When you think of Eco-Friendly automobiles, the first cars which come to your minds are probably the Nissan Leaf, or Tesla’s Model S which at the moment are leading the market of fully electric automobiles. However both these cars have one thing in common, they both run on electricity and while they are more environmentally friendly then modern day combustible engines they do come with their fair share of problems including their long charging times. Well you may be able to add another car to this list in the near future The Quant e-Sportlimousine. With similar Point of Parity with it’s competitors in the electric car market, one Point of difference is that it runs on Salt Water rather than electricity. Not only that but NanoFlowcell Quant e-Sportlimousine’s manufacturer claims: that their car go for 370 miles on a single charge, it takes 2.8 seconds to go from 0 to 62 miles per hour (the Tesla Model S takes 4.2 seconds to do the same), it has a top speed of 218 mph (almost 100 mph faster than the Tesla S); and peaks at 920 horsepower (compared to 416 for the Tesla S). While this sounds amazing it is important to note that no road tests have been performed on The Quant e-Sportlimousine to confirm this data. As well, before we usher in a new era of electric cars running on salt water, it should be noted that The Quant e-Sportlimousine is estimated to have a price point of making Tesla’s Model S luxury electric car look like a bargain at $70000 – $95000.

In all, at present The Quant e-Sportlimousine is simply a fantasy especially for the average consumer considering it’s price tag which is equivalent to a luxury home. However, with its most recent success receiving European approval for use on public roads brings it one step closer to production and revolutionizing the industry. Only time will tell what impact The Quant e-Sportlimousine will have on the future.

For many parents of young children Lego is a go to christmas gift which almost all kids enjoy. However this Christmas season this staple gift is going to be much harder to find as Lego has decided to stop shipping their products to independent Canadian retailers until 2015 due to a shortage of Lego. This is extremely worrying for many Small Business toy store owners as for many Lego sales account for at least 30% of their total sales. This is the first time Lego has ever done this, and while owners dont know what to expect, majority are bracing for the worst! Already some businesses have had to cancel orders which they had made based on incoming shipments.

While Lego is blaming the shortage of Lego on the wildly popular Lego movie, I feel as though this could not happen to such a large and experienced company like Lego, and therefore this is simply a marketing ploy by Lego choosing to reduce supply in hopes of increasing demand for their products. Whether or not this will work is impossible to predict, however what is possible to predict is the fact that during this holiday season many Canadian Toy Store owners will be struggling without new inventory from Lego.

Target’s entrance into the Canadian market has been anything but easy! Their problems began after after only 2 week of launching in Canada being unable to keep its shelves stocked, but that was the least of their problems! Last year Target suffered an operating loss of almost $1-billion (U.S.), and in its first quarter of 2014 Target lost another $211-million. Their problems in Canada stemmed from the fact that Canadian Shoppers expected Target Canada’s prices to be on par with Target stores in USA. With this not being the case many shoppers turned away from Target Canada all together. 

Recently however target has been making strides in improving their stores in hopes of recapturing the Canadian Market. Their most recent success has come in a recent study conducted last month by consultancy Kantar Retail of Boston which showed the prices at Target Canada were 3.9 per cent lower than those at Wal-Mart Canada. I feel like this is a major achievement which will slowly cause a shift in customer behavior in Canada. However this will not be enough to be successful in the Canadian Market. In addition to lowering prices I would suggest closing down some Target Canada locations to let Target focus their time, finances and energy on a few stores to make them great instead of having a lot of stores which are sub par (like they are now). 

In conclusion, Target Canada is now back on the road to success however it will take time and cost the company much more money. I do commend Target’s tenacious spirit continuing to stay in Canada regardless of their many setbacks.

On Thursday September 4^th, Version Mobile agreed to pay a $7.4 million fine over its use of personal consumer information for marketing purposes. Although it has been common practice within the business to compile user data for marketing purposes, with customers becoming increasingly worried about their private information getting in the hands of unwanted third party corporations, governments have created new laws and regulations to address this fear. One such law is which was put into effect in 2006 made it illegal for companies to sell information about them without the ability for the customer to opt out. Although these laws are in effect, many corporations like Verizon have failed to them which has resulted in this most recent ruling for Verizon to pay $7.4 million dollars.

Verizon is but one of many businesses who have forsaken ethics for larger profits. Other such companies include Barclays, AT&T, and Facebook who all are involved in the selling of their customer’s personal data. Unfortunately with the continuous changes in the field of information technology, laws set by government cannot keep up to the industries changes. Some companies like Walmart, a company not usually associated with noble business ethics is leading the pack of big chain stores by deciding to stop selling general sales data to six market-research companies a good start for an industry known for walking the ethical line. In my opinion, it is the responsibility of governments to regulate businesses to make ensure the safety and privacy of all their citizens which is currently being infringed upon.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/verizon-fined-7-4-million-for-customer-data-use/

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