It’s interesting to see that TOMS shoes is indeed an entrepreneurial company that expanded internationally. Not only so, I realized that this is also a social entrepreneurial company. I remember we learned in class that a social entrepreneurial firm is a firm that is being corporate social responsible and positively impact the society. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is when a firm has a positive impact on employees, environment,consumers etc. When a firm has good CSR, employees will have something to be proud of. Good CSR could lead to greater motivation in working productivity and efficiently. To learn more about Tom’s check out Elaine’s post. I suggest we all do the same a buy a pair of TOMS shoe. Why? Cause its innovative, trendy and it makes yyou feel good about yourself. Which, by the way, was TOM’s mission statement. 

The Terry fox run is an annual non-competitive charity event held in numerous regions around the world. It is a traditional memorial for a Canadian cancer activist Terry Fox and his marathon of hope to raise money for cancer research. Major corporations offered Terry sponsorships, but he turned them all down. He didn’t want this to “distract him” from his goals.  He had no advertisements on any race related materials (such as t-shirts, banners, etc).

Terry Fox simply wants to raise the awareness for cancer research. He ran 146 marathons on consecutive days with one leg WITH a huge tumor in his lungs, raised money for cancer.

Charities only source of income is donations. It is a non-competitive industry because its main goal is not earning revenue.

In comparison there is another icon, Lance Armstrong, a social entrepreneur who seeks To read and compare the difference between Lance and Terry click on the link.

The joint venture Siemen and Nokia has decided to cut almost a quarter of its workforce to increase the profit in a stagnating market for network gear. There will be over 17,000 unemployed jobs by the end of 2013. Currently they are operating with 74,000 employees but after the cut 23% of employees will be terminated out of jobs. The chief executive said that this cut of cost will “trim operating expenses by 1.35 billion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/technology/nokia-siemens-to-cut-23-percent-of-work-force.html?_r=1&ref=business

Reasons for cutting back on employees are because the company is currently operating at a loss. In order for them to get back onto their feet, they had to reduce cost somehow. Although it was, “regrettable [it was a] necessary action that was made, “in a fair and responsible way.” This will definitely create future grudges against employees and companies. The workforce could result in protesting and suing. Perhaps even employee unions will be created to prevent unfair unemployment. This joint venture company should be careful of future implications.

Facebook Inc is currently losing customers that continue using their social network. This is due to the increasing amount of unacceptable pop-up. There are“ inundation of violent images and hardcore pornography into some newsfeeds”.  This will cause are large number of participants to quit using Facebook due to the vulgarity.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-15/facebook-risks-losing-users-as-porn-violence-jam-newsfeeds.html

Facebook is currently trying to limit this disaster that was caused by a spam attack that took the advantage of browser vulnerability. The company’s current top objective is to protect people who use Facebook from spam. In the past, people were tricked into sharing their private contents.

If the situation is evaluated, what is seen is that the number of participants in Facebook gradually decreases due to the privacy issue. This outburst of spam will create fear and unreliability among the customers. Participants now may be vulnerable to the idea of switching to a more reliable social network that could provide the same thing. Facebook is now vulnerable, all that is needed is another company, such as Google, to step up and take over.