——TNDC Profiled In Aboriginal Business    Calgary-based

Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd. engaged in a win-win cooperation with Tahltan Nation on the Forrest Kerr Project, a run-of-river hydroelectric facility. With an installed capacity of 195 megawatts, it is able to power approximately 70,000 homes.

AltaGas Ltd provided cash, profit sharing, equity arrangements, scholarships, business opportunities and employment. Therefore, the Tahltan Nation is able to boost local development, reduce the unemployment and improve the standard of living

AltaGas Ltd. is trying their best to achieve an agreement with Tahltan Nation due to the fact  that it is the Tahltan Nation  who has controlled  the coast to the northern Interior for a few thousand years. They also benefit from the cooperation. The Tahltan Nation people are quite familiar with the environment and geography of the land, especially in providing services such as heavy equipment operators, road maintenance and camp facilities.

In this case, we can see that if a firm wants to keep on a strong relationship with the First Nations, there are some useful strategies they can use:

1. Make the First Nation a stakeholder and a teammate to unit with each other and maximize the profit
2. Offer suitable job positions to First Nation people to gain a win-win business arrangement. For example, firms could offer more jobs, such as engineers to local people who know much about the home.
3. Develop a green and sustainable business in an environmentally friendly way

 

 

 

Sources:

“First Nations Inc.: Tahltan-AltaGas partnership a win-win.” www.vancouversun.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://www.vancouversun.com/business/First+Nations+Tahltan+AltaGas+partnership/10236269/story.html>.

“Tahltan, AltaGas ink benefits deals – Terrace Standard.” Terrace Standard. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://www.terracestandard.com/news/130775313

 

Comments on Harpreet Sidhu’s Blog‘s blog

Blog’s website:        https://blogs.ubc.ca/harpreetsidhu/

 

 

 

Staples is facing  transformation

Up to 225 Staples retail stores will be closed inin the United States and Canada. Due to the lost of customers to mass market chains and e-retailers, another quarter of sales decline is estimated . The main factor for the nation’s largest office-supply company to reduce retails stores is that more and more customers are shopping less often in stores and more online, with sales slipped nearly two per cent to $5.22 billion, but online sales increasing by 8 per cent.

Interestingly, modern customers prefer to shop by showrooming. They visit the store in person to test out a product and learn the products directly, but then go home to buy a cheaper version online.  In order to fit in the new way of  shopping , the best mode for Staples is Online To Offline. It means combining the online shopping and the front line transactions together.

It is beneficial for Staples to transform some retail stores to online stores. By reducing the amount of brick-and-mortar stores, it enable Staples to decrease rent and operating costs, inventory costs, wages and so on. As a result, the firm could provide a lower price to purchasers. However, the online office products market is quite competitive. Staples would face threat from Amazon, Wal-Mart, and BuyOnlineNow.

Additionally, it is only in the brick-and-mortar stores where salespeople could communicate with the customers face to face, therefore they could introduce the advantages of buying office products in Staples. This means that, they can a provide better user experience.

 

 

Sources:

1. “Retailers Need Not Fear “Showrooming” As More Young People Drawn To Physical Stores.” International Business Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ibtimes.com/retailers-need-not-fear-showrooming-more-young-people-drawn-physical-stores-1579135>.
2. “Staples closing up to 225 stores in Canada and U.S. as it bleeds customers to mass-market rivals.” Financial Post Business Staples closing up to 225 stores in Canada and US as it bleeds customers to massmarketrivals Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://business.financialpost.com/2014/03/06/staples-store-closures-canada-us/>.

Copied to Clipboard!

3. “What is O2O stand for? What are the differences between O2O, B2C and C2C?.” ChinaAboutnet. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.chinaabout.net/o2o-stand-for-differences-o2o-b2c-c2c/>.
4. Pictures:http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/MK-BM160_Staple_G_20110518174220.jpg

 

Apple Pay –A New Payment Method

 

 

 

The launch of the Iphone 6 and 6 plus is dominating the smart phone market. According to many industry advisors, the most innovative promotion of Iphone 6 is Apple Pay mobile-payment technology, which enables Iphone owners to pay the bill using the fingerprint identification.

The Apple Pay is trying to replace the payment methods in shops and online. People prefer paying by credit cards because they find it inconvenient to take the wallets out and count the changes. However, paying by credit cards sometimes takes lot of time, for the reason that we need to input the PIN number, wait for the bills and sign our names. It would take around 30 seconds. However, by using Apple Pay, what we need is just putting the finger on the home button for around 6 seconds and everything is done.

Apple Pay is also trying to take the place of PayPal by offering a lower transaction fee to eBay.

What’s more, the Apple Pay would charge the credit-card issuing banks instead of customers for handling transactions. As a result, there is no reason for customers not to pay all kinds of fee by Apple Pay which is quicker and free.

 

 

 

Sources:

1.”Apple Pay was this week’s most revolutionary product.” The Verge. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/10/6132153/apple-pay-was-this-weeks-most-revolutionary-product>.

2.”Apple Pay to generate fees from banks, not merchants — report – CNET.” CNET. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-pay-to-generate-fees-from-banks-not-merchants-report-says/>.

3.Apple Pay is such a big deal that eBay already has had to change strategy.” Quartz. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://qz.com/276360/apple-pay-is-such-a-big-deal-that-ebay-already-has-had-to-change-strategy/>.

 

4．Pictures:http://www.augmentedrealitytrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Apple-Pay.jpg

http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE0LzEwLzAyL2M4L2FwcGxlcGF5ZGF0LjAwNGJkLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn/2a2b6c3a/00d/apple-pay-date.jpg

 

 

Positioning

                              —- What the customers think exceeds what the true is

                                           

Bawang Shampoo, a Chinese hermal medicine shampoo, was indeed efficient and healthy to nourish the hair, so it gained a stable and large amount of customers. However, in 2010, a customer claimed that the quantity of Carcinogens in Bawang Shampoo is higher than the safety standard. Everything changed after that news came out .

Although the news has been proven to be fake, nearly 80 percentage of customers lost confidence of the product and Bawang Company’s stock slumped and is unable to recover. The news reminded me of the concept of repositioning the competition which I learnt in class 8. Bawang Shampoo’s competitors tried to reposition Bawang Shampoo and change the view of customers towards it by broadcasting some fake news. Interestingly, even after purchasers knew that the Bawang Shampoo is totally safe to use, they still don’t want to buy it anymore. It seems that customers easily lose confidence especially when the products are connected to their personal health.

The news also indicates that companies ought to give customers access to efficient and quick channel to communicate with company to maintain a good and long-term relationship with customers. Additionally, when dealing with an emergency or scandal, company is expected to be more responsible and positive to solve the problem. As a result, customers will still keep confidence in buying the products.

 

 

 

Sources:

1.”What do Hongkongers think about Occupy Central amidst warnings of a “tragedy”?.” South China Morning Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.scmp.com/article/721444/many-bath-products-contain-carcinogen-bawang-shampoo>.

 

2.”Bawang.” (01338). N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://quote.eastmoney.com/hk/01338.html?StockCode=01338>.