We inhabit a land, which I believe is not rightfully ours. Majority of Canadian soil belongs to a variety of different First Nations communities. However as the need for economic growth grows, the value of this land is threatened. Such is seen with the recent plans of BC Hydro to build a mega hydroelectric project worth 8 billion. As it is argued that the region is in need for the clean energy, the inhabitants do not believe it outweighs the environmental harm caused by this development.

Planned Map Proposal of Site C

A cooperation like BC Hydro is unable to set forth creating large projects without considering the effects of the external environment. This comes mainly from the First Nations whom hold great importance in land and traditional practices and do not wish those to be destroyed.  This greatly limits BC Hydro’s projects for increasing hydroelectricity.  As they wish to build more dams and structures which results in more land being threatened and thus more First Nations rightfully standing up for such land. BC Hydro needs to put more thought on the external environment factors when planning new projects, as planning to build a damn on traditional land will surely be refuted.  These factors must be considered as BC Hydro is required to meet an amount of energy output and projects such as this would have helped them reach future output goals.

Peace River, British Columbia

Sources:

Article: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html 

http://www.theprovince.com/news/have+Site+both+First+Nations/10231500/story.html

Visuals: http://images.glaciermedia.ca/polopoly_fs/1.58735.1359439142!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_563/site-c-dam-map.jpg

http://www.ourbc.com/travel_bc/bc_cities/alaska_highway/photos/hudsons_hope/peace_river_bridge_01_640.jpg

Ouya a gaming console which provides a new platform on which to develop games, experienced a great deal of success as it sold out on Amazon within a few hours. As the launch was mostly successful, there was a slight issue with operations.

Some consumers whoever were not pleased as their consoles have yet to arrive, despite being among early buyers. The CEO, has stated it is a simple error in shipping rather than a supply chain issue. While it was not many customers who were delayed in receiving their console, this delay uncovered a problem with management the company hoped to avoided.

Although this problem was not related to the actual production of the good it is a problem in the overall transformation of an output to input nor did it cause much harm to the company as many focused on the success of sales, it exemplifies the importance of operations.

The CEO had chosen to not have a large span of time for delivery and push the product into the market as fast as possible, and in effect is losing quality service. Operations are essential for business to run successfully.

Source:

Article: http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/ouya-creator-julie-uhrman-victory-lap.html

Visual: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/183979/photo-main.jpg?1397782485

As healthy eating trends, there naturally is a decline the demand of frozen food. This and a new shift in the demographic has McCain shifting marketing methods in order to tackle these threat to sales.

McCain is know to have a large customer segment of families, as they normally advertise the convenience of cooking frozen, but unhealthier meals. While such food is no longer highly demanded McCain is shifting customer segments to modern families of less members, and adding a value proposition of healthier products.

McCain’s vice president of marketing quotes this new marketing campaign as an “evolution”.  This seems to be McCain’s attempt of a transient advantage. It is focusing on the wants of the consumers in order to gain a competitive advantage. This is the right strategy as remaining stagnant with it’s marketing will be detrimental to McCain’s sales. Many companies who have lasted as long as McCain tend to focus on sticking to their traditional customer segment and products. However as new products can be created which could be preferred by the consumers, this strategy can lead a company to bankruptcy. McCain although not fully abandoning its traditional companies, the addition of this new customer segment and value proposition will hopefully create the “evolution” they are looking for.

Sources:

Article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/mccain-foods-reinvents-itself-to-adapt-to-new-priorities/article20937714/

Visals: http://blogs.teradata.com/customers/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1bdf3aa1.png

             http://foodindustry.asia/site/food/uploadedresources/fia_news_mccainenglish_logo-lock-up.jpg

Breaking through a market and being a product of originality does not unfortunately always give you an advantage over products. Many businesses’s don’t create a new original product, but greatly improve a product into something better. This business strategy is effective for many companies as it allows for the innovation of products and tailoring it to the response of consumers. This is seen constantly in the fast food industry where a company creates a product that consumers enjoy, other franchises will create products with similar tastes but minor alterations, for example Wendy released the Frosty after the success of McFlurries.

While this strategy has its disadvantages with the aspect of positioning. These succeeding products tend to come as second thoughts in the consumer’s mind. However this weakness can be easily diminished it the brand is highly valued. If a good brand that consumers are familiar with, is innovative rather than original this business strategy will prove to be successful.

A great example of this is Apple. Recently Apple released their new Iphone 6 and 6 plus, with sizing similar to Samsung’s products. This trend also follows Apple with their release of the Ipad. While it was not the first tablet released, it leads tablet sales. This is the basis of Apple’s business strategy, and it proves to be one that’s working. Why be the first, when you could take similar ideas and reinvent the products to create products of higher quality.

Sources:

Article:  http://techpinions.com/how-apples-business-model-burned-samsung/35093

Visual: http://www.onbile.com/info/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/samsung_galaxy_s5_vs_iphone_6.jpg