JMBR Volume 6 by JMBR

VOLUME 6 FALL 2019

J OH N M OLS O N B U SIN E SS R E V IE W

THE JOHN MOLSON BUSI NESS REVIEW The John Molson Business Review is a student initiative devoted to featuring articles on current business developments. Founded in November 2015, the publication is currently overseen by a team of undergraduate students from Concordia University. JMBR aims to put forward innovative pieces that explore business trends and their links to various sectors, including technology, economics, public policy, and others. Though it is based within the John Molson School of Business, the publication strives to foster a spirit of collaboration and encourages participation from students across all faculties at Concordia.

MEE T OUR TEAM Patricia Pop – President & Editor-in-Chief Tala Al Kabra – VP Finance Guillaume Troquet – VP Technology Michelle Lam – VP Marketing Cristina Cosma – Creative Director Ziad Soliman – VP Business Development Claire Benoit – First Year Representative Writers Cerise Thoor – International Business & Marketing Paulina Matthews - Finance Ziad Soliman – Marketing & International Business Cassandra Corso – English Literature Editors Megan Ng Nisha Verma Daphne Jarry Mariam Qadri

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IN THIS ISSUE

Aboriginal Economic Justice Paulina Matthews

Generational Segmentation is Not a Shortcut Ziad Soliman

10 6 Money-Saving Tips for University Students Cassandra Corso

13 Value Creation through Service-Dominant Logic Cerise Thoor

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A BORIGI N A L E C ON OM I C J US TI CE B y Pa ulina Matthews Major in Finance

Canadians pride themselves on the multiculturalism that creates their country’s unique mosaic. However, there are ever-present cracks that run deep within these mosaic tiles, weakening the nation’s foundation. Despite the progressive nature of the country with regards to diversity, there remains one group of people that have historically been failed. Since the beginning of colonialism, the Indigenous populations of Canada have been fought and made vulnerable to invading powers. In addition to the many socio-psychological deterrents brought on by these foreign parties, the implementation of a rigid economic model has led to the development of economic structures that lack room for any accommodation and acceptance of these spiritual persons. Unfortunately, as time has advanced, this one-track mindset has followed. Despite recent attempts at ramification, diversification, and integration, most of the initiatives aiming the betterment of the circumstances of Native Americans have followed a neo-colonial format, failing to provide any long-term success.

This brief article will explore the unsuccessful attempted diversification techniques of Indigenous economies that have led to the underrepresentation of Indigenous persons in the Canadian workforce. The transition to a wage-based economy has resulted in the development of various revenuegenerating sectors creating a significant shift from the former economic model of subsistence once realized by Indigenous people. ExploitiveEuropean regulation on what was once a spiritual, cultural, and physical means of survival, such as fishing, has led to the dissolution of a sustainable and peaceful way of life. It would be naïve to suggest returning to this form of “non-capitalist” economic model given the acceptance of moneyhoarding behaviors witnessed in the majority of the world’s populations. However, the destruction perpetuated by neo-colonial parties has survived the test of time and continues to mark the realities of these populations, as can be seen through their economic development.

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Poor economic performance and participation people [are] underrepresented in most ‘knowledge levels can be attributed to a consistent lack of occupations’—that is, professional, managerial, integration and implementation of educational and technical occupations, which tend to require services for Aboriginal Peoples to successfully post-secondary education and generally pay partake in Canada’s economic practices. better.” This will create an ongoing need for Historically, Amerindians have supported government intervention and therefore, a stronger, themselves by partaking in the sectors of natural ill-fated dependency on the government by resources, industrial activities, as well as art and Aboriginal people. There is therefore a definitive culture. However, the advancement in technology, need for improved social-services, such as an the degradation of the environment’s resources educational reform for schools both within and and the increase in need for formal education to around reserves. attain a sustaining career1, have led to a relatively To expand on the notion of a need for improved higher unemployment rate of Indigenous persons social services, it is important to consider the as compared to non-Indigenous citizens. This foundational services and opportunities that can be attributed to the are taken for granted by the THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A RIGID multi-generational abuse majority of the population. In ECONOMIC MODEL HAS LED TO and neglect experienced by Indigenous-majority regions, THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC these Aboriginal Peoples who local education systems are STRUCTURES THAT LACK ROOM. consistently lack the proper arguably one of the main FOR ANY ACCOMMODATION AND resources to prosper and thrive underlying factors of current ACCEPTANCE OF THESE SPIRITUAL alongside the rest of Canada. unemployment, translating to PERSONS. Furthermore, the Aboriginal the fiscal suffering of their Economic Development Act, which claims to rely respective populations. For example, educational on the continual support of better management initiatives in place for Nunavut’s Inuit people, as and development of natural resources and well as for the rest of the nation’s Amerindian human capital to develop Aboriginal economic population, still contain remnants of residential participation, seems to be a contradictory statute. schools, leading to the dissuasion of attending Given the volatility of climate change, an economy school, or the systemic (un)conscious failure of would be foolish to rely solely on natural resources the attending students. as a means for sustainable performance, which is Statistics Canada argues that in spite of a a major reason why Canada is looking to develop slight increase in educational attainment (still knowledge-based industries and services, such significantly lower than the non-Indigenous 2 as the high-technology sector . Overall, the focus majority), an increase in employment rates has of Aboriginal efforts towards natural resources yet to be achieved. This provides insight on two results in a lack of representation in areas of possible and vital factors. One: the education economic activity that will largely support the being provided does not reflect the needs of economy of the future and, consequently, increase a modern workforce; and two: there can be the insecurity of self and communal sustenance. underlying3 bias potential employers still hold As posted by Statistics Canada, “Aboriginal against these individuals, which could lead to JOHN MOLSON BUSINESS REVIEW

