Understanding Time is Money

As a successful established fast food franchise, Tim Horton understands “time is money.” They recognize the fact that there are only a limited number of rush hours each day and thus they need to make the best use of the time. While this fast food restaurant already provides the fastest drive through service, Tim Horton’s goal “is to move customers through the drive-through every 25 seconds” (Strauss). By reviewing the company’s business systems, procedures and processes, Marc Claira, the new chief executive officer of Tim Horton is planning to reduce some variety of donuts while introducing healthy milk-based and juice-based beverages. In my opinion, this is definitely an appropriate approach because giving customers too many choices may lead to slow service. For example, it usually takes me a couple of minutes to purchase a dozen Timbits because there is seriously a ton of flavours to choose from. If Tim Horton effectively enhances its existing procedures and processes, they are likely to save time and money. Additionally, the new system will allow employees to engage with customers more frequently and efficiently, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and sales!

Bibliography:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/tim-hortons-vows-faster-service-to-fend-off-rivals/article14357952/

“Best Company To Work For”

This year, Google has been ranked No.1 in Fortune’s latest annual list of ‘100 Best Companies to Work For.’ Wondering why? Perhaps it is because Google has one of the most interesting organizational cultures.

#1     Google maintains a casual and democratic atmosphere. Healthy snacks and drinks are offered at the cafeteria to keep employees going throughout the day.

 #2     The organization emphasizes on forming family bond. Teams are made up of members with equal authority thus autonomy is maintained.

#3     Activities such as yoga, dance, gyms, pool, roller hockey and massage are also widely available for employees.

#4     Google offers its employees benefits such as medical insurance, retirement savings plans, travel insurance and much more!

#5     Google’s employees are given the freedom to make decisions that benefit Google users.

Since Google’s organizational culture is very strong, the company typically hires people that embody their company’s values. By doing so, employees are motivated to work towards the same goals and intensifies the bond that they share. As a result, it is no doubt that Google tends to have a low turnover rate.

Do you want to work for Google?

 

Bibliography:

https://www.google.com.hk/about/jobs/lifeatgoogle/benefits/

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/

http://suite101.com/a/google-the-worlds-most-successful-corporate-culture-a242303

Response: Twitter Finally Flying Away!

As noted in Curtis Chao’s blog, “the social media giant Twitter has grown tremendously throughout the seven years of its existence.” The primary services provide by the site are micro blogging and social networking along with the facility of “tweets” for its users. While the site consists of “more than two hundred million active users around the world,” it also generates “ten times the revenue from three years ago.” Twitter is undoubtedly a competitive social media platform. Curious to know more about the organization, I’ve developed a simple SWOT analysis.

Strengths

Weaknesses

 – Its micro blogging is the best so far.- Twitter offers free account for its users.

– Has a strong brand name.

 – There is an unequal distribution of tweets – “85% of all tweets come from the top 15% of the users.”- Has a low retention rate.

Opportunities

Threats

 – Twitter has the potential to become the top search engine.- Business users can used the site for advertising products and services.

 

 – Facebook remains to be one of its tough competitors.- Friendfeed and Google+ may grow and steal market share.

– Images on Instagram are no longer showed on Twitter.

Although Twitter has noticeable strengths, the organization still faces numerous of threats. While technological companies are constantly enhancing their features, who knows if Twitter will still be the best site for micro blogging 10 years later?

 

Bibliography:

http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/09/it-appears-that-instagram-photos-arent-showing-up-in-twitter-streams-at-all/

http://blogs.ft.com/tech-blog/2009/04/twitters-low-retention-rate-could-limit-growth/?Authorised=false

http://www.statista.com/topics/737/twitter/chart/1098/distribution-of-of-tweets-among-twitter-users/