Austin Feltham's Blog

When I started Comm 101, I learned about the importance of ethics in business. That is why I decided to look at Chris MacDonald’s blog about social media ethics in the workplace, at the end of the course. In his blog, Chris talks about social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and various companies’ policies of what employees can and cannot say.  As well, he discusses whether companies should have the right to look at employees’ profiles and twitters, and see what they are saying about the company. Chris comes to the conclusion that it is important to have guidelines for social media usage, but that companies need to recognize that social media is not going away, and they must adapt to the times. I fully agree with Chris. I believe free speech is important, and people should be able to hold their own personal opinions. However, I think it is an issue for a company when their employees start criticizing the company, or act inappropriately online. It reflects badly on the company. For this reason, I believe employees should be able to freely use social media, but the company should set guidelines. This way both the employees and the company will be happy.

Entrepreneurship is a risky proposition.  It involves creating a new good or service, and trying to sell that product while creating profits. Before our class on entrepreneurship in Comm 101, I had no idea how large a spectrum there is in entrepreneurship. The first company who presented to our class was Energyaware. The company was originally a class project that turned into a real business. They created a powertab, which tells households how much energy they are using, and how much this energy is costing them. It is a relatively simple, but smart idea. The second company who presented was Urthecast. They wanted to put two high definition cameras on the Russian part of the International Space Station, filming the earth like no one has done before. Urthecast would then sell the rights to this footage to news stations, online users, and app developers. This is a creative and innovative idea. Energyaware and Urthecast cannot be more different.  They have different scopes, with Energyaware focusing on day to day energy consumption, and Urthecast focusing on HD footage of earth. Yet, they are both great examples of entrepreneurship. Both companies thought of an idea or product, and worked towards producing it. In my opinion, that is what entrepreneurship is about; seeing that something is missing in our society, and acting on it.

In today’s world, one of the largest issues is the environment. Global warming, the misuse of energy, and the poisoning of the environment are all large issues. These issues also affect businesses. If a business is green, and cares about the environment, then it will look good in the media and gain new customers. Therefore, companies that are polluting the earth run the risk of losing customers. That is why in today’s society, it is difficult to tell when companies are becoming more environmentally friendly because they care, or because they just don’t want to look bad and want to create more profits (‘greenwashing’). On my classmate Shaoshu Jin’s blog, she discusses H & M’s decision to stop using PFC’s in its clothing. PFC stands for perfluorinated compounds which never degrade, and are environmentally unfriendly. While H & M’s decision was a good one, I don’t think they made the decision purely for environmental reasons. Shaoshu says she “recommends this decision” because it shows they care about their “consumers safety and the environment.” I believe this is true, but I also think that H & M would not have made this decision if it would have severely hurt their profits. After all, H & M is a business, and they are trying to make money.

When a business is just starting up it is important that they have a well thought out business plan. This business plan should include an industry description, their competition, management and operations information, and other essential factors. As well, a business should have well-defined strategies and tactics. If you are a successful business, it can be easy to not continually update your strategy, based on the market, industry, and environment where you compete. This problem has even affected one of the biggest companies in the world: McDonald’s. McDonald’s is hugely successful, expanding throughout the world, including locations in China. A problem with expanding into new markets is that pre-existing strategies and tactics may not be suited to the new environment. For instance, in China, McDonald’s is offering the exact same breakfast items that they do in the United States. Their breakfast sales have been quite low because most Chinese people want congee for breakfast, not egg-mcmuffins. However, McDonald’s has not changed their menu at all. In my opinion, this shows a lack of business strategy. Strategy is always changing, and if you are not willing to change or adapt your strategy to new conditions and environments, then you will not be successful. It is in McDonald’s best interest to listen to their customers, and change their menu and strategy accordingly.

In order for a business to successfully function, it needs its employees to be as efficient as possible. The more passionate and committed an employee is, the better work they will produce. For companies, having a group of employees striving for the same goals and vision is essential. However, in 2012 this has become more difficult. According to the 2012 National Study on Balancing Work and Caregiving in Canada, over 60% of people work 45 hours a week, more than double the number worked 20 years ago. As well, only 23% of people are highly satisfied with their life. This is a significant problem for businesses. Employees are now working so often, that they are not taking pleasure in their work, and long to go home.  This means in order for a business to remain successful, they must enable employees to enjoy being at work more. The way to do this is through improving Company Culture (the overall work environment, including vision and values). If a business has a great company culture, then employees will more likely be happy to go into work. For example, companies such as Google and Zappos have created such great work environments and cultures, that employees are generally happy to be working.  It is essential in a time where only one fourth of people are satisfied with their life, to create a great work environment and company culture.

