Individual Reflective Report: A Process Of Idea Initiation & Teamwork

Student’s Name Educator’s Name Course Title Submission Date Individual Reflective Report Working with a group in college is often very challenging. Nonetheless, learning to work with others effectively is crucial for anyone planning on pursuing a career in business. Working together was one of the primary things my team did well. Our meetings were very productive and each group member promptly accomplished their elected task. Another thing we succeeded at was collecting information. Our research ensured our presentation was informative and further aided us in persuading the audience to purchase the self-heating lunchbox. Regrettably, as earlier discussed in class, only seven percent of what individuals take from a presentation is the presented content itself. Our group could have certainly done a better job at presenting the collected information. Our group made some errors when transitioning between speakers, and I can recall two instances when two of us said the same exact thing. On an individual level, I feel I did well as is restricted myself to only mentioning details that were significant to our argument. To evade rumbling, I incorporated a few solid facts and disregarded items that were not persuasive. Additionally, although my public speaking has significantly improved during the semester’s first weeks, I still felt fairly uncomfortable speaking before the class. Consequently, I ended up rushing my speech and I recall almost forgetting what I was uttering. Overall, my group did very well, and we were able to produce an excellent presentation primarily due to how well we functioned together. I. Summary of my Group’s Business Idea To successfully sell the self-heating lunchboxes, we agreed as a group to pay special attention to the marketing aspects of the self-heating lunchboxes. Since our group was not involved in any form of manufacturing or service rendering concern, we were fully cognizant that the marketing and promotion of our product will be the deciding aspect of our activity. Our idea involved working jointly with the product’s developers, which then led us to acquire a letter of certification from the product’s developers and booking a table in our College lane. Another important idea was the timing of the start executing the activity. We utilized the ‘bottom-up’ strategy as suggested by Wilson and Stokes (2006, p 365) and established our business based on relationship marketing techniques. We identified the need of self-heating lunchboxes and approached individuals to inform them the purpose of self-heating lunchboxes. Our initial consumer base was rather small but as time advanced, we successfully generated more business, and our consumer base grew reasonably as people began purchasing the self-heating lunchboxes and displayed an overall positive response towards our overall effort. II. The process of Idea Initiation In this fundamental process, our first and crucial concern was identifying an idea that would set us apart. To effectively sell the self-heating lunchboxes, we needed to go off an idea that was feasible, innovative, and we all needed to have the necessary knowledge and passion for it. Primarily, through the brainstorming process, our group had various business concepts to select from. By the elimination process, using our checklist, we settled on something innovative which is advertising. We designed leaflets, sticker logos, and posters to raise awareness about the importance of the self-heating lunchboxes and posted them in densely populated areas. We individually spoke to people in aims of acquiring a better idea of their issues and how the product will be helpful for them. We then interacted with our friends and fellows through text messages, emails and social networking channels like Facebook, WeChat, and Instagram. This was extremely helpful because consumers posted and reposted relevant news and pictures of the product and through this action, many potential customers were attracted thereby increasing the product’s popularity. I learned through this process that opportunity needs to be timely, attractive, defined and of value to the end user (Peirce pp.27-37.). Additionally, I learned to identify opportunity through finding a gap in the market, observing trends, and solving a problem. Furthermore, I learned the five steps of generating creative ideas along with the different systems involved such as elimination and brainstorming. III. Team Work The most significant thing I have gained knowledge of is effectively working in a team. In the later days of this project, coordination among team members increased significantly. This was beneficial as it improved and polished communication among the team. We learned that we can all do our part and work towards a common goal and that without being governed by one distinct leader (Gersick pp.9-41.). My team and I successfully produced a good presentation mainly because we worked together so well. After the project was assigned to us, we began by brainstorming ideas, and later...