I believe when it comes to smaller situations of helping communities grow and prosper, the UN does not have the time to accomplish them. This is when I believe the Arc and Social Entrepreneurship can help.
Porter’s Five Forces for Hyundai in Korea
1. Barriers to Entry: HIGH
Multiple barriers to entry exist, which makes it difficult for any new automobile manufacturer to come into the industry and have success. One of the greatest barriers to entry in the automobile industry is the extremely high amount of capital that is required to purchase physical manufacturing plants, raw materials, as well as to hire and train employees. Manufacturing companies must also have the ability to mass-produce so that they can make cars affordable to customers.
2. Power of Suppliers: LOW
There are so many parts that are used to produce an automobile, that it takes many suppliers to accomplish this. When there are many suppliers in an industry, they do not have much power due to that industry manufactures can easily switch to another supplier if it is necessary.
3. Power of Consumers: LOW
With the huge tax that the Korean government put on foreign cars, people in Korea will likely get a Korean brand car. Because there are only three major car company, the consumers have no power over the Hyundai’s market.
4. Availability of Substitutes: MEDIUM
As public transportation is very developed in Korea, it is much more efficient and cost effective to not buy a car. As a result more consumers are opting to take public transit. Also, in Korea, because there are lots of cars with limited land, there are usually a lot of traffic jam so taking subways and trains are more optimal.
5. Rivalry: LOW
The huge tax on the foreign brand cars implemented by the government gets rid of lot of competition in Korea. Because Hyundai is the biggest Korean car company, there aren’t many rivals.
In response to Angel’s blog on international student tuition increase in UBC for the incoming class of 2014, I, as an international student, felt that the 10% tuition increase is too overpriced, considering that the current tuition is already $28,000. It is certain that the tuition increase will raise UBC’s recognition and reputation to follow up with other major universities in Canada, such as McGill and University of Toronto; however, will the international students stay calm about this matter? and would the number of international students fluctuate after the increase? The answer isn’t that simple. Here are the pros and cons of tuition increase.
Pros:
-University of British Columbia will likely get reputation which might attract more students
-the current students that attend UBC will probably still go to UBC even after the increase
-will be able to improve the studying environment with the extra money
Cons:
-there are protests as international students are unhappy
-will impact the number of students in incoming class of 2015
In my opinion, if this tuition increase does not affect the number of international students from attending University of British Columbia, UBC will try to raise the tuition again until the it will have impact on the number of international students.
‘Bad’ customer service turns customers away and ‘good’ customer service builds loyalty. Articles, a blog post, and class discussion support this idea. The key to ‘bad’ and ‘good’ service is how service is defined in the context of an organization’s brand and whether that service is delivered consistently.
If service is ‘bad’ (ie inconsistent with the brand), customers will respond negatively. They may even send their thoughts to ‘the world’ through social media, as discussed in a CBC article.
Some companies, such as Wal-Mart, intentionally downplay customer service. While this may seem strange, it is consistent with Wal-Mart’s brand: namely that customers shop at Wal-Mart for price and selection, not for customer service. Wal-Mart customers expect low prices, not high customer service.
Consistency of service is fundamental in defining whether service is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The risks of call centers were examined in a recent COMM class. Zappos’ service reflects consistent customer service, driving customer loyalty. However, the Dell example, presented an angry customer most likely due to inconsistencies in Dell’s service.
Customer service is important. However, defining and delivering service that is consistent with the organization’s brand is key to organizational success.
-the majority of the music that is consumed illegally by the individuals in our sample would not have been purchased if illegal downloading websites were not available to them
– Most of the effects were found by comparing people’s visits to “pirate” websites and legal music stores. After controlling for interest in music, the researchers found that visits to pirate websites are positively linked to visits to legal music stores.
“If this estimate is given a causal interpretation, it means that clicks on legal purchase websites would have been 2 percent lower in the absence of illegal downloading websites,” the researchers write.
“Taken at face value, our findings indicate that digital music piracy does not displace legal music purchases in digital format. This means that although there is trespassing of private property rights, there is unlikely to be much harm done on digital music revenues,”
Selling in store and online
How does retail businesses sell their product? If the business sells its product “only in-store” then the businesses is falling behind and will be losing quite a large percentage of potential customers. Consumers, nowadays, expect these in- store and online options when they shop and if not given so, the customers will most likely going to switch to a more tech-savvy competitor.
Joah Boaz, managing director and co-founder of digital marketing agency Direct Agents, said “the two worlds have merged.” What this means is that the consumers today use both the retail stores and internet to make a purchase. Some consumers go into stores, evaluate the products and buy online, or research online and go into the stores for purchase. Even a recent research done by UPS showed that 40 percent of today’s shoppers use a combination of online and in-store interactions to complete their purchases.
