Day: November 18, 2012

Original article from the online blog, BCBusiness

Recently, Canada has been becoming increasingly entrepreneurial and B.C. is leading the charge. According to a study released by CIBC, nearly 500,000 Canadians released a new business in June alone. This is approximately 15 per cent of Canada’s labour force.

Not surprisingly, a big chunk of that lies in British Columbia. As well, many of these businesses in B.C. are smaller micro-businesses, meaning they have fewer than 4 employees, and 57 per cent of those micro-businesses are self-employed, or soloist. The B.C. government’s resource site says that as of 2011, there were 84.2 micro-businesses per 1,000 people. This works out to be the highest ratio in the country. So why are there so many micro-businesses in British Colombia?

While reading blog posted on BCBusiness, I could immediately tell that the writer’s opinions were congruent with mine. In B.C., we don’t have very many big businesses to employ a large amount of people. This causes people who are moving from out East to build a business according to their area of expertise. Once they get used to living a kind of lifestyle where they’re their own boss, they are less inclined to go back to the workforce unless it’s interesting enough to lead them away from their current lifestyle.

Sources:

http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/small-business/canada-be-your-own-boss-country

With Hostess planning to stop operations, what happens to its mix of famous brands — most notably the twinkie — is still unsure. The Irving, Texas based company says that it will seek bankruptcy-court permission to shut down and sell all of their assets, including 36 plants and brands like Wonder Bread, Nature’s Pride, and Ding Dongs.

All of this was sparked by a nation-wide strike by its second largest union. This strike “crippled the company’s ability to produce and deliver products”, Hostess said. The company warned that they’d be forced to shut down if a settlement wasn’t reached by late Thursday. Besides poor labour relations, Hostess has also been struggling to keep up with the consumer’s shift to healthier eating habits and high raw material costs.

This situation is a testament on the importance of keeping up a good relationship with employees. Besides decreasing employee turnover rates, a good relationship with labourers can allow companies to avoid potentially detrimental situations. In this situation, the Bakery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike because they weren’t satisfied with what they were getting from Hostess. The resulting events prompted the loss of an incredibly influential brand and caused more than 18,500 employees to be thrown out of work.

Sources:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/as-hostess-winds-up-who-will-bite-on-twinkies/article5365001/

http://hostessbrands.info/ceo-letter