A new app has been introduced by the Welland Sport Tourism Alliance that configures maps, events and local businesses under one convenient roof. The app is designed for visiting athletes and will benefit not only the players, but the host cities as well. It shows local restaurants as well as event times and schedules with links to social media including athlete profiles and many customizable features for sporting tournaments. This app could be incredibly profitable for restaurants especially because teams are always in need of a meal in foreign towns and don’t always know where to go, one look at the app and their problem is solved. Tournament organizers can also benefit from a management and awareness standpoint as they can increase their number of spectators with the social media aspect. Many towns pride themselves on their hosting abilities, Kamloops to name a local example, and local businesses could bolster their sales substantially with the help of this app. This relates to the quote we saw in class, “Look at what’s bugging you” from David Cohen. This quote reflects this app because the creators have recognized a gap in the market for the service that this provides and have solved a problem that has probably bugged them in the past.

America’s largest youth football association has encountered a 9.5% decrease in players over the 2 year period of 2010-2012. Naturally, it is assumed that this can be attributed to the public awareness of concussions and the recent media attention that this injury has received these past couple of years. From star NFL players to youth recreational participants, it seems no footballers are immune to the dangers of concussions.

This has clearly caused negative publicity for the sport as a whole which has led to a decrease in popularity among youth players. Obviously removing tackling from the game is not an option but something must be done to sustain the growth of the equipment that will keep up with the faster and stronger athletes that sports medicine is producing today. I believe that more time and money must be put into the research and development of helmets because clearly they have become outdated and need adaptations. The campaigns to teach proper tackling strategies are positive but it seems doubtful that every single youth player will receive this special coaching. If the NFL does not shift some of their spending onto nationwide concussion awareness and prevention, which is not  tall order considering the massive sums of revenue earned on the Super Bowl alone, then they will lose the future generation of footballers.

The Israeli government has been fueling domestic innovation with a program aimed at enabling the “expertise and technology to survive” from worthy small businesses. The man in charge, Israel’s chief scientist of industry and trade, Avi Hasson relies on evaluations drawn from live appraisals of the business including their employees to assess their potential.

The key aspect of the advantage the government has in fuelling research and development as opposed to a single investor is they are not involved solely for the return. They take on the risk in the hopes of driving innovation for their country and are not financially ruined if the investment does not pan out. This is not to say that governments should go tossing around money to any start-up company with a new idea but the concept is tantalizing. If the government can find a way to, with no political biases, help contribute to local business his could be very beneficial. Domestic employment could be increased, exports would benefit and not to mention the potential for a solid return on the tax payer’s money.

The Ethiopian government is now starting up a program similar to the Arc Initiative at Sauder and it will benefit young entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. The training that is offered is aimed at creating equal opportunities in business for citizens of all ages, which will help eliminate the high rate of youth unemployment. If we could somehow partner with this program we could expand the initiative we currently have at Sauder and work side by side with the government to promote economic prosperity. This would enable us to reach a large number of dedicated entrepreneurs and we would have the opportunity to provide advice in the crucial start up stages of their businesses. We could then direct the owners in how they should approach their business from the beginning and assess the potential for their ideas. This would cut down the failure rate as we could help them before they begin to take risks on their ideas. It may be harder to pinpoint which entrepreneurs have the most profitable businesses because they have not had time to access their market but this is the price of having access to these young people when their possibilities are limitless.

This blog is discussing Organizational Culture and analyzing how to create a more successful environment. The author highlights the importance of having engaged workers and how most prosperity stems from intrinsically motivated employees. As mentioned in the article, engaging your workers is not about outside of the box team building activities, it’s about training a work force that has the drive to achieve for the better of the company. I think this comes is rooted in a passion for what you are doing and a dedication towards contributing for the greater good of the business. Passion towards one’s work sets the tone and mood of an office and can dictate how people interact with each other and for what purpose. Passion also drives innovation and risk taking by igniting the fire of an employee’s imagination and belief that things can always be improved on. Passion causes all of these movements towards success by keeping the workers engaged and interested in the job they are doing, they feel they are part of something they can be proud of. In order to integrate passion into a company’s organizational culture, the business must hire people with shared values and conviction.

http://www.globoforce.com/gfblog/2013/guest-blog-cultures-most-important-ingredient/

During our class discussion we concluded that Netflix should invest in producing more content as opposed to solely buying more content, partnering with Google or partnering with a cable company. Producing more content is a more risky option but the returns have very high potential. As we can see in the 2013 SWOT, Netflix is very strong in marketing effectively to their customers with promotions such as offering the first month’s subscription for free. If they produced more of their own series, providing a free one month subscription would bring in new customers and convert them into paying customers after the month because they would be unable to get these shows anywhere else.

