Apologies for the long delay between blog posts- between family emergencies (grandpa passed away) and being stuck in the heat of midterms, I had no time to write anything for the last two weeks. Thankfully, things are better now and I can finally continue blogging once again. To kick things off, I would like to express my opinion on an article found in the Daily Finance which stated that Netflix didn’t meet its own growth expectations due to a price hike in its services. While it most likely won’t affect the company in the long-run, I find it worrisome that Netflix didn’t know in advance about the effects the price hike would have on its sales. Having learned about market research in class, I believe that it should have been essential for Netflix to gather some primary data and survey people from different socioeconomic backgrounds regarding their opinions to the price hike. One mistake I’m guessing Netflix most likely made in their research was asking the wrong questions to the consumers; instead of asking the consumers directly how they would feel about a small price increase, they probably asked “garbage questions”, such as how the consumer currently feels about Netflix. This mistake also stretches to the marketing itself, which should have given a justification for the price increase (ie. Netflix is now producing quality movies and tv shows) instead of expecting consumers to not care that it would be more expensive. In the future, more effort should be put by Netflix into its market research if they don’t want to see a drop in consumers.

One of my personal philosophies when faced with a conflict is to try and look at it from the opposing viewpoint’s perspective. In this way, you can empathise with your competition and look to see if they have any valid reasons to be against you. In reading one of the optional Vancouver Sun readings, I can see how businesses are worried with the movement to share revenue with the Natives. In addition, they might not want to have the Natives regain the land where their factories are. On the other hand, I empathise with the Natives who have had their land taken from them and simply want it back. In my opinion, I believe that businesses should be able to keep the land with some form of compensation for the natives. What happened to the natives was wrong, however it happened many years ago and today’s society shouldn’t be punished for the mistakes of the past. Having learned about shared value in class, I suggest that businesses focus on integrating the aboriginal people (their current obstacle) into their business plan. In this way, they can provide aboriginal people with employment opportunities while eliminating the external factor of land claim. Additionally, they can hire Aboriginal people as “environmental and land consultants” which would further their shared value. Instead of fighting with the Aboriginal people, it would be more beneficial for both parties to simply cooperate.