In the recent post by Kevin Lo, he expresses the need for businesses to move online in an effort to adapt to the changing market. He argues that technological improvements should incentivize companies to improve their services rather than intimidate them. He also says that as commerce moves online, larger businesses would have an advantage over smaller companies due to their vast resources. I am a strong believer with the idea that companies should utilize the advantages innovations in technology can offer. Online marketing has unbounded possibilities as it allows businesses, when done right, to reach a much larger audience than traditional marketing. It also allows companies to gather better information on their customers and develop their service to fit their needs. As the population move away from traditional media such as cable TV, radio, and newspapers in favour of mobile devices, it is important that businesses keep up with their consumers. However, I don’t believe that large businesses have a huge advantage in the online world. Due to the constant decrease in the price for technology, even the busiest and most financially constrained companies have the ability to set up a basic website to advertise and sell their services. Despite the internet is no new invention, it is still a very free-for-all platform where companies all have chances to succeed and are pushed to the side less by big companies than they may in the offline world.

While contactless payments are not a new phenomenon, new technology is making paying faster while also creating struggles for stores as they try to keep up with new forms of payment. From the old debit and credit cards to tap-to pay to digital wallets on new smartphones and watches, contactless payments are everywhere. As of recently, contactless payments have become more popular than traditional cash, marking a huge change in the way customers expect stores to operate, setting a standard for points-of-sale. Newcomer Wines, in London’s Shoreditch district, is trying to keep their customers happy by enhancing their experience in the store with the latest technology. The winery provides touch-screen tablets allowing customers to browse wines and foods to pair them with. Following this, the wines can be purchased with the latest in payment technologies. It is important for businesses to be compatible with a variety of contactless payments as they continue to exponentially grow. As electronic payments become more commonplace, businesses may lose out on sales or give their customers an unsatisfactory experience as a result of not having the latest and greatest in technology. Technology also allows businesses to collect data on their customer base including country of residence, popularity of wines, and average spent within the store. It can also streamline processes and reduce labour costs by having innovative technology do the work of an employee. While constantly upgrading to the latest technology can seem daunting and expensive, it is always important to consider how it could help your business and customers.

In the article titled “Should Aspiring Entrepreneurs go to College” by Rad Mosh, he explores the need of an undergraduate degree to an aspiring entrepreneur. Despite sounding occasionally doubtful of attending, he makes an overall case for attending higher education and I would agree. Through my first few weeks at UBC I have made some mind-blowingly talented and successful friends who have scored sought after internships and even job offers from major companies at the young age of 18. I’ve often wondered why they are even bothering with university with the plethora of opportunities they have at their fingertips. The more I thought about it the more I realized just how much one gets out of university. As Rad mentioned, university is amazing for networking; it exposes you to a vast pool of talent and knowledge in areas you may never have even realized existed. This sentiment is well expressed in the quote “Everyone you will meet knows something you don’t” by Bill Nye. University is also a breeding ground for innovation as it is an environment you wouldn’t experience anywhere else. You can pursue subjects you are passionate about, become involved with clubs, start projects with friends utilizing the tremendous resources university has to offer, and speak with thousands of talented individuals living around you 24/7, all at little risk under the safety net of student loans and very generous parents. While entrepreneurship doesn’t require a shiny degree, ultimately the purpose of university is to expose you to new ideas and make you smarter as a person.

Amazon has recently taken the bold leap from online into the real world with a physical extension of its business. This store will stock 5000 books based off of online ratings, pre-orders, sales, and general measurements of popularity. Amazon’s collection of online data for uses in a physical retail store is an interesting opportunity many retail stores don’t have the capability of doing. A spokesperson for Amazon states that the store, located in Seattle’s University Village, “integrates the benefits of offline and online book shopping”. The store allows shoppers to test out Amazon devices such as the Kindle and Fire TV. This follows a trend of primarily online retailers expanding into physical stores such as Google’s recently opened flagship store on London’s Tottenham Court Road as well as Microsoft stores opening throughout the globe. It will be interesting to see how this venture goes following a decreasing trend in the physical book industry such as the closing of the Robson Square Chapters and a reported £150 million decrease in print book sales over the past 5 years in the UK. However, new studies suggest youth prefer traditional paper books to new age mediums. Amazon will certainly have a huge advantage to other bookstores due to their huge database of consumer information which is constantly being updated. Waterstones, a competitor to Amazon, claimed that with the space Amazon was occupying, they would have stocked ten times the amount of books. However, the restricted inventory may work in Amazon’s favour as it will create a larger inventory turnover rate allowing them to stock based on trends in a short time period.

