As the world develops and time passes, environmental issues are getting more severe and acute by the year and sometimes even by the month. Hence there is growing attention and appeal in sustainability and environmental responsibility. Many consumers now choose environmentally responsible firms than others, causing many firms to come up with ideas and innovations to increase sustainability and environmental friendliness. This article shows “50 Ways to Green Your Business”.

Among the many ways to ‘go green’ shown in the article, about 51 organizations are mentioned, and not only firms are mentioned, but other institutions, such as universities, and even sports teams are mentioned. The article shows how these companies achieved sustainability and a step towards a more environmentally responsible organization. As I read through the article, I saw many familiar names, such as Microsoft, Apple, GM and even Texas Instruments, which manufactures the calculators that most students use world-wide. Listed as number 17, the article says that Texas Instruments “estimates it has eliminated 15million pounds of CO₂ emissions and saved 3.7 million watts of electric power”.

Not only will such steps help improve the reputations of firms, it will also ultimately benefit the entire world in reducing the environmental impacts of development.

In this article, the successes of Coca-Cola, the largest manufacturer of beverages in the world, are clearly described. The title itself largely sums up what the entire article is talking about. It states that the profit of “$2.2 billion was a 9% rise on the same period last year”. The article placed Coca-Cola’s focus on emerging markets as the main factor of its success. This is shown through these statements: “Sales in these regions (Latin America, India and China) outperformed Europe and North America.”

In my opinion, Coca-Cola was able to gain such a huge profit through strong brand positioning. It also used the fact that the regions mentioned above do not have much local competition compared to the European and American markets to its advantage. By having many different kinds of drinks, together with local-taste/preference-specific developments and innovations, it was able to get a much wider and firmer grip of the market.

This brief perceptual mapping of the Coca-Cola company shows a part of the brand positioning of the company. This diagram shows 4 possible factors of consumption: trend, health-consciousness, value relative to price and strong flavor. Some examples, obtained directly from the coca cola website are included.

I agree with Nicola’s view that the protests of Occupy Wall Street are “irrational and unrealistic”. In my opinion, this group of people have no specific or realistic set of goals which they aim to achieve. However, I cannot say that the perspective that Occupy Wall Street protesters take is entirely wrong. This is because these protests were formed in response to “social and economic inequality, corporate greed, corruption and influence over government”. They claim that “1 percent of the people have 99 percent of the money.”, according to Nicola’s post.

I agree that social and economic inequality and corporate greed are indeed huge factors in the financial crisis. However, in my opinion, these protests are pointless. This is because by marching in the main financial and business areas of New York CIty, which has the second biggest economy in the world, these protesters are literally slowing the world economy down. They are also creating other costs to the government, as well as residents around the area. They’re ideas would indeed be ideal in theory. However, these protesters must realize the costs and consequences that would arise, should their demands be met, which would ultimately end up defeating the purpose of these protests.

Market research is essential to the success of a business plan, whether it is for a new company or a company which is investing into a new product. This article discusses how market research creates success. Market research “involves dividing the customer base into target demographics”. In other words, market research is about finding the different preferences and tastes of certain groups of people, classified by different factors, such as age, gender and income level. However, according to Harvard Business school professor Clayton Christensen, “each year 30,000 new consumer products are launched – and 95% of them fail”.

This is because people do not buy a product just because of their age, gender or any other one specific factor. Rather, people tend to “take life as it comes”. I agree with the article in saying that companies should clearly figure out what “job” the consumer “hires” the product to do.  If this can be clearly segmented, then the course of action that the company needs to take to improve sales would be clear. And hence, market research is the key to success, since it gives the company an idea of what it needs to do to raise sales.

Samsung issues better-than-expected profit forecast

This article discusses Samsung’s profit estimate for the third quarter, which was more optimistic than the expected forecast. It seems that the ‘better-than-expected profit forecast’ was mainly derived from its handset business, which worked to reduce the losses caused by the falling demand for Samsung TV’s and computer chips. This was supported by another firm, ING investments, shown in the statement ‘Its telecommunications business is seen very positive as shipments of smartphones and other high-end handsets expanded’, by Park Jong Min, of ING investment management. Other than its handset business, Samsung is also the second largest mobile phone producer in the world according to the article. The sales of its Samsung Galaxy II crossed the 10 million mark.

The article also includes some of the risks of Samsung’s optimism. I agree with the article that Samsung’s sales will be heavily affected by the ‘slowdown in the US coupled with the ongoing debt crisis in Europe’ and the possibility of the relatively weak Korean currency causing an inflation. However, the weaker Korean currency can also work to Samsung’s advantage, since this makes its products cheaper to foreign consumers.