Aging boomers don’t want to move out of their homes as they head into retirement, according to the results of a new poll.

The most appealing option for a majority of ancadians aged people is to stay in thei homes and pay for health care.

In my opinion, there are several reasons why they want to stay in homes.

1.REMAINING IN FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS. The old may be living in their homes more than decades so they are familiar with their own houses ,current neighbourhood and their friends who live nearby.Somtimes its harder for old people to adjust to changes so they prefer to be unchanged.Also,they still want to take care of their family members.

2.NOWHERE TO GO . Leaving the family home is never gonna be an easy decison to make.Many old people only have one house in their own hometown.They dont have elsewhere to go for a vacation and their children aren’t willing to pay for another new and more comfortable house for them.

3.HEALTH CONDITION . Old people don’t have enough courage to move to a totaly different environment.On the other hand,their poor health condition doesn’t allow them to take such a great move.

(image from : http://www.lovethatface.com/cosmetic-facial-surgery-richmond-va/facial-aging/ )

EasyJet will serve a new destination from the airport today to Catania in Sicily, Italy’s largest island. The inaugural flight of the new thrice weekly service will take off from London Luton Airport on 30 March 2014.

EasyJet experienced a stable increase on average load factor from 83.7% to 87.3%

between 2007 and 2011. The 5 year witnessed that easyJet slowly exceed Ryanair

which originally had a higher load factor. The high load factor ensures easyJet not

only could spread fixed cost over more passengers and lowered unit costs, but also

may remit the problem of overcapacity. Fewer empty seats existing imply easyJet

has great competences to attract passengers. The high load factor also means

easyJet has a high possibility to earn ancillary revenue, since both total revenue

and ancillary revenue have significantly risen accompanied with the increase of

load factor.

Another core competence is that easyJet achieves a comparably high level of

customer satisfaction. According to company’ survey, about 80% passengers satisfy

with the services and. Moreover, the early time holiday survey in 2001 also showed

that easyJet had above than average services.

(image from : http://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/oct/16/easyjet-bereavement-travel-insurance )

In business field , happiness is often considered as a result of profits, not a driver.However the truth is that every customer and employee want to  be happy.Tony  Hsieh, CEO and founder,who keeps that in mind fueled his success.

There are seveal ways to get customers happy :

1.provide good quality products with a low price

2.provide a great service to satisfy the customers

Most companies fail to reach the second criterion.You want your customers happy,you should let your employees happy in the first place.Only if you provide them with a pleasant and comfortable working environment and fair wages,they could be productive.As I know, Zappos’ attributes are as following:

• They believe in a personal and emotional connection with customers. And the people handling customer service do not use a script for as they say “you can’t script a conversation!” This was my favorite communication take-away.
• All products are photographed on a humans, not mannequins. That way the consumer can truly see how the shoes look like as a true size 8.
• Every order received is packaged and sent within two hours if the items are in the warehouse which is located in Kentucky, right next to UPS’ main hub.
• Staff are encouraged daily to send thank you’s to customers that they want to acknowledge in some way. They can send a card, a cookie basket or flowers to any customer of their choosing. They also can tape a video singing Happy Birthday to a Zappos consumer. Everyone loves that special attention.
• The company offers food in the cafeteria and drinks non-stop.  Also, if you get a bit sleepy and can’t drive home, there’s a room where you can take a nap.
• Even though as you walk the floor it appears that people are just having fun and chatting with other workers, but there is work being done. This fun atmosphere motivates others to do the best they can for they love their company.

I was surprized when I first saw the viedo in Commerce class.Tony ,the CEO , is sitting among all other employees with a small messy desk.The working atmosphere is harmoneous and happy. Every worker is  very courteous, polite and respectful.Creating a wonderful organizational culture is the key to success.

(image from : http://www.saoexpedito.com.br/vdk.php?page=6&q=zappos-shoes )

The Google Nexus 5 is an alternative, offering cutting-edge features at a price of around $350 for the phone alone through Google’s Play Store.The Nexus phone 3 , 4 were even more inexpensive.

Nexus 5 is a nearly 5-inch slate that looks very understated, sleek and a modesty that works in its favour.Its body is super light because of its hard plactic housing.Even though some may say plastic is not good looking and has poor quality,Nexus 5 is crafted nicely.If you break it accidently, it remains same because the screen is made of the latest tough materials.

