Low Income should be coming home for Christmas too

With the holidays approaching, I found an article that discussed the struggle many low income workers are having in their retail positions.

Many retail stores are open during holidays and have extended hours during this time period. Low income retail workers work to barely pay for heating and health care, but can’t afford toys for their children. One mother speaks about how her son wants a Spiderman toy that she cannot afford. She is a shift manager at Burger King. This particular quote in the New York Times article really touched me.  It made me reflect on the little boy, I wondered if he would end up in the same place as his mother. This cycle of low income families and their children continuing to live paycheck to paycheck.

The article discusses possible solutions. The solutions included raising the minimum wage to $10.10 a hour and promoting higher education. Some opinions were that an increase would not result in hiring cutback, but others felt this would lead to people being laid off and employers not wanting to hire. But, we want even low income families to help the economy and even more importantly have a decent lifestyle. How can we accomplish this? Of course, this is an ongoing question in economics.

Earlier this month, White House officials said they would support in Congress calls for raising the federal minimum to $10.10 an hour over two years. The opposition within the Republican-controlled House makes this unlikely to happen anytime soon though. Major fast food companies and retailers are also opposed to increasing the minimum wage, because they would need to raise prices and lay off workers.

Personally, this article really hit home for me. Although, I am not sure of a definite solution, I feel we do need to start implementing new strategies into helping low and middle income families. Maybe it is promoting higher education, but won't we always need entry level/fast food/retail workers?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/29/business/on-registers-other-side-little-money-to-spend.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=business

Starbucks new obsession with tea

Starbucks is usually a place where you would pick up a coffee on your way to work or to start your day. Teavana is said to be more of a ‘stop for lunch’ place, where consumers can relax with a cup of tea and enjoy a small lunch with friends and coworkers. Starbucks CEO exclaims the two beverages shops are “like night and day”.

The pricing is a little bit steeper than Starbucks. At the Teavana tea bar, you can get a salad for 14.95 and a cup of tea for 5.95. But, it’s all about the experience right?

Personally, I think it is an awesome idea. It is new and innovative and the company is creating a competitive advantage compared to its few competitors. While using the social media to advertise for this new addition to the Starbucks brand, I think it needs to be specialized. It will be best to use indirect marketing strategies, because it’s all about the tea. The company can reach out to its already loyal customers by providing a coupon or simply a small post card giving information about the tea bar.

To get new customers in, utilize current media to put out thought leadership about tea and only tea. The benefits of tea, who drinks tea, pictures of your target audience drinking tea...the possibilities are endless.

The popularity of tea is growing. Starbucks recorded that tea use to be less than one percent of what was sold. Now, the tea industry is a 90 billion global market. On that note, I’ll start the kettle.

Bye Bye Blockbuster

90s babys loved Blockbuster. Walking down the iles, looking at all the many videos, old and new. Then giving your parents your favorite candy, so they can purchase it along with your chosen movie. Blockbuster was a wonderland, a movie wonderland.

But, sorry kids. I have bad news.

About a decade ago, Blockbuster had around 9,000 retail stores nation wide. Since the success of Netflix and other video distributors, Blockbusters have started to disappear.  After a good fight, the company will close the few hundred stores it has left. Dish, which acquired Blockbuster after it claimed bankruptcy, claims it still sees value in the brand name and will ultize this in different ways.

Personally, I also still value in the company's name and I hope that Dish is able to use this name to prosper in different ways. But, I think it is important to learn from the situation. It is a true eye opener, in the fact that technology and innovation is a huge factor in the success of firms. It is crucial to constantly be aware of the use of your technology as well as your competitors. 

How could Blockbuster have saved their company? Well, for one, the second they learned that had competition (Netflix) they should have researched and kept a wide eye on the company, since they rarely had any competition before this.

How could they have utilized social media to improve their brand name and save their company? I think a good idea would have been to create a Blockbuster app, where you could rent movies via the internet and deliver DVDs to your home through your phone. Also, upgrading their website to have these features as well.

