The troubles given by Iphone.

“I will say that iPhones in general are good smartphones but not great. They are excellent entry level to mid range smartphones. But in the end it does not matter what I say because as long as their is an Apple logo on it, people will mindlessly buy it.”-Athanasios Zarkadas

I am an Iphone user and I do acknowledge the strengths of Iphone. However, facing the troubles and inconvenience brought by Iphone, should we step back and rethink the value of Iphone?

When consumers choose monthly plan, most of people will choose the most economical one, as long as the mobile company support the cell phone we already have. For example, Wind Mobile provide $25 per month with everything unlimited. However, this economical monthly plan is not supportive for Iphone. Thus, Iphone user can’t benefit from the cheap plan provided by Wind mobile. Iphone users can choose Fido $25 monthly plan, but only get 150mins talk during day time and unlimited text within Canada.

The one of the reasons that Iphone users can’t have cheap phone bill is that the network of Iphone differentiates from mobile companies that provide cheaper monthly plan.

“We do not have the iPhone. Apple’s current iPhone is not compatible with the WIND network (AWS/1700 Megahertz/BandIV). When we hear an AWS iPhone is in the works, believe us, we’ll be knocking Apple’s door to get the scoop!” said a staff of Wind Mobile.

Wind Mobile as well as other cheaper mobile company such as Mobilicity, can provide services for HTC users and Samsung users, but not Iphone users.

Mobile companies are looking forward to cooperate with Apple so that more Iphone users can benefit.

Picking Brand Names in China Is a Business Itself.

Western companies looking to bring their products to China face a problem not unlike that of Chinese parents naming a baby boy: little Gang (“strong”) is regarded quite differently than little Yun (“cloud”).

An off-key name could have serious financial consequences, due to the negative meaning of the translated name. For example, Microsoft should be careful. The phonetic Chinese character for Bing, its new search engine, means, “disease,” “defect,” and “virus.”

However, a successful translated brand name brings good brand images and stimulates consumers’ interests to buy the products.

The paradigm probably is the Chinese name for Coca-Cola, Kekoukele, which not only sounds like Coke’s English name, but conveys its essence of taste and fun in a way that the original name could not hope to match.There are many others. Consider Tide detergent, Taizi, whose Chinese characters literally mean “gets rid of dirt.”

The art of picking a brand name that resonates with Chinese consumers is no longer an art. It has become a sort of science, with consultants, computer programs and linguistic analyses. So far, there are already some professional companies running translation brand name as a business.

However, if we could come up with a universal appealing brand name, wouldn’t we save money to think of translation, making the brand name world-widely famous once the brand succeeds!

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/world/asia/picking-brand-names-in-china-is-a-business-itself.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/12/world/asia/chinese-products-in-translation.html?ref=asia

http://blog.birdsonggregory.com/blog/voice/choosing-the-right-product-name-in-another-language (outside li)

 

Branding strategy: An universal brand name!

After reading A Look at Branding Strategies from Fidèle Armstrong’s Blog, I was inspired to research more on branding strategies.

A good Brand name helps companies increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, especially when a local brand explores oversea market.

Paris Baguette cafe is a famous for its up-scale french style cake, cookies and bakeries in Chinese market.

As a fan of Paris Baguette,I used to believe that it is a French company not only because of the French style products but also the French brand name. However, Paris Baguette is a Korean company, headquartered in Seongnam Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Personally I like this brand name very much because it introduces the main product- French Baguette and tells consumers the key character of this brand is French bakeries.

Besides, a English-French name supports its oversea expansion. Language used in brand name can partly influence the brand image. Paris baguette leaves a French style image in my mind, which makes me more willing to purchase bread there because of the good reputation of French bakeries.

Now, customers can find Paris Baguette in US, Singapore, China and Korea.

Compared with Paris Baguette, a Chinese bakery chain store (Dao Xiang Cun)which is famous for traditional Beijing pastries is using the antiquated Chinese name and a simple PinYin name to help foreigners recognize.

The PinYin translation is unattractive and meaningless for English speakers, which could have help this traditional bakery be more successful when it seeks to expend.

Thus, my recommendation for Dao Xiang Cun would be finding a better English brand name, which may help this company expand worldwide.

 

Starbucks in China- meeting for parents!

Exploring new market in a totally different culture can be challenging. One of the challenges for Starbucks is how can it always hires the most appropriate employees who are enthusiastic and responsible.

