Baoyi mentioned that “It would catch people’s attention if Tesla is willing to promote its brand a little more by advertisement and let others know about what Tesla is about without doing massive research.” Tesla is known to have so few advertisements that people acknowledge this brand, and Tesla utilizes the relationship between people to spread the message of its quality of its motors. Advertising, in my opinion, will only uniform Tesla with other motor companies in the US.

I do not completely disagree with Baoyi’s view on Tesla, which she mentioned that “Elon Musk was known for being bold and innovative, this idea of shooting satellites does not seem to be impossible despite the fact that huge amount of cost is needed.” Tesla can really differentiate itself from all the other motor corporations through shooting satellites for Internet connectivity across the planet. In the future, when the news about Tesla shooting satellites come out, it can be really influential in consumers’ mind that Tesla have the ability to expand around the globe. Although the high cost can be a dangerous factor, Tesla has to look at their innovations as long term investments. More of these innovations can spark the name of Tesla in consumers’ mind; thus, they can better predict consumers’ tastes. 

Source:

Tesla – bold and fearless

Bibliography:

“Tesla Motors Inc CEO Preparing To Launch Internet Satellite.” ValueWalk. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/11/tesla-ceo-prepping-internet-satellite/>

Sun Jie mentioned that “We can see First Nation people’s opposition on the project as an industry force, because it actually block the company’s access to its supply of input”. I think that First Nations can really create barriers for Canadian government, since they can occupy the resources that they desire, which Canadian laws allow them to do so. All the legal action can really bring difficulties to Canadian government. Thus, I agree with what Sun Jie said “B.C. have to bear the losses of delaying its project.” To be fair, First Nations were here in Canada first, so they deserve what they need. However, they need to be understanding about the governmental plans.

In terms of corporations, I completely agree with Sun Jie’s view again, “The company may be forced by the government to improve their ways of production to reduce the damage to environment in aborigines region and may also face negative comments and lawsuit from advocators of aborigines and environmentalist.” In my opinion, firms will struggle to find peace when dealing with First Nations; not to be insensitive, inconsiderate First Nations could abuse the law and potentially claimed some lands that they needed where there were full of natural resources, for example. Eventually, when firms touched their lands, First Nations could sue them for breaking the law. As a result, Canadian firms will have higher cost to bear, which decrease their competitivenesses among international firms.

Sun Jie also mentioned that “First Nation group is only a small part of the whole economy”. For this statement, I show disagreement since First Nation can have great influence in the BC area, since the laws are not limited to any particular area, so the city area might be influenced. The domino reaction might occur when First Nations interfere.

Source:

My views on external factors’ impact organization’s business model

Bibliography:

O’NEIL, PETER. First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown. 18 09 2014. 6 10 2014. <http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html>.

After an investment portfolio check, AT&T decided to cancel the In-flight Wifi plan. The reason behind is upgrading to 4G air-to-ground service is simply a costly investment that are not worth it, and the connectivity is not guaranteed to be the greatest and the most stable. Therefore, AT&T intended to focus its investment on big acquisitions, for example, DirecTV and mexican carrier lusacell.

However, the FCC is encouraging a better in-flight wifi services. Now, in the market, Gogo in-flight Internet would be the only company that provides in-flight wifi, and the speed of that is so slow that can only receive email. After the shut down of in-flight wifi plan of AT&T, Gogo’s price rises sky-high.

(Source of photo: http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2014-05-12/0512_gogo_970-630×420.jpg)

In my opinion, ending the plan of in-flight wifi services is not a smart action, because AT&T and Gogo are the oligopolies in the US in-flight wifi service market. AT&T was going to upgrade the wifi quality to 4G, which could easily be the monopoly of in-flight wifi, even though it could be a costly investment. As airplanes travelling get more and more common, AT&T could have a bright future in the long term.

On the other hand, investments in the DirecTV and mexican carrier lusacell are really conservative because other telecom companies would invest in similar investment. Thus, AT&T was not differentiated from the others. Hopefully, AT&T can make more risk-taking investments that are really beneficial, since its funds are more than available.

Bibliography:

Goldman, David. “AT&T Cancels Plans for In-flight Wi-Fi Network.”CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. <http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/10/technology/mobile/att-flight-wifi/index.html?iid=SF_BN_River>.

The United States passports are known to be gold-plated in terms of visa permits, but when Americans intend to travel to China for any reason, the hassle of visa becomes real. Recently, Chinese and American government have come to an agreement that “tourist and business visa was lengthened from one to 10 years, while student visas will be extended to five years”.

The reporter illustrated that Chinese tourists could potentially take over New York City, which hinder the growth of the United States, since overseas firms come to the US to earn money but not spending it within the US boarder.

(Source of photo: http://www.maxxelli-consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/chinese-visa-001.jpg)

I am personally against what the reporter was reporting, because the US is a liberal market, and opening up to new customers and buyers attract more competitions, which benefit the US consumers with cheaper goods and services.

