Traditional “cheque book philanthropy” is no longer enough for organizations to rise to the top of the corporate citizenship ladder. Businesses need to find ways to engage their employees and ‘make a difference’ beyond that which comes from a monetary donation.  Jim Gibbon’s Goodwill Industries (Goodwill) provides an interesting model for businesses who are serious about corporate citizenship. In a Harvard Business Review Blog, Gibbons highlights the importance of his company’s business model and how others can leverage, or learn from it.

Jim Gibbons

Goodwill believes that a strong economy is based on employment.  Goodwill provides job training for those who are challenged in finding work thereby “empowering individuals in the community [they] serve”.  Goodwill sells donated goods through its retail outlets “and uses the revenues to fund job-training and placement programs in communities”.  Gibbons says that this model “[puts] social good at the center” of its business.

Engaging with Goodwill through employee driven goods donations, volunteering and monetary support, a company can reduce goods going to landfills, help support a respected charity and at the same time provide job training at a community level. This kind of commitment could take a company from a valued ‘donor’, to a true corporate citizen.

How Goodwill helps the community:

Blog Reference: Harvard Business Review Blog 

Picture Reference: Jim Gibbons

Are major sporting events about sport or about something else? Sporting events are business:  big business:  “Over the years, one of the great economic boons to any major town or city has been major sporting events”.

The Olympic Games, the World Cup or the Super Bowl bring massive economic opportunities to an economy. Sporting events “infuse some much-needed vitality into local markets”. But how does this happen and why?

Sporting events are a popular place for businesses to advertise

Sporting events leverage millions, or multi-millions of dollars into an economy through “hotel reservations, bar and restaurant sales, snack and party supplies” etc.  Big brand events such as the Olympics or World Cup, can attract tourists, infrastructure investment and raise the profile of a community. These benefits incite massive competition for hosting and sponsorship rights for most major sporting events.  In professional sports such as the NBA and NHL, athletes become superstars with major commercial value.

So the next time you are watching the Olympic Games or the NHL, think about what is happening behind the scenes. The athletes and their teams are delivering far more than competition on the field: they are a prized economic engine for business, governments and communities.

Article Reference: Business Opportunities 

Picture Reference: Sporting Event

When you hear the word “entrepreneur”,  the words ‘innovation’, ‘wealth’, ‘success’ and ‘risk’ may come to mind.  Entrepreneurs often start as a small business, but their entrepreneurial talent propels them to realize remarkable achievements. Facebook is a perfect example of an entrepreneurial venture that grew to become a phenomenon.

Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO and founder of Facebook

In 2004, 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg was a sophomore at Harvard. Out of boredom, Zuckerberg created what would become the largest social network device the world has ever seen. Seven years after Zuckerberg’s creation, 550 million people connect through his venture and Facebook is growing “at a rate of about 700,000 people a day”. When Facebook went public, Zuckerberg became one of the youngest billionaires ever.  His entrepreneurial innovation created success and wealth for himself and many others. How did he do this?

Zuckerberg once said: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk… in a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that’s guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

While hard work and luck influence an entrepreneur’s success, for Zuckerberg, his entrepreneurial spirit and innovative genius were also combined with a high degree of risk taking, and through this, he both realized incredible wealth and changed the way we communicate….likely forever.

Reference: Mark Zuckerberg Article 

Picture Reference: Mark Zuckerberg 

‘Bad’ customer service turns customers away and ‘good’ customer service builds loyalty.  Articles, a blog post, and class discussion support this idea. The key to ‘bad’ and ‘good’ service is how service is defined in the context of an organization’s brand and whether that service is delivered consistently.

If service is ‘bad’ (ie inconsistent with the brand), customers will respond negatively. They may even send their thoughts to ‘the world’ through social media, as discussed in a CBC article.

As noted in Rachel’s blog, some companies, such as Wal-Mart, intentionally downplay customer service. While this may seem strange, it is consistent with Wal-Mart’s brand: namely that customers shop at Wal-Mart for price and selection, not for customer service.  Wal-Mart customers expect low prices, not high customer service.

The Zappos brand is known for providing 'good' customer service to its customers.

Consistency of service is fundamental in defining whether service is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.  The risks of call centers were examined in a recent COMM class. Zappos’ service reflects consistent customer service, driving customer loyalty.  However, the Dell example, presented an angry customer most likely due to inconsistencies in Dell’s service.

Customer service is important.  However, defining and delivering service that is consistent with the organization’s brand is key to organizational success.

