Month: November 2012

I recently stumbled across a blog site called Small Business Trends they are an “online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them.” It is an online platform for small business owners to find information on management, marketing & Sales, Finance, Technology, and various other resources.

 

 

 

This blog is updated daily by some of its talented writers with current information and statistics. Some of the highlights of the website include polls gathering information about the community of users that subscribe to Small Business Trends. With this they are able to gather insight into how other small business owners and entrepreneurs are thinking and provide feedback or analyze the results to help business owners understand and learn more about other owners.

Another great feature about this website is the convenience it provides, with organized headings, readers can quickly pinpoint the information they are looking for. Readers can also Tweet, Facebook, and comment on all the articles, this is a way is advertisement for the website itself. I enjoyed looking at this helpful website that provides insight for small business owners, so check out this WEB SITE!

http://smallbiztrends.com

As the trend of being green is spreading around the world, people are realizing the importance of leading a lifestyle that is eco-friendly, in class 20 we talked about Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility with James Tansy. Corporate social responsibility means achieving economic growth with social and environmental limits. And as consumers are becoming more and more aware of the impacts that businesses can have on the environment and making better choices regarding consumption, a lot of businesses are switching gears and becoming more sustainable. The showcase of clean technology during the Vancouver Olympics and the harbour air carbon neutral strategy, not to mention the ever so famous LuluLemon are just some of the examples.

Recently another company has caught the attention of many with its contributions to becoming more sustainable. Walmart is kicking its sustainability up another notch. In a recent even, the company has announced more initiatives that will green its supply chain worldwide. It is proposed, “by 2017, 70% of all products sold in the US will come from suppliers that use its sustainability index.” Slowly, recognition of the importance of being more sustainable will spread through out the business world.

In class we were also asked to calculate our carbon footprints, it was very useful to know how lightly or heavily we each tread on the earth, and helpful to think first in personal terms and then translate to understand the carbon footprints of various businesses

To calculate your carbon footprint go to

http://go-beyond.ca/carbon-footprint-calculator

To read the full article on Walmart going green

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/24279

 

Comments and thoughts on Juvan Houang’s blog

Social media has become very popular and helpful among businesses, with the rising number of people using social media, it has grabbed the attention of many business people an alternative way to the traditional ways of marketing.

Zellers, Canada’s second-largest chain of merchandise discount stores, has locations in communities all across Canada. However, recently years it has been struggling to earn profit, so it has been attempting to use different ways of advertising. $8-million in sales was made thanks to coupons and digital promotions. However, with the limited budget they were still not able to use traditional ways of advertising, so they were forced to try advertising on social media. It worked out great! Zellers was able to generate more profit and attract more consumers!

With Zellers as a great example, maybe it is time for other companies to look at this new way of advertising. Social media advertising not only is cheaper than the traditional way of advertising, but also attracts more consumers, and reaches a broader audience. Will social media become the new ways of advertising?