Danyang Liu's Blog

If the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise?

The answer to the question is definitely Yes. Although both the United Nations and the social entrepreneurs wants to do whatever it takes to end a problem, they adopt different means.

Huge organizations like United Nations have a lot of resources they can provide to people in need. For example, money and basic services. This is undoubtably important for people. However,it cannot solve the problem, because those people still cannot change their lives with their own ability. They relay heavily on helps provided by others. Thus, shows us just how important and necessary social entrepreneurs are.

Unlike United Nations, social entrepreneurs start businesses, which allowed everyone to participate in society in a normal way. They provide people in need with medical services and education, which is the most efficient way to change those people’s lives. They are also ambitious, mission driven, strategic, resourceful and results oriented. However, sometimes they are working alone. And this really limited their possibility of achieving broader visions.

Hence, it is important for huge organizations like United Nation to corporate with social entrepreneurs. Only by cooperating can we maximize the positive influence of both sides.

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In her blog, Xiaotong discuss the social responsibilities companies should take. She use the example of Nestle water, which failed to meet its social responsibility by extracting B.C.’s drinking water for free. She stated in her post that

long-term business can achieve success by reaching agreements with the community suppliers,etc. None of them can do a stand-alone operation.

I agree with her point. There is no way a company can achieve success without respecting the community they worked in. According to the news article she shared in her blog, the price of a litre of bottled water is often higher than a litre of gasoline. However, Nestle paid nothing for those water they used.

For Nestle, this act lowers their cost, which will increase their profit. However, it does not justify Nestle’s action on taking natural resources for free and sale them back to customers. Sharlene Harrison-Hinds, a Hope resident said

We have water that’s so clean and so pure, it’s amazing. And then they take it and sell it back to us in plastic bottles.

I think Nestle made a bad decision by giving up their social responsibility to the Hope in pursuing of their interest. It might seen to be a good deal. But a company should not aimed sole on making profit. By making this unethical move. Nestle actually lose customer loyalty. Customers will consider Nestle as an unethical business, which will influence Nestle’s sales.

Hence, as Xiaotong wrote in her blog post, Nestle should think about cooperating with government or the community and try to rebuild its image.

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We watched an interview with founder of Zappos in class this week, and I am surprised by the amount of effort the company put in to making their employees happy. For example, the company provide employees with free foods and snacks and the company held events for employees on a regular base. Through my research, I found out that a lot of other companies also care about their employees happiness. As stated in the news article.

Happy workers tend to be more productive – which makes it sensible to focus on making sure your staff are content.

For the interview with the founder of Zappos, we can see how the company achieve their goal of creating a happy environment. First of all, they provide a lot of services for their employees, such as free foods and snacks. This creates a better working environment for their workers. Second of all, they have a unique corporation culture. They gathered their employees together by holding events. This will create a sense of belonging among employees, which will increase their willingness to stay at the company and help the company to achieve success. Thirdly, the CEO of the company works with their employees and review a salary the same level as their employees. Which shows employees that their have the same rights as the CEO. This will encourage them to express their thoughts, which will help the company improve.

From the video, we can see how important worker’s happiness is to a company. Hence, it is important for managers to invest their effort and time in figuring out the real needs of their employees. Because employees needs not only varies form companies to companies, but also from individuals to individuals.

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This blog from my classmate talked about LinkedIn’s recent entry into the Chinese market. He gave several recommendations for LinkedIn.

• To tap into the Chinese market with a little bit more caution.
• To expand to cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
• Do not be too conservative with information.

However, I held a different opinion to the entry of LinkedIn into China. The stereotype of China being occlusion and autarchic influence people’s judgement on the introduction of LinkedIn into China.

