BVC Key Terms to Know

 Hi delegates! 

To continue welcoming you to BVC and BMUN LXX as a whole we wanted to offer some clarification to various key terms you may find throughout the background guide. Please note that this is just a subset of the terms we determined to be most important. We recommend that you read the topic synopsis for more defined key terms and research terms outside of this as well. 

A business model is one of the most fundamental concepts in entrepreneurship. It helps you describe your target market, plans for feasibility, and how you plan on making revenue. …Basically, it helps you to show other people who your product or service is meant to help, how you will make money (some sort of subscription model – think Netflix or Amazon Prime, selling a product for more than it costs to produce, etc.), and how you will stand out from potential competitors. 

Speaking of standing out from potential competitors, there is something called having a competitive advantage. This is the way that you manage to differentiate yourself. What do you do that other people offering similar products don’t? Maybe your product costs consumers less. Maybe it performs some unique action or targets a unique group of people (a unique target market). Let’s go back to that Netflix example. Netflix works hard to create a competitive advantage by offering a vast amount of high-quality original content that other streaming services don’t have. This helps them to both attract customers and maintain their current ones. 

Next, let’s quickly talk about barriers to entry. I’m going to explain this one through an example. Let’s talk about airlines. There are a few major ones. Maybe you’ve heard of United Airlines, American, Southwest, British Air, etc. Now here’s the question, why aren’t there more major airlines? Among others, there are two major reasons: cost and technical knowledge. Airplanes are EXPENSIVE. Having enough funds to purchase enough of them to start a decent-sized airline just isn’t something many people have the capital to do. Second, you need people with the technical skills and engineering background to actually know how to build the planes. Not to mention the relationships you need to have with governments in each country you need to fly into, etc. Overall, there are reasons why everyone you know hasn’t started their own airline. There are certain factors that make it difficult to enter the industry. 

Finally, we’re going to discuss a target audience. Every product or service has certain people that they market their product to. One that many of you are likely familiar with is SAT test preparation companies (...I’m so sorry for bringing this up. Sincerely, these tests don’t define you :)). Their main audience is the parents of high school students. As such, they recognize that there is no benefit in marketing to the rest of the population. As you come up with your product, think about who is likely to use it and focus on this group of people. 

That’s all of the terms I have for you today. Keep in mind that these would be some great concepts to include in your position papers. 

Feel free to post any questions or comments below. If there is a particular current issue or practice that you would like to talk about, it may also be helpful if you post in the comments such that other delegates may research it as well. 

Wishing you a great weekend! 

Kindly,

Harrison Winikoff 

BVC Vice Chair of BMUN LXX