As the least popular of the four major American sports (football, basketball, baseball, and hockey), the National Hockey League is in a unique position, which allows them to incorporate different methods of marketing to entice non-hockey fans.

In Ali Ka’s blog  he mentioned how marketing research can change how companies perceive their future business goals. An unsurprising market research report  in 2012 revealed that Canadians will consume hockey content even when their own team are no longer in the competition. The NHL’s goals have shifted to advertise to more casual (probably American) fans.

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One of these marketing moves is the NHL Outdoor Games. It is held annually in baseball or football stadiums, attracting a large volume of fans of those sports, and the open roof outdoor aspect provides a once-a-year atmosphere of an unmissable event. The league also attempts to expand to international fans; similar to how baseball is played and celebrated in other countries outside of the United States, hockey is likewise observed in European countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The NHL simultaneously attempts to boost league interest in these countries through events such as the Global Series in Sweden, while expanding to brand new markets like China on the side.

Another route that the NHL takes in marketing is garnering nostalgia, connecting old legends to new players. Learned hockey fans know Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr as household names, and old school NHL insiders and marketers take advantage of this fact to attract new fans by advertising a “classic” feel.

On the organisational level, different teams incorporate a variety of marketing tactics to attract local fans. One recent and notable method is the brand new Las Vegas Golden Knights “Vegas Strong” slogan after the concert shooting. A large amount of commercial success was found through ticket sales as the team connects itself on a personal level with its fans in the time of tragedy.

The NHL’s marketing tactics are crucial to their success as the least popular of the four major American sports. It allows them to try new things, like the “Vegas Strong” slogan, and the Global Series in Sweden and China, while additionally making simpler moves such as key player matchups and jersey promotions. Overall, the NHL is in a position to provide a unique product: a brand devotion connected to an experience rather than a good, which may prove very profitable for them over time.

What with the aerospace industry’s constant growth and innovation of new technologies, it is imperative to have top-notch supply chain logistical management.  This can refer to both airplane companies and spacecraft alike.

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As seen in the graph above, the market for just international passengers has risen drastically in the last decade, which has prompted constant reevaluation of operation and logistical management in order to stay efficient and timely as air traffic rises 4.5% annually.

Third party logistical advisers are called upon frequently by airline companies to supply efficient analysis and recommendations to maintain the logistical chain. For instance, if one were to look at simple airline travel, several key resources are crucial to have on time and in the right quantity to facilitate timeliness. Those would be: tools and resources for airplane maintenance, airplane fuel and the airplanes themselves, and perhaps uniquely, labour.

Airline labour is particularly unique compared to other industries. They are equal rate limiting steps to capital; the airplane cannot take off or deliver passengers without all personnel on board and in the tower. Therefore personnel management as a factor of logistics is imperative for functioning. Time tables, scheduling, and transportation are key.

From an operational point of view, as the airline industry is a services industry as opposed to a goods one, the key products and metrics are maintaining a steady supply of maintenance and fuel equipment. The stakes are also relatively high for these supplements as they’re expensive alongside being needed in a timely fashion. In goods industries, timeliness of goods are necessary to meet demand, but occasionally a delay will not temper demand within a reasonable time frame. Oppositely, no sales can be made in services industries without the maintenance equipment present.

The operations and logistics of aerospace industries is vast compared to smaller companies. Punctuality is of the utmost importance and equipment must be perfect, as customers are relying on their airline for safety. Spacecraft travel adds an entirely new layer of consistently updating technology as discoveries and innovations are made, and organising the management of resources and products could change at any time.

American department store Sears has announced its closing of all  Canadian stores, which currently employs 12000 Canadians across 74 locations.

The blame for the end of Sears in Canada changes based on who you ask. Joanne McNeish, marketing professor at the University of Toronto, stated that Sears “squandered” its assets in Canada, while on the other hand fault has to be pointed to the staggering growth of Amazon , which supplies many of the same goods that department stores used to.

Amazon forecast: Source

In fact, department stores as a whole may be under siege thanks to the growth of internet shopping. Other companies like JC Penney, and Macy’s are also struggling. Richard George, Food Marketing professor at St. Joseph’s University advises department stores to adopt an “omnichannel” approach.

