Air Canada and its flight attendants have avoided strike. In lieu of the unfavourable strike, both parties have agreed to an arbitrator: The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB). The decision will ultimately be made by CIRB chairperson, Elizabeth MacPherson, within the next couple of weeks.

Dozens of flight attendants and their supporters hold a demonstration outside Lisa Raitt's office in Milton, Ont., Oct. 13, 2011. Source: The Globe and Mail

Lisa Raitt, the Minister of Labour, is ecstatic by the parties’ decision as it avoids any disruption in flights as well as detriments to the national economy.

The main issues are pay and working conditions, including Air Canada’s new proposal of a new low-cost air carrier in which flight attendants would be paid less on.

The decision of arbitration is overall more beneficial for the consumer, the company, and the economy as a whole. An impartial and fair arbitrator will be decided on shortly and should assess the situation and agree on a mutually agreeable decision. This decision will hopefully meet the wants of both parties and allow Air Canada to continue its success as the dominant airline in the country.

Orignal Article

Wal-Mart has done it again. Once more, Wal-Mart has found another clever marketing tactic, this time partnering with the largest social networking site on the planet: Facebook.

With this partnership, Wal-Mart has released My Local Walmart. My Local Walmart is a page that allows the Facebook fans of Wal-Mart to receive updates on stores in their neighbourhood. Wal-mart is getting back to the days where interaction helped define their stores. Chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn noted, “This is going to allow [that] kind of communication at national scale. Stores become more relevant on a local level because of interaction with customers.” (Reuters).

Wal-Mart Teams up with Facebook. Source: Sapient Marketing

Each local store will send out alerts to subscribers about upcoming deals as well as events in the community. They will even have downloadable maps for your local stores that indicate where certain products are.

With My Local Walmart, Wal-Mart has found a way to reach the new generation and to use social networking as a constant advertisement. Without a doubt, this launch should be beneficial to the company as well as meet the needs of its loyal customer fanbase.

Original Article

Qwikster is no more. Netflix Inc., the movie rental giant, had plans to separate its streaming services from its DVD mailing services. CEO Reed Hastings announced today that Netflix users will be able to use both services under one account. (Video)

In this Sept. 22, 2011 file photo, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings gestures during the Facebook f/8 conference in San Francisco. Source: AP

The news excited investors thoroughly, bumping their stock up 9.6% in premarket trading. Customers were peeved at Netflix’s previous plans, expressing their concern with managing two accounts, one for each service. If the new plan had gone into effect, customers who wanted to stream movies and get DVDs would have had to have payed for two separate accounts. The reason for this was for Netflix to move further away from the DVD aspect of their company, which they felt had much less future potential. Although the higher price of the overall service has still risen, it is still better for both parties that Netflix has backpedaled on its plans.

In class discussion, we came to the conclusion that the Qwikster initiative would be bad for customers and for the company as it would lose too many customers. With strong marketing and this latest news, Netflix will hope to regain the value that it has lost more than half of since July.

Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric at a news conference where Yahoo News and ABC News announced a content sharing deal. Source: AP

For many years, Yahoo has been trying to figure whether or not it is a technology or a media company. In recent times, Yahoo has undeniably been moving towards becoming a media giant.

Yahoo has more than 688 million users, so what’s the problem? It has been determined that the company is lacking respect, chiefly because of shifting priorities and no new innovation. Fortunately, the company is moving forward with a variety of projects. Of the most groundbreaking are a content sharing deal with Walt Disney’s ABC News as well as moving towards an original news program. With this, Yahoo expects to gain “the voice” that they are striving towards.

Mickie Rosen, the senior vice president who oversees Yahoo's media properties, says original reporting can help its reputation.

This move is an unambigiously smart one for Yahoo. The hiring of their own reporters and posting original articles and stories will begin to create a reputation for Yahoo. They already have people on their site, they just need to give the customer a reason to stay. Yahoo sports has been a major success in breaking sports stories and they can only hope the rest of their project will come together.

Original Article

Business ethics are becoming much more prevalent in business schools of today. At Harvard and many other business schools across the globe, courses regarding ethics are gaining popularity.

At Harvard Business School, one of the most prestigious in the United States, many students are signing what is known as “The M.B.A. Oath”. This is “a voluntary student-led pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good.” It promises that Harvard M.B.A.’s will act responsibly, ethically and refrain from advancing their “own narrow ambitions” at the expense of others” (Wayne).

Max Anderson, right, with Harvard classmates and their M.B.A. oaths saying they won’t advance their “own narrow ambitions.” Source: The New York Times

 The growing popularity of this subject is no coincidence, it has become a vastly larger issue after the economic downturn in recent years. Many of our economic problems can be attributed to poor business ethics. Sometimes, focusing merely on wealth can cause the economy’s downturn to continue (take the inequities of CEO’s during the recession). With luck, more schools will add emphasis on social responsibilty in the business world, ensuring a brighter and more prosperous future.

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