Dora Leung

I was reading YuWei Wei’s blog post ““U.S. children recognize more Pokemon characters than common wildlife species” – Teaching Kids To Consume” and I found it absolutely unbelievable that children in the US are so caught up with media, including the advertisement with in it, that they can hardly recognize the tangible reality around them. Though YuWei states that advertising companies are just “doing their job”, I do not agree it that is right. Not only does the responsibility of teaching children to be cautious and critical of what they see fall upon their parents and their guardians, but I feel it is also important for companies to practice corporate responsibility. Even if they are not doing anything necessarily “illegal”, they should uphold the morals of understanding that children are young and impressionable. They do not have the mental capacity to think for themselves, therefore companies should really re-evaluate how they advertise to children. Companies that run these advertisements should also re-think how much they should advertise. For example, the Family Channel is a Canadian television service provider that practices corporate responsibility by choosing not to broadcast commercials to rake in revenue, but rather run by payed cable.

McDonald’s is no doubt the worlds biggest fast food chain. But why? What are they doing right that chains like Wendy’s, Burger King, Dairy Queen or Jack-in-the-Box not doing? McDonald’s’ biggest business strategy is their focus on “keeping it local”. Though there are thousands of McDonald’s’ across the globe, their menu varies according to the country that the franchise is situated in. In Singapore, one can order Jasmine rice and “Shaka shaka” chicken. In Hong Kong, you can get a hamburger patty sandwiched between rice patties. In France, you can order a “Fromage Royale” which is essentially a Quarter Pounder, but renamed to fit the non-emperical system Europe.

We can see that McDonald’s is a company that is excellent at listening to what their customers want. What American loves in their burgers may not be the same as what India loves in their burgers, and thus they are not afraid to implement change. They seek to find what products have international appeal and which dont. For example, their fries, milkshakes and ice cream remain consistent within most chains, but their other products depend on who is consuming them.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/10/mcdonalds_local_strategy_from.html

Currently a quarter of Japan’s population is made up of elderly above the age of 65. Yoshiro Sugimoto, 62 year-old Toyota Motor veteran, and his colleagues have invested 20 million yen, which is the equivilent of US$254,800, to introduce the low-powered, eco-friendly ZEVe ultracompact vehicle. This vehicle has been compared to a golf cart; an aluminum framed windshielded single seater, without doors or windows.

Sugimoto, looking at his sociodemographics, has targeted elderly above the age of 60, living on the rural outskirts of Japan, who are in need of convenient transportation. Due to the lack of accessable public transport in those areas, this automobile could prove to be very successful.

Though the ultracompact could have potential in European markets, they probably don’t in North America. Because of the safety criteria established in North America for their street legal vehicles, they have decided not to sell their product in Canada or the US.

However, some points have been made about how the small hatch-back trunk would not be large enough to fit farm tools. Toyota would also have a lot of competiton amongst the other Japanese motor companies, such as Honda, Suzuki, Nissan and Daihatsu Motors who are all also in the ultracompact business.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-04/japan-tries-cars-that-make-the-mini-look-maxi