Volkswagen Agrees to $1.2 Billion Compensation for U.S. Dealers

            Volkswagen agreed to pay 1.2 billion dollars to its entire U.S. dealer customers due to the 2015 emission scandal they went through. They will pay every dealership an average of $1.85 million as a settlement of last year case. Moreover, they agreed to pay $15 billion in a separate settlement with federal regulators and consumers. The franchised dealers have been in trouble selling their inventory. Many models were not sold since the emissions scandal emerged. Its dealership value declined as well as its reputation.

            However, do you think that the $1.85 million are enough to fulfill dealerships losses? It is a considerable amount, but it does not covers all of it. This quantity is not even what an average dealership sells in a month. According to Edmund.com, every car dealership sells an average of 945 cars per year. This means that they sell a mean of $2.3 million per month. In addition, they do not only loss money, the company's reputation declined. As a consequence, consumer's behavior was influenced. People decided to look for other alternatives. Moreover, their marketing concept was not well applied. They did not make their maximum effort to satisfy their customers. Their product lacked of social responsibility and marketing ethics.

            As a car lover, it was very disappointing to listen about the Volkswagen illegal actions. This brand had an enormous global recognition for its good quality products. It is good the effort they are doing by compensating car dealerships, but not enough repair the damages. This is relevant to other business such as its competitors and the auto parts industry. They would not be able sell many products because of the lack of sales of these vehicles. However, factories will need to cancel the production of this parts.

Retrieved from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagen-agrees-to-1-2-billion-compensation-for-u-s-dealers-1475284019

Coca-Cola Shuts Down Facilities in India

           

Environmental groups criticized Coca Cola, so they temporarily shut down a plant is Kaladera India. This was a decade long situation that was ignored since the plant was created in 2000, but Coca Cola addressed the issue as it started to get publicity, all thanks to modern day internet and social media. The accusations about Coca Cola using almost all the natural water supply that the farmers needed to grow crops to sustain the food supply for their households and their community; however, coca cola denied there was any scientific data to prove they’re depleting the natural resource in the area, which is water, but it stirred an emotional situation as they were accused, since water is the second most vital necessity for survival after air.

            As these allegations gained publicity, Coca cola pledged to reimburse the planet, but specifically Kaladera India first in this case. They came up with new technology to clean the water supply, build damns to prevent water from running away during flood seasons, and better ways to use less water for rinsing their bottles during processing. Coca Cola also implemented policies to help sustain water in Kaladera, such as automatically shutting down bottling facilities if a community is in drought; they advised large corporations to do the same.

            All of Coca Cola’s responses to the situation are acts of social responsibility; however, they did not disclose much about the "air" technology they claimed is their alternate method of cleaning bottles instead of using water. Air is not a natural sterilizer. As of September 2016, They claimed they reached their 100% water saving goal when they gave back 336 billion liters of water, but it was technically their policies that saved consumption of the mentioned amount, not necessarily giving back the water that was already there.   

http://www.wsj.com/articles/coca-cola-closes-plant-in-india-1455122537

                      

Bridal Magazine Changes Name

  

 

Bridal Magazine Changes Name

America has evolved as a whole during the past few years. But something that has capture the entire nation has been the Supreme Court ruling of gay marriage rights. With this said the modern magazine “Brides” will be renaming its self to “Modern Luxury Weddings” for its upcoming edition, opening up its market target in an effort to be more inclusive of same-sex marriages.

The magazine is focusing in appealing to the newly engaged couples of today’s society. They have come to the conclusion that wedding and those who are getting married are not all brides and it’s more a celebration of love. (their marketing strategy has changed from traditional to what today’s society is) In order for the company to expand to Washington, DC and Scottsdale they had to change their marketing plan.

The magazine itself is a great marketing tool for all those local wedding industry businesses such as venues, boutiques, catering, florist and even retail. This new cutting edge wedding magazine topped first out of all its competitors as it focuses on its target market, they also aim to target newly engaged couples and related businesses. 

Link
http://www.wsj.com/articles/bridal-magazine-changes-name-to-modern-luxury-weddings-to-be-more-inclusive-1474041690

How Arnold Palmer Revolutionized the Business of Sports

            Arnold Palmer is one of the best golfers of all time. He began his professional career back in 1953 and had such a successful career. The famous Arizona Half and Half drink that is half lemonade, half tea was Arnold Palmer’s idea. Many young people may not know very much of Palmer but that drink may be well known to many people. Palmer recently passed away but his legacy was definitely left behind with the world.

            Back in 1961, Palmer was not happy with his equipment manager because of the contract that they had with Wilson. Palmer had signed a deal with Wilson back in 1954 when started his professional golf career. Palmer had grown to be one of the best golfers of the time over that span of 7 years and demanded more from Wilson because of his popularity. Palmer wanted more money from the balls and clubs that sold because of his name associated with the company. The truth is that Palmer just wanted a life insurance policy from the company incase anything happened to him during all of his travels playing golf.

            Wilson chose not to give Palmer what he desired from the company. This was arguably the biggest mistake the company made because Palmer is now considered in the top five golfers of all time. Palmer went on to launch his own company and named it The Arnold Palmer Golf Company. He became the first professional athlete to open up his own company and have such great success. Hardly any athletes at that time made any big time money and he took a risk in opening his own company but it paid off to be one of the best decisions he ever made.

            Palmer's decision started a trend with athletes to go out and market themselves to get their money. Most athletes sign with big companies to make money but they truly do not make all the money that the company makes. Palmer encouraged athletes with his decision to start his own company to get athletes to be entrepreneurs and make the money they truly deserve to make. It is not all about the money but most importantly respect. Athletes now desire so much more when they sign with companies to get what they deserve. Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan signed with Nike but have their own brands within the company.

