It seems as though Netflix is more creative than most people thought.  According to this blog, Netflix knows exactly what type of shows consumers are interested in watching.  By looking at illegal pirated download sites, Netflix has been able to find out what type of shows/movies consumers are most interested in.  By purchasing the shows that are most popular to the public, Netflix has been able to attract more and more customers.  Netflix’s valuation continues to rise and this is no surprise.  With innovative ways of finding consumer preferences, Netflix’s future looks brighter than ever.  As a regular user of Netflix, I have stopped watching cable TV because the variety and the amount of shows that Netflix offers is just so much better in comparison.  It is only a matter of time before Netflix replaces Cable TV with its relatively low pricing and variety of selections.

Cherry’s blog post on Facebook ads presents an issue that is definitely relatable.  Advertisements have always been a nuisance to me, whether it means having to watch them before watching certain videos or popping up out of nowhere while I am surfing the Internet.  When Facebook decided to have the ads better targeted to its users, Cherry mentions that people were clicking more on the ads.  As a Facebook user myself, I have been smart enough to avoid all the advertisements.  I did notice that some of the advertisements were pertained to my interests, but I can use other websites if I am looking for a certain product or service.  Facebook is a website that users use to connect with family members and friends, so when it posts advertisements, I am very unlikely to even glance at them.  Fortunately, some people are keen enough to click on these advertisements and visit these external websites and this is what has been generating a ton of money for Facebook.  As more and more companies realize that advertising on Facebook is not an efficient way to market their products/services, Facebook’s market value may suffer in the future.

Natalie’s optimistic outlook on Snapchat seems reasonable and I completely agree with Snapchat’s ability to continue growing.  Snapchat is a very innovative app and although it seems like a very simple idea, millions around the world have grown very fond of it.  With hundreds of millions of pictures sent everyday on the app, Snapchat has generated the attention of many people.  With the recent offer of $3 billion by Mark Zuckerburg, we can definitely see the enormous value of Snapchat.  However, I do think that Snapchat’s decision to turn down the offer was ridiculous.  Having the ability to sell the company for a whopping $3 billion and just retire and live the rest of your life as a billionaire is absolutely unreal.  The fact that in a couple years if users move away from Snapchat and onto another app will be devastating for Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat.  This could be one of the biggest missed opportunities in history.  Evan Spiegel is taking a huge risk here in believing that Snapchat could continue on and raise its value.  But, to be able to come up with something as innovative as Snapchat shows that there is definitely a possibiliy for more innovation and growth for Snapchat’s future.

With the release of the new iphone 5s several weeks ago, it came to my attention after coming across this article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2013/11/17/the-iphone-5s-review-probably-the-best-all-round-smartphone-to-date/

Funny thing is after reading the article, I could not find one point from the author that I could agree with.  To me, iPhone has essentially been the same since the iPhone 4.  With each new model that they come up with, only the most minor changes are made.  The general shape of the phone looks the same and the operating system interface has always looked similar.  Each year, more and more consumers are sucked in by their deceptive way of advertising.  Apple always exaggerates it’s new features and millions of consumers have always fell for it. Not too long ago, Apple introduced a feature called Siri, which caused a lot of excitement.  The fact that you could command your phone to take certain actions surprised many people.  What they didn’t realize was this was ultimately a rather useless feature because it is much faster to operate the phone yourself then to command Siri to operate it. Unfortunately, most people did not realize this until they purchased the phone.  So what will the iPhone 6 bring to the table and will Apple finally revolutionize the new model?

After working a 16-hour shift this weekend, I took notice of many things.  As a cashier at Save-On-Foods, I regularly interact with customers of all sorts.  However, it seems as though time was passing by much slower at work.  I could see a considerably fewer amount of customers coming into our store than usual.  Eventually, one customer came up to me and asked me if I’ve gotten the chance to check out the new Target that opened up this weekend.  It seems as though the opening of Target has shifted numerous customers away from Save-On-Foods.  But the thing is, it all tied in because customers have always complained about our prices being higher than competitors.  Through my two year tenure as a cashier at Save-On, I realized that our store stresses so much over customer service that we often forget about keeping our prices competitive.  As the sales in our store have declined over the past few years, our managers have not done much to improve the situation.  The most striking question to me is why management hasn’t done anything to changed our focus to make our prices more competitive when customers have been complaining all this time

A couple weeks ago in lecture we had discussed the sunk costs of the ships for BC Ferries and how terrible of a decision it was to sell for cheap.  Knowing this was already a terrible decision, it seems that this wasn’t the only bust for BC’s shipbuilding industry in recent years.