Jakarta is a city of two faces. On one you find huge amounts of poverty while on the other, an emerging wealthy capitalist entrepreneurial environment. Jakarta, with its minimum legal requirements and capitalist environment, sees hundreds of innovators from far off places travelling there to earn their fortunes. With loose visa laws and a population of around 28 million, Jakarta is the ideal place in the far-east for a start-up. One example of this Indonesian entrepreneurship is displayed by Nadiem Makarim, a Harvard graduate who founded Go-Jek. Known often as the “poor-man’s Uber” as well as the Uber of the motorcycle world, the company allows you to direct a team of motorcycle drivers to arrange transport to destinations or to deliver goods. Ordered via a smartphone app, drivers can be easily recognized in their bright green jackets and hats. The employees are also vetted, trained, registered, and provide clean helmets to passengers, an improvement of the previous free-for-all style motorcycle taxi industry in Indonesia. This is a key example of business model innovation as it completely disrupted the way motorcycle taxis in Indonesia. It provides an entirely new value proposition, new cost structure, customer segment, customer relationships, and channels, making for a more desirable customer model to customers. The company has expanded to 35,000 drivers across Indonesia. In 2013, Indonesia’s private vehicle growth rose 11% while road growth was a negligible 0.01%. Go-Jek is a viable solution for those who either can’t afford to own their own vehicle or don’t have to patience to tolerate the already congested streets with the likelihood they will only get more congested.

Internet superpower Facebook.com is adding a video service similar to YouTube’s on their site. Facebook, already accounting for approximately 20% of time spent online, is looking to expand its market share with this new video service. They are looking to have creatives produce high-quality content to upload to the site in return for a portion of the ad revenue. Facebook’s vast data on each user allows them to charge advertisers a much higher rate than other sites due to the ability to greatly personalize advertisements. A recent publicity stunt for the video game “Watchdogs” showed just how much information could be drawn from a Facebook profile.  They created a Facebook app and with the information collected, could tell users when and where they could be found, who they are likely to be with, interests, and a variety of other personal data. Should Facebook continue this push, they are likely to see a great deal of competition with YouTube, the current dominating ad-supported video site. The extent of the rivalry can be seen in a Porter’s Five Forces analysis I have created below.

As you can see from the analysis, there is a huge level of competitiveness in the online video industry. With the websites all offering very similar products usually for free, customers may switch services based on convenience. Customers only having to frequent one site for their video and social needs may be all Facebook needs to gain an advantage against YouTube, especially with a switching cost of virtually zero. While YouTube will still be a dominant video site for many years to come, they will see a decrease in traffic over time as Facebook goes forwards with this emerging new service.

Two incredibly controversial issues in the United States at the moment, college tuition and the justice system, may see some changes in the coming months. The Obama administration recently expressed an interest in reducing jail time for federal prisoners on drug offenses and spending some of the money budgeted for jails and prisons on education. This would be achieved by incarcerating fewer people arrested of non-violent crimes and is estimated to save $15 billion a year. A majority of inmates have a similar background being young, uneducated, and raised in a poorer neighborhood. Teens will often be sent to prison for minor infractions such as being in possession of marijuana. This policy has led to the US having the highest incarceration rate in the world at around 700 inmates per 100,000 citizens. The world average is around 100/100,000 with North Korea having a number estimated similar to the USA. Countries with better access to education such as Norway, Sweden, Germany, and others see incarceration rates significantly below average. Imprisonment, a majority of the time, has been shown to create or intensify mental health conditions rather than rehabilitating the inmate. A push to only imprison dangerous criminals and put the money into education would be a smart move on the part of the American government as we would see a decrease in mindless crimes and a more educated population. A lower price would cause children living in relative poverty to believe in a better future rather than feeling trapped in their socio-economic class.

Stakeholders of Whole Foods Market will undoubtedly be irritated by the company’s current state. The once innovative company which broke into the scene as an up-scale grocery store providing healthier and more expensive alternatives to competition has seen a continuing trend of unfortunate events. In the last 6 months, Whole Foods has seen their stock fall 40% partially due to the company’s sales and profits not hitting analysts forecasts. The falling stocks have come with a falling reputation leading to the nickname “Whole Paycheck”. They have seen a variety of problems such as mislabeled prepackaged food, resulting fines, lawsuits, and the infamous $6 “Asparagus Water”. The company has recently laid off 1.6% of its workforce in order to invest in technology and reduce prices. The demand for lower prices by customers is believed to have stemmed from the modern popularization of organic produce, creating greater competition. The latest Whole Foods issue was a group of customers in Houston protesting prison inmates producing certain food products. Whole Foods released a statement saying the items will be removed by April 2016. It’s clear why their stocks have been falling, and with continuous bad news for them: now is certainly not the time to be investing. I am doubtful the company will ever regain the reputation it once had and will continue to fall for some time to come. There is some hope is on the horizon with new initiatives such as rooftop farming and a more affordable store aimed at younger shoppers, but for the time being, an investment with Whole Foods is one I would definitely avoid.

The term supermarketization, also known as Walmartization, and in a more positive light as urbanization, has been a key issue for many concerned citizens and small business owners in the increasingly big business oriented world we live in. In the UK especially, many towns feel they have lost their traditional culture with supermarket giants such as Tesco spreading itself
throughout the country, killing off many small local businesses. This issue has seen 
several rebellions in recent years such as the Bristol Riots in 2011 where the newly opened,
and thankfully empty, Tesco had firebombs thrown at it. Responding police officers were met
with attack from the public wielding a variety of makeshift weapons. This attack followed months of discontent and disapproval with the construction of the store being performed behind hoardings to prevent vandalism. This issue is demonstrated as well in the recent closing of the fourty year old Gigi Shoes, the final shoe store on the historic Wong Nai Chung road in Hong Kong. The high street, once known Hong Kong’s shoe district, is now lined with property brokers capable of paying the rent which has doubled in the past decade. The greatest threat that comes with the closures of these traditional stores is the loss of culture and tradition associated with it. Despite being strongly in favour of free markets, I also believe the government should intervene in cases which have a potential of destroying a town’s atmosphere and history. Whether this means subsidizing rent for historic shoe stores or preventing the opening of a large metal and glass Tesco in an otherwise traditional area. They should certainly step in if the incoming company is clearly unwelcome such as in the case of the Bristolian Tesco. In the end, the government should protect the interests of their people rather than enterprises. Likewise, companies should feel a moral obligation not to irritate potential customers with inconsiderate construction.

A huge role model of mine, especially in the world of business, is Elon Musk, a businessman who has been extremely accomplished in a variety of industries. Founding and co-founding the companies PayPal, Tesla, Space X, Solar City, he has proven himself to be a very competent entrepreneur. Despite becoming a wildly successful and wealthy entrepreneur, he has stayed true to his ambitions of environmental sustainability, hard work, and progress. Musk places a huge importance on a sustainable future with products and services encouraging renewable resources such as Tesla’s electric cars and solar charging stations, SolarCity, and the proposed HyperLoop project. He even welcomes competition to the Tesla electric car citing the importance of environmental sustainability over Tesla’s profit. Musk has also demonstrated a can-do and hardworking attitude; telling his employees to contact him anytime night or day and reportedly working more than 100 hour weeks. It is clear that he is incredibly committed to his companies and goals. As someone who strongly believes that businesses should have the best interests of their customers, employees, and planet at heart, it is clear why this ambitious, hardworking, progressive, and environmentally invested individual is my idea of a responsible businessman with good ethics.