Chris Choi's Blog

A corporation’s organizational culture plays a fundamental role in its success. Google Inc. is a company that can certainly demonstrate this idea. By having such a swift and reliable search engine on the web, Google must be doing something right with their employees to accomplish such a feat.  When it comes to maintaining employee satisfaction, Google seems to spare no expense. The organization supplies workers with multitude of benefits and provides them with “an extremely relaxed workplace that encourages creativity through fun activities” that involve teamwork. This emphasis on team achievements contributes to the overall success of the company and also forms a sense of family-bond in the workplace. Additionally, Google also provide workers with chef-prepared food, a gym with state-of-the-art equipment, haircuts, dry-cleaning, free on-site doctor and dentist, and free high-tech shuttle busses.

One may not see the significance the role of organizational culture plays in attracting the best talent in the industry because of the high cost. However, as we can see from the chart of Google’s growing annual revenue shown below, it is certain that having a corporation with an exceptional organizational culture will give them competitive advantage/edge over other companies. Overall, by giving employees an environment that they’d love to work in, this will definitely motivate them  to work harder, and eventually raise the total success of the company.

What is it that make some companies succeed, and others to succeed even greater? It is the simple concept of using strategies and tactics to get to one’s desired vision. For example, as we all know, Starbucks is one of the world’s renowned coffee chains that began in Seattle of 1971. In 2007, Starbucks Corporation decided to expand their company internationally and to enter the strong and ever-growing market of China by sourcing coffee to the country. This was Starbuck’s strategy; the overall goal or plan that a business takes in order to reach success. In order to achieve such ambition, Starbuck’s needed a tactic, which were steps taken in order to reach one’s goal. News reports claim that the company had already taken initial steps by sending workers to China to teach Chinese farmers how to cultivate coffee. The next tactic that the company took was opening the first Starbuck’s Coffee in China. Doing so, they were able to prosper greatly and adapt to the local culture and market conditions. By utilizing the concept of strategy and tactics, the company was able to flourish and now currently has 390 Starbucks stores in China.

In 2004, Facebook started out as a project initially designed for Mark Zuckerberg, the inventor, and his peers. Little did he know that this proposal would expand internationally, bring him fame, and become a “burgeoning business-networking platform.” As we all know, Facebook today is now a social networking website which allows users to connect with family and friends all over the world. Within only a couple of years, Facebook has gained world-wide support and currently has 100 million active users logging on each day. This led to many business people thinking the same thing, which was to use Facebook as a marketing tool to find new customers and promote their products online. Facebook encompasses a tool called “Page” which allows business users to advertise/promote their services to their customized groups, entire friends list, and even to those who aren’t even registered on Facebook. Generally speaking, my analysis shows that this provides plentiful opportunities for both business entrepreneurs and already existing multimillion corporations to use Facebook as a way to connect with customers world-wide.



In August 2010, Australian home prices in capital cities, especially Perth, are drastically falling. From an 8 percent increase in property prices last year, no one expected that it would fall 1.2 percent this summer. Analysts predict that there will be continuous declines in the following months ahead.  Richard Black, a property owner in Perth, finally sold his apartment last weekend for $2,150,000 after dropping $750,000. Even though he profited from this sale, he believes that he “just [hasn’t] ended up with as much money as [he] thought.”

There are two types of property buyers; people who buy properties to profit and those who actually want to make it a home. In this situation, homemakers have nothing to worry about but profit-seekers do. Richard Black is a perfect example of an investor being affected by this dramatic drop in property prices. My analysis shows that the drop in home prices isn’t just a negative thing, as it now allows more people to purchase houses at lower prices instead of having investors buying it and “flipping them for a quick buck.” Ultimately, not only are there risks when buying stocks, but there are also risks associating with buying property.





So what is it that makes Apple so successful? Why do even the best companies still fumble and have bottleneck factors even after trying to imitate the same idea?  It is because Apple was successfully able to position its products first into the consumers’ minds. By doing so, this gives Apple an advantage over all other companies as it is very difficult for a consumer to change his/her impression after it is formed. In October 2001, Apple was first to innovate a portable mp3 player and is now successfully dominating the technological market.

Apple’s superior marketing strategies definitely is the key component that contributes to their success.  By intimately knowing their market, they are effectively able to identify and meet all points of parities from other competing brands, such as Sony. They were also able to cover the area of Point of Differences by introducing the iTunes and its capability of downloading music. This was a favourable, and a unique association that distinguished the iPod from other brands that were in the same frame of reference.

By being the first to leave a mark on the consumer minds, Apple has definitely been able to control and dominate today’s technological market.

AquaBounty Technologies has been working on a project, that awaits the approval of Food and Drug Administration, which involves transferring hormones from different species of salmons to another allowing these genetically modified fishes to grow twice as fast. However, due to the policy announced in 2008, the FDA is regulating genetically engineered animals as if they were veterinary drugs. “There is no opportunity for anyone from outside to see” what was injected to these genetically altered animals since applications for approval of new drugs are always kept confidential by the agency. In addition, the government has in the past opposed mandatory labelling of foods from genetically engineered crops; thus it would seem difficult for the government to change that policy regarding genetically engineered animals. Furthermore, if FDA approves these salmons, it will open a path for scientists to develop other genetically engineered animals.

As a consumer, I feel that it is unethical for us to not be informed about what was infused into these animals yet alone, buy a product and not even know if it was genetically modified or not. It would seem that one day the food we eat will be nothing but the creation of scientists.