Copenhagen Climate Conference

Last week at the Climate conference in Copenhagen not much was solved and or worked out. The overall climate effect is 3 degrees warmer in the third world countries which will most likely be close to 5 degrees in the coming three years. The United States proposed a debt relief of $10 billion to developing countries (Africa). This $10 billion seems pretty small in comparison to Obama's advancement of upwards $40 billion extra to support the war in Afghanistan. The United States has already spent upwards of $60 billion US for the war and another proposal is in the works for the war in Afghanistan. Due to climate change, Africa has estimated it will lose 70 million of their population due to starvation and another 100 million for lack of fresh water. In comparison to the affects the Western world has done to the developing countries through the greenhouse gas effect, $10 billion seems awfully small for the losses of population these countries will suffer and the amount that the United States has currently spent on funding the war. When sitting down and hashing through the results of the conference, not a whole lot was planned out to benefit the third world. Although $10 billion seems alot for developing countries, these countries may still be taken advantage of in the coming years due to greenhouse gases and climate change.

Individuality

"This is you through self-concept" Individuality is the key to personailty and originality. Through living in ones self image and being different from other human beings, one can distinguish their individualism over all beings and the universe as a whole. Individuality is the pure image or persona of a persons statements, opinions and thoughts. By directing your feelings or thoughts towards your individualism as a human being you may differ yourself from everyone around you including society. With individuality you find the reason to express yourself as an individual and not a person belonging to a social scene. "Don't be afraid to be different" Individuality.

Positioning

Positioning strategies consist of many elements and can potentially be very specific directed. I'm choosing to focus on three positioning strategy headings, Brand value, Competitive differentiation, and Price dimension. When choosing to position your company through one of the three chosen strategies you may decide to focus all your attention on one of the three options. Brand value focuses on the brand as a whole and the image it brings to consumers and instills in their mind. In this case the brand and its image speak for its self and controls the position it holds in the marketplace. Brand value is most often a postioning strategy used by clothing companies, where certain brands and labels are more quality and image driven then others. In the competitive differentiation strategy, the product or service and its features and benefits it holds in comparison to the competitors product or service is what positions it in a way that is superior to the competitors product or service. This positioning strategy is mostly used by car companies where selection and comparison is what purchase decisions are based on. The price dimension is a positioning strategy that all companies could use along with other strategies. The price dimension focuses solely on price compared to market value and competitors price ranges. These three positioning strategies are the most commonly used by business trying to strategize how their product or service fits in the industry and market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VxI85DvQjM&feature=fvw

Branding

When conducting a brand strategy your components must consist of 2 main objectives: differentiation and added value. These statements say alot for your brand and the goal of a brand and its brand equity, meaning the worth of your brand as an entity. Differentiation is the comparison and the distinction between your competitors and other brands. If your brand comes off as the same product or service as another brand it may leave the consumer undecided on choosing your business and they will stay with their current provider. Ultimately your differentiation may be the deciding factor on whether or not your brand is suitable for the consumers wants and needs. Added value is the profit so to speak in money terms that you recieve from distinguishing and building a strong image around your brand. By creating an image or glorified picture inside peoples minds you capture a huge market who are fascinated by what your brand does and the intrinsic reward and lifestyle you recieve from using that particular brand. With these 2 objectives in place when developing a brand strategy you will always recieve recognition for your brand and added equity to it when strategizing with these 2 objectives in mind. Differentiation and added value give the brand more self worth and help create a lifestyle or image for the consumer who decides to forego their current brand and use yours because of its brand value which gains a better realtionship with the consumer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsS5HmzYfpg heres a link to a video on brand strategy.

Why consumers should have customer responsibility.

Often customers expect too much from the service industry, they expect the service to act as a servant instead of a dual relationship. If the customer had an equal relationship and greeted the attendant with happiness or general awareness for their employment expectations the realtionship would be much more equivalent and generally better off for the following customers and the persons remainder of their shift. Customers these days are recieving too much power for their service needs and are expecting too much from employees and their so called "servants". If the customer were to treat the worker with appreciation they would go out of their way too make the consumers experience that much more appealing. I was in wal-mart the other day and an employee was having a problem figuring out a section where the customers questionable good was placed and the customer was huffing and puffing about it. Face-it the worker did not have a clue where the product was shelved, ask another employee and say thank-you for your time. Instead the consumer was expecting a quick response to exactly where the product was placed, they felt wasted of their time for a simple mis-understanding. Consumers should have an account for responsibility, although they are a customer to a service or shopping center, it should be an equal relationship where time, kindness, and open communication are all equal in resonation. Consumers are recieving too much power for their business and aren't feeling responsible for their shopping personality, when they should feel responsible for being a service recipient.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lJSFsuPlY

Rise of the Creative class

The rise of the creative class from generation y to generation x and the latter half of the baby boomers, creativity and techonology has rapidly started to progress. From myspace to facebook and even amazon.com, people have become extremely set on networking and getting themselves out there to the public. The creative class are the people whether scientists, artists, musicians, designers or any knowledge based intiatives that create new ideas and awareness about inventions or innovational products. These creative people are beginning to change the economy, stimulating economic growth and pushing the envelope "so to speak" on the way the world lives and interacts with eachother. This class has drastically overtaken employment in the last decading accounting for $1.7 trillion of the north american salaries beating out the service sector. With jobs and business evironments becoming more and more creative fields of study and work, where are jobs and service wages going in the near future. Although the service sector is the one that start jumps the creative business sector, we are slowly seeing these jobs diminish right before our eyes. To help stimulate employment growth in this new economy look for service sector jobs to become more creative and begin to conglomerate with this high end business outfits. For the creative class to progress in creativity they must team up with all individuals and businesses in the near future, starting to build superpowers of intiatives, looking out for the economy as a whole, focusing on growth and stimulation in all areas and fields.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLstkIZ5t8g&feature=related

Heres a link to "Rise of the Creative Class" by author Richard Florida