Lululemon is a company that advocate a healthy life style. Their brand image always be positive and friendly. However, this time the CEO of Lululemon didn’t show respect to their customers, which make the customers angry and feel disappointed to Lulumelon.

Lululemon want to popularize yoga, they hold free yoga classes and design pretty and environmentally friendly yoga clothes. But the CEO said not everybody fit in their clothes, this is conflicting to what the company advertised before. This may have influence on their customers who are loyal to the brand.

When facing this kind of quality issue, the CEO should apologize to their customers first to comfort them. It is unethical to criticize other people’s figure especially when they are your customers. Customers choose this brand because they trust and agree with the company’s brand culture. The company should think about how to solve this problem, not how to shift responsibility.

“The Vancouver Sun.” Www.vancouversun.com. 18 Nov. 2013 .

https://blogs.ubc.ca/comm101sec105/2013/11/17/its-not-me-its-you-lululemon/

Twitter raised its share price by 25% and eventually priced at $26 per share. As a firm just founded seven years ago, it is pretty surprising that it worth more than $18bn now. However, social media platforms do not make money by the traditional way. For example, Almost all of Twitter’s revenue – about 85% of it – comes from advertising on its site.

I found this blog is interesting because it analysed why these social media platforms can have such a high value. This article also talked about a test project conducted on LinkedIn. The conclusion confirmed that the advertisements pushed to LinkedIn really worked. This explained why more and more companies would like to advertise on social media platforms.

Compared to the traditional advertising methods, this is more efficient and more affordable. That’s why some newly established companies prefer advertise via Facebook. What’s more, because the information of users are published on social media , the companies can customize their advertisements by those valuable information. Because of these advantages of social media advertising, the companies are more willing to pay to the platforms.

“How to Earn Money from Facebook Twitter and Google – Sharing links.” How to Earn Money from Facebook Twitter and Google – Sharing links. 18 Nov. 2013 .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24397472
MARJO JOHNE’s Blog on THE GLOBE AND MAIL
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/facebook-twitter-get-thumbs-up-from-advisers/article15436693/

Before Jan. 21, 2011, the methods of communication were limited to messages and calling. Nobody foresaw an app will change the definition of communication during 4 months, from the version 1.0 launched in January and then updated till the end of April, the number of We-chat’s users became more than 4 million, after version2.0 launched in May, some users began to use we-chat to replace the traditional communication ways, the user’s number had increasingly burst to more than 80 million in the end of 2011.

Nowadays more than 600 million Chinese are using we-chat and 70 million users are foreigners. In other words, more than 60% of cellphone user are using we-chat in China, it is not only resulted in the decline of message usage but also influenced traditional communication methods. The increasing of total message number declined and people prefer use we-chat rather than calling compared with other methods since we-chat is convenient and free.

Before we-chat launched, communication methods governed by tradition and online chatting, now we-chat start to have impact on traditional communication methods. In the future, the communication company will be pushed to pay more attention on internet service to confront newly emerged communication methods.

“Just Short of 2 Years Old, WeChat App Surpasses 300 Million Users.” Tech in Asia. 18 Nov. 2013 .

http://www.mobileapptesting.com/the-worlds-top-10-most-popular-social-networking-apps/2012/09/

Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck has been exhibited in several cities and has created incredible profits. For instance, the Giant Rubber Duck had been showed in Beijing for two months and made nearly 33 million dollars (US).

The main reason the rubber duck is so welcomed is that it can make people recall their childhood. Adults are more willing to spend money on things that remind them happy and easy childhood because they have lots of stress now. Although the limited edition rubber duck is quite expensive (about $50 each), they are sold out quickly. Secondly, the design of rubber is simple , people are tend to buy things that designed simple and without too much decoration. Like Apple’s products, they do not have complex design but still very popular. People’s thoughts may change as time goes by. They prefer different kinds of design in different time period. A product’s value proposition is important and need to change as people’s thoughts change.

“Dutch artist’s duck arrives in Sydney harbour.” Phaidon. 17 Nov. 2013 .

http://www.worldcrunch.com/default/onomichi-2012/c0s11656/#.Uoh4fsSTjtQ
http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/11/toys

On Nov. 11 last year, the majority of Chinese begin to touch the online shop since the “single’s day” activity by Alibaba, more than 3 billion dollars had been processed by Alibaba. This year, Alibaba group continues this successful trade activity and to sum up, obviously its successful again.In total, Alibaba processed more than $5.75-billion (U.S.) on Monday.

As for small Firm, in traditional business system, these firm always have to compromise with markets because they need goods markets to sell the goods to individuals, the role of supplier is replenishing goods for them, however, recent years Alibaba gave these firms a trading platform to trade with consumers, which means, without sell goods by the markets, other portal for selling products can be used, these portal will not influence the selling in the market and do not occupy lots of resource during the trade, however, when the sale become the majority of total sale, company always become inequality for small firm, sometimes they have to stand the rules of online trading platform and they also cannot compete with other firm in normal market because the sale in online shopping always become the main sale in total sale.

News, Bloomberg. “Alibaba Breaks Sales Record Amid China Singles-Day Rebate.” Bloomberg.com. 12 Nov. 2013. Bloomberg. 16 Nov. 2013 .

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/chinas-cyber-shopping-holiday-breaks-global-records/article15381123/

The US government has begun a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree the healthcare reform. Actually, the US government had experienced shutdowns several times since 1977. But this time is the only one during a 17-year period.

