Clement Kong's Blog

British Columbia was known as Hollywood North by the late 1970s. There are wonderful talent of highly trained people and a resemblance to L.A. in British Columbia. Unfortunately, the industry within British Columbia has been depreciating, as the government does not do anything about the tax credits that has brought up the industry.

In 2000, British Columbia’s film and television industry went over the billion-dollar mark in production. The growth was mainly contributed by the tax credits for labour costs. However in 2009, Ontario and Quebec raised their tax credits that took away a lot of the production from British Columbia. In 2011, British Columbia was behind Ontario. By 2012, there was a $134 million drop in production and 3500 film related jobs lost.

The film and television industry has a very big contribution to British Columbia’s economy, and so the government definitely has to rethink its’ policy on tax credits. The tax credit is the amount reduced from the total amount that a taxpayer owes. Every industry wants to maximise their profits (Revenue – Costs= Profits), and since tax is a cost they would want to find the cheapest and most economical location possible for production. British Columbia cannot lose such a valuable industry!

Bibliography:

Heyman, George. “The Vancouver Sun.” Opinion: Province’s Film Industry Deserves Support Now. N.p., 13 July 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Province film industry deserves support/8719013/story.html>.

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Time for a Change?

The smartphone business is getting increasingly competitive. Whilst Android phones such as Samsung, HTC and LG holds 51.6% of the smartphone platform market share, Apple only holds 40.7%. Although Apple is holding a lot of the market share as its own company, this is still a growing concern.

There have been complaints that Apple is only making trivial changes to the phone. Whilst other companies are making their phone screens way bigger, Apple is only elongating the screen. The new iPhone 5C has the same hardware as iPhone 5 but has polycarbonate casing, whereas iPhone 5S also only incorporates an A7 processor and fingerprint sensor. Not a big change for a long wait from the Apple fans. Android phones are increasing its’ functions and designs, whilst Apple is just changing a few functions here and there.

To evaluate Apple’s competitive advantage, we can use positioning (marketing) to see the Point of Difference its products are offering compared to other companies. The iPhone 5s is only offering a marketing edge of fingerprint sensor, A7 processor and its’ iOS software. Other companies are bringing more to the table; it might be time for Apple to expand their Point of Difference in order to lead the game!

Bibliography:

Reed, Brad. “Apple and Samsung Are Still the Only Smartphone Companies Winning in the U.S.” BGR. N.p., 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://bgr.com/2013/10/04/apple-samsung-us-market-share/>.

“Best Android Phones.” CNET. Ed. Jessica Dolcourt. N.p., 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://reviews.cnet.com/best-android-phones/>.

“Apple – IPhone 5s – Features.” Apple – IPhone 5s – Features. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/>.

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Political disagreement from both the Democrats and Republicans has led to a shutdown for the U.S. Government on October 1^st. They have failed to agree on a new budget for the 2013-2014 financial year, therefore they had to shutdown due to no legal payment agreement made for non-essential staff working in the government. The republicans were against Obamacare, however Obama’s democrats decided to take a stand.

800,000 government employees were furloughed, whereas 1.3 million employees had to continue to work but without pay until an agreement has been made. If employees continue to be without pay, they will spend less, they might also have difficulty supporting themselves and their families. Also, if this eventually leads to a 2-week shutdown, it will take 0.3% off US GDP.

This incident reflects how disagreements and conflicts within any corporation could affect the operation of their business. Not being able to settle on an agreement, or not coming to a solution quick enough could have short or long-term effects on the business. This is clearly an issue of management that led to a fault in the operation of the entire government. It is necessary for the government to come to a budget agreement as soon as possible before it has drastic changes on the economy.

Bibliography:

Wearden, Graeme. “US Shutdown: A Guide for Non-Americans.” The Guardian. N.p., 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/30/us-shutdown-explainer-non-americans>.

Fitzpatrick, Meagan. “U.S. Government Shutdown: What to Expect If It Happens.”CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-government-shutdown-what-to-expect-if-it-happens-1.1870936>.

Plumer, Brad. “Absolutely Everything You Need to Know about How the Government Shutdown Will Work.” The Washington Post. N.p., 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/30/absolutely-everything-you-need-to-know-about-how-the-government-shutdown-will-work/>.

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