Category: Uncategorized

It is evident from our carbon footprint calculations that driving emits a significant amount of greenhouse gas into the environment. Falicity Carus, a writer of The Guardian’s Sustainable Business Blog, believes that “the benchmark for environmental improvements is set pretty low”.
Ford must consider sustainability, but they need to produce an end product through their various supply chains that is still viable to the economy. Major North American car companies such as Ford and GM must have the corporate social responsibility to exploit this problem and transform it into an opportunity to redefine the automotive industry.

While Ford has put forth the effort to successfully reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, the company could choose to take an even more innovative approach and differentiate against its competitors. Toyota surprised the world back in 2001 with the Toyota Prius, which is now known as the world’s most environmentally-friendly car. Nissan introduced the Nissan Leaf – the Leading, Environmentally-friendly, Affordable, Family, all electric car in 2010.
Ford operates with supply chains from 20 countries from all around the world, and even though their various frameworks of operations need to be adjusted for a new innovation, a final result that could emerge as a market leader for automotive sustainability would put the company in a prominent position in the average consumer’s eye of today’s society.

In early 2011, Target announced that the company planned to expand outside of the U.S., by purchasing leases of the Canadian retail chain Zellers, for $1.8 billion. Although locations are not expected to be officially opened until 2013 or 2014, Target has already made the executive decision to sell Zellers’ existing “prescription customer files to rivals and start fresh with new pharmacies”. The question then is, how does this move put the newly acquired retailer at a competitive advantage against its competition?

The approximate 6 months of renovation closures that Zellers will face when stores are being redesigned means that patients will need to find pharmacy alternatives. One company that could perhaps be interested is Shoppers Drug Mart, the largest Canadian drugstore retailer. However, the “selling” of customer files immediately triggers legal issues and business ethics regarding patient confidentiality. If Target chooses to sell the existing pharmacy chain (valued at $500 billion CAD), then start up and finance its own Canadian pharmacy chain, this long-term strategy could be extremely profitable considering the brand’s cost differentiation reputation. Although Shoppers may appear to have the greater advantage in the short run – the consumers that they have “purchased” will most likely go back to their usual routine, purchasing from Target’s pharmacy, after the renovations are complete.

Canada has built a reputation for being a country that is desirable for outsourcing – the practice of contracting business processes to a third party provider. I agree with Karsten Hagge’s blog post about the concept of outsourcing, and how its positive or negative impact depends on the current situation the company faces. Outsourcing can be extremely beneficial for large-scale companies, because it gives the company the valuable opportunity to focus on activities most important to the business. It is both cost and time efficient, saving on fixed costs such as overhead, and variable costs for day-to-day operations. Overall, such practices should yield positive results and help improve business performance.

Over the past few years, trends have shown an increase in selective outsourcing – when companies choose outsourcing providers, but only give them specific tasks to complete, while the company itself continues the main operations of the  function. This business practice is smart and beneficial, because it allows both parties to “test the waters” with each other, allowing a trustful relationship to build. Trust is crucial between two business partners, as overlooking every operation that a provider would defeat the all the purposes of outsourcing.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has yet to become a common household name, but at the rate of which the business is currently growing at, they are visioned to be only a couple years short of that position. Green Mountain, ranked 2nd in 2010 as the Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies, revolutionized the concept of one-cup coffee with their subsidiary, Keurig’s K Cup. The Keurig system brews a single cup of gourmet coffee in under a minute, completely avoiding the hassle of selecting and grinding beans, measuring coffee, and cleaning up afterwards.

The company’s entrepreneurialism lies in their patent on the brilliant innovation designed to fulfill all society’s needs today. Unlike traditional drip machines, the process itself is simple and time efficient, guaranteeing a quality cup of coffee. The machine is ideal for all types of people, whether it be on-the-go parents or sleep-deprived college students. The concept has not only attracted coffee-lovers from all around the world, but the internationally renown coffeehouse Starbucks. The company currently gives its investors many valid reasons to trust the brand and the company’s future direction and growth.

The idea of maintaining an organizational with a strong culture and imposing desirable values and beliefs for prospective employees sounds much easier to do than the actual implementation process. The Boston Consulting Group, one of the world’s most prestigious leaders in management consulting, has maintained a solid position on Fortune 100’s Top Companies To Work For over the past six years, placing second overall in 2011.

The company’s engagement in international projects such as “Save the Children” – with a goal to “improve the way to create change for children”, outlines their beliefs and values placed on corporate social responsibility. These initiatives promote the fact that their projects are diverse, and employees can work on what they have a passion for. Aside from unceasing dedication to the community, BCG, mindful of their carbon imprint, launched global environmental initiatives in early 2009.

