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Remember when not too long ago, computers were for basic internet searches, browsing, and playing Snake? Today’s technology plays a radical difference in our lives. In fact, the current tech industry resembles the pixelated snakes that crossed our screens pre-internet and high-resolution graphics, with large corporations swallowing smaller companies to amass market share and power.

According to Barry Ritholtz’ opinon in Why Apple Should Buy Netflix, he outlines how Apple could benefit from buying the movie-streaming giant, Netflix. However, buying Netflix would not only benefit Apple, but would also provide Netflix with a solution to their problems. Apple has learned that film and television are very different industries than what they’re currently focusing on, yet is leverage that Amazon has over the company. While Apple is seeing its strongest competitor branch out and grow, Netflix is struggling to acquire or create new content, shredding through billions per year that they may not have in the future. A symbiotic relationship would mutually benefit both companies; outside of phones and laptops, Apple has not been competing well, especially in content while Netflix is struck worrying with access to capital to pay for original content. Apple’s video content offerings are falling behind its competitors with Apple TV ceding a giant lead to Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick and Amazon Prime Video.

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Ritholtz suggests Apple takeover Netflix in an all-stock deal for $100billion. I agree with Ritholtz that this expensive price tag is overpaying for Netflix; however, Apple’s surging value proves its capability to handle the cost. More importantly, Apple needs to consider this deal in order to maintain its steady growth. If Apple passes on this opportunity, it’s very possible that its competitors will jump at the chance to acquire Netflix and gain major leverage over Apple.

I find Ritholtz’ post offers interesting foresight into where he believes the future of the tech industry is heading. He offers insight as to why and why not he thinks the deal is a good idea and introduces an idea that really makes us think of what the next major move in the techonology will look like.

However, such a shift in Apple’s focus begs the question of whether it would be too big of a shift from Apple’s core business in developing hardware and software and whether Apple would be able to manage such a big purchase, with Beats Music LLC as its largest acquisition at only $3 billion. Though the post offers many reasons why a takeover of Netflix is seemingly a good idea, I see Apple as being better off with considering a merger with the company, diversifying risk while still enjoying the benefits of partnering with Netflix.

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Works Cited:

Ritholtz Bloomberg, B. (2017, November 10). Why Apple Should Buy Netflix. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-11-07/why-apple-should-buy-netflix

As shocking as it may seem, the concept of inclusivity in marketing was a ground-breaking idea; one that women around the world appreciated, but more importantly, it was something that everyone around the world needed. Dove’s “Real Beauty campaign” was the first brand of many trek into the realm of purpose-driven branding using social media as its main platform to convey this concept.

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However, the positive light drawn onto Dove quickly dimmed as their campaigns gained online backlash, highlighting the power of social media marketing. As Ashley Chana mentions in her blog post, the consequences of even a slight misdemeanour are amplified because of the scale of impact that social media marketing. Ashley mentions how social media marketing is to blame for Dove’s rapid decline in popularity. I agree with Ashley that social media promoted Dove’s mistakes and was responsible for its massive public scrutiny.

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On the other hand, I believe that social media is also the most effective way to gain support for a company or campaign and can be extremelybeneficial for a company or cause. Take Always’ #LikeAGirl campaign for example.

Always, a feminine hygiene company, needed a way to appeal to the next generation of girls in the face of growing competition. The company tackled this issue, along with the issue of gender norms, through launching an award-winning #LikeAGirl social media campaign that turned a phrase of an insult into an empowering message.

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“Girls first come in contact with Always at puberty, a time when they are feeling awkward and unconfident-a pivotal time to show girls the brand’s purpose and champion their confidence.” says Judy John, CEO of Leo Burnett Canada.

The company leveraged the brand’s legacy of support through releasing a video that was just too good to not click ‘Share’ or ‘retweet’; but how much can Always attribute its success to social media marketing? It’s #LikeAGirl campaign video received 85 million views on YouTube from 150+ countries.

“Prior to watching the film, 19% of 16-24s had a positive association toward ‘like a girl’. After watching, 76% said they no longer saw the phrase negatively. Furthermore, two out of three men who watched it said they’d now think twice before using the ‘like a girl’ as an insult” .