inequitable opportunity. Without proper attention to these foundational issues, Canada’s Equitable Employment Act of 1986 is rendered pointless for Aboriginal Peoples. Evidently, these factors disallow for these people to acquire secure careers outside of their traditional means of survival and become self-sufficient in this new form of economy. As explained by Professor J. Guthman in his article “Bringing good food to others: investigating the subjects of alternative food practice,” regardless of whether the intent of aiding minority populations was genuine, the underlying foundation of socialintegration initiatives were discriminatory, since assimilative “white-thinking” biases form the premise of these projects. Without consultation from representative members of the community, inflicting personal views on communities who have a historically-reasonable disdain towards the opposition will ultimately lead to failure. Speeches made by our government representatives, promising to atone for our ancestors’, and our own errors by working together, have done little to repair the devastating realities of these communities. However, these halftruths have consistently led to a one-sided discussion around the development of the nation’s economy. Recent news articles have shown the installation of pipelines devastates the land on which tribes rely for physical and cultural sustenance, while only delivering benefits to a small minority. This continuous attempt to develop an oil economy not only builds a greater resistance between parties but can also lead to a halt in the progression towards a more sustainable Canadian economy. This circular rhetoric and the political amnesia seen within our political arenas have led to a continuation of division and suppression of an underrepresented and ignored people. Coming from a place of privilege in which reading articles on the matter will be the closest we come to experiencing these individuals’ realities, it is difficult to write about what needs to be done. To sit here and do so would be to fall within the colonial trap previously explained by Guthman. Therefore, the advice to be given to whoever is reading this brief article would be to adopt a communicative and progressive approach towards diversity, especially with our Indigenous peers. For those who have never had the opportunity to learn of the importance of diversity, not only for its financial benefits but for morality as well, many lessons are to be learned. Extra readings: Given this transition to a Euro-Canadian formal economy, there is an increasing need for a traditionally educated workforce to fill the rising number of administrative positions

Moreover, it seems as though this Act is easily forgotten as soon as the Federal Government believes their own well-being overpowers that of the tribes. 2

3 Furthermore, the probability of Indigenous people living in crowded-homes in disrepair, experiencing food insecurity, rating themselves with “less than good” health (psychological and physiological), and/or lacking the proper infrastructure resembling that of a well-developed country, is much higher than their non-Indigenous counterparts.

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GEN ERATI O N A L SE GM ENTATI ON I S N OT A S HORTCU T B y Zia d Soliman

Major in Marketing & International Business

What is Generational Segmentation? Most of you have likely come across terms such as “Millenial” or “Gen Z”. In fact, some of you might even identify with these labels with a sense of great pride at your generation’s quirks and characteristics. However, these terms are not only designated for use in memes and BuzzFeed quizzes. From a business perspective, these terms can be used by companies as tools to help segment the market and target individuals more effectively. Generational segmentation operates under the assumption that most people within the same age group will have similar likes and dislikes as a result of being exposed to and shaped by similar circumstances and life events (Knowles, 2017). Recently, however, there have been cases of generational segmentation being used in the media and in classrooms as a blanket statement of sorts. Various critiques of this call into question the effectiveness of using generational divides as the sole consideration in the segmentation process.

