Nathan Look's blog

After taking 3 hours per week over 2 semesters, I was expecting this course to be 3 credits. Unfortunately, this course was only worth 1 credit. However, the content we learned over the two semesters was what I considered very important, even more so than my 3 credit courses. For instance, I did not understand how people hired me with my previous resume, especially when I compare it to my new resume. As well, I am much more confident with my interview taking skills, because Comm 299 has changed my gait, my handshake, and even the way I look into peoples eyes when I take my interview.

After finishing this course, I did not learn hypothetical information and situations, but actual and meaningful information. Although learning from courses such as Organizational Behaviour and Financial Accounting, we will not be able to use those skills if we cannot get a job! Comm 299 has been a good course to take, but only time will tell if it was actually important, and if I can get a job with the skills taught in this course, I will consider it important.

Coming from China with just the shoes on his feet, my grandpa worked hard at everything he did. As a student, he was consistently at the top of the class. As an employee, he always tried to perform at his best. Finally, when he got married and had a family, he started up his own business as a corner shop. However, unlike other corner shops, he was always trying to find ways to optimize his business to exceed its potential. For instance, he would go to Safeway, and see what people were buying. He found that many of them were buying a certain type of chicken. Going back to the store, he talked to a supplier and was able to obtain a similar type of chicken. He and his family would work through the night preparing the chicken for the customers. Eventually, this chicken became a huge weekly sale where people would line up outside the store to buy some of the popular chicken. He was pretty successful then, but he had bigger aspirations. He felt owning land is what he should invest his money in, as it almost always goes up in value while being a steady cash source. After saving up and borrowing money from the bank, he was able to buy a duplex. This investment in a duplex later evolved into a multitude of apartments.

Now, as he tells this story and others, there is always an underlying theme; although hard work is a factor in any successful endeavor, a huge part of success is not blindly pushing ahead and instead find ways to market your product to make it appealing to the public. He frequently uses the example where although a rice farmer works hard to grow his crop, if that is all he does, he will always be a rice farmer. Whenever you are performing a task, always use your brain and have a plan to execute that task. Through hard work and brilliant plans, my grandpa was able to provide a very stable base for his family, and subsequently me.

Truer now than ever

Wireless companies are coming under pressure from legislature and consumer pressure to make plans less shady and easier to terminate. As well, with new wireless carriers offering no contract services, there are less barriers stopping consumers from moving. In turn, it is becoming harder for consumers to differentiate each carrier, as they will move to the brand with the best deal. However, Telus is one step ahead of other carriers, particularly the top telecommunication companies, Rogers and Bell, because they have started to change their wireless contracts to become much more consumer friendly.

In the new year, Telus plans to eliminate contract termination fees, lessen the charges for consumers exceeding their monthly caps, and allowing customers to “unlock” their phones, thus letting them to use their phones on other wireless networks. All of these tactics have formed a strategy, which is to be more transparent and have consumers friendly contracts. This in turn differentiates Telus as a trustworthy brand. Consumers will be much more willing to buy into a contract that they perceive to be clearer, more transparent, and ultimately fairer. The future is friendly, for both consumers and Telus.

Burger King had a string of innovative advertisement ideas that have been drawing attention. The most memorable form of advertisement was the “Whopper Sacrifice“. By adding this application on Facebook, users are able to delete 10 friends for a $3.69 Whopper at Burger King, hence valuing each friend at 37 cents.

Although it seems counter intuitive campaign, Burger Kings new marketing campaign is ingenious. With the fast food industry being so competitive, consumers are constantly bombarded with various stimuli that try and entice them to buy a certain brand. Burger King saw that Facebook has a vibrant community of users, and utilized Facebook to create an unique way to grab the consumers attention. While deleting their friends, consumers take in the visual stimuli of the Whopper and Burger King in general. This could also create a snowball effect, as deleted friends are notified of that they were sacrificed for a free burger, and might in turn sacrifice 10 of their friends. To top it all off, this form of advertisement is cost efficient, as there is a great amount of exposure compared to the cost of producing a free Whopper. If Burger King keeps on thinking of innovative ideas to differentiate themselves from their competitors, they will most likely enjoy increasing sales.

10 Facebook Friends < 1 free Whopper

WikiLeaks - making "freedom of information" come true

WikiLeaks, an international whistle-blowing website, is once again under fire for releasing controversial material. After releasing many correspondence logs between US State Department and embassies around the world, the US government condemned WikiLeaks, stating that the site is “not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests, it is an attack on the international community.” On the other hand, many argue and that people have a right to know, and it is beneficial for freedom of information and democracy.

Although releasing the information is within the scope of WikiLeaks’ freedom of information rights, is it ethical? The release damages global trust, and in turn puts operatives in danger. However, the US government partially brought this debacle upon themselves, as they tried to cover up information that they had no right to hide. As well, the lost in trust between countries might have financial implications, as trading relations are strained. In order to avert future embarrassment, the US government should take steps to make their past communications more transparent so they can be the first to inform viewers and in turn have better control on managing their perceptions. WikiLeaks should also review the information they are publishing, as it is much more beneficial to keep certain information classified.

Manga is very popular in many Asian countries. Similar to the comics that originated in Rome, they feature hand drawn scenes that follow a storyline. Manga is growing increasingly popular, and in 2007, Japanese publishing company made $3.6 billion in manga sales. There is also a growing number of English speakers who read manga. However, publishers translating manga into English cannot keep up with demand, and consumers are going elsewhere.

