Paula’s blog https://blogs.ubc.ca/paulabieler/2013/11/17/its-not-me-its-you/

I strongly agree with Paula’s argument in the blog. It is so rude to ask everyone to keep slim. Lululemon own a apology to the public and it is totally awful marketing strategy. Not only refuse a lot of potential consumer outside the gate, but also lose many patrons’ preferences.

Nowadays, girls are asked to be silm as possible as they can. For this reason, so many girls are on their way of diet. Everyone believes good body shape makes you popular. However, so many ways of dieting are unhealthy and always causes bad consequence after years. Girls always choose to sacrifice their health to look more attractive.

This is not positive state of mind, because health is exactly the most important thing to persuade. You are so stupid if you give up you good body condition to persuade a fancy body shape. So a well-known company like lululemon should also be responsible to social cognition. Those Company should  advertise positive attitudes towards the public.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/11/13/snapchat-spurned-3-billion-acquisition-offer-from-facebook/

This is the blog which told me the surprised new of Snapchat. Say no to 3 billion when you are 23 years old! The CEO of snapchat is damn coooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After being shocked, let me make a analysis on what makes Snapchat so hot.

The major reason is Snapchat changes the way of communication. From year to year, we always believe we chat to others with our language. NOW! Snapchat make you believe pictures,voice and videos can also be an unique way to communicate. The awesome pictures just grab your eyeballs in the few second. You have to admit the person who came up with this idea is admirable. Those picture are not that fancy picture, they can be funny,spoof and sexy. The wonderful picture just keep your friends and you much closer.

Why Snapchat is so hot among teenagers and young adults? Because the CEO of snapchat is young and he knows what the teens exactly want. I am not emphasize on the generation gap but we cannot ignore its existence. When you want to make you products popular, you need to get what the consumer exactly want.

Ha Pham’s blog:https://blogs.ubc.ca/nganha/2013/11/15/layoffs-the-optimum-solution/

As Ha has mentioned in her blog, layoffs are happened everywhere around the world everyday. From my point of view, there are several reasons.

Ha has mentioned the major reason, which is company’s desire to reduce the high cost and to maximize its profit. In my opinion, it is not a wise choice to fire your employees when you just want to make more money. A company should has a spirit, which would every employee fight for the company. The employees will do their best on every assignment when they feel the company is like a family. In the good days, managers should share the profit and pride with their employees. When bad days come, employees will step out and fight until the last hope.

The rapid development of technology is an another reason. Machine are always more efficient than individuals because they never get tired and seldom make mistakes. But the maintenance issues of machines is always a high cost.

The last reason I want to discussed about layoffs is the unacceptable performance that employees show during the work. This phenomenon due to a larger issue; it’s much easier to get a graduation certificate nowadays. The phenomenon make the company harder to get the suitable guy or the guy they found does not reach the requirement.

With significant developments of technology, coffee shops are getting increasingly futuristic.

Tim Hortons has introduced a new feature on its smartphone app, Called Timmy Run, that lets you pick up coffee for the whole office without having to take their orders. The app let you make a list of officemates to include on your coffee runs, and will e-mail them when you’re ready to head out. Your co-workers will have a set amount of time to opt in to the coffee run and place an order. When you get to Tim Hortons, you can present the final order recorded on your app.There’s also a secret list feature, where you can store your friends’ preferred coffee orders and surprise them. Tim Hortons aimed to provide less time getting the coffee and more time enjoying it.

Starbucks, meanwhile, is testing a new feature at select Washington and Nevada drive-thrus. Instead of ordering their frappucino with a speaker, customers will chat through video that they can see the barista.Consumers  are interested in the process of making their orders and the person taking their orders. It made the whole experience so much friendlier and personable.

In the competitive market, the major marketing strategy is satisfying every consumer’s want.

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/02/28/tim-hortons-starbucks-go-digital-with-coffee-orders

Quebec snack-maker Krispy Kernels says it’s sticking with plans to re-introduce its old logo. The loge’s feature is a cartoon drawing of an aboriginal boy in a feathered hat. The company recently announced it’s temporarily reviving its old “Little Indian” logo on its Yum Yum brand potato chips for a holiday marketing campaign despite many who say the logo is in bad taste. The logo is well known to older Quebecers, as it was featured prominently on the packaging from the time the company was founded in 1959. However the logo was dropped in 1990, when tensions between native groups and landowners grew heated. The logo is back for the holidays on limited edition packaging. As part of the campaign, many stores are also featuring a life-size cardboard store display of the Little Indian mascot wearing a loincloth, with customers encouraged to pose with the cutout and send in photos to win prizes.

The marketing plan has drawn plenty of criticism in Quebec, where many are wondering why a caricature based on a misguided stereotype is being revived. The logo hurts aboriginal Canadians. It wouldn’t be surprised if the company faces a boycott. It is very offensive because anyone wouldn’t be doing this for any other cultural group in Canada or any other country, and Krispy Kernels is doing it to make a profit. It is an unacceptable marketing strategy.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/the-canadian-press/131116/quebec-snack-maker-criticized-bringing-back-native-logo

As the car culture has boomed and consumers increasingly seek out convenient ways to eat, easily two-thirds of their sales come through the windows. Patrons also tend to order more from their vehicles, often getting food for fellow passengers or to deliver to someone at home or work. The major reason is individuals are getting lazier and lazier, even don’t want to get out of their cars.

