Back in high school, I was quite involved with my school’s Global Awareness Initiative Network (GAIN). This club worked very closely with Me to We, a social enterprise founded by the Kielburger brothers. A social enterprise is an organization that makes profits by supporting a social cause. In this case, Me to We sells clothes and accessories, while donating half of the profits to the charity Free the Children. Both of these organizations aim to provide basic necessities to various third world countries. They have worked together on various global campaigns, with an emphasis on inspiring youth to lead the way.

I participated in various sponsored fundraisers such as trivia nights, We Scare Hunger, and toiletries donations. With the help of the school, our club was able to fundraise enough money to build a well in Sierra Leone. I was also an active volunteer at We Day 2012, and the experience was absolutely incredible. There was an astounding amount of guest speakers and celebrities who explained their story of change. This event inspires youth every year to make a difference and be a leader for change.

I truly believe that social enterprises are fantastic organizations and it is exciting to see this idea continue to grow in popularity. I am very passionate about the work that is being done by the Kielburgers, and I will definitely look for more opportunities to get involved.

Check out this video explaining what WE Day is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gDvDs5hxzg

References:

http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/campaigns/

http://www.metowe.com/about-us/our-organization/

Pictures:

http://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2009/04/15/kielburgers_to_help_schools_in_toronto.html

http://www.pangcouver.com/2012/10/20/we-day-vancouver-2012-free-the-children-rogers-arena/

In a recent Businessweek article, Tesco’s business technology management (BTM) plans were revealed, resulting in disapproval from many customers. The world’s third largest retailer plans to install scanning technology into all of its U.K. gas stations. Using this software, Tesco can make guesses on a customer’s mood and combine that with purchase history to provide advertising that will suit them. For example, the system may suspect that a man is tired and an advertisement for coffee will immediately show up. This is one of the many examples of how companies are beginning to combine information technology with business to make important marketing decisions. Other retailers have begun installing cameras and heat sensors inside their stores as well. However, there is one main question that arises from these practices:

 Is this ethical?

 Personally, I believe that using BTM in this manner is acceptable. Sure, the argument can be made that customers have not given consent to companies to monitor their face. However, these customers forget that every store they go into, there are security cameras recording their actions. The scanners act no differently and only try to provide customers with a more tailored experience. Furthermore, customers still have the choice to buy these products. It is merely providing suggestions and again, making the consumer have a much more enjoyable experience.

References:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/tesco-to-use-face-scanners-for-targeted-advertising/article15324033/

http://www.businessinsider.com/tesco-installs-face-scanning-cameras-at-gas-stations-2013-11

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-04/tescos-in-store-ads-watch-you-and-it-looks-like-you-need-a-coffee

Picture:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-04/tescos-in-store-ads-watch-you-and-it-looks-like-you-need-a-coffee

The topic of motivation has always been a difficult one. After all, what is the perfect way to motivate employees? An online article by Inc. argues that motivation is not a science, but rather an art. There is no precise formula. Successful managers must truly understand what interests their employees and figure out ways to use it as motivation.

 I completely agree with Daniel Duncombe’s post on the effectiveness of yelling. He states that the organizational culture of a sports team is significantly different from an investment bank or law firm. This is extremely crucial for managers to keep in mind. The first person that came to my mind was John Tortorella, head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. During his tenure with the New York Rangers, Tortorella was notorious for yelling at his players, and more specifically, young rookies. This eventually de-motivated them and stunted their development.

This is the perfect example of a manager who clearly believed that there was only one method of motivation, and that he must stick to this method no matter what the circumstances may be. This proved to be unsuccessful, as he was fired by the Rangers in 2013. After accepting a job with the Vancouver Canucks, Tortorella announced that he had changed his philosophy. He would begin yelling less and focusing more on how to motivate individual players.

References:

Yelling as a Type of Motivation?

http://www.inc.com/guides/hr/20776.html

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21589866-firms-keep-grading-their-staff-ruthlessly-may-not-get-best-them-ranked-and-yanked

Picture:

http://gcaggiano.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/rangers-reward-coach-john-tortorella-with-three-year-extension/

After reading Cymbie Kwok’s blog on the Google culture, I thought to myself, “Surely there must be some issues with working at a place like Google”. Sure enough, with a little more research, I found an Entrepreneur article that compiled various confessions from Google employees.

An interesting confession was that more often than not, Google employees were over-qualified for their jobs. Google appears to be caught up in the idea that they must always hire “the best of the best”, resulting in some graduate level employees doing mundane tasks such as removing YouTube content. After going through a month-long hiring process, this simply does not make sense for employees. This could cause high job dissatisfaction, which would increase the turnover rate and training costs. Another issue for employees in Google is the sheer size of the company. For the majority of workers, their tasks have a minimal effect on how customers use the services. As a by-product of this issue, internal competition would start to rise.

Similar to Cymbie, I would definitely enjoy working at Google. However, it is important to understand why some employee would choose to leave this company. As a business owner, I would want to acknowledge these issues and try to fix them to lower turnover rates.

