Monthly Archives: October 2014

Coming from a third world country where corruption within businesses is an understatement and workers rights are taken for granted. It hurts me how people prioritize making more money over a person’s health or ruining a child’s future by making them work instead of attending school in order to minimize costs. I am patriotic and love my country but it does not take a genius to see that the priorities are wrong. At times, I ask myself what is the cause of this selfishness? I eventually realize that it’s the community, the consumers of these products that put pressure on the producers; we do not consider how ethically the product is made and are not willing to pay extra money in order to promote companies who value corporate social responsibility. We are always looking for the cheaper alternative. After reading the article, “Starbucks announces fair trade offerings at universities across Canada,” published on 2/10/14 by Anthony Bianco; I realize there is hope for sustainable development and environmental protection. [1]

With Starbucks offering fair trade coffee to university students who are the budding leaders of tomorrow and making them aware of producers that meet standards for labor and environmental sustainability; makes them more willing to promote the fair trade movement. This will change businesses priorities from minimizing costs in order to increase profits to being ethically responsible in order to make higher profits, as it would become a standard for people purchasing products. A form of competitive advantage, as your products will be sold at a higher price than the market price and there would be demand for it. The consumers will also pride themselves over the fact that they bought a cup of coffee that has gone through the most ethical channels possible. This would lead to more pleasant people who are satisfied with the product they’ve purchased.

However, Is it enough to seat in Starbucks feeling self-righteous about the fair trade cup of coffee you are drinking?

It is true that Fair Trade is not the only measure of ensuring that slavery and exploitive labor practices are avoided but is just a step in the right direction. If it were promoted successfully it would become a standard for all companies and what is expected to survive in the industry. However people would eventually become used to the idea of Fair trade and in order for businesses to succeed they have to find other ways to involve consumers as social expectations are continually changing. Then they would have to find a shared value[2] to enhance their competitiveness but at the same time expand the pool of economic and social value. I believe that in the future firms will need to be more than “profit maximisers” to be successful as more people are becoming environmentally and socially responsible. Therefore to succeed business would have to be about the “people,” as firms will have to have a responsibility to society that goes beyond their responsibility to its shareholders.

Bibliography [1]

http://www.the-peak.ca/2014/10/starbucks-announces-fair-trade-offerings-at-universities-across-canada/

Bianco, Anthony. “Starbucks Announces Fair Trade Offerings at Universities across Canada.” The Peak RSS. N.p., 2 Oct. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

[2]

http://www.waterhealth.com/sites/default/files/Harvard_Buiness_Review_Shared_Value.pdf

Porter, Michael E., and Mark R. Karmer. “Creating Shared Value.” Harvard Business Revies (2011): n. pag. Feb. 2011. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Make the right Decision

With British Colombia’s ambition to be the world’s greenest city by 2020[1], is building a dam a positive reflection to their goal? BC Hydro is an electric company in BC that will undertake this CAD$ 8 billion project [2]. At the expense of the loss of indigenous people habitat, is it a worthy project to invest on? Building the dam may prove to be a sign of progress and development but could also be seen as political instability, social inequity and environmentally degrading. The article titled, “First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown,” published on 18/09/2014 by Peter O’Neil explains some of the problems faced with the project at hand [3]. I’ll be discussing the issues that arise from the exploitation of First Nation’s land.

When I first heard about the dam it reminded me of Belo Monte project in Brazil [4]. There were over 20000 “Amerindian” indigenous inhabitants displaced, 40 000Ha of forest were flooded and mass deforestation took place. US Film maker James Cameron, portrays “[the Belo-Monte dam leaders to Ecological villains in the movie Avatar]“[5]. This is not the image that the Canadian Government would want people to perceive them as around the world. It also doesn’t align with their ambitions of having the world greenest city.  As it does not only harm the indigenous people but also de-stabilizes the ecosystem as a whole as several species would lose their habitats. On the other hand, the dam would generate more electricity into new homes and also create more jobs for the unemployed. Despite these positive aspects, is the value proposition of the dam worth destroying someone’s habitat, where their ancestors lived and the only place that they can call a home? Why should they be willing to relinquish their land to a project that would not mutually benefit them? These are some of the questions the Canadian government needs to think about before investing in the project.

