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/