Xin Liu

A new rival is up, which is the market of device which can be used as the same function of cash. Some people think it’s not safe enough like the example of “Apple Pay suffered a blow when celebrity nude photos were purloined from its iCloud network”, so they may prefer cash more than a device. Some people think cash is still not convenient enough for this fast economic environment.

In my opinion, cash is still necessary for now. Some small stands, which sell products beside the road, may not have the machine for the device. And there are still lots of people, who worry about hackers, who have ability to still their money from internet. People may use the mobile phone as their purses right now, but is it really safe? Have you ever worried about it?

Therefore, two biggest problems need to be solved right now are the convenience and the security. And another big issue is people have already gotten used to trade in cash, and habit is always difficult to be changed.

However, a high-security device can take the place of cash when the technology achieves that level. It will bring us higher efficiency and save the resource of making large number of cash. This will bring the world a new system of trade in our daily life. This may also make people to use the same machine in different countries, which may influence the currency market in the future as well.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/farewell-to-cash-expect-it-to-be-a-very-long-goodbye-don-pittis-1.2829837

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/the-international-movement-for-the-end-of-cash-1.1202565

From class 19, we learned how employees of Zappos enjoy their working places and how it helps to make a higher quality of services and higher efficiency.

But is this method work for a big company like Google totally as well? Since Google has so many employees and employers, if Google wants to provide free meals and free vending machines to keep those skilled worker and make them incentive to work efficiently, the total cost will be extremely high.

However, Google can do other things to make its employees into a strong and unbreakable team, and employees are willing to do their job. For examples, Google makes the working place like a holiday place, and they build their offices according to the local culture of where the office is located. ‘A pub-style lounge in Dublin, Ireland’, ‘a terrace with a view in New York, N.Y.’, ‘bringing the outdoors in—London, U.K.’, or ‘a tatami meeting room in Tokyo, Japan’, those special working place can enlarge the imagination of workers, so more ideas will come out, a good environment and atmosphere can always bring them a high working efficiency.

Employees will be more incentive to work, and they will have a positive attitude to their clients; therefore, clients will be more satisfied because of the good attitude and high efficient work, so there will be indirect promotions and the brand will be more famous.

In conclusion, it does not matter whether to use an exactly same method as Zappos’ or Google’s, but the key is managers need to find the most suitable way to let employees like their jobs and be incentive to do it well. As long as a manager creates a way to make employees into a team and let the team work well, the manager can do anything creative and new to encourage employees and make the whole company into a better future.

http://www.google.ca/about/company/facts/culture/

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/14/happy-feet

‘This Sunday, Air Canada starts charging $25 for the first checked bag for domestic economy-class travel.

• CBC News readers respond to Air Canada’s carry-on crackdown
• Air Canada adds $25 checked bag fee for economy travel
• Checked bag fees may heighten carry on chaos’

                                                              ———————“CBCnews’’

The carry-on crack down and the $25 for the first checked bag are what customers do not want to see. They are counted as pains of customer, and Air Canada does not alleviate it but worse the situation. The rising cost and checking bag make customers hostile, and if other airline companies do not do the same thing as Air Canada, there may be a customer flow from Air Canada to other companies.

To check bags are also a hard job for agents because they receive the first feedback from customers, which are mostly negative and abusive. Although Air Canada is looking for volunteers for the job, but agents still do not like the job for now.

More important thing is “ WestJet began charging a similar fee on Thursday.” This is the first airplane company, which does the same thing after Air Canada started it. If the other air companies keep doing the same thing, customers may finally accepted the price and the carry-on crackdown because airplane companies has a strong selling power, and customers do not have enough buying power to negotiate with airplane companies.

‘Lazar believes Air Canada will continue its crackdown and, in six to nine months, “most [passengers] will become accepting of it and the hostility will die down.”’ But it still may be a chance for other airplane companies from outside of Canada, which try to get into Canada market.

The market share of different airplane companies may be changed according to the new price setting in future. But those are just my speculation for now.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-service-agents-call-carry-on-crackdown-too-unpleasant-1.2818573

From the business model canvas of Microsoft, we can find a general idea of the structure of Microsoft. However, they have more customer segment and more key activities than it says.

If you go to the main website of Microsoft, you will see variety of products, which work in different areas, like Xbox One as a multi-media game center for living room, different kinds of software, and the Surface.

Diversifying the market Microsoft gets into can help lower the total risk of the whole company and enlarge the customer segment. Like Sony was the largest TV game player in the world, but now it becomes hard to judge because more and more customers find they prefer Xbox more because their ‘pains’ are released more, like not just a game play station or more opportunities to play Somatic Game, which is a good opportunity for lazy people to enjoy the game and do exercises at the same time.

To attract more clients, a company does not only need solve the ‘pain’ of customers, but also need to foresee what customers might want in the future and start to investigate and create new products. Apple did a good a job on it when the apple smartphone was just come out. They did not do the product to face the demand, but they told customers what they need and provide it. It’s like create a new market.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msca/en_CA/home

https://www.behance.net/gallery/2533959/Bachelors-Thesis-Project-iBuy-a-System-for-mCommerce

From the picture, we can find there are many First Nations live near Vancouver, which means they find most of their needs and wants from Vancouver. However, the products may not be able to satisfy their needs and wants because of different cultures and living habits. For examples, First Nations have different diet habits, and they may treat some products with different views because of religions. All those things force the companies, which want to produce goods and services for First Nations, to do some changes on their business model.

