Zappos is an online shop which sells shoes and clothing.  They have adopted a very unique business model in which makes them a holacracy.  There is no managerial hierarchy, but rather organizational groups in which run the company.  They have also implemented a system in which they slightly lower salaries of employees, but give them benefits and flexibility with hours.

 A chart illustrating the benefits of Zappos in the eyes of the company

Zappos uses this business model as not only a way to improve the workers conditions, but also as a way to attract consumers.  Although employees wages are cut, the company is recognized by Fortune, as one of the top 100 companies an individual can work for.  This is due to, as stated in fellow classmate Alison’s blog, many benefits that the employees can gain, such as medical care, financial assistance, flexible hours, and plentiful time off. This attracts consumers by allowing them to support a company which supports its workers.  This unique strategy has allowed Zappos to thrive under internal circumstances in which most companies would not survive under.

An advertisement demonstrating the fundamentals of the company to the consumers

References:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/mygeum/
https://jobs.zappos.com/why-zappos
http://blog.johnrchildress.com/2014/03/26/culture-by-design-culture-by-the-numbers/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2014/01/15/making-sense-of-zappos-and-holacracy/

Esports, or electronic sports, is a international phenomenon quickly gaining popularity and momentum.  As more and more information is integrated online, online gaming has been becoming more and more competitive.  At the League of Legends World Championships of 2014 and 2015, the prize pool has consisted of $2,130,000.00 each year.  The growth from a stigmatized community once looked down upon, becoming a popular and celebrated culture even being advertised on ESPN, is due to many different changes within the gaming industry.

A packed stadium at the League of Legends World Championship 2014

As stated in Jaemin’s blog, the unique marketing approach which allows for fans to have closer relationships with the players, and make larger impacts on the community as a whole, has allowed this industry to boom over the past few years.  Donating firsthand to players and interacting online with them, is something that the sponsors of ESports such as Twitch, has allowed to happen, and puts a unique differentiation strategy on how consumers perceive the industry.

Twitch’s growing success compared with traditional television

With the combined sponsors driving ESports to become a massive industry, not only online, but also a tangible community hosting events, the growth predicted is massive.  With a unique base, the relationship between the industry and supporters is one with a bond not easily broken, as well as one that can greatly expand the consumer base.

References:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/jkim1/
http://www.esportsearnings.com/tournaments

The State Of eSports: Part 1 – A League Of Their Own

http://www.lolesports.com/en_US/worlds

The TransCanada Pipeline is one which carries oil across Canada, and is one of great importance to the oil industry as the oil sands continue to expand.  Oil and gas is one of the major resources that Canada relies on however, there are many spills and incidents commonly occurring as a result of negligence towards this faculty.  Recently, construction of the pipeline was halted due to spillages of toxic drilling substances into a major Canadian river.  A blog post by Jeff Rubin, emphasizes how accidents are all too common in the oil and gas industry, and how resources and time need to be spent on developing new and cleaner energy strategies.

A 2011 Alberta Pipe line Leakage

There are many ways of implementing changes in order to decrease the likelihood of spills.    Cleaner energy strategies such as Wind power and Solar power are increasing in popularity, and are soon to become very high contenders in the market.  Implementation of a Chief Sustainability Officer would also be a way to increase caution when dealing with accident prone subjects.  CSOs are an important and new coming aspect of large corporations and the use of one would be beneficial to corporations such as those dealing with oil and gas and their transportation.

References:

Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)

http://www.jeffrubinssmallerworld.com/2015/07/23/canada-needs-an-energy-strategy-but-not-one-focused-on-pipelines/
http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKCN0TA00B20151121

On November 14th, Ronda Rousey, professional UFC fighter and champion of her division was defeated by challenger Holly Holm.  This unexpected event raked in a massive crowd of just under 60,000 people, as well as people watching online electronically.  The event was trending at over 1 million pay per view buys, as well as the live gate accumulating around 6.7 million dollars.  The combined revenue of both the pay per view buys, as well as buy in at the gate was an number estimated at around 50 million dollars.  This amount of revenue from just one event however, shrivels in comparison to many other boxing and UFC events, such as the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight, which brought in 400 million from just TV revenue alone.

Advertisement of the fight between Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm

Money made off sports event has brought in a massive amount of revenue in the past years, and is growing more and more as these sports gain more popularity. The extremely controversial and complicated sports industry has caught the attention of many, such as Yahoo, trying to implement the streaming of sports events into their value propositions, and is expanding massively becoming more and more intertwined with other industries.

estimated revenue from different sports in 2012

references:

http://www.businessinsider.com/floyd-mayweather-manny-pacquiao-revenue-2015-5
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2589406-the-queen-is-dead-holly-holm-kos-ronda-rousey-starts-new-ufc-era

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group, sold over 14.3 billion dollars of products on the largest online shopping day in China, Singles day.  Comparing this to Cyber Monday 2014 in America, only 2 billion dollars were spent, a diminutive number when put next to the amount of revenue Alibaba produced. As Alibaba group was positioned at one of the top e-commerce positions, they have since, branched out into many other companies under their name such as Taobao.  Due to this positioning strategy, Alibaba has been able to be one of the top profiteers in the e-commerce industry, partially due to piracy being a large part of China’s marketing competitive advantage.

Alibaba Group’s estimated growth compared to Ebay

Imitations and piracy of name brands at much lower prices are what makes companies such as Alibaba and Taobao so popular in China, and they posses massive state support. They enjoy monopolies or oligopolies within the country, and thus are highly successful.  This success is not yet very evident globally, but signs such as the Singles day revenue of Alibaba are an indicator that international companies possess the wealth to start expanding in a western movement.

