Sauder Student's Blog

I enjoyed reading Jennifer Yip’s blog post on Lululemon has made the “see throughout pants” and her opinions on Lululemon’s reaction to the customers’ complaints.

In Jennifer’s blog post, she discusses that Lululemon is known for creating high quality athletic apparels, but when there are plenty of concerns over the “see through pants”, Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon’s response  is  “Does every company need to cater to every woman? No.” Jennifer thinks that Chip Wilson’s irrational response to this event is going to damage the company’s relationship with some of their customers. Jennifer proves her argument by letting people consider a SWOT analysis for the company, Wilson’s comment has become  an internal weakness for the company, because of his comment, people are now associating the brand as being an unaccepting company against heavier set woman which Lululemon does not want this to happen.

I believe that customers are the key part for a company and if the company’s unwise action infuriate its customers, the company will not make profits any more. When facing this kind of mistakes, the company should apologize publicly and try to regain the relationship between the company and its customers.

Reference:

Jennifer Yip’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jenniferyip/2013/11/16/does-every-company-need-to-cater-to-every-woman-no-chip-wilson/

Picture from: http://operationsroom.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/the-unbearable-lightness-of-lululemon-yoga-pants/

I read an very interesting blog post on Cameron Lawrence’s Blog talking about the comparison of this year’s new PlayStation 4 and the releasing of PlayStation 3 and how Sony gets improved by decreasing the faults on its products.

Cameron gives lots of statistics to show that how successful this year that Sony’s brand new release of its PlayStation 4 and his opinions are quite persuasive. He specifies that Sony lost around $5 billion in its first year when it started releasing PlayStation 3, before that, he has given the evidence that Sony claims to have already sold 1 million consoles in north America alone in two days. Therefore, he predicts that the PlayStation 4 will be the gaming console of the year, or at least until the next model is released and its very reasonable based on the data he has provided.

I think that when taking a look at a successful company, it has an important characteristic which is keeping innovation and demising the mistakes. Obviously, in this case, Sony has got the valuable experience that it should be serious and careful with its products, otherwise it will receive a really bad result from its customers and lose the trust from its supporters.

Reference:

Cameron Lawrence’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/cameronlawrence/2013/11/18/sonys-sleek-new-system/

Picture from: http://f-gadgets.com/playstation-4.html

The war between main food retailers seems to become more and more intense, the two giants Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and Metro Inc., both experienced a decrease in its shares about 7.5 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively, according to the “Loblaw, Metro earnings show trouble at the grocery till” from the globe and mail. The Loblaw and the Metro both has its margins squeezed in the grocery wars.  In addition, because of the entrance of Target, it seems that more and more stores are getting involved into this grocery war.

One of the key to success could be the labour cost. Members of three Loblaw unions had voted to strike by Oct. 6 and it is still reducing its staff of about 134,000 full-time and part-time employees by 275 people. It hopes that by cutting down the cost, it will earn more profits and reduce the stress.  Since that Wal-Mart, Safeway, Shoppers and Amazon all join the battle, each company  needs to know its weakness, strength, opportunities and threats (SWOT), and find which company it is gonna corporate with and which company it is gonna compete with. By doing so, the company may survive from this cruel battle.

Reference:

The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/loblaw-warns-on-profit-for-2013-third-quarter-earnings-drop/article15409879/

CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/loblaw-metro-margins-squeezed-in-grocery-wars-1.2425213

The Globe and Mail:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/metro-to-reorganize-ontario-network-close-some-stores/article13751650/

The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/loblaw-reducing-work-force-by-275-employees/article14888269/

Picture from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/loblaw-metro-margins-squeezed-in-grocery-wars-1.2425213

Nowadays, the competition between Apple and Google has become more and more intense, according to the CBC news, both companies are poaching each other’s employees, wooing each other’s app developers.

The war between these two companies already started a few years ago, when Steve Jobs introduced iPhone and Google became confused what’ s their company going to be like because it thought Apple may dominate the world in the future. But now, the market share of Apple devices is much lower than the Android devices overseas from North America and even inside the America, the share of Android seems to increase faster. This makes Google become confident that he may be beat Apple with smartphones and in fact, they are both clamouring for the market dominance.  Another news seems to be really shocking, Apple’s iPad overtaken by Android’s Nexus and Galaxy in the battle of the tablets, according to Global financial services expert at Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty. It seems that the Apple should not only take the look at the strategy of how to differentiate its products from other devices, it also has to be focus on how to attract people who are hesitating about choosing the tablets between iOS devices and Android devices.

