There seems to be an infinite numbers of charities but less of social enterprises, though it is becoming a growing type of organization.  The Arc Initiative highlights the aspects of social entrepreneurship, “building a two-way exchange of knowledge and business skills.”  They create not just profits to give away, but create a social change and impact – to teach rather than to just simply give.

If the United Nations were fully funded, it would not be able to assess and resolve the same issues that social enterprisesor the Arc Initiative face.  To quote Arielle Uwonkunda, “I told him about non-profits that have donated money to Rwanda following the war but didn’t make a lasting impact.”  Giving money or charity will only last so long, it would be more beneficial to give people the tools to become economically self-sufficient. This in turn makes a sustainable and long-term impact, that spreads on to the local communities.

It’s important to aid countries and communities in a global sense, but also to recognize the issues in our local community.  Community is a second-hand store located in the Downtown Eastside that hires women who have barriers to being employed
due to unfortunate circumstances.  This example of social entrepreneurship exemplifies that you do not have to buy a plane ticket to make changes, but it can be done in your own home. The UN might be able to just provide money, but would they provide that same social impact? – Probably not.

Bike sharing has become increasingly popular in major cities, even beginning to hit Canada.  The whole concept of bicycle sharing usually has sustainability attached to it, the article stating it can lead to a “sustainable world.”  I’d have to agree with this statement, it meets the triple bottom line – catering to people and providing exercise, promoting eco-friendly transportation, and returning economic profit.

Vancouver has had a plan to implement the project somewhere near 2015.  Bike sharing would fit very well for Vancouver and is a smart move by the city, since it is popularly known for its encouragement of sustainability and pretty much anything “green.”  Coming from Vancouver, it is known that there is lots of controversy behind the increasing bike
lanes.  A bike sharing system would have an additional positive outlook to the use of these bike lanes and maybe encourage more people to go out and use them.  Bike theft is also a worsening problem in Vancouver, and shared bikes could ease this issue with the technologies they use to lock the bikes up.  Even a bike sharing system at UBC would be a terrific idea, since the university is known as a hot spot for stolen bikes.  Overall, I see a public bike system being benefit for this city and other cities in the world.

It can most certainly not be denied that Apple Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies in the market.  Adrian Hung’s post comments that this is largely due to Apple’s marketing strategy.  The recent release of the iPhone 6 Plus has skyrocketed prices due to the supply not meeting the great demand, and that in China it is even going for $3000 for one unit.  Adrian states that their marketing strategy is the reason for this, that the uncertainty and built up hype is what makes consumers go wild for their products.  I agree with this to some extent, every year around August and September all you hear are these rumours of what the new iPhone will look like – Apple’s marketing strategy at work.

Apple does have an intelligent marketing scheme, although I must say that their sales and demand of the products are due to the brand.  Apple has done an incredible job with climbing their way to the top of the ladder with consumer electronics.  The brand seems to have a little “luxury appeal” to it. Even when walking into a class in university there is a sea of macbooks, and one can feel minuscule with not having an apple product.  The marketing has of course led to this image of the Apple Brand.  However in these recent years, I would have to say that their sales are more due to the brand than that of the Apple marketing strategy.

Online streaming of television has erupted and grown exponentially for the past few years. My classmate, Lily Du created a post on the regeneration of TV.  It commented on the fact that cable providers like Bell and Rogers need to rethink their business plans and have long-term efficiency.  She states that companies need to be constantly regenerating and innovating their products and that is their job to keep up.  I do agree with this, the fact that technology will constantly be changing.  However, sometimes companies cannot keep up with these technological changes and therefore can no longer succeed in the industry.

Online streaming is most certainly an upcoming disruptive innovation, replacing DVD’s and even TV’s. It’s the age of Netflix, and no longer the days of going to your local Blockbuster and picking out movies for Friday night.  Disruptive innovations cannot be stopped, and luckily for Bell and Rogers it shouldn’t be difficult to transition into the new online streaming market.  Other companies, like Blockbuster, could not compete with these innovations and it was the end of movies as a physical product.  Many companies in the industry will have great trouble keeping up with this growing industry, and the disruptive innovation of online streaming will surely take some companies down with them.

Walking into an apple store, one will always see a crowd of people and lots of smiles. Apple seems to be doing something right when it comes to their retail customer service. The following blog post comments on the 10 things you can learn from walking into an Apple Store.  A lot of it touches upon the service of the employees, how they empower them and that goes on to the satisfaction of customers.  The apple store is also a non-commission floor, which I think attributes a lot to the positive experiences people generally have in the store.  The employees don’t feel forced to just make as many sales as possible, but to answer questions and make the customer happy.

Apple’s organizational culture deemed very similar to that of Zappos, of which we recently discussed in class. The positive atmosphere and the training of customer service seems to benefit the two companies greatly, and of course the two are seen as very successful companies – Apple especially.  I believe that in places of retail, this type of organizational culture plays very well.  It can be seen in the likes of Walmart vs. Costco, and rewarding employees with benefits tends to turn out very valuable in the long run.

