17Nov / 2013

The Yelp Wars: Yelp Liars Caught

A New York sting operation caught businesses paying for positive ratings on recommendation websites.

The “Operation Clean Turf” caught 19 different companies that were getting paid by small businesses to write fake reviews. These companies were fined a total of $350,000, proving that fake reviews are deliberate attempts to mislead consumers.

I believe that when businesses are not successful in getting enough customers, they turn to this last resort, hoping that their sales will increase by making fake reviews on Yelp. Majority of people rely on online rating websites such as Yelp on debating whether or not to utilize the business’s products or service, therefore when these business owners get desperate, in my opinion, they will use fake reviews since they know that this is most efficient to attract customers.

OwnerListens Mobile App

Another issue was that businesses were losing incredible amounts of sales and customers because of the numerous negative reviews that were being posted on Yelp. Angry customers were using Yelp to express their dissatisfying experiences with the businesses. Therefore, OwnerListens, a mobile app was created to establish a direct line of communication between business owners and their customers. By connecting with angry customers before they “yelp” and by listening to their concerns, you can really make these customers your biggest advocates.

Photo Source: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09/26/yelps-fake-review-problem/

http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple/v4/b0/1c/b1/b01cb136-a354-ddbe-281b-6afe590f64ec/screen568x568.jpeg

Source: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09/26/yelps-fake-review-problem/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228308

Posted in Fraudulent Misrepresentation

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17Nov / 2013

China’s Gold Fever Surpassing India’s Love For Gold

Demand for gold in China is surging despite slower economic growth.

China surpassed India by purchasing 798 tonnes of gold this year. Urbanization and rising wealth are driving demands as Chinese consumers show no sign of curbing their spending habits. More and more people are investing in higher carat and heavier pieces of gold jewelry since gold is a secure haven of wealth and protection against inflation. However, this is simply promoting “gold hoarding”, predominantly by women, since Chinese “aunties” lead the charge, depleting inventories of jewelry stores.


However, China’s hunger for gold triggered speculation about reserves. Investment analysts are suspicious that the Chinese government are increasing their gold holdings as part of their foreign reserves since the Chinese government rarely releases comprehensive data on gold imports or holdings. Also, the main conduit for gold to China is gold imports into Hong Kong, therefore gold prices notably rose an average of 10% yearly over the past decade.

Hong Kong Bullion Imports vs. Gold Prices, 2008-2013

In the future, since demand will exceed the gold supply, I predict that the price of gold will skyrocket even further. Just like the gold smuggling that resulted in India after the new tax was imposed on gold from 4% to 8%, I believe that it may possibly occur in China also.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/15/news/economy/china-gold/index.html?iid=SF_BN_River

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/10/10/chinas-hunger-for-gold-triggers-speculation-about-reserves/

Posted in Gold Demand

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17Nov / 2013

A Second Shot For Second Cup

 

Second Cup Cafe Launched in Pakistan

 

Second Cup, a popular Canadian coffee franchise, constantly threatened as an American coffee franchise, Starbucks, expanded rapidly causing many Second Cup locations to shut down on its own turf. For the first time, Second Cup has found that it had a better advantage over their greatest competitor. With North American coffee culture gaining popularity in Pakistan and by being a Canadian company, Second Cup was finally able contribute to the Pakistan fast food boom by expanding internationally and opening up their first cafe in Pakistan. Due to the anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, Second Cup could expand into this country without the negative political associations that goes hand in hand with being U.S. multinational.

In my opinion, expanding internationally is a great benefit factor over other competitors however it is also viewed as risky especially since Second Cup is planning to launch 20 more locations in Pakistan itself. For a better result, Second Cup should analyze the popularity of their products by observing their first franchise store and make a decision to open up more locations in Pakistan based on their analysis. By utilizing the lean-start up for the opening franchise stores, they could have safer and more successful openings.

 

The Lean Start-up by Eric Ries

Photo Source: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/companies-and-industries/a-second-chance-for-second-cup/

http://howtowriteabusinessplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/lean-startup-info-graphic.png

Source: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/companies-and-industries/a-second-chance-for-second-cup/

Posted in Franchise

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17Nov / 2013

Yahoo Adopted One Of Microsoft’s Worst Ideas, Just As Microsoft Killed It Off

Link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/kathyhuang/2013/11/13/why-common-sense-is-not-always-common-action/

Microsoft has finally ended the infamous HR policy, the “stack-ranking” system that ranked employees on a curve and those who were on the lower end would be fired. Every Microsoft worker expressed that the stack-ranking system is the most destructive process that only caused resentment and distrust among employees since employees become overly competitive with each other rather than cooperatively working as a team.

However, Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer, adopted this abandoned strategy for Yahoo causing fear in many workers. Managers of Yahoo were asked to rank their employees on a curve, resulting to more than 600 people being fired just in the past few weeks.

Commenting on my classmate, Kathy Huang’s post on this issue, I agree with her idea that encouragement would be a better method for improved performance. However at the same time, in my opinion, I think it’s crucial for Yahoo to eliminate the dead-weight employees who are not beneficial for the company therefore this ranking system may seem harsh but it effectively reveals which workers are unproductive. However, the system will only be effective if the method is correctly balanced and also ensures the safety of the best, productive Yahoo employees.

 

 


 

Photo Source: http://www.rightattitudes.com/blogincludes/images/20060927_bell_curve_forced_ranking.png

Source: http://theweek.com/article/index/252723/why-did-yahoo-adopt-microsofts-failed-hr-policy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/marissa-mayers-latest-hr-_n_4260762.html

Posted in HR Management

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16Nov / 2013

Peapod Who? Online Grocer Shows Amazon and Walmart How It’s Done

Link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/brandonkothe/2013/10/31/first-walmart-now-amazon-looking-at-buying-groceries-online-in-canada/

Walmart is keeping their eyes on Amazon as Amazon launches an online grocery service, following the footsteps of Walmart. Amazon’s entrance has created an even greater competition in the already crowded market. Commenting on my fellow classmate, Brandon Kothe’s post, I disagree with his perspective that Amazon has the greater advantage than Walmart in this business.

In my opinion, Peapod could potentially be these giant retails’ greatest competitor. Peapod is an Illinois-based online grocer that had been doing business with the residents of Midwest and East Coast of the United States for over 20 years.

Considering that Peapod began in 1989, the company has already gained regular customers and established firm relationships. As a result, due to past purchases and out of loyalty, I believe that customers prefer to remain with the service they are familiar with and trust. More importantly, Peapod has more experiences to understand the ups and downs of the business as an online grocer and has already found success on mobile since 30% of Peapod’s orders come from their efficient mobile app. While Walmart and Amazon are just starting to see how tricky an online grocery business can be, Peapod has already figured it all out.

Peapod Mobile App

 

Photo Source: http://i4.peapod.com/c/VG/VGH7T.jpg

http://www.appscout.com/images/PeapodMobile_DetailsDelivery.jpg

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57610511-93/peapod-who-online-grocer-shows-amazon-walmart-how-its-done/

Posted in Retail

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16Nov / 2013

Loblaw To Buy Shoppers Drug Mart For $12.4 Billion

For $12.4 billion dollars and Loblaw shares, Loblaw purchased Shoppers Drug Mart to fulfill complementary business by playing on each other’s strengths rather than competing and cutting into each other’s market share. Although Loblaw’s share of the pharmacy market is 5%, adding Shoppers health products and services to its grocery stores implies that there will more choice, more offerings, more deals and more convenience. However, the two main concerns that were brought up by Shoppers’ customers were, what will happen to the Shoppers’ membership reward points and will Shoppers’ price increase since Loblaw is more expensive than Shoppers. Loblaw ensures that by this merging, better deals will be available by integrating the companies’ loyalty programs and Shoppers will keep its name. Regarding that Loblaw, Canada’s largest grocery retailer, has finally made its move into the pharmacy market by merging with Canada’s biggest pharmacy chain, in my opinion, Loblaw is becoming more of a monopoly since it has achieved attaining all of the biggest retailers. Going forth I would recommend that by this integration, Loblaw should gain a vast knowledge about consumer’s buying habits and provide economies of scale for a greater profit.