Reference:

Mirror News: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/apples-ipad-overtaken-androids-google-2801779

CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/apple-google-in-platform-war-over-mobile-author-says-1.2427047

Picture from: http://www.topnews.in/usa/apple-google-see-53-bln-wiped-their-combined-share-value-one-week-216813

Recently, a TV show which was killed twice by AMC called “The Killing” is resurrected by Netflix for a final six episodes.

So far, we can’t judge whether this action is wise or not, but at least Netflix brings a great platform for the TV viewers who really want to watch “The Killing” and are focused to pay the money to the Netflix and see the ending. The risk that the Netflix took is not that large compared with introducing a new TV show that nobody has ever watched it before. The Netflix at least could expect how many more people will buy the services and make sure it makes some profits instead of spending the same amount of money on introducing a show that they may have no idea what is it going to be like in the future. I think the Netflix has done a great job because it actually create a new customer channel for those who have not been a member of Netflix and will be willing to watch “The Killing”. This action also enriches its resources and will keep those people who are already the members of the Netflix stay with it. Therefore, I think no matter how much money the Netflix could earn from this step, it will actually earn more profits in the long run.

Reference:

US Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/11/15/netflix-gives-new-life-to-the-killing/3597877/

Picture from: http://blogs.kqed.org/pop/2013/03/13/the-killing-season-2-is-on-netflix/

The Alibaba, a Chinese E-commerce Marketplace had a sale for $5.87 billion on 11.11 Shopping Festival, which broke its one-day sale record by 80% compared to last year.

How does a Chinese e-bay make that?

The Alibaba Nov. 11 sale has a tradition that 27 merchants on Tmall site started offer discounts by 2009, in order to increase its sales during a slow selling period. The Alibaba is really sensitive that it sees the potential chance and catches it, now it has the absolute power on 11.11, the “Single Day”. According to the news from Bloomberg, it says that  from the midnight on 11.11, Tmall bagan cutting its price up to 50% on the Chinese products as well as the international products, The Chairman of the Alibaba, Jack Ma, said that beside from the number of sales, he says the market power of China. 11.11 would not be an easy day for all the employees that work in the Alibaba, but it is also a chance to see how the company is gonna work under such big pressure.

Even thought that the Alibaba’s has just achieved a great score on Single’s Day, it still can’t ignore its competitors because they never stop neither, Tencent, China’s biggest Internet group, also started its e-commerce.

Reference:

WallStreetJournal: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304644104579191590951567808

Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/alibaba-breaks-sales-record-on-china-singles-day-amid-discounts.html

Tech Hub: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/473fae66-49db-11e3-9a21-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2kzRUJS3I

According the news from CBC on Oct.28th 2013, discount retailer Target said it would open 33 more Canadian stores in November.

Target first reached the Canada from U.S was in March, it opened its first store in Ontario, Canada, now it plans to open more stores in Canada. According to another news from CBC which was earlier in August, it says “U.S retailer Target is failing to make a good first impression with shoppers in Canada” and it ranks only 8th from the customer satisfaction rankings, because the customers don’t think the price in Target is low enough for them. Compared to Target, the company which also comes from the U.S ranks the first in that same survey, it has 62% satisfaction among the customers, which is 35% more than the Target. So why does Target still insists on opening stores in Canada?

According to the the news “Target aims to reshape Canadian shopping habits as sales fall short” from the Globe and Mail, the chief executive Gregg Steinhafel seemed to give us an answer, he said  “Target stores locates in strong markets with demographics that are ideal for our strategy”, he tried to convince people that even thought Target is not making much profits in the short run, but in the long run, he was confident of his choice.