Rather than being used as a shortcut for customer targeting, it should act as a complementary factor in the overall segmentation process. “It’s easier to walk into a meeting and say you’re going to target Generation X or Baby Boomers than it is to search for a target based on a mindset that will really make a difference.” (Bartlemay, 2016) Generations are Just Too Broad One issue with generational segmentation is that segments encompass too broad of an age range to make accurate generalizations. For example, Gen Y includes individuals currently aged between 24 to 38 years old. This creates a large room for differences between group members. Hypothetically, a 24 year old, fresh out of university, will likely not be in the same life-cycle stage or have the same psychographic needs as a 38 year old. Also, the lines seem to be blurred when it comes to cross-generations, as marketers aren’t necessarily

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clear on the main distinctions between Generation Z members and Generation Y members. The most significant supporting evidence for this claim is the creation of terms such as “Hipennial”, “Old-School Millennial” and “Anti-Millennial”. These sub-segments in a sense negate the whole premise of having a broad generational segmentation term such as Millennial. Instead, it suggests that the term Millenial acts more as a demographic divide, rather than something that helps classify individuals based on common psychographic, behavioural and demographic traits.

WHEN IT COMES TO MARKETING, MAKING THE UNWISE ASSUMPTION THAT, FOR INSTANCE, A

mistake. For example, Egyptian Millennials and American Millennials have different views on the use of social media. Where Twitter is used as a platform to share pictures and life updates in the United States, in Egypt, it is viewed as a platform for activists, where the content being shared is mainly political news and stances. This could be seen during the 2011 Egyptian revolution, where social media platforms were used as tools to organize mass protests (Shearlaw, 2016). This problem with applying generalizations to the same generations across nations does not stop here, as every country has far-reaching differences in what has shaped the minds and opinions of their people, due to cultural differences and local events. Generational Segmentation and Stereotyping

MILLENNIAL BORN AND RAISED IN EGYPT WILL HAVE THE SAME RESPONSE TOWARDS YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS AS A MILLENIAL BORN AND RAISED IN THE UNITED STATES MAY PROVE TO BE A COSTLY MISTAKE.

International and Cultural Implications of Generational Segmentation One must also be careful in assuming that generational segments transcend cultural differences across the globe. As stated, the method of segmentation in question is based on the premise that similar life events have affected group members in similar ways. When it comes to marketing, making the unwise assumption that, for instance, a Millennial born and raised in Egypt will have the same response towards your marketing efforts as a Millenial born and raised in the United States may prove to be a costly

The misuse of generational segmentation in advertising will only perpetuate negative stereotypes in the media. Basing decisions off of a single description for a large group of individuals, divided solely by age, can lead to perpetuating offensive and stereotypical assumptions, especially if used by marketers in their campaigns. For example, assuming that all Baby Boomers are inept with technology and are ‘out of touch’ with current pop culture events is similar to stating that all Gen Z-ers have short attention spans and are addicted to instant gratification, which is simply not true. These assumptions seep into the media through marketing campaigns and are likely to shape societal perceptions.

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What You Should Take Away From All This The lack of precision in generational segmentation renders it somewhat of a shortcut for modern-day marketers. Since old habits die hard, a lazy segmentation process will be hard to shake off when it really counts. Start-ups should also be aware that merely stating they target â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Millennialsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is not effective nor sufficient and should raise red flags for investors. Understanding who you are selling your product or service to is crucial and any misstep in that regard will be equivalent to throwing a dart in the dark. A better alternative to only using generational segmentation is to support this approach with behavioural and usage factors, as they have been proven to be much more effective at narrowing down market segments. It also goes without saying that demographic, geographic, and psychographic segmentation should also be included in the process of defining the target market.

Extra Readings: https://medium.com/madison-ave-collective/the-importance-of-generational-targeting-from-millennials-to-baby-boomers-one-messagewont-69b18c563d3a https://adage.com/article/agency-viewpoint/perils-generational-segmentation/303780/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/25/egypt-5-years-on-was-it-ever-a-social-media-revolution

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6 MONE Y- SAVI N G TI P S F O R UN I V E R S IT Y S TUDE NTS By Cassandra Corso

Major in English Literature

Saving money in university can be quite difficult but it is not impossible. From having to balance your schoolwork, maintain good grades, balance your social life and your work life, saving money might be the least of your worries. Although it might be a low priority, now is the perfect time to start saving to ensure you have enough money in the bank to either pay off school, go travelling when you finish your degree, or start saving for a house, or even retirement. In no specific order of importance, here are 6 money saving tips for university students.

