On Michelle Xu’s blog post on airplane food, https://blogs.ubc.ca/ohhmichelle/2013/10/08/expired-food-on-airplane/, she points out the incident of expired food being served to passengers on Air China’s Beef Cakes. To worsen the issue, the chief attendant specifically ordered for this news to be kept secret from the passengers but the spoiled food was nevertheless unveiled because it caused numerous passengers to suffer from stomachaches. In addition, Air China did not respond when the a customer, Mrs. Zhang, complained to the company. The avoidance of the problem only disturbs the image of the company. To ensure customer loyalty, the airline should come out and apologise for the mistake and think of compensation plans to gain the trust of their customers once more. Air China can even use this as an opportunity to invest in further training of their employees and rise up the standards of their operating system. With this sincere gesture and admitting to their mistakes, customers will be more wiling to maintain their loyalty to the airline.

According to Karina Furuya’s Blog Post https://blogs.ubc.ca/karina08/2013/11/15/53/

She discusses the issue about how the sales rate for cereal is decreasing because of the many alternatives that are being offered by companies such as Kelloggs. She states that this loss is cutting jobs every year. In addition, the sales for milk is also declining because milk is a complement with cereal so their sales rate parallel. However, according to my research, there are many new opportunities for Kelloggs to generate new sales. With the increase in awareness of the healthy lifestyle in the current generation, Kelloggs should use this as an advantage to produce healthy and nutritious products to attract for customers.  The new homepage of Kelloggs is focused around the theme “Invest in Your Health.” Kelloggs has invented new products with low sugar and low fat and claims to use the latest nutritional tips to improve the health of their consumers. Kelloggs’ use of their customer’s new values on a healthy lifestyle fits the needs of the current market and will allow them to recover from their decrease in sale on breakfast cereal.

Works Cited

Kelloggs Official Website <http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/healthy-investments/weight-management/the-skinny-on-your-cereal-bmi-and-nutrition.html>

Entrepreneurs have to be constantly on the look-out for opportunities as well as exploring risks to start-up businesses because who would have guessed that dressing up your Labrador as a bumble bee would make companies millions of dollars. Statistics show that Americans spend $61 billion annually¹ on  their pets and creating a need for consumers to spend this money is a great opportunity for profit. My research shows that the clothing industry has successfully grasped this opportunity and flourished from selling costumes for pets. Recent studies show that sales for pets’ costumes have grown 68% from $220 million to $370 million in sales just on pet costumes in America alone. This number is more than the average house-hold’s spending on alcohol, men clothing and land-line telephones combined. The understanding of market trends is crucial for success and the ability to place oneself in front of the trends will always be beneficial. As the priorities of pending shifts, entrepreneurs have to constantly ask themselves key questions such as “when will traditionally brand-loyal pet owners try new brands?”³, “what strategies works best when advertising to pet owners?” and “what kind of products are needed and have potential for sales?”

¹Kurtzleben, Danielle. “Americans Spend $61 Billion on Pets Annually.” US News. May 22^nd 2013. November 14^th 2013.

²Passy, Charles. “Americans Spend $300 million on Costumes for Pets” MarketWatch. October 28^th 2013. November 14^th 2013.

³“Pet Parents Present Opportunities for Brand Engagement.” eMarketer. July 24^th 2013. November 14^th

According to Carmen Nobel’s blog post “Should Men’s Product Fear a Woman’s Touch” on the Harvard Business School Blog, research shows that loyal customers, especially men, often get upset when a brand that is commonly associated with masculinity are expanded and perceived as feminine. Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jill Avery calls this phenomenon “gender contamination.” Gender contamination can be detrimental to a brand if the product fails to attract enough female customers and pushes away male customers at the same time. Most cultures today are androcentric meaning it is more acceptable for women to hold masculine traits than it is vice versa. This culture troubled Coca-Cola for many years as the company tried and failed to market its Diet Coke to men. My research shows that Coca-Cola did not have enough market research and failed to realize that the striking white packaging of the Diet Coke can was portrayed as feminine therefore “even though there was a functional need for men to drink lower-calorie soda, men couldn’t bridge the gender gap image-wise without a new brand and product just for them.”¹ Brand positioning and consumer research is essential for understanding that men were willing to consume more calories just to look more masculine even if they knew they wouldn’t afford the extra pound. Coca-Cola soon realized this threat and launched a new marketing strategy with their Coke Zero which was packaged in a black and red can with the new marketing campaign “It’s Not Your Fault.”² This allowed men to drink Coke Zero without feeling associated with women and their sales greatly exceeded the predictions of the company.

