To further analyze the blog posted by Rafi Mohammed titled, “Southwest May Start Charging for Baggage, and That’s a Good Thing”, talks about Southwest’s latest pricing strategy which effectively uses a price strategy which provides for all the customers ranging from the ‘nickel-and-diming consumers to the deep pocketed consumers.

Their pricing strategy consists of providing the consumers with varieties of choices while making their decision on which additional services/products they require apart from the flight-seat on its own. They believe that they will be able to broaden their customer base therefore be able to get a larger market share. The strategy may reveal promising numbers but it won’t be long before the competitors adopt a similar strategy.

Though Rafi Mohammed believes that this pricing strategy will be beneficial for Southwest Airlines, I believe that there might be a slight consumer dissatisfaction derived through this ‘a la carte’ service offered to them. Many customers will be dissatisfied as a result of the lack of services, whereby they might feel that they are being exploited, as they are now required to pay for services that were previously free of charge. What do you think?

Sources:

Rafi Mohammed’s blog link:

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/southwest-may-start-charging-for-baggage-and-thats-a-good-thing/

Image Source:

http://inweekly.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Southwest_Airlines_logo.jpg

Eastlink is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. Eastlink is eliminating roaming fees in Canada for its wireless customers.

Eastlink is planning to go up against the Big three (i.e. Bell, Rogers and Telus), which currently dominate the market share. Though Eastlink is getting bullied by the big players who charge the ‘inflated roaming fees’ to the small players such as Eastlink themselves, the small players are teaming up together in pressuring the CRTC into regulating the fees.

A similar service, i.e. unlimited roaming within Canada is also offered by Koodo Mobile but only for people who purchase the “Canada-wide” plans.

I believe that that eliminating roaming fees across all plans will give Eastlink an edge over its competitors whereby they will have a potential of gaining a higher market share by benefiting from the first mover advantage.

But the question is how long is it before the big players step in?  And to what benefit is this to a company who restricts its monopoly on cell phone usage by charging for access to its signals when many are sharing towers?

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/15/eastlink-roaming-fees-_n_4283213.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business

Image Source:

http://wpmedia.business.financialpost.com/2013/02/eastlink-wireless.jpg?w=620

The H. J. Heinz Company is a Multinational food processing company, famous for its ‘57 Varieties’ slogan, and its Ketchup. Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital purchased Heinz for $23 Billion on February 14, 2013, since then the company has undergone many reforms within its organizational structure and its industries.

The new owners of Heinz have decided on closing down the Leamington, Ontario plant in June 2014, costing 740 employees their jobs as a result of the extensive review of its supply chain footprint, capabilities and capacity utilization which didn’t seem very promising to the new owners.

Heinz currently acts as the largest employer in Leamington and is one of the biggest taxpayers in the municipality, I believe that unemployment will not be the only factor that will affect the economy but also the mere fact that the local government will be loosing immense tax revenue as well as all the other businesses which currently trade with Heinz within the municipality. The very fact that most businesses within the community such as the farmers, stores, greenhouses, trucking companies, and many more, rely so heavily on Heinz Lemington, the closing down of the Heinz plant will most likely cripple Leamington’s economy.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/heinz-closes-leamington-plant-740-people-out-of-work-1.2426608

http://www.heinz.com

Image Source:

http://www.ecanadanow.com/edition-francaise/canada-edition-francaise/2013/11/15/over-700-jobless-as-heinz-closes-canadian-plant/

PROJECT ARA – Expansion on Mike Choi’s Blog post

To further expand upon a blog posted by Mike Choi titled ‘Project ARA’ (Link posted below).

Though project ARA will feature a revolutionary new type of technology in the smartphone industry, the smartphone maker, Motorola will not be the sole producer of these smartphones. The design patent is held by Dave Hakkens who is currently collaborating along with Motorola for this product. Mr Hakkens, openly stated that him and his company are willing and able to collaborate with other companies who also wish to develop similar smartphones.

Motorola will be able to secure a relatively large market share as a result of the first-mover advantage it will possess, however it won’t be long before the smartphone giants i.e. Apple and Samsung step into the market to gobble up the market share.

The product and its features may seem very new and appealing however the question is, are people willing to purchase these kinds products? Though the online polls seem rather promising, the ambiguity factor regarding the price of the product and the complexity of its usage may just end up hampering its sales. What do you think?

Sources:

http://www.cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Why_Motorola_s_Project_Ara_May_Work_for_Enterprises&story_id=030002Y7WVQI

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/motorola-s-modular-smartphone-project-ara-unveiled-1.2287283

Picture Source:

http://cdn.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/nexusae0_2013-10-29-15_09_39-Phonebloks-The-next-step-YouTube.png

Mike Choi’s blog post URL:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/mikechoi/2013/11/13/project-ara/

Tim Hortons is a Canadian multinational company. It is the largest fast-food service chain across Canada, operating with over 3000 restaurants across Canada and over 500 in the U.S.

Expanding further within Canada and US doesn’t seem very promising for Tim Hortons anymore as the market is rather saturated in these countries. Therefore Tim Hortons is planning on expanding its chain to other countries, mainly targeting the Middle East. Second to earning more profit, Tim Hortons wants to take its brand to new markets where it can further build upon its brand name.

There are various merits that Tim Hortons can reap if they were to start operations in the Middle East. The Middle Eastern economies are growing at a rather promising rate especially Qatar and UAE. Thus Timmy’s will be able to establish a larger customer base and can also immensely benefit from a higher profit due to the tax-free legislation in the UAE.

However, Tim Hortons has positioned itself in a highly competitive industry, amongst its major competitors, ‘Starbucks’ is already present in these countries and has already secured a large market share, thus entering into these countries carries a potential risk along with it.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/tim-hortons-wants-more-restaurants-across-the-globe-1.2419839

Image Sources:

http://www.foodbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120423_C7807_PHOTO_EN_12582.jpg

http://marketplayground.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Tim_Hortons_Always_Fresh.jpg