Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Vocational training

Selling Externally

Just as employees must “sell” ideas internally, entrepreneurs with plans based on new business models must sell them to other parties, such as investors or potential collaborators.

Technique Nº 4: Prototyping

It's a methodology for exploring different possibilities until a truly good one emerged. It's a central part of an inquiry process that helps participants gain a better sense of what is missing in the initial understanding of a situation.

Prototyping is a powerful tool for developing new, innovative business models. Like visual thinking, it makes abstract concepts tangible. In recent years, in business discipline, it has gained traction in areas such as process design, service design and even organization and strategy... Continue reading "Innovative Business Model Techniques: Prototyping and Storytelling" »

Four Key Processes Enhanced by Visual Thinking

Let’s examine four processes improved by visual thinking:

1. Understand the Essence

• Visual Grammar: The Business Model Canvas poster is a conceptual map that functions as a visual language with corresponding grammar. It tells you which pieces of information to insert in the model, and where.
• Capturing the Big Picture: By sketching out all the elements of the Canvas, you immediately give viewers the big picture of a business model. A sketch provides just the right amount of information to allow a viewer to grasp the idea, yet not too much detail to distract them.
• Seeing Relationships: Understanding a business model requires not only knowing the compositional elements, but also grasping the interdependencies

The Business Model Ideation Process

The ideation process can take several forms. Here we outline a general approach to produce innovative business model options:

1. 1. Team Composition

   Assembling the right team is essential to generating effective new business model ideas. Members should be diverse in terms of seniority, age, experience level, business unit represented, customer knowledge, and professional expertise.

2. 2. Immersion Phase

   Ideally, the team should go through an immersion phase, which could include general research, studying customers or prospects, scrutinizing new technologies, or assessing existing business models. Immersion could last several weeks or could be as short as a couple of workshop exercises (e.g., the Empathy Map).

3. 3. Expanding

Technique No. 2: Business Model Ideation

Mapping an existing business model is one thing; designing a new and innovative business model is another. Ideation is the process for generating a large number of business model ideas and successfully isolating the best ones. Today, different business models compete in the same markets, and boundaries between industries are blurring—or disappearing altogether.

One challenge we face when trying to create new business model options is ignoring the status quo and suspending concerns over operational issues so that we can generate truly new ideas. Business model innovation is not about looking back, because the past indicates little about what is possible in terms of future business models. Business model... Continue reading "Business Model Ideation: Generating Innovative Concepts" »

Please stand (1) on this board. Put your hands on the back of your hips and your elbows forward. I'll help you. (2) push your elbows (3) out. Keep (4) breathing. In a moment I'll ask you to (5) take a deep breath in and hold it. Breathe in, (6) hold it. That's it. Fine. You can breathe out now.

Thank you. I'll need to check the film. Now I'm going to take a side view.

Can you stand (7) sideways with your right side close to the machine and your arms raised?

1 MRI provides more detailed information than CT because of high contrast sensitivity.

2 MRI is not approved for use in the first three months of pregnancy.

3 MRI is safer than X-rays because there is no radiation.

4 MRI allows imaging on many planes unlike CT.

1 I'm going to

Instructions:

Choose the best answer for each multiple-choice question.

Questions:

1. Carl Jung believed that all humans have a common hereditary...
   1. Collective unconscious
   2. Displacement
   3. Rationalization
   4. Projection
   5. Regression
2. Three-year-old Joey is very angry with his parents but instead yells at his teddy bear. This is an example of...
   1. Collective unconscious
   2. Displacement
   3. Rationalization
   4. Projection
   5. Regression
3. A person with anorexia nervosa tells her therapist that she doesn't eat because she is worried about gaining weight, not because she wants to punish her parents. This is an example of...
   1. Collective unconscious
   2. Displacement
   3. Rationalization
   4. Projection
   5. Regression
4. Sam says that he does not trust Dorothy, but in reality, Dorothy feels that Sam is the one who cannot be

Key Concepts in Child Development and Psychology

Developmental Stages and Processes

1. During the course of successful prenatal development, a human organism begins as a zygote and finally develops into a fetus.
2. One of the most consistently damaging teratogens is alcohol.
3. The symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome are most likely to include mental abnormalities.
4. The rooting reflex refers to a baby's tendency to open the mouth in search of a nipple when touched on the cheek.

Early Cognitive Abilities

5. In order to test whether newborns can visually discriminate between various shapes and colors, psychologists have made use of the process of habituation.
6. The best evidence that a 4-month-old infant possesses an understanding of object permanence is the child's

Reading Comprehension Answer Key

I Often Spend the Day Shopping

Answers: 1.E, 2.C, 3.G, 4.A, 5.B, 6.F

Who's Playing Mind Games with You?

Answers: 1.B, 2.G, 3.D, 4.A, 5.E, 6.F

African Safari

Answers: 1.B, 2.C, 3.D, 4.B, 5.A, 6.D

A Writer's Room

• 0. Idea
• 1. Various
• 2. Primarily
• 3. Imagine
• 4. Moment
• 5. Pretend
• 6. Desire
• 7. Let
• 8. Refuse

Festivals Around the World

Answers: 1.A, 2.B, 3.D, 4.E, 5.C, 6.A, 7.C, 8.B, 9.E, 10.D

What Is Ski Touring?

Key Terms: the, of, be, have, there, able, because, in, more

Planning an Adventure Trip

Key Factors: make, get, aware, factors, prepared, exact, essential, willing, events

The Happiest Day of the Year

Key Terms: has, at, on, which, when, be, or, much

Which Person?

Answers: 1.D, 2.B, 3.C, 4.D, 5.E, 6.A, 7.E, 8.C, 9.B, 10.E

In from the

MODAL VERBS

He must be in love/ She could be working too hard/ He may not earn very much/ That must be very hard/ That can't be Claire's grandfather/ He must have sold his business for a lot of money/ They can't have had another argument/ we might have met before/ she can't have had a happy childhood/ She may have thought I'd be angry.

I might be able to give you a lift but../ I wasn't able to swim till last year/ I can see Sarah../ I've made the main course for dinner.. so I haven't been able to make the dessert yet/ When I was 14, I was able to run from my home../ Will you be able to speak Chinese../ I was able to go to last Saturday's../ my brother can usually fix the computer

LISTENING

Cave Diving

(size/explorer/challenge/darkness/problem-solving/... Continue reading "English Grammar and Vocabulary Exercises" »

Gerunds and Infinitives (TO/ING)

Practice using gerunds (V-ing) and infinitives (to + V) correctly after specific verbs and phrases.

• I began going snowboarding.
• There wasn't any point trying to windsurf.
• We continued to train for the race.
• I stopped to rest after the run.
• Remember not to go to college.
• I started doing rock climbing.
• Don't forget to bring plenty (of supplies).
• It wasn't worth continuing up the mountain.
• My family stopped visiting Scotland.
• I prefer to sail on the sea.
• I was offered a place travelling (around the world).
• I meant to tell Oliver.

Phrasal Verbs and Collocations with TAKE

The verb TAKE is used in many common phrasal verbs and fixed expressions:

• Everybody is welcome to take part in the race.
• Jack was injured, so Andy took his place