Canada has had a long history with tainted food and subsequent recalls. In recent memory the 2008 Maple Leafs Food, the Mad Cow fiasco of the mid 2000s pop to mind come to mind and now E. Coli, curtsey of XL Foods Inc. can be added to the list. So why are we doomed to repeat our mistakes?

Richard Leblanc’s blog from Canadian Business magazine seems to think the finger can be pointed at producer’s reluctance to implement adequate control systems. I would have to agree with him as it seems that quality control is not a priority for most agribusinesses instead the idea is to pump out as much quantity as possible. I equate it to a game of Russian roulette because as we learn from history once a company experiences this kind of bad press it takes time and a lot of reduced sales before consumers can trust them again.

The blog gives the example of McCain’s Foods as the ideal model. So I think the lessons we can learn here are a secure and safe supply chain managed by a competent operations team can assure the mutual benefit of all stakeholders in the company.

In today’s ever growing fast food market place the task of setting your company apart from the rest of the field is becoming more and more difficult. Wendy’s plans to expand its market range through their brand re-imaging. The most prominent part of this new strategy is the logo change which sees the quarter-century old emblem updated with a more modern interpretation of the iconic girl with red pigtails (old and new logo pictured below). However that is not the only adjustment coming to Wendy’s ; employees can expect to be dressed in a more “casual” styled uniform and new health conscious products will be introduced. This strongly suggests they are trying to move away from the typical fast food joint on the perceptual map dimension of environment.

While undoubtedly the company has put a lot thought and research to this new look they are promoting one still wonders what, if any, impact it will have. In my opinion Wendy’s has been around too long and has been too big for consumers to all of sudden reposition Wendy’s as a healthy and friendly restaurant when most think of it as guilty pleasure fast food. It sounds to me that Wendy’s is trying to be something its not.

After reading Katya’s post about the seldom talked about danger to the environment that electronic cars pose I was shocked and actually upset by some of the statistics. Clearly this was new information to me and I began to question the ethic of positioning certain brands like the Chevy Volt (pictured below) as Good Samaritan cars.

Having said this I do believe that companies that produce electronic cars have in their business models the desire to provide customers with an eco-friendly alternative to traditional cars. This is why I believe that throwing innovative solutions to our society’s troubling reliance on gas under the bus is not an appropriate response.

Instead we should be funding research to iron out these kinks like the use of hazardous materials so that in the future we may be able to come up with an efficient and effective way of getting around without sacrificing the environment.