Chapter 2

"Call for more taxis in Vancouver"
CBC News 2006 November 9
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2006/11/09/bc-taxis.html#skip300x250

According to a city councilor, Vancouver needs many more taxis before next summer in time for the tourist season. According to city councilor Suzanne Anton, the shortage of taxi service is damaging to the image Vancouver has with tourists. People wait way too long for taxis to come, and this causes our reputation to be threatened. There are times people have to wait outside from anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour or more, even on a busy street like Robson. That proves that there is a problem with the service Vancouver is providing to the general public as well as the tourists; we’re suppose to make feel welcome.
Taxi drivers recognize that there indeed is a problem with the lack of services provided. Bryant Ibbitson, a taxi driver, claims the problem is that there are not enough people willing to work. Its one thing to be working during weekends, but not every worker is too keen on working Friday and Saturday nights as well. Ibbitson believes that the trouble is not that there are not enough taxis, but finding committed drivers. He believes that even with an increase of cabs, they will most likely just be sitting on the lot.

Relation To Chapter 2

This article is connected to chapter 2 because it refers to the price elasticity of demand. Taxi service in Vancouver can not be substituted with anything, and its inexpensive for most, therefore it is inelastic. People are willing to pay for a wait in the rain, or snow for a ride, this shows that they would pay even if prices were to rise. When the price increases, the total revenue increases, and when the price decreases, it causes the total revenue to fall, showing again that taxi service is inelastic. Over time taxi service will slowly become more elastic. This is because time gives the ability to find substitutes.
Personally, I think that it is unfair how the taxi industry in Vancouver does such a poor job on supplying services for paying customers. The tourists especially deserve to be shown how great services we offer are.

Chapter 1

"Adidas' High Tech Footwear"
by Marina Kamenev 2006 November 3 http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/nov2006/id20061103_196323.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe_more+of+today%27s+top+stories

This article talks about the new Adidas store in Paris that was designed to change the average customer into an Adidas customer for life. The store opened on the 25th of October with new technologies and options of customizing your own shoes. The store is located on the Champs-Elysées, a location Adidas spent five years waiting on. This is the largest Adidas store in the world at 1,750 square meters. This new store provides detailed information on Adidas products with a touch of a button thanks to new technology such as RFID, which is radio frequency identification and activated monitors. The store also provides an interactive black cube positioned in the center of the store with different functions on each side of it. One of the sides of the cube holds a “virtual mirror”. The mirror shows the potential customer in the shoes at different angles that they’ve designed on one of the other sides of the cube.

Relation To Chapter 1

Adidas estimates about 150,000 visitors a year, with as many as 105,000 being tourists partly, due to the location. Adidas chose to place this store in this location intentionally, after waiting for it to become available for a number of years. One of the opportunity costs for this decision would be losing out on the profits they could have made if the store was built earlier. Another opportunity cost would be the other customers they could have had if the store was located elsewhere (Canada, America…). The direct cost of their decision would be the cost of purchasing all the materials needed to build such a technologically advanced store. However, even though the price of buying such equipment would be costly, many more consumers would be attracted by the new technologies. Overall, I felt that the choice that the Adidas company made was for the better. Where they decided to place the store makes an impact on how successful the business is going. The type of store also was a good choice because when consumers go to visit the store they are not only shopping, they are being entertained.