Many of them are going to a site called www.mangafox.com, a site that currently stores 6754 different series. The creators of mangafox.com saw that there was excess demand for translated manga, and rounded up teams of volunteer translators to create scanned translations, or scanlations. As Mangafox’s popularity grew, so too did the amount of revenue they generated. Right now, their revenue is approximately $22.7 million per year, and with only a cost of $40 000 to $81500 to run the site, Mangafox is making a substantial amount of money. From almost nothing, they created a site that generates over 40 million page views per day. The creators of Mangafox saw the internet as an innovative way to let people read manga. Instead of storing millions of paper copies, all the manga is stored on huge servers free for everyone to read.

Psyren: Currently the most popular manga on Mangafox.com, with over 7.5 million page views

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is a prime example of an entrepreneur. He essentially created a new product and a new market to house that product. Gate’s innovation can be considered one of the defining moments in history of technological advancements. With his new operating system for the PC, he became the world’s youngest billionaire (not anymore), and eventually the richest man in the world. However, as he became wealthier, his focus turned from maximizing profits to maximizing the amount of social good he brought to this world. The most recent example of this turnaround is The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledge of $500 million to a help people living in squalor to create a banks accounts, particularly savings accounts.

Gates recognized the problem that poor people could not create savings accounts due to the fact that it costs money to maintain savings accounts, which is more than people who are living off $2-3 a day can afford. That is why he is funding various projects, such as mobile banking. Mobile banking is virtually negating all costs that are incurred with traditional banking. His goal is to raise the living standards of those most in need, and using technology to create easy to access bank accounts is currently his modus operandi to see his goal reach fruition.

A younger Bill and Melinda Gates

The Vancouver Canucks is a professional hockey team who has participated in the National Hockey League for forty years. In almost every game, from the old Pacific Coliseum to the new Rogers Arena, the hockey venue is sold out. A foreigner unfamiliar with Vancouver might deduce that the Canucks traditionally been a strong team who entertains their fans with wins and the occasional Stanley Cup. The first statement is generally true, but the second is unfortunately wrong. The Vancouver Canucks have been unable to crack the second round of the playoffs since the fabled run in 1994.

The same foreigner might wonder then why the Canucks are one of the most popular teams in the NHL, and why the Tampa Bay

Will the Canucks ever get to kiss... the Cup?

Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup in 2004, find it hard to sell out in any game. The Lightning sells their tickets for an average of $35, while Canucks double that price, selling their average ticket for $70. The reason for this phenomenon is because the Canucks have no rivalry. Hockey holds a monopoly on the professional sports business, and they supply possibly the best form of sports entertainment in Vancouver. If consumers are unwilling to pay their exorbitant prices, then those consumers are going to be watching the game at home instead of in a packed, energy-charge arena. The Canucks are the only top level professional sport in Vancouver, with no viable substitute to compete for market share. The Lightning has professional baseball to contend with, and lower prices are there to entice consumers away from the Tampa Bay Rays. As well, the barriers to enter the professional sport business are extremely high, making it unlikely for investors to enter the market. Although the Canucks have been unable to win a Stanley Cup or even go deep into the playoffs, the lack of rivalry in the business has given Vancouverites little choice but to buy the tickets. That or Vancouver is simply just a hockey city whose thirst for excitement can only be sated with a good hockey game.

Lovely, lovely, expensive textbooks

Most first year students (myself included) think that tuition is the only major financial burden associated with university. Sadly, we are mistaken, because there is a $300 to $700 cost for textbooks, with the average textbook costing $100. Just a few decades ago, a textbook could be bought for $3. Some blame inflation, but the rising price is still grossly disproportional to inflation costs, which means there are other factors to take into account.

The main factor is that students basically have two choices when it comes to university textbooks, buy the book and pass the course or opt not to and fail. The plight of university students is well-known to publishers and bookstores, and since their strategy is to take as much money from their customers as possible without inciting a boycott, they raise the price of books exponentially. However, this is not their only tactic to increase their bottom line. To coerce students into buying new textbooks instead of from their friends or online, they package CDs and online codes with the book that are “essential” to a student’s education. Another tactic they employ is to continually produce new editions of textbooks every few years, justifying that the newer books contain new and important material. How can an entry level math course need a new textbook when students have essentially been taught the same material for the past fifty years? The vicious cycle of university textbooks; professors coldly assign new editions to buy, students resentfully buy the textbooks, and bookstores greedily take the money. It is a wonder that the majority of our population want a higher education.

The new cellphone carrier, Wind mobile, has just recently entered the fast expanding wireless carrier market. To stand out from its many competitors, Wind has branded itself as a carrier with cheap plans and no contracts; as well as having a “we actually care about you, because we listen to you and actually implement your ideas” motto. However, the wind in Wind mobile’s sails (or sales) have just been taken out by Chatr, which materialized soon after Wind’s debut. In an attempt to take back some of the market, Rogers has created their own discount cellphone carrier. Unsurprisingly, Chatr is essentially a replica of Wind, copying their voice plans, benefits, and coverage zone idea.

In an attempt to stunt the growth of new wireless networks, Rogers and other big wireless brands have made “flanker” brands. People could say “all is fair in love and war”, but to is it fair for big wireless companies to blatantly copy younger carriers? Instead of trying to destroy new carriers to take back market share, Rogers should create flanker brands that capture new markets. Rogers should stop being the fat and lethargic king that quells a new upstart by “assassination” and instead create new ideas to capture or recapture their citizens’ hearts, or in this case, wallets.

Rogers or Telus or Bell. Take your pick