Video Blog from CNN : http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/30/colombias-anti-terror-entrepreneur/#comments

In Colombia, there has been a long standing civil war between the Colombian government and guerrillas.  Till today, this war continues, killing more people along the way.  In fact, the greatest number of deaths are due to land mines.  More than 10,500 people have died since 1919 due to land mines.  With this number being a main motivator, an entrepreneur from Colombia named Mauricio  Betonol, found his passion through studying defence.  He has come up with and is testing robotic devices to help disable land mines along with protective gear specifically for land mine attacks.

He started his company three years ago with the help of the local university.  The university gives him a place to work and the material and equipment needed in exchange for a portion of profits and the patents.  Mauricio works closely with the Colombian Air Force in order to design things for their needs.  They appreciate his hard work and his “never quit” attitude.

I found this story to be quite unique and fascinating in the fact that it’s not often to see an entrepreneur helping his country for a cause he strongly believes in.  It also goes to show that he isn’t just in this for the profit but for something greater than himself which is the safety of his country and its citizens because it is a passion of his.  In the end, I believe an important quality that an entrepreneur must have in order to succeed is a strong cause and enthusiasm for pursuing their endeavours.

A response to Valendina’s Post regarding Starbucks and their membership program.

Many businesses from grocery stores to make-up stores have found the benefits of having rewards/savings cards for their most valued customers.  Among these businesses is Starbucks.

Starbucks has a few different status cards, with the highest being the Gold Card.  You think that with this card, customers would be treated with a little more appreciation from Starbucks, but this was not the case.  If a Gold Card member didn’t get a certain amount of points by a certain date, then their points would be reset to 0 and they would be demoted back to the lowest card.  Sure this makes sense in the end, but I too, believe that the customers should have gotten a fair warning before time ran out.

A related experience where Starbucks should have taken notes, is from Sephora, which has it’s own system of rewards as well.  They have 3 different levels with different requirements.  When the deadline is coming up for status renewal, an email will be sent warning the customer, with a fair amount of time, that a certain amount needs to be spent in order to keep status.  I personally like this system, it shows the customer that the company cares and wants you to be a returning customer.  By giving consumers no time to renew their status, Starbucks appeared to easily “drop off their customers” and not just any customers, but the highest rewards members, who have to be regular customers to get that status.

Overall, in my opinion, Starbucks should implement a warning system, like Sephora, in order to keep customers coming back, and to show that the company cares, and after 4 dollars for a cup of coffee, Starbucks should appreciate the customers who keep on coming back and treat them with the excellent customer service they deserve.

In response to Taylor’s post on the expansion of Target into Canada:

Being from the states, I’m quite familiar with Target and have shopped there for years.  I’ve always been happy with the customer service, low prices, variety of products, and haven’t had many issues regarding sold out products. I was surprised to hear that Target would be expanding to Canada and figured that it would be just like the one near my home. As mentioned in Taylor’s post and this article from the Globe and Mail,  many people are quite upset with the fact that Target Canada is not the same as Target in the United States.  There has been quite a bit of negative feedback, from shelves being empty all the way to the stores having a bad smell.

I can relate to these shoppers experience, because I noticed the same things when I went to a Target in Canada for the first time.  I noticed a lot of bare shelves and had difficulty finding things.  I also noticed the prices were higher than what I am used to back in the States.  If you ask me, I think Target Canada needs to reconsider their value proposition in order to bring the same quality experience from the US to Canada to its customers.

In order for Target to increase its numbers, like Taylor suggested, Target must evaluate its point of difference.  If Target is unwilling to lower its prices, then the competitors will be at an advantage over Target.  Target must remember its value propositions, or the reasons why the customers continue coming back, which is due to low prices for a wide range of products.   As the article mentions, there are issues like this anticipated to happen when a business opens or expands, and hopefully Target will find a new way to illustrate its value to the Canadian market.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-13/wal-mart-said-to-fail-its-own-post-katrina-climate-pledge.html

Many companies these days are taking on a social responsibility, or a promise on a way to conduct their business. Whether it’s promising donations to charity, good customer service, or protecting the environment, many companies take part in this in order to improve society and to show customers that there is a more wholesome approach to how their business is conducted.  I believe a social responsibility is a good idea for businesses to take part in, especially large corporations that can afford to put aside some money to benefit society and the greater good.

When Hurricane Katrina occurred, Wall-Mart made a pledge to “rely fully on renewable energy and sell products that sustain the environment.” If you ask me, this seemed to be a large and daring proposition on Wall Mart’s part.  And it goes to show how it has affected their image currently.

