As holidays are approaching, businesses are planning how they are going to spend their holidays. While many people would think that holidays are for resting, away from their clients and stress, many successful businesses emphasize the significance a holiday holds regarding building rapport with clients and creating good impression to the public.

In the article, “You Need a Plan for the Holidays,” the author describes how a company could spend the holidays effectively to promote positive impressions. For example, gifting something more useful than a box of chocolate helps a company make its customers think positively of the company.

Though I do not wish to spend my holidays as efficiently as some of these successful businesses do, I was amazed by the importance of marketing for any business. If a business wants to sell a product, it needs customers, and in order to gain customers, a business should market itself. Above all, the most important marketing strategy I’ve learned from this article is thinking outside the box, in spite of its cliche-like sound.

In the article, “Budget Optimism Boosts U.S. Stock Futures,” the author explains that upon US President Barrack Obama’s re-election, the US economy finally experienced a boost after a long recession. As the stock prices went up, many businesses saw increases in sales and net profits, and I believe this will also have a positive effect on the Canadian economy.

I do not know to what extent US economy can influence the Canadian economy, but I do know that there are close ties between the economies of the two countries. I think this is because of the exposure of Canadian customers to the media produced in the US, which strongly affect the way Canadians perceive things.

When customers are told the economy will prosper in the near future, they tend to make more purchases of luxury goods; and this is what I expect to see within a few weeks in the Canadian economy. Due to the strong tie between the two cultures, such a positive outlook in the US economy will not only affect its own but will also bring about positive impacts on the Canadian economy, in which Canadian customers, exposed to the US media, believe they will soon be better off too.

Was it just me, or did everyone else think Apple Co. will always be on an uphill with its sales and share price. Yet, as its technology-giant competitor Samsung launched its Galaxy S3, Apple experienced a huge fall in its sales and share price.

In the article “Apple’s Tablet Share Slips In Lead-Up to iPad Mini Launch,” the author describes how this loss is continuing on to the tablet market. While Apple’s long time customers and fans had long waited for the launch of iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, they both turned out to be huge disappointments, with little changes made to their old versions.

In comparison, Samsung, Apple’s tech-giant competitor, came up with its never-been-so-good Galaxy S3, and is now experiencing a constant rise in its sales and share price.

In my opinion, such a tragedic situation has come because of Apple’s slow reactions to changes in the smart phone/tablet market, as well as its reluctance to make further changes in their products. I have to admit, though, that Apple’s marketing team has done a fantastic job, making everyone want to buy its products. Yet, its management, who failed to come up with a device that would satisfy its customers, like Samsung has done with its Galaxy S3, has done such a poor job that such a strong company is now on a downhill.

In response to Jean-Philippe Boutin’s blog post “Evaluating Our Carbon Footprint,” I developed better knowledge about the ways carbon emission was measured, and the ways through which we emitted carbon into our atmosphere. According to Boutin’s blog post, carbon emission level has been constantly increasing, which has ultimately caused changed to our vulnerable planet.

While we all know emitting carbon is bad and that we should stop ourselves from polluting the Earth, I personally find it very hard to reduce my carbon footprint. When I calculated my carbon footprint per year, I got a number slightly above 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Though the number is far less than the country average, I was still surpised to figure out how much “contribution” I was making to exacerbate global warming.

After finding out that my number was above that of most of my peers, I determined to reduce my carbon footprint and save the planet, though the contribution may be little. By eating less meat, and walking, I can reduce my carbon footprint by 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Though it may sound like nothing, if everyone shows as much interest as I do, and take actions to reduce their carbon footprint, I am sure that we can slow down the negative changes that are on-going on our invaluable planet.

*Also look at: YouTube Carbon Footprint*

After learning about social entrepreneurship, I was interested in what companies I was familiar with were social enterprises. As I did my research, I was surprised to find out the number of entrepreneurs who were really motivated to doing something that was not focused on making money – such as making a change in their community.

Out of all the social enterprises, Toms, my favourite shoes brand, sticked out to me. Toms’s one-for-one movement, for every purchase made, gives a pair of new shoes to a child in need. Because I had thought that “social” entrepreneurs could never be so successful, when I read the article “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs,” I was really amazed by the Toms CEO Mr. Mycoskie‘s entrepreneurship that had made the business such a huge success.

The story of Mr. Mycoskie and his passion for his business did not only surprise me but also motivated me to take part in such positive changes. I started considering social entrepreneur as my future career, and also strongly believe that it would bring me more satisfaction than would any other career, because making a change is much beyond simple business-running and money-making.

“After Hostess Brands announced it’s going out of business following a labor dispute, panicked consumers have rushed to stores to stock up on their favorite heart-clogging treats,” says Dominique Mosbergen in her article, “Twinkies eBay: Hostess Treats On Sale For $200,000 Amid Trinkie-Pocalypse Fears.” 

In the article, the author describes that black markets for Hostess Brands have emerged in order to meet the drastic increase in consumer demand. Twinkies fans, as Hostess is going out of business, are searching in madness for ways to buy their long time treat before they are all gone. In response to such a craze for soon-to-be-gone Hostess Brand products, one seller on eBay is auctioning a box of Twinkies at a starting price of $200,000.

Personally, I am not much of a fan for Twinkies or any other Hostess Brands. It is hard to believe how normal consumers can be so eager to buy a box of snack cake. What is more unbelievable is how a company with so much demand can go out of business. By studying the company in more depth, I learned that there was a series of union strikes, which led to a complete turmoil in the operation system. This very well highlights the importance of communication between the management and the workers, as well as the role of operations manager, who is in charge of organizing all operations within a company.