Browsing through Bloomberg’s professional blogs, a post titled “Rothschilds tap Chinese thirst with first vintage champagne” caught my eye. As I have worked in the wine industry, I am well aware of the huge demand for Bordeaux red wine and champagne in China and Hong Kong over the past few years due to the increasing size of their middle class. Whilst growth in China has slowed, Rothschild is convinced that it won’t affect the sale of 2006 vintage, its first single-year vintage. Although quoted in the blog were the statistics that “exports of champagne to China fell 0.6 percent in 2014 to 1.62 million bottles” but that “shipments to Hong Kong increased 0.4 percent to 1.66 million bottles” (statistics from Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne website).

Photo Source: http://www.thefrenchcellar.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mouton1.jpg

The Chinese middle class, who were once considered nouveaux riche, are now experienced and knowledgeable wine lovers according to the chairman of Champagne Barons de Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild. However, I’m not so sure I would agree. Champagne Barons de Rothschild has allocated just fewer than 10 percent of its 2006 vintage champagne to Mainland China and Hong Kong, but with the decline in growth in China, it shall be interesting to see whether the chairman’s sales statement will hold true.

Sources:

http://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/rothschilds-tap-chinese-thirst-with-first-vintage-champagne/

Lewis Dillman wrote an article on how the solutions to decarbonisation, mainly focusing on wind power, which made me consider how effective solar power is. Both these ideas need to be developed more and be more efficient before being implemented. However the problem from the social perspective is that these innovations need to be implemented as soon as possible, resulting in situation like Germany where wind turbines are placed with large subsidies that have very little output. Alternatively from the purely economic perspective, such incredibly large subsidies were doomed to fail considering the severe price difference between wind/solar power and energy from coal. The German Minister of Economics even calling the wind turbine subsidies a “threat to the economy”.

Lewis mainly refers to wind power as being an inefficient source of alternative energy. Solar power is generally deemed to be more effective but at the current standard is isn’t.

Photo Source: http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2012/10/26/3618724.htm

How well solar power works is largely dependent on how where they are located. I lived in Australia, where solar panels are pushed by the government to be installed with heavily subsided prices and constant television advertisements. They do function well there; especially on large solar farms (pictured above) but aren’t practical in Canada, especially in constantly overcast cities such as Vancouver.

The issues with associated with solar panels:

• Efficiency is only 22%
• Uses extremely expensive semiconductor
• Expensive installation and maintenance costs
• Lasts 25 years but batteries have to be replaced every 5-10 years

It seems that if the efficiency were to increase, most of the other problems would become less significant. However, until then perhaps solar panels aren’t the route to take in Canada.

Sources:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/lewisdillman/2015/10/04/a-more-natural-solution-to-decarbonization/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/natural-gas-not-decarbonization-is-the-ticket-to-reducing-emissions/article26645293/

http://www.solarpoweristhefuture.com/problems-with-solar-energy.shtml

Photo Source: http://www.gocomics.com/jeffstahler/2015/09/23

Nearly two months after news broke about the Volkswagen emissions scandal which has now been dubbed the “diesel dupe” we are still hearing about the company was found to be altering their emission output when tested, making the car seem more eco-friendly in the results. This has clearly had a detrimental effect on Volkswagen, who’s stock fell by 20% on the first business day after they admitted to cheating on emissions tests. Furthermore, other brands under the Volkswagen group such as Audi, Porsche and Skoda have been involved the scandal, resulting in even more recalls.

Graph Source: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=VOW.DE#symbol=VOW.DE;range=1m

Using the tools discussed in Comm 101,  the Urgency-Importance matrix proved to be beneficial when discussing an event such as the Volkswagen Scandal.

Table Source: Catherine Hackwell using Microsoft Word

As can be seen, the diagram is heavily weighted towards the high urgency and high importance region of the table, showing how significant the scandal is.

Martin Winterkorn stated to CBC “I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public.” However, it must be hard for consumer to trust this statement, as Volkswagen was very comfortable lying about emissions until the truth came to the surface.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/volkswagen-emissions-rigging-1.3236548

Human resources are a vital part of any business and it is widely considered that treating your workers with respect and dignity goes hand in hand. Bad management can severely affect employees, resulting in high turnover ratios, stress and inefficiency. One article explicitly stated that behaviour such as “mocking someone’s performance in front of others, shouting and swearing, taking credit for the work of others and walking away mid-conversation” should seriously be avoided in the workplace. However, some say that aspects of bad management can be effective in motivating employees to work harder. Steve Jobs was the poster boy for this kind of management style.

