Monthly Archives: October 2012

RE: Target – New Entrant to the Canadian Market

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This is a response to Derek Kwan’s blog post about Target’s expansion into Canada, which can be found here.

In his post, Derek suggests that Target’s expansion to Canada will succeed and that the chain will be a threat to stores like Wal-Mart, Sears, and Old Navy. However, one important thing to note is that Target is the new entrant to a competitive market where the major competitors have already established a very strong foundation. Target, on the other hand, might experience many issues through their expansion.

Target will be opening 125 locations spread throughout Canada.

Supply chains might be more difficult to handle due to the added barriers of transportation, taxes, and tariffs. Average Canadian Target store sizes are also only 30% of the size of their American counterparts.  Furthermore, moving to Canada will mean that Target must adapt to different consumer behaviour and responses. Whatever strategies served them well in the United States might not work as well in a different country.

If Target’s Canadian venture does fail, it wouldn’t be the first company to cross the 49th parallel only to be forced to withdraw within a few years. Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons experienced just this with their attempts to expand into Boston, Massachusetts. The franchise closed down thirty-six New England locations that it had opened after losing $4.4 million in one year.

As you can see from the advertisement above, Target loves Canada. The only question now is: will Canada love Target back?

Picture Sources: O Canada | Ontario Move

Corporate Organizational Culture vs. Secondary Schools

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Discussing corporate organizational culture in class this week made me realize that, while they are very different things, many parallels can be drawn between corporations and secondary schools. In particular, I realized how organizational culture plays an enormous role in both of these establishments.

For example, I would relate the fun, social, and team-oriented organizational culture of shoe company Zappos with the Ideal Mini School program offered by the Vancouver School Board. Like Zappos, the culture of Ideal Mini emphasizes cooperative interaction. The CEO of Zappos works at a cubicle like any of his employees, essentially eliminating hierarchical levels so as to better communicate with his employees. The teachers of Ideal Mini use a different approach with a similar affect – they are always on a first-name basis with their students and aim to be friends and mentors.

On the other end of the spectrum, I would associate a large 2,400 student school such as Burnaby North with a much larger company with a less prominent, interactive, and unique organizational culture. The mass of students and larger class sizes at a school like Burnaby North are much like the mass of employees and large department sizes.

Having attended a Mini School myself, I truly understand the benefits of having a close-knit group and a focused organizational culture. At the same time, however, I do realize it might not be feasible for such a model to be the standard secondary school system. What would you prefer from a school? What would you prefer from a workplace? Would your answer to these two questions be different?

Social Entrepreneurship Knows No Age

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Social entrepreneurs are individuals are often defined as being ambitious, mission driven, strategic, resourceful, and results oriented. You wouldn’t be surprised to find these characteristics in university and high school students. But would you believe me if I told you that a twelve year old who possessed these very five characteristics established one of Canada’s most well known social enterprises?

You better start believing it. Craig Kielburger was just twelve years old when he and his friends formed the “Twelve-Twelve-Year-Olds” group that would eventually evolve to become “Free The Children” and “Me to We.” Today, Me to We is a large social enterprise that donates half of its profit to charity.

The organization is very well known for We Day, an event designed to motivate and inspire youth to become active for causes they believe in.

 

Craig Kielburger is now twenty-nine years old and is definitely results-oriented seeing as his social enterprise donated $2.5 million dollars worth of services in developing countries.

Craig’s story might seem one-in-a-million, but he believes differently. He believes that youth are capable of creating immense change and, after having heard him speak personally at We Day, I believe he is correct. Everyone wants to change the world in some way, and if anyone is going to do it, it’s going to be those who will be growing up to live in this world.

Picture Sources: Ambassadors.net | Siavash Ghazvinian

Is secondary research from online sources worth a company’s money?

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There are many “Get Paid To…” initiatives on the web nowadays. There are even entire websites such as Lockerz, SwagBucks, and TreasureTroopers, which are dedicated to providing “offers” with varying reward incentives. These offers range from completing surveys, signing up for newsletters, and clicking advertisements in return for cash, credit, or a chance at a big prize. And how do websites such as TreasureTroopers make money? They’re paid by advertisers for their advertisements and marketing firms for their survey information.

But is information gathered from an individual wishing to quickly finish a survey for a quick buck reliable? Will someone really be affected by an advertisement they watch as a part of an offer on one of these websites? Should firms take this information seriously when considering choices for company growth?

An interesting point to note is that websites like TreasureTroopers often receive complaints regarding unaccredited offers. Get Paid To websites also often have hidden catches in the fine print – customers may not be able to claim their cash until they accumulate a certain of credit. Some are even known scams, claiming that completing offers will enter one into a draw for a non-existent prize. What can companies expect when using information compiled through such methods? Garbage in, garbage out.

Picture Source: Home Paid Jobs