http://www.ediblesadvocatealliance.org/local-food—agriculture-business-blog/

The Importance of Agriculture

After reading “The Local Food and Agriculture Business Blog” It has brought on a new prospective on my thought of food and business. A typical person would generally relate business with office type jobs, accounting and marketing. However, this blog relates business with agriculture, particularly on farmers.  The importance of farmers is beyond what we would think.  As a quote from Jim Rogers states, “we don’t need more bankers, what we need are more farmers.”  Realistically, the economy would not be able to function without farmers.  The inputs for a business like a restaurant solely rely on raw ingredients to provide outputs (food) for customers.  The economic cycle would be disrupted or even stop functioning without the agriculture industry.  Therefore, farmers are extremely important to the business world today. They will be even more highly valued in the future.   As the population rapidly increases demand for goods will also increase and as a result, the agriculture industry will be crucial to the sustainability of the economy.  Making big money doesn’t just mean working at a bank because the salaries of farmers are going to increase dramatically.

Antonia’s blog talks about Apple’s proposal for a home digital TV entertainment system to be released in 2012 seem like a very enlightening idea. But in reality, is it such a good idea?  Is it worth competing with leading TV industries such as Sharp and Sony? Apple’s hastiness to expand their line of technology isn’t very appealing.  I feel like they’re trying too hard.  There’s nothing wrong in staying in the bounds of your own expertise.  It is better to be master in one particular area than to be average in many.  Although Apple has established strong brand positioning, but he opportunity cost of producing a new line is only worthwhile if the benefits exceed the opportunity cost.  Putting many factors into account, such as, new department, hiring more employees, and finding new suppliers in order to produce the new product.  Apple is better off  being an expert as what they’re already doing than to barge into a strong industry.  Majority of households has already established a TV system company that they rely on. In the short run, consumers will not have an incentive to change. Therefore, Apple should not fall through with this proposal.

In class, Jeff asked us if we would want a $100 today or $100 a couple years down the road.  Many classmates had different responses, some argued that they were desperate for money and some would rather receive it later.  I chose to receive the $100 today.  The amount of purchases that could’ve been made with the $100 20 years ago is significantly more than what can be bought today. The longer I wait to receive the $100, the more the value of the money will decrease. What I can purchase with the $100 today will be less than what I’ll be able to purchase couple years from now.  As retailers struggle to win over customers it is a sign that economy is changing. The article below explains how store hours are being extended and the change in customer spending.  People are losing jobs and as a result, cutting down on their spending. To sustain a family and meet basic necessities seems to be harder than it ever was.   Goods are more expensive now, but wages have only increased slightly or not at all.  People aren’t capable of spending as much as they were before. Therefore, retailers are struggling to attract customers.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19353258

http://socialenterprisefund.ca/?page_id=14

Before class, in my mind I thought social enterprises and charities were the same thing. All though they share many similarities but there are also differences that set them apart.  A social enterprise and charity both focus on a social factor, to some how better the environment, the community, or an issue that an individual is passionate about.  However, charities do not have a source of income, financial needs are met by the generosity of donations, whereas, social enterprises focus on the business aspect while maintaining the social aspect as well. There are many social enterprises in the world today, but one that caught my attentions was Just Beginnings Flowers.  “Just Beginnings Flowers is a social enterprise which combines a floral business with a floral training school” (Just Beginnings Flowers, 2010). Their mission is to provide training and give opportunities to the unemployed.  Along with helping others, they also earn a significant amount of profit.  Being green is another one of their highlights; they keep track of this by measuring their environmental footprint.  For example, they collect rainwater in barrels and compost all organic waste. Just Beginnings Flowers runs a successful green business while helping people transition into the labour market.

http://www.justbeginningsflowers.com/home.html

TOMS shoes is a company established in Santa Monica, California. I consider TOMS to be entrepreneurial.  The company has expanded internationally, serving customers from all over the world (500 stores nationwide). TOMS designs lightweight shoes that come in a variety of colours and patterns. The shoes are based on the Argentine Alpargata design, the signature look for TOMS.  With each pair of shoes sold, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need.  Since the launch in 2006, over a million pairs of canvas shoes have been given to children in more than 20 countries worldwide.  Furthermore, TOMS hosts annual projects such as One Day Without Shoes, challenging people to go a day without shoes and to raise awareness for children who go without shoes everyday. To engage people, TOMS hosts “Shoe Drops”, where employees and volunteers get an opportunity to deliver shoes to children first hand around the world.   Along with shoes, TOMS recently started  TOMS eyewear. Similarly, every pair of eyewear sold, a pair is donated to a child in need. The company’s product innovation attracts demand in the market and gives consumers a great incentive to purchase their products.  Although much of the money earned by TOMS is donated, the total revenue after donations still comes out to a substantial amount. TOMS earned “$4.6 million in revenue from its first 115,000 pairs of shoes” (Hoye,2009). With TOMS’ high product and social innovations, it is no doubt that TOMS exhibits many characteristics of entrepreneurship.

http://www.thefalcononline.com/article.php?id=6589

“How Jobs put Passion into Products” Article link:

Profit margin is the percentage of revenue that a company makes calculating the profit accounting for fixed and variable costs.  There are two ways to look at the profit margin, either narrow profit margin or wide profit margins.

