Merger Misalignment

I work for BYU continuing education and part of my duties are to merge customer accounts that are potentially the same person. These are neither urgent nor important. I do not get paid more for completing these mergers. I was never trained on how to do the mergers and so occasionally when I do decide to merge accounts, I sometimes make mistakes and get rebuked. So, I have zero incentive or motivation to merge accounts. There is a constant flow of accounts to merge because our website makes it difficult to retrieve password or username information which encourages customers to just make a new account instead.

Before I conclude you should know that in other areas of my work, I do my best to give 100% and volunteer for tasks. However, when it comes to mergers there is definitely a misalignment.

The system is misaligned because it encourages customers to make a new account which creates more merger work.

The skills contribute to misalignment because no one has been trained on how to effectively complete mergers.

The structure is misaligned because employees have little to no incentive to work on a task that is neither important nor urgent nor cool nor beneficial.

VRIO and Jdawgs

This entry is simply a VRIO analysis of Jdawgs

• The Question of Value: "Is the firm able to exploit an opportunity or neutralize an external threat with the resource/capability?"

Yes. Jdawgs has been able to neutralize contenders such as nathan hotdogs with their unique jdawg sauce. The sauce has only been imitated by individuals rather than companies or organizations.

• The Question of Rarity: "Is control of the resource/capability in the hands of a relative few?"

The sauce isn't as rare as it once was. Jdawgs now sells bottles of sauce for $10 and there are a number of imitation, Jdawg sauce recipes online. I haven't confirmed whether they taste legit or not but commenters are convinced the knock off sauces are close to the real thing.

• The Question of Imitability: "Is it difficult to imitate, and will there be significant cost disadvantage to a firm trying to obtain, develop, or duplicate the resource/capability?"

A Jdawg is not difficult to imitate considering the buns they use can be purchased at the Provo Bakery and the polish and beef dogs can be purchased at Costco. As mentioned earlier, the sauce can be imitated but the time and cost disadvantage isn't worth it to me to try to duplicate the sauce. Judging on the many imitation sauce recipes it is worth it to others.

• The Question of Organization: "Is the firm organized, ready, and able to exploit the resource/capability?"

Jdawgs is ready and able to exploit the sauce resource. They receive a lot of business from catering big events. However, they haven't protected their company secrets very well. The sources of their dogs and buns are almost common knowledge and the "special sauce" can be purchased or imitated pretty easily.

Conclusion

Jdawgs has a product of value on their hands but it is becoming less rare and is easily imitated. Jdawgs has been organized and able to exploit their resource in spite of easy imitation. They provide a convenience factor that has not been imitated.

Hedgehog Concept: cheering people up

"[The hedgehog concept] is an understanding of what you can be the best at." It focuses on three criteria: What you can be the best in the world at, What you are deeply passionate about, and What drives your economic engine. Because my roommate got dumped this week, I will do a hedge concept analysis of myself and cheering people up when they are down.

Understand what I can and cannot be the best at.

I am not the most empathetic, understanding person. Amongst my friends, I am the last person that people would come to express their deep concerns and ask for advice. I'm not good at it and I don't like doing it. I understand that I cannot be the best at mourning with those who mourn.
What I am good at is recognizing when people are feeling down and cheering them up not by hearing their problems and consoling them, but by distracting them with humor. I am very good at this and I could become the best in the world or at least the county.

Understand my passion

Laughing and making people laugh are passions of mine. I understand that everyone likes laughter and funny things but I'm convinced that I like these things much more than others. I spend a lot of time thinking about funny things and making others laugh. Maybe even the majority of my time is spent this way.

What drives my economic engine?
What is my profit per x?
This aspect of the hedgehog concept is less applicable to my analysis. In the case of cheering others up I will have profit = utility of the sad person. Potential ratios could be utility per time spent with the person or utility per dollar spent or utility per joke told. I believe that the best ratio is utility per joke told because when this ratio is maximized money and time are saved and only the highest quality jokes are told.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I need to quit trying to have the softest heart, or being the most understanding friend that people come to with their problems. Instead I need to focus on what I am passionate about and what I can become best at: telling high quality jokes.

First post, 5 models

Yesterday I attended the Student Innovator of the Year (SIOY) kick off event. Two groups of students gave seven-minute pitches on products they were developing and planned to enter into the SIOY competition.

The first group presented a product that was more or less a prosthetic leg for foot and leg injuries.

Here is an analysis of the "prosthetic locomotion" industry based on their presentation and outside research.

Threat of New Entrants

There are few patent barriers for new entrants in the prosthetic locomotion industry. There are new emerging alternatives to crutches i.e. the leg caddy and it's many variations, and the iwalkfree "hands-free" crutches. Because there are many new entrants in the prosthetic locomotion industry I believe the threat of more new entrants is great.

Bargaining power of Suppliers

Suppliers don't have a lot of power because there are surprisingly a large amount of prosthetic leg and foot suppliers (more than 40, well established online suppliers). The patent for the flex foot has expired and there are many companies who manufacture prosthetic legs and feet.

Bargaining power of buyers

In the presentation, the inventors mentioned that orthopedic surgeons would be the ones who prescribed the prosthetic foot to users. Since orthopedic surgeons have a variety of options and don't bare much of the costs of buying the product, they are in a powerful position. Insurance companies are also in a powerful position considering the product will have a hard time being sold if insurance companies do not help cover the cost. The inventors need to convince both surgeons and insurance companies that their product is worth while.

Threat of Substitutes

This is definitely the largest barrier for the prosthetic leg invention. Although users find them very inconvenient and uncomfortable to use, crutches are certainly the cheapest alternative. Some patients complain that a leg caddy is difficult to use on steep inclines and hard to store in a car. However, these inconveniences are outweighed by the convenience in comparison to crutches and the fact that most insurance companies now help cover the cost of leg caddies. In addition some customers still prefer a leg brace over these other alternatives. The point is, there are many substitutes for the prosthetic leg invention the students presented.

Competitive Rivalry

A product very similar to the prosthetic leg invention was recently developed and released in Canada called the "i-walk free". The iwalkfree uses virtually the same technology as the prosthetic leg invention but has a peg leg attached to the bottom instead of a flexfoot. This product seems inferior to the prosthetic leg invention because the peg is not much better than a crutch. The iwalkfree is not a strong rival.

Summary

In Summary, I believe the prosthetic locomotion industry is not an attractive industry at this time primarily because of the few barriers to entrance and the many substitute products.