After reading Arnold’s blog entry about Ryanair’s new marketing technique to fund raise for the Teenage Cancer Trust, I want to discuss the ethics behind the marketing gimmick.

The 2014 calender shows 12 Ryanair Hostesses in bikinis and is used for fund raising purposes for a good cause. However, the pictures are demeaning to women and for a cause strikes a cord with the public, especially those that have lost relatives to cancer, seems demeaning to women, especially women who work at Ryanair. I personally think that Ryanair should find a more suitable way of fund raising money rather than using a method that is doing more harm than good.

Ryanair has never been known as a high class, respected airline and this is clearly demonstrated by their choice of calender pictures. But is it morally right to use young, possibly teenage girls in revealing swimwear to raise money? Although I don’t deny this is for a good cause, I can’t help but suspect Ryanair’s motive behind these calenders. Is it really to raise money and awareness for teenage cancer or is it just to advertise their airline services?

After reading Palak’s blog post about the rise of Netflix, I want to add onto her discussion of the fall of cable tv and movies. Netflix is making smart decisions to cater to the changing social trends and needs of consumers who want convenient, accessible entertainment at home or on the go. Cable TV originally didn’t offer convenience because your favourite show could only be viewed at home at the time it is broadcast. The same applies to movies because consumers need to head to a theatre at the allocated screening times, with ticket prices marked higher than a month’s worth of Netflix subscription.

In an article from The Financial Post, Netflix is set to update a redesign of their streaming layout, in which it will appear more television-friendly. Netflix is catapulting on the changing trend of stay-home movie and tv viewers who want the comfortable experience of entertainment at an affordable cost. By changing its design, Netflix is making its streaming site the new cable tv. Netflix is meeting the needs of its consumers and building valuable relationships with them when they improve the viewer’s experience using their services.

Source:
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/11/13/netflix-inc-gets-interface-overhaul-dubbed-new-television-experience/?__lsa=f51b-e246

After reading Jessica’s blog post on “Rogers Alerts”, I’d like to add my analysis to her discussion. On the business side of this new marketing strategy, Rogers has added an additional revenue stream to their existing ones. Other companies, such as Sears Canada, A&W and many more are looking for new ways to directly communicate with their customers, and this marketing strategy is a new, innovative way of doing so. Although the advertisers won’t have access to all of Rogers’ users, any portion of Rogers’ large subscriber base will be a big audience to target. By using this service, companies won’t have to build their own text subscription service.

As competition heats up among Rogers, Bell and Telus, it is important for Rogers to differentiate itself from competitors in the eyes of its customers, whether its their advertising partners or its cell phone service users. This marketing strategy is definitely new to Canada and if implemented correctly by Rogers, they will be first to this market and will have a competing edge against Telus or Bell if they plan to do something similar.

Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/rogers-to-offer-promotional-ads-by-text/article14646004/

Nowadays, customers demand ethical companies that make ethical decisions on the products created, services provided and the process from beginning to end. This is a challenge for companies nowadays because going green is usually a costly action and not every business can afford to do some in the short-run. However, if completed in the long-run, its benefits can outweigh the costs imposed. For example, IKEA has a strategy to confront and even profit from environmental challenges imposed. They bought a wind farm and using this, they can generate sustainable and reusable energy without the need to use natural gases, fossil fuels or oils. This go-green method complies with their corporate social responsibility to their company, the environment and society. First, using renewable resources will cut costs overall, making the company more profitable. Second, using gasoline can be damaging to the environment, therefore it is important to reduce its usage. Third, IKEA is creating more products that save energy, water, etc. All of this is part of IKEA’s shared value. Not to mention, but IKEA is reducing costs and its carbon footprint by improving the supply chain process.

Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ikea-eyes-low-carbon-future-with-alberta-wind-energy-project/article15436596/

A Vancouver teen named Aanikh Kler created a company that sells a ringtone that can only be heard by kids and teens for 99 cents. But this isn’t just simply about generating profits, Kler is combining the concepts of social responsibility and entrepreneurship: social entrepreneurship.

The concept of sounds that can’t be heard by adults is not new to the world, but a combination with fundraising for children in third world countries is one to support. According to Kler, for every app download, 20 cents is donated to Free the Children and “by the time the app store fees and taxes are taken into account, the share amounts to close to 50 per cent of the app’s profit”.

This illustrates both the economic and social aspect of corporate social responsibility, by helping societies in need while still being able to generate profit. By continuously generating profit, Kler and his company, UndrTheRadr is able to sustain the work they do.

Here, Kler has also created shared value that also acts as his company’s competitive advantage. Sometimes, by taking an idea and adding a social entrepreneurial aspect to it, businesses can find a social objective that consumers demand in companies nowadays.

Watch him on the student special (season 8) of Dragons’ Den:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/Dragons’+Den/Pitches/ID/2418119024/

Source:
http://www.vancouversun.com/Vancouver+teen+creates+ringtone+that+only+young+people+hear/9048671/story.html

As a loyal Mobilicity customer for two years and counting, amidst their struggle to restructure their company to fight potential bankruptcy, I do not plan to switch carriers until the very end. Why? Because I’ve enjoyed the value of their service plans and their consistency to providing competitive pricing in the telecommunications market for smartphone users.