I can tell that its the best version of Android so far. Its lighter with floating user interface and a more graceful look. The icons , the fonts and the phone’s dialer is much improved.

With such a well-dressed appearance,lets talk about the price.The price offer is enticing : an unlocked, off-contract price of $350. This is where consumers should think about the value proposition. You are never going to find a new smartphone of this quality at such a low price.

More sales at a low price is Google’s strategy.The best way to appeal buyers is the low price.  Also,I need to mention that the great thing about Google’s Nexus phones is you’re guaranteed to always get  the best Android offered.

Its inexpensive.Its cheap.Its unassuming.Its a perfect device if you want to have a wonderful experience with Android system.If you sure you want to use Android ,then call it whatever you want.

(image from : http://www.concept-phones.com/cool-concepts/google-nexus-5-phone-snapdragon-800-cpu-runs-android-key-lime-pie/ )

(sourc from : http://www.businessinsider.com/nexus-5-review-2013-11)

McDonald’s Corp. said Thursday it plans to spend about $3 billion next year to open 1,500 to 1,600 new restaurants and remodel about 1,000 others.

There are two incredible changes of the world’s largest hamburger chain store.One is that McDonald’s decieded to open 1,500 to 1,600 new restaurants and remodel around 1,000 others,in other words, its an market expansion,which meaningfully expand sales at established restaurants after years of outpacing its rivals. Last month it trimmed its 2013 capital expense outlook by $100 million to $3 billion and delayed some new restaurant openings until next year due to softness in China and some other burgeoning markets.On the other hand,it will add another window to speed up its drive-thru service.

McDonald’s says it’s testing a “Fast Forward Drive-Thru,” which will be featured in new and renovated restaurants starting next year.In current situation,customers give their orders and drive up to a window where they can pick up their food without getting out of the cars.What McDonald’s is trying to do is to open a new window which allows customers drive to a third stop if their orders aren’t ready.

McDonald’s gets about 70 percent of its sales from the drive-thru, according to Richard Adams, who now runs a consulting firm for franchisees.

Almost everyone eats Macdonald’s.The market is quite large extending to China,India,European countries. The company known for Big Mac burgers and crispy french fries,

(image from :pastordougsmith.blogspot.com – 1200 × 801 – Search by image

The average selling price of a Canadian home was $391,820 in October,which is up 8.5 percent,comparing to last year.But a closer look at the numbers indicates a split between hot markets in the Westtern part, and cooler ones in Eastern Canada.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said the number of homes sold in October was 8.3 per cent higher in 2013 than it was in the same month a year earlier.Howevr, the increase is almost coming from Western Canada.Speaking of the total sales,Calgary,Edmonton and Vancouver are the hottest markets in 2013.

When i first got here, in vancouver,lookng for a house where I can stay,that would be five years ago,the average house price was like around $ 300,000.It wasn’t that hard to find a comfortable and price-fair house.Take a look at Vancouver now, the average house price is incredibly mountaining to a almost unreachable level and then remain unchanged.I felt lucky that my family bought a house five years ago which was much cheaper than they already are.  Anyone who didn’t already possess a home before the bubble began to grow ends up giving up much more of their income only to pay for a place to stay.

House prices increase much faster than wages, meaning that houses become less and less affordable.And not only house buyers who are influenced: pretty soon rents rise up as well, including in social housing.

This increase in prices incur a great increase in the amount of money that buyers spent on mortgage repayments in the first place. For example, while in 1996 the amount of take home salary that a person on an average salary buying an average house would spend on their mortgage was 17.5%, by 2008 this had risen to 49.3%. In London the figures are even more shocking, rising from 22.2% of take home pay spent on their mortgage in 1997 to 66.6% in 2008.

(image from:CBC news  http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/average-house-price-in-canada-rises-8-to-391-820-1.2427778)

(Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/blackberry-hit-with-shareholder-lawsuit-1.1913852)

Layoff: BlackBerry announce that it would be cutting 4,500 jobs unleashed a flurry of pessimistic speculation over the future of the beleaguered Waterloo, Ont., company, with some predicting it may simply cease to exist.(Source:http://www.cbc.ca/news/does-blackberry-have-a-future-1.1862945)

The cost of layoff is nearly four times more than that they expected. Even though they can go back to the break-even point,its still hard for them to make profit.