As a Chinese girl, who were born and raised in China, I know how important networking is in a country as huge as China. It provide people with opportunities and information they desperately need to achieve their goals. However, it is hard to stay connect with the people who can help you. Hence, there is a high demand for social network like LinkedIn in China. Also, unlike other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is more professional and more useful in the development of job market. So it might be easier for LinkedIn to be introduced into China. Moreover, the the government’s point of view, the introduction of LinkedIn is also beneficial for the society. First of all, this shows that the government are not overly controlling the media market in China, which is good for the reputation of the government. Second of all, the introduction of LinkedIn will provide entrepreneurs in China with a lot of opportunities to connect with investors and business angles all around the world. This will help boost the economy in China.

To sum up, I think the introduction of LinkedIn in China is more of a trend than a risky decision. LinkedIn, will benefit the society as well as the government.

Internet.org

Everyday, we use the Internet to study, to do research, to use tools like connect and WeBWork. We also use it in our leisure time, to go on social networks, to chat with our families and friends, and to watch movies or listen to musics. The Internet is now a part of our daily life. It is hard to image our life without the Internet. However, the Internet is not accessible for two thirds of the world. Internet.org, a global partnership between technology leaders, nonprofits, local communities and experts, is aiming to change this situation.

Our plan is to make basic internet services affordable, so everyone with a phone can join the knowledge economy.

There is not need for me to list all the benefits this project can bring to people living in rural areas with no access to the Internet. What I want to focus on are the benefits to companies that participated in this project. Firstly, companies can have access to new markets. Internet.org are aiming at countries and areas around the world with no access to the Internet, so when ever Internet.org is introduced to a new countries, companies will have full access to a completely new markets, with high demand to most of their specially designed products. It will take a long time for companies who did not participate in this project to develop and introduce their products to those markets. Secondly, companies can build their reputation by joining this project. As a project that aimed to benefit the society, Internet.org can be consider as an ethical business. Hence, joining this project will build the reputation for companies. Which will increase their customer loyalties and such.

To sum up my thoughts, I consider Internet.org as a win-win project for companies and societies. It provide opportunities for people who have not access to the Internet yet, and it also provide benefits to companies participating in this project.

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Mark Zuckerberg during the Q&A session.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, will be doing a public Q&A on Thursday, November 6 at 2 p.m. He said in his post

We have a tradition at Facebook, where every Friday we have a Q&A and all employees can come and ask me questions about anything they wan. It’s an important of Facebook’s culture. People ask thoughtful questions about why our company is going in certain directions, what I think about things happening in the world, and how we can continue improving our services for everyone. I learn a lot from these Q&As, and the questions people ask help us build better services.

Referring back to what we have discussed in class, I think this is a perfect example of company culture. Facebook, as a leading social network tech company, needs to attract high skilled and experienced talents. This policy inside the company allowed their employees to express their doubts and thoughts directly to the CEO of this company. This is a great motivations especially for engineers who have ambitions. Moreover, as Mark said in his presentation, those questions helped the company to reflect on what they are doing and to improve their product.

By bring this event public, Facebook have the chance to communicate with its users. Listening to customers thoughts will inspire Facebook to improve based on customers need. On the other hand, this event is not all about learning from customers. Through communication, the relationship between the company and customers will be closer. Thus, will help the company to build customer loyalty. Facebook is facing more and more threads from other social networks, such as twitter. This Q&A session will definitely help Facebook gain some advantage over their competitors.

Based on what I learned in class, I think this is it a super smart move for Facebook. Firstly, skilled and experienced talents will prefer Facebook from other Silicon Valley tech companies. Secondly, it help build customer loyalty. Lastly, it can inspire Facebook to make certain changes based on customer’s needs and wants.

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I remember a question in my application form for UBC asking how do I identified myself; aboriginal is one of the many answers. This is the first time I really pay attention to aboriginal problems here in Canada. Relationships between aboriginal people and Canada government is delicate. They tried to corporate with each other, but it is quite clear that their expected outcomes for their corporation are different. Canada government tried to gain resources for economic developments, while aboriginal people tried their best to protect their land and rights. Trades between them are fair and unfair at the same time.

