Month: November 2013

Overpriced Vancouver?

With today’s Westcoast lifestyle being so costly families are stuggling to sustain themselves. Vancouver being one of the most expensive cities to live in, some traditions had to change. The costly lifestyle has caught many of my friends attention as Jon Li blogged about the increased difficulty of financial retirement and Jason Cion commented on the recent brain drain of Canada due to minimum wage.

With retired people downgrading their homes and saving money for their children, many retirement plans turn out differently than the elderly have expected. If grandparents want to be able to leave some money for their children their strategy must be to invest (and take upon some risk) rather than save. Not only are youths unable to move out, but now the elderly can not enjoy their retirement!

Another quickly approaching topic is the current battle to keep Canadians working for local companies. Many companies are moving toward the states because of the cheaper costs and lower minimum wage. As we have learned that many companies are outsourcing their resources, Canada struggles to keep its workers within its own countries. While some companies can like Zappos can still afford to employ locally, most companies prefer to outsource and save.

Outsourcing — Why companies choose to outsource

Company Culture ethics

See Through the Lululemon Hit

Post author By wesleyhong
Post date November 16, 2013
No Comments on See Through the Lululemon Hit

With Lululemon’s multiple production failures, the company has yet to establish a stable and reliable connection with their consumer. In fact, they have been doing quite the opposite. After having quality control issues and distributing yoga pants that were too sheer and thus see through, customers are feeling alienated from the brand. With the stock price tumbling down 4% to $66.24, even investors are questioning if this mistake marks the beginning of a slippery slope.

lululemon alienating customers

It was no help when co-founder Chip Wilson began to blame the pants’ problem on women’s bodies. Sparking an outrage, customers all around are feeling under-appreciated -some even petitioned for a formal apology from the co-founder. Also customers were asked to bend over to prove that the yoga pants were defected in order to receive a refund.

With all this negative publicity the most crucial damage is towards the company culture. One of Lululemon’s infamous value proposition was that their yoga pants lead to a healthy and comfortable lifestyle. However, with the consecutive mishaps and publicity blunders, the consumer’s perception of the company’s culture has now begun to shift. With their main point of difference taken away, Lululemon products are beginning to lose its appeal. Lululemon must retain and recapture their original image if it hopes to recover from this major setback.

Article reference : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/14/lululemon-alienating-customers_n_4275842.html?utm_hp_re f=canada-business&ir=Canada%20Business

Economics

Re: Tim Pazuik – A New Perspective on Unemployment

Post author By wesleyhong
Post date November 15, 2013
No Comments on Re: Tim Pazuik – A New Perspective on Unemployment

As a lecture, financial planner and an educator, Tim Pazuik has an interestingly optimistic perspective on Canada’s unemployment rate. With constant battering on the slow recovery from the 2008 economic recession, Pazuik sees that a 7.2% unemployment is a positive sign considering that employment never fell below 7% in the 1990’s.

By comparing Canadian economy a few decades ago, the working population in 1976 was about 41.6% of the current population, while today’s workforce is about 50%. At first glance it may not seem much; however, take into count the population boom in Canada over the past 30 years, an 8.4% based off of population is rather impressive. Overall he believes that Canada is still the “Land of Opportunity”.

What is on my mind: Editor’s response

With the calculation of unemployment being the simple division of (unemployed labor / labor force population) the numbers do not always tell the whole story. The current concern I have is the percent of structural unemployment, mismatched workers who are over qualified and under appreciated for their current job, in Canada.

As a university student who studies hard to earn their degree, most people can tell you that a university degree has depreciated in value. As our population gets larger and larger, more people with universities degrees are stuck in underutilized jobs. With minimum wage and business moving south of the border, Pazuik’s perspective on Canada is better named as the “Land of Limited Opportunity”.

Economics Technology

Commerce is Technology

The future is here! With businesses being innovated through recent technological updates, degrees like Business Technical Management (BTM) or Management of Information Systems have become invaluable. But how important are they?

Companies value Big Data, data about something that can not be stored by traditional methods, at a high price. Having information about your consumer has become a serious competitive advantage, and it has proven itself through revenue and inventory turnover ratios. Using data in conjunction with rudimentary tools like the SWOT analysis and balance sheets, companies can visualize their opportunities to grow and cut costs. The most redeeming possibility with Big Data is the ability to ‘nowcast’, a term which data mangers use to estimate metrics like consumer confidence.

For in-depth analysis: MGI_big_data_exec_summary

Data has become a tool that is leveraged by companies in 5 major ways:

By unlocking significant values: By digitizing not yet captured data information can become accessible instantaneously and effectively, leading to an efficient workforce.
Using accurate transactional data: Big Data can help collect more accurate and detailed information on company performance. This in hand allows managers to address and solve internal problems.
Carefully Narrowed segmentation: With data products can be more tailored to consumers and increase sales and overall consumer happiness.
Spotlighting Valued Insight: Big Data can be used to analyze products and create decisions that minimize risk and reveal valuable insight to a company.
Starting Next Generation Improvements: Data can be from consumers that can push companies to innovate and recreate their products to ensure long term profits.

Throughout the year we have been told how important information is and how every sector is interdependent to one another. No matter what you choose to learn in the faculty of commerce the reliance on data has become crucial in the twenty-first century.

Article reference: http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/strategy/why-big-data-is-the-new-competitive-advantage#.UokJP8SshiR

Economics Positioning Buisness

Tim Goes Global

Targeting its neighbor, Tim Hortons’ chief executive Marc Caira told investors that its first expansion would be to the States and the Middle East. Hoping to create a economic space for the beloved Canadian pit stop.

With its recent expansion to the United States, Tim Hortons looks to expand

Despite the promising plan, Tim Hortons is still in the back seat in terms of technology.Starbucks and their introduction of their mobile application, 11% of sales have come through with this application. As the leader of coffee served in Canadian businesses, it will soon need to create a competitive edge with its rival. One idea is to recapture the “youths” in their customer profiles as Tim Hortons lacks desperately needed customization into their drinks.

Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons takes on America

With such an upheaval in the coffee industry, as a proud Canadian I believe that the expansion to the United States will be a successful journey. This opinion comes from a distinct differentiation it has to its competitors. By coupling its coffee with more than the simple doughnut or french pastry, the compliment of a hearty meal and cheap homogeneous product is what really made this company successful. In regards for Tim Horton’s hopes to expansion, I believe that although their market may be overcrowded and competitive, there is always room for a Timbit.

Reference:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/08/tim-hortons-profit_n_4232278.html?ir=Canada+Business