Cup Noodles Reinventing Itself

Good news for all you instant noodle lovers! Cup Noodles just announce its decision to cut down on the sodium content and removing its artificial flavors from its instant ramen, by replacing them with ingredients such as paprika and lime. But don’t worry! while the ingredients may have changed a bit, Nissan Foods has worked hard in order for us, instant noodle lovers, to benefit from its new refine recipe without having to sacrifice the taste of its delicacy or suffer from its rising prices. 

However, despite its reinvention of the Cup Noodle’s recipe, its instant ramen is still far away from being considered ‘healthy’ as its chicken flavor still contain 45% of the sodium and more than one-third of the saturated fat an adult should eat in a day. So sadly the company haven’t completely gotten to the point of reinventing its instant ramen noodles yet, but it is taking its first step in the right direction since compared to the company’s now 45% sodium its old chicken flavor contained a whooping 60% of the daily recommended sodium intake. As an instant noodle lover myself and on a budget college student, I sometimes rely on Cup Noodles for its quick, convenient, and affordability. So when I heard that the company was going to give its best effort in making its brand more healthy, I was all for it. 

The company's decision to change its marketing concept was made in response to the consumers demand for better quality of food and the society ever growing push towards health and wellness trends. By defining its marketing strategy and target marketing to college students and low income families, the company hopes to give its' product a more positive light by making it healthier.    

To view this article press here.

Dean Chagaris | Dr. Zhang | Marketing 3343 | Sept 30, 2016 

Schools Learn Expensive Lesson on Class Size 

Many states spent billions to shrink student-teacher ratios but now seek cheaper ways to improve performance

http://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-learn-expensive-lesson-on-class-size-1475245698

By 

JO CRAVEN MCGINTY

Sept. 30, 2016 10:28 a.m. ET

This article discusses how schools are realizing that smaller classes sizes aren't always better. An argument can be made on behalf of education that smaller class sizes create a more intimate learning environment that fosters higher education. Who wouldn't want higher education for their children? As members of the human race we all want our children to do better than we did. 

School districts around the U.S have been researching the benefits spending millions, sometimes billions into its educational programs. The main goal is to hire more teachers, expand facilities, and create the learning environment that's optimal for their kids. This is expensive, and after much research has determined:

• By cutting cost and having more children in a class with a higher quality teacher is more beneficial for children 
• The current method of smaller class sizes is ineffective as the quality of teachers willing to work for a lower amount of money is high. 
• The cost deferred (savings) from realigning class sizes could allow for schools to make more hands on decisions regarding the education they provide. 

While states set the education requirements for such things as class sizes, and voters have to approve any changes while states like Florida have pushed the class sizes up between 18-25. As a parent of a child in the Miami-Dade School District I can tell you from personal experience that at the highest level of school in an area, is still sub par to other areas of the country with much needed in the area of teacher recruitment.

Let's look at our system as a whole; as product of the California Education System, having experience with Miami Schools, and Houston area schools I'd say that all need much improvement. We often neglect the situation assume that the current methods are adequate. They are not. Children are falling through the cracks everyday.

It's time for a educational reinvention. Parents, educators, legislators, and anyone else I've failed to mention need to begin thinking "outside of the box." If we're taught to think outside the box then shouldn't the institutions who teach this way of thinking employ it into their own toolbox to create a more conducive leaning environment? 

What Has Snapchat Done Now?

         

                   Elizabeth Gobran

What Has Snapchat Done Now?

          Snapchat CEO Evan Speigel has yet again discovered a new way to further expand his app, making it more convenient for users to record their experiences without having to hold the phone "like a wall in front of your face." The first hardware product, Spectacles, is what appears to be a pair of sunglasses with a camera at the corner. Just one tap allows you to record your experience as if you were on the app. The only difference is your phone is not in the way which leaves your hands free to dance or pet animals without having to make sure you captured the right frame in your recording. After testing a prototype, Speigel describes the beauty of Spectacles as he played back the footage and realized how amazing it felt to have the footage of his trip as well as being able to record without experiencing it behind a phone. Knowing the risks, Speigel intends to take things slow, as he knows that this new addition will not bring in immediate revenue. He takes these risks anyway because he believes that his product is fun and great to use at events.

          As you read on, the article continues to review Speigel's Snapchat success within the past few years. With more users than Twitter, it continues to exponentially grow as a company. Their target market expanded as users realized how casual and easy the app is to use. Celebrities, parents, aunts, and uncles have downloaded the app to share their moments as well. It has become an app where people are free from the pressure of getting a certain number of likes or facing the criticism of comments. This differentiates greatly from Snapchat's competitors: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In fact, Instagram has come out with a similar feature to Snapchat called Instagram stories. Facebook has also had many attempts at creating similar Snapchat apps, but they failed to be a successful hit. Snapchat has successfully used the infamous Lenses feature to promote their sponsors such as Taco Bell, Gatorade, and many others. This allows users to actually spend the same amount of time playing around with each filter and view the sponsored effects as would to watch a commercial. They have even managed to squeeze in short commercials in between stories as if you were watching television.

          As a Snapchat user myself, I was intrigued while reading this article because it is one of the most well-known apps of today's society. It is amazing to think of how much the app has expanded from where it began. In just a few short years, the app has become a multi-million dollar company from what started as an idea of a 26 year old man.  This article discusses many relevant topics that we learn in class such as the company, customers,  competitors, and target market. Snapchat has become the success it is today by discovering new ways to improve in each of these categories. Now, people all over the world use Snapchat to capture clips of silly or momentous moments of their lives, so that they may share it with their friends. 

           

  LINK:

        http://www.wsj.com/articles/snapchat-releases-first-hardware-product-spectacles-1474682719?mod=ST1