From studies in organizational behavior and experiences of group work in Sauder, I have come to understand that people are the most valuable resource in a business. Why then, is it such a bad idea to start a business with friends? Harvard Business School student Michael Fertik argues that starting a business with peers from business school is particularly destructive. The reason being that often your friends from your degree program share the same perspectives as yourself. In an entrepreneurial environment it is absolutely necessary that the team has a wide variety of skills in order to tackle any conflicts that arises. Friends from business school often have a Batman and Robin mentality that makes them believe they can handle anything, but a majority of these ‘fresh out of school’ businesses fail. By hiring only friends as well, a new entrepreneur runs the risk of having a labour force with not only the same skills, but the same weaknesses. Working solely with friends or family also does not encourage the expansion of personal networks. Connections are extremely important in finding specific talents that may be very useful to the business. Serial entrepreneur Kirk Simpson learned through his various attempts at starting adventure tourism booking websites that rather than surrounding oneself with friends, it is most beneficial to be around people who are smarter than you and can teach you what you need to succeed.

Sources:

http://www.businessinsider.com/dont-start-a-business-with-friends-and-other-lessons-this-entrepreneur-learned-after-his-company-crashed-in-2001-2011-6

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/dont-start-a-company-with-your-business-school-pals/

It seems that even holidays are falling victim to mass consumerism. In the United States, large retailers such as Wall-Mart, Target, Best Buy and many others have been competing for the title of most convenient Black Friday retailer, pledging to open earlier and earlier every coming year. Black Friday is a hectic day for many American consumers, as tough economic times incentivise camping outside of stores to obtain cheap goods. This past Thanksgiving, Wall-Mart, Macy’s, JC Penney, Khol’s, and Target are just a few of many retailers that will open on Thanksgiving Day, so consumers can begin their holiday shopping earlier. Each is striving for an extra competitive advantage, but if everyone is doing it, the effects are essentially removed. The stakes are quite evident, as holiday expenditures amount to approximately 40% of annual revenue for big box retailers. Contrastingly, it is slightly disturbing as a member of society to witness the holidays becoming solely about materialistic endeavors and consumption. It appears as though the value of time spent with family and relaxation away from work has been replaced with the value of a reduced price sweater at Macy’s. Good and services will always be a major component of Western society, but I am fearful of the dominating presence of brands in our everyday lives.

Sources:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/wal-mart-boosts-thanksgiving-deals-as-holiday-competition-heats-up/article15395647/

http://business.time.com/2013/10/14/forget-black-friday-macys-to-open-on-thanksgiving/

The number of twitter followers that the star of TV show has, gives a significant amount of insight into the success of the show. In fact, twitter traffic regarding a show is more relevant in today’s social media age than the actual television ratings themselves. With the ability to record shows and watch them illegally online, the actual click of a remote is not an accurate measure of viewers anymore. A recent article in Entertainment Weekly about the hit teen thriller Pretty Little Liars suggests that the four stars’ interaction with fans about the show as well as their personal lives on social media keep the viewers tuning in. Collectively, they have 5.5 million followers and the show itself has over 1 million followers. It is evident that the presence of TV stars in interacting with fans is critical in a TV series’ popularity. Twitter, recognizing its instrumentality for TV networks, has released the Twitter TV ratings, outlining the 10 most talked about TV shows on Twitter. Ironically, the most tweeted about shows were not within the top 10 television ratings. It appears that data on twitter can be extremely useful due to the actual opinion that is expressed about the show being tweeted about, and even if it is negative, publicity is ultimately still publicity. As classmate Natalie Hayworth discusses in her blog, it is strategic partnerships with twitter that can be a valuable source of data for major television networks.

Sources:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/02/20/this-weeks-cover-how-pretty-little-liars-changed-tv/

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/10/twitter-tv-ratings/

Pretty Little Liars Finale Twitter Statistics

In the quest for job success and satisfaction, are modern employees sacrificing their personal lives all together? Recent research says yes. In today’s time demanding workforce, employees never seem to leave the office, remaining connected even at home through technology. The amount of hours worked per week has increased to 72 from 52 in 1992.

