Category: COMM101

Me to We is a social enterprise selling socially conscious and environmentally friendly clothes, books and music – as well as life-changing experiences. Also, it provide inspiring speakers, leadership training and transformative travel experience. Me to We aims to transform consumers into world changers. Half of its profits are donated to its charitable partner, Free the Children (a non-profitable organization), and another half is reinvest to grow their social enterprise.

The videos below show some detailed information of Me to We and Free the Children.

So far, Me to We has made a positive social and environmental impact. Only in last year, Me to We saved quantities of water and pesticides, planted 80,000 trees, visited 194,430 students in developing countries, and gave numerous leadership workshops to youngsters. Also, it inspired 1,358 people to donate more than 120,000 hours of volunteer services on life-changing trips to developing countries.

Me to We is a definitely a good example of social enterprise. It combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination. Its social mission is to encourage its customers to be involved in the undertaking to make a better world, to fight child labor, and to remove the barriers to children’s education in third countries. Its social mission is explicit and central. In addition, it seems that, unlike other social enterprises, Me to We has embarked on a path of sustainability and self-sufficiency. The annual report of Me to We shows some further information.

MORE INFO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_the_children

This is the preparation task of Class 19, which is “blog about one company that you considered to be entrepreneurial”.

Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/business/18sbiz.html?_r=1&ref=entrepreneurship

Groupon is a social-coupon website founded by Andrew Mason in 2008. Groupon offers its followers a deal-of-the-day coupon and the followers are encouraged to share it with social networks. Once a certain number of people sign up for the offer, the deals become available to all. Otherwise, no one gets the deals that day and they will not be charged. Actually, the coupon on Groupon can be regarded as a kind of quantity discount. Groupon makes money by sharing profits with those retailers.

The video below shows how exactly Groupon works.

The risk is reduced for both buyers and retailers. Also, the idea makes fully use of the power of social media and Internet, which guarantee the success rate of most of the deals. Groupon’s innovative business model is proven to be successful – in April 2010, Group raises $135 million from its investors. Seeing this fairly smart and innovative idea and the fast growing market of e-commerce, Mr. Mason takes full advantages of it and creates a quite considerable amount of wealth in a pretty fast speed. A $350 million revenue in 2010 best exemplifies Groupon’s fast growth.

Undoubtedly, Groupon shows the essence of entrepreneurship to the full extent. It derives from a new idea and is operated under a new business model. Also, it creates a unique service in the e-commerce market relying on the platform of social network. It conforms to the Schumpeter’s view of Entrepreneurship from all aspects.

Article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605273596157634.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews

I chose to write something about this article because it reminded me something that we learned on class18.

This event reminds me of the Equity Theory which I learned on my OB class. The theory clarifies that upper-level employees with more education tend to make more other-outside comparison. (quote from “Organizational Behavior”, Page147). In case of this, Google must make sure that its employees must be treated equitably; otherwise its employees are definitely likely to quit. Therefore, in my opinion, Google took the right action to retain its employees.

In addition to that, in my point of view, Google can also take other effective actions to avoid the detection of its employees. For example, Google can choose to motivate its employees more intrinsically by creating the sense of competence and sense of choice. In other words, Google can empower their staffs. This will definitely create more job satisfaction and affective commitment employees. Also, I think Google can pay more attention to creating an enjoyable organizational culture that all the employees’ shares and like, since organizational culture can be regarded as a social glue and will definitely enhance stability.

Overall, as I see it, Google should try to make its employees love their company rather than just simply give them more salaries. That is definitely a better choice for Google to retain its employees.

MORE INFO:

http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20101111-246815.html

I chose to write this article because I learned some knowledge about supply chain and supply chain management in my COMM101 class.

Two Articles:

http://www.mnn.com/eco-biz/sustainable-business-practices/stories/sustainable-supply-chain-an-overview

http://www.mnn.com/eco-biz/sustainable-business-practices/stories/eco-friendly-supply-chain

After seeing the articles above, I have a general understanding towards the sustainable supply chain.

In order to attain a much more efficient and economic supply chain, managers now are paying more and more attention on supply chain management. Besides trying to figure out a way to shorten the delivery time and figure out how to make a more accurate forecast, managers now also try to make the supply chain more sustainable and eco-friendly.

Why corporations pay so much attention on sustainable supply chains? In my opinion, there are four main reasons.

