The New Hiring Process

The New Hiring Process 

This article informs the reader that businesses are starting to prefer cross-training, retraining or investment into their current employees, rather than hiring new employees. One of the reasons they do not want to lure employees, with the right skills, is due to the expense the company will have. Another reason is the skills gap.

"The skills gap is due in part to declining birthrates, an education system that hasn’t produced workers with some of the most sought-after skills and the quickening pace of digitization in the workplace"

For this reason, employers believe the quickest solutions is to train those already on their payroll. 

I selected this article because of the insight it gives in the "hiring process". Being a junior, I understand this information is critical for my future. As years pass by the requirements an employee needs or the criteria that gives them an edge changes. In this situation, individuals have the option to start at an entry-level position and receive cross-training (in order to slowly move-up).

Also, 

I found it surprising that CEO's are asking their HR department "are we spending enough?" This 


Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-seek-to-fill-skills-gap-by-retraining-their-own-workers-11552041000 

Philadelphia Is First U.S. City to Ban Cashless Stores

Philadelphia will be the first major U.S. to ban cashless stores, sparking the discussion over retail innovation and legislators that want to protect the average consumer.

Beginning in July of 2019, this law would require most retail stores to accept cash and not just card payment. This legislation is responding to the possible acceleration of cashless Amazon retail stores; widening the gap of low-income customers and those that can afford the technological advances that these types of stores provide. Most proponents of this law believe that it would benefit people that don’t have debit or credit cards and those that respect privacy. In addition, a spokesman of Mayor Jim Kenney reported that 26% of residents live below the poverty line and don’t have bank accounts. However, this law has faced opposition from city officials and other retail organizations. Amazon expressed concerned in that this law would impact their ability to even opening their cashless convenience stores as their payments are received electronically. Also, the National Retail Federation believes that businesses should get to decide what payment methods they will use instead of being forced under a bill.

While most local businesses understand the importance of the new bill, some are realizing that businesses could be leading toward a cashless society. However, this new bill is not going a vital factor in whether the business is going to succeed.

This article relates to marketing in that on one side, making business have to use a cash option can hinder businesses ability to gauge their products if they were only planning to use card options. On the other hand, this law could allow products to be made more available to low-income consumers and more accessible through different locations. Furthermore, it could allow businesses to promote in areas where the demographic uses more cash to attract more customers. I found this article interesting because it is catering to the community in a positive way. As a significant portion of Philadelphia is below poverty, I believe that it is important to create balance over different classes so that everyone can benefit from the same products. 

Link to article 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/philadelphia-is-first-u-s-city-to-ban-cashless-stores-11551967201?ns=prod/accounts-wsj

Warner Bros. Chairman, CEO Kevin Tsujihara to Step Down

Photo: Drew Angerer

Warner Media has stated that their CEO Kevin Tsujihara will be stepping down as the chief executor of Warner Bros. company as they investigate his relationship with a young actress.

Two weeks after he won an expanded role under a restructuring at AT&T's WarnerMedia unit, Mr. Tsujigara resigned. When Mr. Tsujigara resigned, all the top executives of Time Warner Inc. (AT&T acquired Timer Warner Inc. and renamed it Warner Media) decided to leave. Ever since the departure of Mr. Tsujigara, Warner Media has yet to name a successor. Mr. Tsujihara's relationship with actress Charlotte Kirk was discovered when a Hollywood Reporter reported that their relationship began in 2013. The article included multiple text messages between Mr. Tsujihara and Ms. Kirk where Mr. Tsujihara stated that he promised he would cast Ms. Kirk in any roles Warner had to offer. Later in an interview, Mr. Tsujihara stated he deeply regretted that his personal actions have caused embarrassment to the company and anyone who associated themselves to the company. When the article and interview aired, Ms. Kirk rose to defend herself and said she did not have anything to do with the leaking of the text messages and that she realized she had made many poor choices throughout her career, choices that have helped her grow and mature as a woman and professional actor. Ms. Kirk continued to say that Mr. Tsujihara did not promise her anything because their relationship ended years ago and that she was very sad to hear about his departure.