The definition of omnichannel is: “a seamless customer experience” in any fashion they’re shopping in. In other words, from the moment a customer begins to consider a purchase of an item, to the evaluation of the success of their purchase, the store supplies a seamless support system to guide them on their way and become a necessity rather than a luxury. George believes that the only way the growingly obsolete sector of stores can survive in the increasingly diverse internet shopping age is to integrate themselves into the entire shopping experience to the consumer.

In my opinion, it may already be too late to achieve this. Unless the department store supplies a unique experience or offer, like Costco does with their low bulk prices, then there are already present better, faster, more convenient, and cheaper options available on the world wide web.

This is thanks to how the change in consumer behaviour relative to how it was in the past. In the height of department stores’ success, they were a one stop shop for people looking for a variety of items. Nowadays, customers have a better idea of what they want, and are more likely to enter online or brick and mortar stores with a clear need rather than general browsing. This may be a major factor in the damage to department stores, which saw huge profits off of impulse purchases.

In short, other department stores like Sears will have to drastically shift their value proposition and internal mindset in order to keep their heads above water in the information age.

The New York Stock exchange recently saw high-end tech companies drop in value as investors turned away from the big electronic sellers to smaller ones. This could signal a desire that mirrors consumers’ movements.

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The electronic leaders in social media, such as Facebook, and hardware, like Apple and Microsoft, both felt a significant fall in the market that translates to billions of dollars lost in the New York Stock Exchange.

There are several possibilities as to the cause of this event; namely: that investors are looking towards smaller companies that face less taxes and have the possibility of large growth, and that, in the case of the new iPhone, there is wavering demand for what consumers are realizing is overpriced.

Apple decided to make a bold move by releasing two new handheld mobile telephones this fall in the form of the iPhone X and the iPhone 8, to lukewarm reception, according to social media. Perhaps the reason for this is the pricetag, which goes all the way up to under $1260CAD for the iPhone 8 and $1529CAD for the iPhone X. Consumers are hesitant to drop such a large amount of money on technology that is not groundbreaking or necessary.

Reasons like this are why investors have recently moved out of high-end technology businesses on a relatively large scale. New editions of hardware, or Facebook updates, leave consumers and apparently investors too wondering what is new and why it’s worth it.

At the same time, new exciting small technology companies are growing, such as the Essential Android, which is much cheaper than the iPhone and has generated excitement garnering a $1 billion evaluation and $300 in investments from companies such as Amazon.

This may be why investors feel pressure to avoid further time and money spent with high-end technology giants, and at the same time consumers feel out of touch with the ever-increasing prices and ever-decreasing inspiration that is occasionally sensed from Apple, among others.

Recently, the union for rail workers in Canada gave in their 72 hour notice that they would be conducting a strike.

The idea of unionization as a topic of business ethics consists of two main viewpoints. On one hand, the rail workers are protecting not just their wages but their job security when they join a union. As a form of self-preservation, it makes sense why so many unions are created and utilized across the world.

https://twitter.com/TeamstersRail/status/868589771387490306/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fnews%2Fcanada%2Fsaskatchewan%2Frail-workers-strike-mandate-saskatchewan-1.4134672 

On the other hand, from the business’ point of view, a worker’s union makes it much more difficult to run an efficient and profitable business. To no longer have the power to treat each employee as their own individual with regards to wages and job security is a large swing of power between employee and employer. It detracts from the autonomy of capitalist economies.

However, this is a complex ethical issue raised in the business setting. It raises the imperative question: how much power should the employee have relative to the employer? There could not be an employee if not for an employer, yet the opposite is also true.

At its core, unions were designed to prevent the business from being able to fire an employee at their own discretion. It saw to include the government in the business transaction occurring and give rights to the employee so that they could not be discriminated against. In other words, it saw to make things more fair for the employee.

What is fair in business? Or, more importantly, is there fairness in business at all? Wall Street would say not at all; that business is a dog eat dog world where it is survival of the fittest. The fundamental idea of unions, though, suggest that business could be fair and employee and employer could meet at a fair median of job security.

In conclusion, the union of rail workers on strike is only one example of many. Businesses in the 21st century especially must set clear guidelines of interaction with their employees in order to avoid large-scale disagreements such as the one reported on CBC.

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