Bill McBride referenced a part of Professor Hamilton’s lecture at Econbrowser: Lower gasoline prices. Gasoline prices are always a hot topic in daily life. Slight fluctuations may lead to a huge influence in the society. The price for gasoline in States hit a lowest point in three years.

Professor explained why the changes in production of crude oil would not bring real changes to the gasoline market price. The increase in production will never cover the increase of emerging consumption. This is why the gasoline price does not change with the price of crude oil. Based on this theory, I think this also can explain why there is a huge gap between gasoline prices in Canada and States. Even though Seattle and Vancouver are only about 200 km away, the difference in gasoline prices in two cities is likely to be 50 cents per litre.

It is reasonable to conclude that the decreased production rate for sure will rise the gasoline price, but the increase in production rate will not necessarily lower the gasoline price. The reason is that demand in different area variates depending on time.

Source: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/11/sunday-night-futures.html

I clearly remember how big influence Target had brought to people when it announced that it would expand into the Canadian market. Shortly, many big retail stores like Zellers were replaced by Target. Initially, customers were excited about the entrance of the new American retail store. However, when people found out that Target’s price in Canada is different from its price in America, their passions went out.

I totally agree with what Junwei says “Target fails to compete against its rivals in Canada in price”. Cheaper price is Target’s point of differentiation in States. However, since it cannot maintain its low price in Canada, Target loses its competitive advantage making it the same as other retail stores in Canada.

What Junwei mentions in the blog that Walmart creates difficulties for Target to get supplies is also a reasonable cause. Both Walmart and Target are American retail stores. Walmart has expanded into the Canadian market much earlier than Target does. Walmart has a solid customer base and stable supply chains. Thus, the barriers created by Walmart for new entrants are really high.

Target’s future is worrying, if it cannot establish a stable supply chain and attract more customers soon.

Source: https://blogs.ubc.ca/junweisu/2013/11/17/target-misses-its-target/

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Zappos offers candidates out of the town a tour before the interview. How candidates treat shuttle drivers directly results in whether the candidates will be employed.

“It doesn’t matter how will the day of interviews went, if out shuttle diver wasn’t treated well then we won’t hire that person,” says CEO Tony Hsieh.

Providing a tour for candidates out of town reflects Zappos’ caring attitude towards it employees. It gives candidates a more comfortable environment to prepare for the interview and allow them to concentrate. We also have discussed many similar things Zappos does to create a better working environment for its employees in the lecture. I believe that even though these acts may bring Zappos extra costs in the short run, they will promote employees’ passions towards work, loyalty to the company, and its benefits will be revealed in the long term.

In my opinion, this tour also can be considered as part of Zappos’ interview. Getting feedback from drivers’ tells Zappos values not only its employees’ ability but also their personalities.

Amazon Zappo’s Merger

News originated from The Wall Street Journal: Story of the Week | Zappos’ Tony Hsieh

http://projects.wsj.com/soty/week/21/story-of-the-week–zappos-tony-hsieh

After operating for eight years, Twitter finally went to public in Nov. 7th, 2013. Twitter’s Initial Public Opening went successful in the New York Stock Exchange. On the first day, Twitter had a 73% bump. This certainly was a good startup for Twitter, compared to the huge fall in the Facebook’s stock price after its IPO.

The reasons that I think Twitter’s IPO went well are that people have an expectation of its future and Twitter’s good preparation. Though Facebook’s stock was not going well right after IPO, its price has reminded ascending afterwards. Another technology company, Google’s stock price also keeps increasing. Therefore, people expect Twitter to do well in the future. Besides, Twitter had prepared for its IPO for almost two years. It gained experience from Facebook’s unsuccessful IPO. Facebook’s IPO had created a crisis in the NASDAQ Stock Market. Therefore, this time Twitter chose to hold its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange which is more prepared to tolerate the huge pressure that might have on the first day of going public.

It is good that the IPO of Twitter was fairly successful. However, Twitter’s future still makes some people concerned. It is not making a profit even till now. The intense competition in internet technology market may lead Twitter to aging process if Twitter cannot figure out a way to generate more revenue.