Iris Gu'blog

I agree with James Lau that Peter’s blogs are always so funny and the titles are catchy. While it is true that it’s risky when a business tries something new but just as James mentioned, this is what businesses suppose to do. So I think adding guacamole in their buegers is a good idea. Peter mentioned one of its failed attempts Mcpizza, but McDonalds also has McCafé, which is a successful example and win many consumers.

From the video provided by James, we can see that McDonalds in Denver Colorado want to add guacamole in their burgers and sandwiches, which appeals to the native people’s tastes. To my mind, fast food brands like McDonalds and KFC are not just selling their classic burgers but trying to change themselves and add some local elements in their menus wherever they go. For example, in Canada, McDonalds has poutine in its menu. In India, almost all of the chicken is made spicy. In China, KFC serves soya milk, rice bowl and even youtiao(a traditional Chinese breakfast food). All these changes don’t confuse consumers but attract them more.

（KFC soya milk）

Also, keeping the position unchanged doesn’t mean make no changes at all. McDonalds still positions itself as fast food, but in a more healthy way. As we know, guacamole is a nutritious food beneficial to people. Adding this instead of the high-calories sauce in burgers is more suitable to people’s pursuit of both healthy and fast food today. Personally, I am looking forward to its change of becoming more healthy.

（KFC rice bowl）

resource：

http://blogs.ubc.ca/petermilobar/2014/09/30/holy-guacamole/

http://blogs.ubc.ca/jameslau/2014/11/07/re-holy-guacamole-by-peter-milobar/

http://www.kfc.co.in/menuchicken.php

http://www.kfc.com.cn/kfccda/index.aspx

Today is 11.11,Rememberance Day in Canada. Because the number 11.11 indicates always be alone, it’s regarded as the Singles’ Day in China. During these years, this day also has become Online Shopping Carnival. Being single had nothing to do with shopping online originally, but now shopping online in Double Eleven has become something necessary for most of the young single people, and, because of the good discount, it attracts customers of all ages. Double Eleven has already become the biggest national online shopping carnival.I have taken part in this event for few years and I almost look on it as a normal thing.However,When I browsed classmates’ blogs, Husan’s blog inspired me that I can use what I have learned to analyze the reason behind it.

(11.11 Shopping Carnival)

last year, in Double Eleven，Tmall and Taobao（the biggest online shopping platform in china，belongs to Alibaba）recorded sales of $5.75 billion, while this year’s sale is even more amazing, $9.3 billion in only one day!

(Jack Ma,Chairman of the Board of Alibaba)

The reason behind this enthusiasm is, first of all, online retailers know about the consumer psychology very well. Being single makes many young people,the major consumers of online retailers, feel depressed more or less. Online retailers keep strengthening the relation between being single and shopping online and telling the young that being alone can’t stop them from enjoying life by shopping online. Also, shopping helps people feel relaxed and happy according to some scientific researches, helping them feel less depressed temporarily of being single.

Also, online retailers know about the trend of selling during every year. November was always sales-off season for online retailers because there are no big festivals in November like October 1(Chinese National Day) and Christmas. Actually after the whole October many consumers have need for shopping again and they want to buy clothes for the coming winter but Christmas hasn’t come yet. So it won’t be more attractive when “sale off 50%” shines on the webpage for customers. What’s more, near the end of one year, many sellers have a clearance. Because of all these reasons, Double Eleven becomes a hit.

Resource:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29999289

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2546425/Feeling-sad-Then-hit-shops-really-works-Buying-makes-people-three-times-happier.html

First of all, social enterprise is not targeting at earning profit but at environmental and human well-being. So this means social enterprise not only requires enough funds but also needs strong social responsibility.

Even if the UN are funded enough and it can afford all the events beneficial to the society, the value it creates, in my opinion, is less than the value created by some social enterprises. For one thing, UN is supposed to benefit the society while social enterprises volunteer to do so. For another, during this procedure, the social entrepreneurs create social value, for example, by creating job opportunities to local people and decrease the unemployment rate, and they realizes his/her individual ambition and runs way from the tiring job without creativity like what Ms. Tesfaye did. However，the UN doesn’t create individual value.

Also, from what Arielle Uwonkunda mentioned (Non-profits that have donated money to Rwanda following the war but didn’t make a lasting impact) we can see that, many local entrepreneurs do not have enough knowledge to run a business well, which is more important than those start-up money for them. So such workshops and lessons provided by Arc are necessary for these local entrepreneurs.

Resorces:

Information provided in Class 20 Prep.

When I went to Grouse Mountain about a month ago. Danone had a food truck at the foot of the mountain and served its Oiko yogurt for free! This incidence made me more interested in learning about Danone, who is always regarded as a successful sustainable company.

