Mike DeLucchi's Blog

A new revenue stream has been created in the form of selling advertising space on the Vancouver Canucks practice jerseys. This idea began in the National Football League, and has quickly been adopted by professional sports teams around the globe. As there are many TV stations that cannot reserve the rights to show game footage, the advertising will markedly gain exposure through the abundance of practice video. In such a hockey-crazed city like Vancouver, this is sure to bring success. Although this may make sense financially, what really pains me is the fact that owners of professional sports teams are forgetting the ethics of the decision. Apparently it is not enough that their rink is full of advertisements covering the boards, but they must also drain the tradition of hockey and turn it into a money-grabbing organization. It makes me wonder how long it may be until we start seeing advertising on the players themselves.

Link: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Canucks+enter+with+sweater/3692238/story.html#ixzz12pnXd8C8

Research in Motion has recently announced the release of the Blackberry Playbook; their take on the tablet computer. Its scheduled release is set for early 2011 in North America, and then to Europe in the second quarter. What I found to be most intriguing about the advertising of this product, is how each feature is compared to the Apple iPad. RIM’s main prerogative is to expose what the iPad is lacking, and informing how the Playbook is a better overall option for consumers. The primary areas which they are looking to draw customers in, is with respect to the Playbook’s flash support, enabling more productive web browsing, in addition to the enhanced multitasking camera applications. These three main aspects of the Playbook are the same areas that the iPad was criticized on, in being that the iPad’s web browsing capabilities were mediocre at best, and did not have a camera accessory, contrary to a large portion of other Apple products. Overall, I believe the Blackberry Playbook will be a successful investment for Research in Motion, as it will present consumers with all the iPad offers, and more.

Links:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

http://ca.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/?CPID=KNC-kw286898_p7&HBX_PK=rim|70477b8d-651d-c209-2a3a-00001a02c2e2

Organizational culture is defined as an idea through management which entails attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an enterprise. When synchronizing with another corporation, it is not guaranteed that employees will adapt favorably to the change in corporate culture, due to the diversity of aspirations, and risk profiles. There are many variables in respect to different aspects of culture; for instance, two corporations may differ through their views on power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs. collectivism, or masculinity vs. femininity. Neither perspective is necessarily wrong; however, if an original company attracted feminist workers, due to its dominant femininity culture, a merge with another company that does not have a similar structure may make sense financially, but will certainly effect relations and productivity in the work place. Ultimately, this results in the inability to compromise on solutions, or losing the opportunity to agree upon and give closure on deals. Therefore, it is essential that cohesiveness is present between coworkers in both companies. In order to encourage this, management may look to incorporate aspects of both cultures in creating a compromising new culture that both companies can relate to as one unified entity.

Links: http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/aSGuest43708-380676-hp-compaq-merger-analysis-entertainment-ppt-powerpoint/

http://chineselanguagestudy.newdatablog.com/mergers-and-acquisitions-a-case-study-and-analysis-of-hp-compaq-merger/

http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/operating/leadership/mergingwisely.html

A subprime mortgage is a particular type of loan granted to individuals with poor credit ratings, whom would not be able to receive a conventional mortgage due to these low credit scores. They work in the sense that borrowers initially pay a lowered interest rate, which is what attracts them, until an eventual reset to a higher, variable rate resulting in significant payment increases. This often led to many subprime foreclosures due to their misleading nature in confusing borrowers. The act of subprime mortgaging is markedly unethical as lenders look to attract and take advantage of those with a lack of or very low credit, and those faced with lower incomes. However, the extreme unethical aspects of this agreement are the predatory techniques banks, like the Lehman Brothers use. For instance, they seek naïve borrowers, and pressure future home owners to re-finance, frequently charging high closing fees and rolling closing cost into mortgage. In addition, they deter clients from shopping for alternate mortgage lenders; convincing them it will hurt their credit score. There is also no disclosure that the broker is being paid by both the lender and borrower.

Link: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/lehman-brothers-collapse.asp

 In the year 1998, Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon Athletica, completely altered the focus of his organization, changing specialization from a surf, skate and snowboard shop, to one of the most renowned yoga apparel stores in the world. The primary reason which separates Lululemon from the competitors is the innovative techniques it possesses in apparel. Cotton clothing was previously being used for sweaty, stretchy power yoga, which Chip found completely inappropriate. Thus, he introduced a yoga line manufactured entirely of technical athletic fabrics, capable of coinciding with every yoga movement and position, enabling pores to breathe, and contain the ability to absorb perspiration. The result of this action was a tremendous growth in sales and revenue over the inaugural years of operation. To this day, Lululemon is consistently continuing to produce additional revenue each year. This past August, the organizations quarterly revenue rose to $21.8 million (or 30 cents a share) compared to $9.2 million (or 13 cents a share) the previous annum. In my opinion, Chip Wilson is the epitome of a successful entrepreneur in a sense of conquering risk through innovating new ideas to implement in a market, and the dramatic speed and amount of revenue received initially and sustained.

Links:

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/lululemon-profit-doubles-as-revenue-soars/article1702300/

http://www.lululemon.com/about/history