I never expected I would get such a low grade. But yes, I did terrible in COMM101. However, my COMM292 prof once said “Don’t care too much about your grades”. So though COMM101 hurts me so many time I still enjoy it. My life has changed a lot because of it.

Before I take this class I only write literature or anime stuff in my blogs. Now, I concern more about the business news. Though I did not post them earlier, there are drafts in my computer.

It opens my eyes to a lot of new areas. My father teaches finance, but he never gives me these kinds of feelings.I now can use a lot of business tools, not only can I use them in assignments but also in life. My tp-do-list is a measurement of things based on their importance and urgency, and there are a lot of other places I can use them.

I won’t buy Twitter IPO, I won’t care about high-tech if I didn’t have COMM101… I think I did learn things from the class. And all I am going to do, is to keep working that way.

Yesterday PS4 made an astonishing selling history, and all my friends are now talking about it. Some friends even asks me to help them buy one. However, I read an article which says it’s the worst time to buy either of them. I think I agree with the author.

Firstly since the devices are new  and fancy, the prices are going to be very high. And due to crazy players’ enthusiasm, I do not think the sellers would make big sales for them.

Secondly, those devices are very good devices, a lot of games are taking advantage of the new coming products as well; however, you cannot play your PS2 or PS3 games on a PS4. So if you buy one, you will likely to stuck on that singe console. But if you would like to wait, there would be more games on both PS2, PS3 and PS4. The same history would definitely happen if you buy a Xbox One, because it happens all the times.

http://www.businessinsider.com/dont-buy-a-ps4-or-xbox-one-2013-11

https://blogs.ubc.ca/nikolanedev/2013/10/27/cctv-reports-starbucks-prices-higher-in-china/

Author:Nikola Nedev

As a person who was born and raised in China, when I walked into a Starbucks in Canada for the first time, I could tell that Starbucks in China has a much more steep mark up. However, although I feel the pain of paying much more for the same stuff, I do believe this price difference is quite reasonable.

In China, Starbucks has a very small target market – the well-educated emerging middle class. Most Chinese people are not big fans of coffee, especially the older generations. Only the younger people with a relatively higher income plus an open mind in major cities would drink coffee regularly.

Considering this target market is only a small portion of the most populated country in the world, Starbucks also need to filter out the excessive amount of customers to maintain a nice environment. No one wants to stay in a crowded and noisy coffee shop with ultra slow internet service.

While I can see the reasons behind its jacked-up price, I do think it is unfair to make Chinese consumers pay more. In fact, many big brands have got a higher margin in China than in their western markets. Even if raw materials are cheaper in China or the goods are made in China, Chinese consumers are still suffering with the extra cost to improve life quality. This will inevitably become a social issue that our government will need to solve some day. 

https://blogs.ubc.ca/yukangzhang1/2013/11/11/the-importance-of-a-companys-culture/

Author: Yukang Zhang

I strongly agree the point in the blog that a company’s culture is very important. I happen to have COMM292 class this semester, and yes, it is important.

In the original blog Yukang mentioned two reasons to support his idea. I think those reasons are appropriate so I am just going to simply add some more reasons.

Organization culture is the underlying values, expectations and beliefs of the company. It shows the consistency of employees’ behavior and it gives the outsiders the general impress of the company. Our professor showed a video about Southwest, a flight attendant rapped the safety briefing on the airplane. After watching that video a lot of my friends and I start to take a Southwest flight. So it can help the organizations gain profit.

Also, organization culture inspires the employees. Companies like Google are very open and risk-taking, which give their employees enough space to create.

In brief, organization culture is very important. People must know the company’s culture carefully before they join.

Southwest Rap

I read about a really interesting news several days ago that there is a company, Coin, can end up the era of fat wallets. They can make everything in one smart, connected card. Also they have concerned about the security and other problems. All you need is to download an app to your smart phone and combine every card in only one card.

This news is so inspiring for I am already tired of having too many cards which is very hard to manage them. Obviously, this company is going to make great profit. They invented this smart card, not only because this will totally change our lives, but also for they are the first one in that market.

They are planning to launch their start-up and produce their cards soon, I believe they can succeed. Like last time I bought Twitter IPO after I wrote that blog(LOL), this time I am going to pre-order one of their cards.(https://onlycoin.com/?action=order)

Technology is amazing. The video below is their creative advertisement.

