David Zhang's Blog

I recently read the post by Angad Rehki where the business model of Quibids was explained. It was explained how Quibids is able to sell products for extremely low prices by earning money of auction bids from each user of the website. Although he did a good job of restating the article, there was a lack of insight in the blog which I wish to add. 

First of all, I believe Quibids is a scam and the article that was presented is one with bias and untrue facts. For example, at the end of the article it can be seen that the article was sponsered by Entertainment Retail Auctions which is mention once in the article. The article was most likely one that was paid for to reassure consumers suspecting of the website.

In life, and especially on the internet, there are often many tactics employed to rob people of their important personal information that can be used for personal gain, or acquiring money. This can be said the same for business as there will always be people asking for investments or money for something that seems like a great deal. Being blinded by the idea of  shortcut through life, people tend to forget that hard work, and immense luck, is the only way to achieve one’s goals. It needs to be remembered that in this world, when something seems too good to be true, it often is.

I recently read Zijian Mao’s blog in regards to the rapid rise of Android over Apple in the sales of smartphones. The blog outlines 3 main reasons that caused Android to overcome Apple to become the leading smartphone software sold. While I do agree with much of what was said, I would also like to add an addition thought to why Android was able to overcome Apple’s IOS series.

It is the ability for Google to install Android into a variety of popular smartphones that has allowed it to defeat Apple by such a large percent. While Apple only supplies the IOS system to their Iphones, Google has their software on phones made by Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, and Sony. Especially in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S3 & S4 where both of the phones hit roughly near 40 million sales.

Google makes these firms dependent Android as it has credibility and often creating one to compete will not be worth the return. This becomes proof that often the best way to conquer a market is to be able to be the supplier to as many firms that need your product.

         Employee satisfaction is a key part of any business hoping to be successful. It is proven to boost performance and increases productivity. However, to what extent should businesses take to ensure that their employees are happy and satisfied? One company in London called “DeskBeers” was created to serve local craft beers to businesses. Currently DeskBeers delivers craft beers straight to employees desks on Fridays, but hope to start delivery on other days in the near future. This may seem like a fun idea, but is it necessarily a good idea for workers to consume alcohol in the workplace, even on a Friday.

Whether this idea can work in the workplace is dependent on the organizational structure of the company. A company with a loose standard and promotes creativity among the workplace, such as a tech firm, may allow their employees to enjoy a beer on a Friday, but a business with strict rules such as a bank would not permit workers to consume alcohol in the work place. Ultimately, the standards of employee treatment is governed by the type of hierarchy and structure that best suit the operations of the business.

According to Lydia DePillis from the Washington Post, it seems that many large retailers find stocking large size of clothes inconvenient for their stores and unprofitable. Even the CEO of LuLulemon went on the say that “some women’s bodies just don’t work for [our pants],” and according to the NDP group, as stated by DePillis, sales of sizes over 14 only account for 10% of total sales.

However, it should be taken into the account of the growing waist size of the consumers as they age and as new generations are being introduced to these clothing brands. When consumers age, they will grow out of their once “slim” size and for companies that only cater to smaller sizes, they will suffer the loss of aging customers as they try to acquire new, younger ones. Abercrombie has taken this into account and has announced that they will be introducing a plus size line within the coming months. This change has contradicted their previous accounts that their clothing are made for the attractive “cool kids.”

It seems that as the consumers change, companies that notice and adapt to the change are often the ones that will continue to grow and sustain their business.

According to Pamey Olson from Forbes, Facebook seems to have a declining rate of interaction among its members. In fact, it seems more people have moved from the multi-feature platform to new apps that include specific features such as media sharing, or instant messaging.

Vine has certainly grown as it has become increasingly popular with smartphone users since its release onto the app store. This has introduced a new way of sharing media in the form of a 6 second video. In addition, Whatsapp and Snapchat has posed a threat to Facebook as they attract the same customer base as the large social networking company. The increase of the need to connect while being introduced to several applications that allow the act through different paths has caused consumers to use multiple platforms that specialize in their respective methods of connection.

This can mean that with the growing need for applications that allow for quick and easy access, consumers are going to focus less on Facebook ( a platform with multiple-features and requires more time spent than other applications) and more on applications that focus on giving the consumer the connections they need so that they may move onto the next platform before getting bored.

Lots of companies often face the issue of whether to earn and keep that extra amount of profit, or rather invest it back into the workers. Unfortunately it is often seen as a trade off as one can only come at the expense of the other. In the case of retail giant Wal-mart, they are notorious for low wages and poor employee treatment. This results in poor customer service given by those employees.

Even in the case of Target, they promote the idea that they offer the same prices with better quality and better employee treatment when in fact the statistics will show that their employee standard are much similar to Wal-marts, going as far as requiring employees to watch anti-union propaganda.

