15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

1)    Begin with alternative evaluation

a.     Based on my interviews,  the aspect that mattered the most for my customers when deciding among the different alternatives is the price. One of them said that he always goes for the cheapest and another one said that she goes for the most expensive one because that can ensure her that is a good quality. The other 3 agreed on the fact that they just look for a good in-between. They try to search for one that is not too cheap that could end up not functioning properly, but they also avoid the most expensive ones because there is no reason to pay too much for something when you have something that does the same thing for a few dollars less.

2)    How/where do they buy?

a.     2 of my interviews preferred online shopping. They said its convenient, really easy and its less time consuming.. Other two said that they would prefer in person shopping because they can take a good look at what they’re buying and make sure it’s what they really want. My other interviewee said that for her, it honesty depend on what kind of product she’s buying. Things like clothes, she rather do in person so she can make sure that it fits her perfectly, but something like computer accessories, she has no problem with buying online.

3)    Post-purchase evaluation

a.     What matter the most to the people I interviewed was if they felt like they got theirs moneys worth for. If they’re evaluating a physical product, they said that if the product broke, it was definitely a bad purchase. If it was a really expensive product, they all agreed that if it lasted a long time, it was a very good purchase.

13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

"Steve Jobs" by Walker Isaacson

1.     Entrepreneur

a.     What surprised me the most was the fact that Steve Jobs ended up being fired from his own company. With all of the amazing things that he has done for the company, I would’ve thought that he has always been this great. But according to Arthur Rock, that was actually the best thing that could’ve happened to him.

b.     I admired the fact that even though he got fired, he never gave up. He used that time to take some time and grow as a person

c.     What I disliked a little bit about him is the fact that the way he talked and delivered his interviews, made him seem cocky. He wasn’t really humble at times and that juts would make him not want to buy his products.

d.     He did encounter failure when many of his products were just not selling or being successful. They fired him from the company and during that time, he was able to see what he was doing wrong. When he came back, he was better than ever and brought some ideas that were very successful

2.     He was really good at thinking beyond originals ideas presented to him and he would be able to make them better. When he came back, he was able to come up with products that were perfect to sell

3.     I was just confused overall by his personality. In some interviews,  he seemed like he was really nice but in some interactions that he had with his employees, he seemed like didn’t appreciate them or h was just rude to them.

4.     I would ask: “what is your process for coming up with new products?” And “how were you able to handle the failure of some of your products?”

14A – Halfway Reflection

                                 

1)    Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?

a.     I would always check my Canvas calendar on Wednesdays or Thursdays and check the assignments that were due for next week. I would schedule a time during my free time to complete the assignments, usually in my free time in between my classes.

2)    Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

a.     The only times where I felt like giving up was when I was really overwhelmed with the amount of homework this class has. Its relatively easy work but it’s a really big workload. So every time I forgot about an assignment, they would up pile up and then I would only have like 5 hours to complete all of them. I wanted to give up and just take the 0 but I would think about it and realize that I should at least try. For now, I’ve been able to complete all of them and earned all of the points but sometimes it’s not as easy as it seems. I have always had a tenacious attitude in everything I do so I feel like it has definitely come in handy in these many assignments. I have always been involved in sports and in activities that require competitions so I’m used to having a lot of pressure so I have developed the tenacious attitude and it’s really hard for me to give up so I think that’s something that has contributed to it.

3)    Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

a.     Keep everything very organized by making a schedule

b.     Plan ahead by getting the readings required

c.     Make friends with people who are also taking the class that can help you develop ideas for the products

12 A - Figuring out the Buyer Behavior

Choosing a segment

-       I choose the segment of people whose motivation is to help the environment. Two of my interviews were with students who are part of the movement #Unlitter, and the other one was part of Astra, a club dedicated to volunteering in different areas but she tries to focus on the environment.

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Interviews:

-       In the interviews, one of the members of the #Unlitter movement explained how they are dedicated to stop littering by doing simple tasks such as picking up pieces of trash they find on the street while walking to their class. They both mentioned the fact that they have to carry a reusable cup everywhere they go in order to avoid using the plastic cups. When I asked them if they agreed with my concept, they both did. They explained how they may still use their reusable cup just because it’s a habit for them by now, but that if they ever forget it, they won’t hesitate to purchase a drink on campus because they know that the cups they are purchasing are not bad for the environment. My other interviewee said that she loved the idea because she doesn’t have a reusable cup so she is a little bit hesitant when purchasing drinks on campus because she doesn’t want to dispose the cups. She tries to order water bottles as much as she can so she can put them in the recycling bin but sometimes she just wants to enjoy her soda.

