Michael Tessier, is a current fourth year entrepreneurship student from the University of Alberta’s School of Business. He has recently been recognized for an outstanding feat. In the midst of working towards his BCOM degree, he has started up and pursued his own landscaping business, with a mere $10,000 in funding. He has had a passion of the young age of 13, by which he expressed and started off with by buying and selling cars before he even had a drivers licence. Not surprisingly, and extremely relatable, when interviewed, Michael stated his hardest challenge has the limiting factor of time. As a student currently still adapting to the university coarse load, independence, and overall lifestyle, I must agree that time management is very difficult, and is a very important thing to be able to master in order to ensure further success in any aspect which one chooses to pursue. One thing that has been said many times is that one must be passionate about what they choose to pursue in entrepreneurship in order to ensure success, Michael also included this statement into his interview. This statement is very important to take into consideration for those choosing to pursue careers in entrepreneurship.

GEW Spotlight on Michael Tessier: Balancing School and a Business – See more at: http://www.futurpreneur.ca/en/2015/michael-tessier/#sthash.jiALgs5a.dpuf

In regards to the blog posted by Russell Nesbitt emphasizing the importance of a healthy mindset in order to achieve financial success, or however one might measure their success. I fully agree with the article Russell has cited, and therefore, with Russell as well. A healthy lifestyle is crucial in order to achieve a healthy mindset. It comes to no surprise to me that these aspects are correlated, in fact I’ve been observing this for quite a long period of time now. Successful people are much more efficient at managing their time and therefore are able to manage their time in a manner in which they are able to essentially be “successful” in multiple aspects of their life, professionally and personally. The mind set with which you approach the obstacles of life is very influential to determining your overall outcome “This shows how there is no secret towards making a profitable business, rater you must have the right mind set in order to make it big (Russell Nesbitt 2015).” One aspect of Russell’s opinion however, with which I do not fully agree with is when he states in the final sentences he states “when we have a group of people who think alike the possibilities are unfathomable” I believe that if a group of people working together to achieving a goal are approaching it with identical mind sets it leaves no room for variety.

“Embrace Your Weirdness, Be Happier and Do Sh*t You Love with Martin McGovern.” Under30CEO. 10 Nov. 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://under30ceo.com/embrace-your-weirdness-be-happier-and-do-sht-you-love-with-martin-mcgovern/>.

“Creating Systems to Successfully Follow Your Passion with Liz Presson.”Under30CEO. 5 Aug. 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://under30ceo.com/creating-systems-to-successfully-follow-your-passion-with-liz-presson/>.

In Julian Giannone’s blog post “Mccustomize”, he discusses the proposal from McDonalds to implement electronic kiosks at which customers would be abler to place orders at. The key point to highlight however, is that customers would now be able to customize the way they desire their burger to be built. This may initially seem to some  like a great point of differentiation for McDonalds to capitalize on. However, personally I disagree with this proposed strategy, for several reasons. The first reason being time efficiency. Given the many different customizable options of orders that customer s can choose from, each individual burger must be personalized. This would likely see time being used much less efficiently, eventually leading to longer wait times which would surely leave customers unhappy. Another reason this strategy could be a bad idea is that it could prove to be a venture with higher cost. At the present time, given the fixed amount of each ingredient used in the construction of a burger, management would know the amount of each ingredient to buy given the number of burgers per month. If customization becomes implemented, this efficient use of ingredients will become very difficult to replicate. These are clear potential causes for failure of this proposed strategy.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/mcdonalds-rolls-out-table-service-customized-burgers-in-upscale-shift/article26601464/

Another controversial sequence of events which has close correlations to the events in Paris has become very broadcasted and popular. The first being an event which occurred at a football game on Tuesday night, which saw Turkey hosting Greece for an international friendly. During this night many other international games were being held, all at which had panned out a moment of silence to remember the lives lost in Paris, this game included. However, during this moment of silence many of the Turkish supporters in the stands began chanting. Initially these chants were interpreted very poorly, as majority of people assumed the manner in which the media has presented this event was correct, which stated that this fans were in fact booing the peaceful gesture. This has shown the negative impacts terrorism can bring in terms of dividing cultures, and ruining sports games. Another incident in Germany saw a match cancelled, several days after the Paris incident, as an ambulance was discovered filled with explosives Contorversy has arose as a result of this in question of terrorism ruining “the beautiful game”. Revenue brought in from this matches could take a serious hit given the negative image being received at the moment. Consideration could be taken into issuing bans to these fans, based on the lack of respect they have shown for the game, and the lives that were lost.