We’ve seen in Always’ campaign how social media launched the company into the limelight and we’ve seen through Dove how it can tear down a company’s reputation almost instantaneously as well. Both sides of the argument demonstrate just how powerful social media is and how a company’s greatest asset is to know how to use the platform to its favour; any company that knows how to use the powerful platform to its advantage is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

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Works Cited:

Case Study: Always #LikeAGirl. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://www.dandad.org/en/d-ad-always-like-a-girl-campaign-case-study-insights/

Chana, A. (2017, October 15). Dove’s Social Media Disaster – Ashley Chana’s Blog. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/ashleychana/2017/10/15/doves-social-media-disaster/#more-35

Dua, T. (2017, October 09). Dove’s ‘racist’ ad might have cost the brand an advantage it spent 13 years building. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/doves-racist-ad-10-9-2017-10

G. (2015, July 30). 10 Brands Doing an Amazing Job on Social Media. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.adweek.com/digital/michael-patterson-10-brands-amazing-social-media/

Society has seen time and time again the repercussions of a tainted reputation due to controversial leadership. Recently, Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of the Weinstein Company and member of the motion picture Academy, served as an example of how unethical actions can lead to detrimental consequences.  Weinstein, one of the biggest Oscar players in history, was instantly turned into a hall-of-fame pariah when he was “instantly expelled” from the Motion Picture Academy following sexual harassment and rape allegations revealed by The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Harvey Weinstein arriving on the red carpet for the 86th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

In a statement, the academy said

“We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over. What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society.”

Not only has Weinstein received backlash from the academy, but has also bore the consequences of his actions in respect to his own company. On October 6, 2017 three of the company’s nine members of the board of directors resigned following sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein.Weinstein then announced an indefinite leave of absence which was followed by an announcement that he had been fired. Furthermore, the company is considering renaming the company as a sign of renewal following a blow to its public reputation. 

Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of The Weinstein Company

The ousting of Mr. Weinstein is largely symbolic as the roughly 8,400-member academy is not historically known to have taken such drastic measures. For example, when Roman Polanski, pleaded guilty in a sex crime case involving a 13-year-old girl;  Bill Cosby  was accused of sexual assault; and when Mel Gibson pleaded no contest to a charge of battery against an old girlfriend in 2011. The case of Harvey Weinstein begs the question of whether similar measures will be taken to address other members who have accusations and charges against them.

This case touches upon many concepts discussed in lectures. From business ethics to performance management, this story resonates with issues of company leaders whose reputation can ruin a company. Similar to the case of Uber’s Travis Kalanick discussed in class, we can see how ethical complications stemming from top executives translates to detrimental consequences for the company as a whole and often results in removal of said executives.

Uber’s former CEO, Travis Kalanick

In the case of Harvey Weinstein, questions of ethics ripple throughout- should other members of the academy by under similar scrutiny? How does this case set precedent for the media industry and corporations at large?

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Works Cited:

Barnes, B. (2017, October 14). Harvey Weinstein Ousted From Motion Picture Academy. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/business/media/harvey-weinstein-ousted-from-motion-picture-academy.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbusiness-media

Farrow, R. (2017, October 12). From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories

Lartey, J., Helmore, E., & Batty, D. (2017, October 14). Harvey Weinstein expelled from Academy over sexual assault allegations. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/14/harvey-weinstein-oscars-academy-holds-emergency-meeting

Press, T. A. (2017, October 10). Hollywood condemnation of Weinstein grows louder. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from http://www.nydailynews.com/newswires/entertainment/hollywood-condemnation-weinstein-grows-louder-article-1.3550440

It seems to be that the only people who are familiar with the flashy covers of Seventeen magazine are not in fact seventeen, but rather, are reaching their mid-twenties and thirties. The print industry is cast under a shadow of its former self; it seems that in today’s modern economy, our appetite for magazines is fading while our craving for digital media looms.

The reality is that magazines can no longer survive solely on topline sales-  the digitalized world today has stolen the former glory of magazine advertisements which are now flourishing as sideline ads on Facebook and Google. In 2014, Vogue contributing fasion editor Lynn Yaeger says that print is on its way out; magazines will become the stuff of novelty like a ‘typewriter or horse and buggy’.