Losses: Late to a smartphone market.Because of this,we may see a much smaller and leaner BlackBerry, focusing on seveal vital businesses, most likely software and services,which leads to less and less revenue.

Who is the buyer?  I think there’s no single potential demand.Everyone is aspiring to have an iPhone.An iPhone is more good-looking,popular,fashionable and functional than a blackberry.In this case,only few people who cares about the privacy safety would consider buying a blackberry.Here, price is a less important factor.People try to buy an iPhone no matter they can afford it or not because of group psychology and vanity.SO, there are fewer an fewer people who would buy a blackberry.

Taken those factors above into consideration, it’s really hard for Blackberry to develop a good future.

   ( PICT. Source: The rbutr Twitter-Reply Widget Is Now Twice as Awesome! blog.rbutr.com)

From class 4, I first got in touch with Business Model Canvas. One of the elements is Revenue Stream that consists of Asset Sale, Usage Fee, Subscription Fees, Advertising etc.

People use twitter more than ever.Examples of Twitter’s influence abound. The recent finale of Breaking Bad generated a record 1.24 million tweets. The conversation peaked at 22,373 tweets per minute according to analytics firm SocialGuide. People used the hashtag #GoodbyeBreakingBad nearly 500,000 times.(Source:http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/twitter-exploring-tv-related-advertising-ahead-of-ipo-1.1928356)

Twitter is exploring using TV-related advertising ahead of IPO.This strategy makes the revenue rise dramatically. The platform makes Twitter users who may have seen or could be interested in their TV program to see real-time videos. It also allows marketers to communicate with viewers who saw their TV ads, extending commercial pitches to consumers’ smartphones and tablets.

There also exist weaknesses.What we must notice is that social media user group is different from the television audience.For example, the comedy “the big bang” which has more than 20 million CBS audience does not rank in the top ten in Twitter.

Japan Airlines is buying its first-ever jets from Airbus in a deal with a list value of 950 billion yen ($9.5 billion US). The purchase of 31 A350 planes deals a blow to U.S. rival Boeing, which had been JAL’s star supplier for decades.(Source: Bob Edme/Associated Press)

Why does Japan Airlines choose Airbus over Boeing?  —- “best match for our needs.”

Boeing and Airbus have waged a slugfest in airline market all over the world for years. The commercial battle also leads to a years-long legal fight at the World Trade Organization between the two plane makers over government subsidies or other forms of state aid.Recently,the battle has paid attention to sales of the new style jets ——long-range, wide-bodied jets.During the severe competition, Monday’s order demonstrates Airbus A350 holds a safe lead against Boeing’s 787.

Behind the domination of Chicago-based Boeing Co. are the historical ties between Japan and the U.S., including security arrangements. But in recent years, other Japanese carriers, especially the newer low-cost airlines, have been gradually switching to Airbus.Boeing said Monday’s deal did not hurt its relationship with JAL.(Source:http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/japan-airlines-chooses-airbus-over-boeing-for-new-jet-order-1.1928080)

Taken security and economy into consideration, Airbus A350 is a more adorable choice for JAL.Japan is a small country with a dense population.There are a certain number of airports and the routes are busiest in the world, in which case,Airbus A350 get a chance to enter Japan’s airline market. However, Boeing has accounted for more than 80 percent in Japan’s airline market, which means it is still a severe challenge for Airbus to dominate the market.

Asia-Pacific leaders attend a retreat session at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Monday, Oct 7, 2013. China took centre-stage as Asia-Pacific leaders opened an annual economic summit in the shadow of global growth clouds that are darkening by the day with the US government paralysed by infighting.

Although there has been a slowdown in economic growth recently, Xi insists that its growth will be robust for that China’s growth and other indicators are within reasonable expectations. “I am deeply convinced the Chinese economy will sustain its sound growth”,  Xi said in a keynote address at the CEO conference.

China is trying to shift away from a growth model that has relied heavily on investment in construction and polluting industries, which aims to promote more consumer-oriented, high-tech development.

Quality and efficiency are what China’s economic growth needs to improve, likening the process to finding one’s way to a “new village”.Meanwhile, China must undergo structural reforms, even if it involves a sacrifice of speed.

source:http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/china-s-growth-still-robust-president-xi-jinping-tells-apec-summit-1.1928240

Draining a pond to catch fish is no formula for sustainable development.

If we hesitate or are indecisive, we will not succeed and all our previous gains will be lost.