simple and not official enough.

What qualities does a blog suppose to have?

Today in our lesson with Mr. Sen we analyzed Ecem's blog and created our own criteria for examining a blog. I will post the criteria tomorrow but below you can find my notes.

A blog must be:

-Engaging-Persuasive: in terms of comments, opinions and interpretations

-Informative- relate to other examples

** Accurately informative

Stay out of information that is junk food; exaggerated.

Target: (employers) will they be interested or not?

** The language: use business terms, business concepts, business models

Fourth business sector (quaternary) ideas don’t belong the primary secondary en tertiary sector

examples: educational institution, coiffeur, advertising, personal services, financial services 

What I learned on Monday (04.10.2010)

Meanings of some basic terms in business: 

-System: to describe or to reflect collection of certain things

-A system: Inputs coming in- throughput (process)- outputs-feedback-inputs

-Feedback: any information or physical thing that could become an input to the process.

-Qualified: skilful, having the ability to do something

-Profit: is means to achieve the purpose.

***Making profits is no the purposes of businesses, without profit they can't survive and go on in the business world.

-Expense: e.g. giving allowances to laborers.

**Businesses have to make a distinction what they are going to do in the short run and long run.  

-Starting a business is: scanning the market and finding an opportunity that fits with your strengths and qualities.

Ownership, Management of resources

-  Leadership  (the ability to bring everything together for a purpose)

- TAKE RİSKS

- Creativity+Innovation

- Discipline

- Patience

-Creativity is about spotting an opportunity in a business.

Inventory: the stock of stuff one has

-Departments: you have departments because you have specialized functions.

**The bigger the organization the more you need specialists the more departments.

-Specialism: has something to do with size (scale)

**It is cheaper to have specialists for large organizations because it results in having lots of departments, which make it easy to run the business organized.

A 40 minute discussion with Mr.Sen

On Friday, 1st of October, we discussed one of the groups(ours) previous work with Mr. Sen and I learned that there were some points I misunderstood. I was a bit confused through out the lesson because I found it hard to follow Mr.Sen's questions because he was trying to make us think over and over by asking lots of questions. But closer to the end everything was clear to me.


Firstly we were asked what quality stand for and everyone had a different opinion. We all thought that quality could be measured and gave examples from the Mercedes Benz company. However it turned out that we were all wrong because quality is hard to measure, it is not as easy as we described it to be. The only way to measure it is to have a criteria and depend on it, but it is important to have different criteria for things we measure.


Secondly, I learned that I was wrong with the term of specialization, even though I knew what it meant the questions we were asked did not match with what I had in my mind. Mr. Sen told us that even though specialization increased efficiency it had some disadvantages. He gave examples from different kinds of sectors and explained how people could get bored about doing the same thing over and over. We ended up deciding that specialization would both increase and decrease efficiency, so it had to be done in the right way.


The last thing I learned from Fridays class discussion was that efficiency equaled outputs divided by inputs and it was the same thing with productivity. Both words have the same meaning and one can be used for the other at the same purpose. It was embarrassing not to know that they were the same :) 


As a whole the class was really fun and interesting. Even though it seems that I am going to have hard times about following all the questions, it is good to know that there is a challenge waiting for me. 

What I wonder about a business model?

For this assignment I read about the business models and I had some questions because some ideas didn't properly fit to my head and didn't make sense. Below you can see which concepts confused me. 

What I ponder about a business model:

 1. Do all business organizations have this particular model? Or are there any other models that could convey a business company?

- This question aroused in my mind because I wonder if there is a specific system or pattern for every organization and do they stick with it. 

2.  How and why the output of a business organization is being presented to the customer?

-  This question aroused in my mind because I couldn’t understand the logic of presenting the output ( the money ) and it didn’t make sense.

3.  Why is the business model divided in to four groups as; infrastructure, offer, customer and finance? What does infrastructure mean?

- I haven’t seen the term infrastructure before and the concept of dividing these to four groups took my attention and made me wonder.

Is this a useful model?

Osterwalder template might be useful because everything is linked to each other properly and perfectly. The model could only be functional if every part works superbly because it is a cycle and one affects the other. In order to be successful by depending on a system/model like this every section must work hard and they must be in cooperation.