Check out this 2013 report where Google tied for 3rd among companies with the shortest tenure:

http://www.businessinsider.com/companies-ranked-by-turnover-rates-2013-7

References:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/cymbiekwok/2013/11/11/the-google-culture/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229950

Why Google Employees Quit

Picture:

http://www.designyourway.net/blog/inspiration/interior-design-inspiration/best-38-id-like-to-work-in-that-place-offices/

During a recent Comm 101 class on IT and Information Systems, the class begun a discussion on how software developers now focus on timeliness rather than quality. As a result of this, there is an increasing amount of software glitches and updates are often required to fix them. This got me thinking about the upcoming PlayStation 4 release and how Sony has already announced a day one update.

About a month before the PS4 officially launched, Sony posted on their official blog that a 300 MB system update would be required to gain access to multiple online features. I could not help but laugh when I heard this news. I was amazed by the fact that a brand new product would already have issues and require the consumer to download features themselves. More importantly, the services that needed updating were so heavily marketed by Sony. Examples include party voice chats, remote play, and taking screenshots during gameplay.

Reading over the PS4 day one patch notes. What exactly DOES the system do out of the box? Power on? Look pretty? http://t.co/tgWtCWf0ua

— Scott Lowe (@ScottLowe) October 25, 2013

So… what exactly can the PS4… actually do without this 1.5 system software update? http://t.co/uZO7bqDPMU

— TheFakePsychic (@TheFakePsychic) October 25, 2013

I started thinking more about this story, and realized that it comes down to one issue: miscommunication between managers and IT/software developers. Clearly the emphasis was placed on releasing the PS4 on time instead of thoroughly testing and building a high quality product. According to Keith Faigin, there are ten questions that managers should ask about software projects, including “How will this be tested?”. It is quite apparent that these features were not tested before shipping, and an update was required to fix this mistake. While timeliness is important for any project, quality should not be compromised in the process. It will be interesting to see if Sony releases more updates in the future for this gaming console.

References:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/25/sonys-playstation-4-will-require-a-day-one-update-mobile-app-t/

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/25/ps4-system-software-update-1-50-details/

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-questions-non-techie-managers-should-ask-about-it-projects/3078/

Picture:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57581501-1/sony-everythings-been-tuned-with-ps4-controller/

When I used to hear the word “Nestle”, I would immediately think of the unhealthy chocolate bars that children would get for Halloween. Images of glucose and calories were often associated with this company. However, this all changed when I heard about its plan to create shared value, a concept that was greatly emphasized in Comm 101.

A blog post by Hans Jöhr, the head of agriculture at Nestle, recently outlined the corporation’s initiatives to create shared value. As stated by the Harvard Business Review, there are three distinctive ways to effectively create shared value: re-conceiving products, redefining productivity in the value chain, and enabling local cluster development. Nestle is focusing primarily on cluster development by implementing a rural development plan. The basis of this plan is to provide financial assistance and agricultural education to the thousands of farmers that supply raw materials. This key activity allows Nestle to create economical and societal benefits. Rural farmers are trained to increase productivity and quality as well as establish sustainable farming systems. Simultaneously, Nestle is able to improve profitability by creating higher quality products and a reliable supply chain.

Furthermore, Nestle holds frequent stakeholder forums to explain the idea of CSV and the company’s future plans. The company has also created a biennial “Nestle CSV Prize” that rewards business-oriented organizations for its efforts to create shared value. This prize acts as an incentive or motivation for other businesses to follow this emerging idea of creating shared value.

After reading about Nestle’s initiatives, my perception of the brand has been completely altered. Now, I see Nestle as an organization that truly cares about society and aims to address various global issues. I believe that the idea of CSV is brilliant and more companies should implement this into their business models. Large corporations have the ability to make a difference in the world, and I hope to see this trend continue.

Nestle has even created a separate YouTube channel for CSV, often uploading forum highlights and interviews. Below is a two minute video from their channel that explains the company’s work in Pakistan and the effect it has on farmers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1yNcsKXrxs

References:

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/creating-shared-value-at-nestle/

http://www.nestle.com/csv/what-is-csv

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/debating-development-2013-creating-shared-value-forum-2013-10-29

External blog:

http://globalfoodforthought.typepad.com/global-food-for-thought/2012/09/guest-commentary-a-new-approach-to-agricultural-development.html

Image:

http://www.modernghana.com/GhanaHome/image_preview.asp?which=1&menu_id=1&id=NDM5NDI3

http://www.nestle.com/brands/chocolateconfectionery/chocolateandconfectionerycsv

Earlier this week, Burger King introduced the “Satisfries”, which is meant to be a healthier alternative to their regular fries. While this new product was welcomed by customers and proved to be an effective positioning strategy, the marketing of the fries was a failure.