Works Cited:

“Should Men’s Product Fear a Woman’s Touch?” Harvard Business School. November 12^th 2013. November 14^th 2013.

“New Coke Zero Campaign” The Coca-Cola Company. March 18^th 2013. November 14^th 2013.

Microsoft has decided to get rid of its review system that ranked its employees along a bell curve. In its place, Microsoft will give employees more frequent feedback on their performance and managers will have more control over how bonuses are distributed. I believe this new system will have a positive impact on Microsoft because eradicating stack ranking allows the company’s environment to be less stressful. According to my research, Microsoft is now slowly shifting away from the more cut throat and political environment to a more family cultured work place. Building this new company culture of family and teamwork and the new approach to measuring performance can get rid of the competitive mindset of Microsoft’s employees. If the employees are constantly trying to put themselves in the spotlight in the place of their co-workers then sabotaging may occur which will be detrimental to the company. For a company to be successful, it is essential that the employees not only care about their own performance but also how they contribute to promote the success of others who work with them. Now that the employees can have the same objective and goals as their co-workers, Microsoft will be able to promote new levels of teamwork and business breakthroughs.

Works Cited:

Ovide, Shira. “Why Microsoft Dumped Stack Ranking.” The Wall Street Journal. November 12th 2013
Ask Rick: Problems with Autoscroll on Microsoft. The Telegraph. December 7^th 2012. November 12th 2013

Walmart has been attempting to present itself as a supporter of renewable energy. In 2012, the company reached their goal of reducing 20% of their greenhouse gas emissions. Just over a month ago, Solar Means Business Report reported Walmart as the leading company in terms of renewable energy adaption, followed by Costco, Apple and IKEA. As the world’s largest corporation, Walmart takes up a huge portion of production energy. But their values of encouraging innovation and constant acceleration to adapt to cost effective as well as clean energy alternatives has successfully established Walmart a clear point of difference. Not only does renewable energy allow Walmart’s cots to go down, it also brings up the competitive level of the company as it forces other corporations to invest in renewable energy as well just to keep up with Walmart’s fast pace. Furthermore, this point of difference is not only sustainable but has financial attractiveness. It is also relevant, distinct and believable to the customers because sustainability is being emphasized more and more and Walmart’s visible progress will help secure them to the top of the industry.

Works Cited:

Peixe, Joao. “Walmart: the Next Clean Energy Giant.” The Christian Science Monitor. October 30^th 213. November 12^th 2013.

“Environmental Sustainability.” Corporate Walmart. November 12^th 2013.

Aiche’s Sustainable Meeting Initiative. aiche.org. November 12^th 2013.

                For the first time in a decade, Amazon has decided to raise its minimum shipping price from $25 to $35. This change affects millions of people all over the world as the number of active Amazon users has reached 182 million according to Business Insider. However, I believe this raise in prices can potentially have a positive impact on Amazon because it can be a way to convert more users into the Amazon Prime that the company offers. For an annual fee of $79, Amazon Prime allows for a two-day free shipping for any items bought and an upgrade of $3.99 provides same-day shipping services. This is extremely convenient as customers no longer have to be limited to a minimum free shipping fee. A boost in the price can push more customers into becoming Amazon Prime subscribers and Amazon will be able to work similar to Costco and make profit off the annual membership fees whilst providing cheap service and products. In addition, with the free-shipping and same-day shipping services, other companies will have a tough time competing and catching up with the innovative pace of Amazon.

Works Cited:

Thomas, Owen. “Amazon has Approximately 10 Million Members for its Surprisingly Profitable Prime Club.” Business Insider. March 11^th 2013. November 4^th 2013.

Mcallister, Shep. “Amazon Bumps Free Shipping Threshold to $35,Now You Really Want Prime.” October 22nd 2013. November 4th 2013.

McEntegart, Jane. “U.S,U.K Amazon Prime Customers Get Sunday Deliveries.” Toms Hardware. November 4^th 2013.

