social responsibility

Abercrombie & its Hitch.

Posted on by spr1313fmohan

Abercrombie & Fitch has been affected by a dramatic decrease in sales in the US. ANF’s stock had once been gaining 20%, when the stock market barely moved. However, everything came to an end on May 24, 2013, when ANF reported its earnings. ANF’s store sales declined 17%. Their shares then went down 8%. Even though they reduced their loss to $7.2 million from $21.3 million, it completely blew Wall Street’s prediction of $0.05 loss per share.

What could be the cause of these huge losses that Abercrombie is facing? Is it the result of CEO Mike Jeffries’ comments that resurfaced recently from a 2006 interview, on how the Abercrombie and Fitch brand don’t carry plus sizes for teens, because the brand exclusively only goes after the cool, good-looking kids? Or could there be something more?

Well, it turns out that Abercrombie started declining before the CEO’s comments reemerged this year. Even though there has been a lot of consumer out lash at the company, the CEO insists that the main problem facing Abercrombie is inventory shortage issues. Abercrombie hasn’t been able to bring in their spring merchandise quickly into the stores, compared to most of their competitors like H&M, who believe in fast-fashion. To gain a competitive advantage and to get back on their sales track, Abercrombie is changing the way they order their inventory, for a quicker turnaround. The CEO stated that most of their inventory issues have been resolved now, however, their sales profits forecasts has been lowered for the rest of the year, compared to previous years. With the company operating 1,053 stores currently, they also predicted to close 40 to 50 stores in the United States. Abercrombie has been acting really quickly on addressing key issues throughout their company to get their profits back up.

In class, we learned about the ten critical decisions which includes inventory management, then we learned about ethics and social responsibility and finally forecasting. Abercrombie’s situation ties in all of these things we’ve learned and teaches us how important these factors are in a business.

The company is now dealing with their losses and their shares plunging, just because of the inventory issue. Another issue, I think they’re facing is the social media. As a reputable company, they have a social responsibility to respect all of their customers. Ever since the CEO’s comments appeared in the media, many people have been fighting against Abercrombie (Examples: A man donating Abercrombie clothes to homeless, a plus size blogger posing in similar Abercrombie ads, a teen activist who petitioned for an apology from the CEO with 68,000 signatures). Do you think that Abercrombie is dealing with these losses solely because of their inventory management or because of the recent outlash at the company? Also, will Abercrombie  remain confident in their solid brand equity, when its competitors like H&M, American Eagle, and Aeropostale are attracting teens with their prices and fast fashion layout, bringing in new merchandise to the stores more often?

Source:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-abercrombie-earnings-20130525,0,6735405.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-abercrombie-earnings-20130524,0,3689716.story

Plus size blogger: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=9113106

Video:

Man giving homeless people, Abercrombie & Fitch clothes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPmqZAhLVuI

Social Networking after Death? Google, Twitter, and Facebook

Posted on by spr1322jkurzac

Social media became heavily popular in the early 2000’s when MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Friendster were launched. These sites allowed users to communicate in other ways besides email. Today, there are tons of different kinds of social networking websites. However, Facebook, Twitter, and Google remain of the most popular. These networking sites allow users to communicate in different ways. Google focuses more on email and/or chat, while Facebook and Twitter allow users to communicate with one another with “statuses” and “tweets,” respectively. These social media sites recently took it a step further and introduced ways of tweeting and messaging after death.  By allowing this to happen, are companies just really desperate to keep their social media outlets buzzing with posts from the dead?

Google introduced the Google Inactive Account Manager or what it has been called lately, “Google Death Manager.” Those that are heavily involved with social media accounts probably have wondered what happens to their account after they pass. Google has a plan for those that care what will happen to their Google services such as Gmail, Blogger, Google Drive, Google+, Google Voice, and so on. Basically, you have two choices. You can either either pass on your “digital life” to someone you trust, or you can simply set up a time of inactivity. You can choose from one, three, six, nine, or 12 months. If you happen to not login in the certain amount of time you chose, then Google will either contact/alert 10 of your trusted contacts (and share your data with them) or you can simply have it set up to delete your account.  Personally, I think this is not a bad idea at all. If someone disappears or dies suddenly, maybe there is information in their Google account that will help solve the case. I support privacy in every aspect all the way, but this can really help in a time of need.

Next, Facebook has introduced an app called “Ifidie” that allows users to send messages to your friends after your death. I believe the  If I die app  is a bit too much. The Facebook administraters post a public Facebook message or send out private message to specific people. The admin are allowed to do this once at least three of the trusted friends you choose report your death to the Facebook service. I understand we are in the digital era, however, I believe this is just too much. Again, is this to keep the buzz going?

Twitter has also introduced social media after death with _LivesOn. This is a tool that monitors your Twitter habits and patterns then after your death, it will continue Tweet for you.

Perhaps social networking after death is for those who are more comfortable with death. Personally, I think these companies are trying to get the buzz however they can. Would you like to be active on social media even after your death?

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/22/tech/social-media/death-and-social-media

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/04/11/google-death-manager-new-feature-to-tell-the-company-what-to-do-with-your-data-when-you-die/

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/google-inactive-account-manager-decide-account-die/story?id=18933370

 

Are Smartphones Too Smart For Our Own Good?

Posted on by f1222jgruszka

Although the term is commonly know, identity theft is when someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity.  This is usually to obtain some sort of financial information or some other benefit.

In years past, it was common for someone to have their wallet stolen and their accounts drained.  However, today there is a spike in a new form of identity theft.  Certain banking branches are releasing applications that allow users to access their financial information via their smartphone.  For example, Chase’s smartphone application allows for the user to check their financial balance, transfer funds, and even deposit checks.   This initially seems to be very convenient for smartphone users.  However, this has become a very serious issue today.

Recently there has been a number of seminars taking place.  These seminars began in 2008 courtesy of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  The seminars have shifted gears.  They are now strongly urging the protection of financial information as it is used through smartphones.  “Although smartphones brought great convenience into people’s lives, they also brought with them another opportunity for thieves to access personal data and use it to their advantage,” foundation Vice President Gail Cunnigham said.

After this statement, the article explains that this form of identity theft is taking place due to weak security by the smartphones.  “A study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that smartphone users are 33 percent more likely than non-users to become victims of ID theft.”  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to fall into that 33 percent.

The article expresses a number of ways to help protect yourself from this form of identity theft; one example, “protect your smartphone with strong passwords.”  This seems to be somewhat of a give-in; however, what part do the smartphone manufacturers, designers, and producers play in all of this?

Do you think it would be an ethical undertaking for companies such as Apple to make it a requirement that you use a password?  Would it look good on Apple’s behalf if you had to set up a password when you turn your new iPhone on the for the first time?  I know that certain varieties of Motorola phones have a fingerprint option for a lock.  Do you think this type of need or feature only appeals to people who might have “more to lose,” or would it appeal to the average college student as well?

If these companies were to implement a new security strategy, do you think it would be beneficial for them to zero in on, or forecast based on specific demographics who would see more value in the added security measures?

Here is an interesting video about this topic:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5_H9dxUO_g

Link:  http://bit.ly/RnqhFc