Such as the ‘personal chief’ case, the company has to do research about food and habit of First Nations if they want to put First Nations into their target consumers. Different kinds of materials will be needed, and different cooking methods will be used. That may cost more, and it also need the company to train cooks to learn the specific skills about how to make proper meals for First Nations.

Also, First Nations from different areas have different cultures and diet habits, which makes the training harder. The ‘personal chief’ company may pay more to train one specific cook for each kind of First Nations, who need that services.

Just like the picture shows, First Nations lived separately, so it may takes longer time and higher cost to deliver foods. Some place may be not that easy to go to. There may more cost on transportation, wages for specific chief, training on skills, different materials and cooking tools for First Nations.

As a new consumer to ‘personal chief’, to define why do they really need that services, to find the most right way to help them and avoiding First Nations’ taboos will cost a lot of time and money to do research and train or hire new specific cooks and design new way to deliver foods or cook in their house.

Therefore, there will be a lot of extra cost for companies which put First Nations into the group of target consumers.

https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/DAM/DAM-INTER-BC/STAGING/texte-text/inacmp_1100100021016_eng.pdf

‘Advertising is a form of marketing communication used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to take or continue to take some action.’      ————-Wikipedia

Since everyone can find almost everything about how the product is like by internet easily, one of functions of advertisement is no longer that important any more, which is to tell the difference between one product and its competitors. Most companies are more focusing on let customers remember their brand names.

After reading the blog of Elaine, you can notice that the advertisements did not have much information about their own products, but they were memorable and full of emotions. Maybe when you walk on the road and see a similar dog as the one in ads, it may remind you the ads and the product at once. As it reminds you more and more times, you may finally go to buy their products.

This is really a smart way. As ads are more emotional, those ads can attend Super Bowl, and that campaign was interesting and attractive, which makes more audiences know their brands. The better the ads, the more people want to know about it. This method won’t tell you about the settings and materials of their goods, but they will plant a seed of interest in your mind, when it grows up like after watching it several times or something in the ads occurs beside you many times, you will not forget the brand and the product forever. That’s how they really do the advertisement now: they do not tell you what they are, but they make you want to find out what they are.

http://hoofcare.blogspot.ca/2014/01/budweiser-clydesdales-2014-super-bowl-commercial-puppy.html

http://blogs.ubc.ca/elainelangton/

Although Paola did make a strong point with logical reasons, but she forgot the reaction of all Chinese mainland customers.

The law of banning games was abandoned recently, but that does not mean Chinese players knew nothing about PSP4 and xBox One. Because of differences on qualities and functions of different play stations, players had already made their decision about which they would buy in the future, which is PSP4 mostly, to be honest.

Microsoft wants to use xBox One to take over all other kinds of equipment in living room , while Sony only use PSP focus on Games in living room. And most customers only want a machine to play games because they have already got the other kinds of equipment, and the online services in xBox One has not been perfect yet in mainland because there are still other rules to block the online services and some other functions in xBox One like Facebook and Twitter.

Many Chinese customers say that if they can buy the exactly the same play station as in the other countries, they would prefer PSP; however, PSP sells play station and cameras separately, which caused lots of customers re-decide to buy xBox One instead. So if Microsoft and Sony want to make a change, to do the market research and make the right changes would be very important.

In conclusion, customers still want a better enjoyment of playing games, so most of them prefer PSP4, and it doesn’t matter Microsoft came into Chinese game first or not because most of decisions had already been made before they came to China. A better price strategy and higher quality of product can really decide their sales in future.

Source:

http://news.mydrivers.com/1/322/322878.html

http://zhidao.baidu.com/link?url=dKkE0JEbFIb17jBNpR3iKAn3doqhhAG6ew0cJopxyPzd0YGH_1TGh98hDzeQt6P6cLvkmTMzCAN4MoUGI43iiahttp://zhidao.baidu.com/link?url=dKkE0JEbFIb1http://zhidao.baidu.com/url=dKkE0JEbFIb17jBNpR3iKAn3doqhhAG6ew0cJopxyPzd0YGH_1TGh98hDzeQt6P6cLvkmTMzCAN4MoUGI43iiahttp://zhidao.baidu.com/link?url=dKkE0JEbFIb17jBNpR3iKAn3doqhhAG6ew0cJopxyPzd0YGH_1TGh98hDzeQt6P6cLvkmTMzCAN4MoUGI43iiahttp://zhidao.baidu.com/link?url=dKkE0JEbFIb17jBNpR3iKAn3doqhhAG6ew0cJopxyPzd0YGH_1TGh98hDzeQt6P6cLvkmTMzCAN4MoUGI43iiahttp://zhidao.baidu.com/link?url=dKkE0JEbFIb17jBNpR3iKAn3doqhhAG6ew0cJopxyhttp://blogs.ubc.ca/plopezlam/