BC used to have a solid shipbuilding industry that created thousands of jobs, but over the past decade, the industry workforce has diminished to only a few hundred.  Recently in 2004, more than 5000 jobs could have been created but the half a billion dollars in contracts were given to Germans instead.  This is almost like another sunk cost; BC hasn’t exactly made the best decisions in the past decade.

Fortunately, $11.3billion in contracts has been given to boost local shipbuilding for the first time in years.  This will not only increase our employment rate in BC, but these non-combat vessels can come in handy to support all kinds of businesses.  The article does not specify what they will be used for, but as non-combat vessels, they can definitely provide for the marine industry or even the fishing industry.  I can see this contract as one that will provide benefits for the entire country as a whole for many years to come.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/industry/Contracts+mark+boom+time+again+British+Columbia+boom/9008876/story.html

This is the first US government shutdown in 17 years.  Among all the politics, hundreds of thousands of people are affected enormously.  At first, reading the title of this article gave me the impression that the government was shutting down forever.  Since being born in 1995, I have never heard of a shutdown before.  The most crucial question for me right now is how it will affect me.

Knowing that Canada’s economy is absolutely dependent on US, I can only imagine how much damage this will do if the shutdown continues.  What I did find out was that a government shutdown in the US is actually not quite like ones in any other country.  In US, it has been accepted as a negotiating tactic that has happened numerous times in history.  However, for the rest of the world, a government shutdown seems to be the cause of a revolution or even a disaster.  I doubt that this will affect me much in my daily life, but I do expect to see gas prices go up, goods and service prices go up and see this issue on TV for the next couple weeks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24343698

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24342521

Once a top competitor in the cell phone market, Blackberry has plummeted off the top 100 list of global brands after a reported nearly US$1-billion loss.

It was only a couple years ago when Blackberry was the latest fad.  When I was in grade 10, Blackberry’s sleek design and useful features was one of the many reasons why everyone used it.  Blackberry messenger was a unique feature that other brands did not have at the time.  Now two years later, not only do none of my friends own a blackberry anymore, but I rarely hear about it anymore in my daily life.  Similarly,  Nokia, once the largest phone maker in the world went down 65% to 57th place.  So what exactly is the reason for these huge declines? As a consumer, lack of innovation is probably the number one problem for both these companies.  While Apple and Samsung continued to bring out well advertised and innovative features, Blackberry and Nokia just weren’t able to keep up.  Consumers generally shifted away from these two companies as Apple and Samsung were able to provide phones with more intriguing features.

So here’s the question, why is it that Blackberry and Nokia took this long to realize what was wrong before they went through such huge losses?

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/fp/BlackBerry+falls+global+brands+list+Apple+takes+spot/8977903/story.html

After reading the article in The Economist: “Working conditions in factories when the jobs inspector calls”, I have concluded that these companies are only improving their business ethics because they have no other choice.  Labour associations and other organizations are sent to “look at [some] of the factories in China” used by large companies such as Nike and Apple.  In order to protect their reputation, these companies are forced to improve working conditions and follow stricter codes of conduct.  Without this pressure, most of these companies will not even bother focusing on ethical working practices.  Profit is the number one objective and when excess monthly output is demanded, many companies have no choice but to go against ethical practices and lose control of working hours.   As mentioned in the article, factor managers often “bribe auditors” and “use fake books showing shorter hours” and surprisingly, many workers are more than willingly to collaborate.  As someone living in a first world country, little do I know of the many more unethical practices that may be happening behind the scenes.  Although the working conditions have vastly improved from decades ago, we must reflect on what types of business practices are being used and realize what companies will do for extra profit.

www.economist.com/node/21551498‎

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