TOMS, a company that matches every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need, has been successful in its One for One campaign. The movement quickly expanded beyond shoes. Myscokie, the founder TOMS and the person behind the idea of One for One model, realized the model could serve other needs and launched the TOMS eyewear. With every pair of eyewear purchased, TOMS helps give sight to a person in need. Through increasing its Corporate Social Responsibility by its “One for One” campaign, TOMS differentiates itself from other major shoe companies.
Companies can create shared value by creating societal value. There are three distinct ways to do this: by reconceiving products and markets, refining productivity in the value chain, and building supportive industry clusters. TOMS creates shared values by offering shoes with sustainable and vegan materials. Even the shoe boxes are made from 80% recycled post-consumer waste and are printed with soy ink.
The Northern Gateway Project aims to build a new twin pipeline system running near Edmonton, Alberta, to a new marine terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia to export petroleum and import condensate. What is the issue? Well, for this $7.9-billion Northern Gateway project, piplines have to be built on the heart of Nak’azdli territory, the reserves of First Nations.
Unlike many cases where First Nations were simply forced into signing treaties and contracts, this time the Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of six First Nations, has sworn they will not let the oil pipeline be built. The First Nations is a stakeholder in this project as they think that economic benefit from the pipeline is not worth the risk of a spill on the waterways in their traditional territory.
The First Nations’ firm decision is a serious external threat to the company, Enbridge as Enbridge, if the Northern Gateway Project does not succeed, will lose out on a huge opportunity to expand their company even farther. Even if they were allowed to build the pipelines, the criticism of the public will surely put a burden on the company as it is the largest natural as distributor in Canada and a major oil pipeline operator in North America.
In my opinion, as Enbridge will lose either the opportunity to expand the company, or the reputation without the consent of the First Nations, the only possible solution will be to satisfy the First Nations by better contracts and ensuring them of potential hazards of oil leaking with better security.
Work cited:
Hoekstra, Gordon. “‘There Will Be No Pipeline’ In the Heart of Nak’azdli Territory, There Is a Steely Resolve — the People Are Firmly against Northern Gateway.” Www.vancouversun.com. N.p., 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.vancouversun.com/news/There+will+pipeline/10122968/story.html>.
News, CBC. “Northern Gateway Pipeline Approved: B.C. Reacts.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 18 June 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/northern-gateway-pipeline-approved-b-c-reacts-1.2672279>.
Upon reading Sandra’s post on the shoe company, Jack Erwin, I proceeded to reflect on some of the business strategies employed. One of the most notable would be the direct sales strategy, also practiced by Dell.
Dell Computer Corporation was formed in 1984 by Michael Dell with the idea of selling computers in a better way. Dell believes that direct sales to customers create a much better level of service and it is seen as the final competing element in a matured industry. With its computers as assembled machines, Dell has approached providing service as a product. As apple did product innovations, Dell did operations innovations. Dell is at present a leading provider of products and services worldwide and has been among the top three companies by market share.
Dell’s Strategy:
Dell has followed lean manufacturing practices and has adopted just-in-time manufacturing unlike any other company. For this it has established partnerships with its suppliers and goes on to form cross-company design teams to deliver better quality products. Some of the Dell’s suppliers are located inclose proximity of Dell’s assembly plants thus reducing lead times and associated costs.Dell is not competing in the highly competitive market of component design and manufacturing. The just-in-time manufacturing system has resulted in cost savings which it can pass over to the customers who are price sensitive and thus get market share away from competitors. As showed by Prof Nagarajan, the days of inventory of Dell compared to companies like Apple, and IBM, were much shorter. This is especially good for companies related to technology as products because if these products sit too long in storage then they become outdated and lose their value.
Due to the innovative operation system, Dell is faster, and more efficient, cutting down costs.
Work Cited:
“Sandra Lin’s Blog.” Sandra Lins Blog. N.p., 05 Oct. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/sandralin/2014/10/05/blog-post-5-quality-curation-experience-fair-prices/>
Wulff, Mikael. “And The Last Post Reads.” Web log post. : Managing Operations – A Study On Dell’s Supply Chain Management. N.p., 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.mixologist84.com/2013/01/managing-operations-study-on-dells.html>
Impact of U.S. Oil Boom on Canada
It is quite clear that the United States has been dependent on several European countries and Canada for oil; however, in November 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that the U.S. produced oil than it imported and has become a candidate to become the largest oil producer. Because United States, Canada’s sole oil customer, has become self-sufficient, it is quite likely that the U.S. will not require Canadian oil as well, similar to the case with sixteen oil refiners in Europe. If trade relations between Canada and U.S were to end, there will be detrimental impacts on the ways the Canadians live as the U.S. provides us with money to fund critical institutions in Canada.
My takeaway is that although the new pipelines proposes some risks, they will be key solutions to this problem. The new pipelines will create job opportunities and develop economy in Canada.
Work Cited:
Cooper, Sherry. “The American Oil Boom and Its Impact on Canada.”Financial Post Business The American Oil Boom and Its Impact OnCanada Comments. Financial Post, 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://business.financialpost.com/2012/03/09/the-american-oil-boom-and-its-impact-on-canada/>