Photo Reference: Zappos Team 

The world was shocked when 18 people in China ignored a critically injured toddler in the middle of the road. She eventually died of her injuries.  However, before criticizing the Chinese, we must look in the mirror. In April 2010, Mr. Tale-Yax, a homeless New Yorker, was stabbed while trying to save a woman from an attacker. The attacker turned on Mr. Tale-Yax, fatally stabbing him. Two dozen people walked by. He later died. In the summer of 2010, dozens of teens watched a 16-year-old BC girl being gang raped. No one helped her. Earlier this year, an Ontario woman froze to death in her yard after neighbors ignored her. Are these tragic coincidences? I think not.

These situations confirm that we have become indifferent. In a recent Yahoo News Blog, Laura Rozen discusses the Chinese situation suggesting the reason that passers-by did not help the child is because “many people in China are hesitant to help people who appear to be in distress for fear that they will be blamed”. I disagree.

Laura Rozen’s blog shares gruesome details of the Chinese situation, but it also highlights the sad reality: our industrialized society is self-absorbed and indifferent.

Maddie Erjavec’s blog about women in business makes accurate and relevant points with which I wholeheartedly agree.

It is true that men who are extroverted and outspoken are often seen as leaders, whereas if a woman were to do the same, she would be seen as bossy and overbearing. Women are judged by a different standard than men. The recent furor created by David Schreck in

Christy Clark was criticized for showing too much cleavage.

respect of Christy Clark’s clothing is a perfect example of the challenges that women in leadership positions face. “B.C.’s premier says the suggestion that her cleavage-revealing outfit in the provincial legislature this week was inappropriate is ‘unfair criticism’ that dissuades young girls from entering politics.”

It is ‘fair game’ to judge a woman based on what she wears. However, it would be unthinkable to judge a man in the same way. To break this cycle, women who are currently in leadership positions need to mentor, coach, guide and support other women. Even if one young woman is supported and inspired by another woman, that will be one more young woman in the leadership pool.

Picture Reference: Christy Clark 

Comment on Maddie Erjavec’s Blog Post

Over the past decade, advancements in technology have expanded exponentially. People are now using  smartphones to complete a host of daily tasks. A new ‘tech’ phenomenon, that is proving popular, is online banking. More and more, people are visiting their banks less and less, a topic discussed in a Globe and Mail article. Advancements in online banking enable people to manage finances, transfer money, and pay bills all within a few clicks. Yes, this does sound appealing to the increasingly lazy society in which we live,  but how trustworthy is an online site? Are your numbers safe against hackers?

Although this chart is taken from a few years ago, it shows the increase in popularity in online banking.

For me, someone who still visits the bank to deposit a check or withdraw some cash, online banking has  worrisome aspects. How do you know if your transaction actually went through? What if someone was hacking your computer while you made an important money transfer? A Rediff Business Blog confirms my apprehension about online banking.

Online banking is convenient  but, until we have more assurance against hackers and security breaches, to me, the risks and uncertainty of the online bank outweigh its convenience.

Picture Reference: Banking Chart 

About a month ago, Dubai was introduced to a Canadian phenomenon: Tim Hortons. As discussed in class, franchising in the Middle East, an area where donuts and bagels aren’t the norm, is risky. However, Tim Hortons took the plunge and opened its first store on Sheikh Zayed Road just beside Starbucks. In doing so, many speculated about whether or not the Canadian legacy would live on across the world.

Recently Facebook and Ticketmaster announced a strategic alliance focused on allowing customers to buy event tickets while knowing where their Facebook friends are sitting. Rachel discussed this alliance in her blog. After reading her ideas, I thought: Strategic alliances and mergers are popular for organizations but do they really benefit consumers? And if so, how and why?

In the 1980’s our telecommunications industry was populated by provincial telephone monopolies.  But the role of telecommunications in the lives of Canadians was about to change. The telecom companies knew that the sector must change if it was to be part of the future and not a historical relic. BCTel ruled telecommunication in BC. In Alberta, telecom was the domain of AGT.  Two companies who in the provincial contexts were giants, but on the national stage were insignificant. The imperative was ‘change or die’. TELUS was the result and is now one of our most progressive telecom companies.  The combined capital and intelligence from the merger allowed the new entity to thrive and help define the future of telecom.

And so back to Ticketmaster and Facebook: while there is excitement, the alliance’s success will ride on a strategic vision that will allow the alliance to deliver real value to customers that transcends the current hype.

Reference: www.telus.com

A bit of Telus History: