Clarence Lam's Blog

Li, Jing Wei (Jack)’s Blog: Online Hurricane

Undeniably, technology has become a big part of our everyday lives. If we were compare technology to pills, it has progressed from being a stimulant to being a depressant. At first technology has helped us become more efficient in everyday tasks, but we’ve become so dependent on it that it has become an addication – something we can’t live without. Which is why if you were to start a new business, creating a website is the perfect marketing strategy to garner attention. With the low implemented costs of sustaining a website, you’re able to target a large customer segment. Whether it be the local crowd or the global mass, a website can take your business to new heights as long as you utilise it efficiently – it can become your companies strongest weapon. What about newspaper ads you say? No way Jose, what do you see 90% of the time when you walk onto a bus or a subway? I’ll tell you, phones and lots of em. The world is not what it used to be from 10 years ago. Technology has taken the world by a storm and people must change with the times if they wish to producing a thriving business.

Zhang, Zhen Yi’s Blog: Do Alcohol and Work Mix??

I agree with David’s point that employee satisfaction is key in making any business a success. When employees are happy with their jobs, productivity is bound to be greater than when employees are unsatisfied. That being said the business in this article has a very peculiar organizational culture in which alcohol is actually being given to employees within the workplace.  Is this method really necessary to provide employee satisfaction? I’m a big fan of this company, Deskbeers, as they advocate the idea of  relaxation to their employees. I mean what better way than to pop open a few beers on a Friday night with fellow employees to relieve a stressful week? It’s a fun idea, but I can see a mountain of problems arising from consuming alcohol within the workplace. It’s definitely important to motivate your employees but I feel like this idea is overstepping boundaries. As the CEO of a company, it’s important to build and maintain strong relationships with employees; however there are many other ways you can connect with employees besides buying alcohol for them, as I believe it will promote unhealthy work habits in the long run.

Snapchat

How does Snapchat, a business which has basically no assets, no revenue, and does not follow a business model canvas become so successful?  Likewise to its competitor Facebook, Snapchat was founded by a college student whom introduced the app initially to college students before it popularized to the general public.

Just recently they’ve received an offer of 3-billion dollars from Facebook and 4 billion from Google to buy out their company, only to decline their offer. Some are questioning the decision of the greenhorn CEO. But what is with the craze of Snapchat? What differentiates it from the rest of social media apps? Well first off, the ideology behind it is new, fresh, and appealing which is why it’s so well liked by the social mass. “It’s everything Facebook isn’t.” The idea is based off of not leaving behind any traces information behind. Personally I don’t doubt the decision-making of 23-year-old Evan Spiegel. For a business to thrive, the CEO needs a strong sense of ambition as well as a high level of risk taking. With such a great mindset and a strong passion for change, I personally believe that Snapchat has the potential of being the new Facebook

Google Investment

Google has recently made their 14^th invested into renewable energy as they put $80 million dollars to open 6 Solar Energy Plants. They’ve stated their future goal: to have 100% of its energy completely renewable. It’s going to be a lengthy process but currently 33% of their energy is already coming from renewable sources.

Why Google is such a respected company is because they’re not only looking to make profits for themselves, but to also help better the world through their innovations. They are a true example of a social enterprise. Google not only looks out for its employees with benefits such as the 20 percent time program, which allows employees to spend 20% of their work time on their own individual projects unrelated to work, but they also care about how their company affects the rest of the world. This short term investment causes them to lose money, however Google realizes this method will be beneficial to both them and the environment in the long run. Instead of running a business to solely make a profit, companies should strive with both human and environmental outcomes in mind, as Google proves that it can be done.

Sexual Harassment

Being the head of a business, you really have to be wary of your personal decision making as  they affect the business as a whole. Prime example being Mark Hurd, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. Back in 2010, Mark Hurd was faced with accusations of sexual harassment of a fellow employee in his company. Mark has essentially, “violated the company’s business standards.” Shortly after this news was released to the public, stock shares plummeted at an alarming rate; and mere hours after trading had closed, stocks went down 8.3%.

The image and values a business is strongly correlated with the owner: the personal decisions of the owner affects the business, and outcomes of the choices made by the business affects the image of the owner. Not only did this stunt cost Mark his career, but it affected every single employee at HP as well as every single stockholder who held a share of HPQ. In a sheer instant, everything that Mark had worked so hard for came crashing down. Although Mark was later acquitted of the charge, the damage which had been dealt could not be recovered.

Faulty Products

Back in 2009, Hewlett-Packard, a multi-billion information technology corporation, experienced mass complaints from the public due to defective products. HP ignorantly sold faulty products, despite  knowing that the Nvidia Graphic chips they had in their computers were flawed. Shamefully, this multi-billion dollar company did nothing to fix a known issue. Is this unjust treatment fair to a consumer? Is this how a business should run? With problems such as “screens going blank or overheating, leading to system failure” HP just sits there pretending to oblivious. Even worse, consumers who were affected by these faulty products were “ineligible for repairs or an extended warranty” because these computer were not covered by list of affected machines issued by HP. Honestly, what kind of pathetic customer service is this? They’re scamming their customers into buying these products and then pretend they’re not at fault when they happen to “break down”. It scares me to think that there are such big businesses out there with such low ethics.