Solutions they’ve tried before

-       The third person that I interviewed said that something she has tried before is just not eating in fast foods as much as possible. She says that its super beneficial because she saves money, she gets into the habit of cooking every day and she doesn’t need to use harmful plastic cups. But she admits that is not always that easy because there are many times in which she is in a time crunch from all of her school work and extracurriculars that she just can’t cook so she needs to rely on fast food. My two other interviewees explained that even though it is a little bit of a habit now to carry their reusable cups, it is so easy to forget them that it’s frustrating when they do and they can’t purchase a drink on campus in order to avoid the cups.

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What I learned

-       I learned that there are a lot of different solutions for the same problem. But even though there are other solutions, people who have tried them still think that it would be really helpful to also include these compostable cups. That way, there is a very accessible solution to not using harmful cups for people who want to try and make a change but don’t know where to start.

11 A - Idea Napkin

1.     Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

-       I am a Telecommunications Production major with a minor in Innovation. I recently changed to this major from Animal Science when I realized that it really wasn’t for me. I have volunteered with a lot of environmental based opportunities back home like “Proyecto Limpiar Nuestras Playas” which translates to “Project Cleaning Our Beaches”. Volunteering with organizations like that helped me realize how much trash ends up in different habitats and how they can negatively affect the environment and the organisms that live on it. That’s why launching this idea means a lot to me because coming from a place that has a lot of  rain forests and beaches, it really hurts me whenever I see how contaminated they are.

2.     What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

-       I am offering an environmentally friendly product that is used basically every single day by millions of people. It is an every-day product that won’t be harmful to the environment when it’s being disposed of. A lot of people try to be more environmentally friendly by using re-usable cups, which is great but that is something that you can easily forget. That’s why I believe that this will solve their need of having a product that won’t harm the environment without trying to remember to bring their cups everywhere they go.

3.              Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common? 

-       This product would mainly be offered to restaurants that are located inside university campuses starting with the University of Florida. College students live a really hectic life trying to manage school, work, and extracurriculars, so they eat a lot of fast food because its quick and easy to acquire. That means that there are a lot of cups that are being bought and disposed of. That’s why having an environmentally friendly cup would really help students not feel bad about throwing away their cups and it will also be better for the environment.

4.              Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

-       I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, a place where there are so many different habitats including, beaches, caves, rain forests, and even deserts. I always liked going and exploring all of them but as I was getting older I was seeing how contamination would increase every year. I think that customers will pay money to use my product because there is a lot of people that have been noticing how plastic products are negatively affecting us and most of that population is made of college students so providing a product like that in an university campus would have a lot of attention.

5.              What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?  

-       I think that everyone always focus on straws and how they affect the environment but they don’t realize that there is a lot more into contamination than plastic straws. Because, whet is the point of having a compostable straw, when you’re throwing it away with a plastic cup and a plastic lid. I get that we have to start from somewhere but I think that it’s time to keep advancing and including more products.

6.              In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others.  

-       I think that that the elements that I present in my idea fit well together because it is just adding more products to something that already exists. The weakest aspect of this concept is actually getting the product into the stores because it would require them to completely change from their normal products into something new. But I still believe that they would be open to It because of the good impact that it would have.

10 A - Plastic Cups, Lets Get Rid of Them

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Who: I would say that almost everyone who I presented with this idea was on board with it but I still found some people that even though they agreed that change needed to be done, they just don’t think that it’s a priority

-       Two of the interviewees thought that there is no reason to do a very big change. They think that a faster way to solve this is just using reusable cups. When I mentioned that many people could forget their cups, they both agreed that in order to make change, people have to just commit to it.

-       One of the interviewees thinks that she prefers the reusable cups but that the compostable cups are a good idea for college students since they’re always in a rush and will forget their cups all the time. It just wouldn’t work for her; she thinks that its easier for her to have a reusable cup because she has a steady job so she can carry it regularly.

-       The last two people I interviewed both worked for gator dining services. They said that they like the idea but at the same time it doesn’t concern them that much because they usually eat while they’re working, so they just use one cup from their store, and just re-use it for the whole day. Even though it’s not a reusable cup, because they’re not using a different one for each meal, their waste isn’t as big as everyone else’s.

What: Not every restaurant on campus uses Styrofoam and plastic, some of them use paper cups that are not as bad for the environment so maybe the change wouldn’t have to occur on every single place.

Why: I think that the need is still there. Even though many people claim that reusable cups are the answer, I believe that while they are a good option, people forgetting their cups is something that will happen all the time and it would be fair to reject serving someone just because they forgot their cup, so restaurants will end up giving them a plastic cup. If they change to compostable cups, people can still use their reusable cups but if they ever forget them, restaurants ill still have an environmental friendly option.

	Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who	College students that recognize the fact that they use too many plastic and Styrofoam cups	People who don’t move around a lot like in an office where they can always have a reusable cup
What	Restaurants that use plastic or Styrofoam cups	Restaurants who already use paper cups that are not for the environment
Why	They have chemicals that harm the environment	They’re harder to get into the stores