COIN

Cites,

“Coin Consolidates 8 Swipe-able Cards into 1.” SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Coin-consolidates-8-swipe-able-cards-into-1-4988142.php>.

“VentureBeat | News About Tech, Money and Innovation.” VentureBeat. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/14/tired-of-a-fat-wallet-coin-lets-you-hold-all-your-cards-in-a-single-connected-card/>.

Singles Day, November 11th, is observed by Chinese people in 1990s. Recent years, this day has became a day that everyone throughout this the country crazily shop online. Due to the social issue in China, a lot of young men cannot find a girlfriend which cause those people started to celebrate this anti-valentine’s day. Since 2009, Taobao, the leading e-commerce website in China started a big sale and all the other shopping websites gradually did the same thing. Now every year it becomes a record-breaking online shopping day.

I think there are several reasons why the day becomes so popular other than the social issue. Firstly, there are no big holidays in November in China nor is the end of a year so that day would become an excuse to hold those big sales. Secondly, this made-up festivel is mainly celebrated by young people. The sellers used a psychological way to persuade them that if you are single and no one cares about you, you should care about yourself. Since the prices are low, more and more people starts to join the celebration and shop online.

Cites,

“ZTE Helps E-commerce Firm Handle Record-breaking Traffic on Singles Day.” Information Age. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. <http://www.information-age.com/technology/mobile-and-networking/123457449/zte-helps-e-commerce-firm-handle-record-breaking-traffic-on-singles-day>.

“Singles Day.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singles_Day>.

“China’s Single’s Day Nov. 11 Shopping Extravaganza Overwhelms Postal Workers [PHOTOS].” International Business Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ibtimes.com/chinas-singles-day-nov-11-shopping-extravaganza-overwhelms-postal-workers-photos-1466530>.

Staff, China Blog. “Singles’ Day – China’s Anti-Valentine’s Celebration.” BBC News. BBC, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-24896066>.

Recently, I found two topics in COMM101 very fascinating, one of them is social entrepreneurship, the other is Twitter IPO. We have talked about it mainly in class13.

To the question “Would you buy Twitter IPO”, my answer in class was “Yes, but only a small amount”. I read about different people’s analysis, some of them strongly suggest buyers should seize the opportunity for Twitter set to make the most anticipated stock since Facebook IPO; however, on the other hand, some people think Twitter is a very immature company compared with Facebook based on their revenue in the last few years. Their amount of users is less than Facebook as well. There is an interesting video: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/shares-and-stock-tips/10421967/Should-you-invest-in-Twitter-IPO-share-watch.html

I think my decision is quite rational. Firstly, I heard that Facebook IPO made a big mistake that their “value” was too high. Compared with Facebook IPO last year, Twitter IPO is at a “modest” level. Though they have less users, $20 per share is reasonable. The demand would be higher than that.

Secondly, Twitter has 8 years history after all. Now people rely on social net work websites more and more. For a well known social net work and media company, I think it is a proper time to go public. And this would help the company grow as well.

Cites,

“Cautious Twitter Valued at ‘modest’ $10.9 Billion as It Announces IPO of $20 a Share after Learning from Facebook’s ‘fatal Mistake’ Last Year.” Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2475872/Twitter-IPO-valued-10-9bn-learning-Facebooks-mistake.html>.

“Zuckerberg: “Betting Completely on HTML5 Is One of The, If Not THE Biggest Strategic Mistake We’ve Made”.” TNW Network All Stories RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2012/09/11/zuckerberg-the-performance-stock-obviously-disappointing/>.

Moon, Angela. “Wall St. Week Ahead: Twitter’s IPO to Provide Week’s Excitement.”Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 01 Nov. 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/01/us-usa-stocks-weekahead-idUSBRE9A012W20131101>.

Moon, Angela. “Wall St. Week Ahead: Twitter’s IPO to Provide Week’s Excitement.”Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 01 Nov. 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/01/us-usa-stocks-weekahead-idUSBRE9A012W20131101>.

“Poll: Will You Buy Twitter Stock?” The Tell RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/11/01/poll-will-you-buy-twitter-stock/>.

WH Open To Short-term Hike In Debt Limit

The US government shutdown because they are lack of money to operate; however, what are the other impacts we may concern?

Firstly, as a Chinese I would concern about the loan we lent to the US. China and Japan have warned US on default. Especially my country is US’s biggest creditor. If the government do not take action, they would hit the debt ceiling on Oct. 17th.