Now, in 2013, instead of reducing greenhouse emissions, they have in fact risen, and only 4 percent of its power is said to have came from renewable resources.  This lag in becoming more sustainable has been an overall challenge for Wall Mart because of the rapid expansion of their chain over the past few years.

Essentially, Wall Marts problem is the inability to adjust and modify their business model in order to better implement change.  According to Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self Reliance, Wall Mart has “launched a publicity campaign that boasts of solar installations while green washing the true environment costs of its business model.” So in the end, Wall Mart appears to be mostly talk when it comes to this initiative.  Although they have done some efforts to become more environmentally conscious, Wall Mart’s story should be lesson to other companies.  In order to promise change in business practices, a company must first throughly think it through and discuss the costs of these improved practices.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/business/13hire.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Many companies value performance evaluations.  Both the manager and the employee being evaluated benefit from this because it helps the employee understand their strengths and areas of improvement, while the manager can better understand their workforce and help their employees learn and grow in the company.  Sometimes though, the manager needs to step back and evaluate his/her purpose in the company and how to improve on being a better leader. This is what Google decided to take on.

Named Project Oxygen, Google has devised a project in order to identify and learn how to implement the following qualities that will make for a good manager and leader of the company and its workforce.  This is a few of the principles they came up with:

“Have a clear vision and strategy for the team”

“Help your employees with career development”

“Don’t be a sissy: Be productive and results oriented”

Even though these seem to be quite obvious, Google is on to something.  Due to the swings in quarterly performance evaluations, Google is trying to become a better company by understanding its employees and their needs in order to help them feel appreciated and to reduce turnover. As stated by Mr. Brock, vice president of Human Operations,

“If I’m a manager and I want to get better, and I want more out of my people and I want them to be happier, two of the most important things I can do is just make sure I have some time for them and to be consistent.  And that’s more important than doing the rest of the stuff.”

So the overall take away from this article, is a lesson that all companies can benefit from which is to step back, and re-evaluate the position of manger, and to learn from the employees feedback on the managers quality of engagement with his/her workforce. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut, and by re-evaluating the simplest of things, like what Google did, then maybe companies can inspire innovation and productivity in a monotonous workforce.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/starting-out/with-recording-industry-falling-apart-innovator-changed-the-rules/article15349496/

Arts and Crafts Website : http://www.arts-crafts.ca

The music industry has become a difficult way to make money these days.  With most people downloading music online for free, record labels and artists have a challenge making a profit.  This issue didn’t stop Jeffrey Remedios from creating a new record label. Originally from Virgin Records Canada, Remedios decided to leave his stable job in order to start up a new label called Arts and Crafts.  Through this, he wanted to help Artists gain a profit and get the recognition they deserved.  To start something new in a struggling industry was a huge risk for Remedios, but he strongly believed in the cause.

Remedios officially started his label in 2002, and from the start, he earned success. This success is essentially due to the fact that Remedios wanted to experiment with a new approach.  By releasing music digitally months before the physical CD was released and offering free downloads for limited times, Arts and Crafts and it’s artists were getting recognition and profits. Some artists were even getting touring opportunities.

Overall, this story is an example of the mindset of a successful entrepreneur.  An entrepreneur, like Remedios, must have and open mind, eagerly take on risk, and not be afraid of failing.  In fact, in the beginning, many of Remedios’s closes friends and family members thought he was crazy for leaving such a good job at Virgin Records.  Despite this, Remedios knew he was taking on a huge risk with the possibility of failure, but he decided to persevere, a quality any good entrepreneur has.  Sometimes the riskiest of start ups, are the ones that turn out the strongest in the end.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Housing+First+program+help+homelessness/8996774/story.html

Housing First Website: http://www.raincityhousing.org/what-we-do/hfact/

In many cases, it is bad to have excess inventory, because often, the company is left with unsold, outdated products, that have only costed the company more saving on to, rather than getting them off the shelf and into customers hands.  This is the problem that happened with Blackberry, too much inventory equalled loss of profits and outdated merchandise that had to be written off.

Even though most companies avoid excess inventory/supply, in some rare cases, could extra supply be beneficial? In the rental market, with price ceilings set too low, a shortage in rentals becomes present, resulting in homelessness.  A program called “Housing First” could possibly solve this problem though.  This program helps homeless people who have extra challenges to finding a suitable home for their needs.  These people include the mentally ill, the unemployed, and people who suffer from substance abuse.  This project has an inventory of standard market apartments across Vancouver, as well as support for the people to adjust to their new homes. The program overall, made people feel safer, and  eased their concerns about everything from crime to bedbugs and drugs.