Firstly, there are more and more sustainability-minded customers in the contemporary society. Customers have a growing concern on whether the products have a green production process. Also, a research shows that there are also an increasing number of customers who want to know the product’s entire lifecycle. Thus corporations try to meet these customers’ demand. Secondly, corporations are mindful of meeting current and future environment-related legislation. Thirdly, corporations want to create a better corporation image and public relation by giving customers the impression that those corporations have a sustainable supply chain. Last but not least, eco-friendly supply chain can help firms to reduce cost. Such supply chains can reduce unnecessary waste, improve raw material utilization, reduce energy use, and improve efficiency.

Currently, there are quantities of examples that companies are taking actions on building up a more eco-friendly supply chain, for example: Wal-Mart, Apple, Marriott, and McDonald’s.

MORE INFO:

http://www.accenture.com/NR/rdonlyres/A67BA82D-EC74-4B71-A039-481B4C308351/0/Accenture_The_Sustainable_Supply_Chain.pdf

For decades, people around the world have associated “Disney” with innocence, imagination, and purity. However, nowadays, the Disney’s sweatshops have aroused the society’s wide attention. In some third countries such as China, Haiti, and Vietnam, working conditions are so nasty that far beyond people’s imagination.

So, behind the scenes of this gigantic company, what is the truth? What on earth is behind the bright name?

Take sweatshops in China as an example. There is information showing that the workers earn between 13.5 and 36 cents an hour; however, a research shows that wage earner must make 87 cents an hour to meet the basic survival needs of a small family in a major Chinese city. As you see, the workers in Disney sweatshops earn only one-third as much as the lowest standard. Not only that, workers suffer illegal fines. Workers are fined for talking or going to the toilet without permission. Unfair fines are frequently handed out. They range from 60 cents to 35 dollars, which can cost up to two months of pay of those already poor people.

Surprisingly, in such low wages, workers, however, work extremely long hours! Despite the Chinese labor laws that establish a maximum 49 hour work week, they work 112 hours a week! One worker said, in some sweatshops, there are even no set working hours. There is a quota every day. Sometimes, in the peak season, the quota can be 4000 toys a day. If they don’t finish it, they will be beaten.

There is a report of an investigation carried out by 10 Chinese university students. They conducted the investigation as undercover workers in their summer vacation. The report shows the real working conditions in 5 Chinese factories.

All the workers are exposed to constant toxic chemicals. However, there are even no protection equipments. Food there is described as pigs feed. Dorms have no hot water. In addition, the report shows that, there are lots of work-related injuries. Some workers lost their fingers, palms, and even arms. Even in this condition, they can’t stop working. The link shows a news that a child was died during his work.

The link shows more detailed information about workers’ working conditions.

In these sweatshops, the code of conduct which Disney is proud of seems like hollow words. As the problem of business ethics are becoming increasingly serious and widespread, more effective actions should be taken to protect those poor workers’ rights.

MORE INFO: http://blog.buzzflash.com/alerts/109

I chose to write this because I watched a video online which reminded me of some knowledge taught on class 6. Also, it made me think about some reasons leading to the inferior position of McDonald’s.

As is known to all, McDonald’s is the largest fast food restaurant around the world,whereas KFC is only the 7th largest fast food restaurant around the world, which is far behind its competitor, McDonald’s. However, the situation in China is totally different, where KFC has the absolute advantages.

It is reported that the number of chain stores of  McDonald’s is approximately 1100, which is unexpectedly less than 1/2 of that of KFC (about 2600). As far as I am concerned, such a large gap can be attributed to the following reasons. Firstly, saying that Chinese people would never be interest in burgers, McDonald’s made a big mistake in market research, which led the fact that KFC preceded McDonald’s to seize the Chinese market. Secondly, compared to McDonald’s, KFC is more likely to improve their food in order to fit Chinese people’s taste, which makes a big contribution to KFC’s success in China. Last but not least, McDonald’s initial wrong target market and value position also resulted in its inferior position. Different from KFC whose target market is white-collars,  McDonald’s initially paid their attention to children and families. However, McDonald’s ignored the fact that fast food which is pretty cheap in America is also relatively expensive to almost common households in China that not every parents can always take their children to McDonald’s. Thus McDonald’s still cannot compete with KFC in Chinese market.

I chose to write this because I read some articles today which made me further understand how entrepreneurs doing online marketing through social media.

LINKS:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217391

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217387

As what I have written on last post, the social media is widely applied in market research, PR online, brand building and general marketing. But at that time, I did not know exactly how these things are operated. Now I have a further understanding about these things.

