Month: November 2012

Canadian retailers will try to keep shoppers at home this upcoming Black Friday, as they will take the American tradition into their own hands. Many Canadians have opted to shop with American retailers for the holiday season because of their good deals. In order to get Canadians to do their holiday shopping here, many retailers have put up prominent signage and advertising for a Canadian Black Friday.

Black Friday is not Canadian, but holiday shopping is a big opportunity for revenue for retailers, and it is sad to see the US always winning the price competition. It is interesting to see the competition between the same companies in different countries. What are their points of difference between each other? What benefits will a Best Buy in Canada bring that a Best Buy in the States will not? Canadian stores do not necessarily have a better product, since most products are the same. Sales taxes are higher here, as well as the selling price, despite the US dollar and the loonie being practically equal in value. Instead of allowing people to spend more during overnight stays, shouldn’t the Canadian government do something to keep Canadian money in Canada?

Sources:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/107204–let-the-holiday-shopping-begin-black-friday-is-on-its-way-to-canadian-stores

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/category/black-friday-future-shop/Black-Friday-Deals.aspx

This is a response to Melissa Monaghan’s blog post about big companies taking the Quebec government to court.

Melissa mentioned that the altering of company logos could defer companies from entering the Quebec market. These private English-speaking companies have to go through a lot of trouble just to establish a branch in Quebec.

I would like to take a different point of view on the matter, because I think that these companies should develop logos in many different languages if they want to expand globally. It’s not just Quebec that speaks a different language. A flexible logo could make these companies known world-wide, instead of just English-speaking countries. For example, in countries like China where the written language is made up of characters and not letters, they would have to re-establish the brand anyways. Quebec’s law is too picky, but I would like to think of the law as a barrier to entry. If a company can overcome the barrier, then it would have a bigger competitive advantage over other companies who don’t want to expand into Quebec because of language barriers.

Poor organizational culture can lead to liquidation, as shown by 82-year-old Hostess. Heavy debt and changing consumer tastes to healthier food are contributors too, but the battle with its workers and their union eventually caused Hostess to go for Chapter 11 and shut down its factories.

Hostess was not able to keep up with the costs and obligations they had to fulfill regarding their employees, similar to how General Motors had trouble because of legacy costs. Lack of production due to the strike caused inability to keep up with the supply chain, and thus a loss in sales to the retail stores. If the employees are not happy, the whole company could be paralyzed.

However, the employees did reject a contract offer. Lower wages is better than no job at all, which could be the case for 18,500 people. What bothers me is that the bakery workers are only 30% of Hostess’s workforce, but everyone else could result in being jobless too. This is like my post about the NHL lockout. It’s the players that want better a better salary, but it’s hurting all the other employees of the NHL that have no say. I think that’s a social issue that some social entrepreneur out there should help solve.

Source:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/workplace/Hostess+wind+down+operations+18000+workers+sell+brands/7559159/story.html

Image:

http://heritageaction.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twinkies.jpg

The Insider on BC Business Online, or Tony Wanless, recently wrote a blog post about the increase in entrepreneurship in Canada, with BC leading the charge, with almost half of the businesses here being self-employed operations. In my previous post, I wrote that I realized how entrepreneurship was actually pretty feasible, and after reading this blog post, it further solidified my realization.

Mr. Wanless’s opinion on the matter is that the employment supply from big business is limited, and I agree. Finding a decent job in Vancouver is difficult, and the freedom in being one’s own boss can be appealing. Why not just increase the supply by starting a new business?

From another perspective, sole proprietorships usually have unlimited liability for the owner. I think that starting a business, especially for the over-50s that account for 30% of start-ups in BC, is quite risky. Mr. Wanless also mentions that the self-employed like the life and won’t return to a job unless it’s “interesting enough to lure them away”. I disagree, because keeping the business successful is not easy. Without an effective competitive advantage and value proposition, the owner just might have to go back to job-hunting.

To me, the real world always seemed like a faraway place, until the day when Janice Cheam, President and CEO of Energy Aware, came into our COMM 101 classroom to talk to us about her multi-million-dollar company. I suddenly realized that the real world was closer than I thought.

The idea started in a New Venture Design classroom at the Sauder School of Business, and received recognition through the Enterprize Competition at Sauder. Despite spending their winnings on food, the idea of something to keep track of how much energy a household uses was going to become a real business. At an angel investor forum, after a 5-minute presentation, they received the investment they needed to turn the idea into something tangible. At the time, they didn’t even know how much the company was worth! After many years of development and innovation, Energy Aware is currently partnered with utility providers and meter companies across the globe, from Australia all the way to Finland. Energy Aware is helping these places increase energy supply and making a positive impact on society.

That day, I realized that starting a business from scratch and making a difference was a lot less far-fetched than I thought.

Image: http://www.energy-aware.com/