Posts Categorized: Marketing & Strategy

Canadian Tire changes course

Posted by & filed under eCommerce, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Canadian Tire is cutting its capital expenditures for 2017 as it shifts its strategic focus to online sales and away from bricks and mortar.  Part of this strategy will see Canadian Tire placing increased reliance on private label brands like its Mastercraft tools. Meanwhile, investors seem to like Canadian Tire’s performance as earnings per… Read more »

Samsung’s woes

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Not so long ago Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7  launch was met with claims of ‘phone to beat’ status from Cnet.com. The past few days, however, have been unfriendly times for Samsung’s Note 7 with multiplying accounts of phones on fire. The latest blow:  airlines banning the planes from flight. Combined with news of Samsung’s… Read more »

Luxury and privacy

Posted by & filed under Managerial Accounting, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Last week’s news featured the rather shocking jewellery robbery at the private hotel of celebrity Kim Kardashian. In addition to all the usual reality television hype, the theft did throw a spotlight on an ‘unknown’ hotel,  L’hôtel de Pourtalè. It’s representative of a growing number of private luxury residences, attracting groups of wealthy travelers… Read more »

Profits up; time for cuts

Posted by & filed under Advanced Accounting, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Despite the fact that profits are up, Scotiabank announced that it is cutting jobs and closing branches. With consumers moving more and more transactions online, and banks bracing for Uberization of the banking world, Scotia is looking towards an uncertain future. But Scotia is not alone. Other banks have been cutting as well, and… Read more »

And so it continues . . .

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: And so it continues. The Blackberry bad news keeps coming, almost like the old football penalty of piling on. Despite introducing a new Android device called the Priv phone, revenue for the quarter declined. Blackberry failed to meet analysts’ revenue projections, despite this new device which combines the advantages of Blackberry’s vaunted security with… Read more »

Ketchup wars

Posted by & filed under Managerial Accounting, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Ketchup wars: kind of sounds like a college prank gone wrong doesn’t it.  Or maybe it’s a food fight down at the cafeteria. But Canada was treated to its own ketchup war this past week when social media came alive in support of French’s ketchup after Loblaw’s announced it was de-listing the product. Patriotic… Read more »

The unfit Fitbit

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Some are calling Fitbit’s new offering a ‘not-so-smart watch.’ Unveiled at Las Vegas’s giant consumer electronics show earlier this month, and priced at $199, Fitbit’s new Blaze is being criticized for its lack of apps. Meanwhile with competitors like Samsung and Under Armour looking for breakthroughs, and Apple Watch version 2 on the horizon,… Read more »

Dell buys big

Posted by & filed under Advanced Accounting, Cloud computing, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Computer maker Dell  is buying in big to the data storage business with a $67 billion takeover of EMC Corp. With the computer market stagnating, this move is seen as one which opens doors for Dell to participate in the expanding market for cloud services. The market’s initial reaction has been lukewarm to this… Read more »