In terms of the social measures from the Triple Bottom Line, Danone is always able to find out the weaknesses and drawbacks of its suppliers and consumers and the needs of the mass market, and turn it into the business opportunity. For example,it started a project to produce and sell nutritious yogurt produced by local small farms to children suffering from malnutrition in Bogra Bangladesh in a quite low price—10 cents each! Also,two of its objectives are to”help farmers to compete” and  “make the farmers proud”,Danone shows its respect and gratitude to key partners,which is beneficial for them to achieve joint interests.

In terms of the environmental measures,Danone has “Nature” program includng reducing environmental impact and improving milk quality.It is always looking for alternative feed for cows to reduce the methane emissions.Danone takes a positive attitude towards its own problems and tries to change them because if it doesn’t, these problems may destroy it eventually.

Danone’s success in sustainability is the reason that it can be one of the best world brands.As the founder,Antoine Riboud declared,”A company’s responsibility does not end at the door to the factory or the office.”The larger the company becomes,the more responsible it should be.Danone’s excellent achievement in social responsilibity reminds me of the “2008 Chinese milk scandal”.Such a strong cotrast tells us, there is still a long way for many chinese companies to grow into a really responsible and reliable company.They should study the example of Danone,not be anxious to get instant benefits in a immoral and illegal way but have a long-term vision and develop in a sustainable way.

resource:

1.http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/12/27/danones-recipe-sustainable-innovation?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greenbuzz+%28GreenBiz%29

2. https://www.google.ca/search?q=oiko&biw=1366&bih=640&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=H8ZfVImiAsffoATS0oLACg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_X57S9isPztgoM%3A%3Bd6YEkPo5IUWpSM%3B_X57S9isPztgoM%3A&imgrc=_X57S9isPztgoM%253A%3BN2SC_ORrZaY1VM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.danone.ca%252Fsites%252Fdefault%252Ffiles%252Fnew_look_EN.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.danone.ca%252Fen%252Fproducts%252Foikos%3B1290%3B390

BC Hydro, a Canadian crown corporate, has been opposed by a delegation of B.C. First Nation chiefs about building a $8 million-dollar Site C hydroelectric megaproject. Such a great project is now caught in a dilemma between B.C.’s need of electricity and first nation people’s activities.

However, the standoff can be broken by an alternative project provided by another independent power producer, Clean Energy BC(the news article), who declared have been building a more cost-effective electricity, which is said to be cheaper but no less powerful than Site C. And it is more likely that government will approve the project of Clean Energy BC rather than that of BC Hydro.

Clean Energy BC took the advantage of the controversial project and the opposition from the B.C. First Nation people, a special large group whose voiced must be listened by the government. Meanwhile, It was also a great opportunity for a private-power sector to beat the Canadian crown corporate,since under normal situation the indepent power producer is far less powerful than the government-owned corporation. In addition, the government indicated to have a decision about the project before the end of 2014, so Clean Energy BC definitely used the limited time for government to make a decision and must have a good communication group to engage the government with up-to-date information and its advantages over BC Hydro.

resource:

1.http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html

2.http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/crown-corporation/

picture is from the news article.

Blackberry was once the king in qwerty keyboard cellphone market, but these years, with the development and expanding of touch screen smartphone，Blackberry has experienced decline.

Although Blackberry has touch screen smartphone itself, it still wants to keep its leadership in keyboard cellphone market. It introduced a new product named “passport”, which is perfectly square and targeting at business people. The BlackBerry claims that “passport” is the ideal device for reading e-books, viewing documents and browsing the web.

However, I don’t think this passport can save the unavoidable decline of keyboard cellphone. Blackberry said passport is perfect for viewing document, but judging from the picture, the numbers and words in that full-screen excel table will be too small to read. Also, the wide keyboard seems not so comforble for typing.

What’s more, the awkward position which Blackberry in is that, it wants to vitalize the keyboard market again and keep the old loyal customers, so it isn’t willing to give it up. But in fact, we can already see the truth that the trend of touch screen phone is irreversible. Because Blackberry knows if it doesn’t design touch screen phones, it won’t survive. Two kinds of cellphone of the same company will compete for the market share，which is not beneficial for the company.

All good things come to an end. There’s no company who can be the winner all the time. Nokia, Blackberry, even Apple in the future, will all just be legends in the history.

Resource:

1.http://video.ft.com/3804495471001/BlackBerry-launches-square-phone/Companies

2.http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/blackberry-passport-square-screen-phone-previewed-1.2701068

3.http://tech.qq.com/a/20130428/000064.htm

4.the picture is fromhttp://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/07/passport-design/

Vintage Confections, Inc. is a small US lollipop company. It has a special product which lollipop with picture of planet of solar system inside.

Most customers of lollipop are kids, many of whom are interested in the universe and galaxy. Vintage combined these two elements together creatively,which was its differentiation in the lollipop market. This Customer Segment idea is a success according to customer’s feedback. The message on its website shows that a buyer’s son loves this candy very much.

