As described in lectures, social enterprises are firms that exist in order to provide a product or service while serving their respective communities in the social, environmental or cultural fields. However, one of the main aspects of these firms are to eventually retain profits. This does not take away from the firms social, environmental or cultural goals, but provides incentives for them to innovate their practices and in turn improve the standards for the fields they are interested in enhancing. For instance, if a firm exists for the purpose of cleaning the environment, all the while earning profits, their decisions to lower costs by purchasing less capitol and more labour – provided this lowers their production costs – can not only earn them higher profits but will create new jobs and reduce pollution on the environment (since machines are more likely to release pollutants than people). Although, certain professionals believe that newer methods may increase social enterprises’ chances of profitability. For example, a blog written on the Canada Business Network named How Social Media Can Be Used By Social Enterprises (http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/4364/)  explains that the use of online networking may improve these firms’ abilities to practice their environmental, cultural or social duties and to do so more effectively. The author states that social media can increase these social enterprises chances of “making partnerships…identifying financial contributors…recruiting volunteers with the right skills…crowd sourcing new ideas or solutions…[and] promoting [their] mission” (Canada Business Network 2013). Personally, I agree with these ideas because I see social media as a strong method of ensuring sustainability in the marketing aspects of companies which can increase consumer awareness. Also, since the goals of these firms are to improve social, environmental or cultural aspects of the regions they practice in, increased awareness can cause these firms to be more successful because then more people will actually be aware of what the firm is doing. In example, reconsider the firm whose aim was to improve environmental standards in their community; increased awareness of their goals can cause society to decrease their pollution (through correct marketing methods) or even increase the amount of volunteers the firm has. The former would decrease their costs since there would be less pollution to prevent, and the ladder would also decrease their costs since they would have to pay a lesser average for their labour costs. Overall, social enterprises must seek profits in the long run; the use of online networking can increase their chances of profitability and also causes them to innovate and improve their social, environmental or cultural duties.

Works Cited:

“How Social Media Can Be Used by Social enterprises.” Canada Business Network. Government of Canada, 7 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/4364/>.

Article URL:

http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/4364/

A lean start-up strategy is a somewhat newer concept (in the fields entrepreneurship and management) as opposed to its alternative, the more secretive business plan. As displayed in their article, the Lean Start-Up Strategy (https://blogs.ubc.ca/sayheytojae/2013/11/16/lean-start-up-strategy/), which examines the benefits of a lean start-up, Jaehsong mentions that methods such as customer/product research and agile development should be ongoing processes that should be practiced by firms not only during their start-up phase but throughout their entire existence. I personally agree with this idea because it ensures that even in this new day and age of technological improvement – which is expanding at an exponential rate – companies may protect themselves against changing markets and customer preferences when in the past they may have had to make drastic changes to their business model. Additionally, the fact that lean start-up’s prove to be less costly provides a significant advantage to firms who choose to practice through agile development; and a low cost firm will always have that advantage over its competitors. Therefore, the ever changing technological advances in today’s industries are suggesting that firms must always be assessing their position and products to ensure that they can adapt to constantly changing customer preferences. The lean start-up method is very effective at starting a company, but may also be extremely efficient as an on-going self-assessment process.

Article URL:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/sayheytojae/2013/11/16/lean-start-up-strategy/

An important common tool for business practices and financial safety is the break-even tool. Although it may seem like an application that may only be used by business students early on in their commerce career in order to understand corporate practices, the break-even tool is actually a significant concept which can cause many firms to realize what they are doing wrong or even some unnecessary costs they may have. For example, a company called McLaren had to withstand the same procedures. The exotic car company just recently entered the Formula 1 industry just over three years ago. Since their start-up, they had been incurring serious costs to an extent where they were losing money for a substantial period of time. However, according to an article on The Guardian, they made serious financial re-considerations which caused them to break even just towards the end of this calendar year. The author of the article, Angela Monaghan, stated that McLaren’s “Operating losses at the three-year-old business fell to £10.9m last year from £59.1m in 2011 and it expects to break even this year” (The Guardian 2013). Additionally, ever since the luxury automobile firm decided to cut costs and revolutionize their production methods, their demand has risen considerably: “Last year sales almost quadrupled to 1,587 cars from 400 in 2011, as the company benefited from the first full year of production of the McLaren 12C and the launch year of the 12C Spider” (The Guardian 2013). These immense rises in demand and decreases in costs are clear repercussions of the company’s use of the break-even tool. They realized that they must produce and sell a certain number of goods (A.K.A. luxury cars) in order to break even and did so based on their knowledge of the established demand for their product – they decided to build only “375 P1s, which cost £866,000 and can achieve 0-62mph in less than three seconds” (The Guardian 2013). Ultimately, McLarens proper use of microeconomic concepts along with the break-even tool caused them to not only break-even, but quadruple their sales in one year. The basic tools taught to students in Commerce 101 set the correct foundation for sustainable business practices and set the ground for successful careers in the future.

