When I was in high school, I was very involved with the Me to We club. At one point we were selling Me to We T-shirts as a fundraiser and I found myself explaining to people that Me to We is a social enterprise where 50% of all their profits go towards their partner charity Free the Children, a charity that seeks to empower youth to make a difference in the world. I explained that their shirts were made in sweat-shop free environments with sustainable resources.  For every shirt sold, one tree would be planted in a developing community. Even though I said all of this, I never truly understood what a social enterprise is until now. Me to We is also a lifestyle, a culture.

WE Day- Inspiring a Generation of Youth

Every year thousands of students in Canada and the United Kingdom are inspired at WE Day to become a part of this culture. Through chants like “We are the Change”, and models of the founders wearing Me to We Style, the culture of Me to We becomes more engrained into the lives of the students. As a social enterprise, Me to We doesn’t measure their success by the profits they make, but by the number of lives they have impacted.

To better understand the story behind Me to We, check out this webiste:

http://www.metowe.com/about-us/our-organization/social-enterprise-an-innovative-new-model/

Image From:

http://schoolsites.granderie.ca/ddss/files/ddss/u40/me_to_we_logo.jpg

“Quality is at the heart of everything we do, from the technical features we (sometimes literally) weave into our products, to the people we work with and relationships we build” (Lululemon website). Lululemon has long been known for the quality yoga products that it sells. Of course quality comes at a price. The average pair of yoga pants at Lululemon costs just over $100. However, customers are willing to pay the extra price to buy these yoga pants from Lululemon even though there are many other companies that sell similar articles of clothing at a lower price. This is because Lululemon has a corporate reputation for the quality of its unique “luon” fabrics. Lululemon has used the differentiation strategy from Porter’s Generic Strategies: offering a product that customers perceive to be better and different from those of other companies.

“Lululemon lawsuit over too-sheer pants gets lead plaintiff”

Lulu’s Dark Days

Now all of a sudden the news headlines read: “Lululemon lawsuit over too-sheer pants gets lead plaintiff”, and their market value takes a dip. This example supports Porter’s theory that a combination of generic strategies doesn’t work. Lululemon tried to cut its cost and sell pants that were not up to quality with the standards and pricing of the company. Immediately, they saw the effects of this poor decision. Fortunately for Lululemon, many of its customers are staying loyal: believing that Lululemon will return to their former standard of quality.

Sources:

http://www.lululemon.com/education/quality

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/lululemon-lawsuit-over-too-sheer-pants-gets-lead-plaintiff/article14642784/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/inside-the-market/lululemon-shares-on-cusp-of-major-uptrend-analyst/article13060633/

In recent years, online movie streaming has become a huge threat to the movie theatre industry. Cineplex is the largest chain movie company in Canada owning many theatres including Scotiabank, Famous Players, and SilverCity. A close substitute for the movie theatre industry is online movie rentals, so naturally, Netflix, the largest movie rental subscription company in the US, is Cineplex’s major rival.

“The Cineplex Store has all the latest and greatest new releases, plus your favourite catalogue classics.” –cineplex.com

Netflix’s point of parity is providing movie-streaming services to customers in the comfort of their home. The value of Netflix shares has been steadily increasing for the past year; understanding the success of Netflix, Cineplex has followed in their footsteps by strategically placing more emphasis on the online and at home services. From our class readings, we know that in order for a company to be successful, they should find their own niche: a point of difference that sets them apart from other companies. What Cineplex offers that Netflix doesn’t is their ability to rent movies that are newly released to video, and sometimes even movies that haven’t been released on DVD and Blu-ray yet. With the recent launch of Cineplex Digital Tuesdays, we see a real push towards the online movie rental market. Cineplex now offers online rentals of standard definition movies on their online store for only $2.50 on Tuesdays.

Resources:

http://www.fool.ca/2013/10/04/cineplex-taking-a-page-from-netflixs-playbook/

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/cineplex-brings-tuesday-movie-discount-into-your-living-room-tsx-cgx-1836416.htm

Images:

http://store.cineplex.com/store/featured?Ntt=DT