Source: https://blogs.ubc.ca/blessiecanete/2014/09/28/facebook-releasing-your-data-to-   millions-of-others/

After reading Blessie’s blog about Facebook, I completely agree with her view that their new ad platform, Atlas, is going to invade the privacy of users. Recently, I watched a video about a social media experiment. In this video, after searching for people on social media websites through current locations, a guy would randomly go up to the “victim” and start listing out his/her name, occupation, birthdays, pets, and all kinds of personal information. If anyone can search up this much information about a stranger on social media websites, it is hard to imagine what kind of information Atlas can collect and give out to other companies. Releasing these types of information to thousands of companies is basically like putting up all the information about a user onto a billboard, available for everyone to see. Just like what Blessie said, Atlas will be very useful for companies, but for users like us, it will be considered as a major violation of  privacy.

Source for Video: http://www.businessinsider.com/jack-vale-social-media-experiment-2013-11

In late August, Tim Hortons announced that they were merging together with Burger King. The new company is said to have a combined global sales of $23 billion and 18,000 locations in 98 countries, becoming the world’s third largest fast-food company. 

                 Tim Hortons Merge with Burger King

Many Canadians dislike the idea of Tim Hortons, a Canadian brand, being bought by the American fast-food company. TIm Hortons is an iconic Canadian brand and many Canadians see this merger as an overtake of yet another Canadian brand by our American counterpart. Many Canadians would choose Tim Hortons over Starbucks and other coffee brands simply because it is a Canadian company, but after this merger, Tim Hortons will no longer be considered “Canadian” by many. Being a Canadian myself, I can understand why many people feel this way, although, in my opinion, I think that this reaction caused by the merge is completely ironic. This is due to the fact that Tim Hortons has already been bought by the American company, Wendy’s, in 1995.

I support this merge because I see this as an opportunity for Tim Hortons to expand their market internationally. Currently, Tim Hortons has 4,546 restaurants located in Canada while Burger King has 13,667 restaurants internationally.  With this merge, TIm Hortons is planning to open up 800 more stores by the end of 2018, with more than 300 stores in the States, where they have had difficulty gaining a foothold in the market previously.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hortons-burger-king-agree-to-merger-deal-1.2746948

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hortons-plans-800-more-restaurants-1.2550508

Unethical Behavior

Employees with good ethics are extremely important to a business. It is the secret behind a successful business. Employees who are socially responsible generally work well in a team atmosphere and they also make better decisions for the business and the public. The issue of good ethics was addressed in the article “The Slippery Slope of Getting Away with the Small Stuff” by Bryan Borzykowski. In his article, he addressed to problems every business faces, employees who commit unethical acts at work, such as slacking off. In Freeman’s video, he also addressed to the problem that some employees do not give their 100% at work. In my opinion, this is a major problem for businesses. Employees who give 80% of what they are capable of doing at work will slowly give 70%, to 60%. This problem was referred to as the “slippery-slope effect” in Borzykowski’s article. If a business has employees who slack off, the business will be less likely to bloom because its workforce is not being 100% productive. Also, employees who see other employees get away with what they are doing will also do the same, contributing to a steady decline of productivity in a business.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140806-the-slippery-slope