Feel free to check out Lauren Bloom’s blog on business ethics! I enjoy reading her daily posts which include her thoughtful insights on current events in the world and their relation with business ethics.
External Blog – Blog post in response to Lauren Bloom’s blog titled “Being a civilized human being and succeeding in business?” is below
Comment 1 on Adrian Fung’s Blog
Comment 2 on Jason Koh’s Blog
A West Midlands auto parts manufacturer, Sertec, recently invested £7m to buy a metal press from Spain that will allow it to become the supplier for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). JLR’s growth over the last few years have really been phenomenal and have enticed many auto parts manufacturers to join with them to benefit from their success. Ratan Tata, owner of Tata Motors, bought JLR in 2008 and believes that within the next decade, his company’s thriving growth rate will result in countless auto part companies coming into the market.
Personally, I think that buying the metal press was a good investment. Although Sertec has used their entire capital expenditure for the next two years, the company will be rewarded sooner than they expected. As opposed to outsourcing their automotive components, the company is quite pleased that the equipment did not go abroad and that all of the jobs created with the purchase of the metal press did not leave the industry. Also, by having more auto parts manufacturers enter JLR’s supply chain, it will significantly reduce the likelihood of a major halt in production as a result of natural disasters. JLR is on the road to recovery.
Source:Financial Times
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Jump Forward is a web-based company that offers athlete recruiting, reporting and compliance solutions to over 60 universities throughout North America. This innovative company undoubtedly redefines the world of college athlete recruiting as it makes it easier for coaches to view the reports of high school athletes and it’s the only company that proactively prevents NCAA communication violations.
Adam McCombs, founder and CEO, had a mission to completely change the face of college recruiting since many current professional NBA athletes were overlooked during the high school recruiting process. Currently, the amount of wealth and the rate at which it is being produced is growing at a staggering pace and was projected by Adam McCombs to being a 20-million dollar top-line revenue business. Being an innovated company, Jump Forward has the competitive advantage of being the first innovator in the market and by having a patent on the mobile application. However, the business is quite risky due to the technological aspect and the amount of capital required in expanding the business.
Adam and his team spend most of their time searching for and creating the best possible technologies to further enhance the world of college sports recruiting.
The following entry is a response to Lauren Bloom’s (External Blog) blog post “Should you have to be brutal to succeed in business?” from Wall Street Journal Blogs.
The personality of Goldman Sachs economist and financial analyst, Abby Cohen, is the exact opposite of what one would expect from someone who has succeeded in business. Known for being soft-spoken and polite, Abby is believed to be one of the very few who have been successful in business AND acted as civilized human beings. She has enjoyed a very long career and will leave behind a legacy on Wall Street as a “financial powerhouse” and as one of the most powerful women in America.
Her blog post is interesting because it goes to show that women who persevere and work hard are very capable of taking on all that Wall Street has to offer. Also, many people studying in business become snobby, arrogant, and pretentious. There are many articles on the Internet about how being arrogant is actually beneficial but personally, I believe that remaining modest will not hurt one’s personal success or cause them to be blind of their own capabilities. Personality traits such as cockiness and brashness in my opinion, are undesirable for business and unwanted by employers.
Source: Lauren Bloom’s Blog
With Black Friday less than a month away, many retailers have composed plans to control the massive crowds. For those unfamiliar with Black Friday, it’s one of the biggest shopping days in the US. Over the past few years, safety has become a growing concern for retailers. Target has established a queuing system that will allow for more organization and will provide a much safer, Black Friday experience. I think that it is very important for employers to take interest in improving the safety of their customers and their employees on what has the reputation of being a chaotic shopping day. Although this day brings in very high revenues, stores have realized that it’s not all about the money. Customers will only shop if they feel that they are safe in such a chaotic environment. In 2008, a Long Island Wal-Mart employee lost his life as a result of a huge mob of shoppers stormed the entrance doors. By allowing a certain number of shoppers to enter at a time, it will ensure there is a high level of safety. Many other retailers will definitely need to plan ahead on how to control crowds to assure customers that in addition to shopping online, in-store shopping is still a safe alternative.
Source: Omaha World-Herald
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Although many people oppose the new smart meter plan, BC Hydro will still continue installing it in homes throughout the province. BC Hydro’s vice-president, Greg Reimer stated that the number of people opposing the plan only represent a very small fraction of BC Hydro’s customer base. Those who oppose are primarily concerned about the health related issues associated with the wireless functionality of the new smart meters. However, BC Hydro has stated that if people do not want a smart meter installed, they will not install one. By the end of 2012, BC Hydro projects to have installed nearly 1.8 million smart meters.
I think that by implementing this new smart meter plan, many thousands who oppose the plan will most certainly feel helpless due to the power of the crown corporation’s monopoly. The negative impact on health argument can be deemed invalid because most, if not all of our everyday electronic devices emit wireless signals that have a negative effect on our health. A question arises as to whether or not these smart meters will be profitable for BC Hydro because of their accuracy in determining consumption. People will need to realize there isn’t much they can do so it’s best to get over it and move on.
Source: CBC News Canada
Under a month ago, Netflix announced that it would split up its movie renting service from the streaming service. With this division, DVD rental services would have been shifted to an entirely new website, known as Qwikster. Customers paying for the combined price of both DVD and streaming services would have had to pay even more to remain subscribed to both services. Personally, I think that the division of services would make it inconvenient for subscribers to access their services separately, which would be areason for them keep Netflix unchanged.
By getting rid of Qwikster, Netflix has finally become aware of how elastic the demand for their services truly is. It has lost well over a million subscribers because of their change in price. Customers felt as if they were getting ripped off and cut their services immediately. Netflix may have had the right intentions of trying to separate the brand name from the aging DVD business, but customers perceived it as Netflix trying to increase their profits. By changing their decision to split the services, I believe that Netflix definitely made the right choice before losing a large number of subscribers.
Article: The Globe and Mail
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Many iPhone fans were extremely disappointed with the latest smartphone from Apple. With high expectations of an entirely new phone, the iPhone 4S has a shockingly similar resemblance to the previous model. Some of the new features include an 8MP camera with HD video recording, a dual-core A5 chip, iCloud, and iOS 5. The 4S will be competing neck-to-neck with the Samsung Galaxy in order to maintain their market share lead (currently lead by 0.6%).
I believe that although there won’t be many consumers upgrading from the iPhone 4 to 4S, there will be a large number swapping their 3rd generation iPhones. Also, I expect for there to be many smartphone users considering buying the 4S to commemorate Steve Jobs, who lost his battle with cancer on October 5th. Pre-orders for the 4S are already sold out and the shipping estimate was recently extended to 1-2 weeks. I think current iPhone 4 users should wait for the 5th generation model and users with older generations should definitely consider upgrading to the 4S.
Come release day, one can expect lines outside of Apple retail stores, wireless carrier stores, and other places such as Best Buy, Future Shop, and Wal-Mart.
Article: BetaNews
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Air Canada recently proposed a plan of initiating a discount carrier in the following year, but it has been shut down by the union representing flight attendants. The plan was aimed to for further expansion of the company and to take control of some of the market space currently held by companies such as Transat, Sunwing, Sunquest, and WestJet Airlines. Air Canada has used a low-cost airline in the past called Zip Air Inc. and it is believed to be one of their primary options for this plan. However, it is understandable that the union turned down the plan because I believe that this operation would pose a threat to the jobs of Air Canada’s mainline staff.
I believe that WestJet has the competitive edge over Air Canada because they already have a low-cost carrier and their costs are 30% lower. If Air Canada is able to initiate this plan, the chances of it being successful are high because Canadians have the desire to pay the lowest possible fare when travelling. However, failure to launch their discount carriers may force Air Canada to downsize their company to reduce their total costs. CUPE members will vote on the revamped copy of the agreement next week.
Article: The Globe and Mail
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Canadian Tire’s executive staff have been busy analyzing Target, inside out, before the second-largest discount retailer of the US will soon make its way onto Canadian soil. Recently, Canadian Tire relaunched its e-commerce website and is working diligently to expand its product line. In addition to Canadian Tire, many other Canadian retailers will also be on their toes until Target’s arrival in 2013. Even if Canadian Tire is able to drastically expand its product line, many consumers will still choose to shop at Target. Why? I strongly believe that it’s because Target will be able to offer highly competitive prices in addition to exemplary customer service.
I think that Canadian Tire is overlooking the problem of poor customer service in their stores. Expanding their product line is a necessary change, but the level of customer service is what consumers remember most about their shopping experiences. In order for Canadian Tire to compete with Target, they will need to lower their prices, improve their product line and most importantly, address the issue of poor customer service. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Target to wipe out its vulnerable competitors and take over the market with Wal-Mart.
Article: Financial Post
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