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After reading Yeqi Yang’s blog post on “the trouble of loyal cards“, I disagree with her thought that Tesco should stop using membership cards . In fact, I believe that membership cards have became a unique point of parity in any brands. Just as Yeqi said, almost all supermarkets have membership cards. Therefore, if any of these groceries stores decides to discard them, it all of a sudden creates a disadvantage among their competitors. As a result , that particular store will be eliminated immediately during the consideration process in  “Consumer journey model” ,  giving the fact that they do not gain any vouchers and cash backs upon purchases anymore.

I do agree with Yeqi that there is a need for companies to differentiate themselves in order to sustain consumers’ loyalty and interest.  I think stores should start following the footsteps of a points system in airplane mileage, where you can redeem goods from headphones to a free plane flight with a certain amount of points.(gain points depending on the location you travel) In that way,  it not only creates a point of difference among competitors,  it also provides a legitimate reason for consumers to become your newest VIP.

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Sources:

blog post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/yeqiyang/2014/10/08/the-trouble-of-loyal-cards/

consumer journey model : (here)

(1): (here)

(2): (here)

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B.C. First Nation Tsilhqot’in recently declared full protection of a big portion in Chilcotin as a tribal park. This declaration would prohibit Taseko from mining gold that worth 1.5 billion.

I think that the government should pass this declaration. Even before the Constitution Acts was passed in 1867, these aboriginal people have already been living there. If Taseko have any kind of large industrial mining there, these poor inhabitants will all have to migrate to an unfamiliar place.

From a business stand point, Companies should be well aware that dealing with aboriginals can be very tricky. Take into consideration that provincials court will most likely stand on Aboriginals’ side due to their rich history and also numerous acts passed just to protect their rights. In addition, paying them a compensation to leave will not do any good since money contains zero value to them.

Above all, invading someone’s home will be justified as an immoral act. Nowadays, business ethics are as important as generating endless profits . Therefore, I suggest Taseko to consider all the disadvantages in their business model in external environment and its implications on the business model canvas(e.g. customer relationships). Remember, one can have numerous ways to gain profits; it only takes one blow to destroy one’s brand image.

Sources:

Original article: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Unilateral+park+declared+Tsilhqot+includes+Prosperity+mine/10192766/story.html

(1):  http://unpublishedottawa.com/sites/unpublishedottawa.com/files/styles/lightbox-full/public/letter/45/fishlake_no-mining.jpg?itok=ETdC6Y9K

2: http://mountainbike.bicycling.com/sites/default/files/images/cycling-chilcotin-mountains-british-columbia.jpg

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After reading Michael Zhong’s blog about “Tesco’s 250 Million Mistake”, I think that Tesco’s pivotal error on reporting their latest profit is not just a careless mistake; in fact, it is I think, a fraud. 10, 20 or even 30 million still make a tiny sense.  A ridiculous 250 millions? Seriously? Did the accounting division use a potato to calculate their profit? With an already awful accusation of “aggressive accounting” back in 2010, I strongly believe that they are using the same method again in an attempt to attract new investors. Knowing that Blackrock, their second largest stakeholder, is departing,  and their stock price is dropping faster than a roller coaster every day; their only legitimate hope to revive the company is to get support from new stockholders. However, they realize that no one would like to invest money on a dying stock. Therefore, the quickest way to gain new shareholders  is by raising profits up to a sky high number, where it will show  investors that Tesco still has a huge market value .

In order to prevent these kinds of “mistake” happening again, government should penalize Tesco massively this time as a warning to other corporations. In that way, it ensures that no one would ever use a potato next time when computing their profits.

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Sources:

Original blog post :https://blogs.ubc.ca/mzhongdingdong/2014/09/29/tescos-250-million-dollar-mistake/

(1):https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ89r8qziXeWo3ElBXrUF5NZ9wPQeqeCmBacs9oqzTAdq2VDZ7LjQ

(2): http://cdn.euromoney.com/Media/images/euromoney/institutions/tesco-extra.jpg

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The recent release of the Iphone 6 has once again created another frenzy. An Iphone 6 plus in the United states has now rocketed up to $1300 , 173% more than the original price that apple sells. Things look even more ridiculous in China; they buy in ONE Iphone 6 plus for as high as $3000.

All these bizarre phenomena are the result of an intelligent marketing plan constructed by Apple. Over the years, releases of Iphones has always been able to gain huge media coverage due to uncertain atmosphere Apple created. Before the actual conference held by Apple, public do not receive a single piece of information about their latest inventions. They continue to build up the hype by only releasing their product to a few countries with an insufficient amount of supply. With a normal demand and a extremely low supply, price will obviously be sky high. More importantly, it creates a false impression to mass public that their product is a luxury to have. Finally, due to an intensive feedback loops from consumers and extensive media coverage, when Apple finally releases their normal supply of phones, it will be all sold out in seconds. Utilizing this strategy, Apple successfully catches consumers’ mentality.

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Apple has been criticized about losing innovations in their products after the death of Steve Jobs. However, they are still able to gain record sales and revenues year after year. We should all give a big round of applause to Apple’s marketing team.

Sources:

Original Article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-24/iphone-lust-revives-underground-u-s-market-joining-china.html

(1) : http://cdn.wallstcheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/iPhone-6-concept-by-Martin-Hajek.jpg

(2) http://thumb7.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/1268695/155842619/stock-photo-marketing-155842619.jpg