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

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