Photo Source: http://thefilmstage.com/news/sony-developing-steve-jobs-biopic-based-on-forthcoming-book/

One article titled “Be a Jerk: The Worst Lesson from the Steve Jobs Biography”, stated how he was a “visionary… genius… and brilliant innovator” but also a “world-class asshole”. He was known for publicly humiliating employees and monopolizing the credit for work he hadn’t done – two characteristics that have been previously stated in this blog which are the recipe for disaster in terms of management. He also succeeded in cultivating one of the most successful technology companies in the world. It could be said that this was mostly due to his innovation and less to do with his management techniques, neither can be definitively stated. Personally, I believe that being civilized with ones employees in an engaging way would have better results that the risky actions demonstrated by Steve Jobs.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34604387

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/be-a-jerk-the-worst-business-lesson-from-the-steve-jobs-biography/249136/

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-bad-management-employees-13378.html

I am opposed to the “one for one” business model because…

In terms of Toms vs. soleRebels, no one would buy shoes if Toms will distribute it for free. Also, the “one for one” business model of Toms ruins the industry for local businesses/cobblers. Toms cannot accurately produce the correct number of shoes in the correct sizes, thus resulting in surpluses and shortages. Furthermore, it can be said that Toms may distribute shoes to places that are in need other things that are more vital. The “one for one” business model” is not a sustainable idea because once Toms stops distributing the shoes, the supply stops instantly, with a lack of local businesses to fill in the market gap. One of the biggest problems with Toms’ “one for one” business model is that Toms do not employ natives within the country that they hand out free shoes and do not actually add to the local economy. Toms means well and is good in theory but in practice the outcomes are not that favourable.

The SoleRebels Weaving Team – photo sources: http://www.solerebels.com/pages/our-team

The positives of soleRebels provides jobs, training and medical cover for locals. They also provide transport for locals which means that people are not made worse off just because they cannot get to work. SoleRebels pay three to four times the minimum wage, allowing more people to be supported by the one salary. Due to the fact that they operate within Ethiopia, they put more back into the Ethiopian economy.

Sources:

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/one-one-business-model-social-impact-avoiding-unintended-consequences/

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679628/the-broken-buy-one-give-one-model-three-ways-to-save-toms-shoes

http://www.solerebels.com/pages/our-ethos

The topic of Class 19 was ‘People, Culture and Teams’, focusing on the innovative business structure and human resources management techniques. The shoe company Zappo concentrates a lot on customer service and job satisfaction. In fact, the company invests a lot into making sure they hire the right type of person to fit in with their organizational culture, even offering people money to quit during the hiring process.

Whilst Zappo creates a family like atmosphere to encourage the best possible customer service, Google builds a fun environment to inspire their employees’ creativity. They have Google Cafés designed to encourage interaction between departments, which lets employees connect both on a work and personal level. The note-taking app start-up “Evernote” offers employees professional house cleaning twice a month and doesn’t even monitor how much time off they take. The culture of tech companies such as Google and Tesla acknowledge that creativity cannot be nurtured in a concrete box.

Google’s Meeting Eggs in Zurich, Switzerland – https://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/

However, the successes of innovative and alternative human resources managements are dependent on the industry and the country where it is taking place. For example, a Forbes article on the topic of countries with the highest working hours per week stated that 29% of Mexican workers will work over 50 hours per week and that “the average Mexican will work up to 450 hours more than an American every year, earning less than a fifth of the pay.” However companies like Google and Tesla realise that as long as their workers are efficient, they don’t necessarily have to be in a typical work place setting, with Google even letting their workers bring their pets to work.

Whilst technological industries and customer relationship focused companies excel when using innovative human resources managements, they may not work for all areas of business (e.g. banks or hospitals).

Sources:

https://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/

http://www.google.com/about/careers/lifeatgoogle/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurahe/2013/03/29/googles-secrets-of-innovation-empowering-its-employees/

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3026220/tap-into-the-7-secrets-of-silicon-valleys-innovation-culture

http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2015/04/21/these-countries-have-the-most-annual-working-hours-infographic-3/