Breaking Ice

In  the “Lululemon- Not For Everyone According to Founder” blog post, Mathew highlights the significance of a comment that the founder of Lululemon, Chip Wilson, made.

“Quite frankly, some women’s bodies just actually don’t work for it.”

This comment refers to how Lululemon apparel doesn’t “work” on some women’s bodies, implying that you have to have a certain body type to fully output the beauty of Lululemon wear. Mathew argues that, regardless of his success, Chip shouldn’t make such assumptions as it is not ethical. Indeed it is not ethical, and I definitely agree with Mathew’s views on this matter. To segment a section of your customers, and condemn them for not having the right shape to display Lululemon’s apparel is an unethical and inconsiderate comment to make. This is a very serious issue as it represents the company as one that only communicates to a certain type of physique, and totally ignores the rest of the population. This is insulting to consumers whom may label themselves as people who, in society’s eyes, do not have the right body type. Customer loyalty would definitely fall as the company’s image appears to be one that is cold and unfriendly.

Source: https://blogs.ubc.ca/matthewanderson/2013/11/08/one-sour-lemon-lululemon/

Safira raises a very good, and important point in her blog post “Apple: Brand Image > Innovation?”. The point she argues is that, nowadays, brand image, not innovation, would win a customer over. The example she uses is the iPhone5S and iPhone5C, both of which benefited from large amounts of sales, however, neither of which are truly different from the former iPhone5. On the other hand, Android devices have changed tremendously and meet innovation standards, yet they still lag behind the Apple giant. Why is this? Brand image. It seems that the brand image of a product (considering design and packaging) outweighs the notion that an innovated product would be a more successful product. This is perhaps true, because the reasons for which I bought my iPhone5 were not because it was more innovative than Android, in fact, I do believe Android is a much more useful product, however, the reason was that I liked the design and image of the iPhone5 more than its true relative value.

Source: https://blogs.ubc.ca/safiranabila/2013/09/21/apple-brand-image-innovation/

One of the biggest differences I have noticed in Canada in comparison to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where I spent the last 18 years of my life, is that everything here is Green. Not green in the sense that there are a lot of plants and trees, thats cool, but green in the sense that the whole nation, along with businesses, are all pitching in an effort to preserve the environment and promote sustainability. Self-sufficiency is a very important trait to have today because of limited resources. Businesses that promote recycling, such as coca-cola, are not only helping the environment, but also helping themselves! The perks of going green are that, despite relatively high costs in the short run, a business would cut down on so much waste and high costs over the years following its green initiative. In addition, this would mean that valuable replenish-able resources such as trees would gain more time to recover and regrow as more businesses begin to recycle. In addition, having a green image would further strengthen a firm’s reputation as it presents the organization as a clean and environmentally friendly producer. More countries should definitely start going green to benefit from all the advantages.

Before entering university, my perception of business was people changing the world,  of which whom go out there and make a positive change, become an inspiration, leaders, something that connects with humanity. As I began attending classes, my whole perception was polluted with a different side to business. Boring spread sheets, boring numbers, boring graphs, boring analysis. I soon came to realize that many people too viewed business in its, core, text-book image, which is putting a price on things, making a profit, and just thinking about money. At the moment, it really does seem like everybody’s got a price, where the sale comes first and the truth comes second. My plans of studying business don’t involve becoming a profit-maximizing, money hungry business man. I came here to find myself, to teach myself how to unite humanity and business. To care for customers, to create a peaceful world where the happiness of strangers comes before the profits of a business.  I want to be a company that sells happiness to consumers and ensure satisfaction. Money is without a doubt a factor to happiness, but I feel that it shouldn’t be a goal, rather a side benefit to good intentions.

I’ll come out clean this time, I hate Apple. I hate their “ethics”, I hate their motives, I hate how they treat consumers, and I hate how they’re still successful and wrong at the same time.  So what is the problem? The problem is that Apple have absolutely no clue on how to treat their customers.

Issue no. 1: Price.

Have you seen Apple’s prices? Ok, I so understand that they do sell high-quality products, but the prices at which these products are sold are way over the roof. Apple abuse their power by over pricing products and still benefiting from excess sales. It’s kind of like they have a positively sloped demand curve, which is a rare case. And the thing is, the actual value of the product is way less than its price.

Issue no. 2: Product.

What I really hate is that they keep on releasing newer products that aren’t really innovative. What IS the difference between the iPhone5 and iPhone5S? Nothing. Their strategy is to release new stuff to make the old stuff seem obsolete, and this psychologically leads the consumer to believe what his product is no longer good.

To me, they’re just another profit hungry firm.

