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

Microsoft purchased Nokia, for $7.2Billion on September 2^nd 2013. Nokia is the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, according to IDC. Nokia and Microsoft have been partners since 2011, when Nokia replaced its operating system with Microsoft’s Windows Phone. Microsoft purchased Nokia in order to compete against the established players in the mobile phone industry such as Samsung and Apple Inc.

Unlike Blackberry, Nokia is headed in the right direction. The deal will benefit both the parties, whereby Nokia will not undergo bankruptcy nor will its 32,000 employees be made redundant. Microsoft will be able to retain the entire the entire chain, whereby it will be able to produce their own mobile phones, market them and sell them in their own stores, similar to Apple.

Considering that the $7.2Billion price tag for Nokia was lesser than the $8.5Billion for Skype, the deal seems to have a huge potential. Purchasing Nokia will give Microsoft an additional cost-advantage over its competitors such as Samsung, which relies on Google’s Android operating system for it’s smart phones.

Will Microsoft be able to compete with the pre-existing high barriers to entry and the proportionately large market share owned by Samsung and Apple?

Sources:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/03/tech/nokia-microsoft-stuart-miles/index.html?hpt=ibu_c1

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/03/business/microsoft-nokia-ballmer/index.html

Image Sources:

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/0903-microsoft-buys-nokia/16878447-1-eng-US/0903-microsoft-buys-nokia_full_600.jpg

http://i.cbc.ca/1.463814.1378567714!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/image.jpg

After opening up over 28000 franchisees across North America, Europe and Asia. Yum! Brands –owner of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut is expanding its franchisee spread across to the less developed countries in Africa namely Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Yum! is looking to tap the middle class across these regions. It believes that the likes of KFC and Pizza Hut around the world will generate similar and/or higher profits in these regions.

Taking into account factors such as growing economic and political stabilities across these countries, Yum believes that it will have the first-mover advantage into these regions as it’s major competitors such as McDonald’s and Burger King still haven’t set foot into these countries.

It seeks to enter these markets through diversification, whereby they plan on entering these new markets with new products that cater to the specific needs of these African countries.

However, a major factor that Yum may not have taken into account is the incomes and purchasing power parity of the people in these regions whereby millions of people are languishing in extreme poverty and simply cannot afford such restaurants. Will Yum be able to generate the projected earnings with these factors taken into account?

Sites:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/04/business/fast-food-giants-africa/index.html

http://www.snaptohealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Yum-Brands.jpg

http://gregorymancuso.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Dominos-pizza-recipe-in-box-with-delivery-guy.jpg

http://yum.com/investors/restcounts.asp

Though the Serbian economy is undergoing dejection, one company named ‘Bambi’ is experiencing a delightful success as the country’s EU membership negotiations approach.

Bambi is the biggest confectionery producer in Serbia, producing over 153 different confectionary products. The factories operate round the clock, 24 hours a day with three shifts of workers. The cost advantage that Bambi currently possess is the minimum wage of $1.36, legislated by the government is much lower than that of China ($2.05) or Philippines ($2.31).

One of the toughest challenges that Bambi will face in the near future will be the rising cost of production as a result of the EU membership whereby the minimum wage rate is higher; it may also see a large number of trained employees fleeing to better European economies.

The company is currently seeking to increase their customer-base by exporting their products to nearby countries such as Romania & Bulgaria however it doesn’t see the UK and Germany as potential markets as it deems them ‘Saturated’.

The question is, what’s in it for the future for Bambi? Is the sweet victory going to turn into a bitter end due to the EU membership?

Sources:

Article Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/04/business/serbia-bambi-biscuit-eu-accession/index.html?hpt=ibu_c2

Minimum Wage figures obtained from: http://www.wageindicator.org

Bambi Logo: http://www.invest-in-serbia.com/thumbnail.php?file=slike-news/BambiLogoLg_807665489.png&size=article_large

Toshiba, A Japanese electronics firm that produces a wide-range of products from kitchen appliances to high-end medical systems is likely to befall a similar fate as that of Blackberry and LG.

The Japanese based firm is halving the number of employees employed in its TV division to cut the costs and to achieve the number one goal of any organization – Survival. The reform came about after the company encountered an immense loss of 16.3bn yen ($166 million) last year.

Toshiba, though being established before its major competitors primarily Samsung and Panasonic, it is unable to improve its profitability or possess the resources that these firms possess. Toshiba is taking a giant leap of cutting sales in “unprofitable regions” such as in the European nations, making about 3000 employees redundant.
Toshiba believes that their new range of ultra high-definition (HD) 4K LCD TVs will bring them back to profitability and possibly bring up their share price from the drastic fall in its value in the past two months as illustrated by the chart below.

However Samsung and Panasonic recently released similar televisions into the market. So the question remains, will this withdrawal from the European nations be a boon or a bane for Toshiba?

Article Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24327491

Figure 1 Source: http://onetechcomputers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Troubleshooting-common-issues.jpg

Figure 2 Source: https://www.google.ca/finance?q=TYO%3A6502&ei=PI1KUvDOH8W5iwL2twE                                                                     As per:- 8:54 AM Tuesday, October 1, 2013 (GMT)

In today’s world, most students want to get degree from the best universities across the world. While a few students earn their college placements with their hard work and commitment to their work, many students in India have found an alternative way of ‘earning’ their degree. Simply paying a lump sum amount of money from your parents wallets can fetch you a post-graduate seat at a highly renowned University in India.

There are thousands of applicants each year, who are intelligent and deserve to receive placements from such institutions, but they are deprived either by reservation policies or financial problems. It is tragic that many deemed to be universities are producing third rate Medical graduates who are harmful to life and Nation. Moreover, day by day the reservation values are skyrocketing and yet the people are still willing to pay. This leads us to question, how will the future generation be like? Where are the moral ethics and values that we have been brought up with?

The day Supreme Court comes heavily puts a ban on reservations, every student will finally have the opportunity to study in a University they deserve to be in.

Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/22428303.cms