“Does a Low Price Mean Good Value or Bad Quality?” This is a question that consumers often ask themselves.  Steve Posavac also points out that “most people simultaneously believe that low prices mean good value, and that low prices mean low quality.”

However, in terms of a specific good,  one of the conclusions above tends to dominate the person’s mind, based on certain external motivators. For example, during Black Friday’s sales season, most people believe that low price means higher value rather than poor quality even if it doesn’t . In order to distinguish between good value and low quality, Customers should try to minimize the effects caused by outside factors such as ads and make a rational decision, meaning that they can get the highest value of good at the lowest price. Assuming that the price of a product remains the same all the time, it might be better for one to buy the good in the future if he/she is not in urgent need because the future time value of a specific amount of money is higher than that of the present.

Reference:

http://business.time.com/2012/11/14/does-a-low-price-mean-good-value-or-bad-quality/#ixzz2CetcTMur

“The Case for More Social Entrepreneurship” says that the public now pay more and more attention to social enterprise. An increasing number of social entrepreneurs emerge in BC and they start to assume the obligation as charities do.  Currently, most of the social enterprise businesses in BC are community-focused and they “get the predominant percentage of its revenue via earned income through a market service, while the remaining percentage is generated through more conventional charitable means (such as fundraising, grants and donations).” However, social enterprise business is still more sustainable than a traditional charity is.

The government and society should give more support to social entrepreneurs because their non-profit businesses face with more financial pressure and risks, compared to a traditional business. Instead of donating money to a charity, it might be a better choice for people or philanthropist to invest in social enterprise as the business can sustain itself and eventually create more social returns. Furthermore, post-secondary institutions such as Sauder School of Business have started their Social Entrepreneurship Program, meaning that  more well-educated social entrepreneurs will devote their enthusiasm to make a better world.

Reference:

http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/charity-and-philanthropy/case-more-social-entrepreneurship?#featurelist

The blog post “Knowing Your Business Competitors” published by Mike Michalowicz gives some suggestions to young entrepreneurs who want to start new businesses and make something that does not exist before.

As is said in the post, the business needs to offer the market something that “is currently missing; whether it is better efficiency, lower prices or higher quality”, which can be considered as the value proposition of the company.

As a consequence,  “knowing the competitors” becomes crucial because this can help entrepreneurs make correct decisions in terms of the direction of the company, avoid losses and evaluate the market.

One of the best ways to get to know the competitors is using online research. Through the Internet, entrepreneurs can easily get access to the data they need. For example, knowing some of the strategic mistakes their rivals have made can help entrepreneurs avoid doing the same thing . On the planning stage,entrepreneurs should make full use of the information that is available to make the best choice. And, the final target of the business should be providing customers things that competitors don’t have, which can differentiate the business from the competitors.

Reference:

http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/getting-clients/knowing-your-business-competitors/

At present time, a growing number of TV viewers use “second screen” devices (i.e. smart phones, tablets or laptops) while watching TV, compared to the past. This new phenomenon affects the ads-skipping behaviour, meaning that the existence of “second screen” actually gets TV viewers stop skipping the ads.

When there is a commercial break, people now tend to shift to their second screens like smart phones to check their texts,emails or Facebook rather than change the channel, head to the kitchen or even turn off the TV. As a consequence, advertisers are happy to see this trend, hoping that the commercials can attract more customers. Since TV viewers like to use their electronic devices during the commercial break, the sound of the ads becomes more important because people listen to the ads rather than watch the ads.Accordingly, advertisers should now pay more attention to the sound effect of ads, for the sake of grabbing people’s attention.

This is one example of how technology changes advertising as well as business. And in current society, technology plays an important role in running a business because it can provides companies more opportunities.

Reference:

A Simple Way to Get TV Viewers to Stop Skipping the Ads

America is now experiencing an unequal economy growth, which means the richer get richer and the poorer get poor. China is also undergoing this situation. Some people believe that the inequality is essential in terms of rewarding success and entrepreneurship.

However, the inequality may also bring social unrest. There are several causes of the growing inequality. One of them is the weakness in basic education. Take America as an example, there is no doubt that America’s superior post-secondary education creates a group of high earners. However, a significant number of low class population are not able to move up into an upper class because of bad basic education. Another main reason of the inequality is the lack of regulation over businesses. Some institutions create large profits, but at the same time, they incur costs that fall on everyone else such as pollution and bailouts that draw from tax payers’ money. As a result of social inequalities, more and more social entrepreneurs appear, trying to improve this phenomenon. Yet, it is still the government’s obligation to reduce the inequality and help everyone get better off.