Information power is basically a phrase that sums up the fact that anyone with enough, or a lot of information, has power. Now, what KIND of information could this knowledge possibly be? Google is a powerhouse with one of the world’s largest database that stores in just about everything you need to know. Contrary to popular belief, knowing EVERYTHING is not always good. Already, government requests for Google user information are growing on top of the many other requests google are receiving that require the exploitation of quite private information. According to CNN’s article, “The United States also has the highest success rate at getting Google to comply with its requests. The search giant turned over user information for 83% of the U.S. queries.” Should we be concerned? or be worried at all? I mean, I myself wouldn’t want people knowing my personal information… The problem today is that most of us use the internet, and all our actions online can be tracked with the click of a button. It isn’t really an issue that we think about everyday, but on the outset, we must always question the ethical intentions behind the collection of user information.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/14/tech/web/google-transparency-report-2013/index.html

The Forbes article considered in this blog post suggests that businesses should start employing athletes. Athletes, you ask?… Yes, Athletes.

The 6 athletic attributes:

1. They never give up
2. They achieve their goals
3. They develop new skills
4. They are exceptional entrepreneurs
5. They strive for balance
6. They work well with partners and teams

The reason why this refers to the term “Athletes” is because it is in the nature of sport athletes whom participate in physically challenging activities such as track, football or swimming. By hiring employees that seek health, fitness, and achievement in the business sense, an organization can as a whole become a young, youthful and strong force that synergies to achieve the best. The 6 straits listed above all make a “business athlete”, an employee that puts in 100% of his effort to complete tasks, one that sets goals and achieves them, develops new skills and widens his scope of ability, is open minded and looks through the bigger picture, ensures balance, and is a team player. However, the question is, how DO we find these “athletes”? Are there such employees that would every commit to the business as if it were their family? It may be a suggestion that businesses should start searching for quality instead of quantity, where quantity refers to solely one’s academic achievements.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2013/10/02/why-you-should-fill-your-company-with-athletes/

The world has changed ever so significantly in the past century, let alone decade. Our ways of living have shifted into a newer, more technology dependant paradigm. With this tsunami of a change, it is not surprising that businesses such as BlackBerry would rip apart from its ground foundation and get swept away with the moving tide, and drown with the rubble and wreckage left to waste by, emerging, and ever so powerful companies such as Apple and Samsung. The smartphone industry has left BlackBerry dumb. It was a movement that penetrated like a bullet train, breaking through the BlackBerry Message empire and only leaving the ruins of a once successful product. But why doesn’t BlackBerry just compete in the smartphone industry? A question that would seem obvious to ask at first, but when looked into, one comes to the realization that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone series and Apple’s iPhone series have already spread their roots into the hearts of potential consumers. The article chosen reads “Who isn’t on the list of rumoured potential BlackBerry suitors that surfaced this weekend?” and emphasizes the downfall of BlackBerry by mentioning potential suitors whom hold interest in buying out the company. This buyout would definitely help BlackBerry pick up the rubble and reconstruct, but strategies for rebuilding are limited.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/07/technology/enterprise/blackberry-google/index.html

The future has meant countless changes and modifications in already existing markets, and has also birthed the arrival of new and unique markets that have never set face to our world. In a fast growing economy that extinguishes old and obsolete systems, businesses are forced to shift strategies and discard traditions that have set them back and behind market leaders. By 2017 Ford claim to improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase production, and respond more quickly to changing consumer tastes by building and average of 4 different vehicles per plant, and by also expanding into Brazil, China, India and Russia, all of which are countries that are undergoing economic growth. Flexibility is a very important factor in the car industry, because having the ability of responding to consumer demands efficiently and rapidly means that Ford can step up into the ladder of market leaders by delivering a product that best suits its market. Expansion into developing countries also means that Ford can establish a solid market share and gain a competitive advantage by responding to demographic changes. However, will Ford regain it’s pre-War status? Can it reproduce the very painting Henry Ford shocked the world with?

Source: http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/10/7/Ford-aims-to-make-its-factories-more-flexible-efficient.aspx

When we amalgamate the words ethics and business, we are left with a very important question that many of us fail to ask nowadays, and that question is: do businesses operate ethically? Do organizations treat ethics as an important attribute to their operational behaviour? In some cases, ethics are taken seriously where as in others it is less looked at. In a society that is so heavily dependant on producers, and so interlocked with business operations, we’d think that firms would have already embedded ethical principles to govern their operations in order to protect their consumers, or even their suppliers, from the ever so demanding market that shapes so much of our lives. It is not to suggest that many firms do not act ethically, but it is merely a proposal that we are nevertheless surrounded by unethical organizations. Allegations such as Nike’s use of sweatshops to produce footwear and apparel, have definitely sparked a modern-day movement against unethical business operations. Regardless of Nike’s claims concerning the viability of these statements, the possibility still exists, that with organizations as large as Nike, ethics are lost in expansion due to the increased amount of power that enable us to do what satisfies us, the very power that has consumed mankind throughout history. Greed.