Month: November 2012

Save on Meats is a popular restaurant in Downtown Eastside, Vancouver. The owner, Mark Brand, is a social entrepreneur. Save on Meats is considered to be the “Mecca” of Downtown Eastside for several reasons. Firstly, Brand employs a number of locals to dishwash, sweep, linens, garbage, and much more. Secondly, Save on Meats is partnered up with a local meal program that feeds 480 locals per day, but it will soon be up to 1,500 people. Brand is planning on also fundraising for the Canucks Place Hospice and many other. Business does not always have to be about making a profit and keeping that for yourself, it can also be about giving back to the community. Brand is a great social entrepreneur that dedicates his time to giving back and employs people and helps them  feed their family. Finally, Save on Meats has a great reputation because of what it does for the community and this is beneficial for a business as a whole. It’s a great form of marketing strategy and it gives the brand a good reputation as well as makes it more appealing to customers to check out the place especially with the social responsibility it upholds.

Article link: http://ubyssey.ca/culture/dtes-eats-975/ 

TVO kids is planning on restructuring so that it reduces its costs and is reallocating its resources so that it boosts kids educational media. In order to do this they are merging six different departments into three which will be the finance department, technological, and content department. Fewer staff are being needed in the traditional TV section and will be reallocated to newer positions related to digital media. Current costs are being cut by 5% and raise self-revenues to C$22 million.

TVO kids is doing a good job as it is reallocating their resources towards children’s education. Especially since there is a lack of educational aspects in television these days. This will improve TVO kids reputation and it will create a new form of educational experience and will transform the way kids learn in the 21st century. Perhaps TV material from these shows will be used within the classroom more often and help with teachers teaching kids in a different manner. This is very advantageous for TVO kids as it will create it’s own point of difference by focusing on expanding and specializing in kids educational media. What TVO kids should do though is focus on marketing its new project.

Article link: http://kidscreen.com/2012/11/14/tvo-restructure-to-bolster-kids-digital-innovation/

The Japanese company Fujitsu has been experiencing a lack of demand for it’s hardware product so is planning to expand its sales of services. Profit has been declining for three years straight which is terrible as this could lead to the company going into bankruptcy if they are no longer able to pay for their costs of production. Fujitsu is planning on targeting corporate businesses rather than consumers. The reason is that technological advancements are big today and it business information technology plays a huge role in the survival of a company. Fujitsu creates the necessary computers parts that a corporation and company needs for example cloud computing. This is vital for storing information and as companies have a lot of information that they need to store and need to be able to access they would demand from computer service providers like Fujitsu.  As a whole this new project should benefit Fujitsu since consumers are no longer demanding computer services due to the recession because these are not normal goods but are more luxury goods. In addition, this new strategy might help with the declining profits especially since sales this year were 2.4% less than last year.

Article link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-18/fujitsu-to-expand-services-sales-amid-declining-hardware-demand

Jim DeGolyer posted on a website and blogged about how insulted he was when a mattress company that tried to advertise for a sale during Veteran’s day called it a holiday. He says he has questioned many times before on the strategy of making all products into a sale during a holiday. DeGolyer’s opinion is true to some extent. When Marketing, it should be done in a way so that it does not end up insulting the general public, especially on a big  day like Veteran’s day. This all comes down to business ethics. How are we supposed to act in a way so that we make everyone happy and not do something that is wrong? The fact that during a mattress sale the word “holiday” instead of “day” used is pretty insulting for Veterans because this day is a very special day and it is in the remembrance of all the lives lost. Generally, it is important, especially when marketing, to be careful on word play. The reason is that it can be insulting and misinterpreted and mostly the goal is to attract consumers and not drive them away.

Article link: http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/11/marketing_for_holiday_insultin.html

The square application is a new application that was launched by the creator and co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey. This is an incredible application and business venture for Dorsey because it allows anyone to accept credit card payments. This is a huge technological advancement, and looking at it on a business information technology viewpoint is beneficial for many small businesses. Small businesses such as a person who owns a small stall at a local bazaar or a piano teacher can buy the application and can then accept credit-card transactions.

This product is very simple to use. There is a free registration and only a 2.75% fee for all transactions. The disadvantage to this product is that it is very limited technological wise. It only accepts credit card payments and not debit, but it is a possibility that this will develop overtime to accept any forms of payment. Also, this application is limited to a very few smart phones. It is only available for apple devices and Google Inc’s android platform. If this application were to expand to the extent that debit card transactions were possible and other smart phones could download it would be great for individuals like Piano teachers who many not be an apple user.

Article link: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/24/square-launches-in-canada/

IKEA is a very well known brand for furniture, however they are looking to “Go Green”. They are aiming to not only produce green, but are wanting to make sure that their customers are going green as well. This is a beneficial factor because it improves IKEA’s image and reduces their production costs. For example, the amount of energy they would need to produce the furniture, the packaging involved with it, and any other factors. The fact that the packaging will be recyclable is great because it helps with sustainable development and customers would be forced to live in a sustainable way because the products they are buying are energy efficient and environmentally-friendly. In addition, it is cheaper than the other products so it reduces customer’s costs and in terms of business ethics what it is doing is smart and ethical business decision. The major advantage to IKEA is that they would gain a major point of difference which would be its environmentally friendly products and would be more attractive than its competitors products.

Although this idea is beneficial for IKEA, there are a few disadvantages with it. IKEA has a few issues in terms of how they deal with customer issues. Many have complained that there are missing parts in the products they buy and that when they call up for customer service they are not being dealt with properly. Although going green increases IKEA’s profit, not having a good customer service and being irresponsible with making sure their products are packaged with all parts will make it lose potential customers.

Article: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2012/11/ikea-goes-green-but-many-of-its-customers-are-seeing-red.html