Are Hybrid Cars truly good for environment?

Hello, Everyone,

Since Toyota and several other car companies are having huge recalls, a thought just came to me. Are Hybrid Cars truly good for the environment? Recently I've been thinking that the fight against CO2 emission has been utilized by several car companies as a mere marketing tool. I honestly believe that automakers has the capability of making a traditional gas only car that can give the same power output and fuel efficiency as a current hybrid vehicle. Yet, due to the recent hype about global warming, they would put a electric engine and market it as "environmentally friendly" vehicle while it may not be as environmentally sound as its image projects. I m not sure how hybrid batteries are made but if we think about it, just our regular alkaline batteries and car batteries are extremely detrimental to our environmental and is extremely difficult to recycle, they cannot be incinnerated or decomposed since the poisonous heavy metal will eventually leak into the soil and our water. I read the figure from Wikipedia and that just Toyota alone had sold about 350k Priuses world wide, that is 350K batteries each in the size of a cardboard box that will eventually have to be recycled or got rid of in the next 10 or 20 years. I honestly think, although hybrid may alleviate our co2 emission a little, but yet the technology could be a double edged sword that may lead into a huge environmental crisis in the future.

---maybe we should get back to horse riding--- like the good old days....JK

Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you.

Anto News

Hello, Guys,
Some interesting news happens in the auto industry lately that I would love to share with you all. This weird yet stunning looking car is called KTM-Cross Bow. Here are its Specs:

Manufacturer: KTM (an Austrian motorcycle company)
Engine: 240 HP Audi TT 2.0 Turbo
Transmission: Volkswagen 6 speed manual gear box
Cost: around 50K Euro (the conversion rate right now is about $1.81 to 1 Euro)
Since this car is so light in weight, it goes as fast as an entry level Ferrari for the fraction of the price!!

Pretty cool, eh, the part of the car I love the most is that you would best drive it with helmet on.

Business 600 - My Study Schedule

Monday 1.5 Hour 800-930P
Tuesday 1.5 Hour 800-930P
Wednesday 2.0 Hour 800-1000P
Thursday 1.0 Hour 800-900P

Business 600 - My Business Vision

All basketball players, whether professional or recreational, are on an incessant search for indoor basketball courts. My business plan is to one day own and run a community based indoor basketball stadium for everyone with various skill levels to play on their leisure. The business will be a family run small business with no more than 5 part time/temp employees. Net profit for the owner is expected to range from $50,000 to $100,000 annually after all expenses are paid. The stadium is not intended to generate massive revenue its owner. The Business is intended to provide a place for everyone in the community who is interested in playing basketball to enjoy the sport in high-quality basketball courts - especially during the raining season .

My initial business plan will be based on the following criteria:

Capacity:
My initial Plan is to run the stadium with 5 to 10 NBA regulation sized Basketball Courts. The number of basketball courts will vary depending on the cost for maintenance, utility, property rental/mortgage, Equipment, insurance and Profit.

Hours of Operation:
initially, I plan to open my Courts from 5am to 12am on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8am to 9pm. Since my primary market will be the working professionals and Middle School to College Students, this hours is made to fit their schedule after school or work. I also Plan to hold basketball tournaments/Camps during weekends and holidays.

Methods of Income:
methods of Income will be based on monthly membership fee and flat fee per hour per person for Walk-In players. A huge part of income will also come from League Tournament packages and basketball Camps for different age groups.

Additional Methods of Income:
Selling Basketball related goods to members. Example, Shoes, Jerseys. In the future, I may be able to get endorsements from retailers.

Marketing Targets:
Nearby Business who may hold Company-wide employee basketball event. Recreational Basketball Players, Students, Professional Basketball Players.

Marketing Strategy:
Hand out fliers within community. Hold Free events for grand opening to have people try out our facility. Door to door sales and cold calling for larger business.

Stadium Structure:
The setup of the Courts will be loosely based on 4 levels of basketball Skill level on regular business hours:
1: Warm up Court: for People that just wants to shoot around
2: Noobie Court - for everyone with low or no experience in basketball
3: Its just a game - for recreational basketball players with beginning to intermediate skill level to run a senmi-organized game.
4: Who's got Next?: for recreational Basketball players with Advanced skill level to run a semi-organized game

Special Events:
The special events are to be held on Weekends or weekdays by special demand. I have listed 3 special event catagories in mind
1: We are the Champion: Special tournament Events with hired referees
2: Training Day: Basketball Camps with hired coach
3: Tricks are for Kids: Special Events for just kids and parents

Court rules:
After payment, each individual will be based on a first come first serve system. Each player will have to "sign up" on the wait list correspond to the court they desire to play on.
For "It's Just a game" and "He got Game" courts, each court will start a pick- up basketball game as soon as 10 players have been reached. A game will either be 11 points by one point per basket or 13 points by 1or 2 points per basket. After a game, the team that lost will need to sign up on the wait list again if they wish to play another game. Winner will be able to stay on the court until they lose. If there is only one person waiting for next game, he can simply pick up 4 players from the team that just lost. If friends would like to come in in group of 5 as a team, all 5 will sign in as an individual. If one player is already on the waitlist before the team, the team of 5 can either choose to break up and allow that individual to join their group or they can wait one more game and play with their original team.
For "Noobie Court", instead of a full-court with semi-organized game, each courts will be broken to 2 half courts. player can engage in their own style of playing with no rules and wait lists.
For "Warm up" Court, there will be no wait list since anyone can just go and shoot around.

