Link to article: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/the-problem-with-going-into-business-with-a-friend/?WT.mc_id=D-NYT-MKTG-MOD-23902-11-01-HD&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_c=

I remember in one of the classes Tamar had an iClicker question for us, asking if you would start a business with a friend, a team or on your own. I chose to start a business with a friend, and despite the negative examples this article has presented, I am still firm with my choice. There are always successful and failed examples to everything in life; just because the author and her friends failed at this kind of partnership, does not necessarily mean that most people will fail too. For instance, my father started his company about 20 years ago with a client he followed up on at his previous job; he developed a strong relationship with the client so that when he started his company, he received lots of help and mentorship, even in the financial aspect. To this day, they still remain close friends and partners. Though they often argue, it does not change the fact that they rely on each other to succeed. Personally, I am looking to establish my own start-up within the next year and I am thinking of doing it with one of my close friends. It is important to go into business with someone you can trust and who you also get along with. Additionally, we both have business backgrounds in the family, it would be beneficial for our start-up. I am sure we will encounter conflicts, obstacles, and disagreements; but I think it is easier to resolve these problems between two friends.

Link to blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/theoguevara/2014/10/28/comm-101-changed-my-perception-on-charities/

Theo’s blog on his experience and his thoughts on Free the Children has reminded me of my own experience as well. This past summer, I completed Training at the United Nations hosted by World Federation of United Nations Associations; in the two-week training program, one thing that really stood out and is still refreshing in my mind was a presentation made by a NGO – Charity Water. Charity Water is determined to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Though it is a fairly new organization, it has proven to be successful. Charity Water has a project called the Birthday Project where anyone, can participate, to raise money at a birthday party. Although Charity Water may not have a social enterprise like Free the Children does to back it up financially, it has cooperated with many big companies such as Twitter, and many celebrities have join the Birthday Project Campaign to raise funds for water projects in third world countries. The inspiring speaker from Charity Water definitely motivated me to take the initiative to join their campaign. I think a successful corporation is one like Charity Water who can influence many people to make a change in the world. Just as Theo mentioned, even charities are businesses; charities need to sell their ideas to the people as well in order for them to be successful.

Link to blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/djung/2014/10/05/apple-pay/

I agree with Danny’s thoughts on Apple Pay. The iPhone 6 and its new features has been a huge success for Apple, and probably one of the most eye-catching innovations would be the newly innovated app – Apple Pay. However, with the recent scandals regarding the iCloud system that Apple has developed, the security breaches and privacy concerns still lingers for Apple users. Although some may argue that in this technology-centric century, people’s privacy has been invaded massively under unknown situations. However, since money is always the most sensitive topic, the security in online payments will be a major challenge for Apple’s new app. In my perspective, Apple needs to somehow ensure its customers the safety of purchasing items through Apple Pay so that this app will be more appealing to customers and a greater success for Apple itself. As Danny has mentioned, Google and Samsung have both tried this approach but with little success. Apple has always been known to create disruptive innovation, if Apple can market the app correctly and effectively, it will be another success for the brand.

Link to article: http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/10/economics-toms-shoes

Some economists have critiqued the economic impact TOMS shoes brought by their initiative to donate a pair of shoes to children in extreme poverty for every pair of shoes bought by their customers. Economists think that by doing so, TOMS is stagnating the local economy in the poorer areas by giving children what they need and stopping their families to go to local markets to purchase the shoes. However, I think this is an absurd theory and economists should really invest their time in issues that are more urgent and in need of solutions. We live in a world with unimaginable income disparity between the rich and the poor; it is always refreshing and glad to see that large companies like TOMS to create shared values within the global community by taking the lead to do something small but change many people’s lives. In my perspective, the economy is such a large market that it will not be influenced by a pair of free shoes; also, it is never too much to have an extra pair of shoes – it is not possible for someone to wear only one pair of shoes for his/her entire life. I think that the society needs more of this type of goodwill actions led by powerful companies or authorities in order to shorten the gap between the rich and the poor – even something as simple as donating a pair of shoes.

