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Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz has learned his lesson of the implications of ‘retirement’ after his mistake in stepping down in 2000. Financial results plummeted and Schultz made a return in 2008.

He was quoted in an interview stating that the unperceived failures were his fault, but he’s back to make a change. This ‘change’ is evident due to the customer loyalty Starbucks now holds as well as a set brand position in customers minds as a luxury drink company, at specialty drinks that go up to $4.15 for a tall.

He credits the success of the international brand to his first venture into international markets in, you guessed it, Vancouver! Schultz emphasized how much the expansion taught him about global markets and what strategies worked, and what did not. He credits these experiences for the ever growing success of the coffee company giant Starbucks. 

Now, this situation sounds oddly familiar to one of the Comm classes about on entrepreneurship, because failure is inevitable, and perhaps even invited. Failure and mistakes teaches a valuable lesson, and risks are what makes true companies. Vancouver was that risk for Starbucks, and Schultz’s retirement was their mistake.

But surely Schultz hasn’t had his last cup of premium brewed coffee, it’ll be a long while before he’s ready pass the cup.

Article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/for-starbuckss-howard-schultz-a-sip-of-retirement-was-more-than-enough/article15472477/

Photo 1:

http://www.jobstreet.com.sg/career-resources/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/10/HowardSchultz3.0.jpg

Photo 2:

http://globalassets.starbucks.com/assets/2baf423911d94bc3946fd95e3bc9bbc8.jpg

The Women for Women’s annual lunch fundraiser is the result of the hard work and determination of Colleen Moorehead and Sylvia Chrominska. The two finance experts have dreamt up an inspiring fundraising event for a great cause- money for women’s health care.

In light of the recent class on Social Enterprise, these women have done what many social entrepreneurs have done, utilized their expertise in business to aid others. Although not primarily for profit, Colleen and Sylvia had a passion for women’s health and it’s awareness. 

The funds taken from the lunches are helping fund research and health-care programs at the Women’s College Hospital. 

These impactful leaders have created a program of awareness for their community out of their business expertise in finance and human resources, which has the potential to help countless lives.

This is an excellent example of strong business leaders creating a business driven program, in hopes of helping a greater cause. It’s quite inspiring to see that more and more business owners aim to help those in need instead of solely focusing on profit and maximizing revenues. Well done ladies.

Article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/providing-food-for-thought-on-womens-health-matters/article15465416/

Photo:

http://www.womenscollegehospitalfoundation.com/WCHF/files/36/3643b074-9e48-46f4-b441-7127b6ee94f9.jpg

Restaurants have come a long way in terms of marketing and promotion. Instead of newspaper ads or relying on the word of mouth, the enthusiastic “foodies” of Vancouver can use apps and websites such as Urbanspoon or Yelp to research on a restaurant before even stepping foot into the establishment

.

Now, with even more technological advancements, a company Vibe, has revolutionized advertising and promotion for restaurants. Vibe creates custom videos for each restaurant showcasing their menu, ambiance, as well as customer reviews, making an interactive guide to what a restaurant can offer.

This is a new and innovative way to let customers be part of an interactive story-telling or ‘digital dining’ experience.

With the advancements in technology, it only seems fitting that restaurants follow suit. However, will customers really find these videos helpful? Many customers simply want to know whether the restaurant is recommended, or what most popular menu items are; the idea of sitting through an entire video to wait for the customers desired portion is unrealistic. The deviation away from the main value proposition of a restaurant (too serve delicious food) could potentially harm the restaurant as customers find their videos time consuming or irrelevant.

Perhaps, the savvy restaurants’ focus on technology needs to take a step back, and invest the time and money in the main reason behind a restaurants success, delicious cuisine.

Article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/advertising/how-restaurants-are-using-technology-to-transform-the-dining-experience/article15411158/

Photo 1:

http://www.restaurantwebguy.com/custom/webguy/8urbanspoon-yelp-200.jpg

Photo 2:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pditpGpMR3o/UKwxKIMrPCI/AAAAAAAAH-0/xnuNcWMuqBo/s1600/DSC_0170.jpg

Netflix, a popular movie and TV show streaming company, was discovered to be snooping around on torrenting websites in hopes of finding widely downloaded shows for purchasing. This ingenious idea of utilizing the illegal “competition” gives Netflix an idea of what shows potential customers are most invested in.

