The Katz’s deli is the oldest deli in Manhattan it opened in 1888 and has been running for 129 years. Katz’s known for its pastrami, corned beef, hot dogs, matzo ball soup. The one thing that has kept them going is the food and the people running the shop I has gained the reputation as the best you’re going to find anywhere in the city. For Fifth generation owner Jake dell motivation has moved from Extrinsic to Intrinsic; which means that his reward is not from the bonuses, pay, or any tangible reward his reward comes from the pleasure he gets from completing tasks at the shop. The intrinsic motivation expressed in Jake leads to Theory Y, leading to new ideas for the shop; workers will actively seek new responsibilities and exercise self control. As well as the connection to the Hygiene theory which states that the relationship of a person to work is basic and individual’s attitudes determine success or failure. Because Jake is more intrinsically motivated it leans to the side of the theory that depends on satisfaction and no satisfaction; I feel that because the business has become so successful Jake is not the only one in the line of ancestors to be intrinsically motivated while running the deli. Meaning that throughout the 129 years the company has been running there has been more satisfaction then no satisfaction. The other side of the Hygiene theory talks about dissatisfaction and no dissatisfaction. To remove dissatisfaction you must remove the Extrinsic factors, but because the business has been running for so long there has to be a factor that money and tangible reward are not the goal for the business so this means that the company has satisfaction and no dissatisfaction, expressing why the company has been so successful for the 129 years of operation.

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I feel the company will struggle to continue to have a good organizational culture, but with a few key tips the company could remain to stay successful. It seems that from the article to two share the same values for the business. They would like to participate in the new trend of making ice cream by using liquid nitrogen but want to provide better tasting ingredients that they have sampled from around the world and prefect the traditional ice creams. With the stresses of school and work I feel that the two friends may begin to become less motivated, this usually leads to the failure of a business. My suggestion for the two friends would be to use the SMART technique while goal setting. The SMART technique stress the importance to understand what’s to be achieved, the goal should be achievable but also challenge them; results should support the original goals and have a stated time as to when the goal should be achieved. This will help the two friends to communicate as partners not just friends. The friends should also set a clear boundary between business and personal relationships. For the company to strive the friends will have to distinguish what is acceptable at work. This is demonstrated in the movie War Dogs where two friends start their own company and lack of proper communication leaded them to fraud and end of there relationship.  The final suggestion I have for the business partners is to understand and use Maslow’s hierarchy theory, so that the two friends are able to understand how they can motivate themselves when stressed and to help to get there workers motivated as well. If the two partners keep these tips in mind I feel there organizational and business culture to continue to strive and make them successful.

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Google and other Technology companies have begun to test taxi services in the air. These services would be performed in drones that have specific requirements for example the drone being tested now “Can fly a passenger who weighs less than 220 pounds for up to 23 minutes”.

http://makezine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/EHang-184-AAV.jpg

 They seem to be targeting a niche market. The market for this product would be higher waged individuals looking for quick transport. The market would have troubles targeting the older generations that belong to the generation subcategories of Alders, Baby Boomers, and Generation X because these generations are less comfortable with the new advances in technology where as Generations Y, Z are more flexible with these changes. These two groups attitude toward the new product is related to their Terminal values and satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The switch from not supporting to supporting the idea of air taxi takes place between Generation X who would be unsupportive and Generation Y which would be supportive.

                Generation X Terminal values rely heavily on Family and relationships, the drone alone can only hold one person so taking this transit would have very little satisfaction for Generation X because family could not exercise this together as well as no new relationship would be formed by this due to the fact the drone fries itself. Whereas Generation Y Terminal values are wealth, and equality so transit through air would bring them some satisfaction. For Generation Y to gain satisfaction through the terminal values of wealth would be achieved because to be able to use new products that have the essence of wealth would bring satisfaction. The Generation Y is classified to be high maintenance but also high performance and to satisfy their terminal value of equality if a person of the same status was to use the air transit if someone of Generation Y was unable to it would bring them to dissatisfaction, but if they used it satisfaction. With the creation of this new transport for cities I feel it would be hard for these companies to generate much profit due to the limited market they are able to target.

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This post will be talking about Yao’s blog.

In Yao’s post she compares the value of class in comparison to her friends. There values are on different sides of the spectrum when I came down to studying for there mid-term exam. Yao’s friend valued the short term pleasure more than the long term satisfaction of getting a good grade on the midterm. Where as Yao valued her long term success in school more than her short term pleasure of non-curricular activities.

