Week 8 5/12
5 presentations for the class.  Everyone did a great job.

Julie: RelayHealth....Takeaway is that your health is up to you!!!!
Anthony: WhiteCastles again for class!!!! Didn't know what the white building stands for but now I do!
John: Goodyear...Did not know that He never got to see the fruits of his labor.
Bill: Armor Hammer...Can be used with just about anything!!!!

Week 7 5/05
Reviewed Chapter 14 and 15.  One takeaway from the class that I found interesting was the depictions of the generations and that my twins are considered "Plurals".  How ironic!

Executive Summary:

U.S., Mexico Sign Deal on Oil Drilling in Gulf

The article is referencing that the U.S. and Mexico have come to an agreement to allow drilling for oil and gas. The agreement establishes a legal framework for U.S. companies to develop offshore energy projects with Petroleos Mexicanos which is the Mexican State oil company known as Pemex. The projected area is on more than one and a half million acres in the Gulf of Mexico which runs due east from the United States – Mexico border. It also spans to a point more than two hundred miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and includes areas where the water is almost eleven thousand feet deep. This area is projected to contain as much as one hundred seventy two million barrels of oil and three hundred four billion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

            A key concept that we have discussed in class that relates to this article is ethics. This agreement will allow United States and Mexican safety officials to work together to ensure the projects meet the safety standards of both nations. In regards to ethics, it is important that we learn from past mistakes such as the April 2010 Deep water Horizon accident off of Louisiana. Safety measures that were in place and bypassed cost eleven people their lives and billions of dollars in environmental cleanup not to mention the economy as a whole because goods and services were not available along the Gulf coast during this time.

            Prior to this class I would not have been in favor of this agreement because of the implications it might have on the environment. But seeing how this can have a positive effect on the economy by creating jobs and possibly lowering gas prices by having more supply on hand, I embrace this decision moving forward.



Week 6 April 28

A takeaway for me from chapters 11 and 13 is the concept of distribution and the philosophies of WalMart and Lowe's.  It was interesting to learn that they build their stores next to interstates and in small towns which have cannibalized the mom and pop stores. They also build their warehouses within 75 miles of their nearest stores. This is so they can get the product to the stores in a timely manner if they have reached their minimum inventory at that store.

Week 5 - April 21

What I took away from week 5's lecture was when a product is being developed it goes through a product life cycle.  During this life cycle there is an adoption sequence that has four different categories. There is the Inro phase which is the innovation phase comprising of 3-5% of consumer's entering this phase.  There is the Growth phase which encompasses the early adopter and early majority.  The early adopters consists of 10-15% of the consumer population while the early majority comprises 34% of the consumer population.  There is the maturity development stage which involves the late majority at 34% of customer base.  Lastly within the product development phase there is the decline phase which are laggards comprising of 5-16% of the consumer bias.

At Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, Going Solar for "Net Zero" Energy Production

Greg Kotcamp

Webster University

April 21, 2012

     There is a building in El Paso that provides medical care for wounded soldiers at Fort Bliss. This

building has a one million dollar solar panel system paid for by the Army that is beginning to produce power this year. These panels are an attempt by the Army to cut their net energy and water use. The idea is to reduce waste and demonstrate self-sufficiency. This concept is being called "Net Zero". At Fort Hood they have a goal by 2020 to achieve zero waste. They also are trying to achieve a ninety percent success rate by having ninety percent of their trash to avoid the landfill. With soldiers returning from overseas, Fort Bliss is expecting their electricity use to increase sixty percent by the end of 2015.  Having its' solar panels will allow the base one percent solar electricity. Fort Hood will not be able to rely on solar power alone to achieve net zero energy. They are also looking at wind turbines and geothermal wells which will help convert garbage into energy.

     Where I work at and the company I work for, we have a commitment of reducing our utilities and waste to landfill by twenty percent by the end of 2015. We have formed a "Go-Green" team to look at ways to reduce energy. They have helped execute projects at our plant. A few of these projects are sensors at our hand wash sinks, the removal of packaging into our landfills and powering off lights in the plant when not in use.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/us/at-fort-bliss-and-fort-hood-going-solar-for-net-zero-energy-production.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Week 4 Classroom takeaway

A key point I took away from week 4 classroom lecture was that perception is what the consumer sees and feels.  Even though we are exposed to stimuli through ads, products and stores we still may not hear or see anything.  This is because we go through selective processes which consists of:
1) Selective Process which is our eyes and minds seeking out and noticing only information that interests us.
2) Selective perception which is us screening out or modifying ideas, messages, and information that conflict with previously learned attitudes and beliefs.
3) Selective retention which is the consumer only remembering what we want to remember.

