JoshKitagawa

Faraday Future is a car manufacturer that wants to reinvent the car. They currently are projected to manufacture a car that could become a major competitor for Tesla, king of the electric car industry. Not only are they projected to do that, but they also claim to be completely reinventing how we as users view the car. They are striving to “launch with fully-electric vehicles that will offer smart and seamless connectivity to the outside world.” I am excited for the launch of this car to see what its points…read more

711 has recently began to make the transition from a basic card punch rewards system to that of a mobile app. This app called 7Rewards collects customer data and offers rewards to consumers based on their in-store purchases. This blog by Stephanie Overby describes how the rewards system that 711 implemented is benefitting the franchise as well as the consumers. In our market research lecture we were told a story of how a store manager covered up the door sensors that monitor at what times the most customers enter the store. This caused a…read more

Recently, Starbucks came under fire from the media for shifting their winter cup designs from a Christmas oriented cup to that of a plain red one. Fianca brought up a good point that Starbucks, having a slogan that highlights diversity and cultural acceptance, is only attempting to make their product appeal to as large an audience as  possible. Starbucks currently inhabits 66 different countries and territories across the world. In being such a global company, they need to have a cultural awareness of the area in which they are expanding…read more

In Hamza’s blog post, he discussed the social injustice that is Daraprim. Daraprim is a drug that is used to decrease and subdue the virus and parasites that come with the disease AIDS. He argues that it is inhumane and disgusting that manufacturer and owner of the drug, Martin Shkreli, is charging a price of $750 per pill. This of course is outrageous. It seems like it should violate some sort of human rights code to charge so much for a drug that many people need to survive. However, as…read more

  The one for one business model very accurately displays Western ignorance of foreign cultures. The West has always thought that what they want from the world coincides with that of what other nations wants. However, Western culture is exponentially different than that of other cultures and until we realize that we will not be able to properly assist impoverished countries in the long run. For example, in 2006 Jeffery Sachs launched an initiative called the Millennium Villages Project. This project was to help build an economy for villages in…read more

Ryanair is a European airline company founded in 1985 by philanthropist businessman Tony Ryan, and co-founders Christopher Ryan, and Liam Lonergan. This airline uses a cost leadership strategy through offering prices for flights that first appear to be significantly cheaper than competitors. However, often times when one books a flight with Ryanair they find that the cost of the ticket isn’t the only cost they will have to concern themselves with. Ryanair is infamous for hidden costs. Regardless, of one’s destination, they will find that with Ryanair they come across…read more

The National Bank of Canada has recently announced that they are going to be cutting hundreds of jobs in an attempt to keep up with changing technology, and customer preferences in their current market. It simply is no longer cost efficient for the National Bank to have that number of employees.   In an attempt to keep up with the transition from traditional banking to online banking services, the National Bank needs to lighten up its work force. This cut will have an impact throughout the entire company as 2.3%…read more

Recently, controversy has arisen over Volkswagen after it admitted to cheating its diesel emission tests in the United States. The titan of the car industry has suffered a substantial blow to its stock as it made the announcement. The engines were fitted with computer software which allowed it to be able to sense when it was being tested so that it could use a secondary motor that was capable of passing. In reality, when the cars were being used for normal road use, they were emitting over 40 times the…read more

Coffee of tea? This is a common debate that has numerous supporters for either side. What if there could be a combination of both? A Kickstarter company named Wize Monkey has done just that. They have managed to infuse the worlds of coffee and tea consumers into one single product. Wise Monkey is a company based out of North Vancouver that strives to maximize profit, and to support coffee farmers in Nicaragua. Nicaragua’s biggest export is coffee.  However, the coffee bean can only be grown for three months of the year…read more

  The business world is often perceived as a cut-throat community that will do what it can to revamp their position. To a degree this perception is true, however when this occurs a serious concern arises that can alter the consumers view of the company. Often times a company’s ethics will become corrupted in order to achieve maximum revenue. An example of this is FIFA’s recent allegations of bribery and vote buying within the c-suite of their organization. Members within FIFA have been accused of spending $132 million in buying…read more