I think the retail stores could have still been an assets to the brand, even though the digital distribution of movies and shows are on rise. I think it would have been important to implement the experience factor in Blockbusters. Whether, they showcase small movie screening or host film festivals, it would have given them an competitive advantage on brands like Netflix.

Johnson & Johnson has a couple of jokes up their sleeves

Okay, so it wasn't exactly funny that the billion dollar firm "improperly marketed the anti psychotic drug Risperdal and two other drugs", but at least they are paying for their mistakes. Johnson & Johnson promoted Risperdal to doctors claiming it treated anxiety, agitation and depression regardless of the fact it was only approved for schizophrenia.

The firm paid a couple of hefty fines for their inexcusable mishaps. First, Johnson & Johnson agreed to cough up $2.2 billion in criminal and civil fines to settle allegations concerning the wrongful marketing. Second, they pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and will be paying criminal fine of $485 million. Lastly, the company is throwing down $1.72 billion to settle civil cases with the federal government and 45 states.

My main concern is how this will effect their image and what will they do to reinstate their credibility to their consumers. A social media campaign is definitely an option, in attempt to get involved with the community before external outlets start bashing them on this unjust mistake. The problem at hand is that it seems that money was more important to them than the well being of the consumer. Even if this is completely and entirely true, firms do not want this idea attached to their brand.

Johnson & Johnson should dedicate social media time to illustrating how the company is utilizing its funding to assure the correct and most accurate research on their products and further that they are being marketed correctly. Some examples are using twitter to announce information about news and adding in that they approved with a source. Another is posting on Facebook all the credentials needed to convince consumers certain drugs are in fact approved for certain aliments.

It would also be helpful to even express on social media how the brand is helping the community, whether it be through videos or pictures. Associating positive acts with the brand can dissolute the negative effects of this situations.



 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/business/johnson-johnson-to-settle-risperdal-improper-marketing-case.html?ref=business

Green Machines will be taking over

California, New York and six other states are going green. These states have made strategic goals to promote the use and purchases of electric cars in their areas. In specific, the goal is to “achieve sales of at least 3.3 million vehicles that do not have emissions by 2025”. The states are striving for these goals through a variety of different incentives and implementation of regulations pertaining to these nifty vehicles.

I’m not going to lie, after reading the perks of having an electric car it made me want to go out and purchase one of these green machines. First, the states are going to implement “time of use” elective rates, which would allow people to charge their cars for off peak prices. Furthermore, high occupancy lane access and reduced tolls while traveling through your states and across state borders. Oh, and preferred parking. If you have ever been to New York City, you should know there is no such thing as preferred parking, so this will definitely get the attention of New Yorkers.

Although, many states do not have direct answers on how they are going to pay for all this, they have stated multiple ways in which they plan to get the big bucks. For example, Massachusetts has an Electric Vehicle Incentive Program and Maryland has already approved tax credits going towards this cause.  

This idea is going affect our economic markets and businesses in many ways. First, cars that emit harmful emissions into our air will most likely go down in price, because people are going to throwing their money toward the electric cars. While this happens, electric car prices will probably go up because of the demand of these cars rising.

It is going to influence major corporations to continue or adapt more corporate socially responsibility procedures and objective within their firms. Which is not only good for our environment but also for the people as a whole?

Firms that have electric cars as a product of their own should act fast within the media world. Electric cars are not frequently seen in social media or the media in general. Car companies with this product should utilize social outlets to promote the use of these cars as well as the company name. Thought leadership would be a good tactic to promoting this product. By providing blogs, free online magazines or websites dedicated to reducing your carbon footprint or maintaining your electric car, it will add credibility to a firm’s image and make the firm more familiar and trustworthy to consumers. 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/business/energy-environment/coalition-of-states-seeks-to-spur-use-of-electric-cars.html?ref=business

Windows 8.1: For the Win

What has two operating systems and is “not worthwhile” according to PC World.? Yes, you guessed it, Windows 8. Not too long ago, Microsoft introduced Windows 8. If you don’t know much about this operating system, here are the facts: it has an operating system for Windows and an operating system for tablets (brought into one system), you have to learn two of everything (web browsers, help systems and two control panels) and the executive who created Windows 8 randomly left the company.

