The Florida Panthers are one of the 23 American based NHL teams. They currently operate out of Sunrise, Florida with other teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning playing in the same state. The Panthers have been losing significant amounts of money for the last couple of years now and have recently informed reporters that that number is skyward of $100,000 per day. This coming after they saw record low numbers in attendance with only 7,311 of their 19,250 seats filled in a recent game.

The question that arises is why the NHL or the owners of the team haven’t decided to re-locate this struggling franchise to a more northern city? For one, losing over $100,000 a day is not something that can be sustained in the long run. Secondly, the fans are definitely showing their lack of support for a struggling team. In fact, back in 2011-2012 when the Panthers finished atop of the once called Southeast division, they had a record selling number of sellouts at 17. The statistics show that as the performance of the team has gone down through history, so has the fan base.

My point here is to compare the struggling team south of the 49^th parallel to a similar struggling team north of the border. The Edmonton Oilers have consistently blew up expectations of their team year after year and are still seeing sellout crowds at all of their home games. This proves that the demand for hockey in the country in which it was created is as high as it has ever been. So what’s stopping the Florida Panthers from leaving the sunny beaches and heading up North to the snowy plains of Canada?

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/11/05/florida-panthers-losing-money-attendance_n_6103644.html?ir=Canada+Business

http://panthers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=60916

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20112012&type=DIV

http://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=5632

http://tiffanydipanni.blitzmetrics.com/epic-fail-florida-panthers-new-ownership/

The music industry is one where if you are popular, you make a ridiculous amount of money but if you are trying to start out, revenue can be scarce. Sahir mentions in his blog post “Music Industry Today” that artists, no matter what their level of fame, earn between $0.006 and $0.0084 per song play on Spotify. Even though I completely agree with Sahir’s opinion regarding the fact that this amount is very small and this shows a negative trend in society in regards to paying for quality music, I believe there is some value in the free downloading market.

Free streaming hurts the main players in the music industry hands down, but in ways it can be an advantage to the up and coming. During our Comm 101 class where the Sauder Alumni visited, Tom Dobrzanski (Founder of Monarch Studios) mentioned that there exists a market for free/illegal music downloads for bands who are trying to start out like “Said the Whale” and “Hey Ocean” once were. By having this service available, these emerging artists are able to spread their music out to the public without having to thin their admirer’s wallets. If this illegal downloading system did not exist, there would be no way for these up and comers to have their music heard. Like Sahir mentioned, it would severely impact the diversity of music available to the listeners.

In summary, as much harm as free downloads can be to the big boys in the market, like Eminem, or Taylor Swift (who can definitely afford to take the hit regardless), they allow people to appreciate good music that wouldn’t otherwise have been out there and accessible to the public.

Image References:

https://spotifypresscom.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/spotify-logo-primary-horizontal-dark-background-rgb.jpg

Said The Whale | Little Mountain

Album Review: IU – The Winning

It seems as though WestJet is starting to take precautionary measures towards the impending arrival of Southwest Airlines into the Canadian market. The company announced on November 4^th, 2014 that it would begin studying passenger’s reactions to thinner seats on their planes. These thinner seats are supposed to cut fuel costs as well as increase legroom by an extra inch (from 30-31). WOW!

As much as WestJet says this is an attempt to provide ultimate comfort for its passengers, I believe there lies an ulterior motive to these decisions. By making the seats thinner, WestJet essentially gets to increase profits by lowering costs. In doing so, in the event that Southwest airlines does attempt to make an appearance in the Canadian market, WestJet can cut its fares in order to continue to dominate its market share in the short range flight market. After all, Southwest airlines, if they do come to Canada, operate on the same value propositions and target the same customer segment as WestJet does right now. Being a successful company, Southwest will be able to come in and offer cheap flights right off the bat. Therefore, by transforming the inside of all of WestJet’s fleet, they are essentially preparing themselves for a game of survival of the fittest.

References:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/westjet-earnings-fall-20-per-cent-due-to-one-time-charge/article21436818/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/southwest-airlines-targets-canadian-expansion/article20493147/

http://www.billseye.ca/fun-facts.html

In Aiden’s blog post “Microsoft’s $400 million deal with the NFL may do more harm than good”, he mentions how Microsoft has made this expensive deal in an effort to further promote their brand and their new Surface model. The troubling portion of this deal comes from when commentators are unknowingly mistaking the Surface with the iPad. To be honest, while writing this blogpost, I myself mistakenly wrote iPad instead of Surface more than once. What is the deal here?

