Photo of a TNDC land clearing crew (First Nations Inc.: Tahltan-AltaGas partnership a win-win, Vancouver Sun)

  AltaGas Ltd which located in Calgary started work on run-of- river power development in northwest of Terrace. AltaGas Ltd decided to enlist the Tahltan Nation Development Corp., which is a First Nation Business, as a partner on the project.

  TNDC CEO Garry Merkel said ‘any enterprise they undertake can’t compromise the Tahltan’s aboriginal rights or their land and has to offer more positive than negative social impacts.’ (Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, 2014) This is means AltaGas Ltd’s business model changes because of this partnership. Tahltan community beomes one of the stakeholders of Altagas Ltd. Altagas has to consider Tahltan’s aboriginal rights and their land, and even their aboriginal society when doing the project. Otherwise, the partnership may not loner exist.

TNDC is offering a ‘ready-made workforce’ to AltaGas Ltd. and ‘very helpful in providing services such as heavy equipment operators, road maintenance and ccamp facilities’ (Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, 2014). This is not only allows AltaGas to reduce its labor costs, furthermore as the First nations ‘know the environment, and they know the land’, AltaGas Ltd reduces time and costs in researching and investigating the environment, and switch those costs to other areas. If there is no partnership between AltaGas Ltd, and Tahltan Nation Development Corp., AltaGas may have to spend much of the time and costs in understanding the area before project started.

Bibliography:

1. Penner, D. (2014, September 25). First Nations Inc.: Tahltan-AltaGas partnership a win-win. www.vancouversun.com. Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.vancouversun.com/business/First+Nations+Tahltan+AltaGas+partnership/10236269/story.html

Koala (Cuddling koalas is big business for Sydney private zoo, BBC)

In a competitive market, competitors are everywhere. Businesses have to make themselves unique to attract consumers in order to survive in this cruel world.

There are more than 90 accredited zoos in Australia, which means there is highly competitive wildlife tourism market there. For businesses to be succeed, they have to have its strategy to gain high consumption in order to compete with other businesses; otherwise, they will get eliminated. The Featherdale Wildlife Park which located in Sydney is a successful business which has its unique selling point to attract consumers and to survive in such a highly competitive Wildlife tourism market. ‘

Do not feed the animals’ is the sign you will see at zoos, however it is not the sign you will see in Featherdale Wildlife Park. Featherdale Wildlife Park offers unique hands on experience. This ‘hands on experience’ is the unique selling point of Featherdale Wildlife Park and it attracts dozens of visitors. For businesses which facing large amount of competitors, it is very important for them to understand what consumer want and why they want to consume your product or services. Featherdale Wildlife Park understands this, and offers ‘hands on experience’ because they know visitors who come to zoos should be the one who love and want to understand native animals in Australia. By offering ‘hands on experience’, Featherdale Wildlife Park not only making itself special, but also allows visitors get close to native animals and which satisfies consumers’ want.

Bibliography
1. Mercer, P. (n.d.). Cuddling koalas is big business. BBC News. Retrieved October 2, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29369091

 
Location (Why Does Location Matter?, EntrepreneurshipReview)

According to the article ‘Picking the best location for your business’, author Perry King suggests that it is very important for business owners in choosing where to locate businesses, and I agree with him.

Some might think a business which serves good quality goods will always succeed, and there is nothing else has to be considered. This is not the case. Let’s think in this way. Imagine you are very good at cooking pork and you can make barbecued pork with very high quality. Therefore you decide to start a restaurant which serves delicious pork cuisine. For your personal preferences, you like Indonesia, so you decide to start the restaurant in Indonesia. Will this business be succeed? I will say the business is hardly to be succeed. Why? This is because of the location.

Why location is that important in starting a business? Every locations have its customs and traditions, and customers in different locations follow have different preferences based on their local traditions. Owners should consider whether your products or services you provided fit into the local culture. When you decide to start a restaurant which serves pork cuisine in Indonesia, the products that you provide is actually against the local culture in Indonesia (Most of Indonesians are Islam and Pork is strictly forbidden in Islam), which means there is no potential consumers for your restaurant in Indonesia, and your business will not succeed.

So…… Location is IMPORTANT!

Bibliography 

1. Location[JPG] Retrieved October 3, 2014, from http://miter.mit.edu/why-does-location-matter/
2. King, P. (n.d.). Picking the best business location. BBC News. Retrieved October 3, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29027463

 
Business Cycle (Business Cycle, KBManage)

All businesses face business cycles.  Business cycle is the ‘periodic but irregular up and down movement in economic activity’. Business cycle model and terminology can be used in study and explain fluctuations in businesses and firms. There are four phases in a business cycle – Expansion, Peak , Recession and Trough.

BlackBerry (BlackBerry Not there yet, BBC)

According to the article ‘BlackBerry Not there yet’, BlackBerry now accounts for less than 1$ of sales in the world. In the other words, BlackBerry is in contraction or even at trough. There is no businesses and firms would like to stay in contraction or at trough, including BlackBerry. Blackberry now is looking for ways to get over this contraction.

BlackBerry used to be the one who dominated the smartphone industry, but now it is almost eliminated by the market. BlackBerry does not see future in making smartphones, but it sees future in selling more services and software to large buyers. BlackBerry hopes to get over the contraction and tough, then begins new expansion by adjusting its targeted segments.

In businesses, there is recession to expansion to recession to expansion again and again. Businesses, like BlackBerry and Apple aims to stabilize and minimize fluctuations through the business cycle.

Bibliography

1. Business Cycle [JPG] Retrieved October 4, 2014, from https://www.kbmanage.com/concept/business-cycle
2. Business Cycles. (n.d.). Inc.com. Retrieved October 4, 2014, from http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/business-cycles.html
3. Not there yet. (2014, September 27). The Economist. Retrieved October 4, 2014, from http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21620699-blackberrys-promised-comeback-has-not-yet-materialised-not-there-yet