Secondly, the public services now shut down in US. This is very inconvenient for the US civilians. Also, a lot of civilian workers are now idled. This would let the country stuck in the state of inefficiency and would lost more money. The idled workers cannot get salary anymore is an issue too.

Thirdly, the things happening in the political field always have a influence on economics. As a result, the stock price falls and the traders in Wall Street feel anxious.

These are the main impacts. I read news from Chinese media as well, China’s national holiday started from Oct 1st to Oct 7th, a lot of Chinese people choose to travel. Because of government shutdown, people avoided coming to USA which cause the US lost more money.

cites:

“No End in Sight to US Government Shutdown.” VOA. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <http://www.voanews.com/content/no-end-in-sight-to-us-government-shutdown/1764463.html>.

“5 Things to Know about Government Shutdown on Tuesday.” USA Today. Gannett, n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/08/government-shutdown-five-things-tuesday-oct-8/2939473/>.

“Washington Shutdown Must End, China Tells the US: Finance Minister Demands ‘concrete Measures’ to Avoid Catastrophic Default.” Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2449301/Washington-shutdown-end-China-tells-US-Finance-minister-demands-concrete-measures-avoid-catastrophic-default.html>.

“China and Japan Warn US on Default.” Financial Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a73a3728-2f41-11e3-ae87-00144feab7de.html>.

“外媒在黄金周审视中国游客 美旅游业错失商机.” 外媒在黄金周审视中国游客 美旅游业错失商机. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <http://finance.cnr.cn/gundong/201310/t20131008_513765636.shtml>.

The first day of October was China’s national day, so I picked a big news happened in China, China(Shanghai) Free Trade Zone launched on 28th September.

This pilot zone is seen as an important reform attempt of China after Deng Xiaoping, which shows the government’s determination of easing the restrictions of investment. For sure it would be another significant economic reformation of China, not only can it attract more foreign capital but it also can push the local development. A lot of people and companies have showed their interest in it. At least now it pushes real estate grow.

Shanghai’s pilot zone recalls Deng Xiaoping’s flagship regional experiment.This experimental zone is an attempt to catch up with the fast grow economy. As a matter of fact, the zone is not newly designed, but the new government made it come true. The details are not showed by the government yet, but we have known that the 29-square-kilometer-zone is expected to allow banks and other businesses within its boundaries to experiment in areas that are tightly controlled in China, including loosening regulation of interest rates and full convertibility of nation’s currency.

However, I also read news about some analysts said that the pilot zone would have a hard time competing with Hong Kong. As Hong Kong is already seen as a financial center of Asian. Now we are looking forward to the future of this free-trade zone, hopefully my homeland will gain another big success.

“Shanghai’s New Free Trade Zone Opens.” DW.DE. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. <http://www.dw.de/shanghais-new-free-trade-zone-opens/a-17124228>.

“Free Trade and Free Speech in Shanghai.” The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2013/10/free-trade-and-free-speech-in-shanghai.html>.

Sudworth, John. “Shanghai Free-trade Zone Launched.” BBC News. BBC, 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24322313>.

Barboza, David. “Experimental Free-Trade Zone opens in Shanghai”. The New York Times, 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Oct. 2013.<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/business/international/experimental-free-trade-zone-opened-in-shanghai.html?_r=0>

“上海自贸区能带来哪些实惠？.” DW.DE. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. <http://www.dw.de/上海自贸区能带来哪些实惠/a-17122109>.

My friends and I were planning for Halloween Cosplay activity. However, the costumes on eBay were incredibly expensive and looked bad. Also, a lot of them are actually from China. So we decided to look up Taobao, the biggest Chinese trading website. But the shipping fees were higher than the costumes themselves.

It occurs to me, there are several websites focused on helping Chinese people buy Chinese products that can provide us with lower shipping fees. Dotdotbuy is one of them. We did the calculation about the price and shipping fees and got a formula for it: [(weight-500 g)/500*39+116]*1.205*1.05, then we found the price is still lower than those on eBay!

Of course we chose Dotdotbuy at last. But as a Sauder student, I would think more of this.

Websites like Dotdotbuy can be seen as an important middlemen. With the help of these or signing contracts with big shipping companies in the future, Taobao can surely compete with eBay. Although now eBay is known by more people, Taobao has good quality and lower price. I have saw their advertisements on Weibo and other Chinese social networks, I think they can change their marketing strategies to broader the market.