To answer the question of how she can be motivated for me is easy. Yao values the satisfaction of being rewarded when it comes down to school so if Yao focuses on the reward she will get from being successful in school she will be motivated to continue working for her long term goal of being successful. So for Yao to be motivated she should focus on the reward she gains from completing school work.

For Yao’s friend it would be hard for him/her to be motivated in the same way as Yao because she values the importance of her present actions for future. Where as her friend values the short-term pleasures of non-curricular activities and Yao values curricular activities. So the two friends can not be compared in the same way when it comes to motivation.

Yao feels that “should be clear that OB can be applied to every aspect of our lives.” I also agree with Yao’s statement because OB is strictly based of our B(behaviour).

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Date: February 5, 2017

This blog post is commenting on Joshua Hun blog post on My worst job.

Joshua talks about one of his work experiences when he volunteered at a community recreation center and his management was very pore.

In Joshua’s first point he expresses the difference in values that his management had compared to his volunteered workers. The value that the volunteer workers had made them want to help and make it easier for the workers and management to do there jobs but when management would not help the volunteers make there job easier it would make them less motivated to work and in the end effect the way Joshua worked.

For Joshua second point he illustrates Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory. The management at Joshua’s work was unable to secure Joshua within the physiological stage of Maslow’s theory which in return was unable to successfully provide him with the correct needs to motivate.

The third point Joshua talks about expresses managements inability to allow workers to create a environment that they would want to work in because they did not take the advice that workers had. As well as expressing the difference in values that management had compared to the workers themselves. Management wanted to just get the job done where as the workers wanted to create a more efficient and effective way of setting things up.

Joshua jobs environment definitely was an environment that was unsuccessful and would not be a good environment for getting work done.

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Date: February 5, 2017

This blog post is in connection to Brian Clark post on content marketing.

The blog post starts off talking about the award winning movie Groundhog day and how Phil the character in the movie who gets trapped in a time-warp starts off hating the day because he keeps waking up and having to repeat the day over and over again. Then it transition into Phil’s attempts at trying to get this women Rita to the early advances in marketing.

“The word seduction can certainly have a manipulative connotation. But when you truly know your prospect, and your core values truly do align with theirs, and you truly do communicate based on their needs first, well … They get what they want, and you get what you want. That’s not manipulation; that’s just good business”

This reflects on the class topic of values. Expressing the importance it has on other people; when you have the same values as them you will be able to connect in more detail to that person. In the end it will allow you to be able to know what people want to hear and it allows you to be able to market your products to them in a way that can appeal to want your product more. You find a way in which you empower the seller to move his product to any person who shares his values.

Brian Clarks Article on Marketing reflects most heavily on Values.

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Date: February 5, 2017

This blog post is referring to Madison Zapach’s blog post on McDonald’s employee programs: Creating shared values. https://blogs.ubc.ca/maddisonzapachsdomain/

I found Maddison’s blog very interesting and I was unaware that McDonalds was doing these kind of activities outside of there regular charity events. I feel that if more people where aware of these activities it could create a point of difference. This would not only create a POD for McDonalds but it would also create a very happy organizational culture.

Just like at Zappos and the article about “happy feet”, McDonalds using some of it earnings to help the younger generation get better schooling creates a happy work place to be in. This also creates a better future for the children within the work place who are helped. Making McDonalds one of the better jobs for the younger generation who fell they will not be able to go anywhere for school.

I could not agree more with Maddison’s statement about this creating shared value is much more effective, but I also feel that it is more leaning towards the competitive advantage side of the shared value. The company is only helping a small segment of there workers but in return gaining much more publicity , POD and more workers in the future. If the company where to help more if there younger generation I feel the company would be able to help create a well balanced shared value proposition.

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sources

Zapach, Maddison “McDonald’s Employee programs: Creating shared values” November, 2016     https://blogs.ubc.ca/maddisonzapachsdomain/ 

It has become much harder in this day and age to emerge from the poverty into the middle class by gaining money and power. The numbers for the poor will continue to rise, but there is a way that these numbers can decrease. With the help of small factories the people in poverty have the chance to become more profitable by gaining more money than they would working in fast food chains. As well as providing those workers who may be less educated the chance to get a better education in that specific field.

