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

               United Nations (UN) was established in 1945 with the purpose of maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations and promoting social progress – better living standards and human rights. The organization works on internationally seen problems, ranging from refugee protection to gender equality to social developments and many more. However, with a great variety of political and social issues occurring simultaneously around the world, the United Nations is only to, despite being fully funded, monitor all current problems.

                Thus, social enterprises are established to focus on improving a specific social value. Because the UN has many issues to oversee, the purpose of social enterprises is to dedicate more time and efforts directly in ameliorating current situations. For example, World Vision International, founded in 1950, has developed into one of the largest relief organisations in the world (source from here). They work directly alongside with the UN to focus on improving social issues. Another example is the Arc Initiative which pushes for improving third world countries’ situation by educating children about business management and leadership. The Arc believes that “the best method to increasing economic well-being is to through developing business education” (source from here).

Ultimately, even if the United Nations was fully funded, social enterprises are still necessary for in the world because it focuses on specific social problems which the United Nations is unable to tackle, due to its broad range of International political and social duties.

http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Global_Reach/ARC_Initiative/About_ARC

http://www.wvi.org/un

http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/

In response to Emily Tong, her recent blog post regarding Jennifer Martin’s SIP soda experience well reflected my personal feelings on the importance of packaging. Not only does it better display your product but it is also a means to differentiate your items from other similar products.

As Emily depicted, the packaging of SIP soda consists of a glass bottle with a simple, bright refreshing color graphics. The packaging, for example the label’s white base color, directly reflects the Jennifer’s goals: an “authentic, healthy, barely sweet” drink. Furthermore, Jennifer Martin explained that the color scheme for each drink reflects each soda’s flavour. Another means of differentiation that SIP Soda uses is its unique flavours – Lavender Lemon-Peel, Rosemary Line, and Coriander. Ultimately, SIP Soda is currently in a niche market, located on Focused Differentiation strategy because of SIP pushed for natural, healthy soda, with unique naturally infused flavours.

The importance of packaging can also be seen with the large range of water pricing in grocery stores. For example, DASANI water and VOSS water are both known for their pure and refreshing tastes. However, they differ in packaging; VOSS uses clear thick glass bottles whereas DASANI aims for an innovative plastic bottle design. The difference in bottling material greatly changes the price per bottle. For example, DASANI 500ml costs approximately $1.50 in comparison to VOSS 500ml which costs a little more than $2.00.

Thus, packaging is one of the greatest price contributors towards the cost of an item and it greatly reflects the message the company wishes to deliver.

http://www.sipsoda.com/

https://www.vosswater.com/

Emily’s Blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/emilytong/

My classmates and I had the opportunity to interact with UBC Alumni who started their own entrepreneurship. One speaker’s innovation jumped out at me the most, Tangoo – a social outing phone application. As noted in Tangoo blog, Paul, the UBC Alumni, instantly made me agree and want to use the Tangoo application.

 This application provides you many dining options based on a survey of your mood and goals. Its value proposition comes from its well-centered and concentrated restaurant data system with price ranges, Tangoo app user’s views, price ranges, and even a map directory. Ultimately, users can easily find the perfect dining location for their outing.

Furthermore, Paul emphasized that “Tangoo’s mission is to give you back your time and to facilitate new experiences for you and your friends”. I strongly agree with the importance of this aspect. With rapid technology developments and greater use of social media, the communication has shifted from face-to-face to humans-and-electronic-devices. It has even been proven by sociologist that kids born into this new era (the era of technology) have more direct communication problems. Thus, I believe that Tangoo’s notion of reconnecting friends in a quick and stress-free manner is so simple yet impacting on our life.

https://blog.tangoo.ca/why-the-world-needs-tangoo/

Recently Amazon announced its new product, Echo – a home stereo speaker. So, why is it unique? Echo differentiates from other speakers with the inclusion of a built-in digital assistant, Alexa. Alexa is aimed to help you at home ranging from finding online resources to helping you with timekeeping.

However, with current technology developments, Amazon’s Alexa is much too similar to Apple’s Siri. This built-in assistant feature automatically puts Echo as a direct competitor with Apple products. In my opinion, the direct competition brings Amazon marketing and sales trouble in many ways. Firstly, consumers see a lack of purpose to purchase an item which they already “have”, a phone with built-in assistant features and home speakers. Secondly, Amazon needs to demonstrate why Echo is necessary for one’s home and how it is different from other speakers and electric devices. Yet, Echo’s similar features with Apple products makes the home speaker simply a “nice to have” item not a necessity. Ultimately, Amazon will face and should project for lower sales quantities.

Amazon, however, is promoting its new product – Echo – while strengthening its customer relationship at the same time. Echo will be offered through an invite-only basis start where, for Amazon Prime members, Echo costs only $99 in comparison to the $199 regular price. This is reflective of a marketing strategy by promoting Echo through Amazon’s loyal customers, while giving back to these Prime member with the “first pick” option.

http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-debuts-siri-like-digital-assistant-echo-for-your-home/

Recently, Tim Horton’s company merger with fast food restaurant Burger King reached my ears. Many of my friends, including myself, were confused as to the Tim Horton’s decision. I feel that their current decision will weaken their currently communicated value proposition – a Canadian drink. Proven scientifically that “Canadians believe Time Hortons is reflective of Canada” (Gollom), people will begin to forget that Tim Hortons came from Canada.

Yet, by merging Tim Horton’s and Burger King, Tim Horton’s is able to expand its market regions into the United States. This actions not only creates a new source of revenue but it also gives Tim Horton’s an official entrance into the big competitive market with Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Blenz Coffee. By cooperating with Burger King, Tim Horton’s is able to strengthen its brand awareness through its expansion opportunity and the financial support from Burger King’s. Furthermore, because Burger Kings is already well established in the US, its brand will act as a medium for Tim Horton’s to start-up as a “new company” in the states and eventually globally.

               However, Tim Horton’s will need to change some of its marketing strategies when targeting customers. Because some of the current tactics used the notion of “a Canadian brand” to attract customers in Canada, Tim Horton’s will face more marketing and promotion difficulties with the loss of a main connection with its customers in the United States.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/how-the-burger-king-deal-could-change-tim-hortons-1.2746620