Bizdom U 2009: Andrew Hwang

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2007/db20070730_172552.htm 

The Nevada State Gaming Control Board reported $2.4 billion in legal sports wagers in the United States for 2006.  Undoubtedly, there is an indefinite amount of unreported illegal wagers.  Astonishingly, the sports betting industry is more than six times larger than the 122 professional sports franchises of the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA combined! Football is the giant of sports betting, which accounts for about half ($1.1 billion) of all bets waged in Nevada.  However in recent years, NBA basketball wagering has increased 24% from $513.5 million in 2005 to $635.4 million in 2006.

Recently, former NBA referee, Tim Donaghy (40), turned himself in to the authorities after admitting to fixing games during the last two NBA seasons, which included 139 regular-season games, eight playoff games, and four preseason games.  David Stern, the NBA Commissioner, called the scandal “the most serious and worst situation” in his 40 years with the league.  Donaghy dealt with the mob who used his gambling debt to force him to share information and possibly fix NBA games.

R.J. Bell, a sports betting expert who runs the Web site pregame.com, claims that an NBA referee can highly affect the outcome of a game compared to a NFL referee because of the number of foul calls per game; it only takes a few foul calls per game to hinder a six point spread. Bell states that bookmakers obtain an abundance of information on each team and individual players over the six month season, and are able to set point spreads that predict winners 70% of the time. “The market efficiency is higher in NBA sports betting than the NFL, making it harder for the average bettor to win money,” he says.

source: http://mediabiz.blogs.cnnmoney.com/2007/07/27/the-ugly-truth-about-online-video/?section=money_topstories

A recent report by a U.S. marketing firm, eMarketer, found that companies plan on spending $1.35 billion on online video advertising in 2008 and $4.3 billion in 2013! This is not surprising considering that Google just spent $1.7 billion acquiring Youtube and how Yahoo! and other web companies are developing their own online video sites. In addition, the two media giants, NBC Universal and News Corp., are teaming up together to form an online video venture. So how does this craze compare to the traditional TV advertising?

Last year, over $65 billion were spent on TV advertising, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The bottom line: TV isn’t going anywhere anytime soon- the two forms of advertising are still incomparable. The truth of the matter is that people still utilize TV more than the internet. “Most people still consume video on television. There is a lot of upside in online video but the business is still nascent. Conventional wisdom can sometimes get ahead of us. People act as if all TV and entertainment is on the Internet. That’s not the case,” says Paul Sagan, the Chief Executive Officer of Akamai Technologies (AKAM).

So before any small business plans on lavishly spending on internet videos thinking that it will give them the edge over TV advertising, they should consider the bang for their buck.  The U.S. population is only aging and older equals less technologically savvy.

Note: The blog post for this week’s “Hear the Buzz” is from a recent experience of mine with Delta Airlines.

On July 13th, 2007, I left Detroit Metro Airport for Oklahoma City, my hometown, for a flight scheduled at 6:30pm with a connecting flight in Atlanta.  The whole check-in process went smoothly and I whizzed through the security check-point.  As expected the flight took off on time and arrived to Atlanta with an hour to spare.  This gave me enough time to eat and relax a bit before my next flight.  As I looked up to the multiple screens to find my departure gate, I noticed that my flight to OKC had been delayed for thirty minutes.  This, of course, was not a substantial inconvenience so I just patiently waited to board the plane.

Thirty minutes later, the screen reported another thirty minute delay and then again, an additional thirty minute delay.  In total, my flight was delayed for approximately an hour and thirty minutes.  This not only aggravated my personal traveling experience with Delta, but also made it an inconvenience for the person designated to pick me up from the airport in OKC.  Nonetheless, I safely arrived home and looked forward to a weekend at home with my family.

The truly terrible experience with Delta Airlines did not happen until the returning flight (July 15th) with a layover in Cincinnati scheduled to arrive in Detroit by 8:45pm.  The first flight was only delayed about twenty minutes, but this was not a problem considering that I still had enough time to make it to my connecting plane in Cincinnati to Detroit.  As I promptly arrived to my gate in Cincinnati, the terminal screen reported a one and a half hour delay.  One and a half hours later, the same screen read off: canceled.  I was then told to wait in the “customer service” line to be properly informed of upcoming procedures. All passengers were informed that the crew had already worked overtime for the day and were sent home, leaving the plane unable to take off.

For another hour and a half, I waited in line to speak with a Delta representative in order to book my next flight.  Apparently, the flight that was canceled was the last plane out to Detroit and so the only option was to catch the next early morning flight.  I was issued two seven dollar meal vouchers, a hotel room at the Sheraton, and a boarding pass for tomorrow’s earliest flight to Detroit.

As a result, I arrived to my destination over thirteen hours late and spent over five hours in total waiting to board an aircraft.

Delta Airline’s inability to have a “standby crew” for cases like this cost them a substantial amount of money.  That day over fifty passengers were issued the same fourteen dollars in meal vouchers, a hotel room, and a boarding pass for tomorrow.  In my prediction, that cost the airline nearly $8,200 ($150/hotel room + $14 meal vouchers) just for that one flight.  Keep into consideration that multiple flights that day were canceled due to the same reason.

Rather than the financial loss, what’s more important is the loss of loyal Delta customers.  This particular experience casted a negative view for the airline not only for the passengers that experienced the large traveling inconvenience of that day, but also for the ten to twenty people those passengers shared their story with.

These situations can without a doubt be prevented with proper management and preparation.  However, many airlines these days fail to recognize the importance of timely traveling from their customer’s point of view.  Major airlines seem to be steering away from their core values of providing excellent service for their travelers.  In the near future, only a few companies will be left as the choice of air travel.

The mission: To help create equity in access to healthy, fresh, and sustainably-grown food in our most vulnerable urban communities.

Dr. Oran B. Hesterman is the President and CEO of the Fair Food Foundation, a non-profit organization aiming to bring fresh food to urban communities. Originally located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Fair Food Foundation is looking to open an office in Detroit. Dr. Hesterman thinks that Detroit is a key city for their mission.

In my opinion, “access to healthy food” is important, but I would question if there is really a lack of “equity” to healthy food in urban communities. I agree that there is less access to healthy food in Detroit, but do not think that creates an inequality because there is such a minimal demand for healthy food. Some make the argument that Detroit is not a healthy city because it does not have access to healthy options- others say that “wealth equals health,” meaning that people with wealth care more about their health.

Studies show that the average urban family spends approximately ten more dollars a week on food than the average suburban household. With this being said, there is obviously a choice being made by urban families when it comes to food consumption- the choice to eat unhealthy. I don’t think that there is a large market for healthy food in Detroit, rather I think maybe small organic grocery store will suffice.