Karina Chadijah's Blog

Technology has come a long way. Today’s smartphones are just as powerful as the computers we have at phone. Even more, they are smaller and portable. It has all of the important features like contacts and scheduling. Most smartphones comes with an easy-to-navigate calendar with alarms. It also comes with videoconferencing applications like Skype and FaceTime. This is a quick and cheap (after the initial costs) way to bring people together in one location. Smartphones can also increase productivity as it allows one to create, edit, file, scan and share…read more

In response Intan Salim’s blog post on Lufthansa, I agree that their decision to remove first class due to weak demand on most routes is the right decision to make. Premium cabins collect about 35 percent of its revenue in general. But the removal of first-class cabins saves more cost. At Lufthansa, it saves about $68 million. They realised that the entire worldwide market of travellers able to pay for such services is only just at 1 million people in total. This is an example of a niche market. A…read more

In response to Dillon Young’s blog post on Sharp, I agree that their decision in entering the market of strawberry farming is a good decision in the long run. Sharp is a struggling electronic company that is very well known for its televisions and other electronic devices. In September this year, they decided to experiment with strawberry farming, where they track temperature and humidity with Sharp technology. This is done in Dubai because the demand for Japanese strawberries is high and they are quick to spoil. Sharp aims to achieve…read more

McDonald’s Happy Meals has just recently teamed up with the National Football League (NFL). The toy figures are based on a cartoon TV show, NFL Rush Zone. The aim of this strategic alliance is to market football to kids year 6-13. There are many reasons why kids might not be attracted to football (danger of the sport, scandals and controversies), but this partnership might change that. The NFL is also trying to attract female viewers by appealing to young girls. In 2012, 46 percent of the kids watching were girls….read more

Nowadays, many groceries provide personalised pricing for customers. This process is done by taking one’s customer purchasing data and behavior and then producing a personalized deal that might seem good to them only. Some online retailers do this by suggesting items to buy based on past purchases, whilst bigger retailers mail personalized paper coupons. Some also offer discounts online or through mobile. This is a type of below-the-line marketing: non-media promotional activities. The aim of this kind of promotional activity is to increase sales by increasing consumers’ number of visits…read more

There has been a significant decrease in the surf wear industry. Nowadays, the industry that was once seen as counter-cultural rebels are now in the brink of their failure. Famous brands such as Rip Curl and Quicksilver are experiencing a decline in sales such as Billabong, one of the world’s best-known surf brand, reported a 12.5% decrease in sales and an annual loss of $773 million. Quicksilver has also been hit hard with a quarterly loss of $32 million. They are not fashion-leaders anymore as they are competing (and losing…read more

‘Twitter TV Ratings’ is a brand new metric for social TV published recently by Nielsen Holdings, an American global information and measurement company. It measures not only the number of people tweeting about TV programs, but also people viewing those tweets. I believe this kind of development in technology offers valuable information to many stakeholders. For example, Broadcasters benefit from this as Twitter can act as free advertising for them. It is as if they are implementing viral marketing. Viral marketing is a type of marketing is similar to word-of-mouth…read more

Tamara Mellon, co-founder of luxury shoe company Jimmy Choo, acknowledges that she felt unfairly treated during her 15 years working there. Often, she was unappreciated, exploited and betrayed. Due to these unfortunate events, she decided to leave Jimmy Choo in 2011 and laun   Starting a new business is always a risky project with factors to consider. I believe Mellon is a good example of a business that has a lot of potential in the future.ched her own line of clothes and shoes called Tamara Mellon. Tamara has the business…read more

American multinational corporation, Apple Inc., has just recently been ranked as the world’s number 1 best brand according to international brand consulting firm, Interbrand. They have estimated that Apple’s brand value has increased by 28% over last year. Moreover, this is the first year that Coca-Cola is not at the top of the list since the year 2000. Interestingly, Coke (est. 1892) has been around much longer than Apple (est. 1976), which shows that Apple must be doing something right. As a loyal customer of Apple, I believe they truly…read more

I was very shocked when I saw the news about our faculty on national television. I read several articles about it online, but I didn’t think it would grow this big. As a part of Sauder Frosh 2013, I am saddened by this news. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/ubc-student-leaders-resign-over-offensive-chant-during-frosh/article14188875/ I agree that the event that occurred during FROSH is ethically wrong. By doing the cheers, it strongly implies that Sauder supports and teaches non-consensual sex, especially to first-years. As a result, many of the stakeholders are worried and disturbed by the news (stakeholder conflict)….read more