Abercrombie & Fitch – the first image that pops up in our minds are muscular male models in half buttoned “so-cal” shirts, and fit, young women who are dressed in tight jeans. There is no doubt Abercrombie & Fitch has successfully branded and marketed itself as the brand that symbolizes “attractiveness” in our modern day world. Moreover, other than being able to identified as a high quality and expensive clothing line,  A&F are selling the “attractive” image which worked very well among most teenage and young.

However, A&F has been in recent lawsuits as they were accused of discriminating against plus-sized customers. A&F do not produce anything above the large size, and Mike Jeffries (CEO) has stated that they do not want “large people in their stores, and only thin and beautiful people”. It is important that a company has a clear value proposition, but A&F’s value proposition was clearly not appropriate. Although it is acceptable to target young individuals with the “attractive” image, it can hurt the business’s reputation if they discriminate against of those who are not the customer segments of their businesses.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/not-available-in-xl-abercrombie–fitch-ceo-mike-jeffries-accused-of-only-wanting-thin-and-beautiful-people-8608022.html

As mentioned by William’s article on recent innovations, in my opinion, I think 3D Printing is arguably the most controversial inventions in recent years. It is capable of printing 3D objects, from something as simple as a cup to as complex as a fully utilizable car. It is still an emerging business in our world, as it is capable of “printing” objects that is beyond our imagination. Although many think that 3D printing is a dangerous idea as it can produce harmful objects such as a “gun”, I personally see this as a great business opportunity that can completely alter our business world and how we live in the coming years.

Imagine a machine that could print out a fully function human organ that could be implanted (already in progress), or a personal 3D printer that could print out anything that you bought on an online store. In this article, 3D printers are already able to print out art replicas, jewelry and replacement parts such as a button. There is no doubt that 3D printers are the future of our lives. When I graduate, I aspire to work for a business/starting up that relates to 3D printing.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-126684-3D-printing-will-change-the-world

Shared value is becoming an increasingly popular idea discussed and implemented by businesses in the modern world. Although creating a shared value is still in its early stages, large corporations are now seeking ways to run their business, in order to create economic value while also creating societal values. In this article, IKEA presents a good example of an attempt to create shared value for its customers.

As the world approaches peak oil, demand for alternative energy has spiked. IKEA Canada has just announced its purchase of a 20 turbine-wind farm, which is expected to generate clean energy that is double the amount used at the moment at its current IKEA stores across Canada. As the extraction of the Albertan Oil Sands has attracted a lot of opposition and heated-up discussions, IKEA’s move of investing in a wind energy is a smart move as it creates share values for the Canadians who are upset about the Albertan Oil Sands.

As mentioned by the spokesperson of IKEA, it is a “win-win-win” idea, as it can create a “low-carbon future, reduce our energy and operating costs and pass those benefits on to our customers by continuing to offer high quality home furnishings at low prices.”

http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/11/14/IKEA-eyes-low-carbon-future-with-Alberta-wind-energy-project.aspx

Smartphones are considered as one of the necessities once when we step out of our homes. It allows our generation to be more connected with each other, more productive as never before, through providing applications as simple as a alarm clock or something as complex as a banking system. However, smartphones on the market are expensive due the high manufacturing costs due to its multi functionality such as touch screen, camera etc. Popular smartphones on the market such as the iPhone costs as much as $500.

Motorola, the forgotten phone company before smart phones emerged, has decided to take a cost leadership strategy to customers who seek for low cost smart phones. The Motorola Moto G, is a smart phone priced at $179, a price significantly lower than the ones produced by Apple and Samsung.

In my opinion, I feel that Motorola’s idea of producing a low cost smart phone is good strategy as it targets users, such as teenagers and people with low budgets. However, Motorola will not be selling in China, which takes in account of more demand of smart phones than in North America and Europe. While in my opinion; Motorola has a great strategy, but In order to expand its customer segments, Motorola should target Asian markets.

http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/11/13/Googles-Motorola-seeks-comeback-with-low-cost-smartphone.aspx

In our previous marketing classes, we have learned how important it is to understand consumer behavior and target the correct customers. Each group of people have cultural, social and personal factors affecting them. Each customer have their distinct personal memory, habits, perceptions and processing. In this article, it illustrates that Facebook will be tracking the actual “cursor” movements of users instead of just clicks, in order to understand user’s tastes and preferences much more. This can aid the segmenting and targeting when marketers try to seek for customers to sell their product/service to. 