There is already proof in the numbers that the viewers and critics responded very well to these original shows such as House of Cards and Arrested Development. As well as prior success in producing content, Netflix is such a heavyweight in the market today that it seems unnecessary for a partnership at this point. A few years ago, before their immaculate stock boost in 2011, it may have made economic sense for them to establish themselves in the market by aligning with a strong company like Google.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57606103-93/oops-thanks-to-twitter-penny-stock-tweeter-jumps-684/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+cnet%252FNnTv+(CNET+River+RSS)

Recently, news of Twitter’s impending move towards becoming a publicly traded company prompted a 684% increase in the penny stock called “Tweeter”. Call them overenthusiastic or just plain ignorant, buyers last Friday were fighting for the chance to buy shares of the previously bankrupt electronics company Tweeter. Shockingly in this circumstance these oblivious buyers actually set themselves up for an impressive and astoundingly high rate of return. If they bought the penny stock at the original price of 2 cents per share and sold it at the peak, about fourteen cents per share, they could have made an inexplicable amount of profit.

Of course, this freak incident is just that, an accident that turned out to have a silver lining for those with a savvy business sense or really any sense at all. This is not an example of miraculous marketing or an awe inspiring value proposition, it’s simply some uninformed investors making a rather humorous mistake. What this reveals about the stock market is that the people really can have an impressive influence in the fluctuation of a company’s stock value. This in turn demonstrates that a strong marketing campaign that captures the buyer’s attention can boost a company’s profits.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves?CMP=twt_gu

It has been revealed that in preparation for massive infrastructure projects for the 2022 World Cup, the nation of Qatar is allegedly using slave labor. These allegations surfaced after families of workers anonymously came forward with claims of thousands of deaths on the job, having their pay withheld and living in inhumane conditions. These immigrant workers are being severely taken advantage of and this racism is everything that FIFA has worked to eliminate in international soccer. If the global governing body of soccer does not take a stand against this exploitation they will essentially destroy their own value proposition and brand image. These rumours could seriously impact the credibility of the construction companies involved, Qatar as a nation and all of FIFA’s sponsors. Any association with this scandal will result in negative publicity and social outcry for change. In addition to the business partners of the World Cup, participating countries will certainly face a major decision in being a part of this tournament if it condones slave labor. It is unfortunate that lives had to be lost in order to shed light on a horrific reality that is said to have existed in this country for years.

http://www.theprovince.com/business+school+ends+support+frosh+events+over+rape+chant/8889092/story.html

The Sauder rape chant controversy has affected us all and unfortunately has raised some questions about the integrity of this prestigious institution. I support the response by the Dean and faculty of Sauder in an attempt to restrict the backlash of the current situation, my real issue lies in the media’s response. The newspaper and televised coverage of the chanting has become one of public scrutiny filled with hypocrisy and malicious judgements. First of all, not everyone attended the FROSH activities so it is unfair to place all  students under the same category. Secondly, for those of us that were a part of FROSH, it is important to note that we never wanted to broadcast a message that in any way condoned or made light of a serious issue. We simply were caught up in a “mob mentality” that clouded our better decision making and, to our disgrace, prompted us to act in ways that we regret. This can be compared to a similar happening in Vancouver from not too long ago; the Stanley Cup riots. This tarnished Vancouver’s reputation because of a few bad influences, but the city has adapted from our mistakes as I know Sauder will do.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-29/jpmorgan-bribe-probe-said-to-expand-in-asia-as-spreadsheet-found.html

JP Morgan is currently under investigation and public scrutiny due to accusations that the company hired family members of key political figures in order to receive their business in Asia. These actions are unethical because this can be interpreted as a form of bribery. By hiring these people JP Morgan is clearly risking the external threat of losing all their credibility for the opportunity of gaining new business through political favours. This may be hard to prove in court because it is true that it is solely the company’s discretion on who they hire but the underlying motivation behind these employees cannot be ignored. This can be viewed as morally unjust but that does not mean that this does not occur in other companies all across the globe. The point we then come too is this; if everyone is doing it does that make it ethically acceptable? The answer should be no, businesses should have to earn their money honestly but in today’s competitive economic atmosphere this may be an inconvenient task for some. Regardless of what is advantageous, all companies should have to adhere to a certain moral standard or else we will face economic anarchy.