Introduction to Business - Reflective Essay

Business generally can be known as an organization which involves the trade of goods, services between the sellers and consumers. And through this module, Introduction to Business which is included in our semester 2 syllabus I got to know more about a real business operation and management.

Basically my first thought about this subject it was just gonna be another not-so-interesting subject but little did I know that I was wrong, it was a really fun subject and perhaps the most interesting subject among all. We were given different activities and tasks each time during the lectures and the way how Mr. Joe made everything seemed more lively and fun really do helped us a lot in understanding the subject better.

And talking about what I had learned through this module, firstly it had definitely widen up my views and thoughts about business. Through each lectures conducted, I got to learn about a business operation, management, structure, strategies in business and many more. I had also got to know that starting and running a business is never an easy job as it requires sufficient amount of capital, well management of human resources, fairly planned finance, and even good strategies to get better sales and market. Besides, business isn't just about selling and buying it's also an act of interaction. Through the interaction between the seller and consumers, we would get to know more clearly about the market's needs and how we could work on it to feed all the needs.

Next, through the process of completing all the assignments given in this module I had also became stronger and tougher in handling different issues. The one important lesson I learned from this subject will be determination when I'm facing obstacles and problems in life, I had learned to never give up. Even if you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail forever. Every failures marks a special spot in our lives and it shall not stop us from trying but keep us going instead. Especially when doing the final assignment, my group had came across quite many problems from the products supplies, sponsorship and all the rejections from people. I was glad that we had became even more motivated after failing each time and also grateful that we didn't give up halfway but kept going till we finally succeeded in hitting the target set. This does not just apply in studies but also in our daily life. It'd obviously become a lifelong lesson to me and constantly supporting me in doing better.

Another thing I had learned through this module will be the communication with people. Firstly, all the presentations conducted had helped me in boosting up my confidence and also brushed up my speaking skills. We were always asked to present our ideas and thoughts in class freely but in the way that can be understand by everyone. I think this had really helped me in organizing my opinions and then addressing them clearly to the audiences. I had came to know that a good presentation is not just about how good your language is but it's also about how you interact and communicate with the audiences through verbal or even non verbal cues so that they will be attracted to you and fully understand your messages. Besides, I had became more fluently in speaking and languages through these presentation practices in class.

Overall, I really enjoy doing this subject and I'm grateful that it's included in our modules. As we didn't just doing the subjects related to Architecture but also gained some extra knowledge through this subject which will definitely help us in the future. Besides, I would also like to thank our lecturer Mr. Joe for his patient guidance all this while. He is a really great and dedicated lecturer and we had a lot of fun during his lessons.

Introduction to Business - Charity Drive

This was the final project for this subject which was assigned to us and the objectives of this project are to encourage students to think creatively and strategically in the course of starting and running a business, to understand the roles of human resources management, marketing, operation and finance in business, to understand the social and ethical responsibilities of a business.

For this final project, we were required to run a charity drive event from 2nd June to 6th June. Firstly, we had to form a group of 5 members which my group had included Jia Yi, Sharon, Kelvin, Alfred and I. Since we had 5 members in our group, our targeted profit is RM2500.00. After the clear explanation by Mr. Joe, we had discussion to discuss on the products that we would like to sell during the event.

We had conducted a few meetings to assign the tasks to each member, to discuss and finalize on our products and also to develop on a few strategies in order to get a better sales. We first decided to sell healthy snacks like muesli bar, milk, fruits drinks and also polaroid service. But during the process of getting these products and also sponsorship, we had encountered some problems and decided to change our products to chocolate, Japanese snacks and Grafitti tees.

While surveying at Ikea, 

 After finalizing on the products that we wanted to sell, we went straight to get the supplies.

During charity drive, 

Our promotion song created by JiaYi and Alfred.

Full Video

Full Report

After completing this assignment, I had gained a lot in the ways of getting to know more about a business's operation, running a business, resources management and also it's finance management. The one very important thing I had learned through this assignment is to never give up when you come across obstacles. We started our pre-sales one week before the charity drive, and we had faced problems in promoting our products as we kept getting rejected by people but we didn't give up and thought of other strategies to attract our customers. In the end, we had successfully sold over 40 bars of chocolates on the first day.

Besides, working in a group is also another challenging task as everyone had their own perspectives and thoughts about things. I had learned to tolerate and to be open minded to accept others ideas and opinions. We cooperated quite well together and also got better in communicating with each other.

