I read Chloe Hoy’s  blog post on the small grocery store in Kitsilano named Pirate Joe’s that won the law battle against grocery chain Trader Joe’s. Chloe talked about how Michael Hallatt, owner of Pirate (also known as ‘Irate’) Joe’s is operating his store. I agree with her view on Trader Joe’s not being in a strong position against the small grocery store since they do not operate in Canada for the time being.

I think that Hallatt is a smart entrepreneur as Chloe mentions and a risk-taker because it is not easy to deal with such a large company even if you are right. Being attracted by his actions I did a further research on him and guess what, he is not willing to stop here. His is planning on entering  the fast food industry and now challenge the giant called McDonald.

He plans to open a fast food burger joint with a big black letter M for a logo. Some of his words are: “Let’s say you see my black M and you’re thinking that must be a reference to McDonald’s in some way, you know it’s a free market,”…“McDonald’s doesn’t have a copyright on the letter M, I don’t think”. I am very curious to find out what will happen when and if he opens his restaurant. Will he get in trouble again?

Source:

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/offbeat/story/1.2421233

photo source:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/trader-joe-s-lawsuit-against-b-c-upstart-pirate-joe-s-scuttled-by-u-s-judge-1.1483029

Snapchat  is the new hot messaging app with over 5 million users every day. What makes it unique is that messages or photos are allowed to be deleted from the recipient’s mobile device shortly after they are sent.

Recently Snapchat rejected a $3 billion all-cash offer from Facebook however, is this decision smart or deadly for the only two year old company that has no revenue? The rejection of such a high offer was very impressive. I think that deep down it is based on how confident Evan Spiegel, Snapchat’s 23-year-old co-founder and chief executive officer, is about his company and how much risk his company can take.  Sometimes, the bottom line isn’t just about money.

Snapchat  believes its either getting a higher offer or is becoming the next “big thing” in communication. We can’t do anything to accurately predict what will be Snapchat’s future but there are great examples that can favor the decision of the company. For example, Google’s decision not to sell itself to Yahoo for $1 million or even Facebook that now tried to make the acquisition, didn’t sell itself to Yahoo for $1 billion.

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tristanlouis/2013/11/16/snapchat-and-other-best-and-bungled-billion-dollars-offers/

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/13/snapchat-facebook-buyout-offer-rejected

http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-facebook-offer-2013-11

photo source:

http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-facebook-offer-2013-11

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tristanlouis/2013/11/16/snapchat-and-other-best-and-bungled-billion-dollars-offers/

The lectures we had in social entrepreneurship  was very interesting to me so I did a further search on it and I found an article in “The Globe and Mail” written by the professor Jeff Kroeker. Its about Lunapads, a company driven by its social objective of providing to  girls in developing countries its hygiene products.  Its managed to expand and increase its revenue while at the same time making a difference in the world.

In my opinion, Lunapads is a great example of exactly what newly established companies should have as  a primary goal.  Providing social benefits should be as important as the goal of expanding  and increasing profits. In that way both society and the companies profit and benefit. In order to achieve a 10% increase in revenue and for its products to reach more than 100,000 girls, Lunapads partnered with AFRIpads.

This action shows the willingness of the company  in achieving its social goal while dealing with one of the main problems in Africa which is the lack of access of feminine hygiene products. Social entrepreneurship can work with the goals of a for-profit company.

Sources:

www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/customer-service/how-to-expand-your-business-while-doing-good/article11967662/

http://lunapads.com/

photo source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/john-f-gray/vancouver-lunapads-periods-africa-girls-school-oprah-winfrey_b_2472899.html

Being a huge soccer fan, when we talked in class about Facebook’s IPO and its ill-fated debut in the NASDAQ stock exchange in May 2012  I couldn’t help but remember when my favorite English team, none other than Manchester United, made its IPO debut on the  New York stock exchange the same year.

The fear that as Facebook’s IPO was disappointing the same might happen to Manchester United IPO, since both are enormous in size.   One day before the soccer club’s IPO the share price fell to $14 from $16-$20 that initially was set.The situation was exactly opposite from Facebook’s where the share price rose to $38 just before going public.

From the mistakes that might have been made in the past, new companies when deciding to go public, are taking cautious action by preferring to gain maybe less like Manchester United, rather than starting off big and losing later, like Facebook. During the lecture in Finance we also talked about Twitter IPO where again based on the mistake Facebook did (went public after 8 years) managed to have a successful IPO.

Sources:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/aug/10/manchester-united-ipo-share-prices

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/david-ebersman-the-man-behind-facebook%E2%80%99s-i-p-o-debacle/?_r=0

photo source:

http://www.smscs.com/photo/manchester_united_logo_wallpaper/15.html#.UobGw-LiH3E

Gabriel Cheung’s Blog post on the launch of the Coca-Cola advertising campaign that triggered my interest. Gabriel talks about how Coca-Cola is trying to promote a healthier lifestyle by trying to have a leading role in the fight against obesity. He also mentions that Coca-Cola should have tried to promote its brand in another way and not through the concept of being a healthy product.

I agree with Gabriel as there’s a dichotomy between being healthy and active and having coca cola identified as part of an unhealthy diet. In consumers’ minds coca-cola is perceived as a tasty but also as an unhealthy beverage and this links us directly to what we have talked in class about brand positioning.I believe that Coca-Cola, by trying to alter consumers perception about its product, won’t enhance the brand at all.People are misled, promoting health is exactly opposite from what the product truly is.