This inventory of homes set aside for people who truly need it is a beneficial and useful strategy, not only to solving homelessness, but to help people get back on their feet and to take responsibility of their lives.  Essentially, this program is a great example of the saying “a hand up, not a hand out.” The housing market and it’s government set price ceilings should really be re-examined.  Is a shortage really beneficial in order to keep prices low to the consumer, or would letting the market fall to it’s market clearing price help free this shortage and allow for inventory to create efficiency, thus helping end homelessness?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/why-the-rebirth-of-manufacturing-is-bypassing-canada/article14717261/

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-05/reshoring-of-jobs-looks-meager

As the recession hit back in 2008, and costs of production rose in the US and Canada, many companies decided to move their manufacturing plants to China, resulting in the loss of jobs and a weakened economy.

It seems that things are on their way to improvement though, because many US companies are now trying to “reshore” meaning, bringing back manufacturing to the home country.  A company called Merchant House International Ltd, which makes boots for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp., has announced that it will open it’s first factory in the US.    Are things looking up when it comes to bringing back industry to the States?

This isn’t the only company that has looked into the possibility of reshoring.  In fact, “More than half of U.S. executives at manufacturers with sales of at least $1 billion (U.S.) say they are planning to repatriate some production to the United States from China.” Some of the benefits of reshoring include being closer to customers, lower transportation costs, and better product quality.

As an American, I’ve missed seeing everyday goods say “Made in the USA”.  The outsourcing to China was not solving any problems back home, in fact, it made things much worse.  As a result, our economy plummeted, our dollar decreased in value, and many people became unemployed. It’s nice to know that industries are finally seeing the benefits of bringing jobs back to America.  It may take some time, in fact, it may take 25 years, at the current rate, to bring back all lost factory jobs since 2000.  Even though it will happen slowly, in the end, reshoring will be worth the effort.  It will give the American economy the strength it needs to grow in order to be successful and efficient once again.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/study-slams-athletes-promoting-junk-food/article14698232/

When it comes to advertising a product, image is everything.  It determines what kind of market the product is in, what type of consumer will buy such products, and how must it be advertised to suit the previous categories.

Over the years, brands try to re-create their image in order to gain a wider customer base. In this case, these brands got  help from athletes to help promote their products/brands.  With many brands, this seems to be a successful route, but in this case with Lebron James and Serena Williams, they were backlashed for promoting unhealthy foods.  Instead of creating a stronger brand image, the athletes sent mixed messages to the consumers.  In this case, repositioning the brand was unsuccessful and heavily criticized for it.

Since many consumers already have formed opinions about certain brands, especially now with more awareness about unhealthy foods and the risk of eating them in large quantities, these brands that tried to re-invent their image were caught in trying to deceive the consumer.  In the end result, the brands and athletes were criticized and questioned in why they would try to promote something unhealthy with a healthy person, an ironic and confusing message to us all.

http://www.economist.com/node/21551500

The American firm, Chiquita Brands, has put great efforts into pleasing environmental activists over the past few years.  The firm’s chief executive, Fernando Aguirre, believes that sustainability is an important social responsibility.  Unfortunately though, the firm’s efforts to promote and uphold environmentally ethical practices has not been rewarded properly or even recognized for that matter.

Since being environmentally conscious is the trend lately, why aren’t companies, such as Chiquita, not being recognized for their efforts, while we still continue to bash other companies who still haven’t changed their ways?  Doesn’t this seem a bit hypocritical? If this company is promoting and making great efforts to make their business environmentally friendly, then why isn’t the media talking about it? I believe that we should be celebrating their efforts, and who knows, maybe it would influence other businesses to change their ways in order to gain more recognition and favour.

In today’s day in age, a businesses’s social responsibilities should include reducing pollution and making their practices environmentally sound.  Many businesses will still argue though that the costs to do this are too high and in the end, not worth it.  But, what if there were incentives at the end of it all? If the media chose to focus more on positive events, such as this, then maybe Chiquita’s story would inspire other companies to follow the same path, thus leading to more media coverage, advertisement opportunities, and recognition in general.  I hope that one day many companies will make it a priority to create an environmentally ethical business in order to benefit the greater good.