Disneyland and Walt Disney World¹ have decided to jettison the system that allowed people with disabilities to go straight to the front of lines for rides. Until now, Disney has permitted anyone with a wheelchair to bring as many as six guests with them to the backdoor entrance³. As a result, a growing number of visitors began abusing the system of the park¹ to a point where “black market Disney guides³” were hired to aid people to purposely skip queues.

Spotting this issue allows room for improvement. As the amount of these black markets rise, more and more visitors will become frustrated with the system and Disney will start losing customers. Disney should change their policy by assigning disabled visitors reserved times to go on each attraction based on how early they arrive at each ride. Despite the complaints voiced out by a few with disabilities, this system will be better because it provides a fairer waiting length for all visitors and “a more consistent experience for all guests while providing accommodations for guests with disabilities¹,”said Suzi Brown, Disneyland Resort spokeswoman.This new implementation allows Disney to appeal to a widen set of customers, strengthen its business and become a greater threat to its competitors such as Universal Studios and Fix Flags.

Citations

¹“Disney Changing Line-jumping Program for Disabled.” Fox News, The Associate Press.         September 24th 2013. September 25th 2013

²“Disney’s Line-Jumping For Disabled To Change Because Of Abuse” Huffington Post.               September 23rd 2013. September 25th 2013.     

³“Disney Resorts Tighten up Rules on Queue Jumping for Disabled.” The Independent.               September 24th 2013. September 25th 2013.

⁴” Disney’s magic bracelet new key to its kingdom” The Blade. January 14^th 2013.                       September 25^th 2013.

The CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, has released an open letter to respectfully ask Starbucks customers to “no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas”¹. This action prompted gun enthusiasts to stage “Starbucks Appreciation Day”, during which they descended on Starbucks while armed.² At the same time, a group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America urges mothers to show up at stores weekly to tell customers about the company’s lack of a gun ban³. Being characterized as both pro and anti-gun, Schultz struggles to find the right solution to please both sides of the customers and insisted that both sides of and insists on siding with neither.

Starbucks will not be putting up a no-gun sign as it does with smoking. Starbucks is simply asking customers to honor their request about guns but will still serve and smile to those who wish to enter the coffee store with their guns. This new request of Starbucks has caused some gun control advocates to “vow they’ll get their java someplace else” ³ but the overall result should be beneficial to the store. It gives responsible gun owners a chance to respect their request and allows the rest of the customers to enjoy their beverage in a more comfortable environment. Even though Starbucks may lose the loyalty of some customers, it has established its point of difference. This point of difference has nothing to do with the coffee it sells but rather the company’s views on the presence of guns in their stores. With this point of difference, customers holding similar values will lean more towards Starbucks and therefore raise Starbucks’ profit in the long-run as customers are given a sense of safety in their stores.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz urges customers to not bring guns to cafes

1 Schultz, Howards. An Open Letter from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee. Starbucks.com. September 17th 2013. September 22nd 2013.

2 ”The Right to Bear Arms is not Absolute.” The Economist. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.

3 Jargon, Julie. “Starbucks Declare Guns Unwelcome but doesn’t Ban Them.” The Wall Street Journal. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.

4 ”Starbucks CEO Say Guns Not Welcomed in Stores” USA Today. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.

5 ”Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Urges Costumers to Not Bring Guns to Cafes” CBS News. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.

Robots: Friends or Foes

            As the technological world advances, a new breed of robot is being designed to collaborate with humans in car companies such as GM, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. This concept is profit making to the companies because robots are more efficient and can operate faster in comparison to humans. However, this new idea presents a huge risk to the safety of the workers in these car factories. Rodney Brooks, the CEO of Rethink Robotics, mentioned that the robots “are so scarily fast that anyone who accidentally ends up in the wrong place is as good as dead.” Until this day, “the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Geneva, has yet to work out safety standards for collaborative robots” (The Economist, 2013).  Furthermore, many workers live in constant fear of getting replaced by robots and becoming unemployed. The discussion of business ethics arise when it comes to viewing these new robots as friends or foes. Judging from a profit making perspective, cooperating with robots is more advantageous as it can achieve better results in terms of production. But at the same time, massive use of these robots violates customs as it ignores the values of the community in terms of safety and well-being of the factory workers.

“Our Friends Electric” The Economist. Web. 11 Sep 2013