First Nation as the external environment can have large impacts on businesses. BC is planning on starting a hydroelectric megaproject in order to solve the oil, gas, and mining issues due to the region’s growing population. However, the megaproject may have to stop because it has the potential of influencing the First Nation.

BC is facing both political and social issues. For the political factor: Canada’s highest court claimed that First Nation is going to win the course; this shows that the court is supporting First Nation, which means the project will be affected (cancelled) because of the political factors. Moreover, for the social factor: First Nation in Canada has showed its disagreement to the megaproject due to its impacts on aborigine’s life and their fishing industry, which can influence the project because First Nation plays an important role in Canadian society. (government takes First Nation’s opposition seriously)

Chiefs from the First Nation said that they support smaller projects, not the hydroelectric megaproject; they have also stated the substitutes such as wind, solar and geothermal power. Since there are a lot of substitutes and this industry is growing rapidly, there’ll be many competitors for sure. This shows the plan can be replaced easily, which will affect the project in a long-term period. In addition, the cost of the megaproject is $8-billion, which is a large investment (large risk TOO). If BC cannot get the capital, then the project will be cancelled.

By looking at the threats explained above, we can understand why the lawyers said this should be a slam-dunk case for the First Nation (its opposition to the megaproject)

References:

• Online business article, [URL: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html] Peter O’Neil, First Nation chiefs to stage Site C down, Last accessed: 2014-10-06

Wi-Fi has become a necessary need for us nowadays. Marriott, the hotel, has been reported to pay $600,000 fine for blocking customers’ Wi-Fi.

Since Marriott can get extra incomes by providing Wifi service in the conference facilities, it wouldn’t like its consumers to use their personal Internet connection; it decided to block the personal Internet connect. By making this decision, Marriott has reached its objective-making people to pay fees per device. Moreover, the company spokesman claimed that Marriott does this to protect consumers’ privacy, so consumers can also benefit from it.

However, this action will bring more disadvantages than advantages to Marriott. First of all, it will have to pay the fine because its decision, which is a loss. Moreover, since this news has been reported in public; consumers, one of Marriott’s main stakeholders, would likely to care more about costs than security. Marriott would gain bad reputation, which may leads to lower customer loyalty, which will influence its revenues in the long-term period. This action would benefit Marriott’s rivals, and help them to get higher market share and help them to get competitive advantages, which can be a threat to Marriott’s current position. Finally, as FCC said, Marriott’s action has breaking the policies, which is not benefiting Marriott at all.

In conclusion, this unethical move is likely to lead Marriott to lower sales, bad reputation, and less support from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

References: 

• Online business article, [URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/marriott-to-pay-600000-fine-for-blocking-customers-wi-fi/article20916267/] Elizabeth Wasserman, Marriott to pay $600,000 fine for blocking customers’ wifi, last accessed: 2014-10-05

Social networking plays an important role in our daily life.  Recently, Facebook, the largest social networking business, has bought WhatsApp (which is one of the largest mobile messaging apps). This action can impact people in different ways.

Here are some good influences: From Facebook’s perspective, this expansion helps Facebook to broaden its market and target customers. This may help Facebook to gain more competitive advantages, which leads to higher market share. As the market leader in social networking market, Facebook has made itself so competitive that its rivals can hardly compare with it. From WhatsApp’s perspective, this action can help promoting the business by using Facebook. Since there’re many competitors in mobile messaging market, this will definitely benefit WhatsApp. Moreover, Facebook is providing $19bn, this allows WhatsApp to make improvement on its app, and spend the money on more expansion plans. From consumers’ perspective, it can bring convenience. Since most people have Facebook nowadays, consumers may gain advantages due to their mergence. And for the social messaging market, this action may help it to increase awareness, which helps attract more consumers.

However, there are also negative impacts. From Facebook’s and WhatsApp’s rivals perspectives, more difficulties are made for them to compete with these two businesses, which also make this market very competitive, which may affect the suppliers and consumers since there’s less competitions. In addition, from the telecom companies’ perspective, they would get less attention from the consumers, which will affect their incomes and consumer numbers. As social networking market is growing rapidly, companies such as Facebook are becoming the strongest threat-substitutes for telecom companies.

Reference:

• Online business article, [URL: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29477447] BBC news, Facebook given green light to buy WhatsApp, Last accessed: 2014-10-05