References:
http://recode.net/2015/11/11/alibaba-sites-sold-more-than-14-billion-of-goods-in-a-single-day/
http://english.sina.com/business/p/2012/0620/479028.html

One for one business models while externally viewed as helping developing countries, actually hurt local businesses and deprive them from selling their goods and services.  While they do provide citizens with free goods and services, the local providers are robbed of their business, and will suffer from the lack of consumers.  The inconsistency in shipments for companies with one for one business models also harm developing economies, as they hinder growth and can create holdups in the market of local companies.

 For-profit based company Toms advertises their one for one business strategy

Countries in poverty “aren’t poor because they lack stuff; they’re poor because they lack the infrastructure to create wealth“.  Through the growing popularity of one for one corporations, this will only serve to further cripple these countries.  Only through the implementation of providing goods and services currently unavailable, will these companies be actually helping.  By funding the development of medicines and vaccines and their distributions, companies and their consumers can assist developing countries without the disturbance of pre existing markets trying to grow.

Free Vaccinations in Africa funded by international companies

References:

The One-for-one Business Model: Avoiding Unintended Consequences

The recent scandal that hit like a tsunami against the German company Volkswagen, has proven to be a catalyst in the sales of many other cars such as the Toyota Prius.  This hybrid car as stated by the company, did not need to cheat on emission tests in order to succeed.

Toyota’s picture ad promoting its eco friendly cars

Instead, the Prius carries a statement of a noticeably lower carbon footprint,  and as also stated by the company, “unprecedented efficiency and environmental performance.  The car also supposedly adds fun to driving, as its internal design adds comfort and sensation to the driver.  The crash of Volkswagen, and Toyota taking advantage of this, ends up as a competitive advantage against other car companies, as Toyota now has over 50% of alternative powered vehicles being sold across Europe.

Toyota’s eco friendly lineup, and plans for the future

Other companies may catch on to the idea that through a companies downfall, their own company may succeed, and thus improve their impact towards consumers, as well as gain market shares more easily, as well as in greater quantities.

References

http://www.irishexaminer.com/motors/motors-features/toyota-adds-a-driving-experience-to-their-growing-green-credentials-357390.html

Tesla, arguably the top electric car in the industry, has recently released its second model, MODEL X.  This luxury car will come with features unavailable in other electric cars, and very rarely seen in the car industry at all.  These include falcon winged doors, highly effective ventilation, as well as many other features that add the the cars uniqueness.

The new MODEL X, deemed the most important Tesla ever

This Focus type strategy centred on the fact that differentiation will make it or break it, is a gamble that the company is willing to make.  The cost to cover the cars production is immense, and the features of the car add to the cost making it a car that is unusually expensive compared to other luxury cars or its class.

Features of the new Tesla MODEL X

The popularity of the car is the factor that will allow the production to go forward, as if individuals see this car as just an overpriced electric car, the model will be discontinued.  To add to this, Tesla had chronic production issues, that might deter customers from purchasing, as it would be a long wait until they actually had possession of the car.  Tesla is risking a very expensive luxury car, with the belief that its new features and uniqueness will be its selling point.

References

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-model-x-is-on-a-crucial-mission-for-tesla-2015-10
http://gazettereview.com/2015/09/tesla-motors-inc-nasdaqtsla-model-x-is-almost-here/

A recall of 11 million cars throughout the world has been put in place after the German carmaker Volkswagen was found cheating its cars on emission tests.  Volkswagen is a large part of the German economy, and thus, the economy took a large hit when this scandal took place.  The car company is believed to recover from this crisis however, many people losing their jobs and the corporation taking a massive hit was not a gamble the company should have made.

The CEO of Volkswagen attending a news conference

Although profits would increase from this scandal if carried out successfully, 750,000 work for Volkswagen and the number is predicted to drop drastically, as individuals in high positions within the corporation are being arrested and quitting their jobs where they stand.  The absolute disregard for business ethics, leading to a failure within the system, as information was kept secretive, led to the inevitable crumble of the company.  The scandal affected not only the company, but those invested in the German economy as a large part of the economy was hurt as Volkswagen was one of the biggest car companies within it.  A risk that is negligent of ethics in business, as well as significantly opposed the operations already intact within a company will lead to its eventual failure.

Some of the many cars that are to be recalled 

References
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/volkswagen-eu-martin-schulz-german-economy-1.3256024

One of Many Tailings ponds within the Oil Sands

As most Canadians know, the Oil Sands are a huge part of Canada’s market as 5% of its GDP comes from oil, while bitumen makes up 25% of the nations exports.  While this has its benefits, the oil industry growth in Canada is causing the environment to suffer, as well as putting the country in risk of Dutch Disease. While a big part of business ethics is focused on the environmental impact of a corporation as well as the condition of living  in communities surrounding them, oil companies in the Tar Sands have produced 170 square kilometres of mining waste that come in forms of toxic lakes.  The growth of this industry also draws near a very fine line as one of the most recent projects, the Keystone pipeline XL threatens  many first nations groups living in Canada.

A Protest Against the Building of the Keystone XL Pipeline

Building this pipeline would impose against many aboriginal treaties made in the past not to infringe upon their sacred land, and would raise questions on whether actions made by large corporations and the government are done with Canadians in mind, rather than finances.  As stated by Milton Friedman, these large corporations are engaging in activities designed to increase the profits gained, as long as the actions stay within the laws of society.  This being said, it can be concluded that business ethics are not an idea to improve the human condition, they are a restraint to try lessen the detrimental effects of large corporations on society.

Links to all sources:

http://tarsandssolutions.org/in-the-media/first-nations-bear-the-risks-of-oilsands-development
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/topic/Keystone-XL-Pipeline
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/10/14/Canadian-Ethical-Challenges/
http://www.rt.com/usa/native-americans-keystone-block-792/