Starbucks (The Official Starbucks Secret Menu)

One of my classmates-Liu Yi, has recently posted a blog which was titled ‘innovation and customer loyalty’. In the blog, Liu Yi argues the importance of innovations to companies, and how do market researches help in ensuring those innovations satisfy customers’ needs. As companies aim to stabilize and minimize fluctuations through the business cycle, it is necessary for them to produce products which meet customers’ needs in long term. Therefore, as Liu Yi says in his blog, companies always tend to create more various and fancier products to fit customers’ needs. However, do these innovations always meet customers’ expectations? By giving Starbucks plans to bring back some products from old meau due to the complaints on new pastries as an example, Liu Yi says innovation is a paradox sometimes. In my point of view, innovation is important to every company. Customers are fickle, and they always love to follow trends in the society. By making innovations, the companies not only able to ‘surprise’ customers with its new products, but it also satisfy customers’ expectations in different time periods. A successful innovation could bring the company into the top of the trend. However, I agree with Yi is that market researches are very important in making innovations. Innovations are not always meet customers’ expectations. Customers in different times, in different ages or in different culture groups might have different needs and expectations. To make a successful innovations, companies should fully understand their targeted customers’ wants and needs by doing market researches such as making questionnaires or providing sample tastings. These market researches will give companies general ideas on what their targeted customers expect from your companies. Yes. Innovations might be a paradox, however if companies have planned innovations based on the results from market researches, these successful innovations will bring companies into a new and higher position.

link to https://blogs.ubc.ca/yi1996/2014/11/04/innovation-customer-loyalty/

Bibliography:
Starbucks Secret Menus – #1 Official Secret Menu 280 Recipes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://secretmenus.com/starbucks/secret-menu/

Vancouver (Unity of Vancouver)

According to the article ‘International visual-effects firm makes Vancouver its first anchor in North America’, a major international visual effects firm called Double Negative (Dneg) has chosen Vancouver as its first anchor in North America.

Vancouver, one of the most beautiful places in North America. So is the natural beauty of Vancouver attracts the firm? Yea, maybe. However, it is more than that. Visual-effects firm requires professional labors which being profession in visual effects area. Therefore, labor is the most important capital for visual-effects firm. When deciding opening branches outside home country, it is important for the firm to understand the labor market in places. They have to know if it is easy for them to hire employees which the firm required in the place. As there is already a talent pool in Vancouver, it is much more easier for Dneg to hire employees that it requires.

Some may argue that there is also a talent pool in United States, so why not choose one of the city of United States as its first anchor in North America? Yes. I believe there is bigger talent pool in United States as United States is so famous in producing films with many visual effects. However, how about the cost? Labor cost of this industry in USA is higher than in Vancouver. Therefore, it is another incentive for visual effect firm to locate their office in Vancouver rather than USA.

Bibliography :

1. DUGGAN, E. (n.d.). International visual-effects firm makes Vancouver its first anchor in North America. Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.vancouversun.com/business/technology/International visual effects firm makes Vancouver/10372293/story.html
2. Unity of Vancouver -. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.unityofvancouver.org

Customer Service (bakerross)

In his blog, Atsushi Yamamoto talks about a quote from the article that he was reading, ‘ Customer Service is marketing’. Same as him, I was shocked to this bizarre statement. So, is this quote trying to tell us customer service does not aim at take caring our (customers) needs, but it is one of a marketing strategies for the company? So, marketing is not all about products?

Before reading Atsushi Yamamoto’s blog, I had never linked customer service to marketing because I thought marketing was all about promoting products of the companies. However after reading his blog, my mind has changed.

Yes. Marketing focuses on products, because revenues come from the products sold to customers. Therefore, companies wish to sell more and earn more by marketing their products. However, is product the only thing that customers value and pay attention to? No…… From the quotes ‘People remember people, not products’ and ‘People does business with people’ quoted on Atsushi Yamamoto’s blog, I have realized it is not everything about products in the business world. Interactions between people and people are also important in doing business. If a company produce good quality products but with bad customer service (for example, salesmen is being rude when selling products), customers still will not buy products from that company because customers are not only looking for good quality products, but also looking for good connections between them and the company. Customer service means a lot to customers, because people always remember what others have done to them.

Therefore ‘Customer Service is marketing’ is SO TRUE!!!!!

link to https://blogs.ubc.ca/yatsushi/2014/11/09/customer-service-is-marketing/

Bibliography:
Customer Services. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.bakerross.co.uk/pages/customer-services

TOMS (Sporting Life)

Everyone knows TOMS. It is one of the most popular shoes brand in the world. However, do we really know about this brand?

In the article ‘Buy one give one is here to stay thanks to TOMS’, the author talks about the meaning of TOMS. TOMS is a shoe company which was started by Blake Mycoskie. Mycoskie felt compelled to help poor children who went shoeless. However rather than starting a charitable organization to raise money to provide shoes to children in need, Mycoskie chose to start an entrepreneurship. He thought ‘why not create a for-profit business to help provide shoes for these children? Why not come up with a solution that guaranteed a constant flow of shoes, rather than being dependent on kind people making donations? In other words. Maybe the solution was in entrepreneurship, not charity.’

