Month: October 2010

Today, we discussed if companies should concern about environmental issues. I personally think enviromentally friendly is not against the profit  of a company but can actually help the company in some ways. Take the water company, Bonaqua in Hong Kong as an example, they successfully built up its green image. They emphaised that they use less plastic on the water bottle which is environmentally friendly. In addition, because of less used in plactic, the cost of production will decrease which will increase in profit. The company also hired a few popular singers to promote this product. With less plastic , poeple can easily squeeze the water bottle into a smaller volume. This way, the water bottle will save the recycle space up to 86%. For my observation, the strong competitor for the water market, Watson is now weaken after Bonaqua change the company image into postive and green.

https://www.bonaqua.com.hk/bwoV2/webui/home/index2.aspx   (Feel free to check out the website of bonaqua.)

In Vancouver, we also have Nestle which provide environmentally friendly product, the natural spring water. It says on the label of the water bottle, ”smaller cap = less plastic”. If people who are environmentally friendly, then they will eventually support these products. That is the reason why I support the idea of business concerning about enviroment issue.

Has anyone heard of Playbook? If you did the econ mid term, then I can guarantee that you did. After the econ mid term, I went on the internet and searched for Playbook. The Playbook is a new stragtegy for RIM, the company behind blackberry. Since Apple is encroaching on RIMs smart phone market, RIM is now fighting back with its new product, playbook in Apple’s dominating tablet market. It sets the product in a right segment with an attractive name. Even thougth Playbook is not the first successful product for the market, it is competitive. RIM’s acquisition of the software company, QNX, puts some new technology in Playbook, which makes it more competitive to Ipad. For example, flash web sites now works on the PlayBook; it also supports the creation of applications in both Flash and Adobe Air, etc. RIM is trying to build on its brand loyalty and to expand into related markets. Now, the product, Playbook is changing the image of RIM which is professional and functional, into cooler and hipper looking. Therefore, it is trying to attract the market of trendy and image conscious young people. This way, if Playbook is successful in the future, RIM can use the advantage to influence the smart phone market.

http://www.calliflower.com/2010/09/29/rims-new-strategy-playbook/

The video played in class talks about how powerful social media is which reminds me of Dave Carroll’s case.

In spring 2008, Dave Carroll was going to Omaha, by way of Chicago. Just after landing at O’Hare airport, he discovered that his guitar was being heaved around. So he immediately complained to the flight attendents, but got an indifferent response. After arrival in Nebraska, he found his guitar was smashed, then he had to spend $1200 to repair it. Worse, the airline,United refused to pay him back from the damage of his guitar. That made Carroll angry and composed a song telling others what United airline did him.

This song became very popular on youtube, around 461 people commented on it, while most of the comments are maligning the airline. I think people’s reaction to the song gave pressure to United and that’s why United contacted Carroll directly to make things right.

I believe the image and reputation of United airline suffered after Carroll’s song published. Everything has two sides; in this case, Carroll got his money back, which he deserved; this represent the positive side . Yet, the revenge to United Airlines by discrediting its reputation shows the negative side of social media. It proves how powerful social media is, and not only by statistics, but an actual life story.

If you want to read the whole story, you can go to Carroll’s website:

http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/ubg/