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.