Job Positions:
Cashier: Collect Money/verify membership status
Manager: Resolve customer issues on the court/answer questions
Custodian: Cleaning the Stadium
Contractors: Referee and coaches for special events


Customer Service:
A Comment Box will be placed in the stadium for customer feed backs. The feed back will be personally read by me, the owner!! A member will also receive E-mail upon oncoming events in the stadium.

Business 600 - MY First Day

Exciting and comforting are the 2 words that best summarize my first experience at CALMAT this past Saturday. It has been my pleasure to meet everyone with different background and interest in that class.

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous before I stepped into the class room since I thought the course would overload us with intense materials. Professor Tao and Professor Blood, however, made the class extremely relaxing and interactive. I have yet to encounter a learning environment which I enjoyed as much as this class before. To me, this class was more similar to a productive business meeting.

Just to show that I was not taking a nap during the class, I was especially intrigued when Professor Blood talked about "Virtualization". In the modern Business world today, information technology, along with many other MBA related topics, is extremely important since efficiency generated by computerization is a big step forward in the field of business management.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and background with me during our class and I look forward to work with all of you in our upcoming meetings.

Kevin Yuan

Business 600 - Marketing Plan

I plan to use the following Marketing Strategies for my Basketball Gym:
My General Targeted customers: Students/Recreational Basketball Players/Parents and Kids

1. Word of the mouth: Tell people about my new basketball Gym when I play basketball at the nearby park.

2. Give Out Fliers: Send Fliers to School Bulletins, Colleges, Nearby Businesses, Parks, and buy mailing list from post offices and send my fliers to surrounding neighborhood and cities.

3. Cold Calling: To HR Managers of nearby business to see if they wold like to hold a company sport event at my gym.

4. Internet: Use Face book and Crag's list Ads.

5. Collaboration with similer Businesses: Speak with Businesses such as Fitness 19, 24 hour business,or Gold's Gym to see if they can help me hold an advertising campain or customer referrals, in return, I will give them a % incentive.

6. Special Promotions: Hold a grand opening promotion where everyone can play a week for free and post it on a Billboard.

Business 600 - BMW Vs. Lexus Advertising Campaign

BMW and Lexus are both car industries and they often engage in similar marketing strategies. For example, both company uses Newspaper Ads, Television, Websites for their marketing campaign. However, although they use similar advertising methods, we can find distinct difference in their marketing contents as each targets different customer groups.

For Lexus, We can see their TV Ads has a strong emphasis on the following:
1. Luxury (Build quality inside and out of the car)
2. Reliability (Maintenance required and chance of car having problems)
3. Fuel Efficiency (is the car a gas guzzler or a environmental savior)
4. Ride Quality (Comfort and quietness in the cabin, entertainment system)
From the overall contents of the commercial, we can assume that Lexus is targeting individuals who has an above average stands of living, who values cabin comfort and quietness over a strong engine, who will prefer a car with less technical problems over a car that is fun to drive. From the above assumptions, we can presume the Lexus is targeting a well-refined middle aged professoinals who perceives their car as a reliable daily commuter.

For BMW, their marketing campain's main focus is based on the following:
1. Drivability (Associated with Driving Feel, the sportiness of the car)
2. Performance (How fast the car turns a corner, 0-60 time)
3. Appearance/Sex Appeal (BMW is a sexy car)
4. Brand Name (BMW M-Series = Ultimate Driving Machine)

From the contents of BMW's TV Ads, we can assume that BMW focused their marketing target to be driving enthusiasts and young professionals where reliability and comfort may not be their most important concern regarding buying a car as compared to overall performance and the appearance of the car.

We may get the impression where Lexus spends their technology in making the car comfortable and elegant, BMW focuses their technology on how to make the car more powerful, more aerodynamic, and ultimately, more fun to drive. Also, Over the years, BMW has also established their reputation as one of the best driver's car. the M-series from BMW is a brand name that several other car manufacturers still do not have. Where BMW has set a benchmark in performance, Lexus has set one for its luxury and reliability. By targeting different customer base, they will always remain competitive in the automobile industry.