As we see established senior editors of Vanity fair, Time, Elle and Glamour, all step down, the declining trend in magazine publishing is becoming clear. The magazine industry’s financial outlook remains bleak; revenue at Time Inc. has declined every year since 2011 while analysts expect double-digit annual declines to continue. Publishers grasp for new revenue streams, where big-name companies turn to online avenues to reel back its audience. In response to its hemorrhaging of revenue, Time Inc. has a new streaming TV show, “Paws & Claws”, which “will feature all of the adorable, viral and buzzworthy animal stories of the week.” The long-lived print product business is becoming overshadowed by the emergence of live events, podcasts, and other mediums that magazines just can’t deliver.

How has the satisfaction of flipping those thick glossy pages been replaced by the scroll of a webpage or swipe of a finger? As attractive as the flashy magazine covers are, people have opted for a much more dynamic digital experience. The digital era has curated an entirely new and personalized reading experience, where readers can skim and search for stories that interest us rather than reading what magazine editors think we’d like to read. We have the flexibility now to go from reading about the top 10 superfoods to reading about Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy conspiracy.

These changes represents a fundamental shift in our society, where “Sentimentality is probably the biggest enemy for the magazine business,” says David Carey, the president of Hearst Magazines. “You have to embrace the future”– a future where magazine covers are replaced by gifs and magazine stands are replaced by app stores.

“Eventually, they’ll become like sailboats,” he said. “They don’t need to exist anymore. But people will still love them, and make them and buy them.” So now the question lingers: is print media a dying industry, or simply one that is adapting and changing to our ever-changing world?

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Works Cited:

Maclean, L. (2010, May 20). Are magazines really dying out? | Lisa Maclean. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/20/magazines-zines-internet-ipad

Out Of Print & Out Of Touch: The Magazine Industry Is Dying. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2017, from https://www.uptownbourgeois.com/style/magazine-industry-dying

Sydney Ember And Michael M. Grynbaum. (2017, September 23). The Not-So-Glossy Future of Magazines. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/business/media/the-not-so-glossy-future-of-magazines.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbusiness-media

Warren, R. (2015, January 21). The Dying Magazine Blues. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roz-warren/the-dying-magazine-blues_b_6517738.html

A good reputation is an invaluable asset that cannot be reflected in the balance sheets, yet has the power to influence the masses. It only takes a single moment in time for a reputation to be tainted and for ethical codes to be broken; but when mistakes are made time and time again, the damages are virtually irreversible.  From scandals to blunders to PR disasters, Uber has experienced a plethora of blows to its company reputation and has learnt the hard way the negative repercussions  of functioning with questionable business ethics.

Uber’s cascading reputation lies within its multiple accusations of mistreatment of employees, harassment claims, and overall image of a company invested solely in profits and ignorant of ethical responsibilities. The infamous Susan Fowler sexual harassment claims catapulted Uber’s public image into the limelight, highlighting the company’s faults in dismissing an employees complaint as “treading on thin ice” and that she would be fired should she file another report. Uber senior management not only asked “if [Susan] had ever considered that [she] might be the problem and even claimed to have no prior knowledge of the issue. Fowler stressed the lack of responsibility taken by not only HR and upper management, but by Kalanick the company’s CEO. Following Fowler’s emergence, it was revealed that her case was not an isolated incident- Uber “simply brushed it aside and swept it under the carpet of collective Uber suffering”, says former Uber software engineer Keala Lusk.

Uber’s annus horibilis didn’t stop there- the company’s plummeting reputation continued apace as allegations of using secret illegal software surfaced. According toThe New York Times Uber had been using a took called Greyball to systematically deceive law enforcement officials in areas that the company practiced illegally. Using stolen intellectual property such as credit card information and geolocation data, the company strategically identified suspects to carry out sting operations. Was Uber protecting its drivers from harm from traffic citation, or did they violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, thereby intentionally obstructing justice in the process?

It’s often difficult for corporations to juggle both ethics and ambitions but it is crucial nonetheless. When ulterior motives of corporate leaders stronghold the company’s beliefs, the entire company’s reputation deteriorates like a piece of fine jewellery ,which, without proper care, is easily tarnished.Uber serves as an excellent example of the backlash a company must face in the wake of questionable ethical practices.

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