Assignment 21

Book: The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson
1) General theme or argument of the book:
The general argument of this book is that it is quite possible to survive and thrive as a business that offers a plethora of products that appeals to many small groups of consumers. An online video-game store can offer a larger library of products than a brick and motor store can. As a result, this online video-game store will be able to attract more customers and possibly get more purchases than the brick and motor store that only has the most popular games on the market.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT3003?
This book enhanced my learning in ENT3003 because it thought me that you do not have to rely on one or two products you are selling in order to run a successful business. In order to mitigate your risk, you should offer as many products that appeal to all different demographics and preferences to be prosperous.

3)If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would the exercise
 include?
If I had to design an exercise for the class, I would have everyone develop ten products. These ten products would have to appeal to as many people as possible. The person who has the most "purchases" would win the exercise and would be given candy.

4)What was your biggest surprise or "aha" moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

What differed most from my expectations was the fact that anyone offering many different "niche" products online can compete with the bestseller product of the category. This makes a lot of sense. Before reading this book, I believed that an entrepreneur should try their best to offer one or two products that will get a massive amount of attention and sales. However, this way of thinking goes against one of the biggest principles of entrepreneurship: risk mitigation.