The Maclean’s Business blog describes how some analysts feel that Netflix’s value would soar four times of it’s current amount, with the help of creative data collecting.

It’s success comes from the ability to see exactly which shows customers are “dying to watch”.

This creative way of acquiring data and information is a great way of collecting information on potential customers to make the company more appealing with not only a variety of shows, but a selection of great quality, based on popularity.

Also, television  shows are known to be highly addicting, and signs of customers being willing to pay for access to good quality shows are evident due to the popularity of torrented shows have almost halved.

Netflix’s spying abilities have earned them many insights which in turn, obviously equals more customers. Perhaps they should change their name to Spyflix!

Article:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/10/10/pirate-raid-22/

Photo:

http://pulsosocial.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/netflix1.jpg

Rogers recently announced that they were shopping for a new marketing and ad agency to represent them starting this coming March. Their new marketing company will be representing Rogers wireless phone services and cable but not their branches Fido and Chatr.

This change is fuelled by their need for a company with digital expertise to focus on online and digital advertisements.

This is a wise modification as Rogers is adapting to the needs of it’s customers as online advertisements will reach out to a larger pool of potential customers. Due to the decline of cable users and newspaper readers, everything is going digital!

There will be a total of  ten advertisement agencies pitching their ideas to Rogers, one of which is the current ad company Publicis Canada.

The switch and emphasis on digital ads will also strengthen the brand positioning of Rogers in the view of its customers as the cable and phone giant will be represented by a equally impressive marketing campaign.

Keeping up with technologic advancements leads to a longer existence within the ever-changing market. Well done, Rogers, don’t fall into the same spiral of failure as Blackberry has!

Article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/rogers-seeks-new-ad-agency-puts-emphasis-on-digital/article15460451/

Photo:

http://wpmedia.business.financialpost.com/2013/01/rogers1.jpg?w=620

Technology dominates the modern world, and hashtags are starting to dominate the social media world. In Abhilasha Gnawali’s blogpost “The Power in #Hash Tags”, Starbucks is an example of a company that has taken advantage of the rising popularity of hashtags.

The reason for the popularity boom for the use of hashtags is a mystery to me, however, companies have adapted quickly. Like Abhilasha mentioned, establishments such as Starbucks have already integrated contests or promotions eligible for those who use their hashtags on media such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

This helps shift their brand positioning as Starbucks will be consistently viewed as a more modern or tech-savvy company, thus appealing to a younger age market in addition to their already enormous middle-aged working class consumer pool.

Starbucks will also save a considerable amount on marketing as Starbucks drinks are widely documented in photos and uploaded onto apps such as Instagram, popular with the younger generations. Photos by customers coupled with hashtags tagging the company and promoting drinks (done by the hashtag #PSL, for pumpkin spice latte) will lead to free marketing of products. 

Yet another example of companies utilizing changing media and technology to their advantage! Let the consumers unknowingly advertise for you, good thinking Starbucks.

Article:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/abhilashagnawali/2013/10/07/the-power-in-hash-tags/

Photo 1:

http://www.sociallystacked.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/hashtags.png

Photo 2:

http://www.offerpop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Screen-Shot-2013-10-31-at-11.17.39-AM.png

Over the summer, Loblaw, the largest grocery chain in Canada announced they were merging with Shoppers Drug Mart. They claim that this is a complementary joining and instead of “cutting into each others market shares” they would now be working together.

This huge merger means that Shoppers Drug Mart will offer certain Loblaw brands on their shelves such as Presidents Choice as well as a variety of fresh foods (something they lack), and gain access to a number of food suppliers. Loblaw, will acquire Shoppers praised loyalty points system for customers and can branch in to the ever growing health food market and pharmaceuticals.

Loblaw states that no Shoppers stores will shut down and  no small grocery chains will be affected from the merger. However, I feel as though the suspicions of Loblaw aiming to be the Wal-Mart of Canada is definitely true. Partnered with Shoppers, their customer base will be the largest and perhaps most loyal in Canada.

