Enbridge is an energy delivery company based in Calgary, Alberta and one of its main value propositions in its business model involve the quick transportation and distribution of crude and natural oil. The company has been battling for the approval of their $5.5 billion Northern Gateway Pipeline contract, but things have only gotten tougher over the recent years for the oil transportation giant.

In fact, about two months ago, multiple BC First Nations groups filed court cases against Enbridge over the endless feud regarding the Northern Gateway pipeline. Among the multiple groups was the Gitga’at First Nation; a group who claimed that about 7500 square feet of their ancestral land would be taken up by the Enbridge tankers. This claim is much like the one in the readings that was made by the Tsilhogoti’n group. The major concern deals with the fact that the oil can leak out of the pipelines and pollute their traditional lands.

These claims made by the BC First Nations groups are extreme external factors that have affected the business model of Enbridge greatly. After all, due to these legal cases, Enbridge must now make sure that the safe transportation of oil through their pipeline is one of their top values. We know that in order for a product to be safer, the speed and quickness must be compromised, which are two of the strong points in Enbridge’s business model. The pressure from the BC First Nations is responsible for Enbridge having to make this change, therefore showing how critical external factors can be to the business model of any company.

Works Cited

 Hoekstra, Gordon. “There Will Be No Pipeline.” Www.vancouversun.com. N.p., 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 06           Oct. 2014. <http://www.vancouversun.com/news/There%2Bwill%2Bpipeline/10122968/story.html>. 

Stueck, Wendy. “B.C. First Nations Challenge Northern Gateway Pipeline in New Court Action.” The           Globe and Mail. N.p., 14 July 2014. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.           <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/first-nations-challenge-northern-gateway-          pipeline-in-new-court-action/article19608617/>.

The mobile and TV powerhouses will now be working together as one, a scary reality that all competitors must now face.

One of the hottest business topics that always seem to be on the mind of everyone is a merger. No matter how big or how small, these mergers always lead to a wide array of change for everyone in the companies involved, from the CEO all the way down to the average employee. The concept of a merger is always the same; one company buying out another, but the reasoning behind these deals is where the individuality comes out.

Although a few months have passed, the shockwaves of the $67 billion deal between AT&T and DirecTV are still being felt today. The main reasoning behind this colossal transaction was for long term survival, as the future of subscription TV according to Charlie Ergen, CEO of Dish Network and Echostar, is all about “beaming signals into phones rather than piping them into households.” (Bercovici) So rather than saying AT&T now owns DirecTV, we must go further and ask what does this do for the companies?

Well, with AT&T being the second largest mobile network provider in the US, DirecTV increases their customer base by getting access to the 73 million AT&T wireless subscribers. (Bercovici)  Based off multiple discussions in class, as well as logical business thinking, whenever a company grows its consumer base they get much more revenue, which is the exact scenario in this case. Additionally, AT&T gets a new business partner in the NFL, due to DirecTV’s highly coveted NFL Sunday Ticket contract (Bercovici), which is a great addition to their already strong base of partnerships with other firms. All in all, these advantages and many more make AT&T and DirecTV the top companies to watch, as the evolution of TV subscriptions looms.

Works Cited:

Bercovici, Jeff. “AT&T-DirecTV Merger Shows Telecom And Television Are Now The Same Business.”           Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 May 2014. Web. 04 Oct. 2014.           <http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/05/18/att-directv-merger-shows-telecom-and-          television-are-now-the-same-business/>.

The National Football League has been producing record revenues for the past few seasons, including $9.5 billion just last year. (Chemi)  They have an extremely large target audience, ranging from children all the way to elders. However, over the past month the NFL has found itself in serious trouble with the media.

First it was the infamous video of now ex Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice knocking his fiancé out cold in an elevator, and now there are child abuse allegations against Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson.

Adrian Peterson was the recipient of the 2012 NFL MVP award.

Adrian Peterson has been regarded as the best running back in the NFL in recent memory, and as a result many children look up to him as their role model. With children as a key part of the NFL’s segmentation and targeting, this becomes an extremely serious issue. Severe enough that it made long time sponsor Raddisson Hotels drop their partnership with the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL for now, as they take their “long-standing commitment to the protection of children” (Rovell) very seriously.

This story ties into multiple things we learned in class extremely well, as we can talk about the business model canvas, since the NFL has lost one of its partnerships, or we can talk about ethics since parents do not support an organization that has child abusers as their employees, or even about operations, because with this much heat on the NFL, it is more than likely a key management change will come soon.

This story is truly a mixture of all those things, and a fair statement to make at this point is that the NFL better clean up their act soon, because if they don’t, the consequences listed above will damage them even more and will lead to the downfall of their title as the largest professional sports organization in America.

Works Cited:

Chemi, Eric. “If the NFL Were a Real Business.” Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 12 Sept.           2014. Web. 03 Oct. 2014. <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-12/if-the-nfl-were-a-real-          business>.

Rovell, Darren. “Radisson Drops Vikings, For now.” ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 16 Sept. 2014.           Web. 03 Oct. 2014. <http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11535104/radisson-suspends-sponsorship-          minnesota-vikings>.