Burger King decided to reposition the competition by creating the perception that their fries are healthier than the fries at any of their competitors. The marketing team then decided to “rebrand” the company temporarily by changing its name to Fries King. A new logo was introduced online, and many locations even replaced the physical logo with the Fries King name. This was clearly a bold move to “get in the mind of the consumer”, as explained by Ries and Trout. However, this strategy quickly backfired as consumers were confused and assumed the change was permanent. The company also encouraged Twitter followers to use the hashtag #WTFF (What the French Fry), unaware that this hashtag was already used to comment on angry or outrageous stories. This lack of internet research proved to be costly for the company. To prevent this confusion from occurring, Burger King should have released television ads and gained consumer awareness before making an enormous rebranding stunt. Ultimately, the decision to reposition was excellent, but the execution was not.

Check out this video of a confused drive-thru consumer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERR66d4Xomc

Here are some Twitter users expressing their anger and confusion:

Burger King confirms changing it's name to Fries King. Killing myself.

— Doriano Magliano (@DorianoMagliano) October 3, 2013

Wait, Burger King is now FriesKing? Fire the marketing guy.

— Burnsy (@MinnesotaBurns) October 3, 2013

Additional information found here:

http://business.time.com/2013/10/02/the-web-hates-burger-kings-fake-name-change/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/caroltice/2013/09/26/what-burger-king-got-wrong-with-low-fat-french-fry/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/02/burger-king-fries-king/2909423/

As if the recent takeover negotiations wasn’t enough drama, Blackberry is now facing a lawsuit from investors accusing the company of presenting misleading statements and inflating share prices. Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins claimed in a press release that the company was recovering its market share, when in fact, layoffs were required and millions of dollars were lost. The lawsuit also claims that incorrect information was presented to the SEC regarding Blackberry’s stock. This problem can be summarized to a single department: financial accounting. Accounting fraud clearly occurred in the form of improper disclosure, leading to an overvaluation of the company and an incorrect forecast.

Why was the accounting fraud committed? In this case, there was undoubtedly a sense of situational pressure. There were issues in operations and revenues were decreasing for a long time, but the CEO must have been unprepared to reveal this information. Mr. Heins recognized that disclosing this information would have resulted in an immediate drop in share price. He perceived the opportunity to mislead investors for the time being and resolve these issues later. Regardless of the opportunity or the amount of pressure the company faces, fraud is still illegal and it will be interesting to see how this legal case progresses.

Links to the articles found here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-04/blackberry-faces-investor-s-securities-lawsuit-in-n-y-.html

http://www.firstpost.com/business/blackberry-accused-of-inflating-shares-with-false-claims-in-class-action-suit-1154613.html

Last week, HTC reported the company’s first ever quarterly loss: an astounding NT$2.97 billion. The long-time smartphone manufacturer’s market share also dropped to 2.8%, being overshadowed by competitors such as Apple and Samsung. The following quarter is expected to be even tougher as HTC has no innovative products being released until early 2014.

For HTC to be successful again, the company must address various issues on its business model canvas. Clearly, there are supply chain issues that must be resolved. This was made evident when the flagship smartphone, HTC One, was delayed and released alongside the successful Samsung Galaxy S4. There have also been internal issues with design and engineering, as many complaints have surfaced regarding the One’s hardware and software. The company’s failure to fulfill its value proposition, which is to use innovation and leading technology to help solve everyday problems for consumers, resulted in a drop in profits and shares. The company’s CEO, Cher Wang, also admitted that there was a problem of communication with consumers, which falls under ‘Customer Relationships’. HTC must improve its marketing to attract new customers as well as keep current customers informed of its operations. If HTC does not improve after the quarterly loss, this could very well be the beginning of the company’s downfall.

An example of the many videos online discussing issues with the latest phone:

More information found here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-06/htc-chairwoman-says-fourth-quarter-will-be-biggest-challenge-.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/04/us-htc-earnings-idUSBRE99300L20131004

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/htc-one-problems/

During the 2013 G-20 summit, which took place from September 5-6, the issue of corporate tax avoidance was discussed among the world’s leaders. There was a growing concern among tax justice commissioners that corporate executives were avoiding taxes with the intention of increasing profits and shareholder returns. As a result of this ongoing discussion, the prestigious law firm Farrer and Co. issued a statement that reads: “It is not possible to construe a director’s duty to promote the success of the company as constituting a positive duty to avoid tax.” As Milton Friedman once said, it is the responsibility of a business to partake in activities that will increase its profit without breaking any laws or violating any ethical principles. Several executives continue this unethical behaviour by attributing the tax evasion to their fiduciary duty to shareholders.

This article clearly illustrates how corporations will often break their social responsibility in order to maximize profits. Moreover, the fiduciary duty that directors face does not justify breaking the law. The failure to adhere to the conventional ethical business conduct can cause substantial damage to the corporation’s reputation, making it difficult to regain such prominence in the business world again. Furthermore, large companies that undergo tax avoidance often have stakeholders that are unaware of such actions, and once they find out, will be extremely disappointed and drop their affiliation with such organizations. This could have a significant impact on the stock price and future funding. Unethical behaviour by corporate executives may seem like a simple solution to attaining higher profits, but it actually creates long-term consequences for all parties involved. Hopefully, the statement provided by Farrer and Co. will slowly prevent unethical business behaviour from continuing.

The following is the link to the article discussed:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/sep/08/tax-avoidance