 

Photo Source: http://i.cbc.ca/1.425652.1378569193!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/image.jpg

http://www.canadiangrocer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Loblaw-Shoppers-0813.jpg

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/loblaw-to-buy-shoppers-drug-mart-for-12-4b-1.1342108

Posted in Retail

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08Oct / 2013

WestJet: New Premium Seating Is Not A “Plus”

WestJet Airlines has created a new class of premium seating called the “Plus product”. By paying a flat $45 fee, these privileged passengers are offered many amenities such as a second checked bag and priority boarding.  It also offers extra legroom in the first 3 rows of the plane. Unexpectedly, this new seating has only resulted into tension between the front-line workers and the passengers. The product was not well-received by either the guests or the employees since the customers were dissatisfied with the Plus seats or the employees found the Plus seats a nuisance since the amenities interfered with their tasks. (For instance, flight attendants experienced difficulty with moving the food trolley past the roomier seats in the exit aisles) The vice-president of sales of WestJet expressed that WestJet has “underestimated the impact that the complexity and magnitude of this change”.

Although the new class of seating seemed like a perfect idea for WestJet, it proved that not everything result in the way WestJet expected the Plus product will work out. Now the company knows the impact of a new product and how it will affect not only the passengers but also the employees.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/07/17/westjets-new-premium-class-creating-confusion-among-workers-customers/

 

Posted in Airline

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08Oct / 2013

Tired Of Being Pushed Around By The Big 3

The chief executive officer of the Wind Mobile, Anthony Lacavera, expressed how small wireless companies cannot overthrow the powerful Big 3 (Telus, Roger, Bell). Lacavera questioned the “fairness” in the mobile industries when referring to the earlier days when the federal government handed out “bucketloads of Canadian spectrum” to the Big 3 for free unlike current situations now. With new wireless companies such as Verizon that is possibly entering Canada, the Big 3 has already offended Verizon by announcing that “Verizon’s entry is bad news for rural and small-town Canadians, as that company would likely focus on large, dense urban markets”. At this, the CEO of Verizon angrily accused the Big Three of unfairly campaigning false information to protect themselves from competition. Lacavera, in support of Verizon, expressed, “The Big Three are not serving these smaller communities out of the goodness of their hearts. They are serving these communities because there are customers there, and money to be made”.

Although other smaller companies such as Wind or Verizon need to survive, the Big 3 are simply impossible to overcome as competition when the Big 3 owns the power in subscribers, revenue and brand value, being Canada’s most valuable mobile brands.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/27/wind-ceo-rogers-bell-telus_n_3824534.html

Posted in Mobile Phone Service Provider

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07Oct / 2013

Second Week of U.S. Government Shutdown Leads to Unstable Markets

As the U.S. government’s debts build and tumbles into a second week of partial shutdown, the tension undoubtedly builds for investors and traders as they worry about the consequential economic damage that will cost the government $300 million per day. Furthermore, the democrats have refused the calls from Republicans to use funding to make changes in the U.S.’s three-year-old health care laws. In response, the Republicans are determined to pass the government’s debt limit; however, the votes are not sufficient enough to pass the limit. Market strategists explain that “the market is focused completely on getting a deal done to avoid a default”. In an attempt to relieve the investors, an upsurge of gold stocks boosts TSX up. Canadian markets specialist explains that “the gold will rally when the economy is doing much better and inflation expectations are ticking back up”.

From American citizens’ point of views, the U.S. leaders should be more cautious and be responsible in protecting the national image and brand. Although, the shutdown is a non-violent act, in the branding business, whether it is a country or a corporation, it has to be visible and active to maintain its image and to economically and politically advance.

 

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/markets-jittery-as-u-s-shutdown-enters-2nd-week-1.1928199

Posted in Economic Failure

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11Sep / 2013

Apple Declares: “We Care About Every Worker.”

Apple is heavily targeted for its poor working conditions in the factories located in China. To handle the issues, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive sent an email to more than 60, 000 of Apple’s employees declaring that Apple “cares about every worker in its supply chain”. To take things further, Apple has promised to investigate charges of forced overtime, child labor in China. Although Apple has improved its monitoring, more problems were simply being exposed. The latest report revealed five cases of child labour and 90 factories that had workers working more than 60 hours a week. And as sales of Apple’s gadgets have soared, the company’s suppliers faced intense pressure to ramp up production, only resulting to suicides, explosions and poisonings.

The main concern of Apple’s business ethics was that not enough attention was brought to the Chinese employees working in factories. Apple announced that every worker will be provided a healthy working and living environment. However after many investigations, only appalling reports of poor working conditions were reported. Since Apple is one of the leading companies, Apple should invest more time and money in worker’s salaries and safety to prove their business ethnicity.

 

 

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9043924/Apple-attacking-problems-at-its-factories-in-China.html

Posted in Business Ethics

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