Moreover, I had also learned that to run a business smoothly, there are many things that need to be taken account of. For example capital, human resources management, a well planned strategy, promotion tactics, attractiveness of products, price set, sales market and more. All these mentioned are always need to be taken into consideration in order to produce the best results of a business.

Lastly, this assignment was definitely a memorable and meaningful experience. As we didn't just get to learn a lot about business, working together in running it but we also got to contribute to the society by donating all the fund raised and profits earned to charity organization, World Vision. It's something that we don't normally get to do and it's way different from the other assignments. I'm really thankful that I got a chance to experience this.

Taylor's Graduate Capabilities :

DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE
- Report Content

CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
- Goal Achievement

THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
- Financial Control
- Peer Evaluation

Introduction to Business - Business Plan

This was the first graded assignment given to us for the subject Introduction to Business by our lecturer, Mr. Joe. The objectives of this assignment are to help the students to understand different types of business and to understand and evaluate the roles of human resources management, marketing, production and finance in a business.

For this assignment, we were first required to form a group of 4 members and my group included Jia Yi, Sharon Lim, Kelvin Fong and I. Then we were required to prepare a business plan based on the nature of business that we had chosen and then present our plan in a 10 minutes presentation. We were also required to present our plan in the form of powerpoint/prezi slides, video clips, poster, role plays, and game etc. Simple and understandable words were encouraged to be used during our presentation.

After a few discussion conducted after being assigned with the work, we had decided on the business that we would like to further work on. We had decided to propose a business plan for Bath House Service.

Presentation Video

After completing this assignment, firstly I had definitely widen my view and knowledge about the business industry. Of course, I had also get to know more about the different types of business, the nature, operation and management of a business. I had cooperated well with my group members in doing this assignment as everyone was being supportive to each other while giving ideas and suggestions. Besides, we had came up with a quite interesting business idea and presented it well to our lecturer and classmates. And through the presentation, I had got to brush up my speaking and presenting skills as I got to address my ideas and thoughts more clearly and systematically. The only thing we thought we could harder was the interaction with the audiences, we didn't really interact with them because we were quite nervous during the presentation day and it was something rather lacking behind for my group. Overall, it was a great experience as I enjoyed doing this assignment with my group members. 

Taylor's Graduate Capabilities :

DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE
-Topic Content

CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
-Verbal Presentation
-Audience Reception

THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
-Peer Evaluation

Introduction to Business - Non-graded work

During the classes for this subject, Introduction to Business we had a few activities given by our lecturer, Mr Joe. Instead of just learning through lecture slides Mr. Joe had given us the chance to carry out the activities differently as we got to role play and had some real life experiences.

1. Organization Structure
- Which we were required to arrange, organize and draw the organization structure given onto a paper and present it to the class clearly.
- This activity helped us to understand the business management better.

2. False Advertising
- Through this activity, we were required to understand what false advertising is and the present it by our own examples to the class.
- It had helped us to identity false advertising method.

Part I

Part II

Presentation Slides

3. Business Management

- For this activity, we had to create an idea of our own business and then work on the objectives, strategies, how to achieve the goals and also the human resources management. 

- It had helped us to understand better about a business's operation and it's management in order to keep it running smoothly. 

Presentation Slides

In the end, after all the activities we had carried out in class we got to learn things through a different way which is a more practical and efficient one as we got to understand the content of the lectures better, easier and also faster by using this method. Besides, all the activities were really fun and interesting and we got to practice on our presentation skills through this way. Lastly, I got to experience a lot in the process of doing all these activities as we had to brainstorm to come up with ideas and suggestions in a short given period, and I also got to work together with my friends while working on the presentation. It was a good way in helping us to pay attention in class, got the messages clearly from our lecturer and also to not get bored during classes. 

Design Visualization - Final Project (Book Holder)

This was the very last project assigned to us for Design Visualization. The aim of this project is to review and illustrate the entire topic learned in this subject. We were to undergo a design process to help us to visualize our ideas and present the ideas in a systematic manner with visuals, drawings, diagrams and models. In the process of producing this project, we were to first produce sketches, diagram, mock up model, architectural drawing, measurements and scale to communicate our ideas visually.

For this final project, we were required to design and produce a display unit based on the topic given and the observation obtained from our previous site study. And the display unit will be serving two purposes which included providing a platform to display or exhibit something in a public area and also to create awareness that relate to the site context and surrounding.

The display unit we were required to design was a book holder based on the topic we chose from the 4 topics given (Picasso, Pixar, Grafitti and Mural) and it shall not be more than 1.5x1.5x1.5 metre in actual size. Appropriate use of materials, colors and scale is needed in producing this display unit.