Given that not all outposts on the SNS will necessarily boost sales and referrals to a company’s website, how to use the right tools in a strategic way is a significant thing to be considered. The first article recommends 10 effective ways to build an impressive and attractive facebook page which can make contribution to consumer service and marketing. In my opinion, these 10 ways are figured out through the analysis on consumer psychology, which will definitely take effect.

Introducing some cost-effective and creative marketing strategies, the second article is mainly focused on unconventional market-research methods for small-business owners. Indeed, for the fact that these small-business owners are short of funds and their companies are not yet mature, social media is no doubt the best way for them to open up markets.

I chose to write this because after I was introduced to the social media in class 8, I became so interested in it that I did a research online for more information. I just decided to write something about it.

Social media, based on web 2.0, is capturing increasingly more entrepreneurs’ eyes. They found social media is a new chance and new instrument for them to operate their company in a more efficient way.

Social media is applied to various aspects of human life, and even the blog I am using now is one of the crucial parts of social media! Not just a tool for entertainment, buzzing around and social interaction any more, social media has now revealed its usage value in the domain of education and business. As was shown in the diagram in class, it is applied mainly in market research, amplifying word of mouth, idea generation, brand building and general marketing. Also, it is also used for PR such as the reinforcement of customer loyalty.

As I see it, those usages are all attributed to the fact that all the content and information are user-generated or customer-generated. Because people are able to be involved themselves in the social media to the maximum extent, there is great potential for bringing considerable commercial interests. In other words, social media is a significant source for precious customer information. In my opinion, the advantages for commercial uses of social media can be seen in the following several aspects. Firstly, it is a good way to get feedback from customers directly, which gives company the information for commodity improvement. Secondly, social media is a platform of MIS, where managers can attain significant information for decision making and company management. In addition, it has the potential to create a larger customer base and it provides a new way for market research.

In short, social media is now regarded as an indispensable part of business operation.

I chose to write this because I read an article about TOYOTA today which reminded me of the fishbone analysis & urgency/importance quadrant I learned on class 4.

Link:http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/allstate-sues-toyota-over-acceleration-claims_488839.html

Nowadays, as a series of negative reports of TOYOTA are into our sight, TOYOTA vehicles have aroused widespread public concerns, which made it be stuck in a plight of sales decline.

As is said in the article, TOYOTA was involved in a new accusation of its quality problem, which is likely to be a new heavy blow on the already weak sales. In view of these facts, it is high time to figure out the radical causes which result in this worrying condition. After I learned the fishbone analysis & urgency/importance quadrant in class 4, I made an analysis on these causes.

Maybe it is not comprehensive and objective enough, but I just thought it is necessary to practice and try to apply things we learned on courses. Therefore, I just tried.

Article:

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/news-blog/nestle-is-feeding-babies-in-china-genetically-engineered-food/

http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/84272.htm

http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/news/0212/22.htm

In the contemporary society, never are the issues about GM Food failing to capture our attention. Nestle, known as the biggest food manufacturer in the world, was involved in a scandal of selling GM Food in China.

Baby Rice Cereal (rice with beef & vegetables), where some GM ingredientswere found

As is shown above, Nestle was feeding babies the hazardous GM Good without labeling . However, the fact is, there is a legislation that GM Good must be labeled while sold, otherwise it is prohibited to be put on the shelves. This regulation is pointed out by the Ministry of Health of China explicitly. People now in China tend to shun GM Food while buying, whereas the fact is that they are paying for something detrimental that they actually do not want to buy.

As is known to all, so far, it is years since Nestle has promised not to sell GM Food in Duropean Union, Russia, Australia, Brazil and some other countries. Why Nestle just sets a double standard towards China and refuses to make the same promise? Besides, surprisingly, Nestle unexpectedly denied its wrongdiong and tried to shun its responsibility.

It is no doubt that Nestle should be brought into justice.

Actually, the phenomenon is not only restricted to the Food Producers, but also the Supermarkets. Wal-Mart China, one of the retail giants known worldwide, was condemned to sell genetically modified rice by Greenpeace earlier this year. The link below shows more detailed information.

http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/buying-rice-think-twice-china-479311

The issues about Food Safety and Business Ethics are becoming increasingly concerning. As far as I am concerned, while the reputation of one brand is posed in an increasingly high position by customers, Business Ethics are really significant for a Company’s long-term development.