Greg Kotcamp's Vals Survey

Week 5 Homework:  After taking the VALS survey my primary type is that I'm an Achiever.  The secondary type is that I'm a thinker.

SpongeBob Square Pants’ Last Stand

            Child obesity is a growing problem that’s gaining increasing government attention and this can possibly lead to new guidelines on food advertising to children. Last year a government task force proposed new “voluntary” guidelines on food marketing aimed at kids under seventeen. According to the Association of National Advertisers “A large percentage of these foods are currently in the marketplace” and would not meet the guidelines. The underlying cause of obesity in children is the same as it is for their parents and that is eating too much and exercising too little. Kids eat what their parents eat and with both parents working this leaves less time for home cooking, shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables and getting outside and exercising with their kids. Restricting food advertising is not the answer. According to a 2007 study by the Federal Trade Commission, the exposure of youth to food advertising on television actually declined between 1977 and 2004 while the rate of youth obesity soared. Limiting advertising could possibly cost food producers one hundred and fifty two billion in sales and three hundred seventy eight thousand jobs in banned products over four years. If companies are forced to choose new products, advertisements for new products can increase market demand which will allow for brand advertising to reallocate existing market share. Using brand advertising can make brand loyalty stronger and can help lead to higher product prices. Attacking advertising will not help win the war on child obesity.

            When I saw the title of the article it intrigued me. I wasn’t sure where the story was going until I read it. The fact that companies target children through cartoons like Sponge Bob to market their product is a business, but I feel that it is up to the parents to see to it that their children eat right and get enough exercise to stay fit.

http://search.proquest.com.library3.webster.edu/docprintview/993983829/Record/13613E301352FFBFF70/36?accountid=14944

Zywicki, T. (2012, Apr 13). SpongeBob SquarePants last stand. Wall Street Journal, pp. A.11-A.11. http://library3.webster.edu/docview/993983829?accountid=14944

Greg Kotcamp

Dr Meaux;
     Here is a copy of my paper for week 2.  A take away from our class on Saturday March 31, 2012 was that you have to have a marketing plan that has a written statement of a marketing strategy and time related details for carrying out the strategy.  The details should consist of what marketing mix will be offered and to whom, what company resources will be needed at what rate and the results you are expecting.

Terracycle to Turn Dirty Diapers into Park Benches

            Disposing of diapers is a serious business, both from an ecological impact and also in profit potential. Disposable diapers take centuries to biodegrade and on average Americans contribute just over three and a half million tons of municipal waste each year. This means that a little over two percent of landfill waste in the United States is diapers. Terracycle wants to get into this potential business of up cycling which is taking what most people consider trash and turning it into cash for others. To do this they need to convince parents to actually turn over the used diapers, instead of trashing them.

            Terracycle’s plan is to set up a collection station utilizing containers at potential hot spots like daycare centers and pay the host for the storage of the container. Once collected, the fecal matter would be neutralized, the plastic casing would be separated from the paper-based insides and the new raw materials would be processed from the component parts which then would be sold. The potential products from this process would be doggie pee pads, fiber additives for concrete, plastic “wood” for park benches, picnic tables or shipping pallets. Terracycle is still looking for a corporate sponsor where they are willing to pay between two and ten cents per dirty diaper.

            I found this article very fascinating in the fact that something that is deemed very unpleasant can be processed and reformulated to be used as a viable product. To take human waste and reprocess it to help make park benches is remarkable.

            I’m currently working on a similar project at work. We are discarding sixty, fifty-five gallon barrels of used peanut butter a day into the landfills because we are not able to recycle them. This is due to the allergen nature of the product. The proposal moving forward would be to use reusable plastic totes to transport and store peanut butter until final use which is our Tagalong cookie.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679425/terracycle-to-turn-dirty-diapers-into-park-benches