The relationship between government and aboriginal people is not only about politics, but also about businesses. Calgary-based Enbridge wants to run its $7-9 billion Northern Gateway oil and condensate pipelines in the territory of First Nation. This is a decision between huge profits and environmental protection. In this case, I agree with the government’s decision of not building the pipelines. First, the pipeline will past through the heart of Nak’azdli territory – downriver from where the revered chief Kwah is buried. Hence, the pipelines is a thread to historic sites inside First Nation territory. Secondly, the relationship between government and aboriginal people will be destroyed because a group of six First Nations make it clear that

they will not let the oil pipeline be built.

Thus, government should respect their opinions. Thirdly, the territory contains a lot of natural resources. For example, a variety of fishes. So, if the company build the pipelines, the wild lives will be greatly influenced in a negative way.

It is true that the oil company have to make enormous sacrifices and the opportunity cost of this decision is quite high. The government’s decision of not building this pipelines is still undoubtedly correct.

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General Motors, American multinational corporation, faced a total of 445 victim compensation claims now, including 19 death claims, 4 severe injuries, and 8 less severe injuries. Victims or them families who agreed with the compensation and take the money, give up their rights to sue General Motors. This leads to the recalls of more than 30 million cars.

This is an extremely severe damage to the reputation of General Motors. As suggested in the news article

If you own a General Motors vehicle, it’s worth the few seconds it takes to go on the company’s website to check if your car has been recalled

As a car producer, General Motors fails to fulfill the most important need of customers – the safety of the car. When considering purchasing a car, customers might not want to pay for cars by General Motors, because of its poor quality. If vehicle companies wants to attract customers, they should focus on producing high quality cars, which satisfied the need of customers. The future of General Motors will be negatively influenced if the accidents keeps on happening and they keeps on recalling cars. Hence, General Motors should consider improvements they can make to rebuild their reputation and regain its brand loyalty.

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Stereotypes often comes in mind when talking about certain jobs. For example, truck drivers is usually considered as a job for male, instead of female. However, this situation will be changed completely, because of the shortage in truckers.

The American Trucking Associations says the industry is short about 30,000 truckers nationwide. It expects that shortage to surge more than 200,000 truckers in the next decade. The industry is increasingly looking at other demographics — particularly women — to close that gap.

Gender stereotypes is not a issue that happen solely to truckers. The IT industries and the venture capital industries have long been monopolized by male. Not only is the percentage of males significantly higher, but also their treatments. Males have more advantage than females in a lot of industries. For example, they normally receive better salaries, and they can work more flexible.

Gender balance in industries also help with achieving gender equality beyond workplace. Sometimes females is lacking for confidence when it comes to speaking out their ideas, because they are the minority. This makes female the weaker ones comparing with males. Hence, if the stereotypes in industries can be minimized, it will solve or at least temporarily solve gender equality problems in workplaces.

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When talking about personal information leak, public are often the victims. Firms like banks, social network websites and government organizations are required to do what ever they can to protect their customers privacy. If something happens, they will be criticized for being extremely unreliable and will suffer severe reputation crisis. However, the protection of their employees’ privacy, which should be the responsibility of firms, haven’t received enough awareness.

For companies, being ethical means that they try to consider every stakeholder evolved in the business. Employees is unquestionably one of the stakeholders. Hence, companies have the responsibility to protect their employees.

The news report is about how hackers leak personal information of 4,000 bank executives by posting their phone numbers, computer logins and other personal information on a government website, revenge for policies that they say led to the suicide of an Internet activist. Further news articles doesn’t mention banks doing anything to protect their employees.

I think it is unethical for anyone to leak others information for any reasons. It is just unfair to the victim, no matter how powerful they are. Then I started thinking why wasn’t banks doing anything to protect their employees privacy? And why hadn’t this receive enough awareness? These are still questions to be answered. However, I do think that it is the companies’ responsibility to protect their employees.