BC Hydro has implemented a plan to build a dam, Site C, which is an 8 billion dollar project.  The Union of BC Indian Chiefs are strongly opposing this project, who recently declared that “B.C. is Indian land.”  If the dam were to be created, it would 83 km of the Peace River Valley, destroying farmland and habitat.  However the other side is arguing that they need the clean hydroelectric power due to growing industry and population.

The issues with Aboriginal Peoples and the government taking land that is rightfully theirs is an age-old issue that seems to be never-ending.  The First Nations have valid points of opposing Site C – it will simply destroy their land and also their homes.  I find that even when the First Nations have a stronger case, the BC government tends to get their way. Site C has been approved and could begin constructing anytime soon.  The government’s determination to implement all these projects connects me to our class about business ethics; and that sometimes people forget what business they’re in or what job they’re supposed to do, and instead are in the business of money.  The following article claims First Nations believing that the government can have Site C or the LNG Pipeline – not both. This seems fair, however from the looks of it the provincial and federal governments will obtain their wants through whatever measures it will take, once again.

In the following article, it asks if it is smart for entrepreneurs to hire friends.  The article begins with asking entrepreneur Kip Tindell, starter of The Container Store, what his views are on hiring friends.  He comments that his current girlfriend, who later became his wife, joined the startup at the time, and is still serving as the chief merchant years later. He then quotes, “To me, it just seems like common sense to do business with those you love and trust the most.”  The article then continues on with aspects to consider before hiring a friend: only hire the good cousins, communication IS leadership, and blend work and play.

I agree to some extent with the article’s points.  If the friend is a hard worker, and have a mutual understanding of what success looks like, then yes go ahead and hire them. Relating back to the class discussion we had when we were asked if we were to start up a business, would you want to be alone, with a partner, or with a team?  I answered with a partner.  When reading this article I connected back to this discussion, and thought would I want a friend to be that said partner?  Now having read through this article, only if they had all those aspects, especially the aspect of trust, then I’d agree with Kip Tindell that doing business with those who you love and trust is a yes.

Germany has officially stripped their tuition fees for post-secondary students, following many other European countries.  This all began in 2006, first lowering tuition costs to around $1,409 CAD and eventually completely stripping of all fees.

“McCormick believes the German case is an example of the power of student organizing to pressure governments.” (Freeman, 2014)  In Canada, undergrads pay an average of $5,959 per year, and that’s not even including residence fees or textbooks.  There is lots of debate of whether tuition should be free or not.  Some Canadians argue that this would be a huge burden on the tax system and it would diminish quality of eduction, also that Canadian tuition is already largely subsidized.  However others believe that “university enrolment is dominated by upper-class students.” (Baglow, 2014)

As a student, it is a dream come true for free tuition.  The cons are understandable, but I believe the good outweigh’s the bad.  A very large argument seems to be the high tax aspect, although I think that many Canadians would happily pay more on taxes if they could let their kids go to school for free.  Also with more people attending university, there would be increases in incomes and the tax burden would become less.  Lower income families could also send their children to school without any worries.  I don’t see Canada following Germany in the soon foreseeable future, although it is a hope that they may take small steps towards it.

McCain Foods is something that you always see when passing the frozen food aisle.  I personally remember being a child and begging my mother to buy the McCain Smiles – the infamous potato fries.  However these days, they don’t seem to be as popular and you don’t see their commercials anymore.  “The Canadian frozen food manufacturer is responding to a demographic shift.  (Kranshinsky, 2014)  The old advertisements were geared towards families and young children, although their new advertisement is of couples and friends – due to the fact that more households now consist of two people or less.  McCain is now adapting to the changes of the environment and society, and so they must adjust their customer segments.

In this day and age, everyone seems to be going towards the natural and healthy spectrum.  Frozen food doesn’t exactly fit in the “natural” characteristic.  McCain aims to do a whole rebrand, also having a completely new logo which is much more appealing to their now new demographic.  They are also trying to rid of ingredients that seem unnatural in their ingredients list.  McCain will still face a lot of apprehension with marketing frozen fries as healthy and so it will be interesting to see where their new strategy will take them.  This could be a positive evolution or either a realization of a decreasing industry.

Facebook will be releasing Atlas – an ad platform that will allow advertisers to target users from their personal data and information taken from Facebook.  Not only will this be through Facebook, but through the thousands of other apps and social networking sites. For example, if Tesla Motors wanted to target wealthy middle aged men, Atlas would find that customer segment and release  their ads, and Atlas would provide which ads were the most effective.

Facebook seems to be eager to compete or beat out #1 leader Google in digital advertising. From the revenue perspective releasing Atlas is a very smart move, since no other websites have information on users compared to the likes of Facebook.  Marketers will also leap at the chance of being able to target users through mobile apps.  However from a consumer point of view, it might make them even more wary of “privacy” the website gives you. When logging onto Facebook they seem to always pest you with updating your privacy and security settings, though in the meantime they’re releasing your information to thousands of companies.

Personally it does throw me off how Facebook can easily tap into our lives and also allow others.  It adds even more to the “Big Brother” mentality that people seem to be obtaining from the advances of technology and social networking.  From a marketing point of view, Atlas seems to
be genius but to the rest of us it could be a violation of privacy.