Category Archives: Comm 101 Blog

Lately I’ve been eating Kraft Dinner. KD is often considered an example of an inferior good in my Econ 101 lectures. However, my personally opinion is that it is amazing food for its price; I would buy it regardless if I was wealthier. Why is this recognition associated with KD? Why is KD often associated as a food for children? Because of branding.

 We talked about Marketing in class this year and many aspects of it considers the branding and value of a product based on the advertising and marketing. I realized that their marketing strategy has positioned their brand most likely using tools such as value proposition and brand positioning that we learned in class to establish their market segmentation focused towards both young children and immigrants (Chapman). Although this niche targeting strategy invests into advertisements geared towards these domestic groups, they have to clear the stigma of the brand recognition to stay profitable outside of Canada according to the New York Times article.

 Sources:

1. Chapman, Sasha (September 2012). “Manufacturing Taste”. The Walrus. Retrieved September 01, 2012. http://walrusmagazine.com/printerFriendly.php?ref=2012.09-food-manufacturing-taste.

2. Stuart, Elliot (May 26, 2010). “Kraft Hopes to Encourage Adults to Revert to a Childhood Favorite”. The New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/business/media/27adco.html?_r=0.

Earlier in this course, we discussed CSR. Corporate Social Responsibility underlines the business ethics and how firms contribute to society–whether they are impacting society or adding value. In the current business world there is clear evidence that proves that eco-friendly and socially responsible businesses have higher profitability ceilings due to consumer reaction. The Forbes article by Richard Levick indicates that:

“More than half the consumers surveyed by Havas want to reward responsible companies by buying their products. 53% would even pay a 10% premium for those products” (Forbes, 2).

This article also highlights the transition into established CSR programs such as green initiatives, health and anti-hunger plans, and sustainability are investments that somehow reach consumer needs due to the contribution firms are bringing to the world. To me, it appears that CSR is seemingly the act of companies being environmental and sustainable according to the Maclean’s article. However, CSR in “today’s model [is] based on impact,…value-creating,…[and to] provide the tools with which society can improve itself” (Forbes, 2). These quotations indicate that the success of Steve Jobs or even Nike+ is that their products are adding value and making our lives more efficient not necessarily their environmental contributions or cutting costs in a way that consumers support.

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardlevick/2012/01/11/corporate-social-responsibility-for-profit/

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/06/09/better-business/

Throughout the second half of Comm 101, it was imminent that two main ideas that were constantly emphasized were business ethics and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is an interesting topic as it broadly covers an amalgamation of personal interests and business skills. From class, we have heard from Janice Cheam’s Energyaware, Tom Dobrzanski‘s Vertical Studios and band The Zolas, and the Urthecast space camera among businesses such as Lululemon that were all started due to self-interests and market opportunities.

As I continue on with my journey through Sauder, I believe that there will eventually be more and more stories of young undergraduate entrepreneurs, such as Brian Wong’s Kiip. I have enjoyed hearing these personal testimonies from individuals and I believe that for myself, I took from this experience the message to continue with my passions, to take advantage of my opportunities, and apply business knowledge.

One significant aspect of entrepreneurship that is seemingly overshadowed by the success and innovation of entrepreneurs is the amount of sweat equity and time they put into the research and development stages in the process of founding and starting up their company. For many of these ventures, start up costs are also a great issue.

Walmart has currently chosen to go digital before the big holiday shopping surge begins. Walmart, known for a strong supply-chain management, could potentially create more efficient inventory management and increase product selling capability regardless of distribution channels. In class, we classified supply chain management as the role of operations in a supply chain is: get the right product to the right place at the right time in the right amounts.

I believe this is an incredibly smart investment as competitive markets transition more into digital mobility. The most significant gain from this decision is that it makes their chain of distribution more efficient and inter-connected. This application helps their market research on consumer behavior and thus makes their forecasts more accurate. Furthermore, it even helps cut inventory costs due to less uncertainty and better use of Just In Time distribution. Walmart realized they had “140 million weekly shoppers in the US. That is Internet scale to the offline world” and found the market opportunity to use technology to their advantage (Sloan, CNet). This application helps consumers get what they want, while helping management quantize correctly to maximize profits, which defines effective supply chain operations and  management according to our Comm 101 class.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57548785-94/how-walmart-is-going-all-out-with-mobile/

Toronto is one of the biggest cities in Canada; one surprisingly unorthodox market both successful yet unsuccessful is their professional sports market. According to the article by Glen Hodgson, Toronto professional teams, mainly the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA Toronto Raptors, and MLB Toronto Blue Jays have less incentive and motivation to perform well due to their successful market. Specifically, the owners of these companies are corporate businessmen who are seeking to generate profit, not necessarily winning championships. In addition, due to the conditions such as wide customer-base, long history, publicity, income, quality facilities, these teams stay profitable.

Although financially they are successful, is this lacking urgency of winning caused by their performance management issues? The repetitive lack of playoff appearances means lower revenues generated per season and the longer winning does not occur, the less loyal fans will become. I am curious why competitiveness is low in Toronto, where exchange rates don’t deduce player salaries, team history and services are available, and benefits are easily accessible. In class we discussed performance management, is this situation the lack of hierarchical workforce needs or lack of proper management?