Tip 1: Create a Budget This is useful both for students who do not have a job and those who are working because a budget forces an individual to follow the planned expenditures, and not exceed them, which in the long run will help them save money. Budgets can be done on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. Start by taking out a pen and paper, or open a new word-processing document on your laptop, and jot down your monthly incomes, whether it is

from a job, family members, investment accounts, and so on. Then, write down your estimated expenses per month. The third step is to decide how much money you would like to spend on groceries, gas, utilities, athletics, shopping, and entertainment on a weekly or monthly basis, and stick to it. A rule of thumb is to try spending less money than you make with one paycheck, so the difference can go straight to your savings!

Tip 2: Clearly Identify Needs and Wants Is that Starbucks refresher really a want or a need? Can you live without it? Everyone wants a good car, but do we really need it? When you live close to public transportation, purchasing a car can be put on hold. Fundamentally, humans only really require basic needs to survive; these needs are food, water, shelter, and human interaction. Therefore, create a table with your needs on one side and your wants on the other side. Your needs are what you cannot live without, and your wants are objects that bring you joy, but that you can live without. By differentiating

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your wants from your needs, impulse purchases will decrease dramatically in the long run.

Tip 3: Shop Second Hand Many of us want to purchase brand new things because of hygienic reasons, brand loyalty, and the process of purchasing that new item. Society has wired us to purchase brand new items for the full price when in reality they can be found for half the price and in great condition, when purchasing from second-hand stores. So why not pay half the price and reduce your ecological footprint at the same time? Now, where do you buy second hand items? At thrift stores, social media platforms such as Facebook market group, Kijiji,and eBay. Apps such as Letgo and Varage Sale are also great options.

Tip 4: Meal Prep As a student, it can be challenging to find time to make a lunch every night or morning. However, by making your breakfast, lunch, and/or supper at home, you can save the money you would have spent on food. It is a lot more cost-effective to go grocery shopping once a week or every two weeks and spend around $50 to $100 on food than to spend a minimum of $15 a day for lunch alone or worse, not even eating at all during the day. Dedicating half a day during the week to preparing your food for the week will remove the headache and stress of having to make a lunch everyday. It will also make you feel more productive and relaxed, will keep you energized during the whole week, and will help you save money in the long run! If you forget to bring a lunch and do not feel the need to spend money, take advantage of on campus resources such as People’s Potato in the H-building. Who are they? They are a non-profit organization of volunteers that prepare and cook delicious vegan food for students for free! They

serve food from Monday to Friday from 12 pm to 2:30 pm. By taking advantage of this service daily you will also decrease your grocery bill; just don’t forget to bring your own Tupperware and utensils.

Tip 5: Don’t Buy New Textbooks Borrow textbooks or buy them second hand and resell them. This tip might be very obvious to some individuals, but many students wait until they graduate to sell their textbooks and by the time they graduate, the teacher is usually using a new version of the textbook. First, textbooks can be borrowed from the school library or from a friend that took the same class. A trade can also be done with another student where you trade a textbook from a previous class for the one you need this semester. Second, buying textbooks second-hand is great because students can save up to 50 percent of the original price or even more sometimes. The condition of the textbooks might not be as good as new, but it is the content inside of the textbook which counts the most. Third, to purchase second hand or sell old textbooks, take advantage of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. There are many student

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12 groups dedicated to textbook purchasing and selling. If you do not feel like going through the hassle of selling used textbooks on social media, the Concordia bookstore buys back select textbooks in good condition.

Tip 6: Reduce Impulse Shopping Make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of money spent on coffee and impulse shopping. Just imagine how much money you can save per month by not purchasing coffee daily. If you buy a coffee every single day before class from Monday through Friday, estimating $5 per coffee, that’s $25 gone in just a week; $100 a month on coffee. That’s money you could save by buying a portable cup and getting your daily dose from home. If you look forward to spending money on your Starbucks coffee every morning, show your student ID at the one located in the downtown campus to get a discount, and make sure to cut down on other impulse purchases such as snacks, beverages, gum, candy, etc. If it’s a specific brand of coffee you crave, buy a pack of Starbucks coffee or any type of coffee and make it at home. To summarize, six very important tips to save money during your time in university are to create a budget, to differentiate your wants from needs, to shop second hand, to meal prep, to borrow textbooks or buy them second-hand and sell used textbooks, and finally to reduce the money spent on coffee and impulse purchases. Following these six simple tips can make a major difference. At the end of the day, making all of these six tips a habit will make them much easier to follow. All of this said, happy saving!

