I recently stumbled upon this post by blogger Dan Harris which talks about the lack of Chinese brands internationally. As a Chinese Canadian, this immediately piqued my interest. In his post, Dan explains that Chinese firms generally do not value marketing, but rather treat it as an “expendable expense”. In this post, marketing was once again shown to be a key factor in the success of a company- especially when competing internationally.  I think that this lack of marketing may be due to the lack of emphasis on creativity and expression in the Chinese society, which generally advocates for stability and quantitative skills. Unfortunately for Chinese companies, marketing is an essential tool for companies to grow and expand, as it can promote the brand’s image and let the public know of the company’s product. With the proper advertisements and promotions, companies can make their product unique and differentiated, which we learned in class. Well planned and well executed marketing can actually add value to products, and if Chinese companies do not begin to recognise the significance of an innovative marketing campaign, I fear that they will forever fall short of becoming globally prominent brand names.

Dan’s Blog: http://www.chinalawblog.com/2014/11/china-brands-what-china-brands.html

Image:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/img/attachement/jpg/site1/20120807/d4bed9d6d020118b119911.jpg

In Jennifer Mavor’s post about going “above and beyond” in Customer Services, she talks about the importance of customer services for a business. I certainly agree that customer services are very important aspect to a business’ success, and especially now with the tools that consumers have to share information over the internet, such as Yelp. In this digital age, maintaining a positive image in the customer’s minds is huge for a company.

Jennifer mentions the fact that for a company to have every member of the company dedicated to providing the best possible service, it is vital for the employees to fully buy into the company’s “core values”. While I agree, I think that achieving such a lofty goal would be incredibly difficult for many companies- especially those that expanded without emphasis on customer service. I think that a better way to motivate employees, rather than hope that they comply with the company’s values, is to provide incentives for them to do a certain behavior. The company should provide rewards for behavior that is aligned with the company’s expectations for customer service. This would make it a lot more straightforward for not only the employees to follow, but also for the management to track progress made.

Jennifer’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jennifermavor/2014/10/30/businesses-that-go-above-and-beyond-in-customer-service/

Image: http://blog.sweetiq.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/customer-service2.jpg

In class we are frequently told that “business is about people”, something that is often forgotten. Behind every successful company is a team of committed employees who cooperate and work together to not only create the most stunning products, but also to enable companies to attract and retain consumers with excellent customer service. Therefore, it should be of the utmost important for all businesses to “attract, develop and retain young leaders” (as stated in the article).

This article reveals that as the workforce changes, so too must the organizational models and workplace environments of the companies change. As the newer, younger generation of workers begin to look for employment opportunities, businesses may have to completely change how they operate their Human Resources department, in order to appeal to the “millenials” that now make up much of the workforce. This was fascinating to me because the concept of businesses adapting to the workforce is rather novel, and I had previously never considered it. This article helped me realize that business is really about so much more than just making a product, marketing the product and calculating the profit made. Business really is about the people! Without the right teamwork or organizational culture, it is very difficult for a company to succeed.

Article: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/09/16/like-it-or-not-millennials-will-change-the-workplace/

Image: http://necando.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/social-networking.jpg

This article talks about the issue of global warming, and how the world leaders are trying to deal with it, mentioning the fact that the Rockefeller family (of the Standard Oil Co.) have decided to exit their oil and coal investments. This is a symbolic gesture that will hopefully lead to an overall commitment worldwide to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy sources such as solar or wind powered energy. This touches upon the issue of sustainability that we learned in class, which is a growing concern for businesses and governments worldwide. For a company to become sustainable is a hugely positive thing for not only the environment, but can also help create shared value between the company and society.

I think that the Rockefeller family’s actions should be an inspiration to companies throughout the world to consider what their operations are doing to the planet, and to seriously consider monitoring and improving their performance from an environmental point of view. If a company that was raised by the oil industry can have the forward-thinking judgment to exit, then other companies should definitely be pursuing more sustainable options for their business.

Article: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/energy/Rockefellers+oilsands+coal+business+citing+climate/10225057/story.html?__lsa=43bb-a621

In this post from my classmate Jia Wei, he describes a situation where energy drink maker Red Bull has settled a law suit with a customer over “false advertisement”. This to me, seems like a case where Red Bull’s ever innovative and captivating marketing campaign has fired back against them. In the field of marketing, the end-goal will always be to differentiate your company’s product from others in the industry- convincing consumers to buy your product rather than your competitor’s. This is a topic that I find very interesting, because the fine line between being creatively honest and fictional is where the best marketing teams operate and can completely transform the success of a company.

However in this case, I cannot agree with the arguments that Jia Wei has put forth. He states that the slogan “Red Bull gives you wings”, and the use of sports icons to advertise the good was unethical marketing. I believe that this is good marketing, targeting a wide variety of customer segments with a catchy and imaginative slogan. I think that true false advertising shouldn’t be due to a creative marketing campaign, but rather when the company is actually lying to the consumer about what is in their product- like what Coca-Cola was sued for this summer. In this case, the company was actually hiding the true percentage of juice from their consumers, and deceiving consumers about what they are drinking.