Bad Dad

This additional 20 hours represents less time for personal endeavors, including time with the family. This has affected recent graduates of business school so much that only 41% of people desire to have children in the future, comparatively to 90% in 1992. Families have increasingly become factors contributing to role conflict at work and vice versa. In a study done by the Canadian government in 2011, 58% of employees reported that they felt work overload. I personally think that this generation of workaholics is not sustainable and will lead to greater mental health problems and therefore more absenteeism in the work place. After all, there is considerably more value in life than the value gained from a career. I argue that in the next few years, it will be a major human resource issue of how to properly motivate employees whose lives are solely about work.

Sources:

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/occup-travail/balancing-equilibre/index-eng.php

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/why-leaders-are-saying-career-first-kids-maybe-never/article15314484/

Recent discussions of incentive compensation in relation to human resources have sparked an interest in me as to why people would pursue careers in less than desirable industries. Prostitution for example, is far from the path that many young women envision themselves on. However, in Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s book Superfreakonomics, one can notice that if the incentive is large enough, any activity can be prompted. Specifically on the fourth of July in Chicago, certain prostitutes would enter the market only for that weekend due to higher wages. Allie, a happy prostitute, is also studied in this book. Allie entered the market from a middle class demographic seeing the potential profitability from providing a high class version of the service. She is extremely selective with her clientele and retrospectively offers a full package including dinner, stimulating conversation, and lastly all overnight activities. Fellow Comm 101 peer Alex Dye mentions in her blog how prostitutes have

Training and Special Skills

begun to develop niche skills (i.e dominatrix, phone sex) in order to gather even higher compensation through a competitive advantage. It is evident that with the correct compensation, employees are willing to handle any task. Relating this situation back to human resources, managers must identify the correct incentives in order to motivate employees.

Sources:

Book: Superfreakonomics

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/capital-commerce/2009/11/16/the-superfreakonomics-of-prostitution-levitt-and-dubner-in-trouble-again-

Bell Media, the owner of some of Canada’s most popular channels, CTV and MuchMusic, is undergoing serious re-branding of its networks. The problem lies in the fact that there is no obvious distinction among the music channels in Canada. MuchMore, a channel previously thought to be a spin-off of MuchMusic, will as of this month be called M3. The channel is now targeted toward an adult audience within the 30’s age rage, moving away from its teen audience with the premier of the new show Reign, depicting the life of the young Queen Mary of Scotland. MuchMusic is altering its programming to include re-runs of comedy series such as the Simpsons and Jimmy Fallon, shows which are relocating to MuchMusic from the Comedy Network.

This new image of MuchMusic is particularly represented by Degrassi’s move to MTV Canada. Degrassi is Canada’s longest running television drama, and the premier of its talk show style discussion show, After Degrassi, is appropriate for MTV due to its emphasis on reality programming. The Canadian Television Industry forum demonstrates the confusion that current consumers have between channels. It is clear that the channels wish to emphasize their points of difference, rather than being three music channels in Canada offering very similar programming.

Sources: http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/muchmore-changes-the-channel-rebrands-as-m3-89194

http://www.theloop.ca/showbiz/tv-guide/news/article/-/a/2747808/-Degrassi-moves-to-MTV

Degrassi’s new MTV-style promotion picture

2013 has been a slow year for the newly unemployed professionals of the British Colombia film industry. Formerly the third largest film center in North America, British Colombia is currently facing external threats from Ontario and Quebec’s tax incentives, and is unable to compete. This is an example of when financial goals interfere with purpose. The premier of British Colombia, Christy Clark, is on a mission to balance the province’s budget, a task that does not allow for a tax credit at 25% of labor costs, the level at which it is in Ontario and Quebec. Rather, at 33% of labor costs, this credit is simply not attracting producers to British Colombia (Current production list: http://www.bcfilmcommission.com/about_us/film_list.php, shrunk from its high of 30 TV series at one time). It is incidents as such in which the issue of finance and regulation stops a company (or in this case an entire industry) from performing at its optimal potential. It raises the question as to whether a company should risk financial stability for innovation and potential for growth, or operate in favor of good financial statements. For the film industry, perhaps it would be wise to slightly lower the tax gap between the provinces, to ensure that workers don’t have to constantly move to where the next ‘A-List’ tax cut is.

