From our social entrepreneur class, the definition for a social entrepreneur is “someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change”. This is exactly what Hilary Peters did. She set up a non-profitting company that sales postcards to the public painted by prisoners.

I think this idea has a very strong impact because Peters’ social purpose is to change our perspective of thinking negatively with relevance to prisoners. It is also a great start-up of a local and small business that has the potential to effect our thinking internationally.

(from article)

What catches my attention is how Peters financially functioned her company. First, she printed the first batch of cards through “love” money. She then invested her profit into printing the second batch and started the business from there. What is great is that the revenue earned from these postcards goes towards funding for employment of the prisoners that will soon be back in society. Thus, this “cycle” provides increased employment rates locally, as well as provide opportunities for those that find it difficult to find jobs because of previous criminal records.

Click here for the full article

The transition of ownership of The Body Shop remains a very controversial topic in terms of ethical business tactics.

The main ethical difference between the two companies before their transaction was that “The Body Shop” was very against animal testing and Dame Anita, one of the founders of The Body Shop 30 years ago, “…campaigned passionately around ethical issues such as fair trade and sustainable development”, as mentioned in “The Independent”, a UK news website. On the other hand, L’Oreal did not abandon animal testing.

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It was mentioned that the owners and shareholders would earn a large sum of money as a result of L’Oreal acquiring the business for 625 million pounds. This might lead the public to think that The Body Shop’s stand of being an ethical cosmetic business was swaying, and then collapsed in front of profits and personal preference of the decision makers in the company.

However, a combination of L’Oreal’s strong presence on the global market and The Body Shop’s great reputation is a difficult combination to find. Therefore, together, they have an advantage of power and influence which raises the barrier to entry into the already fierce competition amongst the different cosmetic companies.

for full article click here!

The year before World War One broke out, Coco Chanel opened her first store in paris in 1913. She was a very talented designer who was set out to design “simple, practical and easy to wear clothing” while a typical woman of that era was still struggling with a corset.

Coco Chanel proved herself to be one of the greatest entrepreneurs because she was willing to devote herself to fashion despite the hardship of her childhood and the social unrest of that time period.

Her success was measured by the rapid profitability of her designer garments as well as her ability to “modernize the world with her line of clothes designed after men’s wear.” Given her 14 years of “blank” existence because of the war, Coco Chanel was able to re-enter the fashion industry with new and innovative fashion that, although took some time, recaptured the attention of the public.

When we speak about Coco Chanel, we would often associate with her words like “strong”, “bold”, or “unique”. These words are still attached to today’s Chanel chain stores, remaining high-end and classic.

Reference to the brief overlook of Coco Chanel’s career. (There are many other great entrepreneurs on this site)

Recently read from Wendy Shao’s Blog, BC transit is finally going to set to work the Evergreen Line. Personally, I am “a part of the commuting group” as well.

Increasing a 2 cent price on oil is a fairly recognizable amount depending on how much you are adding to your car. Nonetheless, the benefit that the society gains is valued more than the cost of providing the benefit.

Building Public Transit is an effective way to boost the economy. More construction workers will be needed, materials will need to be supplied, and many industries will get involved.

Ultimately, transit will bring great convenience to the public, even if you do own a car. For example, with Vancouver’s snow-shoving system being “not so efficient” compared to cities that get heavy snow precipitation every year, public transit is the best alternative when you cannot drive your car further than your driveway.

Even though the plan was passed, there are still many disagreeing voices, as Wendy had written, “Burnaby, Richmond, North Vancouver, and Delta hold strong opposition to this plan…”. The problem now is how to convince those that do not use the transit as often.

Self-interest is the big issue!

Evergreen Line Homepage

The tablet market is being affected by today’s fragile economy. Many products are reducing their prices, such as HP TouchPad, BlackBerry PlayBook, HTC Flyer, etc. Some are even sold at more than 50% of their original price to attract customers.

The fact that iPad is missing from this price war is probably not surprising to the public since “Apple is famous for sticking to its price guns”.

(Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7)
What holds Apple well on top of the chart is that it is able to play its differentiation strategies well. Apple products are known for its innovation and distinctiveness. In other words, high pricing actually becomes a selling point; as soon as iPads begin to drop their price, they lose the value of being “high-class” and would be forced to enter the price war (i.e. iPhone 3GS). Will Apple still hold the values when its products are forced to reduce prices in the future? After all, customers like to see what they bought today are still worth the same in the future. A practical comparison would be buying a car. The minute you sign the contract, your car will lose a couple thousand dollars in its worth.

original article

Ever wondered what usage does the “.com” have? Well now, it has the potential to become one of the greatest marketing advantages that a company can hold.

Despite the huge internal maintenance cost every year, having its own “online brand” is very tempting. Any company that is able to afford a ending after the dot will practically mean that its products has dominated their specific market. For example, if Apple had acquired the “.laptop”, then it is basically assumed that when you think of laptop, you would think of Apple. With the additional benefits of security and prevent cybersquatters, the ability to “put your signature” on a gTLD would cause another round of evolution.

(picture from article)

Consumers are the direct experimental variable of the gTLD auction. We might potentially have to distinguish between “.com” and other gTLDs, it will not only be what comes after “www.” anymore.

In terms of generic strategy wise, this will definitely fall under the category of industry wide differentiation strategy. Though the downturn is that many companies could not compete with large companies because of the cost, and others who wish to enter the market will have to face a higher entry barrier.

for more information click here

“Denmark has imposed a ‘fat tax’ on foods such as butter and oil as a way to curb unhealthy eating habits.”—-Associated Press on The Christian Science Monitor

We know heavy weight can cause health issues, but we don’t know if a $0.40 increase of price on butter would actually decrease the consumption of it. Raising weight awareness issues can be done through other methods, yet the government decided that the public will be more concerned should they pay more for products with high fat contents.

Ultimately, the government would receive a large sum of money while food producers and consumers share the burden of the tax. Personally, I don’t think this is very efficient because it is very focused on a group of people yet the whole population would have to pay a higher price, including those that only consider butter and oil as a daily necessity.

It is mentioned in the article that other countries have had similar strategies regarding unhealthy food consumption. If the policy continues, does that mean whenever the government wants the public to decrease consumption, they would put a tax on the item or service? There should be another more effective solution to the problem.

original article click here

(google image)

Game Theory, as mentioned by the article, “Game Theory in Practise”, is a “computing software that models human behaviour” and thus making forecasts and predictions. In an economic point of view, this software allows investors to “see” a guideline to the future through massive database and long-term observations and interviews with the characters within a certain environmental setting. The benefits of this system are the profits and efficiencies that it can bring to a company for better operation.

This article pushed my doubts of predicting the future from 100% to 30%. 70% went to the assumption that everyone will act in the situation of their best interest, while 30% still lied within the unexpected personal sentiments and sudden emotional changes. The article thus pose questions of “Game Theory”‘s standing in the future of the business world. How will values be traded when some, or even most aspects could be predicted? Will compromises and negotiations be necessary when you know the bottom line of your opponent?

Nonetheless, I believe “Game Theory” will continue to thrive since its major selling point is “know the future and make more money”.

Here is the link to the complete article:
Game Theory in Practice

The Business Ethics Blog provided a thorough definition of “Business Ethics”. Concluding from that, I think to determine how ethical something is in the business world can be measured on an imaginary scale of how affective is the matter on others in relevance with the company’s profitability. The article Shaw, Cisco to build Wi-Fi super network in major cities on Vancouver Sun exemplifies an ethical issue with its actions to build a super Wi-Fi network that will ultimately inhabit every spot of the Lower Mainland. The company’s profitability comes from the lowered cost of building a wi-fi network instead of a wireless phone network; as well as the potential customers since the service will only be available to Shaw Internet users. On the other hand, with Shaw being the only company that holds this feature, people would be limited to contract only with Shaw in order to enjoy the Wi-Fi network. Also, it would break the somewhat balanced competition between the large wireless carriers. Personally, i think it is not unethical for Shaw to act out of self-interest besides the inconvenience it has brought. Rather, it would bring internet accessing to a brand new and innovative level.

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