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

The Arc Initiative Ethiopia Team

Social entrepreneurs are lone pioneers that develop innovative solutions to social problems by disrupting the status quo and implement them on a large scale. There is a need for social enterprises despite United Nations being fully funded as they are designed to fill the spaces in existing services that cannot be delivered by other sectors.

Firstly, I believe that social enterprises such as the Arc initiative are needed in order to achieve a sustainable, long-term impact through their social mission, which results in a more equal distribution of benefits for the people. In contrast, the UN only solves issue at hand that creates a short-term impact. For example, after the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, United Nations helped to support the immediate recovery and reconstruction of Haiti through their stabilization mission (MINUSTAH). However, this still results in an unequal distribution of benefits for the people. Therefore, this is where social enterprises come to play.

Second, I believe that social enterprises are needed for new innovations and solutions for social development. Yes, the UN may be able to recover and stabilize the country, but this is not enough. Social enterprises are essential in developing a social value proposition and therefore, creating a new and stable equilibrium through alleviating the neglected and highly disadvantaged population.

In conclusion, even though social enterprises may not seem to be in an international scale, I think that it can be replicated globally to provide a better future for the society.

Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce company that has been proved successful in China. After reading Serinda Kong’s blog and learning that Alibaba has started entering international markets such as the United States, I personally agree with her view to a certain extent.

Like Serinda, I think that Alibaba employs differentiation strategy in its business. TaoBao, an online shopping website that is also operated by Alibaba, provides a platform for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs to sell their products online. This is an excellent example of a differentiation strategy Alibaba has already employed. However, I believe that in order to enter and dominate the international market where there is a continuous and rapid innovation, I strongly believe that Alibaba should focus on changing its differentiation strategy by offering unique attributes that are valued by international customers.

Given its major counterfeit issue, I believe that Alibaba should focus more on innovative and high quality products in order to expand out of China. In my opinion, the majority of people in developed countries expect quality products over cheap, counterfeit products. Previously successful for having a value proposition based on its Chinese customers’ wants and needs, I believe that Alibaba should also start realizing its international customers’ wants and needs that big companies such as Amazon have not met in developed countries. The faster Alibaba realizes this and provides innovative and high quality products, the better the chances for it to enter the international market and achieve success.

Will Apple Pay be successful in making mobile payments mainstream? I personally disagree. While Apple has built partnerships with major U.S banks and large chains such as Wal-Mart, Gap and McDonald’s, skeptics argue that other large chains do not accept Apple Pay. Starbucks, too, who has long adopted its very own mobile payment app and has become a mainstream in customers’ daily purchases, do not accept Apple Pay as their means of payment.

The introduction of Apple Pay is an excellent example of a disruptive innovation as it disrupts the existing methods of transaction by replacing cash and credit cards with mobile payments. However, despite the attractiveness and convenience of Apple Pay, I believe that the transition from traditional methods of payments to mobile payments is a challenging one, as it requires buy-in from different players. This could increase costs for retailers, as they should purchase new systems to be able to accept payments from mobile phones. Banks and credit cards issuers also have to buy-in. Furthermore, phone thefts are commonplace, and mobile payments are very susceptible to frauds and scams. Therefore, in my opinion, the introduction of Apple Pay does more harm than good, and it is important for people to understand that not all disruptive innovations are beneficial.

The principle of shared value states that businesses can create economic value and at the same time, also creates value for the society through addressing its needs. Nestlé, a Switzerland-based food and beverage company, demonstrates this concept. Nestlé is best positioned to create shared value in the field of rural development. This was done by increasing farmers’ income and through the provision of financial support for them. Nestlé also helps low-income farmers to become suppliers of their own agricultural produce through its “Agripreneurship” program, hence generating income to support their families and grow their businesses. A total of 300,000 farmers were trained through capacity-building programs in 2013 and 47.6 million Swiss francs were given as financial assistance to dairy farmers. Nestlé also aims to increase transparency and traceability in its supply chain to share them with its consumers and stakeholders.

In my view, Nestlé demonstrates the concept of shared value perfectly. It addresses the needs of the society, in this case to build an environment conducive to farming and also supporting farming as a business, to fulfill both its ethical duty and the growth of its business. In terms of its business growth, I believe that it will maintain a secure and long-term supply of ingredients with its farmers, which will be essential for the growth of global demand. Nestlé’s transparency in sharing where and how their ingredients originate to suppliers will also improve its practices, hence improving its brand reputation internationally.

Google’s office in Dublin.

From free-of-charge haircuts to personal chef-prepared meals, it is no surprise that Google is one of the best companies to work for. The reason why Google can achieve this lies on the intangible – an excellent organizational culture that stands in contrast to the organizational culture of other companies. Google’s organizational culture tends towards innovation and creativity. And for them, this means designing offices in a way to promote the process of new ideas and providing many benefits for the happiness of their employees.

Whilst some may argue that the elimination of a well-defined leader may cause confusion as to who is in charge, I believe that the lack of top-down management hierarchies in Google provides a more dynamic and open environment for every employee to voice out their ideas and thoughts. This creates a positive environment in the office, which will make the employees more productive. Google also provides many perks for employees such as a free health and dental insurance. Obviously, all these perks come with a cost for Google. However, this is truly essential for Google to retain top-notch, intelligent and talented individuals.

Yes, I do agree that the success of Google’s organizational culture may not apply to other companies, which operates on strict and conservative rules. However, I strongly believe that an essential thing other companies should learn from Google is to shape a positive community without having to use coercion. This will provide meaning to their people’s work and will bring out the best in their employees.