Popular American TV series shot in Vancouver

One of the largest film franchises of the decade, filmed in Vancouver

News coverage from a North Shore Studios film industry rally:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Embedded-Only/News/BC/ID/2328286131/

sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/b-c-film-industry-seeking-ways-to-survive-1.1402436

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-film-industry-rally-draws-thousands-1.1393384

Tory Burch launched her luxury, lifestyle clothing brand in 2004, and within four years she has managed to make her orange color and Tory Burch logo iconic in the fashion industry (check it out at http://www.toryburch.com/). In an interview with CNBC, Burch describes what she considers to be the power of her brand, and the main point of difference is actually herself.

Women who purchase her clothes find her extremely relatable and admirable as a mother who balances her work, family, and social life. As a woman in business, she is perhaps more heavily scrutinized, but her positive social image has aided in attracting women of all ages to buy her clothes. Tory Burch also launched by opening a direct store and having a launch party during New York fashion week, as opposed to going to big department store retailers to distribute her clothing line. Much of her success can be attributed to her initial direct distribution, because when new designers set out to get their brands into retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, and Bloomingdales, they rarely get recognition in comparison to the already established brands. By establishing a direct market initially and using a main point of difference as unique as her own self-image, Tory Burch has established a sustainable brand in an industry dominated by the first few Italian and French power houses.

The first Elizabeth Street location of Tory Burch.

sources:

CNBC interview with Tory Buch: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100000500

Entrepreneurship in Canada is growing, as 98% of all employer businesses in Canada are small businesses, with 1 116 423 registered small businesses in December 2010. What is specifically compelling is how many small businesses, not only in Canada, but all over the world, are using the consumer to fund their projects. Websites like Kickstarter allow potential buyers of a product to contribute money for this product to go into production. New Zealand brothers Doug Barber and Jimmy Hayes have gained considerable popularity from their innovative travel gear on Kickstarter. The response to the desired products gives the small scale entrepreneurs an idea of exactly what consumers want and then go forth to produce just that, simplifying the process of supply and demand. Similarly, San Francisco clothing company BetaBrand has developed a think tank (Try it out! http://www.betabrand.com/think-tank.html) in which customers help develop the designs of the clothing. They then commit to buying the article and if it receives enough funding, BetaBrand will manufacture it and provide a 30% off discount to the customer for committing their funds. With consumers demanding precisely what they desire, this lowers the barrier between buyers and sellers, allowing for increased mutual benefit in the marketplace.

Posted below is Doug and Jimmy’s campaign video for their Kickstarter campaign, in which they really try to connect to their consumers:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/minaal/protravel-carry-on-travel-faster-happier-and-more?ref=recommended

Sources:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/22/betabrands-new-think-tank-mashes-up-kickstarter-style-fundraising-with-cult-clothing-manufacturing/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/10-surprising-stats-about-small-business-in-canada-1.1083238

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11128769

In my recent findings of the business world, it appears that businesses and organizations only behave ethically if they are caught having unethical practices. After news of the Sauder rape chants, I made comparisons with businesses, like Joe Fresh Clothing, who similarly suffered in the media after tragic incidents. Employee safety became a prime concern after the collapse of a Bangladesh factory. This issue was only addressed due to negative attention from disturbed consumers, which brings into question whether businesses really care about ethics or are willing to force improvement in order to restore a positive reputation.

Currently, factories are being monitored and Canadian employees of Loblaw Companies Ltd. are meeting with officials in Bangladesh to discuss the legitimacy of labor unions and safety. Loblaw has also created funding for victims of the factory collapse. Doing damage control on the company’s reputation is costly, and this proves that the costs are worth it when consumer concern is involved, but not when overseas worker safety is the initial problem. I think the lesson from this incident is that when consumers are educated about the operations of companies from whom they purchase products, this is when companies have the greatest incentive to behave ethically.

Post factory collapse

Sources: thestar.com

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/05/02/bangladesh_factory_collapse_unions_put_pressure_on_loblaw_joe_fresh.html