Jia Wei Liew’s Post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jiaweiliew/2014/10/11/red-bulls-marketing-failure/

Image: http://www.bwsummerfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Red-Bull-logo-high-res-2.jpg

Alton Natural Gas Storage has started a $100 million project in Nova Scotia that would have 3 large salt caverns covering over 1 kilometer used to store natural gas. This has raised huge concerns throughout the Mi’kmaq community who claim that the residents of the proposed mining areas “don’t even know what’s happening”. The Mi’kmaq residents have started a peaceful protest to the project, in order to protect the local ecosystem and environment. The mining process would have water being pumped into the underground salt caverns, and the residual brine water flowing back into the natural river systems. This will obviously impact the ecosystem negatively, and it is natural for residents to react to this. However, I believe that the company has already gone about the process in the correct manner, and the president of the company has released statements saying that they have worked with the Mi’kmaq for 8 years leading up to the start of the drilling, including two Mi’kmaq ecological studies. I think that when dealing with sensitive issues such as this one, regarding land and ecology it is certainly a wise move for Alton to go through the proper channels and proceed with caution. At the end of the day, I believe that at this point it is about weighing the benefits of natural gas storage against the possible ecological damage. From the article, I think that the company has not intentionally infringed upon Mi’kmaq land, nor have they done anything unethical.

Article and Image: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/first-nations-residents-slow-traffic-on-nova-scotia-highway-to-protest-gas-project-1.2033440

This article talks about Kraft’s new branding and positioning for their famous food product: Jell-o. It states that the previously “neglected” Jell-O will be rebranded as more of a snack- a “food-for-fun”. This is undoubtedly done to regain the favour of target sector of children and families. I found this article very interesting because not only was it created a direct link with what we learnt in class to the real world. I previously never would have considered that an iconic product like Jell-O would need to be rebranded to continue being successful. However, this article made me realise the importance that brand positioning carries, and the difficulties that can come with building an advertising campaign to accompany the rebranding of products.  Furthermore, the article also gave me an insight on the importance of figures and statistics in marketing, and the significance of gathering accurate and relevant data. This is because without both qualitative and quantitative data regarding your consumers, it is nearly impossible to find the unique angle required to gain favour with your consumers.

I think that Kraft is very smart to recreate Jell-O’s image to cater towards a more and more fast-paced world, where snacks are increasing in popularity and classic desserts are becoming left behind. I think this will be a successful move for Kraft, because Jell-O is already a ubiquitously known product, and therefore breaking into the category of snacks should be a relatively straightforward transition.

 photo taken from: http://www.jello.com/product/jello-snacks/strawberry

The article in question: http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-launches-campaign-revive-jell-o/243616/

Tesco has overstated its half-year profit margin by around 250 million pounds, and has now launched an internal investigation to find the root cause for this case of fraudulent financial reporting. This has caused their stocks to fall by around 10%, most likely due to a loss in trust from external stakeholders. Fraudulent reporting is a big problem in financial accounting, and unfortunately occurs far too often. In the article, it states that analysts’ have criticized Tesco in the past for “taking money from suppliers’ trading accounts” or “extending payments without notice”. In my opinion, this seems to be a classic case of a company thinking that they can conceal their fraudulent operations, and we can infer from the fact that the chairman himself released a statement saying “things are always unnoticed until they are noticed” that Tesco did not have strong internal controls prior to this fiasco. The company should have closely monitored the statistics that they were releasing for the stakeholders and making sure that they were trustworthy. The management of Tesco has evidently been operating unethically, valuing their extra income over providing their shareholders with the correct information, and I think that under the circumstances Tesco has acted well in suspending their 4 executives.

Although gaining back the trust of their shareholders will be difficult, it is certainly still possible. The first step will be hiring new management and accountants that will not be tempted by greed but rather follow the path of honesty.

Article:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29306444

Image sources:

http://www.logoeps.net/tesco-logo-eps-pdf-files.html

With the launch of the new Blackberry phone “Blackberry Passport”, it’s clear that they are very focused on not directly competing with behemoths such as Apple’s iPhone, but rather to win back their old niche segment of consumers. The new phone is heavily targeted towards businessmen and women, with the key features being the physical keyboard, wide screen, as well as a strong emphasis on security. I think that this is a very smart business strategy, because they are not only offering a cheaper smartphone (at only $700), but also a differentiated product that separates Blackberry from other phones that will appeal to a different segment of consumers.

Furthermore, security in the digital age has become an increasingly pressing issue, especially recently in light of the hacking of Apple’s iCloud system. Therefore, I think that it is a wise decision for Blackberry to come out and make a statement out of putting an emphasis on security, which will appeal not only to businesses and professionals, but might also entice more of the mainstream market to seek a more secure smartphone option. The launch of the Passport could be the catalyst to allow Blackberry to bounce back from their recent woes and become innovators once again.

Article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/blackberrys-chen-on-new-passport-big-screen-lower-cost-than-iphone/article20718050/

Images:

http://blogs.which.co.uk/technology/smartphones/blackberry-q20-classic-blackberry-phone/

http://www.phonearena.com/news/BlackBerry-Passport-first-look_id58749

I stumbled upon an article in the Globe and Mail regarding a “projected billion dollar” industry that surrounds a new, and rather innovative form of marketing. This new technique would be using scent to entice customers, and to associate a specific fragrance to the company or brand. This business of “emotional transport”, as put by the article has received a lot of critical feedback saying that it is unethical for companies to alter the consumer’s mood and emotions through scent. However, I would tend to disagree with these statements because I think that this type of marketing is no different from any other form, be it billboards or advertisements on television. I think if you are to deem this “scent marketing” unethical then you are also condemning the entire industry of marketing as being unethical. All forms of marketing aim to activate our senses in some way and I don’t think that our sense of smell should be treated any different.  I actually believe that this form of subtle marketing is preferable to nauseously bright billboards, loud video advertisements or constantly thrusting sexual imagery in our faces.

The article in question is linked here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fashion-and-beauty/beauty/when-scent-crosses-the-ethical-line/article20517586/