An external blog I highly recommend reading is CNN blogs, the site contains many different types of blogs and all of which are well -written. The entry that caught my attention is the one on China regarding their holiday inn being used as a black jail.

An old couple traveled to Beijing but were instead held captive at “Holiday Inn Express Nanhuizui – located in Lingang New City on the outskirts of Shanghai” during their 8 day stay. Their only souvenir? A room key. During their duration, the two were unable to buy or walk outside their room, having been tied down by a bedspread at one point.

How did this all happen? Once the couple left the Beijing airport, they were said to have been picked up by police men in casual clothing. Then forced to travel back to Shanghai where they were held separately. The two were completely being held against their will.

The reasoning behind all this? It has been reported that the motives for this was to keep the old couple from “airing grievances to the central government during the 10-day annual meeting of China’s legislature in March”. Despite all the reports from other tourists who have the same experience, the hotel management denies all claims.

The reported hotel is obviously an underground jail used by some private firm. Not only is the reason behind the business highly unethical, but the illegal way they treat their customers and the elder.

Target is a huge box store with discounted and an immense selection of different products, ranging from every day household products to high-end technology. The goal of box stores is so consumers only need to do an “one-stop shop”. A fact that is very appealing to consumers due to its convenience.

Not too long ago, fellow student, Derek Kwan, added a blog entry regarding the big United States box store coming to Canada. He referred to Target as a “retail goliath”. I agree that the entry of Target will add heat to many of the existing Canadian box stores and increase rivalry.

The business’ first step was to acquire its rival’s location. Recently, Target bought out most of Zellers location. Target’s action has created a self-evaluating effect many Canadian stores such as Wal-Mart, Zellers, Sears, Canadian Tire and Old Navy are now facing. Each business is currently re-evaluating its business and future plans in order to “accommodate” to its next big competitor.

As Target now competes with other existing Canadian stores, consumers have a wider range of retail choices. Buyer power will thus increase, as a business’ success is now solely dependent on the sales each company makes. Will the American store beat the Canadian ones?

Sears is a large retailer in Canada with 196 corporate stores and 285 hometown dealer stores. In recent years, its sales have been dramatically declining. These years of declining sales are partly due to the new U.S box stores that have recently entered the Canadian industry (i.e Target 2013).

Sears in Toronto, posted a net loss of $21.9 million/ $0.20 per share on Oct. 29th. This is an improvement from the $44.1 million loss or $0.42 per share, earlier on in the year.

Sears tactic in order to regain its customers is through revamping of its operations. Its transformation strategy is improving its progress and signs of success can be seen from the halved loss.

However, Sears’ implementation is not up to par to its expectations. The company is currently making $1.03 billion in revenue which is $76 million less than last year’s.

Sears started cutting jobs, reducing sale prices, and closing down stores that have not been performing well.
Many items have been lowered before the pre-winter sale. As a result, the company’s mattresses, appliances, toys, and clothing for babies, have improved with better sales.

source:

McDonald’s is considered the largest food service retailer in the world. This is recognized internationally. The chain services around 50 million customers every day and has about 30,000 restaurants across the world.

It has something called QSR, Quick Service Restaurant, this chain promises its customers a one-minute service guaranteed. The speed of their operations is evident.

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology etc, involved in the process of getting a product or service from the supplier to customer.

For McDonald’s it is of the highest importance. The objective is always to minimize cost, cut down on delivery time, improve profits and maintain high standards. McDonald’s has about 38 long term suppliers in India.

Due to the size of the corporation, their supply chain management must be efficient. India’s management line is controlled by only five people across the country.

McDonald’s also uses a cold chain which is an uninterrupted series of distribution and storage within a specific temperature. This is to ensure the shelf life of products. This concept was started by McDonald’s and took about six years. McDonald’s chain benefits both farmers as well as consumers. By providing consumers with the best quality food, farmers’ crops also maintain freshness and nutrition. McDonald also cuts down on its wastage.

Cleanslate, founded by non-profit organization, The Cara Program, to enhance their mission – providing life skills and career training, placement, and retention services to individuals affected by homelessness and poverty, with revenue on the side.