Extra Readings: https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2013/10/03/6-must-follow-money-tip s-for-college-students https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/genymoney/a-simple-five-step-plan-to-help-university-students-manage theirmoney/article37094940/

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VALUE C RE AT ION T H R OUG H SERV IC E- D OM IN A NT LOG IC B y C er is e Thoo r

Major in International Business & Marketing

As we live in a globalized and interconnected economy, our society now revolves around multiple types of businesses linked by strong networks and perpetuated by communication between actors. Traditional concepts are being replaced by newer, more innovative ones and are marking the shift to an integrated economy. An excellent example is peer-to-peer companies like Uber taking market share away from conventional taxis. With time the market has changed, especially when it comes to market actorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs. The idea of exchange, for example, has evolved to a point where we now see and use value exchange differently than in the past. Similarly, the current idea of value exchange is not nuanced enough to sustain the actual development in technology and global interaction. Due to these changes, concepts such as service-dominant logic and actor-to-actor ecosystems are the new frontiers of value exchange thinking.

Service-Dominant Logic Business-to-Business (B2B) is one of the dominant categories of commercial transactions between market actors, yet it is consistently understudied and often shoehorned in with regular B2C concepts. One could argue that instead of B2B being a subgenre of business activities, B2B should be considered the overarching mindset of all commerce activities. Business literature has been perpetuating a goods dominant logic (G-D logic), in which value created is thought of linearly with a specific endpoint, represented by the end consumer. The mindset that the consumer is where value creation stops is unfortunately inherently short-sighted and limiting to progress. In actuality, the consumer is just another actor in a complex and dynamic ecosystem, which is constantly creating value. For example, a consumer buys a meal at a restaurant; the restaurant might think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the end of value creation, however, the consumer

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actually uses the energy from that meal to work thus creating more value for the ecosystem. By adopting this mindset of the ecosystem that all market actors operate in, one begins to understand that there is no such thing as a ‘product’. Rather a ‘product’ is simply a means of transferring a service. Take a refrigerator for example: at first one can view it as an object therefore a product, however, it is truly a service as it offers the ability to keep your food cold, which allows for the creation of further value when you use the ingredients stored in it to cook a meal. This mindset is dubbed service-dominant logic (S-D Logic) (Vargo & Luchse, 2011). An Actor-to-Actor Ecosystem When adopting the S-D logic mindset, labels such as ‘business’ and ‘customer’ become limiting and inadequate. Thus, the term actors becomes adequate, as it symbolizes the ability of all parties to act and create value in the ecosystem. An actor-to-actor (A2C) ecosystem can be seen as a network of relationships which is interconnected with other networks present in our society. The type of language used to describe something has great power in shaping our mindset of it, thus by using A2A, instead of B2C or B2B and acknowledging that consumers [MARKET] ACTORS NEED TO BE are not destroyers of value but rather transformers of it, one can nurture AWARE OF THEIR PARTICIPATION co-creation among actors. Therefore, by changing our vision of what IN THE SYSTEM AND KNOW HOW an actor is, what his or her role entails, how the actor is doing what THEY IMPACT THEMSELVES he is doing and especially why he is doing it, we will have a better AND OTHERS THROUGH THEIR understanding of what our needs are in our ecosystem. CREATION OF VALUE. Everyone is or should be a proactive actor in this continuous network that is our ecosystem. Actors need to be aware of their participation in the system and know how they impact themselves and others through their creation of value. Actors should regulate their relationships, understand the ecosystem, see the benefits of their actions and try to find sustainable solutions to current and future problems. By doing so, we should be able to reach a new level of understanding, but also functioning, thereby shifting our way of thinking and opening our minds to this new era of B2B. In conclusion, by understanding every level of the ecosystem (micro, meso and macro environments), every actor’s KPIs (the motivation behind their actions), as well as our needs and wants, we will reach a new level of understanding that will help us enact great changes and find sustainable solutions to fulfill society’s growing needs. Effective solution design begins with a proper mindset and a good understanding of the problem, both of which S-D logic hopes to offer. Extra readings: Gummesson, E. & F. Polese (2009). B2B is not an island. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 24(5/6), 337-350. Vargo, S.L. (2009). Service-Dominant Logic: Foundations and Directions. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from http://lms.fu-berlin.de/bbcswebdav/xid1023029_3 Vargo, S.L. & R.F. Lusch (2011). It’s all B2B….and beyond: Toward a systems perspective of the market. Industrial Marketing Management, 40, 181-187.

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