Canada may have gotten just a little more fashionable.

Global expansionism: every big label comes to this idea after profits having been successful over a certain period in time. Ted Baker, a British fashion label, has decided to expand from its international markets of Beijing, Germany, and the Netherlands, to North America, specifically in Canada.

The difference between the expansion into Canada is that Ted Baker is specifically setting up a Ted Baker store in Toronto. In the U.S. they have only been infiltrating stores like Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s in New York City, which has been delayed by Hurricane Sandy. Global expanisonism: the long-term investment into development. We shall see which other clothing brands make the trip overseas to our shores.

Here is a link to the article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/ted-baker-set-to-open-in-canada/article5327793/#

Just thinking today about my future generation and our workforce, I started to wonder how we will be able to be as productive as our parents are now currently in the workforce. Through a random google search I found some interesting points on how we, Generation Y, will be motivated by our bosses to continue and improve on the work from other generations:

1. Teach (and show) them they are making a difference. This is a generation that wants to make a bigger impact on the world we live in and they show it with their purchasing power. Having a consistent and clear strategy for making our world a better place makes communicating the impacts back to our team straightforward and actionable.

2. Embrace social media. Digital and social media play a huge role for Generation Y and as employers we need to accept and find ways to work with it. By making it possible for Generation Y to use social media tools at work (within reason, of course), you show them that you understand and respect that their lives outside of work are important, too.

Today in North America the use of forced labour is obviously limited, but it still occurs all around the world, particularly in Asian countries. IKEA, the Swedish furniture company, just admitted on Friday however that they benefitted from forced prison labour in Eastern Germany over two decades ago. This brings up an interesting point–how do we know where the labour force is truly coming from? Supposedly the prison workers who manufactured the goods for IKEA suffer from psychological and physical scars, and the head of IKEA Germany stated that they will continue looking into an investigation to compensate them.

This really brings attention to North Americans and Europeans that even companies that are so insulated in our society have also committed horrid acts with people like ourselves. But, if this were an article about child labour in Thailand or Malaysia, would anyone blink? Probably not. On a domestic scale we can assume that anything committed back in the 70s’ will be figured out and most likely investigated. But, this also shows on an international level we should be wary of other labour forces and their policies when it comes to manufacturing outside our Western countries.

“The 2007–08 Kenyan crisis refers to a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that erupted in Kenya after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election held on December 27, 2007. Supporters of Kibaki’s opponent, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, alleged electoral manipulation. This was widely confirmed by international observers, perpetrated by both parties in the election.”

The political violence that erupted in Kenya in 2007- 08 after disputed election increase the countries economic problems of a country which is known as one of Africa’s most prosperous and tourist-friendly states, as well as that of its neighboring nations.

After multiple studies were made, Economist declared that Kenya had suffered up to one billion U.S. dollars in losses due to the violence that followed after President Mwai Kibaki’s rigging of the votes. This subsequent violence ended up in tallied death of 600 people.

Tourism in Kenya is known as the wealthiest sectors in the country due to the beaches and safaris it has to offer. After the election, this sector was the most severely hit. Occupancy in hotels dropped up to 20% as news coverage on rioting and looting caused many of the tourists to give up their trips to Kenya.

An interesting opinion article was recently written about the new age of social entrepreneurship.

For those who do not know the definition, here it is, from wikipedia.org: “Social entrepreneurship is the recognition of a social problem and the uses of entrepreneurial principles to organise, create and manage a social venture to achieve a desired social change. While a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur also measures positive returns to society. Thus, the main aim of social entrepreneurship is to further broaden social, cultural, and environmental goals.”

It is an interesting article that reflects what the main goal of business should be. Our generation, after inheriting the mess from our parents, has a lot to work on in terms of recreating global balance, economically, culturally, socially. With business, we can find a way to economically benefit the world and ourselves. But, what’s your take on social entrepreneurship?

There has been particularly focused on the end of the Hostess Brands Inc., and a concern about what is going to happen to the infamous product, Twinkies. Instead of focusing on the negative there though, however, here is an investigation how the uncertain future of Twinkies is ushering a new era of health and organic products that, especially the United States, will benefit our generation and generations to come.

According to the Globe and Mail, the company has 36 brands of the company to sell off, including “Twinkies, Wonder Bread, Ding Dongs and Drakes.” I realize that Twinkies have been the iconic American snack, however, let’s look at gross facts about Twinkies that will help change your view about them:

1. Twinkies have been subjected to many scientific experiments, including gravitational response tests and radiation tests

2. One Twinkie contains 19 g of sugar, equivalent to almost 5 tsp. The American Heart Association recommends keeping added sugar intake to 6 tsp. per day for women and 9 tsp. per day for men

3. One man ate 24 twinkies in one minute, which was 3,600 calories

The end of Twinkies means the end of the multiple high school experiments, conducting the longevity of them, and hopefully the end of the unhealthy snack foods for kids to fall victim to.

Workers of every industry have had their ups and downs, moving through the ranks in business. Supposedly, putting in ones time and working those long hours has been the way into promotions and a better position in ones career. But, it’s been difficult to attain any concrete evident proving that a longer work day maximizes a workers output, The New York Times has yet again published an inside look and initiates conversation about whether or not working longer hours produces a better worker.

In any business, one would want to maximize its efficiency, for obvious reasons. That’s how one makes money and contributes. But, ineffectively using employees does not promote that product maximization, and could drag a company further into the red. It depends on the type of business one works for.

Oil issues have continued to bombard media outlets throughout the 2000’s. However, there may be possible solutions to our world crisis, if one looks back to the New York Times June 2005 article entitled, “Japan does the most with least oil”. This seems like a far stretch, but when the United States president has approved an oil drill expedition in the Arctic, as reported by Joseph Luiz, though it is potentially dangerous to the surrounding marine life, there is no harm looking back into the past.

The Japanese government then was initiating campaigns around hybrid vehicles, and replacing older appliances. This may not seem like a huge impact, but when one looks at the Japanese statistics, it’s evident that they don’t have much more to do to reverse the effects of extreme oil dependency. Japan imports 96% of its fossil fuels, and only produces only 4% within country. Companies within Japan have successfully created ways to use scraps for energy.

Though every world power continues to struggle with the rise in crude oil and oil wars and resorting to destroying marine life for the sake of oil, Japan has founded a lasting system to combat this global catastrophe.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also known as the BP oil spill, is the most disastrous spill to occur in the Gulf of Mexico. For three months 53,000 barrels of oil ebbed and flowed unabated within its waters before engineers were able to cap the cascading oil gusher. The main, original business ethical issue involved the faultiness of BP and fellow companies, and how the main company, BP, attempted to work with cheaper material and cheaper labour, thereby increasing the chances of a oil gusher blowout. The accident caused expansive destruction to the gulf’s marine and wildlife habitats, and tourism industries. That was back in 2010. Another issue that has come up recently is the attempt by the U.S. Government to withhold documents dictating the “true” extent of the damage, as claimed by the company. So, this looks into the government and business relationship, and how much involvement should be done in global businesses, such as BP. As reported by The Independent, Washington disclosed an amount of 4.9 million barrels of oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. However, BP has refuted that claim, accusing the U.S. of differing estimates and suppressing documents to prove the extent of the damage was extraordinarily lower than officially stated.