Many of Cleanslate’s consumers were those with no work history and even some with criminal backgrounds. The Cara Program provides job training as well as placement services to those with many problems entering employment.

They offer organizations carefully matched Temp workers from jobseekers, plus training for the managers as well. It’s their chance to make a lasting difference.

Cleanslate engages those with disadvantages a opportunity to have a fresh start. They offer full support in forms of training and workshops to help them obtain employment. This full service provides businesses with high quality service and the chance to help support the community.

The Cara Program and Mercy Housing Lakefront, another non-profit, joined together to launch another social enterprise, 180° Properties. 180° Properties was in charge of meeting the local demand for property maintenance services for the homes in Chicago, also providing students with job opportunities. At the end of the year, 180° Properties had nearly 12,000 work orders and provided around 4000 services to homes in foreclosure. Some of their customers include the Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Safeguard.

Toms is a stand-alone enterprise, which deals with one issue. Tom focuses on providing shoes for impoverished children. Toms is not working through non-profit networks. Toms is a social entrepreneur. They make money by selling shoes to consumers. This ends up benefiting them, as well as the kids that receive a free pair.

A non-profit organization started by Blake Mycoskie in 2006. He started this idea based off the concept “Shoes for Tomorrow”, where Toms derived from. The idea is based off Argentine farmers’ shoes. When Toms sells a pair of shoes, Friends of Toms, a subsidiary of Toms, donates a pair to those in need. In poorer villages in Argentine, many children do not have shoes. Shoeless children may contract a disease called podoconiosis, which causes one’s feet to swell from walking in silica-rich soil. This is also known as “Mossy Foot”, which is Mycoskie’s motivation.

In 2011, Toms Eyewear was introduced. It is based off the same concept as Toms shoes, with every pair of glasses sold, a pair of pre-scripted glasses, medical care, or sight-seeing surgery, is given to a child in need.

In order to raise awareness, Toms been hosting an annual event called “One Day Without Shoes”. People basically don’t wear shoes for one day to raise awareness for the children who go on their daily lives without shoes. Partners of this event are AOL, Flickr and even the Discovery Channel.

http://torrentfreak.com/anti-downloading-law-hits-japan-up-to-2-years-in-prison-from-today-121001/

On October 1st, Japan issued an anti-piracy legislation. An anti-downloading law which may result in up to a two year jail sentence for the Japanese. In other countries, users who upload copyrighted material online are the targets. Uploaders may end up with 10 years in prison and a 10 million yen ($128,300) fine.”This new legislation makes criminals of mere downloaders”.

The origin of this law derives from the Japanese music industry, which is in trouble. Their market for downloads shrank by 16% last year. The music industry did ‘intensive lobbying’ in order for Japan to approve this amendment.

Providing proof of illegal downloading will be their greatest challenge yet. Is viewing an infringing YouTube video illegal as well?

‘As reported in June, music rights groups including the Recording Industry Association of Japan say they have developed a system capable of automatically detecting unauthorized music uploads before they even hit the Internet.’ In order to accomplish that, they need to spy on Internet users’ connection. ‘That can only be achieved with the assistance of Internet service providers who would be asked to integrate the system deeply into their networks.’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/titanic-anniversary/9235980/Titanic-replica-to-be-built-in-China.html

Clive Palmer, the 5th richest person in Australia, teams up with CSC Jinling Shipyard to build the Titanic 2, also known as the replica. This project is “a tribute to the spirit f the men and women who worked on the original titanic”. Clive Palmer is working with “a team of historical researchers to ensure the ship’s design is as close as possible to the original.” The replica is said to sail in 2016 from Britain to New York.

The original sinking of the Titanic killed more than 1,500 people. The Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic on April 15th, 1912.

Its 100th anniversary takes place this year and there are already dozens of events to reminisce those who perished. This proves how big of an impact the sinking was. Are consumers ready to set sail on another Titanic? The Titanic is associated with sinking. Many people are superstitious. This drives away many potential Asian consumers. Asians tend to be more superstitious. They have a small target market.

“Titanic II will be the ultimate in comfort and luxury with on-board gymnasiums and swimming pools, libraries, high-class restaurants and luxury cabins,” added Mr Palmer. Hopefully the additions are enough to convince potential consumers.