Sheen, Tom. “Turkey Fans Boo Minute’s Silence for Paris Attack Victims – but It Was Not a Mark of Disrespect, Claim Social Media Commentators.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 19 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-fans-boo-minutes-silence-for-paris-victims-but-it-was-not-a-mark-of-disrespect-claim-a6738741.html>.

“Report: Terrorists Wanted To Hit Germany-Netherlands Match With 5-Bomb Attack.”Screamer. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.

Following the recent attacks on Paris this past week, Anonymous which is obviously an anonymous (hence the name) entity, is a group of cyber activists, who have no clear objective, rather then to serve their personal best interest. In this case, Anonymous plans to carry out cyber attacks on ISIS, in order to lessen their influence through propaganda, and as well as stall their recruitment efforts. Anonymous have already taken action very quickly indeed. They have currently been able to disable over 5,000 twitter accounts which belong to members of ISIS, and people with connections to ISIS. Without being able to market themselves over the internet through twitter accounts and propaganda websites, recruitment will surely function less efficiently. they will also make it very difficult for ISIS members to communicate with one another, which will also likely prove a problem fro their “oil industry” of which is their main source of revenue currently. Without proper communication, efficiency will likely decrease. According to their claims, this is just the start of the Anonymous campaign against ISIS, which they like to call “OpISIS”, making it an objective to take down ISIS propaganda websites among other objectives. Although in the past Anonymous has not always made their priorities in terms of what’s best for the general population, and rather to be made in their best interest, they have currently been gaining much public support given their stance on this war against ISIS. Given the fact that much of their activity is illegal, the boundaries in which they are able to function are set with much less limits then that of governments. For that reason, some argue that Anonymous could have a greater deal of impact on the cyber side of things then government entities might.

Leung, Marlene. “Anonymous Declares War on ISIS in Online Video.” CTVNews. N.p., 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. <http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/anonymous-declares-war-on-isis-in-online-video-1.2660374>.

Anonymous face. Digital image. News Watch 33. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. <https://newswatch33.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/anonymous.jpg>.

The ‘one for one’ business model might seem like a top option, but there are some flaws to this model. I am opposed to this model for one specific reason, of which is in regards to disabling the less fortunate population. By essentially giving these people “handouts”, they become dependant on them and in the long run is not very beneficial to them. I very much agree with the analogy which was stated in the article, “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime”. Within this analogy, the ‘one for one’ business model would correspond to giving a man a fish. In order to yield more drastic long run improvement, it is necessary to “teach the man to fish”. To provide the less fortunate with the tools necessary to prosper in the long run individually, is a much better strategy, because you’re essentially “teaching the man to fish”, providing him the skills to determine his own success rather than depending on the generosity of consumers is in the best interest of society in the long run.

The seemingly never ending political conflict between Ukraine in Russia now has caused some serious repercussions for both parties. Following the ban from the Ukrainian government of flights to from Russia, Russia has also issued a boycott of their own (Tomkiw 2015). This is a very alarming conflict, because both nations have already suffering economies (Tomkiw 2015). This would mean that many airlines will have to shift their flight paths to avoid restricted areas. This will likely increase prices for the passengers. This whole situation is very far from ideal for both of these nations. It really is the last thing they would need right now. It is expected that this ban will hit the larger Russian industry harder than the Ukrainian, given that the need for Ukrainian flights to fly over Russia is much less (Tomkiw 2015). Given the rough past this two nations have had, it would be asking quite a lot for them to collaborate in order to effectively reduce their economic issues, but would likely be necessary for effective reparation, and harm reduction.

Tomkiw, Lydia. “Russia And Ukraine Conflict Takes To the Skies: Airline Sanctions Are Latest High-Flying Economic Battle.” International Business Times. N.p., 01 Oct. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-ukraine-conflict-takes-skies-airline-sanctions-are-latest-high-flying-economic-2121322>.

Aeroflot. Digital image. International Business Times. N.p., 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 1 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-ukraine-conflict-takes-skies-airline-sanctions-are-latest-high-flying-economic-2121322>.

