In recent years McDonald’s has really put a lot of effort into promoting their newer drinks menu. Their newer drinks menu included a variety of fancy coffee drinks and smoothies. McDonald’s wants to be able to compete more with companies like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts by appealing more to their target markets. Is a drinks menu really something McDonald’s should be using up so much of its time and energy on? In this article it said it’s not a good idea for McDonald’s. McDonald’s will always be more known more for its food and Starbucks for its drinks. Other fast-food chains have been trying to promote more food products because they know that’s what they do best and what their customers want. It’s interesting that McDonalds is trying to compete more with the fast drink industry but I don’t think they should be putting a majority of their advertising into their new drinks menu. It may be bringing some new customers that would have been going to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts but at the same time I think article is right in say McDonalds would be more successful if it focused on its food more than its drinks.

Link to article

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/why-mcdonald-caffeine-problem-hurting-business-174048367.html

Citation

Santoli, Michael. “Why McDonald’s Caffeine Problem Is Hurting Its Business.” Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Craig Ross grew up in a rough part of Cape Town and at one point in his life worked as a drug dealer and gang member. But after going through rehab and putting that old lifestyle behind him he has managed to become a very successful entrepreneur. Craig Ross is the innovations manager of a company called RLABS which was actually started in Cape Flats where he he grew up. Since his time at RLABS in 2007 he has been able to start two global tech companies. Something that really stood out to me in this article was when he says dealing drugs was his first sort of work as an entrepreneur crediting it for his knowledge of supply and demand. Through his work as a drug dealer he also learned how to be more innovative and to deal with different profiting tools. While he doesn’t promote drug dealing it is interesting that he still sees his work as an entrepreneur today as something that can be related to his past. I really respect him for wanting to see change in his community and through his new line of work he is trying to implement that.

Link to article

http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/from-drug-dealer-to-global-social-entrepreneur-craig-ross-shares-his-story/32418/

Citation

Douglas, Kate. “From Drug Dealer to Global Social Entrepreneur: Craig Ross Shares His Story.” How We Made It In Africa Insight into Business in Africa RSS. DHL, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Snapchat recently denied what would have been Facebook’s most expensive acquisition ever. It was reported that Facebook was willing to buy Snapchat for 3 billion dollars and even that wasn’t enough to buy out the company. Snapchat’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, wants to see how his company’s value will continue to grow before he makes any deals. 3 billion dollars is a lot of money and how certain can you be that your company’s success and value will continue to grow over time? Evan Spiegel has all the right reasons to think his company’s value will increase though. Snapchat’s users are growing in numbers and being active so he would have no reason to doubt his company’s success.  Earlier this year Facebook offered Snapchat 1 billion dollars and now they were offering 3 billion. If Snapchat’s user numbers continue to grow there’s no telling of what kind of offers they might receive next. I think it was a good move for Snapchat to deny Facebook’s offer because as their number of users continues to grow it is clear the amount of money Facebook is willing to offer as well as other companies will grow with it.

Link to Article

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/13/snapchat-facebook-buyout-offer-rejected

Citation

Rushe, Dominic. “Snapchat Rejects $3bn Facebook Buyout.” The Guardian. The Guardian, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Booster Juice CEO, Dale Wishewan, was just named the 2013 Prairies EY Entrepreneur of the year.  Booster Juice is a smoothie chain that provides smoothies with quick service. Essentially fast food but with smoothies being their central theme.  Dale Wishewan has been able to turn his quick service smoothy business into a successful international brand. What really stood out to me in this article was that before starting up Booster Juice Dale Wishewan had no prior experience in franchising, or work experience in the food industry. Even with his lack of experience in those fields he managed to start a successful supply chain that also runs on an international level. It was interesting reading this article after attending our class on innovation and leadership because I could relate what we had learned in class to a real life example. Just like we were put in a situation to act as entrepreneurs and create something that was missing from the world, Dale Wishewan did with the idea of starting a quick service smoothy chain like booster juice. Entrepreneurs need to be creative and be willing to act on that creativity just as Dale Wishewan did with Booster Juice.

Link to article

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Booster+Juice+named+entrepreneur+year/9052425/story.html

Citation

Toneguzzi, Mario. “Calgary Herald.” Www.calgaryherald.com. Calgary Herald, 13 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.