Suez Canal: The most expensive or cost-effective?

Month: January 2022

Suez Canal: The most expensive or cost-effective?

by Varshini & Ziva

In a time where COVID-19 has made our economy fluctuate every day, the last thing we needed was a supply chain disturbance. In the Suez Canal, that issue was delivered by a 200,000 tonne Ever Given Ship carrying 18300 containers blocking the slim canal. This overall, created a massive impact globally, creating a challenging obstacle to business while also creating learning experiences we can put to use today.

On March 23 – 26, the world was shocked as the massive Ever-given ship was lodged diagonally in the Suez Canal. With the Suez Canal being a large trading route with almost 19,000 ships passing by, an incident like this caused a major setback in our supply chain. As the blockage slowly carried on over the 3 days, the global trading industry was hit hard as $5.4 billion in the trade were we’re lost. With this, it could be felt even through the biggest companies such as IKEA. For Ikea, they had almost $100,000 of product stranded on the Ever Given, even working paired as during the time of the. In the end, it showed how even the biggest business we’re not spared. 

Looking back now from the present, we continue to see the rise and fall of businesses. Now as young business students looking towards the future, we started asking “how is the incident relevant if it took place almost 10 months ago?”. Well, in short, it gives us an important lesson on the inconsistency of the business industry. As stated before, the Suez blockage was a huge deal, creating a stoppage of transportation holding millions of essential goods. With this, for those looking into starting a business or helping manage one, it is important to not be dependent on a singular supply chain. Instead, diversifying sources of supply will better provide backups during problems such as these. Not only that but having additional supplies in your community will add to your corporate social responsibility. From this, it allows a better reflection on your company while still helping others stay afloat in these tough times.

Now although this type of problem happened a while ago, a spitting image of this today can be found in the BC floods happening in Canada right now. In this situation, BC has been damaging impacts on their infrastructure such as their highways, railroad tracks and regional oil pipeline, all-important to both Canadians and Us businesses. These floods have disrupted supply chains, specifically towards the farmer business as many livestock were lost to floods. In total the entire situation cost an estimated 1 billion dollars, along with a shortage of food such as Freshslice Pizza in Calgary and Owl’s Nest Books. Overall, it goes to show how one supply chain issue can have a massive effect if only focusing on that supply service.

In short, it teaches us a valuable lesson about the business industry’s unpredictability. As a result, it is critical for people considering starting a business or helping in its management to not be reliant on a single source of supply. The total cost of the crisis was about 1 billion dollars. Diversifying supply sources, on the other hand, will better provide backups when difficulties like this.

How students have gained a deficient addiction to technology

by Ore, Emilie & Maddy

65.5% of junior high school students belong to the internet addiction-risk group. Why is this happening? Approximately a year and a half of online learning and periodical lockdowns are to blame. Students from all schools, especially North Toronto, have gained a deficient addiction to technology significantly affecting their mental health and quality of school work this year.

Approaching the end of the 2019-2020 school year, school abruptly went online due to the excessive transmission COVID-19. For the rest of the year, students participated in mandatory online learning.

Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, students began participating in in-person-learning. Due to the rapid increase in cases at times, students shifted from in-person to online learning a total of three3 times. They participated in online learning for about half of the school year. When they were online, they’d spend an average of 6 hours online daily. This time was spent attending a class wide Zzoom or google classroom call, or completing online work.

The significant amount of time spent in front of a screen, created unhealthy habits affecting mental health and an addiction to technology. This addiction was caused by relying on technology for necessary tasks. It is even said by Newport Technology that “Numerous studies over the past decade have shown that tech dependence has the same effect on the brain as drug addiction”.

The reward system in the brain releases dopamine in reaction to a joyful experience or hyperarousal, video games can be immensely addictive. When a person is overly engaged when playing video games, the brain correlates the activity with the release of dopamine. Video games are addictive because they cause a person to acquire a strong desire to seek out that same pleasure over and over again.

A North Toronto grade 10 student, Ray Macaulay, shared his thoughts regarding technological addiction.  His response was, “The reason why I think the internet is so influential and inspiring is because I can make positive elixir trades in Clash Royale which I find to be quite satisfying” He also mentions that he has an addiction to technology.