The government shutdown has a big influence on business. Infrastructures like national parks and museums will close. Permission of visa and passport will be delayed. This will ruin tourism, which definitely cause loss to the US. The government cannot pay the federal employees which will affect their normal life. Because of the influence, people may feel unsafe in the society. It will cause society instability in some extent. What’s more, this maybe also affect US’s financial situation. US dollar will depreciate, which means the money value of the US dollar is decreased. This result in a loss to the countries who have national debt of the US. This maybe lead to inflation.

“The Libertarian Republic.” The Libertarian Republic. 16 Nov. 2013 <http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/lets-shut-federal-government-forever/>.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/shutdown-to-slowdown-how-washingtons-mess-is-hurting-business/article14712510/

Many people think that iPhone lost its creativity because the products after iPhone 4 are similar to each other. However, every time when the new apple products launch, there is a big impact on the market.

The new iPhone 5S/5C launched on September. It is different from the former iPhones because they become colorful this time. This change may give the customers a feeling of freshness. The gold-hued iPhone 5S is so popular that the price of the gold version iPhone is almost three times of other colors’ iPhone 5S. It may because the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S have too many parities. The most notable difference between iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S is that the iPhone 5S have the gold color. So if the customers want to let other know their phone is iPhone 5S, the easiest way is to buy the gold one. The shortage of the gold iPhone 5S also may because the company deliberately control the number of the gold version. It is a way to stimulate the customers to buy their products.

“КОММУНИКАТОР/СМАРТФОН Apple iPhone5S 4″ 16Gb Silver ME324 – Formoza.” КОММУНИКАТОР/СМАРТФОН Apple iPhone5S 4″ 16Gb Silver ME324 – Formoza. 18 Nov. 2013 .

https://blogs.ubc.ca/tianchangning/2013/10/07/why-there-is-a-shortage-of-iphone-5s/

One of the most influential software company Adobe Systems Inc. said that the hackers had stolen source code to some of its most popular software and data on 3rd Oct Thursday. This incident have an impact on millions of its users.

The security issue is becoming more and more urgent due to the number of cyber crimes increasing in the past decades. The loss of this kind of incident is high because the information behind such a popular program like Adobe Reader is extensive. This kind of incidents have a bad effect on the company. The customers may not trust the company anymore.The company should immediately response to the news and apologize to the customers.

Furthermore, it is also a moral problem because some hackers think network attacks are not that serious. Some of the hackers even invade companies’ or governments’ website for fun. The hackers are smart because they have the ability to do such incredible crimes so it is important to lead the hackers to the right way. The concept that the cyber crimes are serious should be advertised so people won’t take risks to do them.

“The 15 Rules Of Web Disruption.” PopularResistanceOrg. 18 Nov. 2013 .

“The Globe and Mail.” The Globe and Mail. 06 Oct. 2013
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/adobe-says-source-code-customer-data-stolen-by-hackers/article14695999/

The BlackBerry Ltd. is in talk with Cisco System Inc., Google Inc. and SAP AG about selling them all or parts of itself according to a recently news.

Although the BlackBerry had a big loss in the past years, I don’t think simply sell it is a good idea. The BlackBerry is known for its secure server network. So the patent portfolio is the most valuable and important part of the company which could be worth $2-billion to $3-billion. But as the value of BlackBerry’s patent portfolio and licensing agreements is likely to halve in the next 18 months, the value of the BlackBerry company will be underestimated by the possible bidders.

What’more, the Cerberus Capital Management showed interest in the BlackBerry, which lead to a rise in the BlackBerry’s stock.2 The company should seize the opportunity to attract investment. What the BlackBerry should to do is keep its core competitive forces and concentrate on developing its advantage. Imitating others is not good to a creative company like BlackBerry.

“Blackberry CEO.” Blackberry CEO. 18 Nov. 2013 .

1. “The Globe and Mail.” The Globe and Mail. 05 Oct. 2013
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/blackberry-in-sale-talks-with-cisco-google-sap-sources/article14713669/
2. “BlackBerry stock driven up by reported interest from new buyer – Kitchener-Waterloo – CBC News.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada. 05 Oct. 2013
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/blackberry-stock-driven-up-by-reported-interest-from-new-buyer-1.1875720

Dairy giant Fonterra acknowledged that their products had been contaminated in early August. Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter, said that this caused by unsanitary pipe at one of the company’s processing plants.After this incident, the CEO of Fonterra made apology instantly to the consumers.This issue caused a serious effect.China announced temporarily suspension to some of Fonterra’s products.
Fonterra discovered that some whey protein concentrate produced and sold to customers in May 2012 was contaminated, but the test results did not reveal until the end of July.This kind of behavior can make customers do not trust the company anymore and have bad effect on the brand’s reputation.The milk powder is designed for infants or kids, so the quality of milk powder is essential for the company as well as the kids and parents.The company have responsibilities for the kids, so the milk powder need to be safe.However, the CEO’s sincere apology can make up the influence of the incident.But what Fonterra need is not only apology but also actions.The process need to be controlled and to test some samples before put the products into market to ensure this kind of issue will not happen again.

Bacteria found in Fonterra dairy products

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-bacteria-found-in-fonterra-dairy-products/article13588449/

Fonterra CEO apologizes to Chinese consumers for tainted dairy

http://english.sina.com/business/p/2013/0805/615645.html