Monthly Archives: October 2014

The Story –

This is yet another case of a boundary dispute between a First Nations group and a company. The Tsilhqot’in people have recently declared the implementation of Dasiqox Tribal Park which includes Fish Lake. But here’s the catch – it is also the site of Taseko’s proposed New Prosperity mine. The First Nations group views these 3,120 kilometres as their sovereign territory while Taseko owns Fish Lake property that lies just outside the title area recognized by courts. Ultimately, the company changed its plans and eventually announced a $79-million takeover of Curis Resources (Arizona copper developer), however, the controversy between the Tsilhqot’in people and Taseko is still worth analysing.

So What?

This case is significant because it speaks a lot to the importance of engaging with stakeholders before implementing a project. In any business project, certain parties must be informed and consulted with prior to launching. For example, provincial and federal governments, banks, and investors must be notified and the plan must be passed by these parties before action can be taken. Another vital group specific to this case is the Tsilhqot’in people. A main reason for the ambiguity in borders with the controversy between Taseko and the First Nations is that the company failed to correspond and engage with the First Nations group. Thus, their voices were muted and unheard in the process. This leaves the Tsilhqot’in displeased with the business plans as they view it to be harmful to their environment and the company can no longer continue with their initial New Prosperity mine project. This became a lose-lose situation because Taseko failed to address all stakeholders involved in the situation. 

The Takeaway –

Stakeholders are important! Talk to them.

Fish Lake

Picture Source

This Globe and Mail article really touches on some key marketing strategies that are critical for success.

A quick summary of the main points in the article:

1. Services and Products Should Be Personalized and Tailored to Consumer Needs

The article argues that companies should figure out the needs of a consumer before they know it themselves. Companies should cater to the specific and personalized needs of customers in order to create the best services and products.

2. Location is Important

Find out where your consumers live. Use social media such as LinkedIn or Facebook to connect with your customers. Another example give in the article is to use SnapChat to appeal to younger users.

3. Provide a Human Touch to Business

Put in the effort to make your consumers happy. Create memorable moments for people and help them enjoy the services and products provided.

In Grace’s Opinion:

I agree with much of what this article proclaims. However, I also think that it is important to draw a boundary between personalizing services and products and getting too personal with consumers. I am reminded of the case where Target was able to figure out that a teen girl was pregnant through her purchases. I think that although these statistics and data are incredibly beneficial for companies to take note of, there should definitely be a point where a line has been crossed.

This post refers to my colleague, Celine Chen’s blog post that can be read here!

This blog post caught my eye as it touched on many of the concepts discussed in our COMM 101 class. I believe that another aspect as to why products seem to fail is the lack of connection between marketers and financial accountants (as touched on in class). Furthermore, I agree with Celine’s statement that “many large companies are cutting corners to get to the finish line.” I believe that too often, the goal to maximize profits blurs other crucial aspects to launching a new product. Critical steps are skipped, such as market research or pricing tactics, and thus, the product is unsuccessful in the end.

Additionally, I also find that it is interesting how consumers are less willing to try new products. This seems contradictory to what would seem to be the trend of the never-ending line of new iPhones. I think a root of this problem could perhaps be pricing. Often, new products are expensive for consumers to purchase and many people tend to wait until prices dip a little or see how popular it is first with friends and family before personally purchasing the product.

Finally, I agree with Celine when she says that “companies must learn from the habits of the new generation.” For example, I travelled to China this summer and noticed that many shopping malls were incredibly empty. This would seem unlikely given the immense population in China. However, I later had a chat with my uncle who is in business and he told me about how quickly online shopping has spread with websites such taobao.com and alibaba.com. Soon the concept of shopping malls will become archaic and outdated as people prefer to shop in the comforts of their own home. I think that it is probable that such shopping malls will per turned into show rooms or large entertainment centres where people can just hang out.

Ultimately, it is definitely critical to be constantly analysing consumer behaviour! …Getting ready for COMM 291?

Last month’s CBC article, as well as this Globe and Mail article both touch on the topic of internships. More specifically, the articles question the status quo of unpaid internships through analysing  the nature of jobs, employer and employee benefits, as well as the economy as a whole. Holistically, there are many players and actors involved in the ordeal and arguments on both sides of the debate should be addressed before conclusively stating that unpaid internships are unethical and uneconomical.

Why Unpaid Interships Should be Banned

1. The Vicious Cycle

There is a major problem with the status quo. First, let’s start with high tuition costs (think about our $163 Sauder credits). Now think of poor students who are finding ways to try and fund for their education. They need a job. Most relevant and well-paying jobs require previous work experience, so the student decides to undergo an unpaid internship at a company in order to gain that experience. Now they are working long hours while studying, and are still poor. Student loans rack up and the students go further and further into debt.

Take the example of nursing student Tamara Oomen who was $20,000 in debt after completing her degree despite having worked an incredible amount of hours at hospitals engaging in the same amount of work as paid employees

2. Create Incentives

As soon as money is in the equation, the company now has more of an incentive to choose the best candidate for a position as opposed to simply hiring someone to do photocopying jobs and coffee runs. This helps the company become more innovative and thus creates a better market value in the future for the company. Furthermore, students will have more of an incentive to apply for positions when they are paid.

3. Devaluation and Exploitation of Students

Tying into the previous point, often when interns are hired, they are not given real jobs that are challenging and relevant and are instead photocopying, sorting through papers, and doing petty work for the employers. Most interns are university students full of potential who are capable of doing much more and thus, this unpaid internships are an active process of devaluation. On the flip side, other internship programs  require the workers to work intense and vigorous jobs that rival those of paid employees, painting the other spectrum of exploitation.

Now let’s take a look at the other side of the debate…

Why Unpaid Interships are Beneficial

1. Value in Experience

People have to start somewhere and interships can act as an incredibly beneficial starting point. Before teenagers start working part-time jobs, they often first volunteer somewhere to gain relevant experience. There is value for both the employers and the employee when it comes to internships. Value isn’t always monetary.

2. Paying Interns Leads to Less Opportunity

There are limited resources and when interns are paid, there can only be a certain amount allocated to hire interns. Ultimately, this decreases the number of internships and leads to less opportunities for students as a whole. Furthermore, although they are unpaid positions, students are currently still applying and engaging in these internships simple for the opportunity to network with professionals in the field and gain relevant experience.

3. Long-term Job Interview

One of the articles said to look at the process as a long term job interview. There is no guarantee of a job afterwards, but the experience is a valuable learning experience nonetheless. Through the process however, companies do often end up hiring their interns.

My Opinion

As a business student paying expensive tuition, my opinion is evidently biased. However, I do see value in unpaid internships as well. Personally, I believe that internships that require vigorous working schedules, especially for upper year students, definitely should be paid experiences. However, I do believe that it is valuable for a first or second year student to gain unpaid experience just as a gateway into the field. I also see small businesses as a vulnerable party in this debate should unpaid internships be banned since small businesses often have less resources to allocate towards internships, yet they may still provide valuable experiences for students. Ultimately, my ideal solution would be for the government to provide subsidies for smaller business and implement paid internships for all students in upper years (or students who have fulfilled those credits).

This is an interesting debate… where do you stand? Think about it.

Picture Source