He mentions how these mistakes are hurting both Microsoft and Apple but I think it only goes one way. Microsoft may be suffering exclusively because they are the ones forking up the cash to cover this mega advertising deal that is seeing Apple gain publicity. Where I disagree with Aiden is the fact that Apple gets hurt from this as well. Apple has worked so hard over the last few years to really differentiate themselves in the electronics market. They constantly innovate to stay ahead of the game and be the number one brand in the handheld technology industry. In a way, Apple’s iPad is receiving free publicity from this screw up by the NFL commentators. The viewers are not actually seeing what the screen looks like or how the apps run but more the general shape of the device. And by this, they are associating their favorite NFL teams and players with the iPad and Apple instead of Surface and Microsoft. This deal may be costing Microsoft an arm and a leg, but at the moment Apple seems to be the one benefiting the most.

References:

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/08/24/bill-belichick-the-patriots-utilizing-microsoft-surfaces-on-the-sideline-but-glitches-remain/

On May 23^rd 2014, Marc Khoury published a blog post titled “How can I spend my $35 to get the best return on investment?” on the Quora blog website. The blog goes over how a Stanford MBA class was giving an assignment to take a small nominal amount of money ($5 or $10), and grow it as much as possible in one week. Following that week, they would give a ten minute presentation on what they did with their money. Groups did all sorts of things that either grew their money a slight amount or lost it all but none of them fully grasped the goal of the assignment.

They completely forgot about what makes businesses profitable. It isn’t about what products you offer, but more so how you can offer those products in a way that is different and beneficial to the consumer. This idea connects to my group Business Plan project on a small Graphic Design company that is trying to start up in an existing market. The thing that will make people go to his company are the ideas and skills he uses to differentiate himself. It answers the question, “What skills and ideas does [he] have that people would be willing to pay for”. His product isn’t unique in a physical sense, but the ideas and knowledge he has are one of a kind.

After all the winning team in the business class simply sold their presentation time slot to a small company because “What’s more valuable than 10 minutes in front of Stanford’s best and brightest MBA students”.

In this day and age, local, home-grown food is making its mark in grocery stores across the country. People want food that was grown in their “backyards” and are willing to pay a little extra to have it. This point comes into conflict when Canada announced that it is ready to add tariffs and duties on famous American products like Californian wine in retaliation to the U.S requiring that meat have the country of origin displayed on its package.

I believe that a country has the right to be able to label their products as home grown as long as they are being truthful. It helps boost an economy as people are willing to spend their hard earned income to support their countrymen by buying the products produced domestically. Is it fair that Canada slap a “punitive” duty fee on popular American goods as a result of these actions? No, because how does this differ from the fact that in Canadian supermarkets, you find shelves and shelves of “Alberta beef” or that large fast food chains include that fact in their Value Propositions. It’s all the same game.

The Canadian government claims that this act is “blatant [protectionism]” and it is “discriminating against Canadian livestock” but does a country not have the right to sell its own product as a first choice to consumers. After all, it all comes down to the consumers’ choice and if they want to contribute to their own country’s economic well-being, they have the right to do so.

References:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/canada-wins-a-round-in-ongoing-trade-battle-with-us-over-meat-labelling-laws/article21165132/

http://www.elitebeef.com/cattlehandbook.html

The Tsilhqot’in First Nation tribe are ready to declare a site near Williams Lake a new tribal park. Although not entitled to the land of a nearby prospective mine, the First Nation group has integrated the site into their park borders causing a debate to arise.

Premier Christy Clark stands in the middle of this debate. On one side, she has the First Nations group who she signed a letter of understanding with in the hopes of further ameliorating their relationship. Those hopes would be crushed if this mine were to commence operations as the ecosystem around the mine would be damaged. On the other hand, she has the financial aspect of things. If this mine were to be approved, B.C could be looking at a hefty increase in tax revenue as the government would be able to tax everything involved with that mine. It would also increase jobs in BC while reducing unemployment which is always important come election time.

