Half-way Reflection

         To keep up with the requirements for this course you definitely need to understand how to prioritize. Understanding that ENT3003 is a class that cannot be put off to the last minute will definitely help students. Also students will need to develop their public speaking skills to keep up with the requirements of this course.

         There has definitely been a moment or two when I felt like giving up this semester. I can recall one specific week when I had an exam in Marketing and an exam in my ethical issues class and it seemed like the ENT3003 assignments were nonstop. I missed two ENT3003 assignments and I thought that my chances at an A were gone. However, this course offers plenty of chances to rebound. I did well on my two exams, regrouped, and knocked out the next couple of assignments for ENT3003. The fact that you don’t have to be perfect in order to get an A in this class definitely helped me pull through. I do feel like I have developed a tenacious attitude in the past two months. Putting my head down and “grinding” is what makes me feel like I am tenacious.

         It can be difficult to foster the skills that support tenacity but it is not impossible. My first tip would be to never get too discouraged, just when you are about to give up, keep working on the assignment for ten more minutes and you never know what is going to happen. Second tip is to use the resources the class offers; a live lecture, the lecture recordings, the textbook, TA’s, and a class blog as well as Yellowdig. Thirdly, step out of your comfort zone. Tenacity is something you don’t often hear in the same sentence with “online class” but this class definitely requires it. You are going to step out of your comfort zone and don’t be afraid to. I think developing the ‘tenacious mindset’ will come with completing the assignments in this course. Meeting all of the requirements each week will develop a tenacious mindset.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise for me in the reading was the chart on page six. This chart showed a graph of the profitability of selected U.S. Industries using Return on invested capitol (ROIC) as the appropriate measure. What was surprising to me about this was that oil and as Machinery are below the national average in terms of ROIC.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the differences between the threat of a substitute and the threat of an entry. Threat of a new entry puts pressure on prices, costs, and the rate of investment. Doesn’t the threat of the substitute do the same? I was confused as to what the differences are between the threat of substitute vs. threat of entry.

Should an organization that operates in the field of household appliances be more concerned about a threat of a new entry or the threat of a substitute?

The Profitability of Selected U.S. Industries graph on page six, where do you see that changing in the next ten years? Do Security Brokers, Soft Drinks and Prepackaged Software stay at the top? Or is there a change in trend?

I disagree that the five competitive forces reveal whether an industry is truly attractive in terms of investing. Also, I disagree that an investor can make solid economic predictions based on the five forces. The five forces of competition can help us identify strong and weak industries but should not be the guide for which companies to invest.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

What stood out to me was the emerging body of law governing cyberspace, also known as cyberlaw. I was unaware that there was an issue over whether domain names should be treated as trademarks or not.

I was confused at L3C companies. I was confused as to why they strive to be low profit. A high profit philanthropic would be more socially successful so I am unsure why L3C companies strive for low profit.

One question I would ask the author would be about cyberlaw. Recently the FineBros, a very popular YouTube channel tried to trademark their React videos. I would ask the author what his thoughts were about that. The next question I would ask would be is there anyway at all an idea could become copyrighted?

In this chapter I could not find anything that I disagreed with. However, I am still a little shaky on why the author chose to include bankruptcy in this chapter.