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