Monthly Archives: October 2014

As I was browsing through my classmates blogs, I came across Bonnie’s blog post on fair trade. After reading her thoughts on free trade, I agree with her main points. I believe small companies have a more meaningful effect on society than large corporations. In my opinion large corporations don’t always actually care about the social and environmental aspect, but they need to appear like they do in order to increase profits because customers respect the company more. I realize this is not always true; however, I do believe it is for some companies. Small, local companies tend to genuinely want to make a difference and help the community.

I looked through a list of companies who participate in free trade, and found Strait Coffee, located in British Columbia. When customers purchase Strait Coffee, they promote the fair treatment of small farmers and workers, ensuring them healthy living conditions and a sustainable economic future. Lots of times, big corporations focus on social issues that are already widely known. I think it is interesting that Strait Coffee, like many other small companies, focus on issues that aren’t as publicized. All in all, I found it interesting how smaller companies aren’t as well known, but they still focus on social and environmental issues.

Works Cited:

http://fairtrade.ca/en/content/registered-companies

http://www.straitcoffee.ca

https://blogs.ubc.ca/bonniecheng/

After looking at various external blogs, I came across an interesting post written by Seth about the pros and cons of decisions. Seth has a two list approach toward decision making that is separated in pros and cons. The pros weigh in on the advantages a company has when making decisions, and the cons lay out the obstacles that are in the way.

I believe this ties in very well to some of the other tools we have been using in class, such as the SWOT and urgency/importance grid. When a business makes decisions, it is important that they weigh in all aspects of going through with the decision. Laying the advantages and disadvantages helps to answer questions, such as will the company profit?

However, I believe that businesses should not rely on this tool because there is always room for error. Sometimes it is worth taking a risk, and sometimes it is better to lay back, but these decision tools may not always lead you to the right decision.

Works Cited:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/page/2/

The relationship between the First Nations people and the Canadian government has been fairly negative due to the history of the country, and the Northern Gateway pipeline is certainly adding more conflict to this relationship. Enbridge is a energy delivery based company based in Calgary, Alberta. Currently, the company is proposing a pipeline that would transport 525,000 barrels of oilsands crude to a tanker port at Kitimat, B.C. However, the company is having a hard time gaining support.

The First Nations people value the environment and their land, and this pipeline would destroy what they have gratitude towards. Embridge needs to realize the consequences of building this pipeline. In order to go through with it, they must satisfy the community’s needs and wants; otherwise, the company will gain a poor reputation and struggle in the long-run.

I, myself, have been to a First Nations reserve in Manitoba. I have witnessed the sense of community and preservation of culture first hand. It was a very unique and humbling experience to be able to participate in a pow-wow and feel a connection with the culture and people. Personally, I found the experience to be unreal and eye opening. It was interesting to see how much the First Nations people value the environment and their culture, and I believe it is important for Enbridge to realize the consequences of building this pipeline, as it destructive towards the environment.

Work Cited:

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Premier+urges+cooperation+more+litigation+government+natives+reach+fork+road/10194776/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Enbridge+buys+million+land+parcel+northwest/9598156/story.html

http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/premier-prentice-plans-to-move-forward-with-northern-gateway-pipeline-1.2093202

Given the recent budgetary challenges between the President of America and the US Congress, the well discussed “fiscal cliff” has created a dynamic that will ultimately become a stress test between government and business.

It is interesting to note that in 2011, the top 10 defence contractors in America received contracts in the amount of $134 billion. The top three are Lockheed Martin ($39.98 billion), Boeing ($21.45 billion) and General Dynamics ($19.47 billion). As such, the impact to a company’s bottom line will be greatly impacted with either a win or a loss of a government contract.

However, the relationship between business and government is based on a number of factors. Some of which may be business orientated, some of which may be political, some of which may be based on a military objectives and some may be based on overall economic objectives of the country.

Furthermore, the situation may be further intensified by the fact that many of these defence contractors employ over 100 000 workers.

Business decisions can be difficult to make even in simple supply and demand scenarios. When layering factors above and beyond the straight business such as political, militaristic and economic outcomes, the stress between government and business is palpable. Therefore, my conclusion is that political lobbying may in fact skew the management decisions which would typically occur in a business to business relationship.

Work Cited:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42494839#.

This article explains how Costco outperforms Walmart and Target. Costco does this by concentrating on driving sales, not spending money on advertising, not selling as many brands and paying there employees more and giving them better benefits.

Costco concentrates on driving sales through a no frills approach. The combination of cost savings through lack of advertising and less inventory from different suppliers ultimately give their customers a pricing advantage. This is reflected in their sales growth. From 2006 to 2014, Costco’s revenue has gone up 127.8%. Target and Walmart’s revenue has risen 60.94% and 70.24% respectively.

As a result of staff turnoff, rising employees cost is in many cases an underestimated expense with regards to productivity, efficiency and profitability. Clearly, the Costco operating culture recognizes the importance of longterm relationships with employees, and this has been reflected in the performance of their operations.

Although the culture that Costco has created is difficult to quantify from an operating perspective, it is clear that it has positively impacted the financial performance of the company. Notwithstanding the resources available to Costco’s primary competitors, I believe that the firm will continue to outperform entities with old operating procedures.

Works Cited:

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/costcos-simple-strategy-outperforming-wal-195517929.html;_ylt=Ajf8Z7WBsvZt1U3tHJgrC5ahuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTBvNTZmMGNkBG1pdAMEcG9zAzUEc2VjA2xuX1VTX2dhbA–;_ylg=X3oDMTBhdnVpNmo3BGxhbmcDZW4tQ0E-;_ylv=3