Tim Horton’s, “the king of comfort food” recently added lasagna to their lunch menu.  The popular fast-food restaurant did this in an attempt to differentiate from and overtake McDonald’s in the lunch market.

While I agree that consumers could go “eat pasta at major pizza chains like Pizza Hut and Fresh Slice,” I disagree with the implied message that lasagna will have little to no effect on customers (1).  Instead Liming argues that competition will ultimately be decided by “taste preference, competitive prices and convenience” (1).

Tim Horton’s is synonymous with comfort food.  And by adding lasagna to its menu, Tim Horton’s is augmenting its share of the comfort food market.  Lasagna also gives faithful customers more choice which in the long run will prevent people from getting bored of their menu options and in turn, help them retain customers.  Tim Horton’s brand identity is built upon quality, home-style food.  Rather than going to pizza chains, customers will continue to eat at Tim Horton’s.  For customers buy into the Tim Horton’s atmosphere where people sit-down to eat wholesome food.  They do not need one product to distinguish them; the brand is strong enough to stand alone.

1. https://blogs.ubc.ca/liminghuang/2011/10/17/tim-hortons-lasagna/

The European Commission has approved Microsoft’s $8.5 billion attainment of Skype.  The integration of Skype is an important tactic in Microsoft’s strategy towards competing with the smartphone giants.  Although Microsoft already has Windows Live, which is similar to Skype, the Skype service is more accessible.  Skype enables communications between various phone and computer types.  What this merger allows Microsoft to do is possibly “sell more digital advertising and offer more popular business conferencing tools” (4).

In order to compete with Google’s Android and the Apple iPhone, Microsoft would be wise to capitalize on Skype’s popularity to improve its brand image.  By changing how it is perceived, Microsoft should be able to position itself closer to its rivals

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/eu-approves-85-billion-microsoft-skype-deal/article2194815/

A new position is in the social networking world as Keek Inc. has launched Keek.com: “a YouTube and Twitter hybrid [which allows users to] send out a 36-second short video message (or “keek”) easily captured on web cameras and smartphones to people in their network,” (1).  Recently, this new start-up company attained “$5.5-million in financing” (1).  It is aimed towards younger people that are less than 24 years old.

Although it’s not the first social network to accommodate video, Keek may be able to position itself as the major player in its segment due to its uniqueness.  The short time limit is what differentiates Keek.  Someday, Keek could find itself near the top of the social networking world.  However, it is inevitable that other social network giants (such as Facebook and Twitter) will look to emulate the concept of video statuses.  That is why it is vital that Keek establishes its position in social networking now, and continues its differentiation focus strategy.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/trending-tech/macro-updates-is-there-room-for-long-form-in-social-media/article2193386/

Because of an increase in grain supplies and a lowering of demand, food prices are expected to decrease worldwide according to the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).  This is nothing new however as the FAO’s “global food price index fell 2 per cent in September from August as cereal crops outlook improved,” (3).  As a result of the “global economic slowdown,” there is less demand for food (9).  The second factor of the foreseen price decrease is the global cereal supply predicted to be “7 million tonnes up” (19).

This information is concerning because the global grain supply increase has lowered the supplier power of grain farms in the food industry.  Consequently, individual companies (assuming homogenous products) can (in theory) substitute suppliers to reduce costs.  Unfortunately, the ability to substitute suppliers could raise competition between farms.  If a supplier utilizes predatory pricing, less efficient farms could go out of business.  In the big picture, the closing of many suppliers situated in a particular country could have the effect of lowering the perceived quality of life in a country, due to the lowering of the country’s GDP.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-news/food-prices-on-downward-trend-fao/article2192760/
Word count: 188

It will be unavoidable.  It is the advertising for the Chevrolet Volt (an electric hybrid car), Sonic (the subcompact), and Orlando(the family crossover).  With media exposure totaling “almost 50 per cent larger” than last year’s Cruze, Chevrolet is to establishing its position as a ““progressive, global, human” brand” with these three vehicles (4, 5).   Its television ads are swift and full of vitality.  Additionally, the home page of YouTube inCanadawill be taken over by Chevrolet tomorrow.  There, it will stream the day-long event at Toronto’s Dundas Squarepromoting the three car

Despite these efforts to claim a stake of the car market, I see the three new vehicles being lumped in with the competition because each car will be facing intense competition.  The Volt is competing with the cheaper Nissan Leaf.  The Sonic, although subcompacts have increased in sales, will be battling with Ford,Toyota, and Nissan among others.  Along with every other car manufacturer, theOrlandowill be trying to take a segment of the crossover market.  If its innovations such as the Volt do manage to overpower the competition, however, Chevrolet might just be “Driving the world forward” (5).

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/the-biggest-launch-in-chevrolets-history/article2189671/

http://thebuyosphere.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/costco.jpg?w=300&h=300

Although it may be in a company’s best interest to dismiss an employee who is frequently unavailable to work for long durations of time, it is unethical to do so without proper reasoning.  For Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd., the declaring of Frank Naccarato’s employment agreement “frustrated” (as if the relationship had been terminated) resulted in an ethical miscue and a suing for “wrongful dismissal” (2).  Naccarato “had been continually absent for five years as result of depression” (2).  His doctor described the next day he could be available to work as “unpredictable”, and was in search of psychiatric help for his patient (2).  This however, did not satisfy the criterion of no “likely return to work in the foreseeable future” which is necessary to establish the employment as frustrated.  Frank Naccarato was being treated on improper grounds.  Consequently in court, “wrongful-dismissal damages” were required to be paid for by Costco (3).  There is nothing unethical about eliminating an employee from the pay roll as long as it is executed with proper justification.

http://www.financialpost.com/executive/careers-hr/Invoking+frustration+from+simple/5398109/story.html