So what will this mean for the inconspicuous grocery stores of Canada? Since their sales will be challenged as their customers are herded to the one-stop-shop locations of the new and improved Shoppers Drug Mart and the grocery giant Loblaw, they will probably face huge declines in sales, and be forced to choose new paths. 

Article:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/loblaw-to-buy-shoppers-drug-mart-for-12-4b-1.1342108

Photos:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/loblaw-to-buy-shoppers-drug-mart-for-12-4b-1.1342108

http://www.financialpost.com/related/topics/Loblaw+brings+talent/4338381/story.html

Abercrombie and Fitch’s comments in the recent years about avoiding “unattractive individuals” with their marketing and not producing women’s clothing over size 10 have created much disgust in the public. However Constance Ang’s blogpost “Religion or Work?”  on their religious bigotry has shone a light on their discrimination that has been taken to a whole new level.

A muslim worker, Ms. Hani Khan, was suspended for her decline to take off her head covering and was later fired for “refusing to comply”. This situation has proven A&F’s unethical views and reminds me of a recent debate over the Charter of Values in Quebec. The Charter proposes that all government workers will not be allowed to wear religious symbols or clothing, although a big portion of their population have cultural and moral views tied with their religious wear. Canada prides itself in being multi-cultural and the United States, their freedom, however their religious discrimination against individuals wearing religious materials are express something quite different.

Although it is true that workers should be religiously neutral during work, religious dress does not affect customers nor the sales, according U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It is simply shocking to me that companies and even the government have such discrimination towards individuals who do not fit a certain look or as Constance mentioned, “brand image”.

Photos:

http://www.floridaemploymentlawyerblog.com/2010/02/more_allegations_of_religious.html

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Editorial+Quebec+Charter+Values+shameful/8906668/story.html

The steady decline in BlackBerry Ltd. has been evident for quite some time. The company that used to be on the top of the smartphone industry has been left behind by the innovative and focused companies such as Apple and Samsung.

They recently announced the harsh decision of laying off 4,500 employees, and writing off more than $900-million (U.S.) worth of unsold phones in an attempt to save the business. BlackBerry claims the losses were due to the unenthusiastic sales and bitter returns of the BlackBerry Z10 (which looks oddly familiar to the iphone 5), introduced in January.

The unemployment of more than 40% of local workers will definitely impact the community of Waterloo, Ont. as BlackBerry has exhausted all their options in saving the business.

The only thread of hope they are clinging onto is the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 sold to corporate users. Through the cost-cutting and the failed smartphone launch, Blackberry needs to either refocus their entire company to their only popular service (BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10) or simply let the business go.

The stacking failures of the new phone launch, attempt in selling BBM and change in smartphone appearance to resemble Apple has made their situation clear. There is no point in clawing onto the industry when failure is inevitable. BlackBerry has had a great run through their height in popularity in 2008-09 but it’s time to let go.

The end has come, BlackBerry.

Article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/trading-in-blackberry-halted/article14440386/

Photos:

http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sad-blackberry1-e1319653370667.jpg

http://www.technobooklet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/iPhone-5-Vs-Blackberry-Z10.jpg

The city that was once a forgotten speck in China, has expanded into a gambling wonderland. Macau has taken the spot as the World’s top gambling venue, as their turnover last year was 6 times of the old Sin City, Las Vegas.

The new dominance of the casino scene is due to the ever flowing stream of Chinese mainlanders that fly over to escape the Communist government’s ban on casinos. Due to the tight grip China holds on gambling debt collection, many resort to finding junketeers to help them slip through currency controls and discreet debt collecting.

Macau has less heavily regulated casinos where they don’t question who and how people spend their money. Transactions are much easier to make in this city compared to Las Vegas.

This act of “turning a blind eye” as long as they’re making money is not socially responsible, and may be costly and dangerous to certain individuals, however is probably the factor that boosted them to their level of success. Although aware of the fact that many customers should be questioned of their money and transactions, the Macau gambling empire would much rather ignore such realities and bask in their newfound glory.

Article/Photo1:

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21584995-although-it-has-growing-number-rivals-macau-worlds-casino-capital-set-new

Photo2:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macau-Casino-Lisboa-at-night-0824.jpg