Studentbeans Website by James Eder - Essay Example

beans Website Introduction beans.com is an interactive portal that was launched in 2005 by James Eder who is currently the commercial director and Michael Eder, the operations director. The name student beans lies on the assumption that the website is crucial to a student’s life just as a can of caked beans, a vital part of all students’ diet. The website has launched many universities across the United Kingdom and offers entertainment opportunities and financial advice to students freely. Currently, it is the leading student website in UK. Aspects of Studentbeans operations include design, infrastructure, systems and strategy. The three sections of website are: Easy money, Student 101 and World Weird Web. The goal is make students life in college as impressive and easy as possible. Unlike other students card saver schemes, this website is easy to use and does not cost one any money, registration is free. One is allowed to add or comment on areas that need improvement (Studentbeans Website). Background of the Study University life is such hard times for some students especially those from humble and unsupportive backgrounds. The challenges vary from financial, academic to social. Lack of adequate food and money for survival is a common phenomenon. Boring lectures, complicated assignments and marks awarding that depends on the student-lecturer relationship, uncooperative roommates and misleading friends is yet another problem. Another one is the search for ideal partners, relationship related problems and so on. Suicide, drinking, seeking spiritual support and attempt to live beyond means are some of the solutions to their problems. Hence, students always need advice on budgetary control and interactive forums to learn from each other and be able to cope with life. Studentbeans website is such a brilliant idea. The Easy Money section of the website is concerned with saving money when required. Articles in this section cover topics such as hints, tricks and advice about saving cash, making money and working on a budget. The students 101 stories are concerned with campus life and anything that is appealing in the university life. Stories can either be funny or serious but must be appealing and educating. The world weird web contains fascinating, amusing and bizarre stories that make people go crazy. They are rated on the basis of credibility and freshness. The subdivision of sections is such a revolution because other sites do not categorise their sites according to sections (Studentbeans Website). In the modern business world, companies are charged with the task of making decisions about strategic uncertainty of what other companies might wish to do. These decisions vary from future market sizes, costs, and economic situations to bureaucracy. This means that companies are playing games with others, a game that involves a player and a chance. In this game, companies must take into account the role of information and awareness and what other companies can do or not. Studentbeans serves to provide students with money saving advice, games, discounts, content and articles related to life. In so doing, they have attracted hundreds of subscribers across the universities in the United Kingdom. Having analyzed other services provided to students such as students’ card saver schemes, the assumption is that the site is cheap (Hofer 1975, p84). Case Study Analysis Within any industry or market, some companies or organisations will surely outperform others. Like resources, capabilities are a valuable in a company in helping create a strong demand for its products and services and lowering its costs. Similarly, the strategies that a company adopts can help it acquire new resources and capabilities or enhance the already existing resources and capabilities. Competitive advantage is the strategic advantage of a particular business venture over other businesses of the same (Hill & Jones, 2012 p13). Competitive Advantage Theory The theory was stipulated by Michael Porter in 1985. He asserts that organisations or business enterprises should set goals that relate to production of high quality goods that will sell at high prices in the market. National strategies are concerned with productivity growth. Porter continues to emphasize that cheap labour is unnecessary and natural resources are not required for a booming economy. Competitive advantage utilizes the concept of the value chain, a method of analyzing other businesses activities and determining their costs and role in differentiation of products and services. The difference in value is the buyers’ willingness to accept the product or service. The cost of carrying out those activities involved in producing them. This provides the tool for detecting the merits and demerits of diversification. The activity based perspective also enables a firm to examine strategies employed internationally and competing regions (Porter 1985, p 103). Competitive advantage looks at the size and share of the market in regards to business firms. The firm’s strengths and weaknesses are also examined. Competition can arise from any source because of the relationship existing between business activities. Activities provide the bridge between strategy and implementation. The type of activities conducted in a business venture determines what strategy will be adopted and how fast it will be implemented. Competitive advantage leads to superior profitability since a company’s profitability depends on pricing, costs of creating the products and the value that customers attach to the company’s products. The value determines the utility that customers get from the product. Understanding the relationship between price, utility, demand and costs will help the business manager make proper decisions that will increase competitive advantage and profitability (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2007, p 279). Information technology has widely become a platform for increasing competitive advantage of a company. It helps it stand out among its competitors for its online presence. Effective websites provide an opportunity for interaction with companies as well as a showground of the goods and services offered by the company. It can be concluded that competitive advantage is the ability to be ahead of others in the competition scene or superior performance. A business strategy is a tool that controls resources and creates a competitive advantage. Superior performance is the most desired business goal and is marked by its competitive advantage (Kordon 2010, p 304). An assessable website is that which allows its contents to be understood. Texts should be provided for the visually impaired to ensure ease of navigation. Studentbeans website will continue to gain its competitive advantage due to its clarity of accessibility even on smart phones. Accessibility ensures wider coverage of your audience, enhances visibility of the search engine and convenience for visually challenged. A mobile website ensures that only the user captures visitor attention and not the competitors. Its availability on mobile phones has helped it increase in ranking on mobile-friendly search engines like yahoo and Google. Again it is not restricted in its operational hours. The main aim of developing a website is to market goods and services on daily basis.. Frequent visits on the website ensure that it is working correctly as well as obtaining feedback from users. Studentbeans search engine optimization is exceptionally high. The website is optimized on a regular basis (McGrath 2008, p 47). Conclusion and Recommendations There has never been such a unique website as Studentbeans in the United Kingdom. Its ability to provide outstanding services especially offers from Odeon, Subway, Spec savers, Toni & Guy, and Cadbury World are amazing. The financial pieces of advice are particularly beneficial for extravagant students and those who are not keen in expenditure. Poor spending is an experience of any campus freshmen before they are oriented and adapted to campus life. Also, due to inflation and constant economic imbalances, a student needs to plan for his/her budget wisely to prevent regrets at the end of the semester. The website has provided tips and tricks of saving money. It is said that all work and no play makes Tom a dull boy. Pressure from the busy campus life requires some form of relief. The student 101 section contains hilarious stories. These services have helped the website gain competitive advantage in UK. As one who has been through the system, I commend this website. It is an efficient one, and it would be wise for other countries to adopt it. Universities are institutions of higher learning and cultivation of knowledge which requires to be shared in order to produce qualified persons worth of respect. I also recommend the website considering that it is useful for smooth learning free of interruptions. Proper saving and budgetary control help one to realize other opportunities besides learning. The website is a perfect talent tapping and growth. I see it scaling the heights of competitive advantage. References Ajami, R. and Goddard, J. (2006) International Business: Theory and Practice. London, Cengage Learning. Fleisher, C. and Bensoussan, B. (2007) Business and Competitive Analysis, Cambridge MA, HBS Press. Hill, C. and Jones, G. (2012) Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach, London, Cengage Learning. Hofer, T. (1975) Theory of Business Strategy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Kordon, A. (2010) Applying Computational Intelligence, New York, Springer. McGrath, B. (2008), 100 Steps for Improving Your Website and E Business, Brian, McGrath Porter, E. (1985) Competitive Strategy, New York, Free Press  Studentbeans Website (2012). Studentbeans Website. http://www.studentbeans.com/ Read More