The candy industry is a large and crowded one. There are hundreds of different companies with thousands of different flavours and types of candy. There are so many options for consumers to purchase. For this reason, marketing in the candy industry is essential. The product that you are marketing must be visible and attractive to the public. With their new ad campaign, Maynards portrays the Points of Parity and Points of Difference of their product. Points of Parity are qualities common amongst candies while Points of Difference are qualities that differentiate the product from the rest. In order for a product to be successful, it must have both Points of Parity and Difference. In their new ad, Maynards distinguishes both. First, it displays Wine Gums as delicious candy, being chewy and flavourful. This is the Point of Parity. The more important aspect is the Point of Difference. Maynards is marketing Wine gums as a high class candy for a low cost. They relate wine gums to wine tasting, and show consumers that Wine Gums are fancy and delicious. The advertisement also happens to be humourous which will make consumers remember the product, attracting them to the brand. Through Maynards use of Points of Difference, they have successfully marketed their Wine Gums.

See the ad below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQIr0IH8arg&feature=player_embedded

In order for a business to be successful, they must understand what affects a customer’s decision whether or not to buy a product. This process is known as understanding Consumer Behaviour. Consumer Behaviour can be defined as the cultural, social, and personal factors, as well as personal memories and perceptions that affect a buyer’s decision.  An example of this is the recent emergence of frozen yogurt in Canada. In the past two years, over 12 million servings of frozen yogurt have been purchased. Recently companies such as Menchie’s and Yogurty’s are opening stores in Canada. It is interesting to see how each company has created their business plan based on consumer behaviour.  Frozen yogurt is a new, popular, and trendy product. Menchie’s capitalizes on this social factor by posting photos of celebrities eating their product all throughout the store. It is important for Menchie’s to remind their customers that eating frozen yogurt is cool. Yogurty’s has changed their strategy based on personal memories and perceptions. Yogurty’s is owned by Yogen Fruz, but does not associate themselves with them.  This is because frozen yogurt is supposed to be a new craze. If Yogurty’s had included Yogen Fruz in their title, customers would have had preconceptions that Yogurty’s was old, and not trendy. In my opinion, understanding consumer behaviour is essential when developing business strategies and business plans.

Ethics in business is absolutely essential. While creating revenue is the goal, how you create the revenue is important. In the case of FoxConn and Apple, their revenue does not justify their business practices. On my classmate Katty Lee’s blog (http://blogs.ubc.ca/kattylee/ ), she discusses the horrible working conditions for employees of Foxconn. Foxconn is an electronics manufacturer that creates Apple products. At the factories in China in 2010, eleven workers committed suicide by jumping off the roof. The general belief was this happened because of poor working conditions. Katty asks a very good question in her blog: should companies be concerned about the supplier’s working conditions? In my opinion, companies should. First, from an ethical standpoint, no one should have to work long hours in horrible conditions for low wages. Second, from a public relations standpoint, it is important that companies care. In this case Apple looks awful and is blamed for the suicides. Even though employees of Apple may be treated well and have great working conditions, it does not matter so long as the supplier’s working conditions are awful. Therefore for ethical and PR reasons, companies should care about their supplier’s working conditions. It is the intelligent thing to do.

When I was 7 years old, I learned about the importance of positioning in marketing, without being aware of it. In 2002, Pepsi released its new soft drink, Pepsi Blue. Having the flavour of berries and cotton candy, in my seven year old opinion, it was absolutely delicious. Yet by the time I turned 9, Pepsi had pulled Pepsi Blue from the market and no longer sold it in North America. As I mourned the news, I wondered why Pepsi Blue had failed. Now, as a 17 year old Business student, I can see why. Pepsi did not understand how to properly name and market their new product. In the 1981 book, Positioning: The Battle for your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout described how marketing involves positioning products in the minds of consumers. They discussed the free-ride trap, where companies release a new product, under the name of a pre-existing product (e.g. Pepsi Blue). The downside of this strategy is the original product already holds a position in the customer’s mind. Therefore, when people thought of Pepsi Blue, they thought it would taste like Pepsi, not a super-sugary berry drink. As a result of this, consumers were disappointed when they bought the product. If Pepsi had called the product Berry Blue, and not included Pepsi in the title (e.g. 7UP, Mountain Dew, Mug), it would have been far more successful.

http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/ries-trout/positioning/

It is well known that using tanning beds is not beneficial for health.  Countless dermatologists and doctors have come to the conclusion that using tanning beds increases the chance of developing melanoma.  To counteract the negative effects of UV exposure and defend their product, the Tanning Industry has started attacking various medical studies and reports. Reminiscent of tobacco companies in the 1960’s, the Tanning Industry has publicly denounced medical studies linking tanning beds to cancer. They are trying to portray the positives of tanning, such as the increased vitamin D intake. These tactics must be working because tanning salons are still a $4.9 billion industry, and over the past three years profits have increased.  The main ethics issue with this case is that the Tanning industry is purposely misleading the public and subsequently hurting them. They are denying the harmful aspects of tanning, and profiting from people’s ignorance.  It is acceptable to sell and market a product that may cause harm (e.g. cigarettes). However, you must acknowledge the risks of the product, not attack medical information and statistics that would help customers make a calculated decision on whether to buy the product. This business strategy shows a lack of ethics.

http://business-ethics.com/2012/08/23/1623-embattled-tanning-industry-takes-its-cues-from-big-tobacco/