Air Canada is a joke.  As classmate Thomas Moult blogged about last month, air travel for Canadians is becoming too pricy, recently due to tax increases.  Being from Toronto, I am well aware (as all Torontonians are) that Pearson airport is one of the highest taxed airports in the world.  Many of my Toronto area friends, who wish to travel south for a vacation, drive two hours to Buffalo, NY, to fly at roughly half the price that it would cost them to fly out of YYZ.  Not only are “taxes ‘soaring’ ” as Thomas mentioned, but  there are non-tax related increases in price as well.

An update on the Air Canada employee strike regarding Air Canada’s Heathrow employees states that a new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been reached.  While the employees wanted more money, you can be assured that our airfares will take the hit for it.  Air Canada will make up for it somehow, whether it be charging even more for pillows and blankets, charging customers on Canadian domestic flights for luggage (US flight luggage charges announced recently), or charging an arm and a leg for fares.

Occupy Sky protests anyone?

Photo courtesy of The Globe and Mail

The leading retailers in Canada’s lucrative coffee industry appear set for a major competition war.  As classmate Angus Todd blogged about previously, McDonald’s has launched a marketing campaign to compete in the specialty coffee market with Starbucks.  It appears as though Tim Horton’s has also started a similar marketing campaign, as they have even gone to the extent of bringing in the “Starbucks feel” to Tim Horton’s locations.

The fact that Tim Horton’s is bringing in leather chairs and WiFi clearly demonstrates that Tim Horton’s is attempting to change the way that customers view the Tim Horton’s experience.  Personally, I never liked going to Tim Horton’s and sitting in the uncomfortable metal chairs.

Ahh, comfortable chairs

The move to targeting the espresso drinking consumers could affect business at Starbucks.  Starbucks will argue that they present better quality than McDonald’s or Tim Horton’s. If McDonald’s and/or Tim Horton’s significantly threaten Starbuck’s market, it will be interesting to see if our good friends at Starbucks respond with reduced prices.  Who would really wants to spend almost $5 per cup of coffee if there was a lower priced similar experience around the corner?

Photo courtesy of the Toronto Star

Today, when people think of innovation, they think of the latest high-tech products that are available in worldwide markets.  A massive corporation that is currently dominating the technology industry is Apple, based out of the Bay area in Cupertino, California.

Apple Logo

Apple began by selling computers.  Apple’s founder, Steve Jobs, was a brilliant person with tremendous work ethic; a work ethic that could not be present in the majority of humans.  Apple needed an idea to separate itself from the computer world.  Steve had the idea to create a music player that wasn’t ugly and bulky like the others.  Steve got his production team to create the iPod, a completely new form of mobile music devices that could fit into your pocket.

Today Apple remains ahead of cutting edge and new technology, improving iPods, new iPhones, and creating a whole new market for tablet devices with the iPad.  Apple even came out with an original legal online music downloading database, which eliminated the need to purchase CD’s.  The production of all of these products came with great risk originally.  Apple Inc. is the textbook definition of an entrepreneurship.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

It is laughable how a recently published Montreal Gazette article touches on what business schools should be teaching, and as a matter of fact, we have been learning in COMM 101 about the very topics mentioned in the article here at Sauder.

“Business education needs to focus on the social, ecological, ethical and economic sustainability of enterprises and their legitimate role in society.”

British person's view on the Occupy movement in Britain

Apparently, Sauder knows what it is doing!  The author believes the Occupy Wall Street movement started because people in charge of the most powerful corporations did not make ethical decisions (or were not taught how to do so).  We have already learned something about ethics and Sauder courses will teach more on ethics into our more senior years.  The point of this article is that some people feel that business schools are not teaching people how to fairly handle corporate governance with respect to sustainability.  At Sauder, classes are available specifically designed towards corporate sustainability.

It appears that we are well on our way to being guided in the appropriate direction to solve the world’s problems! (Haha)

Photo courtesy of this Montreal Gazette article