In the beginning of this article Bill gates expresses “PCs as components held together by plastic and screws manufactured on low-cost assembly lines, a commodity business with narrow profit margins.” According to “Steve Jobs and Apple never — ever — wanted to be a low-margin commodity producer,” Donald Norman, a former vice president for advanced technology at Apple.  As learned in class, food chains such as restaurants are low-cost commodities.  It’s very easy to start but very difficult to succeed. Low cost commodities seem to be beneficial but very deceiving. Apple is a company that is a high margin commodity producer. As an Apple user, I can testify to the quality of Apple products.  Elegance and innovation are all two things that really stand out to me.   It’s very inspiring to see how much passion is put into Apple products.  Steve Jobs has left an amazing legacy and his works will be passed on for generations to come.

Learning about the Lieber case in class it prompted a lot questions and ideas.  As I was browsing through the blogs I came across Vivian Lin’s article about the Candlemakers Petition.  It was interesting how she focused on the break-even analogy we learned inclass.  The break-even point is simply when the suppliers aren’t losing any money yet isn’t gaining any as well.  I find this term to be very unreliable and misleading.  Businesses tend to set goals to at least hint the break even point; however, it is not a good way to motivate a business.  When running a business, one should focus on making profit.   As a result one should be focused on elements such as the point of difference, which are benefits that set each brand apart from competitors.

We are bombarded with media everyday, whether we are conscious about it or not.  The ones that catch your attention, how are they different from the others? Do you only notice the ones with animals because you’re an animal lover? Or do you the ones with a catchy song attract your attention? A great example would be Sleep country’s slogan,  “Sleep Country Canada, why buy a mattress anywhere else?”  Moreover, why are some commercials more believable than others?

To engage its consumers, Tim Hortons uses real life stories as a form as advertisement.  This is an extremely clever way to connect with customers in a more personal way, not just on the surface level.  Life stories are powerful. There is a good chance that what you’ve experienced, someone else has also experienced something identical or close to identical.  The link below is Tim Hortons latest true story commercial. Forms of advertisement such as television commercials are important to an image of a company.   A powerful commercial should set an image in the minds of consumers.    This strategy used by companies is called brand positioning. Once a “position” of a company has been induced in a consumer’s mind, it is hard to change.

http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/watch-this-tim-hortons-36980

Think of a time when you first met a friend, a colleague, or a clerk at a store.  The way he or she walked, talked or looked all impact your initial judgment upon them.

A company is no different. The second you walk into store, you immediately determine your opinion about it.  The appearance of the store and the friendliness of the employees all contribute to your judgment. For instance, in the article below, explains the positioning about Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s positioning is heavily based on low prices. When consumers think of Wal-Mart, they will most likely associate it with low prices compared to other retailers. During Black Friday, which is known as one of the busiest times of the year to shop.  However, Wal-Mart’s sales decreased because they did not live up to their low prices.  Wal-Mart did not deliver.

This article emphasizes on the importance of living up to “positions” that have been engraved in the mind of consumers.  Once a first impression has been made, there is little to no room to change this impression.  The image a company wants to portray to its consumers is an image that will always be associated with the company.

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/72/Wal-Marts-brand-positioning.html

Minimum wage has been a highly discussed topic in the western society. Yet, many are unaware of the horrible wage conditions that people face around the world.

Last summer, during my stay in Cambodia, I had the opportunity to visit a factory, the root of where products begin and end.  Final products were packaged and shipped to various companies abroad.  The conditions that the workers worked under were astonishing to me.  The work wasn’t  just labour intensive (eg. Hand stitching) but the environment was also brutal.  The factories had minimal to no ventilation; as a result factories were hot and sweaty.  Workers working under these conditions can potentially develop serious diseases.  “ The workers get paid around $40 US a month,” explains Joe Chan, the factory owner.  The practices of these factory owners are very unethical. Workers labour long hours, working at least 48 hours a week. But they are getting paid far less than they deserve.

In the article below: It explains how Better Factories Cambodia is trying to monitor factories but the impact is not yet prominent.

http://www.just-style.com/news/factory-working-conditions-remain-a-concern_id111964.aspx