Furthermore, extension of both countries’ visa permit period can allow money to flow naturally, not influencing the currency, but all of these statements are in accordance to assumptions of liberal markets. China is still mostly controlled by the central government, so allowing longer visa permit does not mean that permitting more tourists and businessman to go to China, and this can be applied to the US too. Even if American businessmen come to China, Chinese central government still has ability to maintain controls over these overseas businesses, for example, implementing import taxes and other trade barriers, in order to protect the local businesses. In addition, the US can be put into a worse economical position. Therefore, agreeing upon with longer visa permit period of both countries is only based on political reason in my opinion.

Bibliography:

Riley, Charles. “It Just Got Easier to Visit China for Business and Pleasure.”CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. <http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/11/news/economy/china-us-business-visa/index.html?iid=SF_BN_River>.

Protestors across the US call for fast food chains to raise the minimum wage. This driving force is calling a big challenge for the restaurants owners, and so some restaurants have experimented to adopt robot for serving customers in order to reduce the number of workers that can yield more variable costs.

(Source of photo: http://www.damngeeky.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/robot-themed-hotel.jpg)

Some researchers claimed that restaurants required human interactions when customers order, so robots were not able to deliver the hospitality services. However, the opposing view from an analysis demonstrated that robot services would only be adopted at the fast-food chain at the upcoming stage, so not lots of necessary hospitality feelings are to be delivered, since people were only looking to fill up themselves.

In my personal opinion, robots are economically efficient for fast-food restaurant chain, because as the analysis claimed hospitality services are not the main point of fast food, but the speed to deliver the accurate taste of food. Even though the fast food will be robotic, the entire cooking and delivering process are standardized and optimized, so profit-wise, fast-food chain can obtain higher revenue and lower cost in comparison with the operation of manual workers. In the near future, businesses should not see robots taking over as a scary matter, because they help to improve efficiency and lower cost. Furthermore, as a matter fact, obese people who claimed that robots are the one to blame is not because of the help of robots, but the daily habits that they possess. At the end, we have to thank for the rising minimum wage!

Bibliography:

O’Toole, James. “Robots Will Replace Fast-food Workers.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 22 May 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. <http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/22/technology/innovation/fast-food-robot/index.html?iid=SF_E_River>.

As the information grows, Google becomes a more reliable buddy for people to research for any categories of matters. The domination has not ended, yet expanding to another level, because Google has just recently agreed to deal with NASA for a historic navy blimp hangar near its Silicon Valley headquarter. Lots of important rockets shooting were began in the navy blimp hangar, so it requires the most precise engineer computing system. In co-ordination with this navy blimp hangar, Google will be able to research, develop, assemble, test facility for its effort in space explorations and explore other delicate technologies etc. The new name of this area is Google’s Planetary Ventures.

(Source of photo: http://cdn.wonderfulengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/nasa_rocket-798×350.jpg)

In my opinion, Google’s Planetary Ventures’s stock price will, first of all, be expected to increase, because consumers will believe that the capability of Google to expand is full of potential, in another word, the funds available are more than enough, so this stock is reliable.

Second of all, Google investing in this navy blip hangar can amazingly improve the computing technology since NASA used delicate engineer to shoot off the rockets perfectly, to calculate the paths traveled in space, and to follow up when the parachute came back.

Final of all, this sort of investment implies that Google is becoming more and more of a technologically trustworthy company. Google is not only fielding in the online world, but the physical technology, such as robots, aviations, rovers etc. Therefore, innovation in such a sense can really strengthen its position in the market. I think that Google can dedicate more of its funds into this sort of investment as computing technologies and other technologies are trending.

Bibliography:

Isidore, Chris. “Google Leases Massive Navy Blimp Hangar.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. <http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/11/technology/google-navy-blimp-hangar/index.html?iid=SF_BN_River>.

Alibaba, as one of the world leading companies, has just issued a day of sales that is similar to Black Friday in the US, but the difference is that this sales day only takes place online. The products that Alibaba provides ranges from cosmetics to electronics, and full services of online purchasing and all the other customers services differentiate Alibaba from other online sales in the mass potential of China. In China, online purchasing is expected to be a daily habit more than a special occasion, so Alibaba is gradually emerging as one of the largest online industries after Amazon.

(Source of photo: http://musically.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/taobao-logo.jpg)

In my opinion, starting up an online industry and retailing in China is such a disruptive innovation even though Alibaba has already expanded the market around the globe. Starting up in China can really boost the overall demand since lots of people located in different areas of China have been lacking access to department store. Focusing on this particular point, Alibaba does not only provide tangibility of products to Chinese customers, but also include thorough after-sales services. Now, the online purchasing services spread to the another end of the Earth — The United States; hopefully, Alibaba can maintain its position of online shopping services.

Single’s Day is such a great way to destroy other competitors, since discount in any meaning attracts customers, especially naming it as the Single’s Day can attract the attention of the single people. In fact, the product sold in Single’s Day overpower the one in Black Friday. This sort of disruptive innovation has to be constant since similar kinds of corporations will try to join the market, in which Alibaba could possibly lose market shares. For now, Alibaba is in good shape to further dominate.