Since AT&T is investigating the matter with the help of an outside law firm, they stated that Mr. Tsujihara acknowledged that his mistakes were inconsistent with the company's leadership expectations and keeping him as the head of the company could possibly impact the company's ability to execute going forward. This affects the consumers because many of the top employers at WarnerMedia left when they were told Mr. Tsujihara resigned. After analyzing this article, this situation relates back to the marketing strategy because of the reputation of the company. After the relationship of the CEO was made public, the public image and integrity of the company began to suffer. Since many individuals did not want to be associated with Warner Media after the leaked relationship the stock for Warner Media began to decrease.

I chose this article because of the affection I have towards WarnerMedia and the many movies, shows, and parks I loved as a child.

LINK: https://www.wsj.com/articles/warner-bros-chairman-ceo-kevin-tsujihara-to-step-down-11552929877?mod=hp_lead_pos4

White Collar Robots Are Coming for Our Jobs

Raymie Fruia

Published February 8th by Oxford University Press

https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-collar-robots-are-coming-for-jobs-11548939601?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=3 Jobs 

We are truly living in the future! For years engineers have dabbled with artificial intelligence and produced some amazing tech. Now, they have gone as far to make humanoid artificial intelligence robots!

These robots not only look like humans; talking, reacting, and moving but, also, recognize emotions in humans and respond accordingly. These robots are so lifelike and so intelligent they are about to make service jobs in many companies obsolete.

AI is an interesting topic to me because I enjoy enhancements in technology. I believe this would be one enhancement that would greatly influence marketing and business overall. Specifically, these AIs could change the value of a service. The introduction of AI answering services and help centers would in a way level the playing field of customer service. It would be interesting to see in the future, if, human vs. AI customer interaction changed the flow of business for companies.

These robots are already being used in many banks around the world as well as in companies like google and eBay. It makes sense economically to utilize these robots for jobs like answering phones and assisting customers with small tasks or concerns. This is because the AIs are able to handle multiple calls at once, speak 200 different languages, and know all the ins and outs of a company. It’s almost scary. 

Are we headed for a peaceful, highly efficient future like that idealized world of the Bicentennial Man? Where our robots become our house keeps, personal cooks, nannies and any other service type job you can think of?

Or should we be bracing ourselves for an AI take over?

At the vary least many people are concerned that these super human AIs will cause a tremendous amount of human job loss in the near future. The article states that by 2025 there will be a net job loss of 7% due to the AI uprising and that this switch will disorder professional and service jobs faster than globalization disrupted manufacturing in the 20^th century. To combat this, AI management and maintenance jobs are being created. Let’s hope this new workforce helps to enhance productivity and simplicity in the market place without taking away the livelihoods of human workers.

SoftBank Invests $940 Million in Nuro for Driverless Deliveries

SoftBank Invests $940 Million in Nuro for Driverless Deliveries

SoftBank Group Corporation, a giant tech fund, is investing nearly $1 billion in a robotic-delivery vehicle set up.  Nuro Inc. raised $940 million from SoftBank's nearly $100 billion tech-focused Vision Fund.  This particular start up has plotted a different path in the development of 

driver-less vehicles from its competitors, focused on creating its own electric vehicles specially made for in-town deliveries rather than robot taxis or long-haul trucking.  Nuro's vehicle is about half as wide as a compact sedan and shorter than most compact cars. The boxy vehicle has no side windows or room inside for people; instead, the two side doors open to reveal special compartments for groceries and other items.  To move from location to location, the vehicle is equipped with Nuro's software as well as sensors and lasers.  About six of these vehicles have been created so far, however, with the influx of money, Nuro plans to create many more.  In doing so, the company is also testing software and hardware on about 50 standard cars on the roads in California, Texas and Arizona with safety operators behind the wheel by the end of this quarter.  In June, Kroger Co. , the largest U.S. supermarket chain by sales and stores, said it would work with Nuro to test a driver-less grocery delivery service.  Nuro is charging $5.95 for deliveries in the Scottsdale, Ariz., area for groceries from Kroger’s Fry’s Food.  A survey last year of 4,504 adults found that almost a third of shoppers said they did not order groceries online because of costs including delivery charges.  Although people do have this belief, Nuro and SoftBank are both confident in this invention, as other competitors such as May Mobility and Optimus Ride, have raised far less money and are focusing on using less-costly, slow-moving vehicles to deploy as shuttles in confined areas, such as ferrying riders from the office to their parking lots.