Sources:  

1. http://www.conferenceboard.ca/reports/briefings/bigleagues/briefing-10.aspx

2. http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/article/1289396–nba-toronto-raptors-fall-to-boston-celtics

 Cherihan‘s article on the Gangnam Style outlines greatly the popularity this single has brought upon our world. Gangnam style is without a doubt the most popularized and well-known visual piece of artistry right now. Not only has the song, performed by South Korean artist PSY, taken over the radio and internet, it has also reached out to the older generations. On a personal level, my dad has been struct with the pandemic of the Oppa Gangnam Style infection. I can personally attest to seeing both people of my parent’s age enjoying this song as well as 3 year olds dancing in style to this song. The significance of gangnam style is not only its catchiness, but its extent of success globally. The South Korean government is even investing in it as they get closer to elections (Economist). In addition, the music video has such mesmerizing effects on us, viewers and consumers, that we have not only been drawn in by it, but we can instantaneously distinguish this single from others. Thus, I wonder how successful the marketing behind this song has been and how this will affect the way others try to market to the world now.

Sources: 

– https://blogs.ubc.ca/cherihanhassun/2012/10/08/what-gangnam-style-is-doing-to-brand-south-korea/

– http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/10/investing-gangnam-style?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709

Apple’s iPhone 5 release and the Samsung lawsuit has brought Foxconn on the news once again. The high demand for the new iPhone forced workers very demanding, productive, and strenuous conditions. Many students have blogged about this subject (Tanvir Toor, Alex Chua, and Chris Williamson) but the question I am wondering is whether the iPhone 5 will be known as the product that boosts Apple’s overall growth or the product that diminishes its brand image. The Foxconn situation is brought up at a time where Apple has recently dealt with the Samsung lawsuit and can be seen as a less charitable business to competition. Will the news of harsh working conditions stop consumers from endlessly throwing money at Apple?

Despite the demands of citizens in first world developed countries on this supply, we often forget the effects our demand has on the suppliers. The forced conditions could force a strike by the Chinese workers union against Apple and thus proving to be detrimental to the corporation. After Apple’s protection of intellectual property against Samsung and other competition, I can see various rivals in the market exploiting more to worsen Apple’s brand image and their seemingly bad corporate social responsibility. Thus, the decrease in marketshare caused by the lawsuit results in high opportunity costs that put Apple in a vulnerable place after the release of their newest iPhone. As a supporter of Apple products and their dream aesthetic design-oriented products, I am curious what they will do now.

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Hockey, an essential to the Vancouver lifestyle, is the biggest professional sport in Canada and the only sport in which Vancouver currently has a team excelling. Unfortunately for the us–the average fan, aspiring athletes, puck bunnies, playoff bandwagoners, or the hardcore hockey insiders like myself–we will be without the 2012-2013 season. The NHL lockout is due to the unsuccessfulness of a CBA agreement between the NHL and NHLPA; the Owners vs. Players. Unlike the NBA and NFL lockouts in 2011, the NHL experiences a different one. This difference is because of the fact that “FEW industries have worse labour relations than American professional sports,” but in particular, the NHL. The NHL has experienced 4 strikes or lockouts since 1992.

One significant outlook is the significant dichotomy between the two sides. The owners are attempting to decrease player salaries 10% from the last CBA agreement among other methods to increase revenue. One big issue is the loss of viewers who are unsatisfied with the situation, according to a poll from hockeybuzz, 56% of viewers who voted would stop caring about the players during the lockout. Similarly, this response from fans brings huge economic repercussions to not only the 30 owners who have fixed costs in contracts and maintenance, but also lose one of their strongest sources of income. The players believe that their proposals provide the grounds to a resolution that fairly views hockey as both a sport and business, however the owners and Gary Bettman are adamant on their proposal that views hockey as an entertainment industry for profit. What is professional hockey now, is it still a sport or a business? Is there a middle ground?

External Sources: 

http://www.economist.com/node/21563293

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Do-YOU-Care-About-NHL-Players-in-Europe-During-Lockout/1/46692

Gold’s Gym is an infamous health and fitness franchise within North America. However, their credibility may be questioned due to their questionable portrayal of business ethics. According to the CTV article, falsification and embellishments of the employees’ credentials were among methods that the management had forced their workers to use when dealing with new potential customers. From this article on the famed Gold’s Gym, one can question the ethics of this company. This CTV news report shows that many branches of Gold’s Gym within the Lower Mainland seemingly view the importance of generating profit very highly in contrast to reliability, honesty towards customers, and ethics.

The main ethical issue in this article is that the Gold’s Gym franchise is falsifying their credentials to lure and give their potential customers a false sense of Gold’s facilities to influence the perspective of customers considering to purchase their services. The Gold’s Gym management seemingly believes that regardless if they have the degrees to back-up what they say, they can provide the results that the customers desire. Personally, if I was a Gold’s Gym member, I would be completely against their dishonesty and the lack of integrity in their business strategies.

URL: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/credentials-pumped-up-at-famed-gym-ctv-investigation-1.714035

YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKaBhuFCcgQ