Entrepreneurship can begin with “imagine living in the future, and find out what’s missing”. Conveniently, Google has done that for us, and all they lack is an entrepreneur. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt discusses technology of tomorrow.

We have previously established Google as a company that utilizes IT to gather information regarding its customers and makes strategic decisions based on this information. Google knows its customers. It knows what they want now, and can easily predict what will be wanted a few years down the line. Google is exhibiting the concept of “living in the future and finding out what’s missing”.

However, this is not the only part where IT comes into play. In order for Google’s automated products to accurately serve its users, it needs accurate information. The example raised in the interview clip is a screen informing its user that he can spend an extra 30 minutes in bed because of good traffic condition. Google’s power as a search engine is perfect for meeting this essential requirement.

The development of technology and the IT sector has allowed the impossible to be materialized. Just as Cole said in class, 50% of the jobs we will undertake when we graduate do not exist today. So, who knows what will happen in the future?

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Mayo’s Hawthorne Effect research, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory; there are countless more studies, like the one outlined in this blog, and theories that attempt to decode employee motivation.

It is often said that employees are an organization’s most valuable assets. Therefore, keeping these ‘assets’ motivated has become crucial. Demotivation leads to absenteeism, higher labor turnover, deteriorated staff morale, altogether causing lost productivity and essentially lost revenue.

Google seems to be the undoubted exemplar of a motivational workplace. Aside from its spectacular amenities available to its employees, FREE OF CHARGE, its corporate culture also plays a major role in fostering such motivation. Scott Henry has mentioned hiring the right people is the first step to creating a satisfied and harmonious workforce. And “right” is measured against Google’s corporate culture. As a company that considers “Googleyness” as a criterion when hiring, the organizational hierarchy is presumably fairly flat. This encourages creativity and teamwork within each level of the hierarchy. In addition, reduced power distance also fosters a greater sense of cohesiveness within the corporation.

All in all, there is a multitude of dimensions to the concept of motivation. Hardware is one, as Google has perfectly exhibited, but the intangible aspects are also equally, if not more, important.

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TeleSign is yet another example of an organization that has unified business and information technology decision-making.

“Who owns it, what kind of phone it is (land line, mobile, VOIP, etc), how long they’ve had it, where they get their service, and which companies and apps they’re attached to” are information TeleSign is able to gather when it has access to any individual’s phone number via its clients. TeleSign leverages this information to “score” the individual to determine whether or not he/she will pass the identity test; which in turn decides whether or not he/she will be offered a service by TeleSign’s client.

The TeleSign Rating System

This practise has been put in place to prevent frauds related to electronic transactions. However, is it ethical? If our phone number truly becomes the authenticator of identity in the future, privacy, if it isn’t already, will become an issue.

From an organization’s perspective, Management Information Systems is an excellent method and platform for getting to know a little bit more about consumers. Though as a consumer, I personally would like to have the right to keep my identity protected.

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A quick search for the definition of “shopping” on dictionary.com has given me this: “to visit shops and stores for purchasing or examining goods.”

Sure, I shop at the mall, stores and shops. Hold on, rephrase: I window-shop at malls, shops and stores. Living in China has redefined shopping for me. I frequently found myself pulling out a measuring tape to check my size in order to make a purchase on Taobao, a Chinese online-shopping site. Shopping has been taken onto a whole new level in China.

Online shopping offers one value proposition regular malls and stores don’t – convenience. There may be other value propositions – like personal assistance – that physical stores offer and online shopping doesn’t, but the benefits of being able to purchase an item without spending over an hour travelling greatly outweighs the cost and risk of the item not fitting. Moreover, flexible return policies have been put in place to address this concern.

As e-commerce continues to develop, and as future generations of children become more dependent on technology, the virtual substitute is undoubtedly a large threat to physical stores and malls. Will we end up in an era of complete-online-shopping? Probably not. But it will probably be a bumpy road ahead for physical stores.

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Single’s Day may not be an official holiday, but it sure is looked forward to as much as any other holiday by the Chinese population. If there is a cure to the depression of being single, it is the excitement of logging onto Taobao and pressing the ‘purchase’ button.

“Tmall.com, one of Alibaba’s shopping sites, said Chinese bought 1.6 million bras, which it helpfully noted would reach three times the height of Mount Everest if folded and stacked, and two million pairs of underpants, which if linked together would stretch 1,800 miles, all before the lunch hour.” (Wang, 2013)

“Made in China” is a label no foreign to any consumer in the world, especially first-world countries. Needless to say, shopping in China can be very cheap. An additional 50% off to that price tag has generated a phenomenal hype in the market, which has not only benefitted Taobao merchants, as outlined by Minqi Lin, but is also perfect for Alibaba as it prepares to launch an IPO that may be valued higher than Facebook. Of course, doubts lie around whether or not this kind of sales and growth rates can sustain without the discounts; but when the business records “402 million unique visitors to its sites” and “processed more than $5.75-billion (U.S.)” in one day, I’d say that’s quite reassuring for investors.

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“Buyer power” doesn’t just describe which party is more superior in a trade scenario. It comes with consequences, and Walmart has perfectly exhibited the ripple effect of when the average Chinese consumer has buyer power against the supermarket giant.

Walmart will be stocking its Chinese stores with upgraded merchandise. Walmart is opening new distribution facilities in China. Walmart is responding to market changes. 

The company is “putting a greater emphasis on better quality fresh food and groceries” by “opening new distribution facilities in China – the need for more rapid distribution will ensure [freshness]”. While this could be a tough task as Walmart risks incurring inventory wastage costs if supply exceeds demand, this added value proposition is exactly what Chinese consumers seek. In light of that, demand will match supply when this practice is put in place. This outcome indicates a shorter shelf life and turnover period for Walmart’s products, which will lower the company’s costs.

While its new distribution facilities in China will reduce Walmart’s lead time, it is simultaneously reducing the distance Walmart’s stocks travel to arrive at its stores. This is creating shared value by redefining productivity in its value chain.

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Xiaomi, a Chinese-based mobile phone company founded in 2010 is compared with Apple. However, I believe we can draw another parallel here – with Dell.

Like Dell, Xiaomi sells directly to its customers, online. This eliminates the middleman which enables the start-up to gain price advantage. Similarly, Xiaomi is also open to customer feedback and its products tend to be market-oriented. The company releases updates and new features in response to feedback and surveys from their customers. This customization, while not as flexible as Dell’s model, adds value to Xiaomi’s mobile devices.

As technology develops and standard of living increases, smartphones are becoming less and less of a luxury good. As so, there is strong competitive rivalry between companies in the industry. Thus, those who can offer the best product at the lowest price are likely to have a greater advantage against those who cannot. Even though Apple remains successful in the sales of its iPhone models, competitors like Xiaomi are offering very similar if not better products at a much lower cost. This is a large threat towards Apple, especially in the Chinese market.

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Coca Cola Canada unveiled its newest downtown Toronto headquarters in April this year. The new facility was designed and built based on combining the diverse needs of the company’s 400 employees. This is undoubtedly a great motivation strategy as the working environment can be a primary hygiene factor (Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory) that causes dissatisfaction among the workforce. Additionally, Elton Mayo’s motivation theory in regards to the Hawthorne Effect justify that workers are more motivated and productive when management takes an interest in the welfare of their staff. Thus, Coca Cola’s move to integrate its some-400 employees’ input and to realise them as a new workplace can greatly improve staff morale in the company.

Aside from being an excellent motivation strategy, designing and building a new headquarters is also Coca Cola’s way of responding to changes in the labour market. The current generation of workforce clearly seek for many more and different aspects of a job – such as flexibility of working from home, quality of working environment and more – when considering one, as outlined in the article. By offering all of that in one workplace, the company is in an optimistic position to attract young workers in today’s society.

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“What do you call a consumer who wants to buy everything you have, doesn’t care what it costs and is less than five feet tall? A marketer’s dream? Nope. You call them kids.” (qtd. in Marwick)

Advertisement and marketing campaigns targeted at children have come a long way since making their first appearance in 1952, when Mr. Potato Head was first advertised on television. (Kelly) Today, ‘pester power’ has become a common term that is used to describe situations where children are persistently pestering their parents for “commercially available treats”. (Kelly) Children lack the cognitive development as well as knowledge to fully understand and differentiate between a marketing tactic and pure entertainment, let alone being able to make an informed decision regarding a purchase or product. That is the very reason why I personally believe that marketing campaigns designed to encourage pester power is an unethical business practise. However, that may also be the very reason why marketers target children – to utilise their naiveness, since any business’ only social responsibility is to use its resources to increase its profits, as Milton Friedman outlined in “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”.

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