Despite many positives that come with modern technology, it can also lead to addiction and overpower one’s life causing it to be harder to focus on more important tasks like school work. This would partially explain why numerous students’ grades are decreasing during and after online learning. 

Another North Toronto grade 10 student, Chloe Nakamura, shared how she feels influenced by technology and if she believes she has an addiction. She answered as follows, “It definitely influences my daily life because it makes life a lot easier, but also has some negative impacts on my mental health, and yeah.”  Technology addictions can go either way, making a positive impact on one’s life or being detrimental to one’s mental health. 

Technology is tailored in a way, as Chloe and Ray have stated, that makes tasks in our everyday life more efficient and enjoyable, with potential negative impacts. Tasks as small as contacting a friend or searching facts on the internet become second nature, further influencing us to develop an addiction. 

North Toronto CI faces off against Northern S.S. in Quadruple Header

On Friday, Dec 17th at Leaside Memorial Gardens, NT faced off against rival Northern SS in a friendly ice hockey quadruple header.

 

Players were excited to get in some game action before the Holidays and represent their school before another pause in school sports.

 

In game #1, the Varsity Girls skated to a 10-1 victory. Following this game, the Senior Boys came out on the wrong side of a 7-3 loss, while the Junior Boys fell to Northern’s Tier 1 Junior squad 5-1, but rebounded with a 5-1 victory of their own over the NSS Tier 2 Juniors.

 

A fun day was had by both teams and coaches.

 

If Public Health and the TDSB allow for it, both schools hope to run the Annual Broadway Bowl under a similar structure at North Toronto Arena later in the Spring.

 

How Sales and Discounts Influence Us

by Jack

Who doesn’t love a discount? For those unaware, discount pricing is a promotional pricing strategy where the original price of a product or service is reduced. Discounts can be a heavy influence on what products one buys. Let’s explore the world of discounts from all angles, both for sellers and buyers, and delve into why discounts influence us. 

First, let’s examine the seller or company’s point of view and reasoning. Companies place discounts on products for multiple reasons according to Profitwell, such as “increasing traffic, moving inventory, and driving sales.” For example, a food and beverage company might need to move its products as they may soon expire. A date code provides both sellers and buyers with a transparent process. But, they may also relocate these products to the front of the store, near the checkout counter, and try to increase buying with a discount like “Buy one, get another 50% off!” This discount marketing strategy is meant to catch your eye because it’s next to where one pays and seemingly a deal. The discount may cause one to also impulse purchase, something we will delve in a moment.

Pricewell identifies three types of discounts: “seasonal, clearance, and volume.” The seasonal discount occurs during “specific seasons or for seasonal products.” Clearance discounts are used to “liquidate what’s left in stock” by offering an unusually large discount. Ever heard “everything must go?” Volume discounts encourage buyers to purchase multiple products, with an example being bundling or bulk. Companies that most often use these discount strategies are retail (clothing, beauty, sporting goods and more) and ecommerce (online sales.)

But why would companies want to make their products cheaper? For one, to appeal to their target buyers, especially first time buyers. However for companies, discounts can be a double-edged sword as they can result in increased revenue, but can also lower profitability. When pricing and volume are predictable, one can project the growth of a company. But with discounts, one must factor them into the income statement. Yet discounting creates activation energy. This means, according to Campbell, that a consumer may place less focus when thinking whether to buy a product. 

Enter buyer psychology. A brief way to sum up why we can be influenced by discounts is simply psychology and especially the feeling of “scoring a good deal”. Let’s consider the perspective of the everyday person. Some people buy because “it was on sale”. Others buy on impulse. However in a recent 2021 Black Friday Survey, 75% of the North Toronto Students we surveyed did not buy on impulse during this triple discount holiday. But discounts may not always bring pleasure to consumers, for example, one may be introduced to a company’s product through a sale, but when price returns to normal, one may become disinterested.

In the end, discounts are a crucial part of the world of business, and are a primary factor of why people buy and how people sell.  

MENU