Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point focuses on defining social epidemics and explaining the principles of epidemic transmission. He asserts that there is a definable moment where ideas, products and behaviors can encounter a sudden change in social behavior that allows them to spread exponentially. A key factor to a tipping point is whether the change becomes permanent. The market that serves the underbanked population with improved financial products is unmet, which provides an opportunity for companies like Workpays.me to prosper. Access to credit via payroll deduction for online shopping in the underbanked population has not yet tipped, but could in the not too distant future.
Gladwell asserts that large behavioral moves are started by…show more content… The most substantial risks the company faces are defaults and change in employment status, either initiated by the employer or employee. If an employee loses his/her job due to no fault of his own, Workpays.me disregards the balance and accepts the financial responsibility. However, if an employee quits or is fired, they are able to pay off the debt over time. A clear external risk is that additional, successful, online merchants, such as Amazon and Alibaba, target this market. Currently, Workpays.me is one of very few companies that offer the combination of e-commerce and financial wellness. (Verne) The payday loan industry is heavily regulated as the firms that operate in that marketplace often take advantage of consumers through their high interest rates, penalties and fees. Verne points out that Workpays.me addresses the risk of changing Government regulation by, “staying focused and making sure that we always have the consumer’s best interest in mind.” Workpays.me has not had to weather a large economic downturn where countless people lost their jobs at the same time. In order to manage its default rates properly, Workpays.me depends on a relatively steady economic environment and also a wide number of companies in a diverse set of industries to serve as its clients. This reduces the risk of widespread employee layoffs across its customer…show more content… The Salesperson is selling to and adding corporations by selling Workpays.me’s business plan to a company’s HR department. The members of the HR departments become the Mavens of the industry as they endorse Workpays.me. Each time a company agrees to offer Workpays.me as a benefit, the company gains a Maven. Mavens share their newfound information with the employees of their company and with other companies, who become the connectors. An important part of this chain reaction is that the Connectors always have a positive experience with Workpays.me and encourage others to try it. These employees become repeat customers and could start a word of mouth epidemic, similar to Gladwell’s example of William Dawes and Paul Revere’s midnight ride. While both Revere and Dawes were relaying identical messages, only Revere was successful in relaying the shocking news. Revere was both a Connector and a Maven. He was already known, and trusted, through his military involvement and was providing his network with crucial information. According to Verne, “the underbanked community is close-knit. They are always looking out for each other's better interest.” The HR department Mavens spread the information about Workpays.me’s benefits throughout the company, hopefully, eventually reaching the select few that possess the particular and rare set of social gifts to start a word of mouth