However, these new technologies led me into thinking about the invasion of privacy. With the recent NSA incident of spying and hacking of computers, people are more aware of their personal data on their electronic devices.

According to the article, these cursor tracings are able to determine almost all of your choices at that instant while looking at a certain webpage. It may even be able to determine your sexuality. In my opinion, I believe that there should be constrains to how much these tech companies are allowed to track their customers and users, as some of these may already be considered as invading privacy.

http://rt.com/usa/facebook-tracking-mouse-cursor-008/

This article has stated that the sales of cars have been increasing for the past 19 months and are projected to increase, especially for private cars that are energy efficient. Car models like the Ford Fiesta, Nissan Note are able to attract consumers with their energy efficient models and compact designs. Noticing the new trend, firms like Mercendes-Benz also have improved sales with their small car models. These firms are able to shift their value propositions are produce what the consumers really want in the modern age as there is an increasing amount of people look for a small compact, energy efficient cars as the oil prices are high up in the market.

It is projected that the demands of these models will continue to increase as oil prices are still high up. It is important for car firms to open up for energy efficient research and create cars that are energy efficient in order to make more profit. If firms like fiat, who produces a large ranges of cars do not keep up with the new consumer trend and shifting their value propositions and marketing strategies, it is likely that these firms will not be able to compete with those such as fiat and ford.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/04/new-car-sales-five-year-high-smmt

In this article, it states that the Republic of Ireland decides to ban smoking as 22% of people aged 15 or above smokes and it has significantly affected the health of citizens in ireland. The ban can reduce the externalities produced from smoking and can reduce the costs brought to the society, such as second hand smoke and medical costs of the smokers. I believe that Ireland can reach their goal of being tobacco free by 2025, as a total ban is more effective than a tax as a tax has many negative impacts on the society.

For example, there is a possibility of the emergence of black market. This could further reduce the effectiveness of the taxation policy and the goal of discouraging smoking.   However, firms that produce cigarettes will face a loss of sales in Ireland. This is one of the disadvantages of an industry that is too narrowed and has a focus strategy, where it could run out of business when they are in these situations. These firms should look like a product differentiation or a new product line that uses different strategies in order to secure its position in the market and avoid unexpected changes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24386229

One of the most popular social media Twitter is seeking to raise its Initial Public Offering. During class we have discussed what IPO is – which is to open up the company and to sell its stocks to the public. I believe Twitter will be successful in the market as they have a unique value proposition compared to other social media if they continue to innovate and make changes. Twitter is a very simple platform where users share their thoughts and what they are doing at the moment with their friends under a certain amount of words. However, Twitter would need to work on its advertising and marketing strategy as there are not lots of room for advertising in the user interphase. Although Facebook had a difficult time attracting investors, Twitter can be successful if they focus more on their points of difference (simplicity) rather than trying to add many other features (uploading videos, GIFs). Asia is also another market Twitter has not tapped in as there are other apps such as WeiXin, WeiBo in China where it has taken a lot of users. Twitter should consider this also as an option to further develop their potential to grow as a leading social media.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/twitter-files-for-1-billion-ipo-will-list-as-twtr/

On April 20th, 2010, a devastating oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico,52 miles south-east of Venice in Louisiana’s coast. It was considered as the world’s worst oil spill in human history.

One reason of the disaster was that cement that were used to protect the rig were not sealed properly. BP agreed but stated that they were not fully responsible for this as other companies such as the owner of the rig Transcoean, cement casing company Halliburton, and other firms were also in the wrong of this disaster. Most importantly, the progress of the Deepwater Horizon drill was well behind schedule and BP wanted to cut costs; hence the mis-judgement and disaster.

I believe the whole disaster was avoidable. In my opinion, it is understandable for businesses to find the most productive way to operate, but they should always consider possible dangerous consequences when making risky decisions. In this case, BP obviously did not think about the ethics behind cutting costs for the project. Reports by US Coast Guard and Ocean Energy Management stated that BP made seven out of nine decisions that cut their costs, obviously ignoring the environmental consequences  that happened.