Interest rate, as an indicator of the economy, it represents the cost of borrowing money that is the price of money. Bank of Canada uses interest rate as a tool in conducting monetary policy to foster economic growth and inflation.

Dropping a warning of a higher interest rate will create an incentive of borrowing immediately. As a result, people have the tendency to stop spending since they have a huge amount of debt to pay; and when consumption is low, it slows down the economic growth as well as inflation. Keeping a 1% interest rate for three years since the crisis in 2007 indicates that Canadian’s economy is still in recovery. It also proves the statement in the article that “[t]he Canadian economy has struggled, struggled with a growth rate that is below two per cent”.

Business Forecast: Bank of Canada interest rate announcement

Link:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/bank-of-canada-opens-door-to-interest-rate-cuts-downgrades-growth-1.1509477#ixzz2iZeXmDYI

As Canada’s largest grocer, Loblaw is “streamlining [their] organization to strengthen [their] competitive position”. As I have lived in both Ontario and BC, it is easy to tell that Loblaw’s main focus is on the east coast, which is also where it was founded in 1919. With a variety of banners from its high-end store Loblaws to No Frills, a low end, from T&T, the Chinese supermarket to Shoppers Drug Mart which they’re buying, Loblaw has almost covered every need with different consumption levels. Comparing with its domestic (Sobeys) and international (Wal-Mart and Target) rivals, price is not the important factor for shoppers, instead, consumers rely on brand loyalty which is gained from past shopping experience (e.g., whether the food is organized and easy to find, cleanness of the store and staffs’ performances, etc.) From my opinion, the act of cutting administrative jobs does not have any effect on its market or the company’s general well-being, but simply decreases the cost of labour.

Link: http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/loblaw-axes-275-management-administrative-jobs-1.1499542

Online shopping is the new fashion. A large proportion of people would love to stay at home and click some bottoms waiting for commodities being shipped directly at their doors instead of going out and coming back with a 41 inch TV and boxes of shoes.

WalMart foresees the market of online grocery shopping. Transportation and logistics should be the focus in order to succeed in its new strategy. Consumers seek for fresh food as well as on-time delivery when shopping grocery online. To ensure that, WalMart will have to practice guarantee 2-day or 3-day shipping when it comes to grocery orders. Especially for Vancouver, I haven’t seen any virtual WalMart stores but only Save-On and Safeway. As a result of which, WalMart loses customers who don’t own cars and who lives away from their stores. Using statistics to prove logistics on top of a guaranteed delivery policy, WalMart will be able to draw potential consumers’ attentions and keep current customers. From another perspective, it also helps the business predict inventory since grocery shopping it’s a periodic activity.

Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/wal-marts-online-food-foray-opens-new-front-in-grocery-battle/article14854841/

As a customer who has been traveled with Air Canada, I don’t consider Air Canada as a low-cost company. Since the company has a Focus Strategy and it is not low cost like Ryanair does, they should find a way to differentiate themselves before expanding. Not by cutting the limit of checked bags to one, Air Canada should think of providing flight passes for international passengers. Especially for Canada, an immigrate country, many people who are not residents could travel back and forth internationally with Air Canada. 

Besides, Air Canada doesn’t have much of a supplier power. With tons of substitutes such as British Airway and Lufthansa who also have similar or cheaper pricings, Air Canada does not have a cost advantage. Thus, buyers like me would rather choose other cheaper airline companies or those who allow two checked bags.

Finally, they use Boeing 787, which was banned for a period of time because of some battery issues. Even though it is low cost and more fuel-efficient, passengers would never save money on their lives. Just focus on the current market and figure out how to lower the price in order to get the most profit out of us customers.

Link to the news article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/air-canada-to-expand-european-service-keeps-eye-on-costs/article14741761/