What makes Google such an amazing place to work? First of all, the company offers what seems to be an endless list of benefits to all of their employees. Some of these include free meals, a bowling alley, hair salon, dance classes and laundry facilities¹. These extensive benefits encourage employees to remain at work and enjoy themselves while they’re there, although they are not the only things making Google such a great workplace.

There are also many other aspects of the company make the Googleplex an enticing workplace. Almost all of the walls in the building are transparent which promotes a very friendly and open environment. As Bianca Pinasco had mentioned in her blog, employees are given a 20% time program². This allows them to spend 20% of their workweek on a project of their choice. As a result, it gives employees the satisfaction of expressing their creativity and exploring innovative ideas.

Google values their employees just as much as their collective success³. Even though it is very costly to provide all of these benefits, it is compensated by the fact that their employees are productive and there is a low turnover rate.

All of these factors combined are what establish Google’s culture. This corporate culture is the reason why Google is so profitable and is ranked as one of the best places to work.

1: Smith, Kevin. “Google Employees Reveal Their Favorite Perks Working For The Company.” Business Insider. N.p., 06 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://www.businessinsider.com/google-employee-favorite-perks-2013-3>.

2: Pinasco, Bianca. “The Best Workplace in the World.” Web log post. Blogs.ubc.ca. N.p., 09 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/biancapinasco/2013/11/09/the-best-workplace-in-the-world/>.

3: Chatterjee, Surojit. “Top 5 Reasons Why Google Is the Best Company to Work For.” International Business Times. N.p., 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ibtimes.com/top-5-reasons-why-google-best-company-work-553844>.

Figure 1: http://www.socialtalent.co/resources/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Google-Dublin-Office.jpg

With the release of Twitter’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) this past Thursday, Instagram announced that it will be incorporating advertisements as a part of its news feed. Many think that this will be the end of Instagram, but Joshua Brustein, a writer for Bloomsberg Businessweek, suggests that no one should be surprised, this business model has been foreseeable for awhile.¹

Earlier this year, Instagram had incorporated a video aspect to compete with Vine as well as segue into video ads. The hope is that these ads will be shown on occasion, while still ensuring that they are appealing and of high quality.

Although some believe that ads can be a downfall to certain social networking and media sites and cause a decrease in numbers of users, this could be a huge advantage for Instagram. They can further market to preferred customer segments and demographics through advertisements of their own. In addition, perhaps in the future when the ads become more frequent, they can receive additional profits caused by other companies using Instagram as an outlet for advertisements.

Will Instagram ultimately benefit from these ads or will it result in a decrease in their 150 million users?

1: Brustein, Joshua. “Instagram Will Have Ads. Get Over It.” Businessweek.com. N.p., 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-03/instagram-will-have-ads-dot-get-over-it#r=nav-f-story>.

Figure 1: http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/instagram-vs-vine-feat1.png?w=600

BlackBerry’s recent release of the new Z10 touchscreen smartphone has been more than disappointing for the company.  The hope was that the new phone would appeal to more than just the corporate section of the market, as well as the aim to further compete with Apple who has been leading the touchscreen phone market for so long. Unfortunately, this was not the case. There was reported to be a $965 million fiscal second-quarter loss¹ because there are so many Z10 phones that are sitting on shelves, unsold.

This is an issue that relates to the subject of brand positioning. Al Ries and Jack Trout highlight in their work that being first in the mind of the consumer is a huge advantage that can compensate for other possible deficits.² BlackBerry was the first in the smartphone industry, and yet Apple has surpassed them and is driving the company into the ground in the market that they had created. This would suggest, according to Ries and Trout that BlackBerry needs to readdress their brand positioning and focus on how to get back in the minds of consumers as being the leader in the smartphone market and a truecompetitor of Apple.

1:  Silcoff, Sean, Jacquie Mcnish, and Steve Ladurantaye. “Inside the Fall of BlackBerry: How the Smartphone Inventor Failed to Adapt.” The Globe and Mail. N.p., 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-inside-story-of-why-blackberry-is-failing/article14563602/>.

2:  Riez, Al, and Jack Trout. “Product Positioning.” Product Positioning. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/ries-trout/positioning/>.

Figure 1: http://rimblogs.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/lseries_black_eng_front_4glte1.jpg?w=600&h=480

Although Microsoft has been a long time competitor with other big-time technology companies such as Apple Inc., they recently introduced themselves to a new market. They just proclaimed a deal with Delta Airlines to incorporate 30,000 Surface 2 tablets and Nokia Lumia 820 Windows Phones to be used by pilots and flight attendants in order to achieve the goal of being paper free by the end of 2014¹.

As companies come to realize the potential cost reductions involved with paperless methods through these innovative technology advancements, there will be a massive demand for tablets in this business segment. Apple has held a near monopoly in the tablet market for large corporations until the Delta Airlines deal. As Microsoft introduced their own tablets, their reputation in the business consumer segment gives them a competitive advantage and a growing market for business tablets.

While Apple holds a reputation that does not exemplify complacency, it will be interesting to follow the market and observe how Apple responds to Microsoft’s new business focused consumer segmentation.

1:   Bort, Julie. “MICROSOFT COUP: Delta Air Lines Just Bought 11,000 Surface Tablets And 19,000 Windows Phones.” Business Insider. N.p., 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. <http://www.businessinsider.com/delta-buys-rt-tablets-windows-phones-2013-9>.

Figure 1: http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5249a2ae69bedd243592329d-800-/delta-airlines-windows-phone.jpg