This article relates to the target marketing mix because it discusses how a company (Nuro) is planning to reshape the way groceries are delivered via a new technological creation.  This new creation also includes aspects of the four P's.  Product focuses on the actual vehicle, while Price relates to the charge customers will have to pay when they use the device.  Place relates to the states this new technology is being used in and Promotion is represented through the money and advertising SoftBank has provided to Nuro in order to make the technology known to the public and successful.  In order for this new technology to be successful, the promotion aspect will have to been significantly addressed.  Although many feel this new technology will be beneficial and will make life easier for shoppers, especially those with large families, in the survey discussed above, many have a concern with the cost perspective of this technology.  Customers enjoy having the convenience of getting their groceries delivered, however, many do not want to pay a fee.  Although some will, due to the convenience, Nuro and SoftBank, along with Kroger, will have to come together and create incentives for customers to use the delivery service, otherwise, the success for this technology could be very minimal.

I chose this article because I enjoy reading about new technology that is offered to not only me but also to everyone else.  We live in a society today that is almost completely based on technology, so I find it exciting when new technology comes out that can not only make our lives easier, but can also offer new developments for our country.  This article was very interesting to me and I look forward to seeing this new technology in the Houston area soon.

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/softbank-invests-940-million-in-nuro-for-driverless-deliveries-11549893721?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=8 

Facebook Sues Chinese Companies for Creating Fake Accounts

In 2017, few people started selling fake accounts, followers and likes to other people over certain website names such as "myfacebook.cc" and  "9xiufacebook.com" according to the complaint filed Friday in San Francisco federal court. 

Therefore, after several investigations, Facebook finally located three people (Wei Gao, Zhaochun Liu and Zhaoping Liu) and four companies (9 Xiu Network Science and Technology (Shenzhen) Co., 9 Xiu Feishu Science and Technology Co., 9 Xiufei Book Technology Co., and Home Network (Fujian) Technology Co.) in southern China and sued them for selling those fake accounts on the internet. Those companies are working with each other and manufacture electronics, provide software and web development services according to the article. 

The Facebook's general counsel of litigation, Paul Grewal, said that they were able to disable over 2.1 million fake accounts in the first nine month of 2018 on both Facebook and Instagram. 

This topic is very interesting because I remember having trouble assessing my Instagram page once, then learned later that the Facebook company was trying to close all the fake pages and followers on Instagram. We all know that for most of the online people, having likes and followers is a big deal. Some people would post pictures on Instagram to share memories with their friends, while others would use Instagram to market themselves and influence lots of surfers. The more followers and likes you get, the more likely you will get contacted by brands such as fashionnova, etc. Thus, Instagram and Facebook are great social media to do marketing, sell things or provide other services that may attract people. 



Li, Shan. “Facebook Sues Chinese Companies for Creating Fake Accounts.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 4 Mar. 2019, www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-sues-china-companies-for-creating-fake-online-accounts-11551702165?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1.

Elon Musk Set to Unveil a New Tesla for the Masses- the Model Y SUV

Elon Musk Set to Unveil a New Tesla for the Masses- the Model Y SUV

Elon Musk is about to release a new style Tesla, called the Model Y. After seeing consumer preferences lean towards smaller compact SUV's, Musk feels that the new Model Y will spark a lot of sales while also increasing demand for other models within his brand. The Model Y will be a "compact sport-utility vehicle". Musk is also trying to work on pricing strategies and how to lower the production cost of his already existing Model 3. Musk has no problem gaining money to support his ideas, the big problem he faces is reducing the production price in order to make the Model Y and other models more affordable for the average person. In order to do so, he will be opening a factory in China that will build the Model 3 and the new Model Y.

This article relates to target marketing because Musk is trying to create something that is most favored by the consumer, which in this case happens to be small SUV's. By creating a new Model, he is expanding his target market in hopes to make more sales and greater consumer utility. This also relates to the four P's, more specifically, the price aspect. Musk is working on how to lower the price of his vehicles in order to meet the qualifications for potential buyers. The article says that the average price people are willing to pay for a new car is $32,500 as of last year, while his various models have a starting price above that. Musk understands this is a serious problem which is why it is a big concern of his to reduce the costs of production.

I picked this article because I like to see what's new and upcoming. New innovations can change how society operates and I want to make sure I'm in the loop at all times. I also think that car designing is interesting because the process starts with an idea and hopefully turns into an actual product, a car.

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-set-to-unveil-a-new-tesla-for-the-massesthe-model-y-suv-11552474803?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=9