IKEA is a perfect example of an entrepreneurship for the following reasons:

• fast and large amount of wealth creation

Since its creation in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kampard in Sweden , IKEA has now become the world’s leader of furniture retailing with stores in 37 countries.  And last year they created a revenue of 23.1 billion euros.

IKEA in Israel

• new products for a new market

IKEA designs and  sells furniture for the customer to assemble, selling them in a box. Their products range from bookshelves to beds and from children’s toys to kitchen knives. By this innovative way of presenting their product, Ikea is saving costs for the customer and making transportation of their product  less hazzle free and expensive. His market targets the economically conscious modern person on the go that often uses public transit. Initially, this was a huge risk, as the whole concept could have been completely rejected by the customers accustomed to having their furniture pre-assembled.

• new methods of production and structure

Ikea focuses on making their operational and manufacturing methods as environmentally-friendly as possible. For example, the creation of a chair that is 100% made out of post-consumer plastic waste, using wood from responsibly-managed forests, and investing in solar panels, energy efficiency, and water saving and purification.

Lately the rivalry between Google and Microsoft has intensified, each trying to grab market share in each other’s core products and services.

Google has the upper hand as a search engine; in September, it accounted for 72.15% of all U.S. online searches. Thus Google is the greatest source of online traffic to key U.S. industries, giving them supplier power to companies who want to place their ads there. On the other hand Microsoft has developed Bing which accounts for 23.64% of all online searches. Although Bing had barriers in entry as google has an established market and reputation, considering it has only been running for a little bit over a year ago, it is increasingly becoming a threat.

Regarding browsing, Microsoft rules out the competition with their Internet Explorer with 59.7% usage, but this percent in decreasing while google is increasing. Google’s Chrome browser continued its steady rise in usage from 7.5% in August to 8% in September.

Here is a good example of how rivalry between mayor and profitable companies work. They emulate and try to outperform each other to gain more profit.
http://bx.businessweek.com/google-vs-microsoft/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fc.moreover.com%2Fclick%2Fhere.pl%3Fr3249926977%26f%3D9791

After months of speculation and even trying to sell themselves, MGM studios, the company behind James Bond, is filling for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Their total debt amounts to 4 billion dollars, and by filling for bankruptcy they are hoping to get rid of this debt while they restructure the company and operate as normal. But they don’t have enough budget to carry on with films previously scheduled for release in 2011 and 2012, like the new James Bond movie that has been suspended indefinitely. Their bankruptcy plan includes merging with the privately-owned production company Spyglass Entertainment to create the new MGM company.

We saw in class how Blockbuster’s bad tactical desicions brought them into bankrupcy. Here we see how not only video rentals but also film studios, are affected by the shifting consumer preferences to watch movies online for free instead of renting it or going to the theater. MGM has to change strategies in order to stay affloat.

Will there be another OO7 movie?

http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11498081″

More than 9.25 million people have watched this video! But why is it important?

Dave Carroll is a Canadian folk singer, and his $3,500 guitar got damaged by the bag-handlers of United Airlines but his complaints were fruitless as the company refused to pay any compensation and furthermore the customer service agents were rude. After 9 months of complaining he decided to post a video on youtube and since then its viewers have skyrocketed. Dave Carrel got a hit song and it even was one of the most downloaded dongs in itunes UK.  On the other hand, United got a PR crisis as more people came out to complain and their reputation got increasingly tarnished.

This example goes on to show how social media has become so influential in the business world. How a simple tweet, blog or in this case video, can damage and potentially destroy a brand. In the past a complain like this would have gone largely unknown, you would rant to your friends, but the issue would stop there. Now the consumer has the power to go against big companies; they can complain in social media sites like facebook, twitter or youtube, and be heard around the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8145230.stm”

Made.com is an online furniture retailer. While it may have many points of parity with other furniture stores, like quality, reliability and comfort,  it has a mayor point of difference. The company runs by  allowing the websites’ visitors to submit one of their designs, which are transformed into  prototypes for which its community members can vote. The designs that get the most votes would subsequently be made available for pre-orders. All furniture will then be manufactured  in China and sent directly to the buyers’ home. There is also one big advantage for buyers: prices are 60-70% lower than traditional retailers! This is due to the lowered need to outsource; as the manufacturers are directly linked to the customers and there are no intermediaries, no extra price is added.

While they are many criticizers I think that crowdsourcing is an innovative and profitable way to market and develop any product.   It not only brings more profit to the company itself as they have no need for creative directors or chiefs of resources , but it is also beneficial to the customers, as the price is lower than by traditional methods.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11437839″

Around the U.S and Canada supermarkets are stocking up on genetically modified foods, and the shoppers are not even aware of it. This is due to the food companies’ hard lobbying against any  law that would require them to label their GM products, and thus set themselves apart from their traditional counterparts. The problem with genetically modified foods is that we aren’t exactly sure about the health and environmental consequences they can produce. Consuming GM products might be a risk, and it is only fair that consumers have  knowledge about the implications of eating them so they can formulate an informed decision to whether they should take the risk and buy them or not. Without labels, consumers are in the dark about what goes into their mouths, and I believe it is part of corporative ethical obligation to label their product for what it really is. Food companies should tend to the health and opinion of their customers and more that half would want a choice. According to a survey 53% of Americans would not eat GM foods, but unbeknown to them, they might already be eating them. Is this ethical? I don’t think so.

http://business-ethics.com/2010/09/13/why-genetically-modified-foods-are-not-labeled-in-u-s/