Re: Canada: The Be-Your-Own-Boss Country
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.
Energy Aware: Taking entrepreneurship from the classroom to the real world.
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/
WestJet names new regional airline with help of happy employees
A Bombardier Q400 NextGen to be used for the new regional airline.
WestJet recently named their new regional airline, Encore, which is going to serve many smaller communities, using smaller Bombardier planes, not the regular Boeing 737s like all of WestJet’s regular fleet. WestJet let their employees, the WestJetters, name the new airline, which also relates to the fact that it was also named one of Canada’s Top 100 employers.
In COMM 101 class, we discussed the efficiency of WestJet’s one-size plane system, with Boeing 737s flying all distances. This new airline and the smaller planes allow WestJet to save some of the costs related to operating large planes for relatively smaller distances. Cutting some of the legroom can significantly increase profit margin in this case. The naming of the new regional airline was also done by the 8600 WestJetters. There are many ways that these employees are motivated, such as onsite amenities, discounted airfare, and in-house apprenticeship programs. Motivated employees improve the company’s organizational culture, providing a good environment for customer service as well. In marketing terms, WestJet’s point of difference is its excellent customer service, seen from their internal motto, “We succeed because we care”. The new regional airline also got communities involved on social media, with many communities pleading for a stop in their region. Considering how WestJet is an airline (the worst when it comes to making profit), it’s doing pretty well in cost management, organizational behaviour, and marketing.
Sources:
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/westjet-again-named-one-canadas-131700320.html
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/WestJet+names+regional+airline+Encore/7377445/story.html
Image:
http://www.bombardier.com/files/en/supporting_docs/image_and_media/products/BA-Q400_NextGen_Westjet1-HR.jpg
Luxury brands aren’t good enough anymore
With China’s consumers changing taste, many large luxury-good companies like Louis Vuitton and Burberry are experiencing slower sales growth.
With this many people lining up, no wonder why people want to be different.
Jeremy Liang mentioned in his post about China’s consumers abandoning LV because it was easily forged. I think that a change in consumer taste is a bigger factor. I agree that people are trying harder to not be ordinary, like the shift away from the iPhone because it was becoming too common. China’s luxury consumers are becoming pickier, buying the best-quality products to discriminate themselves from the crowd. Quality of the products is becoming more important than the brand name (bad news for LV and Burberry). For Chinese consumers, the “ultrahigh-end” of the market is a way for people to be different from the rest. In my opinion, this cultural shift is good for consumers, because they are starting to realize the value of quality over just a brand name.
Image: http://daxueconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/daxueconsulting-Louis-Vuitton-in-China2.jpg
Vancouver homes: finally dropping the price?
According to new data released by the Real Estate Board of the Greater Vancouver area, the residential properties sold in September this year totaled 1516, 32% less than September of 2011.
Since the government eliminated the 30-year mortgage, buyer demand for housing has decreased. With real estate becoming less affordable and the demand curve shifting to the left, quantity demanded decreases, and hopefully price will drop too. I remember when my parents bought our first home here in 2007, and the housing prices were at an all-time high. At that time, there was a mortgage option of taking 40 years to pay it all back. My parents didn’t like that option, but it certainly brought many other homebuyers into the market, increasing the demand for housing and boosting up the price. And of course, many new (rich) immigrants also impacted the demand of housing. The cost of living here was starting to outweigh the benefits. Many locals who grew up here can’t afford to stay, possibly including future me. News that housing prices are at least starting to decrease brought a smile to my face.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/10/02/vancouver-housing-plunge.html
Image: http://kenstef.com/w=kenstef.com/_media/Images/sold-sign.jpg%20smaller.jpg
Paying more for pork
“Experts say the world could be on the verge of a significant bacon shortage because of rising feed costs and declining pig populations.”
No, this isn’t happening! Even though I don’t prefer bacon, pork is one of my daily staples. This rise in price could mean less food for my inner carnivore. However, the rise in price will be of benefit to Canadian pig farmers, who are struggling to make ends meet. The rise in the price of corn (pig food) has essentially caused this unavoidable rise in pork prices. The size of North America’s corn crop is just not enough to feed both the transportation industry and the pigs of North America, causing farmers to pay more in expenses than what they get in profits. And when a business doesn’t break even, they will eventually have to shut down. Which is sad, considering the deliciousness of steak, ribs and other pig products. As the supply of pork goes down, quantity supplied will fall and prices will rise. According to Britain’s National Pork Association, the price of pork could double by the second-half of next year! Sorry, inner carnivore, I’ll just have to put you on hold more often.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/09/25/bacon-shortage-pigs.html
NHL Lockout Around the Corner?
Go Canucks! (If there is a season this year)
For hockey fans, an NHL lockout would be like the apocalypse. The league wants money, and the players want a bigger piece from the “hockey-related revenues” pie. What surprises me is that the league is actually trying to cut the players’ portion of the revenue from 57% in the current agreement to 49% when the average NHL player already earns less than a player in the NBA or MLB. 1 The workplace is certainly not the safest in professional sports and yet they don’t get the compensation that the Players’ Association claims they deserve.
But from another perspective, the PA is also putting the season in jeopardy by refusing to agree to the NHL’s proposals. Compared to a regular person’s salary, they should be satisfied with what they are offered. The main ethical issue here is that the collective bargaining taking place now isn’t going anywhere, and both the business (NHL) and the trade union (NHLPA) are contributing to the possibility of the labour force losing work. Not just the players with no European connection, but all the employees that work for the NHL and its teams. Just because everyone wanted more pie, without a season, how will any of those people get the income they deserve as an employee and buy real pie?
1http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ycn-10423863
Article of Interest: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/09/12/nhl-and-union-trade-new-offers-as-lockout-deadline-looms/
Images:
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2012/08/30/940-nhl-nhlpa-8col.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mmM7geBNbGg/Tr1pmW9x4OI/AAAAAAAAAFo/wXVhGqW7o3I/s289/Untitled-2.jpg
UPDATE: Vancouver Canucks staff face 20-per-cent cut in work week, paycheque should NHL lockout kick in (which it did!)
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