At the beginning of the year, I was extremely disappointed in my result for the first project for Comm 101. The assignment was to create a SWOT and analysis for Lululemon. All of my class-mates and I spent hours crafting this little report, but we did not get the stellar marks we were used to in high school. Why didn’t we? It was because we had not yet adopted the right thought process. The main problem I had was a lack of clarity, which was astounding considering I was the top in my English class in high school. Highschool English teaches students to have flowery, pretty, and eloquent writing, but this distracts and confuses anyone who isn’t an English teacher. Since this initial shock, I am proud to say my thought process a has begun to adopt a business approach.

Seth Godin’s blog regarding clarity in marketing is a perfect example of this issue. The title of his post exemplifies this quality “Free Coffee” it gets the point across and doesn’t confuse readers. With the end of my first-semester at university in sight, my advice to future students is be clear and concise. Tell your reader what you think, show evidence, and be direct.

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One of the most fiercely debated issues I have encountered in my life most certainly is the Northern Gateway pipeline proposed by Calgary based Enbridge. Being from Vancouver I have been raised in one of the most beautiful cities and regions in the world and the thought of threatening this with a pipeline is unheard of. The fear of this pipeline is the ending in Kitimat, BC. From here tankers would bring Albertan crude oil to Asian markets, but first they have to navigate one of the most precarious channels in the world. This reason is because of the hairpins turns tankers would have to make to get in and out of Kitimat. All my fellow British Columbians are vehemently opposed to this and suggestions that this is beneficial are laughed at because of the perceived low economic benefits and the massive risk.

Being at a world renowned university puts all perceived notions into questions though. My class-mate and good friend Ben Gardiner made a blog post regarding this very issue. Being an Albertan he brings a completely different perspective on the issue. His blog post presents a logical argument in favour for this pipeline. While I still believe that a pipeline to Kitimat is a bad idea and that a private company should not be in charge of a project on this vast of a size with so many risks, I do see that this is not a simple issue that can be ended with a simple no.

Ben’s Blog

Fergus Arnold’s post regarding the misleading of consumers by Kia and Hyundai presents well-structured and insightful comments. Currently large corporations, such as those featured, are viewed by consumers with distrust and suspicion; this overstatement of vehicle fuel-efficiency adds to this. This blunder may not have been intentional, but it still rubs consumers the wrong way, also the overstatement was as large as 6MPG!

These companies did take corrective measure by offering compensation for misleading consumers and changing the incorrect claims. The marketing of fuel-efficiency in vehicles is a strong tool in advertising, but this example has most definately backfired. I completely agree with Fergus when he states “More costly than the reimbursement itself is the loss in trust.” Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Fergus’s blog, as the material was insightful and interesting and also the layout was quite pleasant.

Link to article

Link to source articles

Bloomberg

Veloster

Video games brings up the pitfalls of unproductively, lack of social skills, and violence; however, motivation gurus consider the area a untapped opportunity. As someone who used to play a lot of video games and had knew a fair amount of people who did the same, I can see where this theory is coming from. “Gamers” (people who play a lot of video games) will rack up hours upon hours in the attempt to gain a virtual badge as a reward for overcoming a challenge (beating a hard enemy, achieving a certain time in a racing game, etc.)

Management gurus want to discover why people will give up so much time and opportunity for an intangible “badge.” Certain businesses have started copying games by handing out badges for performing a task a certain amount of times or some other sort of achievement for unskilled, boring work. Gamers do not dedicate much of their lives for badges though, it’s not the extrinsic motivators that drive them towards goals, it is the intrinsic pleasure derived by accomplishing a goal that one has worked so hard to achieve. Businesses shouldn’t therefore use “gamification” to motivate low-level, manual workers, it should be used to motivate workers whose posistions require higher mental process.

 Link to “Economist” Article

Newspapers attacking Google is used as an example for a much more serious topic, in this article by “The Economist.” Newspapers in various countries (mainly in Europe) are threatening Google News for revealing the headline and first sentence of articles. Opponents of Google News claim this act “dissuades readers from clicking through to the newspaper’s website to read the entire article.” This show-down has also been backed by various governments including France, Germany, and Italy, who are threatening to create bills stop Google News.