Mycoskie’s ideas gave me an epiphany. It is true that all entrepreneurships love profit. However, are all entrepreneurships started because of earning profit? Look at TOMS, is this entrepreneurship started because of money? The profit that they earned from the customers is going back to the people who in need. In other words, customers who buy TOMS shoes are also involved in helping In the years of TOMS, ’10 million shoes given, 200,000 people with restored eyesight and now the start of clean water.’ This entrepreneurship is not a normal entrepreneurship, it is a social entrepreneurship which trying to help and solve social issues in the world. I personally really like the concept of this entrepreneurship.

Bibliography:

1. Haid, P. (n.d.). Buy one give one is here to stay thanks to TOMS. Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://business.financialpost.com/2014/08/21/buy-one-give-one-is-here-to-stay-thanks-to-toms/#__federated=1
2. Toms Shoes | Sporting Life. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.sportinglife.ca/sportinglife/brand/14466/Toms-Shoes

Online Commerce (How to drive e-commerce?)

I love using computer. I love surfing on the Internet. I love online shopping. I love to do everything online. So everyone loves the Internet? After reading a blog which titled ‘Dear Canadian businesses: time to get it together on the Internet commerce’, I found out Canadian businesses do not like the Internet and I was wondering why.

‘Canadians rank number one on the globe in terms of number of webpages visited each month and have the most social network users in the world on a per capita according to a white paper produced by the Internet Association. Yet, ‘only 46% of Canadian businesses have a website, with the number falling to 41% among small and medium sized enterprises.’ Even worse, only ‘3% of Canadian retail economy takes place online’ These statistics show that Canadian online commerce is way far behind from other countries such as United States and United Kingdom. Seems like, Canadian businesses really dislike the Internet.

I love online shopping because it is so convenient, and I think there will be more and more people do online shopping in the future. Therefore, digital market is a big opportunity for businesses. Moreover, as Canadians love the Internet so much, it should be a good move for Canadian businesses to upgrade on Internet commerce. However, why Canadian businesses don’t invest in digital technologies? Is it because of the high cost for upgrading on Internet commerce? I understand that businesses especially for small and medium sized enterprises might lack of capital to upgrade on Internet commerce. They might choose to spend capital on improving products, rather than investing in digital technologies. However, I personally think it is worth for businesses to spend capital in developing online commerce due to growing digital market. By developing online commerce, businesses have potential to attract more customers (not only local customers, but also overseas customers as Internet is global). The capital that you have spent on investing digital technologies will eventually back to your hand from the digital market.

So……. It is the time for online commerce!!

Bibliography :

1. Cowan, J. (n.d.). Dear Canadian businesses: Time to get it together on Internet commerce. Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blogs-and-comment/canada-business-internet-lagging/
2. How to drive e-commerce? | Public Policy Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.publicpolicy.telefonica.com/blogs/blog/2012/01/20/how-to-drive-e-commerce/

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

US-Money (U.S. regulators must weigh safety versus practicality with money-market funds reforms,The Knowledge Effect)

We all know businesses love money! Every businesses, including those well known international companies try to maximize their profits. So, a business which succeed in maximizing profits is called ‘successful business’?

Photo of textile workers in Turkish ( Turkey's textile industry: Improvement in sight?,DW)

According to the article ‘Turkey’s textile industry: Improvement in sight?’, major textile brands such as Hugo Boss, Nike, Zara manufacture products in Turkey, and which lead Turkey as the one of the largest clothing manufacturer country in the world. (Senada Sokollu, DW, 2014) This seems good to stakeholders such as government and employees because these companies help to improve Turkey’s economy and provide more job opportunities. However, the fact is companies unethically provide low wages and poor conditions to workers in order to make higher profits.

There is no doubt that companies such as Hugo Boss can earn much more profits when it unethically ‘squeeze workers as lemon’ (Senada Sokollu, DW, 2014) by providing wages which is not enough for workers to survive.  However, is earning as much money as the company can always good to the company itself?

Article states Nike and Adidas regularly monitor the working conditions due to remarks and criticisms from the society and trade unions. If earning profits is the only interest to companies, then why do not Nike and Adidas just ignore criticisms from different stakeholders such as trade unions and keep maximizing profits by unethical practices?

Businesses loves money. However, businesses are not only responsible for money. They are also responsible to different stakeholders and companies such as Nike and Adidas have realized this. R. Edward Freeman suggests that if a business fail in satisfying different stakeholders’ interest, the business is in declined. (2009, Stakeholder Theory)How do businesses get succeed then? A business which earns profits with considering different stakeholders’ interests, this is called a ‘successful business’!!

Bibliography 

• Darden School of Business, Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics (producers). (2009). Stakeholder Theory by R. Edward Freeman. Retrieved September, 10, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/embed/bIRUaLcvPe8
• Sokollu, S. (2014, August 26). Turkey’s textile industry: Improvement in sight?. DW. Retrieved September 10, 2014, fromhttp://www.dw.de/turkeys-textile-industry-improvement-in-sight/a-17880532

• US-Money [JPG]. (2013). Retrieved September, 10, 2014, from http://blog.thomsonreuters.com/index.php/u-s-regulators-must-weigh-safety-versus-practicality-with-money-market-funds-reforms/