Can this appeal  for a non business institution?

I don’t think that this template can be applied to non-business organizations because this model is mainly about gaining money, having a high profit. Non-business organizations do not have a profit, their primary goal is providing service so that is why it would be hard to include this model to their process. Lots of the terms in the diagram does not relate to non- business institutions like value configuration and cost structure. In my opinion this model wouldn’t be useful to non-business organizations.

Learn more about the Kellogg's Company

Today for my business and management class I had to read an article about the Kellogg's Company and answer some questions. Below you can find my work. 

1. Name the three sectors of the supply chain. On what occasions could certain sections of the primary sector operate as retailers?

The three sectors of the supply chain are; primary sector (provides raw materials), secondary sector (manufactures the product) and tertiary sector (provides services).

Even though generally the tertiary sector operates as retailers there could be certain occasions that the primary sector needs to work as the retailers. One of those occasions could be, when a customer who does not belong to a company, who works by his/herself orders the raw material just by itself without in a form of manufactured product. In this case, the suppliers of raw materials would be the retailers because they sell it directly without the need of wholesalers or official retailers such as markets.

To clarify what I mean lets think this customer as a person walking beside the coast and he sees a fisher holding fishing line in his hands, and a fish is waggling at the end of the line. If you buy it directly from the fisherman, without waiting it to be manufactured, packaged and sent a market, then you make the fisherman that works for the primary sectors a retailer, which is a part of tertiary sector.

2. Give three examples of how Kellogg’s demonstrates good supply chain management. How can Kellogg’s make improvements both for its business and for the environment?

Kellogg’s demonstrates good supply chain management because it is successful in every business sector and it has the right strategy about the relationship between the sectors, which build up the chain. The first example can be given as Kellogg’s company being really careful about the loan production. They try hard to reduce the waste by assessing its techniques on production. Secondly, their storage is only 1 mile away from its production base and this helps them with reducing transportation cost and upgrades delivery/distribution. For the third example, Kellogg’s using the just in time system, computer based system and having contractions with large retailers helps it effectiveness of supply chain management and increasing its profits.

In order to improve for its business, the company must have a strategic planning and equip of employees, which can cope with each other and work in coordination. Also about the environment Kellogg’s must be careful about their waste of water, they must use renewable energy and never ever let the markets use plastic bags.

3. Why is it important for Kellogg’s to build good relationships with businesses in the tertiary sector?

It is important for Kellogg’s to build good relationships with business in the tertiary sector because that is the sector, which brings them the money. They are the retailers, the ones who sell the products of the company. In order to success and have a large profit, Kellogg’s must have more than one retailers and must have good reputation in the business world so it can both attract the huge market companies and the customers. So if the company wants to make money and wants to turn all the efforts of primary and secondary sector to a business, it must have good relations with the service sector.

4. Evaluate the benefits of large manufacturers like Kellogg’s handing over the logistical side of their business to specialist companies like TDG.

The benefits of large manufacturers handing over the logistical side of their business to specialists are reducing the transport cost and the carbon footprint, by being efficient in energy and time. Also, when they yield the task of storage of goods through out the supply chain, they can concentrate on their specific job/part on the chain more effectively rather than dealing with other parts. By this way both the company saves time and is able to improve the manufacture of goods and the specialists like TDG can do their professional work without anyone stepping in their business. 

I learned lots of things and I had a self discussion about what I believed before and this article gave me a different point of view. 

Before I read this article about the Kellogg’s company I always thought that businesses should have their own transportation systems and their own retailers under their control. I believed that otherwise everything would be complicated and the authority would be weak. Things wouldn’t be monitored by one company but by several huge agencies. Also there would be a lot of money spent and it wouldn’t be cost-effective. However, now I comprehend the idea of need to interact with other companies. By this way the main company reaches to a great success because all the sectors work on their own without any distraction or other issues to deal with. 

Furthermore, I thought that every market had to have a large stock of every product and the companies were responsible of keeping track of these stocks. I believed that having huge stocks would be easier both for saving money and energy. But after reading Kellogg’s strategy my ideas changed and now I think that holding limited stocks of products will reduce warehousing costs and also

Kellogg’s using a system called just-in-time is logical to provide an efficient stock.