This comes down to a discussion of ethics and the social responsibility of businesses. Is the maximization of profits the best option in this case while completely ignoring the environmental effects? The Premier needs to decide whether or not she is willing to forsake this relationship with the First Nations in order to increase the revenue of her company (BC government) and allow the mine to proceed with its operations.

http://www.thearmchairexplorer.com/utah/fishlake-national-forest

Fish Lake, BC

References:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Unilateral+park+declared+Tsilhqot+includes+Prosperity+mine/10192766/story.html

Netflix has become the king of video and movie distribution. Their eight dollar a month average subscription fee appeals to a large market thus leading to an impressively large amount of subscriptions. Recently, Netflix announced that they were going to start producing movies on their own that will solely be played on their streaming service.

Recently, Netflix announced that they would be partnering with Adam Sandler in the making of these “self-produced” films. This agreement will allow both parties to feed off the strengths and popularity of one another. Adam Sandler brings a certain reputation with him when he is advertised for the lead in a film. It’s going to be funny. This marketing strategy made by the management team at Netflix already plants a seed inside the heads of many eager fans.

What I believe the deciding factor of whether or not these movie will be good is the quality of that first film. They already have a giant number of viewers who will surely give these “homemade” movies a try, but its grabbing their attention with that first one that will refute or back this idea. Adam Sandler is the name brand here, and he was the key to opening the door on this new possibility. It is up to Netflix to prop themselves through and emerge as a movie producer as well as distributor.

References:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/adam-sandler-netflix-deal-affect-career-article-1.1962621

http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2014/10/03/adam-sandler-deal-cheers-netflix-stock-but-will-it-prove-to-be-a-blockbuster/

A small company that started off in a garage in Palo Alto, California is now worth (approx.) 450 billion dollars. A company that has sold over ten million iPhone 6s within four days of being released is running marathons around its competitors. Apple also released its new iOS 8 operating system for the older phones and it has already passed Androids latest operating system in downloads which was released October 31^st 2013!

Even for such a large company, those numbers are ridiculously high. The amount of loyalty Apple consumers have to the brand has become a somewhat addiction and there are no signs that this trend will slow. Even though the iPhone 6 is larger and bulkier than its predecessor, eager consumers rushed to line up for the release of the next “genius” Apple product.

http://www.vantagewire.com/2014/09/the-new-iphone-6-watch-apple-pay/

I believe Apple has managed to do something that no company has done before it, that is reduce practicality with the new iPhone 6 plus. The whole point of mobile phones when they were originally released was to be a “handheld” device. The new iPhone 6 plus will stretch that term to its limits as it comes in at a massive 5.5” screen size. People will have trouble placing the phone in their pockets or their hands for that matter. There comes a point where it gets to be enough. Yet the crowds go running when Apple announce its “next big innovation”.

References

“Apple’s IOS 8 Rapidly Overtakes Android’s KitKat In Under Five Days.”Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

“Jay Haynes.” ‘Jay Haynes’ N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

http://www.vantagewire.com/2014/09/the-new-iphone-6-watch-apple-pay/

http://mashable.com/2013/10/29/steve-jobs-apple-garage-landmark/

Businesses have the responsibility to “make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society” according to Friedman’s article on The Social Responsibility of Business. CVS has chosen to take their business plan another way. As difficult as it may be to see profits dip, they have chosen to eliminate cigarettes from all their stores across the U.S. This decision is “making it harder for people to get access to these harmful products” and allowing CVS to operate ethically in its practice. For a company that plans on expanding its “Minute Clinics” to almost double the amount by 2017, the decision to stop selling cigarettes really is “position[ing] the company for future growth”.

This decision demonstrates CVS’s ability to look past solely the profits and filling the pockets of stockholders and focus on benefiting the community and the other groups part of the Stakeholder theory. They recognize the growing amount of deaths related to smoking and are ready to make a change for the better and improve the society around them. All of this allows them to practice as an ethical business that no longer contradicts itself from the inside-out.

Reference:

Storm,Stephanie. “CVS Vows to Stop Selling Tobacco Products.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

“Anti-Smoking Campaigns and Tobacco Bans – Goldsboro Daily News – Goldsboro News, NC.” Goldsboro Daily News Goldsboro News NC RSS. N.p., 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.