Now, we can all use our context clues, this product wasn’t too hot. Fortunately, for all you confused Windows 8 users, there will be a new  operating system available for download on Thursday called Window 8.1 From what I have researched, the operating systems seems pretty innovative. There are many new adjustments and options. You can actually edit photos, lock your screen as a photo slideshow when you’re not using it. Windows 8.1 is tied into SkyDrive, which is a free online hard drive. Overall, I’m excited to see more of this new update. I like the direction Microsoft is going. I think the touch screen computer is definitely something to invest in.

Microsoft did a good job evaluating their product after its release a year ago. A product manager claimed, “If Windows 8 isn’t easy enough to understand without reading Help screens, then we’ve failed”. If this was one of their goals within the planning stage of this product, it definitely was not implemented. There were many apps that did not even have help options at all. Microsoft took control during their evaluation stage and fixed and improved this product for the better.

As for marketing it, I think they should create a budget for social media and utilize it to make this product a hit. Touch screen computers are still relevantly new and it is important to educate the consumer on why they need this rather than the new iPhone. On Twitter, write tweets on how someone could use a touch screen computer. On Instagram, post pictures of students, professionals and soccer moms using it. Why not go all out? Plan a flash mob with the dancers using touch screen computers.

The New Classroom

Times are changing folks. As we know, chalkboards and wooden desks are a thing of the past. But, who would think the classroom as a whole may be a dying trend as well. Online education is a fast growing alternative to regular classroom learning. Online education allows people of all ages, lifestyles and hidden agendas to get their degree. Tons of universities nationwide are jumping on this band wagon.

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses; it is an online education outlet that allows its users to take college level courses by credible professors in almost any topic one can think of. Recently, it has become very popular within the Ivy Leagues: Princeton, Harvard, M.I.T, just to name a few.   

New York Times reporter, A.J. Jacobs, rated different aspects of the MOOC program through a lettering system. Think of it as a MOOC report card. Most aspects of the programs received a “B” including: professors, assignments and overall experience. The convenience factors came in with the highest grade of an “A”, but the “student to teacher interaction” rated a low “D”. This is obviously not an education outlet for brown nosers.

Although, MOOCs are in its early days, this concept says a lot about what the future holds. Some of me believes that the university system may be dying. We are in an age where most (most not all) of the information we learn in classrooms we can easily access through Google. Furthermore, with tuition rates raising and financial aids falling, higher education will be limited to a small percentage of rich kids. So, why limit high education? The internet has changed basically every aspect of our lives over the last decade or so, why not our traditional classrooms either?

Should smaller, less prestigious universities and colleges adopt MOOC? I think it be a smart business move to definitely keep an eye on the program. Although, it doesn’t necessarily bring in the money (it’s free) it will definitely showcases the schools values. Let’s take into consideration a scenario:

Let’s say, University of Tomorrowland accepts Jimmy into their Sparkles and Magic program. Jimmy barely got past Algebra 2 in high school and his SAT scores weren’t so hot either. Jimmy is taking College Math and Chemistry during his first semester in the fall. What are Jimmy’s chances of passing these courses? I don’t know the exact percentages or statistics, but if this school happened to have MOOC classes offered that prepared Jimmy with adequate knowledge to help him succeed in he would have a higher chance of passing. And, graduating. And, becoming successful within his career(s).

With this access to extra knowledge, students (and just people in general) will become more hirable and more innovative. In the United States, many companies are looking outside of the U.S. for new hires every day. Why? Obviously, because some of our education systems are a little off. Let’s give our students a better chance to succeed and give people of the United States to get back on top.

I think an advertising campaign should really be put into place concerning MOOCs. Make MOOCs a fun new trend. It can be America’s new past time: learning. Commercials with friends at Starbucks taking a philosophy course together.

The internet is changing the education game. I think if universities don’t hop on this bandwagon, they will be left in the dust.