However, McDonald’s is running behind its rivals in the drive-through line. The annual report from industry publication QSR magazine in October showed cars waiting 189 seconds between ordering and pickup at McDonald’s, falling behind the 134 seconds at Wendy’s, 158 seconds at Taco Bell and 181 seconds at Taco John’s. McDonald’s average performance was its slowest ever, because of the more complicated menu items and an increase in the average number of vehicles in line at any given time. Because of the effects of heavy competition in the quick-service industry and high unemployment among its customers, McDonald’s has recently lost some of its momentum.

Currently, patrons in cars pull up to one window to pay for their order, then pick up their meal at another window. But starting next year in new and rebuilt restaurants, McDonald’s will implement what it calls a Fast Forward Drive-Thru. The arrangement will allow customers whose orders aren’t ready to bypass the second window and pull up to a third window to wait. The arrangement enable McDonald’s to better serve more customers quickly with the fast, friendly service they have come to expect from McDonald’s. McDonald’s, the world’s largest burger chain, is banking on a third drive-through window to speed things up.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mcdonalds-drive-thru-20131116,0,6547977.story#axzz2kxE4rCq1

As our class always focus on blackberry, the untrue statement of Blackberry’s financial  situation entangles Blackberry with the tentacles of the law. A shareholder claim the Blackberry company mislead investors about its future, including how the BlackBerry 10 smartphone line would fare against competitors.

As a matter of fact, BlackBerry 10 system has not been sought after by the market because it lack of technological innovation. Furthermore, the company was forced to lose nearly $ 1 billion in assets and laid off 40% of the employees. The stock price of the Blackberry rapidly falls.

It is absolutely a bad new for Blackberry which is desired to be sold now. From time to time, the performance of Blackberry has fallen rapidly due to miss opportunities in innovation. Blackberry 10 with high expectations is facing marginalization. Blackberry was left no choice but to sell the brand. It is clear that Blackberry is already gone.

In North American countries, Starbuck is a cup coffee which everyone can afford. But in China, Starbuck is advertised as a luxury coffee which is especially for the high class, as its price is 40 percent higher than the price in other countries. What behind the high price of Starbuck in China is the high operating margin. The operating margin in China is far more than it in the United States, even 16 times more than Europe and other regions. The high operating margin supported the rapid expansion of Starbucks in China. Why do Chinese have a lower income but pay more for a simple cup of coffee?

One of the reasons is the company advertise the Starbuck as a luxury brand for the high profit. It kind of represent the high living standard in China. So some people buy it only to show his social status . Another reason is the high cost of transportation in China rise the price. It cost too much in the process transporting the raw material from a harbor to a store. Even though Chinese government have spent bunch of money to improve the infrastructure at the harbor, the tax, shipping costs and agency fees raise the cost.

As I am studying Consumer Behavior these days on my Econ class, I would like to read news about the famous company’s process of learning consumer behavior. After I did a lot of reading, I get this conclusion. The world are focusing on the Chinese consumer behavior.

To satisfy Chinese consumer, American hotels especially provide slippers. To satisfy Chinese consumer, Korean merchants celebrate the Chinese National Day. To satisfy Chinese consumer, French shops all hire a salesperson who is good at Mandarin. So many companies choose Chinese consumer as their target audience. Why? let the number explains everything. According to the data provided by the U.S. Tourist Association, in 2012, the per capita consumption of Chinese tourists reached $ 6,200. By contrast, the per capita consumption of French tourists is only $ 3,654. In 2012, about 1.5 million Chinese tourists visited the United States which is 200 percent of the number for 2008, and the total expenditures in 2012 was $ 8.8 billion. The numbers are staggering. And it shows a simple rule to the merchants: get the Chinese consumers means get succeeded.

Why does Chinese have so many money to spend in foreign countries? Does this mean China is the richest country right now? Chinese consumers have two reasons for choosing to spend money in foreign countries. One of the reasons is the foreign goods are much cheaper. The same brand, the same style, the same good in china get a much higher price. The other reason is about the high quality of foreign goods. Even the good has the same price in Chinese market and foreign market, the quality of the foreign market’s good is much better than the Chinese market’s. Because of the two reasons above, China is absolutely not the richest. Not to mention the poor living condition and no rights of education in some part of China. Chinese market kind of ‘force’ consumer to choose foreign market.

It is business ethics that is a serious issue and being extensively discussed. Plagiarism is a typical phenomenon that behaves against and challenges the authority of morality. The interesting news between APPLE and NOKIA just caught my eyes while I was working on this topic.

As people know, APPLE launches iPhone 5C at sep.11^th and the highlight of this new product is simply colorful. Fans of APPLE were so disappointed at this product including me, meanwhile the official twitter of NOKIA post an interesting tweet ‘ IMITATION IS THE BEST FORM OF FLATTERY.THANKS#APPLE’. The awesome tweet not only directly point out the weakness of IPHONE 5C, but also remind people what a fabulous brand NOKIA was. It is obvious that APPLE loses bunch of consumers with new product without renovations.

When you deviate from the way of business ethics, in most conditions you won’t get punished by the law. An onlooker (in most cases is the consumer) will give everyone a fair judgment.