In reality this idea of a trade-off or sacrifice is untrue. Costco and Trader Joe’s, for example, offer their employees a “livable” wages, and yet, they experience far higher sales per employees than Walmart, or Target. This draws to the conclusion that rather than being a trade-off, profit, and employee satisfaction can be seen as compliments. When one goes up, the other will mostly have gone up as well.

During this time of year is when people begin to shop online for their Christmas presents and gifts, and being a busy time for a business like Amazon, workers in Germany are threatening to call a walkout if they are not given more pay (Reuters). Although faced with unhappy workers, Amazon has “maintained that it regards staff… as logistics workers and that they receive above-average pay by the standards of the industry” (Reuters).

       In regards to treating employees, organizational behaviour would say that there are two things that make employees feel satisfied if not happy at their jobs. These are what are known as intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Extrinsic rewards are often money, and money can only boost an employee’s mood by a limited amount. In fact, it is intrinsic feelings that make employees the most happy and productive.

          Although the union are disputing over pay (Reuters), it can be proven that by supplying them with intrinsic needs such an issue would not have arisen. This is why companies need to focus on not only the need for wealth that an employee needs, but realize that intrinsic needs and feelings are what motivate them at work.

News Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/06/amazon-strike-christmas_n_4052943.html?utm_hp_ref=business

Pictures: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323836504578553720371751776.html

http://www.interaction-design.org/members/imagelibrary/zoom.html?g=L2ltYWdlcy9ib29rcy9nYW1pZmljYXRpb25fYXRfd29yay9GaWc1LjFfSW50cmluc2ljX2V4dGluc2ljX21vdGl2YXRpb24uanBn

          Just recently Blackberry has been on the news as they have been allegedly accused of misleading their investors (David Friend, The Canadian Press). The reporter David Friend states that the lawsuit claims that “leaders of the… smart-phone maker failed to tell investors” of thei.r failing plan to recovery (The Canadian Press). He goes on to say that the “class action suit” represents the shareholders that recently bought stocks from BlackBerry since last September since it was during this time period that BlackBerry’s operations was misrepresented

This can be related back to business ethics, and financial accountng. The reports that misled “allegedly” misled shareholders were made by financial accountants, and whether they knew what they were doing or not BlackBerry has just shown how low they will go to try and recover their company. In business, such tactics of lies and deceit is never an option, but often is seen as one. It is the responsibility of all the executives of the company to make moral decisions that will most undoubtedly benefit every single person involved, not just the individual.

New Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/05/blackberry-class-action-lawsuit_n_4047654.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business

Pictures: http://scottebales.com/blackberry-ceo-goes-kamikazi/ http://www.dailymobile.net/2012/11/25/pictures-of-rims-first-blackberry-10-phone-leaked/blackberry-logo/

Last week the Chief Executive of Starbucks Corp. Howard Schultz revealed an open letter stating that Starbucks would like to request customers to refrain from bringing firearms into their shops. (Jargon 2013) He states that the gun issue has “become increasing uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening.” (as cited by Jargon 2013) Starbucks does not plan to enforce this request through signs and employees and hope their customers will respect their request. (Jargon 2013) According to Schultz Starbucks takes a neutral stance in the issue of gun control, but they do believe that guns should not be part of the Starbucks experience. (as cited by Jargon 2013) Although many people are happy about this decision, such as Shannon Watts, others like David Butler have shown disapproval and said they will not be returning to the coffee shop. (Jargon 2013)

I praise Starbucks for making such a bold move that undoubtedly brings forth much debate and controversy. As we discussed how Starbucks provide employees with great health care plans, they have taken the extra step to respect the worries of much of their staff and customers. Although Starbucks may have lost some customers, they will surely gain new ones and increase their customer loyalty.

Website: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324492604579082352323346902.html

Image: http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID15092/images/Howard_Schultz_w_logo_2_AP_Photo_Kin_Cheung.jpg

In 2010 while the world’s eyes were set on Canada during the Winter Olympics, Canada’s opening ceremony encountered an embarrassing malfunction where one of the four pillars did not rise. As a result the opening ceremonies were criticized for this mistake. (http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/27/the-worst-ever-opening-ceremonies/slide/2010-vancouver-winter-olympics/ ) However, during the closing ceremonies, Canada faced their issue and had a mime bring the fourth pillar out as a way to “mock” the malfunction and make light of the situation. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/pointofview/2010/03/olympic-closing-ceremonies-what-did-you-think-of-them.html) Mistakes are often made by businesses and although many can be prevented, preventing all of them is nearly impossible. As a result how a business deals with a problem and moves on from there will define whether that business will be successful in the future. In regards to Canada, they faced their embarrassing moment head on instead of shying away and pretending that it never happened. By confronting the issue; they managed to solve it and show it in a comedic way. In business it is the same way. Businesses should always face problems head on by admitting the blame and immediately implementing a way to solve it rather than to ignore or disregard the subject.