Within the last five years, Hyundai Motors has experienced tremendous growth as a company. Shares have skyrocketed and the market share Hyundai occupies has increased significantly, especially in North America.

When looking at how Hyundai has become so successful in a market with many rivals, a key factor has been their marketing and ability to increase the overall image of their brand.

Just recently, Hyundai has taken a crisis and used it to create revenue and promote a socially responsible image. The United States Federal Shutdown has caused over 800,000 workers to be furloughed and without pay until the government agrees on a budget. As a result, Hyundai has deferred car payments this week for the federal workers and has also offered a 90 day grace period for federal workers to purchase cars without payments.

While motor companies offering deals like this are not out of the norm, by targeting specific individuals involved in dire straits Hyundai builds positive PR and encourages new customers. Cost-Free marketing is something Hyundai has been able to master and is undoubtedly a factor in their continued growth.

Sources:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-03/the-korean-automaker-is-guaranteed-good-pr-at-very-little-cost

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-22/hyundai-canada-aims-for-10-market-share-to-match-toyota.html

http://www.google.ca/finance?cid=5477224

Snapchat, an app created by Stanford students that allows users to send self destructive photo messages, has had a surge in popularity since its inception in September 2011. Currently, over 350 million “snaps” are sent a day and yet the company still has yet to monetize their service.

Snapchat has released a new update this week that allows users to create their own personal “stories” by creating temporary profiles of pictures from their day that last for up to 24 hours. This could possibly be the step investors are looking for that will create a revenue stream for Snapchat. By having users create these story profiles and become linked to companies with their own profiles, advertising can be narrowed down and directed at certain groups of people creating a viable advertising platform.

While the new stories function uses Snapchat’s strengths to open the door for opportunities, it also increases the competition between it and other social media giants like Instagram, Vine, and Facebook. Now all competing in the market for social updates, each company will have to continue to work on development to separate itself from the competition.

Will Snapchats new update allow them to create revenue and compete with Facebook? Or will the stray from their niche discourage user’s from using their service? Time will tell.

Sources:

With An Eye On Revenue, Snapchat “Experiments” With A Click-To-Buy Button

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/snapchat-adds-stories–but-can-it-take-facebooks-crown-8856329.html

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-snapchat-stories-feature-20131003,0,4668010.story

In first year economics we are taught that a decrease in input price through technological advances shifts the supply curve to be able to produce more and ultimately increases the profitability of a company. With the emergence of tablets many companies have analyzed how they can incorporate tablets into their services to not only benefit the customer but also reduce their costs.

Currently, there is a large demand from airline companies for tablets because it allows them to not only reduce a large amount of paperwork that is needed to travel with each flight, but it also makes it faster for pilots to access information and for flight attendants to charge clients for additional items on-board.  Delta Airlines alone projects annual savings of $13 million.

This growing market has encouraged fierce competition between Microsoft and Apple. Both companies directly distribute to their airline clients, which results in contracts that can provide a tremendous source of revenue.

Who will win? While Apple is known as the premier maker of tablets, Microsoft has dominated the business consumer segment and holds a key advantage in attaining contracts with large corporations, as can be observed with their deal with Delta Airlines.

As we look towards the future and take into account Apple’s vast adaptability, it would not be surprising for Apple to develop a new product that will allow them to compete with Microsoft at the business consumer segment.

Sources:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2013/sep13/09-30deltapr.aspx

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2013/09/30/delta-picks-microsoft-for-pilot-tablets/2899185/