In China,In order to hire more compatible employees, Starbucks held meetings for parents of many targeted employees, telling them Starbucks would grow and develop with their kids. Starbucks knew that in China, because of the one-child policy, parents are willing to help their kid succeed at any expense.

Now, many young employees are living with their parents, which may strongly influence employee’s attitudes toward job. For example, if parents believe their kids can develop better in Starbucks, their kids are more likely to work harder in order to get promotions fulfilling their parents’ expectation.

In China, winning the mind of parents can improve employees happiness to a certain extant.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/us-starbucks-china-employees-idUSBRE83H1AX20120418

http://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-strategy-in-china-2012-10

Guarantee your quality ZARA!

Dear ZARA,

Because I am a fan of Zara, I want to remind you:”Don’t say Chinese government is defensive towards foreign companies, your company should guarantee the good quality of your clothing! Please stop finding excuse for your bad quality clothing!”

sincerely,

Your fan,

Ava

About two years ago, China’s consumer watchdog attacked Zara for poor quality. The firm denies that it was singled out for political reasons. But the Chinese government typically targets foreign firms first. Last week McDonald’s and Carrefour were pilloried for minor lapses.

Zara has good operations management. It is famous for fast fashion. It only takes three weeks to make the draft to the shelves in stores. The renewal of it’s trendy clothing is really fast, so that consumers will be attracted to visit the store more than 2 times a month. The temptation from Zara is far more irresistible than other similar stores that only have two seasons to change clothing.

The fashionable clothing brings young customers; the cheap price absorbs more middle aged women to shop in Zara.

No matter how chic and cheap those clothing are, good quality and reputation are always the fundamental requirements.

This is just a warm reminder for the fast growing brand- Zara.

 

Social Entrepreneurship — To believe, and then to see.

Normal people believe only when they see that happens. While for social entrepreneurs, they choose to believe and then see the desired results. Creating systematic changes, driving by social benefits, social entrepreneurs are creating social benefits and making more happiness for people who need help.

Tom’s is one of the companies that are contributing to social improvements. It has sold over 1 million pairs of shoes and given away just as many as part of its one-for-one model.

They found a way to make money, and a way to provide shoes for kids.This is beneficial for them, and for the kids they serve.₁

Toms founder and CEO Blake Mycoskie has found a bright way to give an unique meaning for Tom’s shoes business and dramatically increase the brand value.

Similarly, Save on Meats is in the forefront when it comes to giving to the community; one of their many programs is to provide nutritious, sustainably sourced lunches to women in single room occupancies.² At the same time, Save on meats creates many job opportunities for homeless people.

One of the effects of helping community is to create a harmonious atmosphere. There aren’t homeless people walking around, no violence happening because of jobless and starvation, and no quarrel between customers and store owners because of the bad services. A harmonious community is very fundamental, yet not attainable in every corner of the world.

Business people should realize the happiness created by social responsibility will benefit society and their business as well. Hopefully, giving back to society will become more recognized and preferable. Our world needs more companies and more business getting involved in the development of social entrepreneurship.

http://leadershipforgood.com/a-nonprofit-social-enterprise/

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678486/toms-shoes-ceo-blake-mycoskie-on-social-entrepreneurship-telling-stories-and-his-new-book

 

Ethics: Sexism in Advertisements.

Sexism in ads is uncomfortable for some audience, but meanwhile it can make consumers remember the products.

For instance, the advertisement of Nando’s made fun of a blond girl.

This ridiculously insulting South African commercial presents a fantastically stupid woman who can’t find the french fries on her plate—because they’re obscured by her enormous breasts. The ad was pulled after complaints.

Obviously, Nando’s is trying to make its audience notice and remember the “double chicken breasts burger”. From the blond girl’s breasts to the chicken breast burger, it is easy for audience to recognize the relationship, but it is kind of unpleasant for those big breast girls to consume the products, because they may take a risk to make such a stupid mistake like the girl in that advertisements.

Some girls may feel like they are offended in terms of sex and body feature. This is also a risk for Nando’s, because they may face the dissatisfaction from women and sexual equity supporters.

When making advertisements, companies should predict the outcomes which may have advantages and disadvantages at the same time. Which aspects can exceed is the key point when evaluating.

(Here is Emily chen’s blog about advertisement)

 

Fake “Likes” – Useless Advertisement

Recently, many most liked Facebook pages suffered large drops in numbers. The move follows the social network’s admission that 8.7% of its users are not “real”, many having been set up by spammers who artificially making those pages more popular.

Using Facebook as a media to advertise is free but may not be influential.Some companies just put delicate photos on their Facebook pages and let Facebook users comment on each photo, so that they can get some feedback about their products. However, beautiful graphs and comments are not convincing enough to drive users to buy products.

There is another problem: how can companies let users find their pages? The answer is producing fake “likes”.Facebook will show the latest photos and posts of the pages that users like, so that more information about their products and services can be acquired by users. But sometimes the “like” button is automatically clicked by spammers, which means even if you didn’t click the “like” button, the Facebook system will regard you as a liker of certain pages.

However, if the users themselves are not interested in the page which automatically appears  in their news feed page, those Facebook users will get bored and annoyed gradually, which easily produces negative feelings about the company and their disturbing advertisements.

In this case, the free advertisement in Facebook is not only useless but also harmful to a certain extent.

Extra fee for Iphone Users

“I will say that iPhones in general are good smartphones but not great. They are excellent entry level to mid range smartphones. But in the end it does not matter what I say because as long as their is an Apple logo on it, people will mindlessly buy it.”-Athanasios Zarkadas

I am an Iphone user and I do acknowledge some of the strengths of Iphone. However, facing the high expenditure brought by Iphone, should we step back and rethink the value of Iphone?

When consumers choose monthly plan, most of people will choose the most economical one, as long as the mobile company supporst the cell phone we already have.

For example, Wind Mobile provide $25 per month with everything unlimited. However, this economical monthly plan is not supportive for Iphone. Thus, Iphone user can’t benefit from the cheap plan provided by Wind mobile. Iphone users can choose Fido $25 monthly plan, but only get 150mins talk during day time and unlimited text within Canada.

Regardless of the high price of Iphone, if we only compare the high phone bill of Iphone, Iphone users can feel the pressure already. The one of the reasons why Iphone users can’t have cheap phone bill is that the network of Iphone is different from many mobile companies who provide cheaper monthly plan.

“We do not have the iPhone. Apple’s current iPhone is not compatible with the WIND network (AWS/1700 Megahertz/BandIV). When we hear an AWS iPhone is in the works, believe us, we’ll be knocking Apple’s door to get the scoop!” said a staff of Wind Mobile.

Wind Mobile as well as other cheaper mobile company such as Mobilicity, can provide services for HTC and Samsung users, but not Iphone users. They look forward to corporate with Iphone but because of the different networks, iphone users need to wait for a long time before they can reduce their phone bill.

Next time when we choose our new cell phones will you still be a Iphone user or you will support HTC or Samsung products where you can also get good smartphone but with cheaper price in all aspects.

What makes you choose to be a Iphone user? Their superior products and brilliant apps…

What makes you choose not to be a iphone user? The large amount of money and mid level services…

Bussiness Ethics-Stakeholder Theory

Stakeholder theory—business & ethics

1. Difference between shareholders and stakeholders.
Shareholders are stakeholders in a corporation, but stakeholders are not always shareholders. A shareholder owns part of a company through stock ownership, while a stakeholder is interested in the performance of a company for reasons other than just stock appreciation.

Stakeholders could be:

  • employees who, without the company, would not have jobs
  • bondholders who would like a solid performance from the company and, therefore, a reduced risk of default
  • customers who may rely on the company to provide a particular good or service
  • suppliers who may rely on the company to provide a consistent revenue stream
Although shareholders may be the largest stakeholders because shareholders are affected directly by a company’s performance, it has become more commonplace for additional groups to be considered stakeholders, too.
2. Awesome Information from the Video.

a. Stakeholder theory puts business and ethic together!

b. Stakeholder theory focuses on how to make the interests of customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders and financiers go into the same direction.

c. It is the arts of NOT making those tradeoffs, trying to make interests go in the same direction. If you look for tradeoffs, you certainly will find some of them. If you look for how those interests go into the same direction, you MAY NOT find it. BUT, I am pretty sure, you won’t find it, of you don’t look!!!

d. Stake holders turn out to be not just products, not accounts, not assets, not liabilities. They turn out to be living and breathing human beings. They are not just some roles; they are actual people!

e. You don’t just provide products and services, because your things come with your promises.

Stakeholder theory puts business and ethic together!