Telus has in negotiations and settlements with the Canadian government to allow the Vancouver-based company to purchase Mobilicity. Although I am no fan of the Big 3 (Rogers, Bell and Telus), I do not wish to lose my services at Mobilicity and the merger may be a positive act as thousand of jobs can be kept and Mobilicity users can keep their services.

However, the government wants to keep pricing competitive for the growing market of data users, thus preventing the purchase of Mobilicity that uses the AWS spectrum by allowing more players to remain in the market. Regulation may be needed to reduce prices paid by Canadian consumers, especially data/roaming fees. But with the uncertainty of the success for regulation, investors will not want to take this sort of risk to invest in improving network speeds to meet the demand for increased data usage at affordable pricing.

Regulation does have many positive effects, but negative ones at its consequences.

Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/telus-profit-rises-10-per-cent-on-wireless-tv-growth/article15344751/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/regulation-threatens-network-speed-wireless-industry-says/article15124965/

For the purpose of this blog post, I’ve decided to move away from current events in the media and speak about my experience as a new insurance (autoplan) agent using the systems provided by ICBC. I only want to point out the reasons why I feel it is important for an industry as such to improve the technologies used.

For example, part of my daily task is to keep track of inventory (plates and decals) by performing audits. As an insurance brokerage, we have possession of hundreds of plates and decals, and simply missing one would come to a fine of $1000. However, the tracking system provided to us is not up to par with systems in other industries as we have to physically count and keep note of every plate and decal we should have, according to the online system that doesn’t necessarily update at precise times to indicate whether the inventory has been issued to clients or not. My analysis has shown that management information technology can be used to improve communication between ICBC and insurance brokerages. Not to mention, decals are very small and can easily go missing, therefore, I feel it is important to find improved methods of securing and tracking inventory.

Private practises (for-profit) will tend to discharge patients that are able to leave. But when surgery is required, the only hospitals low-income residents can attend to are the few government-funded ones that accept every patient. Because of this, patients are finding that they have to wait up to fifteen hours to see a doctor and those that can’t wait as long, leave with their condition untreated. When their condition worsens, they come back to the hospital and their medical fees come to tens of thousands of dollars, and the low-income patient is unable to afford it. The same happens when people are unable to afford crucial medications that can prevent conditions from worsening.

The long wait times are also accumulated because there is a shortage of hospital staff and the ratio of a nurse to patients is too high to care for. Hospitals need to find ways to retain hospital staff and to reduce patient wait times, but this can’t only be done on an organizational level; it should start with the government.

ObamaCare would benefit low-income families the most, as they will now receive the benefits in medication and treatment they require. On the organizational level, hospitals will also benefit as there wouldn’t be as many critical conditions arriving in the hospital.

Watching “Code Black” has given me insight on America’s broken healthcare system and the appropriate arrival of ObamaCare. The film documents the work system at one of America’s busiest hospitals, LA County Hospital.

Before moving to the new county, the physicians had a deregulated system of emergency aid in C-Booth, where patients with critical conditions were treated immediately. After moving to the new county, regulation stepped in and while spending two minutes with a patient, doctors subsequently spend another twenty minutes filling out forms. Although the government on the national/state level agree that regulation is benefiting doctors and patients, the organization (hospital) and the public (patients) differ in opinion. This is a common occurrence that happens when governments try to regulate systems with the focus on ‘business’.

Before the move, there were better doctor-patient interactions, especially in C-Booth, and this motivated doctors to practice medicine. Now with the short interactions with patients and large amount of documentation required, doctors find it difficult to treat patients. And without the intrinsic motivation to treat, the hospital and the patients don’t benefit if the doctors aren’t as happy and as productive.

Boasting more than 218 million users, Twitter is a powerhouse social media site. But in comparison to Facebook’s 1.15 billion user base, advertisers say Twitter needs more users in order for them to gain more spending from the mass public. Twitter definitely needs to find ways to garner users since they rely on advertisers as a main revenue stream.

Although it’s impossible for advertisers to ignore the magnitude of Facebook’s reach, Twitter boasts an impressive influential standpoint through celebrity tweeters. In assessing the risk of losing advertisers, Twitter should find ways to make the system more user-friendly, as it is difficult to find relevant news in the clutter of tweets. They also need to add value in engagement for the public in using Twitter. But to add engagement, Twitter requires users to build a list of “followers” and “followings”. The biggest problem faced is tweeting mostly spikes during big events and isn’t a daily habit for users. If Twitter can add more incentives to daily tweeting, users will be more inclined to check Twitter updates. As a social media platform with strong competitors, Twitter needs to find ways to reinforce its brand, user engagement and improve the medium as an easy way for users to connect with other.

Source:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303492504579115753167390832.html?mod=WSJ_business_LeadStoryRotator