Andover Business Club

Topic :   Third party vendors   on Amazon.  They make up a pretty big portion of Amazon’s sales each year.  How has this elevated Amazon?  How does this improve the customer experience?  Also, we will reflect on this year for our club/what we can improve on next year.  We can talk about our future projects and how we can get club funds.

Topic:   Online streaming services .   You name it: Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime.  What makes each of these streaming services unique? How is each of them sustainable/how do their strategies differ? How can there successfully be such a multitude of streaming services in the market? IN ADDITION, we will be talking about a potential business plan for 2018-2019.  I will let you all know if I get information from Mr. Capano about our current club funds.

TOPIC:  Our overarching topic this week is  strategy .  What is strategy?  Is operational effectiveness a strategy in the 21 st  century?  We will look at examples in today’s major industries, such as fast foods, clothing brands, and airlines.  Linked is Michael E. Porter, who works at Harvard Business School, on strategy. https://hbr.org/1996/11/what-is-strategy IN ADDITION, we will be  brainstorming potential business ideas  on campus. BRING YOUR IDEAS! Some of this may involve coding/other skills, and if necessary, we can do mergers with some people from clubs to get our idea rolling.  Before we land on an idea, I want to make sure we’re all aware of the actual size of our market (1100+ people), the fact that we don’t have external investors, and that profits must be donated.  This will be a good opportunity to put all of the things we’ve talked about in the past into action. 

Topic:  Costco   and other warehouses sell lots of different items in bulk and it is significantly cheaper to purchase from a warehouse.  What are some of Costco and other warehouse strategies to optimizing business?  How do they save money and pass that on to customers? In addition, shopping in bulk is now becoming more readily available online with companies such as Jet.com.  How does this business model compare to an in-store shopping experience? NPR has a podcast called:  The Anti-Store  about Costco.  A very interesting listen. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/09/25/443519599/episode-653-the-anti-store

Topic 1:   Let’s suppose you were to design a new product (anything: protein bar, mobile app, car etc.), how would you   market   it?  What are some things you’d consider, especially if you’re trying to   break into an established and competitive market ?  Here’s an article you might find interesting about marketing new food products. https://www.thebalance.com/effective-supermarket-promotional-ideas-1326141 Topic 2:   One of our Managing Partners thought it would be a good idea to talk about   Elon Musk ’s plans as the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, and his plans to venture into   space and the electric car industry .  As a manager, how does he do this all?  Why do people think, “Tesla”, when they hear “electric car?”  How has Elon Musk established and branded Tesla?  Here’s an article about SpaceX’s BFR Vehicle.   https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/267292-spacexs-bfr-vehicle-is-already-taking-shape

As a reminder, our meeting will take place in   Freeman Room   from   6:30-7:15.    Mr. Charland is the CEO of Wilkins Investment Counsel, and he will be speaking about personal finance and money management in today’s era.  There will probably be a Q&A session afterwards! Invite all your friends and bring your questions!

Topic : To kick off the term, we are going to talk about   phone apps . We use these every day and you probably open an app every time you use your phone.  Of course, there are certain apps that are used more than others (i.e. Instagram, Snap, Spotify, Google Maps).  Statista states that there are 2.8 million phone apps out there! However, out of these 2.8 million phone apps, sad to say,   more than “most” fail.    Perhaps better rephrased is, a few succeed.   The question is why .    Can ABC make a list of characteristics that all successful apps share in common?  Bring your ideas and your friends!  This is a new term, and even if you haven’t been to an ABC meeting before, we encourage you to come. Articles to check out: https://clearbridgemobile.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-the-top-6-reasons-why-apps-fail/   (Top 6 Reasons Why Apps Fail) http://www.businessinsider.com/most-used-smartphone-apps-2017-8 - 8-google-play-3 ...