Angela Santacruz

Shopify:

History:

* Online store created to sell snowboard equipment directly to those who loved the sport. (Shopyfi, 2015) * The company wanted to own their own brand and build relationships with their customers, along with selling their products. But they realize that a lot of others companies were in need of an online shopping facility so they created Shopify. (Shopyfi, 2015) * Their main focus of creating a platform to manage every aspect of their business: from products to orders to customers, selling online, in retail stores and on the go. (Shopyfi, 2015) * From a team of 5 working employees, to a team of over 500 employees in 4 offices across Canada, they encourage everyone to experiment, take risk and push the envelope to the next level. (Shopyfi, 2015)

Services at Shopyfi:

1. Use shopyfi to create your online store: these services give customers the opportunity to design their own web page and promote their products around the world.
Customers have control over the look and feel of the website, from its domain name to its layout, colors and content. But if they don’t have the skills to create it they can choose from over 100 professional store templates. (Shopyfi, 2015) 2. Sell in person: These kind of services allowed customers to sell their products online, in-stores, or in their own phones, the inventory is automatically updated in real time. Using a cart does the payment and they can email the receipt. (Shopyfi, 2015)

Prices range in these:
Basis: 24 Canadian dollars /month
Professional: 79 Canadian dollars / month
Unlimited: 179 Canadian dollars /month
(Shopyfi, 2015)
Markets:

* Canada * United Kingdom * Australia * New Zealand * Mexico * India * Singapore * Malaysia * Indonesia * South Africa
(Shopyfi, 2015)

Financial information:

Sales and Revenue (Watch, 2015):
2012: 23.71M
2013: 50.25M
2014: 105.02M

Gross Income (Watch, 2015):
2012: 18.28M
2013: 35.79M
2014: 59.33M

Net Income (Watch, 2015):
2012: (1.23M)
2013: (4.84M)
2014: (22.31M)

Royal Canadian Mint:
History:
A mint for Canada: * January 2, 1908: Governor General Earl Grey activated the press to strike the Dominion's first domestically produced coin, a fifty-cent piece. As an audience of dignitaries looked on, the Countess Grey closed the ceremony by striking Canada's first bronze cent. The Ottawa branch of Britain's Royal Mint was officially open for business. (Mint) * 1931: the heritage building on Sussex Drive, the surrounding land and the entire minting enterprise passed into Canadian hands, making the Mint a wholly Canadian institution (Mint) * The creation of the Royal Mint coincided with an era of burgeoning gold production in the Yukon and British Columbia. A refinery was needed to perform the complex work of bringing rough gold up to coinage standards. (Mint) * The Canadian Mint's original refinery was completed in 1911. It rendered distinguished service to the British Empire throughout the Great War, producing the large quantities of gold bars with which Britain paid its debts to other countries. (Mint) * The Canadian Mint's original refinery was completed in 1911. It rendered distinguished service to the British Empire throughout the Great War, producing the large quantities of gold bars with which Britain paid its debts to other countries. (Mint) * A new refinery facility, designed to meet any possible demand for many years to come, was built in 1936 to refine gold for mines and central banks throughout the world. Still in operation today, the refinery has produced 9999 fine gold bars since 1969. In 1982, it became the world's first refinery to produce 9999 fine gold bullion coins. Then in 1999, the Mint excelled again by being the first to achieve 99999 fine gold purity. (Mint) * The Royal Canadian Mint's proud history reached a new peak in 2007 with the Guinness World Records certification of the largest coin in the world: the masterpiece 100 kg, 99.999% pure $1 million gold bullion coin. (Mint)

Services:

Storage: * Precious metals storage in vaults, this is a service that is offered to individuals and corporations. (Mint)
Assay:
* Internationally recognized assay laboratory, The Royal Canadian Mint laboratory is an active participant in the process-testing program conducted by the American Society for Testing and Materials. * Rigorous mythologies * Fire assay method * Spectrometric methods * Accuracy. Guaranteed (Mint)
Refinery:
* The Royal Canadian Mint operates one of the most technically advanced and respected gold and silver refineries in the world, producing bars, wafers and custom products. * World-class quality. * An accredited ISO 9001 facility. * Streamlined operations, from reporting of assay results to delivery of refined materials. * Vault storage services for precious metals. * London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) good delivery gold bars. (Mint)

Purity: * The Royal Canadian Mint began refining gold to 9999 fine purity in the mid-1960's. In 1982, our refinery became the worlds' first to produce 9999 bullion coins, an achievement surpassed in 1998 when we reached "five nines" purity levels. (Mint)
Royal Canadian Mint Refinery´s Responsible Precious Metals program * The Royal Canadian Mint is aware of the allegations of illegal precious metals mining occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other internationally recognized conflict areas, and that profits thereof may be fuelling human rights violations. (Mint) * The Mint opposes all activities, which deny basic human rights, and is firmly opposed to all activities, which finance or contribute to abuses of human rights. In response to these concerns, the Mint's refinery has introduced the Responsible Precious Metals Program, aimed at identifying and validating the chain of custody of incoming gold-bearing refining deposits. (Mint) * The Mint is committed to meeting its social responsibilities, and encourages its refining customers to do their part in ensuring that their materials are not sourced from illegitimate mining operations in either the DRC or other internationally recognized conflict areas, by participating in the Mint's Responsible Precious Metals Program. (Mint)

Markets:

The company´s products and services are placed for Canada and for foreign countries. The Royal Canadian Mint has produced and exported its products to:
Dominican Republic
Singapore
Brazil
Yemen
Iceland
Norway
Jamaica
Bahamas
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Iran
Isle of Man
Indonesia
Australia
New Zeland
Thailand
Hong Kong
Uganda
Colombia
Cuba
Venezuela
Barbados (over 30 years) (Mint)