Reference:

The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/retailer-target-aims-to-reshape-canadian-shopping-habits-as-sales-fall-short/article15163888/

CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/target-failing-to-impress-customers-in-canada-1.1316609

CBC News:http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/target-to-open-33-more-canadian-stores-in-november-1.2254703

Tim Hortons tests its first new coffee blend in 49 years,  because it wants to compete with McDonald’s Corp. and Starbucks Corp., in the area of stronger dark roast coffees, because these two companies have expanded quite quickly in Canada.

Tim Hortons does that because it wants to broaden its customer segments and attract those people who would like to drink dark roast coffee. If Tim Hortons does not do that, most of the market share will be taken by McDonald’s Corp. and Starbucks Corp. Tim Hortons does not want that to happen, so after it found out his competitors will take most of the market share of dark roast coffees, he took the action which is a little bit late.

In my opinion, 49 years is not a small number, this means that Tim Hortons hasn’t been focused on creating new kinds of coffee for a long time, that’s why Tim Hortons is doing it suddenly. In another way of thinking it, it’s also a good signal that the CEO of Tim Hortons become aware of the importance of innovation. I think after this change, Tim Hortons will become a more competitive company in Canada and Tim Hortons will realize the importance of the innovation.

Reference:

The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/tim-hortons-targets-rivals-tests-new-dark-roast-coffee/article15114207/

“Every so often, a company changes our lives, not just with its products, but with its ethos.” This is one of the best sentences to describe Apple turning from a known fruit to the biggest worldwide brand.

The success of Apple again proves the importance of technology and innovation. Starting from a company that was first set up in Steve Job’s garage, it overcame lots of difficulties such as the monopoly of I.B.M, the competition between Microsoft and Apple.

From Mac computer, to iPod and iPhone, iPad, Apples shows its eternal focus is on the end-user experience, which is the unique feature and can not be copied by other companies. All the products that Apple create are intuitive and  easy to understand and learn. It created the apple eco-system, luring apple users into buying more Apple products. Moreover, Apple’s supply chain management makes it a global supply chain leader. The company has developed relationships with suppliers, which has helped Apple quickly scale operations to customer demand for existing and new products. In the aspect of customer segment, its fashionable design not only attracts lots of young people, but also kids and adults. Basically, Apple products are suitable for almost every one who can afford it. Finally, Apple has the most advanced technology as one of its key resources, and make it be competitive in this world.

Reference:

University of San Francisco: http://www.usanfranonline.com/apples-process-improvements-make-it-a-global-supply-chain-leader/

Time Tech: http://techland.time.com/2012/05/07/six-reasons-why-apple-is-successful/

On Oct. 5, BlackBerry Ltd.’s stock price has fallen close to the embattled company’s liquidation value, shares in the Canadian technology company slipped 4 cents to close at $7.69 (U.S.). That’s just pennies higher than what Veritas calculates to be BlackBerry’s liquidation value of $7.59 a share on Nasdaq.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., the biggest shareholder of BlackBerry, achieved a $4.9 billion agreement with BlackBerry Ltd. Looking back to  2007, when Apple launched iPhone for the time, there was no sign of concern about the iPhone’s potential as a BlackBerry killer because BlackBerry has millions of subscribers, and later, even the American president Obama had recommended BlackBerry phones. But this action did not save BlackBerry.

The biggest reason of the falling of BlackBerry is that it does not think for the customers, it did not make their products more innovative and humane. Also, it did not open the market in China and India, which accelerate the death of BlackBerry. Here are some examples from the Globe and Mail:

• Shortly after the release of the first iPhone, Verizon asked BlackBerry to create a touchscreen “iPhone killer.” But the result was a flop, so Verizon turned to Motorola and Google instead.
• In 2012, one-time co-CEO Jim Balsillie quit the board and cut all ties to BlackBerry in protest after his plan to shift focus to instant-messaging software, which had been opposed by founder Mike Lazaridis, was killed by current CEO Thorsten Heins.
• Mr. Lazaridis opposed the launch plan for the BlackBerry 10 phones and argued strongly in favour of emphasizing keyboard devices. But Mr. Heins and his executives did not take the advice and launched the touchscreen Z10, with disastrous results

Reference:

The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-inside-story-of-why-blackberry-is-failing/article14563602/?page=all

The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/blackberry-falls-near-liquidation-value-says-report/article14715711/