Something that has been extensively covered the news lately, is the demand of Walmart workers across the United States to have their wages increased to $15.00 an hour. Many Walmart employees were interviewed their opinions on whether or not they think the wages should be increased or not. As one would expect, majority of these employees were in favour of an increase of their wages. I do not see this as a viable option to help the economic issues of the nation. Few however, did not see that as a reasonable option. One employee specifically, Shantel says $15 an hour “is pushing it” (Stangler 2015). For an entry level job, designed for people with no post-secondary education, the wages really aren’t that terrible, with Shantel earing $9.40/hr (Stangler 2015). If this wage increases were to be implemented, there would be other repercussions that the short sighted could not envision. Based on economic principles, if the minimum wage were to increase this drastically, there are many negatives. Companies would be less willing, as well as less able to employ the same amount of employees, they might also consider increasing their prices to compensate (Halvorson 2015). Another negative side effect is that the demand for this jobs will intensify, as overqualified individuals might also shift their attention to these high paying minimum wage jobs (Halvorson 2015). Society as a whole would not benefit from this increase.

Halvorson, Chad. “The Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage.” When I Work. N.p., 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. <http://wheniwork.com/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-raising-the-minimum-wage/>.

Stangler, Cole. “Walmart Workers Still Unsatisfied, 7 Months After Widely Celebrated Pay Raise.” International Business Times. N.p., 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ibtimes.com/walmart-workers-still-unsatisfied-7-months-after-widely-celebrated-pay-raise-2106949>.

MinimumWage. Digital image. Beyond. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. <http://www.beyond.com/articles/effect-of-the-minimum-wage-increase-on-retail-and-small-business-12183-article.html>.

A topic that has briefly discussed in class, is the scandal involving Volkswagen and the charges it faces due to its lies about the emission amounts their cars release. This lie first came to the attention of an engineer of the name John German. He had administered on road emission tests which he observed to differ from that of the reported in test emission results from several VW automobiles. He had eventually discovered that VW had “sophisticated software designed to cheat strict emission tests across the world” (Neate 2015). This is a very interesting action, and it really makes you wonder if other large corporations are using similar strategies. Many things remain unclear, but it is very clear that this was no accident, a lot of work was put into this. (Neate 2015). The single thing that had German perplexed, was the fact that after he had sent the results of the discrepancies between VW’s tests and his own, VW had the choice of attempting to fix what they had done, but instead they chose to continue lying, and cheating the system. (Neate 2015). 

Neate, Rupert. “Meet John German: The Man Who Helped Expose Volkswagen’s Emissions Scandal.” The Guardian. N.p., 26 Sept. 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/26/volkswagen-scandal-emissions-tests-john-german-research>.

No More Lies. Digital image. International Business Times. N.p., 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2015. <http://www.ibtimes.com/volkswagen-whistleblower-we-gave-epa-diesel-emissions-data-2014-2114511>.

In businesses and corporations of any size, ethics plays a major role in the responsibilities that it  has, as well as in the actions that it carries out. Social and corporate ethics serve to ensure that businesses run within legal means, and that consumers, employees, the environment, and stakeholders are treated fairly. The article from BBC “The slippery slope of getting away with small stuff” discusses a theory that committing unethical actions in the workplace starts off small and in many cases keeps getting worse as people get more comfortable with these actions. If a business makes sure the social responsibilities required by their employees are fulfilled, the employees might not feel the need for these unethical acts to be carried out. The thing that fuels these unethical acts such as stealing from a company must come from the idea that an employee might have about their needs not being met. It is the social responsibility of the corporation to tend to these needs. If these needs are met, the likeliness of illegal acts within the company occurring would be lessened. The theory of Friedman that businesses should function within legal means to maximize their profit tends less to the social responsibilities a business might have. Freeman also believes that the profit should be maximized, but further stresses the importance of satisfying the social responsibilities. If equilibrium between maximizing profit and fulfilling social responsibilities are met, this is the optimum way for a company to function effectively.

Zimmerli, Walther Ch., Klaus Richter, and Markus Holzinger. “The Social Responsibilty of Business Is to Increase Its Profit.” Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance. Berlin: Springer, 2007. N. pag. Print.

Borzykowski, Bryan “The Slippery Slope of Getting Away with Small Stuff.” BBC. N.p., 7 Aug. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.

Freeman, Edward “What Is Stakeholder Theory?” YouTube. YouTube, 1 Oct. 2009. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.

Business Issues and Ethical Resolutions (Part 1). N.d. Mayr’s Organizational Management. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://mayrsom.com/2015/03/04/business-issues-and-ethical-resolution-part-1/>.