Month: October 2012

Following my previous blog post on the proposed Enbridge’s Northern Pipeline, recently last Saturday, a 7.7 Earthquake hit BC in Haida Gwai. This has lead to the risk of landslides and breakage of the tankers in the proposed pipeline. This rose a lot of attention recently in the support in disapproval of the proposal, as if the earthquake was to hit a nearby location of the proposed area, chances are it would create a risk among populations that live around the area. This adds to another “unethical” reason to why the proposed Pipeline should be refuted, “natural disasters are unpredictable” and to add extra prevention along the pipe, one would need to increase the expenses by..A LOT, as the pipeline is over 1,150-kilometers long. For now, i find this project very unethical towards society, unless a better alternative route is taken, and better safety regulations, the risk of environmental loss and disasters plus unethical land usage has caused the proposal to look very unfavorable.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/questions+about+enbridge+pipeline+arise+following+bc+earthquake/6442742698/story.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7MV3HWQHl1s

The following is Toms main business model, for every pair of Toms branded shoes you buy, Toms will donate a pair given to a child in a developing third world country. Tom’s has built an awareness among the nation of barefoot is an issue to children and how a pair of shoes can change their lives; Along with this motto, they created “A Day Without Shoes” on April 10th.Some examples of this are the bacterial contamination in soils, the risk of infection from cuts of barefoot, and the loss of education due to the need of shoes in school uniforms.

From Kyle’s Blog on Toms Buy-One, Give-One model, i agree that the model does not actually solve a social issue, and that  their model contradicts their main business model. The social issue of children without shoes will be solved in the short run of this motto, but in terms of long run, it will greatly affect the rate of growth in a developing nation as it impacts the market for shoes.  I feel that Toms shoes will go out of business eventually, as the main reason for their sales is the “feel good value proposition” they created, but their products are so easily replicated and simple, they need to be more differentiated from the competition.

Toms shoes in my opinion is considered a social entrepreneur, for the sake of business they are making money, but at the same time they are helping society to an extent in the short run.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679628/the-broken-buy-one-give-one-model-three-ways-to-save-toms-shoes

http://www.toms.com/our-movement

The proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline is a route from Edmonton, Alberta to Kitimat BC on the WestCoast of Enbridge. This Pipeline is proposed to linking alberta oilsands to BC so they can be exported worldwide. Many ethical and environmental issues have arose in response to this proposal.

A main ethical issue is that the pipeline will invade into claimed First Nations territory, without their approval this plan is useless and unethical. To the environment  this pipeline will cause destruction to land and wildlife habitats, they energy released along way of the line can cause a dramatic increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Another really unethical assumption of the oil from Alberta is that we consider it as “ethical” , and the oil we use are mainly from other parts of the world, we consider it “unethical”. We  according to this proposal, want to export “ethical” oils and use ourselves “unethical” oils, this is really ironic because we at this point are supporting the usage of unethical products in a society where we try to be “ethical.” I question how this pipeline is ethical to society, it goes through First Nations land and it disrupts the environmental.

I guess there is truly no real “ethical” business or very rarely any in society today, all businesses want are profits to rise, while not caring about being “ethical.” Ethical is just another way to lure consumers into believing a business is right, when usually they aren’t.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/31/first-nations-showdown-could-be-northern-gateway-pipelines-biggest-obstacle/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/09/18/enbridge-hearing.html

http://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/467/2012-04-21/four-issues-surrounding-proposed-enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline

With Target taking over Zellers in 2013, and Nordstrom taking over Sears Downtown in the near future, it is safe to say that our Canadian economy is slowly becoming Americanized. What has caused this to happen and what affect will it have on the Canadian economy?

According to Huffingtonpost’s Article, the top 3 reason for this are : The blooming Canadian dollar, existing of stores are disappearing and opportunity for retail sector growth.

The Canadian and United States Dollar are basically at par now, this means that we are spending more then the US since about 10 years ago, the Canadian dollar was really low.    While shopping in a mall, have you noticed those stores you just never seem to walk by or knew existed? Stores all over malls are slowly vanishing, this is due to lack of sales and recognition by consumers. According to Nasdaq, “GDP growth was 34% faster than the U.S. retail sector and 96% greater than the Canadian economy between 2004 and 2008” This is like a green light to the American Retail stores to come and migrate over to Canada, as there are lots of opportunity available for business growth.

For the Canadian Economy, i believe this is a really good sign, as more companies from US come to Canada, the currency for goods will slowly become more unified. Meaning, instead of heading down the border to get good deals, you will stay in Canada and find the same deals. But with this one can say our political views and government will slowly become Americanized as well.

With the ease to find TV shows and movies online, YouTube, the biggest online video sharing site, has added “original channels” which consists of high quality videos that capture specific viewer’s interests. YouTube tries to add “originality” but at the same time, covering many user-uploaded videos that are not popular, as their effort to take over the market for streaming videos against competitors such as Netflix and Amazon.

With this being said, since most of today’s population already use the internet for streaming video purposes, could this mean the downfall of residential cable? In addition to commercial advertising on television, many companies have already created YouTube channels in the effort to capture the attention of viewers.

Don’t you hate those advertisements and commercials on TV that just seem to pop up right when you’re getting to the best part? YouTube has very limited advertisements during videos with the availability of a skip button, which minimizes time spent watching videos that could be put doing something productive.  With their variety of content available to any viewer, you’re bound to find something of interest; it is no doubt that one day, the online video streaming will take over cable television.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/business/media/youtube-to-serve-niche-tastes-by-adding-channels.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1349772516-1JQQPIDgJEXFRR2ekvP2AQ

In today’s market for cellular devices, the main competitors consist of mainly Samsung with their sophisticated androids and Apple with their innovative iPhones.  But can you remember not long ago when Blackberry’s were the hype of the world? In 2012, Rims 2^nd reporting quarter was reported on September 27, 2012, with an estimated net loss of over 200 million vs last year when Rim reported over 300 million in PROFITS. What actually happened here to Rim in just a little over a year that caused such a dramatic change of tables?

Rim back when it was extremely popular, held a few point differences against its competitors at the time; these consisted of Blackberry Messenger (BBM), a highly advanced security system and a physical keyboard.  But over time, the competition developed its own substitutes along with changes in consumer tastes, which promptly pushed Rim aside due to their lack of originality and innovation.

On the same day of the fiscal 2^nd reporting quarter, Rims stocks jumped ~17%, as many hope for the best with Rims newest device around the corner next year.  Will Rim’s newest device be enough for their survival in the market?

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Business/reports+quarterly+loss+cash+pile+grows/7310007/story.html

http://www.examiner.com/article/rim-stocks-go-up-17-after-good-news-regarding-second-quarter-performance