The conflict between the development of a proposed New Prosperity mine at Fish Lake and the natives who declared the mine site as a tribal park has greatly impacted Taseko Mines’ expansion plans. Despite Taseko Mines’ statement of their plan to preserve the Fish Lake, the Tsilhqot’in people are still against the mine in the area. The Tsilhqot’in people aims to protect their culture, nature and land. The Tsilhqot’in government, along with First Nations and the minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, are all in support of the Tsilhqot’in people, which further put Taseko Mines at a disadvantage. Federal panels and government have rejected Taseko Mines twice, and other treats will also arise if the tribal park is designated as a provincial Class A full protection status.

Taseko Mines has been trying to refute what First Nations and federal governments claim, given the $1.1-billion they have invested for this project. However, this is just a waste of time and effort. Instead, Taseko Mines should settle the dispute through conciliation. Thie can be done by formally meeting the First Nations government to negotiate a joint management system like that of Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Park. This can be achieved by giving shares to the Tsilhqot’in people and include them as part of Taseko Mines’ management. I believe that merely providing employment for the Tsilhqot’in people will not be enough. Also, Taseko Mines should also increase their transparency in all decisions made and information of the gold-copper mining. In this way, a more positive relationship between Taseko Mines and the Tsilhqot’in people will be established.

Drawing from Minnie’s post, I was gripped by her idea that physical stores and online stores are separate channels that are happening on their own. Yes, it is true that some online shopping has emerged due to its cost leadership strategy, aiming at a broad market from around the world. However, there are also successful online stores that implement differentiation strategy. These kind of online stores are usually introduced after an existing physical store. Therefore, these kind of online stores do not necessarily have low costs, but instead, they offer unique attributes that are valued by customers.

Whilst Minnie argued that physical and online stores are separate channels, I believe that both have merged and a large number of consumers cross channels in their shopping path. Most successful physical stores nowadays also provide online shopping, as consumers expect options when they shop. For example, having an online store allows their products to be attainable by customers from different parts of the world. Also, other consumers can research their products before coming in-store to purchase. Physical stores are also essential, as certain products require face-to-face interactions.

Nevertheless, there are also downsides to a multi-channel sales strategy. There are problems associated with this approach, from difficulty in managing inventory and cash flow to ensuring even demand in both channels. To conclude, I still believe that a company with a good operation management and staying up-to-date with information of customers’ desires, balancing retail this way is an effective approach for a successful business.

Chicory is a New York based online recipe website that not only provide tasty food recipes but also provide instant grocery delivery to your doorstep. When customers have chosen a recipe, they can get all the ingredients directly delivered to them through Chicory’s delivery partners. Chicory uses point-of-sale marketing strategy to attract other brands that want their products to be featured in Chicory’s website when customers are choosing ingredients for their recipes. Moreover, Chicory also partnered with America’s leading Internet grocer, Peapod, which provides a variety of brands and also provides instant delivery services across 24 U.S. Markets. The success of Chicory also attracts other top recipe sites, which increases their footprint; customers can also choose recipes from other sites but still order their ingredients through Chicory. Chicory also hopes that they will attract other major online grocers such as Amazon Fresh in the near future.

I personally am really interested in what Chicory does. I believe that they have the right target consumers, which are busy people. They fulfill their customers’ need of cooking delicious, healthy food efficiently. If they manage to partner up with other top online grocers such as Amazon Fresh, Chicory will not only able to showcase different brands but also act as a price comparison between different delivery services. This will lead to increasing quality, more competitive price and reduced delivery times. I think that this will have a huge, positive impact not only for Chicory, but also for the future growth of online groceries.

Harvard Business School Professor, Clayton Christensen, first introduced the jobs-to-be-done mechanism. He believes that this mechanism is an effective way for the success of new products instead of analyzing existing data. This mechanism works by firstly surveying and interviewing the customers, asking them what job the product does for them and finally, deciding on the jobs to be done. This knowledge allows the company to produce a better product for customers. Christensen gave an example of a milkshake company. After a thorough documentation, he found out that most customers bought the milkshake in the morning before they commute and the reason for it was that the thick liquid of the milkshake gave them a sense of enjoyment. Through this mechanism, the company managed to increase their sales of milkshakes having known the job to be done, which was to create an even thicker milkshake.

Personally, I agree with Professor Christensen to a certain extent. The “job-to-be-done” is not always obvious from the customer’s point of view. It takes a lot of tedious and careful documentation of consumer’s behaviour towards the product. Companies should never assume they know what a customer wants; instead they should identify and collect data about consumers’ behaviour and what job they want your product to do for them. However, I disagree with Professor Christensen when he stated that analysis and planning are the reasons why most new products fail. One of the reasons why most new products fail is probably because they do not meet a perceived need, but it is certainly not because of analysis and planning.

Freeport Indonesia, an American-owned miner, faced adverse consequences in the banning of exports of raw mineral ores by the Indonesian government. Papua, located in Indonesia, has the world’s fifth largest copper mine. Many large mining industries from all over the world are highly dependent on mining in Indonesia for many years now. This includes Freeport, which is a premier US-based natural resource company. However, Freeport has been exporting most of the copper as concentrate to escape from government taxes in Indonesia. I believe that this is a form of unethical business, as tax revenue will decrease and the funds for public services in Indonesia such as healthcare will be reduced, thus Indonesian people will be at a disadvantage. Therefore, the Indonesian government implemented a new regulation for Freeport to build their own smelter in Indonesia by raising taxes and can export only processed minerals. I strongly believe that this has many positive effects on Indonesia, as there will be an increase in domestic employment through the building of new smelters. Also, tax revenue will increase and hence the standard of living will also increase. A better infrastructure around the mining area will also be beneficial to the mining industries.