On top of that, their ad campaign of convincing people that aspartame is a healthy alternative to sugar has even a more negative impact on the company. Aspartame, according to several studies, is dangerous because it increases weight gain and can cause certain cancers.

Sources:

http://www.alternet.org/food/why-coca-colas-new-ad-campaign-may-be-dangerous-your-health

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/13/coca-cola-aspartame-diet-soft-drinks/2650755/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/

photo source:

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-coca-cola-146573

Depending on how a product is presented to me the first time, I tend to shape my opinion about it and the company that produces it. The company that comes first in my mind and in the consumers mind, when thinking about a specific product are the ones that have the larger market share and the most profitable

Take Toms shoes as an example. The new campaign that the company follows is called “One for One” where for each pair of shoes that is sold a pair is given to an impoverished child,http://www.toms.com/our-movement/l#stepbystep, This gives the company an image of a charity and of social awareness.

In class we talked about value proposition and brand positioning and the impact it has to the consumers’ minds. Companies like Toms have strong points of difference that makes them unique and helps them be more successful.

The more competitive a market is the better positioning a company needs to obtain in order to be profitable. A great example is the soft drink industry. Advertising can have a great influence on consumers.  An example is Pepsi and Coca-Cola. The video we saw in class illustrates exactly the power of advertising. Positioning is valid for the success of the company.

Sources:

http://www.toms.com/our-movement/l#stepbystep

photo source:

http://crochettoms.com/content/1729-looking-good-and-feeling-good-have-a-whole-new-definition

Dr. Mahesh Nagarajan introduced the concepts of operations and supply chain management and he gave us an idea of how important these are. Businesses rely on these concepts in order to be able to keep a balance between cost and performance.

Starbucks, one of the larger companies in the coffee industry, have both very effective operations management system and also a consistent and well developed supply chain system.That is one of the reason why is as successful as we know it is today.

What is very impressive about Starbucks supply chain system is that each cup of coffee is made using products coming from almost 19 different countries. In that way  Starbucks can expand easily and unite many countries either they are in the developed or in the developing world. “The magic bean shop”  as the supply chain is named is very difficult process and great organization is needed.

Operational and chain management are very important in order every business to function properly and effectively.

Sources:

http://www.supplychain247.com/article/behind_the_scenes_at_starbucks_supply_chain_operations

www.starbucks.ca

photo source:

http://business.inquirer.net/54427/starbucks-plans-china-expansion

http://www.supplychain247.com/article/behind_the_scenes_at_starbucks_supply_chain_operations

The latest news in the Smartphone industry that I couldn’t ignore is the fall in the market share that BlackBerry Ltd has faced. Due to high competition that exists in the Smartphone industry and the rapid changes that occur due to technological improvements, companies within that industry need to be cutting edge and their R&D departments must always try innovative thinking.  BlackBerry didn’t manage to accomplish either of these.

According to market research firm ABI research, BlackBerry smartphone business is in free fall with market share of less than 2% in the third quarter of 2013.

The fall in the market share of the company is linked with the Porter’s five force Analysis (competitor analysis) that we learned in class. The theory, gives managers some insight of the degree of competition. Blackberry, despite being in a very competitive industry, ignored the rapid growth and development of the other firms (major competitors Apple, Samsung). The company didn’t recognize that consumers’ tastes and preferences were changing. Changes in the operational system didn’t occur within Blackberry when a new model was introduced. All these factors led to the decline of the once major smartphone producer.

Source:

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/09/24/four-things-blackberry-could-have-done-to-compete-in-the-smartphone-wars/

http://bgr.com/2013/10/30/blackberry-market-share-q3-2013

photo source:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/17/2712775/rim-blackberry-10-long-road-developers

http://bgr.com/2013/10/30/blackberry-market-share-q3-2013

Being ethical is not as easy as it sounds. To follow moral and ethical principles may not be in line or in favor of a company’s stakeholders.   The needs of the global community may not align with the goals of a for-profit organization.   A great example that shows that the world is not ready for switching entirely to being ethical is what had happened to Chiquita Brands, an American firm which is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of bananas and other fruits.

Chiquita chose not to use  fuel from Canadian tar sands in their ships and trucks.  They said that the extraction of the oil is made with no respect to the environment. This action resulted in Chiquita being  boycotted by the Ethical Oil organization. Chiquita was the only company that took this step, even though they had acted unethically by paying protection money to Colombian paramilitary forces surrounding its plantations –  they have now admitted to this infraction.  Once again the company’s decision had negative consequences. The company had to face American and Colombian lawsuits.

I believe that in order to be able to progress more companies should act as Chiquita – they paid a price for ethical business and proved that being ethical is not easy and in many cases can be an expensive process but in the end its worth doing.

Sources:

http://www.economist.com/node/21551500 http://www.buzzle.com/articles/grants-for-starting-a-green-business.html

http://www.chiquita.com/The-Chiquita-Difference/Ethics-Codes-of-Conduct.aspx

photo source:

 http://business.financialpost.com/2011/12/16/oil-sands-embroiled-in-banana-wars/