This micro-issue is simply the manifestation of a macro one. What is happening is the death of an out-of-date industry, caused by the spread of a new one. Traditional media is dying out and firms in this industry must adapt or they will go under, for example “not a single newspaper in France is profitable.” Governments should cease backing these dying companies and should instead foster innovation and the adaptation of new technology, as keeping a dead industry alive is a waste of taxpayer money. Jan Malinowski puts it best “[this] is like trying to ban Gutenburg’s printing press to protect the scribes.“ 

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In the 1960’s everyone knew the goal of putting a man on the moon, but a fast approaching technological jump is quiet in the public. During November 8’s Comm 101 class, two amazing entrepreneurs presented their companies and amazed us with their feats. UrtheCast’s entrepreneur  astonished my fellow students and I with his space-blazing venture.

They will have camera’s placed on the Russian Module of the ISS and will be the first ones to capture constant HD-Video from space. Despite this feat, many class members (including myself) had never heard of them before. This isn’t because the company  has done a sub-par job, as they have major clients lined up. My fellow class-mates are not the future paying-consumers for Urthecast, but one would expect a project this impactfull would be known. There is a lack of interest (by my generation) in upcoming technological advancements, that do not immediatly or directly influence our lives, until they are released. The majority of the class knows when the next i-Phone is coming out, but not when a major technological leap is coming. This disinterest for major advancements in technology (and social issues) is indicative of a careless generation, which could lead to a concerning future.

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SpaceX has now become America’s supplier for the International Space Station, a role which many other companies wish they could have. Ever since NASA shut down the space shuttle program companies have been jumping on opportunities to launch themselves into the space market, this is an exciting leap forward for the privatization of an emerging market. The selling of contracts for supply missions and such worried many about whether the job would be done right; these concerns are fading, as these private companies are also improving on what other governments have been doing. Not only is SpaceX supplying the ISS, but they are also returning with blood and urine samples from the astronauts- something none of the other countries are able to do. It is an exciting time, as innovations will most likely keep arising and humanity’s exploration of the final frontier will begin to take place in ernest.

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When one goes to a store looking for a pair of glasses they are bombarded by choices, Oakley, Ray Ban, Chanel, Dolce Gabbana, Tiffany, and so on. Little do consumers know that no matter which name is on their glasses when they leave the store, they will be wearing a Luxottica product. This massive corporation that not only has a virtual monopoly in the eyeglass market, but also owns many of the eyeglass distributers, started as a small Italian tool shop. It is because of Luxottica’s massive market share that glasses which cost $30 to make, are sold at $300.

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In this article by The Economist, the merger plan by (the more civilian focused) EADS and (the more military focused) BAE could lead to “consolidation in the defence industry.” As the article notes, in the 1990’s there was a plan to merge all of Europe’s defence companies into one that was capable of competing with the massive American military-industrial complex; BAE opted out at the time, but with this new merger the european aerospace industry could taken over by one industrial giant. The reason this business decision could have a massive impact on current foreign policy, is the fact that many countries-such as Germany, France and Spain- have stakes in EADS, also other countries- America and Saudi Arabia- have sensitive defence contracts with BAE. With this massive merger at hand the other” European firms left out of the deal… will be actually worried about being left behind.” The consolidation of the defence industry could also consolidate global peace between the countries who have stakes in these massive corporations, so is this the beginning of a new age of peace or could this forming oligopoly be trouble on the horizon?

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The ever famous Victoria’s Secret, a subsidiary of Limited Brands, came under fire at the beginning of this year after allegations that the cotton it uses to make lingerie is produced using slave labour. Victoria’s Secret purchased its cotton, which was certified by Fairtrade International to be fair-trade cotton, from the Central African country of Burkina Faso. After the story of a child who had died while picking cotton for Burkina Faso’s cotton industry broke, the media corporation, Bloomberg L.P., reported that it had confirmed through “several sources… that the surviving child [from that family] picks cotton for Burkina Faso’s fair-trade organic program.” Victoria’s Secret claimed to not know that their cotton was picked by child labourers who were “kept out of school and forced to work.” To be fair though, the cotton was confirmed to be fair trade by Fairtrade International and Victoria’s Secret did not operate the cotton farms. The question comes down to whether or not it is a companies responsibility to ensure their suppliers operate in an ethical manner.

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