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Week Twelve: Who Should Have Won?


View Poll Results: Who Should Have Won?
Alana 106 79.70%
Courtney 27 20.30%
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Old 19-12-2016, 12:49
Arthur_B
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Always amazes me coming on here to see how few people grasp basic business principles.

Grainne, as well as being useless, didn't have anything close to an investable proposition. Nor did she have any particular skill that LS might want to "buy" even if her business was not viable. If you are an amazing designer, even if business wise you aren't great it might be worth LS buying "you". Grainne had nothing. And wasn't very bright.

Alana had the only business that might become worth £250K plus....
As unviable as her business plan was, Grainne was far from useless. That seems very harsh.
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Old 19-12-2016, 12:57
Mr_X_123
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As unviable as her business plan was, Grainne was far from useless. That seems very harsh.

She didn't have one skill that was even approaching useful. During the interviews she blatantly gave up as it was clear she didn't have the brainpower to think on her feet or to work things out.

She was completely out of her depth. And the pool wasn't very deep. Virtually everything she did was mistake ridden. Nice girl, probably very good at doing makeup. In terms of managing, accounting, problem solving etc, she was useless.
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Old 19-12-2016, 13:10
lammtarra
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And Alana's counterattack was the most effective since Zara destroyed James - when he claimed he had the best economics results in NI's exam - Zara didn't even bother to point out her GCSE results were better.......
It would be nice to know (and presumably it was covered at the interview round but not shown) whether Alana's £40,000 profit was before or after she'd paid herself and her boyfriend employee.
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Old 19-12-2016, 13:36
francie
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Alana all the way.

Both candidates put themselves firmly in markets that are already overly saturated but the key difference is Alana actually:
a) has had good business acumen across most of the tasks this series
b) Thanks to Oliver of all people actually perfected her brand really quickly allowing for solid brand recognition.

She absolutely deserved to win and her quick spat with Courtney was deserved after he called her "a baker not a businesswoman" which was totally uncalled for.

Courtney is in my mind not only the worst finalist The Apprentice has ever had but also one of the least interesting candidates ever. Even now in the final he let Jessica/Kartick do most of the work. He just seemed to coast by and while I do appreciate that brief clip of him getting coaching for his pitches to make him seem more sympathetic, it still doesn't make him any less useless, and the sympathy went out the window the minute he slated Alana, prize pillock.
Mistake on his part I thought as she came back at him re profits etc - capable of thinking on her feet, something he doesn't seem capable of doing - she gave back better...not bad for a "baker"
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Old 19-12-2016, 17:19
Arthur_B
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She didn't have one skill that was even approaching useful. During the interviews she blatantly gave up as it was clear she didn't have the brainpower to think on her feet or to work things out.

She was completely out of her depth. And the pool wasn't very deep. Virtually everything she did was mistake ridden. Nice girl, probably very good at doing makeup. In terms of managing, accounting, problem solving etc, she was useless.
Have to agree to disagree on this one. I thought she was one of the better contestants this year. That may not be saying much, but I didn't see her as useless.
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Old 19-12-2016, 19:01
chrono88
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Alana rightfully won
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Old 20-12-2016, 04:26
thenetworkbabe
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So if the final had been Alana vs Grainne do you think it would have been a closer and/or different contest to Alana vs Courtney, then?

Courtney was a fairly weak candidate, so putting him up against Alana in the final gave Lord Sugar the result he wanted, and he knew this.
He had only weak alternatives to Alana left by the last 5 . Grainee had shown all the problems that led to her coming up with an unfocused proposal at the interview stage , and had been awful on the gin task, and accused of doing nothing before that . Jessica and Frances fell foul of wanting to do clothing and scalability.And he didn't seem keen on either proposal.

Trishna ought to have been able to put a proposal together that held up, and was working in a similar area to Ricky. But he didn't let her get to the end - either because he didn't want her proposal , only wanted an up and running proposition, wanted Grainee at interview, or he did want Alana's offer .
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Old 20-12-2016, 04:36
thenetworkbabe
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It would be nice to know (and presumably it was covered at the interview round but not shown) whether Alana's £40,000 profit was before or after she'd paid herself and her boyfriend employee.
Doesn't really matter for her? - its hers to spend anyway - apart from having to find the money to replace herself cooking them,

Lots wasn't explored. Courtney works from his bedroom we are told, , but according to linkedin he works from Hong Kong - which presumably puts him near enough to his suppliers. He can't be in two places at once , and its a lot further to come from than Cereidigion if Sugar wants to see him.

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/courtney-wood-5364b249

Its an Interesting comment on the UK economy that he has a first class degree in design, but makes 8k a year designing novelty goods........
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Old 20-12-2016, 07:51
JohnStannard
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Coutney IMO
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Old 20-12-2016, 09:21
lammtarra
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Doesn't really matter for her? - its hers to spend anyway - apart from having to find the money to replace herself cooking them,

Lots wasn't explored. Courtney works from his bedroom we are told, , but according to linkedin he works from Hong Kong - which presumably puts him near enough to his suppliers. He can't be in two places at once , and its a lot further to come from than Cereidigion if Sugar wants to see him.

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/courtney-wood-5364b249

Its an Interesting comment on the UK economy that he has a first class degree in design, but makes 8k a year designing novelty goods........
Yes, it does make a difference whether the £40,000 is before or after salaries have been paid. For a start, it would allow a fairer comparison with Courtney's company.

£40,000 profit is excellent -- unless it is based on free labour because Alana and her boyfriend are not paying themselves. Imagine you want to buy her company: how likely is it that you can persuade the two workers you hire to replace Alana and her boyfriend will also work for free?
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