However, as Rita McGrath, the author of Transient Advantage mentioned, the idea of establishing a unique competitive position for long periods of time is no longer relevant to most businesses. During online surfing, I find many people want to buy Vintage lollipop in china but the imported lollipop is expensive. And there exist imitators sell planet lollipops in a more available way at a lower price, causing great threat to Vintage company’ s exporting strategy.

Competition prompts changes. To maintain its learship, first of all, Vintage should encourage consumers to report and complain about the fake products. What’s more, reposition and advertise its advantage as using eatable healthy dye not the potentially harmful one. Make sure to establish the image of having much higher quality than other cheap ones in consumers’ minds.

Resource:

1.http://www.vintageconfections.com/products/planet-lollipops

2.http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9a135bb3-b3f7-49b4-be12-b83af49eee41%40sessionmgr198&vid=1&hid=102

picture:

1.https://www.google.ca/search?q=vintage+planet+lollipop&biw=1138&bih=533&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=PtsxVM3gA8WpogSd7YHgCQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=4jNv13DqzXsxdM%253A%3BtFZRd-QUloCWtM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcdn.shopify.com%252Fs%252Ffiles%252F1%252F0148%252F9715%252Fproducts%252Fvintage-12.jpg%253Fv%253D1366422965%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcolossalshop.com%252Fproducts%252Fsolar-system-lollipops%3B1000%3B652

2.https://www.google.ca/search?q=vintage+planet+lollipop&biw=1138&bih=533&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=PtsxVM3gA8WpogSd7YHgCQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=2_e5MjhImcjCRM%253A%3Brm6bhgRwn-evfM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcdn.shopify.com%252Fs%252Ffiles%252F1%252F0207%252F9574%252Fproducts%252F10_piece_planet_copyright.jpg%253Fv%253D1409776738%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.vintageconfections.com%252Fproducts%252Fplanet-lollipops%3B2048%3B1413

Few days ago, I found that among all the wraps in the dining hall, the green ones sold best. It reminded me of the tutorial class when Juan mentioned the color of the brand of Nestle and Starbucks influenced their sales volume.

The connection between the good’s color and customer’s choice interested me. According to the author of how color affects food choices, customers eat with their eyes first. And the light green, as the graph shows, is always related to nature. Also, students who choose wraps as their meal mostly pursue a healthy lifestyle since wraps only contain the low-calorie salad and vegetables. Green, the color of many healthy and nutritious vegetables, caters to those people’s needs.

Furthermore, I made a online research among my high schoolmates back in China. However, most people choose yellow or white. They don’t trust colorful food, since so many food safety issues related to artificial colors have happened during the past years in China. Also, the first reaction about food’s color is associated with personal experience. For example, Ding never wants green food because he associates it with the “disgusting” matcha flavor.

To sum up, the customer preference is not easy to guess. It is connected with the specific social environment and personal experiences. To know it, we are not only supposed to consider the psychology reason, but also do the real market research.

GROUP	COLOR	HOW IT MAKES YOU FEEL	WHY IT INFLUENCES YOU	WHERE YOU ARE LIKELY TO SEE IT
warm (exciting)	Red	Energetic, hungry	It activates your pituitary gland and increases your heart rate	Logos and calls to action
	Orange	Enthusiastic, cheerful	It is a combination of aggressive red and cheerful yellow	Calls to action (subscribe, buy, etc)
cool (calming)	Blue	Secure and trustworthy	It is associated with sky (therefore universally liked)	Money and business related websites (banks, loans, etc)
	Green	Stable, wealthy (deep green)	It is the easiest color for the eyes	Testimonials, founder’s story, etc. Finance related websites (e.g. Forex related)
		Calm (light green)	It is associated with spring and nature	Entertainment and leisure related websites

Resources:

1.the graph: http://www.seosmarty.com/brand-color/

2.”how color affects food choices”_Costa Magoulas   http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1553&context=thesesdissertations

Apple introduced its newest products. Most of its cellphones, are made by over a million young and cheap labor force in the “sweatshop”, Foxconn which puts its employees in the appalling working conditions and causes high rate of suicide.

Making profit at the sacrifice of workers’ health is immoral. Profit isn’t the only pursuit of a company. Foxconn’s Management Module ignores civil right. The feeling of isolation and desperation towards their future are the direct reasons for the suicide.

We can’t simplify the problem, ignore the further social factors and place all the blame on the company. However, if the company has high level of business ethics and is committed to protecting employees’ legitimate rights, such tragedies would not have happened again and again.

Undoubtedly, sticking to the old management module and pursuing the maximum profit regardless civil rights violate the business ethics. For another, applying robots in the Assembly Line（Foxconn‘s plan） will make a large group of people lose job, which operates against Milton Friedman’s Social Responsibility Theory. What Foxconn really needs to do is finding a balance between the two extreme cases above，which is providing job opportunities while applying technology to relieve workers’ burden and giving them humanistic care.

sources:

image1

image2

optional reading:

foxconn begins replacing workers with robots ahead of US expansion

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