BCG has developed many internal qualities that make the company desirable to work for. A 50-60 hour work week is enforced, which is an attractive factor because many consulting companies today are reputed for competitive environments and extensive hours. Diversity is also highly respected, as multicultural networks are created, and the company also aims to be one of the best places for women to work at.

The fierce competition between Apple Inc and RIM over the past few years have left fierce marks all over the smartphone industry. As of 2008, Apple’s US Smartphone share was at 19.2%, trailing behind RIM’s 44.5%.

Now take a look at today’s market: RIM’s stock continues to plummet after a disappointing response (or lack thereof) to the Iphone 4, while Apple’s stock has increased and remained steady. As of mid 2011, Android currently tops the US smartphone market with a whopping 39%.

The question is: when did they even come into this picture? Insert the existence of HTC, the new smartphone manufacturer penetrating into the market with new Android devices.

My fellow classmate Katrina makes a strong point about iPhone 4S lacking in its ability “to satisfy the innovation-hungry consumers”. A 5% drop in the company’s stock (NASDAQ: AAPL) shows that investors were left unsatisfied. The 4S does not incorporate 4G LTE technology, a feature that is rumoured to be in Google Nexus Prime. With the holidays being two short months away, Apple has yet to prove that they are going to come out as winners in upcoming quarterly fiscal period.

Facebook, the world’s largest online social network founded in February 2004, is a global phenomenon that has dominated the social media industry for the past few years. A new company planning to enter the social media industry faces a tough barrier of entry against its competition. Despite these challenges, Google decided to take a stab at the industry, introducing their new project Google+, an online platform targeted to “make online sharing more like real life.”

For the first few weeks of the beta launch, Google decided to release a small number of private invitations. This was an effective tactic on behalf of the project’s reputation, as the public’s anticipation grew. Google+ incorporates many features similar to Facebook adding new ideas such as Circles, Hangouts, and Sparks. These features seem to have an edge compared to Facebook’s features, seeing that Google provided their answers to concepts such as “tweeting” and video-calling. Facebook’s initial response to the launch of Google+ was the launch of their new video calling feature in tandem with Skype. Once the social network settles down and becomes more popular, Google will continue use their platform to compete with, and perhaps overtake, the social phenomenon of Facebook.

Ever since its initial launch in 2008, Groupon has expanded into an internationally renown daily-deal website that is currently valued up to $25 billion dollars. The acquisition of Citydeal, the European equivalent of Groupon, has also helped the company with its international growth. However, the e-business continues its success by relying on information technology and management information systems to execute the daily operations needed to run the business efficiently.

Groupon deploys NetSuite, the online management system that provides accounting programs, in many of its operating countries. This cost-effective software allows the company to keep track of its financial records in a simple manner, as it is easy for a company that has grown this rapidly to lose track of their financial reportings. In essence, it provides sufficient capacity for growth at the global level. Consumer patterns are analyzed with a system called Vertica Analytics Platform. It is quite essential for a company that is run exclusively online to incorporate systems that will report and measure a high volume of transactions that occur daily. These consumer behaviors assist with developments in creating target markets and increasing customer satisfaction.

The coffee market has seen a hike in prices during 2011 for a couple reasons: Production difficulties for coffee producers (“long-persistent La Nina weather phenomenon”), and an increase in demand for smaller emerging markets. As a result, several major coffee companies, including market share leader Starbucks Coffee, have imposed an increase in coffee prices.

Starbucks Coffee is a well positioned leader that occupies a strong brand name in the coffee market. The company’s massive innovations set themselves with successful points of difference against its competitors. Its points of parity also set a high bar for the rest of the market. Despite their imposed price increases, the company effectively overshadowed this action by introducing their newly reformed loyalty program: My Starbucks Rewards. The benefits are advertised in “levels”, and stars are given out based on number of transactions, rather than the dollar amount. This tactic could be advantageous for the company in the long run, as the average customer is given a considerable amount of incentive to return in the future. Starbucks uses this marketing strategy timely and wisely, promoting it weeks ahead, but launching on the same day that the price increases come into effect.

Budget deficits within an educational system have lead to significant cuts in fundings, resulting in changes to classroom resources and teacher layoffs, which all possess a threat to the overall quality of education. The evaluation system for dismissing these teachers, majority of which are unionized employees, greatly varies between educational districts within the country. In Washington D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee decided to take an immediate controversial approach: Holding teachers accountable for student test scores.

The selection process of firing employees remains an ethical dilemma in the business world today.  It is a common approach to dismiss teachers through seniority, and although many would argue that this method is much more budget-friendly, it could lead to the dismissal of high quality educators. However, creating a standard evaluation system based on the individual results of “student growth achievement exams” not only requires extensive funding and labour, it also stirs up controversy in regards to judging the competency of a teacher. The concept of a “good teacher” contains variables that cannot be judged through a single written test, and is completely subjective to an individual student’s point-of-view.