Bibliography:

Booton, Jennifer. “Alibaba’s ‘Singles Day’ Sales Top $9 Billion, Bigger than Black Friday.” MarketWatch. Market Watch, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. <http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibabas-singles-day-bigger-than-black-friday-2014-11-10>.

“We’ve all said for a long time, ‘Get ready for the First Nations, they’re coming.’ Now they’re here,” said David Negrin, president at Aquilini Development and Construction.

(Source of photo: http://i.cbc.ca/1.2756864.1409927990!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpeg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/mayoral-candidates.jpeg)

Recently, First Nations was just granted two big tracts of lands, and it has caused worries for the Vancouver Planning Department. City property tax will not be collected, but only a fee for city basic services. However, this is not the biggest priority for the Department to have a headache, which the government agreeing upon the First Nations’ petition if they get reserved lands from province or federal is the source of pain.

The city general manager, Brian Jackson, claimed that lots of works have to be done in order to identify the exact changes of city densities and design, which had been done long ago by the CityPlan.

Personally, First Nations will definitely contribute to be a major issue for Vancouver Planning Department. Since city planning is one of the hardest jobs in Earth, and distributing such great amount of lands to First Nations can put a city in danger, because the city density and design cannot be played around. Several of First Nations have already been working with private companies in their newly acquired lands. Thinking ahead of developments is a fantastic idea, but what First Nations doing might be against the original city design. If those areas were only for the usage of residential area, and First Nations built up factories there, the neighbourhoods might be affected.

In addition, the government has to agree on what First Nations desire to have in terms of lands, and this action might even prevail the effect of what has been talked about above.

Finally, being partners with the government, First Nations enjoy a lot more freedom than other Canadian citizens, for example, the exemption of tax for First Nations creates unfairness in society. Therefore, social problems might be arisen.

I recommend the government to restrict laws and regulations for the First Nations. Even thought Canada is known to have the most lands among countries, poor city design will not be beneficial to Canada at all when lands are not properly utilized. Thinking about the right of First Nations, prolonged negotiations might have to be made by the government in order to retrieve the power to design and distribute the lands.

Bibliography:

Bula, Frances. “Land Development Deal with B.C. First Nations Launches New Era.” The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, 2014. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/land-development-deal-with-bc-first-nations-launches-new-era/article20939100/>.

(Source of photo: http://cdn-media.backstage.com/files/media/uploads/zinnia/Windows8.jpg.644x1500_q100.jpg)

Microsoft is actively getting feedbacks from the consumers about the design and name. The reason behind was that Microsoft’s Windows 8 was harshly criticized by the users that it did not necessarily reflect their needs and wants. Therefore, Microsoft is going to take more feedbacks through the Threshold Development. From that, Microsoft is still focusing the audiences on business users who rely mostly on mice and keyboard, but in a way, the productivity and readjustment time is improved.

In my opinion, no matter how unique an operation system is, an IT company that wants to succeed, just like Microsoft, has to thoroughly consider what consumers see the value of its operation system, since Windows 8 did not receive the best sales. Also, Microsoft intended to approach customers and serve what they actually need not only provides the most accurate information for the new Windows features, it also assists Microsoft to boost the brand loyalty and fight against Apple’s OS update.

Bibliography:

Foley, Mary Jo. “Microsoft’s next Windows Release: What’s in a Name?”ZDNet. ZDNet, 28 Sept. 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014. <http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-next-windows-release-whats-in-a-name-7000034117/>.

(Source of photo: http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/_migrated/pics/Dell_XPS10_Teaser_new_02.jpg)

Dell is an IT company that adapts to the Focus Low Cost Strategy, and now it realizes the importance of differentiation of products. Therefore, Dell is hoping to regain the attention from all the Apple and Lenovo fans, through the newly manufactured tablet, Venue 8 7000 tablet, that contains features of PC. Developers hinted to the market that this tablet not only had 8-inch, world thinnest screen, but also possessed the 3D camera, which amazingly enhanced the 3D photo capturing and videoconferencing. Although Dell is not known to be an innovative company, it is confident to offer the customers more in the innovation field because of the privatization of the corporation. In addition, Dell owns the most competitive PC, Alienware Alpha, which is one of the most powerful gaming consoles among the competitors.

In my opinion, Dell might seemingly be going on a right track in terms of the modification of its business model; it has changed to focus on both low cost and differentiation through privatization. Realizing the existing market share of Dell in the IT world, Dell creates new tablet that differentiate it in terms of functions and price. However, the market share might not be enough to run in the shrinking PC market and fight against the Apple domination. Even though Dell self-proclaimed itself to be a private corporation, which claimed itself to have more variations for its products, the funds for innovation is smaller than before, so Dell’s plan to differentiate its tablet in a low price is not a really viable option. Overall, my personal opinion towards the Dell new business model is not really optimistic.

Bibliography:

Shah, Agam. “Dell Hopes to Draw Attention with PC, Tablet Innovations.”Computerworld. Computer World, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.computerworld.com/article/2687141/laptop-computers/dell-hopes-to-draw-attention-with-pc-tablet-innovations.html>.