In this article ,there is a shocking fact that  more than 70% of the global population that is food insecure are the very people we rely on to produce about 70% of the world’s food supply.Star Bucks and Keurig Green Mountain are addressing hunger and poverty in their suppliers’ communities while also delivering value for their companies.They provides the smallholder producers in key coffee-growing regions with loan programs, technology transfer, market access and professional training to make them more effective and sustainable.

Creating shared value is literally a double winning. Because not only it meets societal needs but also helps firms create a good brand image among the public as well as increase their competitiveness. The two companies help fight hunger and support smallholder producers by choosing them as suppliers. Meanwhile, the natural high-quality coffee beans will make their products more satisfying in return and the cost of building factories and purchasing raw materials will also be much lower compared with that in big cities .Besides, they will become a precedent and inspire other companies to understand and address other social needs in their supply chain and markets to deliver both social and economic values, which will help evolve our common understanding of the corporation in the future.

New Gold Inc,a mining company,has signed an agreement to share mine-revenue with two Indian bands and BC provincial government. Based on PEST analysis we learned in class,New Gold is effected by a political factor.Because of the terms on Government of Canada ,the Government is committed to providing meaningful opportunities to first nations,which means it may be supposed to cooperate with them.To this end,New Gold,as a multinational company ,ought to do as what the govern says and supports those aboriginal people.External industry force also has an impact on it according to Business Model Environment since first nations become its supplier which provide land.

Not everything related to policies is bad.No one can deny it is a fair deal that the  company pays taxation for its mining operations on the aboriginal people’s territory.As for  the govern,it acts as a go-between and guarantees the equity of this trade.Besides,about 25% of the mining workforce is Aboriginal,which solves both the recruitment and employment problems.New Gold might be seemingly influenced by a political factor,but it also brings an opportunity.The firm can mine in those resourceful territories and earn a large amount of profit as well as establishing its reputation and giving a morally good impression to the public.Therefore,the agreement is indeed a double-win.

I read Haotian Zhang’s blog and learned the good news that Muji,the Japanese retailer,is going to open its first store in Canada this November.It already has stores around the world but most of them are located in Asian countries,a few are in Europe and America.Muji means ”no brand” and it offers a wide variety of household items which are simple-designed and of good quality.Though it has gained a good reputation and a large number of loyal consumers in Asia, it only plans to open 7 or 8 Canadian stores over the next 5 years.

As Haotian says in his blog that the reason why Muji expands so carefully is to avoid risks.It is a smart move because North America now only contributes a little more than 1% to its revenue ,which means it has not yet become a influential brand in North American market.Not mention it does not even have a store in Canada,taking it slow seems to be a safe and reasonable way.Besides,I learned the Urgency/Importance grid in class 4.By using it,expansion in Canada will be defined as important but not urgent.It takes time for a new brand to earn fame in a local market thus there is no need to hurry.When it reaches the certain level, Muji could accelerate.

As the release of Iphone 6, Apple becomes the focus of public again.Meanwhile,its competitor,Blackberry also published its all-new model:Blackberry Passport,which has not drawn much attention but it is a good start to change its market segment.

My peer Serinda Kong mentioned in her blog that Passport shows Blackberry begins to target professionals because it is not able to compete with Apple in terms of recreational smartphones.According to what I learned in class 8,Blackberry is changing its segmentation and the design of Passport has a lot of points of difference.It has a square screen instead of the most common rectangular one and any touch functions can be finished by its keyboard.All those key features can help professional people work and communicate more efficiently.Therefore,for people who do not need to watch videos or play games,the functional Iphone 6 seems unnecessary as well as expensive.By contrast,Blackyberry will appear to be a better choice.

In the class 8 prep video,the speaker gives an example of Toyota,saying it can never be the number one safe car maker for consumers so it focuses on hybrid cars.The same is true with all the companies which are struggling with the threat of their powerful rivals.As for it is hard to change those loyal customers’ minds, why not reposition an appropriate customer segment?A market segment which suits them better will also be relatively less competitive and more potential.

We learned Porter’s generic strategies in class 7.Are the strategies suitable for every firm?How to decide which one to operate?Recently,Air France announced it plans to build its low cost airline ,which is strongly opposed by the pilots.Because the company fails to pay the same salaries to pilots who work in the new airline.In this case,Air France intends to impose a cost leadership strategy but it is not a wise choice.

Pilots insist they won’t take lower pay to work for a new Air France budget airline

Choosing any strategy is risky ,so the company has to do positioning before they make a decision.In terms of a low cost strategy,access to capital and resources is necessary as well as the efficiency of production.Obviously,Air France did not give careful consideration ,which leads  its incapability of coping with its striking employees and providing the same contract to every pilot. In my opinion,cost leadership strategy is actually even more tricky than differentiation strategy.Because the company who chooses to differentiate can focus on  innovation and technology in order to attract customers,it seems more technical and the purpose is much clearer.While firms who wants to cut prices to profit more has more things to consider like its capacity,pricing and the competition is more fierce because their competitors can make a low price as well.Therefore, how to have an absolute advantage in prices without lossing will be a big question for those companies.