Just like Zappos how they provide all there employees with a mandatory 4 week call center training before the employee is qualified to work for the company, in the article I read some small factories provide some of their employees who was struggling with poverty a chance to gain more experience in the field operating the machines for the company’s. This creates a culture within the company that makes the workers to want to work more causing them to gain more money. Working with the poor who are motivated to make money to support their family will never lack the work ethic a company wants: Making the poor the perfect group of people to work for a manufacturing company such as these small factories. The poor create a culture of hard work and commitment within the companies.

Looking into the PEST analysis on how small factories can help to decrease poverty within struggling cities, we can see that the E (Economic Factors), are mainly affected. With some help from the government more small factories could be less tempted to move to foreign cities creating more jobs: Causing less poverty. This can be viewed into a better understanding of why small factories should continue to give jobs to those people in poverty.

Economic Factors

• Decrease Unemployment rate, increasing middle class
• Stimulate the economy
• Stronger society, creating a more efficient society

Political Factors

• Lower taxation on products produced from smaller factories
• Increase tariffs on imported products to increase the world price
• Increase employment laws on small factories

When the company’s like the Marlin steel factory begin to start employing more people with in poverty the market of wealth within those towns/cities where the factories are will spike in-return increasing the economic growth. If the companies continue to create a good organizational culture as well as maximizing the human resource experience for workers the companies will also creating more profit: causing the company’s to hire more workers who are in poverty and will cause the unemployment rate to decrease.

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Sources

Schwartz, Nelson “Small factories emerge as a weapon in the fight against poverty” October, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/business/small-factories-emerge-as-a-weapon-in-the-fight-against-poverty.html?_r=0

This blog is commenting on Seth’s blog post called “and when it breaks down?” it is about when company’s websites become outdated and not used; this fact is inevitable.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/11/and-when-it-breaks.html This is Seth’s post.

I found this post very interesting and valuable. If you look back into what we have learned in Commerce 101 I feel that it really provides you with a strong connection on how a Rita McGrath’s concept on transient advantage works. If a company does not constantly update and change their website the website will become not useful to customers and be tainted with bugs and many errors: in-return leading to website failure. If I company manages to keep their Website upto date and well organized this could give the company a competitive advantage over their fellow competitors.

I also found Seth’s first question and answer very useful, it connected to class 19 about organizational culture and human resource managers. If I customer experiences a problem with the website and there is a way for the customer to contact the company through means of an email or call center this could help to prevent website failure. Depending on this company’s management of human resources and their culture the consumer could choose to call or not to call. If the company has a good atmosphere and a well run call centre the consumer would call the company to discuss the problem. If a company does not have a well run call centre or atmosphere then perhaps the consumer would not call and the website would fail.

If a company chooses to sunset an old website I believe they should first provide a way of telling consumers on the old website that they have created a new website to prevent a loss in consumers through the transition. If the transition is done without any warning to the customers they have a potential to lose many of the customers who where dependent on there old website.

Over all I found this blog post from Seth very useful for connecting business problems in the real world to what we have been provided and learned in the Commerce 101.

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Sources

Godin, Seth blog  http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Godin, Seth “and when it breaks?” November, 2016 http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/11/and-when-it-breaks.html

This blog post is in response to https://blogs.ubc.ca/jvalcke/ blog post on Facebook in the workplace.

I could not agree more with Jaxon that Facebook entering in a new market is an incredibly smart decision to combat the rise of business friendly streams within the workplace cutting off a value stream for Facebook to gain more consumers. However, I feel that’s Porter’s idea on competitive advantage does not correctly express what Facebook has done to differentiate themselves. The company is doing different things to differentiate themselves yes but, they are not the only ones providing there new services. They are gaining new competitors that are with in the new market. I feel that  Rita Mcgrath’s concept of transient advantage, is that business must be constantly evolving and adapting in order to sustain a competitive advantage.  Facebook is no different, as for many years they dominated the social media platform. I would argue that slack and other workplace companies are examples of sustainable competitive advantage. Facebook’s response of entering the workplace market is their way to combat these companies from stealing  millions of possible customers.  As Facebook has clearly realized, workplace is very useful for companies and is a definite threat to their dominance at the top of there industry. Evolving Facebook by creating Workplace, the company is positioning themselves to sustain their transient advantage over other workplace companies as well as social media companies. Rather than losing the entire idea of creating a new platform that adds to the company’s over all value proposition and adds to their customer segment.

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