Financial Information:

Source (Mint)

EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA

They are Canada’s export credit agency. Their job is to support and develop Canada’s export trade by helping Canadian companies respond to international business opportunities. The export development Canada Company is a self-financing, Crown corporation that operates at arm's length from the Government. (Canada, 2015)
They provide insurance and financial services, bonding products and small business solutions to Canadian exporters and investors and their international buyers. They also support Canadian direct investment abroad and investment into Canada. Much of their business is done in partnership with other financial institutions and through collaboration with the Government of Canada. (Canada, 2015)

History:

In 1944, the Export Credits Insurance Act was proclaimed. Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC) was created following WWII to help stimulate the Canadian economy, create jobs and help Canadian exporters. The Export Development Act proclaimed on October 1, 1969, repealed Part 1 of the Export Credits Insurance Act and established the Export Development Corporation (EDC) as successor to all property, rights, and obligations. In 2001, EDC changed its name from Export Development Corporation to Export Development Canada. (Wikipedia, 2014)

Services:

EDC provides insurance and financial services, bonding products and small business solutions to Canadian exporters and investors and their international buyers. EDC also supports Canadian direct investment abroad and investment into Canada. Much of its business is done in partnership with other financial institutions and through collaboration with the government of Canada. EDC’s business solutions can help companies who want to: (Wikipedia, 2014) * Grow their business * Get financing * Protect against risk * Free up working capital * Invest in foreign markets
(Wikipedia, 2014)
Market:

Its headquarter is located in Ottawa and it has 17 offices in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, etc.) and 16 permanent representations abroad (China, Brazil, Germany, United States, Colombia, Chile, among others). (Wikipedia, 2014)

Financial Information:

(Canada, 2015)

Part 2
Visit Overview
Shopify:

The International strategy that the company is using is based in creating the possibility for any company around the world to have the capacity to create an online store, reaching international customers.
This technology company is spreading all around the world, and in the moment they are creating new strategies to reach new markets in Latin America, they saw a lot of potential in these particular market, because there are almost no competitors in the field of online store software companies.
One success history is one of an Argentinian corporation Baby2go.com, these company has shown an exponential grow seens they decided to start their online store using the services provided by Shopify, they are using these case to explain that now days to be successful you need to sell your products using a lot of sales channels. In the past to create an online store was really costly, but now with companies as Shopify is really easy to create and sale using these electronic product.

Also this company is based on a strategy that any customer around the world can work and sell in almost every country and currency, it only dependent on the payment gateway the costumer is using. Also the companies that want to use Shopify con choose several pricing plans for the customer to choose from in order to best suit their company size and nature of the business. For example in Canada the prices range are these:

Basis: 24 Canadian dollars /month
Professional: 79 Canadian dollars / month
Unlimited: 179 Canadian dollars /month
(Shopyfi, 2015)

These kind of pricing strategy that Shopify is using give the company a constant cash flow, allowing the company to invest in new products and incentivizes the creativity of their workers, For example in our visit they told us about the new strategy to create a department with inside the company that is going to be totally in charge of multinational companies.

Royal Canadian Mint:
Royal Canadian Mint is a company that is not only working in Canada; these company uses an international strategy reaching countries like Singapore, Brazil, Yemen, Iceland, Norway, Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Iran, Isle of man, Indonesia, Australia, New Zeland, Thailand, Hong Kong, Uganda, Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Barbados. The company not only manages the creation and production of coins for different countries, but they also provide storage of precious metals, these services are offered to individuals and corporations all around the world. The company also has the Assay Laboratory that is working with another corporations around the world to participate in the process-testing program of metals.

Also the company is has an international social responsible precious metals program, that is fitting against the illegal precious metals mining that is occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other internationally recognized conflict areas specially in Latin America. For example, these company is committed that their providers are social responsible.

In our visit they told us that they not only made coins for government institutions, the company also produces luxury items made of precious metal, like big coins with a commercial value of 1 million dollars. Also they produce the Olympic medals and items made of gold and silver.

EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA

EDC provides insurance and financial services, bonding products and small business solutions to Canadian exporters and investors and their international buyers. The company’s strategy is based on the international strategy where they are constantly providing support to Canadian direct investment aboard and into Canada. The company has created different partnerships with different financial institutions around the world.

In our visit they explain to us the different business that they are developing in Latin America, especially in countries like Chile, Colombia and Peru that had shown an exponential financial grow, the company have a department that takes care of the different business and partnership done with Latin American countries and governments, some of their business solutions can help companies all around the world who wants to: Grow, get financing, protect against risk, free up working capital and invest in foreign markets.
For example EDC has had a growing interest in Colombia that has been driven by a favorable combination of business friendly policies, economic and political stability, successful government-led security strategy and a diversified economy with large domestic markets. Also they are basing their business in the new Canada-Colombia free trade agreement that has help solidify the commercial relationship between the two countries.
The key industries are: construction and infrastructure, environmental infrastructure, environmental infrastructure and wastewater, mining and metals, oil and gas and finally power. (Canada, 2015)

Bibliografía
Watch, M. (28 de julio de 2015). Market Watch. Obtenido de Market Watch: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/shop/financials
Wikipedia. (2014). wikipedia. Obtenido de wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_Development_Canada
Canada, E. D. (2015). Export Development Canda. Obtenido de https://www.edc.ca/EN/Pages/default.aspx.
Mint, R. C. (s.f.). Royal Cansdian Mint. Obtenido de Royal Canadian Mint: http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/history-timeline-4000020#.VZBiZNpViko
Shopyfi. (28 de julio de 2015). Shopyfi. Obtenido de Shopyfi: http://www.shopify.com/sitemap