To conclude, the Government has a choice in either investing in the dam or not. But they should be prepared to affect a particular social group with their decision. In the long-term they are expected to find a way to compensate the group they’ve affected. Personally I believe if they decide to invest in the dam the effects would be more severe on the first nation people and might not be easily forgiven and they might spark genocide because of this. Therefore, I feel the right decision is to find a different potential area where they could build their dam where there aren’t any inhabitants or a few inhabitants, who can be easily moved. Or they could have an agreement with the first nations that would benefit both parties from the building of the dam.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1]
http://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/a-bright-green-future.aspx
Website Title: Home
Article Title: Greenest City 2020: A Bright Green Future
Date Accessed: October 07, 2014

[2]
http://www.bchydro.com/energy-in-bc/projects/site_c.html
Website Title: Site C Clean Energy Project
Article Title: Site C Clean Energy Project
Date Accessed: October 07, 2014

[3]
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html
Website Title: www.vancouversun.com
Article Title: First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown
Date Accessed: October 05, 2014

[4]

http://www.forestpeoples.org/topics/rights-land-natural-resources/news/2012/07/brazilian-indigenous-peoples-and-civil-society-cha
Website Title: Forest Peoples Programme
Article Title: Brazilian indigenous peoples and civil society challenge gov[…]
Date Accessed: October 07, 2014

[5]

http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Hydroelectric/Brazils-Belo-Monte-Dam-Bad-Idea.html
Website Title: Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam, Bad Idea?
Article Title: Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam, Bad Idea?
Date Accessed: October 07, 2014

BUSINESS GLOBALISATION LEADS TO HAPPINESS.
With the rapid enhancement of technology, the world is becoming smaller, national boarders are being breached; diversification is increasing as nations thrive for economic integration. MNC’s such as McDonalds are taking advantage of this. They are changing their products in order to suit not only American citizens, however to align it with the target country’s needs and belief in what “real food” actually is to them. It unveils how the world is becoming a “global village.” Where diversity and differences in culture is being embraced by society. This can be shown in the article titled, “From Big Mac to Rice Burger,” published on 8/12/2012 by Manya Koetse.[1] I’ll be discussing how businesses such as McDonald’s are embracing Globalization.

The conducting of businesses to both local and global consideration is illustrated by how McDonald is said to have become “a part of the Japanese culture.”1 Instead of selling products such as the “Big mac” which consist of meat, they sell the “The Rice Burger,”1 which consists of rice that is part of Japan’s “national identity.”1 McDonald has also adapted more restaurants to suit local taste in India, where they do not serve beef and in the Middle East, where they serve halal meat.

McDonalds ability to adapt and complement to change in taste of their different consumers gives the consumers a feeling of homeliness with the McDonald brand. This invites customers from all economic backgrounds to McDonalds as they have food that they can all relate to and are comfortable with. All these characteristics make McDonalds a timeless company; as they are adapting to the consumer tastes around the world. This has led to numerous food companies such as KFC emulating McDonalds. Otherwise companies that have not adapted to economic integration would prove to be timely as they’ll be more incompetent in their respectful markets. Globalization in business proves to be a key factor in maximizing consumers’ satisfaction and pleasure, which would translate to better reputation and eventually more profit for business. This would lead to all stakeholders and the whole community to be content.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] http://www.manyakoetse.com/from-big-mac-to-rice-burger-globalization-mcdonalds-in-japan/

Publisher: ManyaKoetse
Author: Manya Koetse
Article Title: From Big Mac to Rice Burger- Globalization: McDonald’s Globalization