Reference:

What Should Be Done About Growing Inequality?

Virgin America is regularly voted to be one of the top airlines in America. It offers premium services including leather seats, fleet-wide wi-fi, live TV and so on.  

The company is unique within the industry because an increasing number of airlines try to squeeze more customers in one plane while Virgin America continues to provide outstanding services.

However, in terms of running a business, the airline is not successful. The company has posted a huge net loss of $671 million and an operating loss of $447 million. The significant loss is due to the wrong strategy Virgin Company has.

The premium services it provides come along with high price, and not all of customers are willing to pay for it. In the airline industry, the buyer power and the threat of substitutes are high. The consumers can easily choose another airline company if Virgin America doesn’t appeal to them. Most consumers tend to choose the flight which offers a low price.  Virgin America also  has a false assumption that the customers will choose product quality over price. This assumption pushes the company off the right track especially when the company is “new born” and it needs to increase its market share.

Reference:

Why an Airline That Travelers Love Is Failing

McDonald’s has just started a campaign in June, “Our Food. your questions“,  aiming to “foster a message of transparency, and … recoup its image within social media”. The consumers are encouraged to pose their questions to McDonald’s through various social media like Facebook and twitter. And they will get the answers they want.

The company has received more than 6,000 questions so far and has clarified numerous questions by making videos, and those videos are quite popular among the consumers. One of them “showing how pictures of the chain’s food is manipulated to look more appetizing in ads is the fourth most popular Canadian-made ad on YouTube”. Meanwhile, McDonald’s has successfully promoted its products and built a image in consumer’s mind that McDonald’s produces high quality fast foods and is the leader in the market.

McDonald’s tries to consolidate its role as the market leader; at the same time, the company wants to offer consumers a good dining experience by delivering its value proposition, which is a brand promise including food security, appealing flavours, low price, etc.

Reference:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/from-twitter-to-tv-mcdonalds-offers-answers/article4583492/

http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/questions/1210

Katya’s post describes iOS 6 users’ great disappointment with Apple’s replacement of the Google Maps with its own “Apple Maps”. The customers are quite upset by the defects and weakness in iOS 6 map rather than surprised by the new features, including turn-by-turn navigation and 3D flyover.

Apple would be better off now if Google Maps was not integrated into previous generations of iphone. Google Maps has already got “into the mind of consumer” and consolidated its role as the leader of the maps market. However, despite the fact that iOS6 maps does have quite a few flaws, it’s positioned as the very top in the market by Apple rather than a follower, which leads to even greater dissatisfaction. As a consequence, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, later on apologized for the poor performance of iOS 6 maps to all the users.

Currently, Apple’s priority shoud be improving the quality of its product; in this way, the 3D flyover feature and turn-by-turn navigation function are able to  differentiate iOS 6 maps from the other products. Repositioning the competition is also essential, and Apple has already exposed some of the shortcomings of Google Maps, such as the higher data usage.

Reference:

http://www.androidauthority.com/apple-ios-6-maps-turns-out-disappointing-will-apple-approve-googles-new-maps-submission-soon-116705/

http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/ries-trout/positioning/

As is read in Sally Chen’s post, Tim Hortons has a high brand loyalty within Canada as “its tradition, history, and hockey roots provide their customers with a sense of national identity and pride”. Correspondently, when I came to Canada in 2011, the first thing l learnt from others was about Tim Hortons rather than Starbucks or McDonald’s. As a consequence, these attributes are already able to differentiate Tim Hortons from other fast food chains.

“Always Fresh“, the value proposition, is what Tim Hortons want to offer to the consumers and it is also a promise. Its vision is “to be the quality leader in everything we do”. Tim Hortons has been diversifying its product line since its foundation, for the sake of meeting the changes of time and customers’ various tastes. And the consumers now perceive this brand as correlated to high quality and a part of their daily life.  The company positions itself as the leader of coffee chains in Canada. It also assumes the obligations for animal welfare, the community and the planet, building a better image in customers’ mind.

Reference:

http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/difference/environment.html

“Profiting from prison labour”

Reference:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/95731