The topic I had chosen was Picasso. First, I started off by doing research about Picasso, a well known Spanish painter/artist and I got to know about his life then his artwork and masterpieces. From there, I got inspired by one of his painting name "La Lecture" and thus my ideas came from that.

I started sketching and doodling my ideas and continuously update my progression with my tutor, Ms. Sufina throughout the process of producing my work. The photos below are parts of my sketches and rough ideas of my display unit.

After a few discussion and tutorial sessions with my tutor, I had finalized my ideas and started working on the mock up model and also the A1 presentation board. And the final outcome as below,

On the day of submission, pin up and silent presentation in class was conducted.

After completing this project, what I had learned is the ideas of designing can be gained from many ways, through the research on the internet, books resources, brainstorming and ideas given by tutors. Besides, how we develop our ideas from sketch then translate and visualize them into a model and 2D presentation form is also something I had learned from this project. I also got to put the things I learned from the previous assignments into good use, from the first assignment I got to learn different techniques of sketching, the second assignment I had learned about measurements and architectural drawing and the third assignment I learned about presenting ideas and info in a systematic manner. 

All the projects I had done for Design Visualization really helped me so much in getting myself all prepared to step into degree. 

Design Visualization - Project 3a (Site Analysis)

This was the third project assigned to us, and the objective of this project is to help students to identify and understand what are the key factors affecting the site and how things can be present in a systematic and analytically ways of drawing. For this project, we were required to apply what we had learned in class in the analysis report.

First, we were required to form a group of 5 to 6 members and my group included Ling Rong, Sharon Lim, Chee Siang and JiaJian. Each group need to conduct a 50m radius site study in the vicinity of Taylors University Lakeside Campus and each group needs to produce a site analysis presentation in 2 A1 landscape format which include the site plan, floor plan, site photos, site sketches, measurement of site, analysis diagrams, bubble diagrams, sensory factors and S.W.O.T analysis. Lastly, we also need to prepare a verbal presentation which is not more than 15 minutes.

The things that should be considered in our site analysis report including :

1.  Physical Attributes: site, topography, hydrology, sun path.  

2.  Biological Attributes: plants, animals.

3.  Cultural Attributes: human activities, events.

4.  Integration & Synthesis: some general statistic.   

5.  S.W.O.T analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and potential Threats 

After about a week or more of visiting our sites for many times to get the exact measurement, to analyse the factors affecting the site, sun path and such we had finally done with our two A1 report. We sketched and drew everything on a few pieces of A3 papers first, then we scanned them and arrange using photoshop and lastly printed it out. 

Through this assignment, I had learned more about conducting a proper site analysis report. I had also learned to present ideas and information in a more systematic form. During the time working on this assignment together with my group members, I had learned how to work in a group as well. For example, being open minded to others opinions and suggestions so that we can get better and improve from time to time. Besides, I had now understand the detailing and key contents that should be included in a site analysis report.
In conclusion, I would say this assignment is definitely a big step to get myself prepared before entering degree in a few months time as it really widen my views and knowledge about site analysis which we will be doing a lot in degree.

Design Visualization - Project 2 (Technical Drawing)

This was the second project assigned to us for this module which was Technical Drawing. The objective of this project is to help students to understand drawing convention and to gain the skills in utilizing it to illustrate spatial observations and generate architectural drawings. 

For this assignment, we were to concentrate on the objects measuring and present them in drawings technically. We were required to sketch and conduct measurement of chosen objects consists of minimum 3 different geometries and then explore the application of drawing conventions and by using the measurements from the observation we were to generate architectural drawings that clearly express all these 3 dimensional objects. 

We were required to pick 2 objects and generate architectural drawings of the objects as listed :

1.  One plan

2. Two elevations

3. Two sections

4. One detail drawing 

Each drawing need to be completed with title block, drawing details and information, subtitle and annotations, appropriate scale. 

And for this project, I had chosen a toner bottle and a polaroid as my objects to be measured and translated into architectural drawings. 

This assignment had helped me in practicing my skills for real architectural technical drawings. As for this assignment, accuracy and neatness are the main factors as we were suppose to draw everything even the smallest parts with the exact and correct measurements. It's way different from the first project which only required us to sketch and draw freely. Besides, it helped me in getting into the first step of architectural drawing which we will be doing more in degree. It also got me better in visualizing and expressing a 3D object into 2 dimensional drawings.