Works Cited:

Monaghan, Angela. “McLaren Drives down Losses and Expects to Break Even This Year.”The Guardian. Theguardian.com, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/sep/30/mclaren-losses-down-break-even>.

Article URL:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/sep/30/mclaren-losses-down-break-even

One of the main aspects of profitability which lies in the heart of many firms’ internal maxims is employee productivity. Human Resources and Organizational Cultures within companies have a strong effect on the success of the firm and reflect highly on their profitability. Moreover, it is significantly cheaper for firms to retain their employees rather than hire new ones, so the companies that are effective at keeping their employees not only save a lot of internal costs in the long run, but also prove to be more productive. One may wonder why productivity is linked with employee retention. Well, this is directly related to Human Resources and Organizational Cultures. According to the article “Happiness at Work: Why Money Isn’t the Only Thing That Matters” on CNN’s Thinking Business, companies tend to offer their employees higher salaries or bonuses in order to persuade them to be more productive. However, according to Dr. Matthew Lieberman: “This is not a recipe for long term success” (CNN 2013). This illustrates that lying at the root of employee productivity may just be the simple concept of employee happiness and appreciation. Additionally, Lieberman goes on to state that “fair treatment, praise from others, and even the opportunity to help someone in need are all socially rewarding and activate the brain’s most primitive pleasure centers” (CNN 2013). The simple concept is: keep your employees happy, and they will be more productive than if you offer them monetary values. These concepts or ideas are directly linked to sustainable business practices and will ensure greater returns in the long run than the outdated methods of offering incentive’s (money). In Commerce 101, we learned about the methods used by the Human Resources departments of firms and how effective they can be in improving the firm’s productivity and decreasing costs/increasing profits. Evidently, employee happiness is a similar concept which lies under the same principles, and should be considered by managers more frequently.

Works Cited:

Lieberman, Dr. Matthew. “Happiness at Work: Why Money Isn’t the Only Thing That Matters.” CNN. Cable News Network, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/31/business/happiness-at-work-why-money/index.html>.

Article URL:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/31/business/happiness-at-work-why-money/index.html

The concepts of Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise are major aspects of business that are growing at an exponential rate. Regions such as Africa, India and parts of South America are proving to be the grounds for extreme potential in the entrepreneurship sector. Specifically, Africa has been the subject of hot topic as investors, entrepreneurs and corporations alike have been realizing the potential for significant profits in the region. For instance, there are individuals who have seized the opportunities and become what are called “Afropolitans” and “Afropreneurs”.  These are individuals who seek to make profits through the political and business aspects of the region. Among these entrepreneurs is a man called Tony Elumelu. He is an extremely successful business man in Africa and – according to an article on CNN – refers to himself as an “Afrocapitalist”. Elumelu’s definition of the term Afrocapitalist is the economic philosophy “that the African private sector has the power to transform the continent through long-term investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth” (CNN 2013).  This is a very good example of new ideas emerging in a place where a few decades ago there may have been the notion that there is low potential for growth. Furthermore, the concept of long-term private investments from domestic firms within Africa is extremely new and may bring about significant profits in its future. The fact that Elumelu was able to see this opportunity and apply his business skills to the region proves to be the right necessities for a successful entrepreneur. In Commerce 101, we have discussed the concepts of entrepreneurship and social enterprise and have even linked projects such as the ARC Initiative to our curriculum. What Tony Elumelu is practicing in Africa can be directly linked to the same concepts we have learned and is an evident case of success in the region.

Works Cited:

Nurse, Earl, and Jill Dougherty. “Tony Elumelu: The ‘Africapitalist’ Who Wants to Power Africa.” CNN. Cable News Network, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/12/business/tony-elumelu-africapitalist-africa/index.html>.

Article URL:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/12/business/tony-elumelu-africapitalist-africa/index.html