Link to article: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you

It is really surprising and innovative for a new and thriving company like Tesla Motors to share their patent on the one thing that they generate their profit from. By doing so, Tesla is creating shared values among the global community that we live in; Tesla also gives people a strong impression of their determination to put in effort in the reducing carbon emission by motors. It is refreshing to see that successful companies are trying to be less profit-centric but more environmentally-centric and actually taking the initiative to do so. I can only imagine how tough it was for the board to agree on this decision. It will be truly amazing if someone figures out a new and improved battery based on Tesla’s patent.

Link to blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/christianvanvliet/2014/09/10/to-be-or-not-to-be-an-ethical-analysis/

Ethics is always a hot, interesting, and controversial topic repeatedly mentioned by the society. It is difficult to set a standard measuring how ethical something/someone is because everyone has different thoughts and moral guidelines. It was interesting to read Christian’s blog and the article he commented on. In the New York Times article, it mentioned a study of making decisions according to the result of a coin-flip, quite frankly, I was surprised to learn that only 10% of the participants honesty did what they were instructed to do while the other 90% faked the coin toss in order to come up with a result that they thought is in their best interest. Many people do tend to bend their moral high grounds when the idea of personal interest comes into the picture. It always comes down to gains versus ethics in many of the situations; we always consider our personal interest more, the same for you, me and all others.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/background-the-indian-act-1.1056988

The issues, conflicts, confrontations between the government and the aboriginals has a long history of always being a complicated political matter with little improvement in the solution process. It is doubtless to say that the country is created on the land of the Indians, which means that we have to respect each other’s values and culture. As a minority, the Indians, like any other immigrants from another ethnic background, should try to assimilate and adapt with the nation’s culture but at the same time, remain and preserve its uniqueness. Both the government and the aboriginal group should work on some kind of peaceful agreement to co-exist in stead of pushing each other’s limits or creating problems and conflicts that negatively affects many people’s lives. The government should respect the Indian culture and at the same time, the Indians should think in the government’s position. If they both each take a step back, there might actually be a solution for this matter.

Link to Ian’s blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/ipaul/2014/10/05/jobs-to-be-done-innovation/

I very much agree with Ian on his idea of how it is beneficial for companies to continuously try to be innovative in order to grow. It it interesting to read about Clay Christensen’s (Harvard Business School Professor) new and innovative marketing strategy called jobs-to-be-done point of view. By emphasizing the product within the company and market the production in relations to the jobs of the consumers, makes it easier for consumers to relate to the product, therefore raise their interest and incentive to purchase the product. Jobs-to-be-done point of view examines the product at the consumers’ perspective from their daily life which therefore enhances the presentation and image of the product in the public. By understanding the “job” of the product – the needs from the consumers, the company can either re-market or alter its product to make it more appealing and more consumer-centric in order to increase profit.

Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/business/media/whole-foods-asks-shoppers-to-consider-a-value-proposition.html?ref=business&_r=0

Link to commercial:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DCow4J-pDE

Whole foods has always been known for their organic yet high-priced products; as people are recently more concerned about living a healthy life-style, Whole Foods Market and its organic appeal seems attractive to the consumers. However, the sales of Whole Foods has proven to fall and it is spending a great amount of money in the marketing campaign to try to bring back profit. Whole Foods’ approach in hiring a creative marketing agency that normally works for hip brands is bold but innovative, and it might actually help deliver the image of Whole Foods differently than it used to. However, the 60-second video advertisement seems a bit redundant and lacks a central idea. There are no words in the video except Whole Foods’ logo at the very end; the video shows the raw materials Whole Foods uses but it does not show the packaging and delivery process which is hardly convincing because inorganic food come from the same raw materials. I think instead of showing its raw materials, Whole Foods should try to build on the idea of organic; moreover, to educate the public on the idea of “organic”, since it is still not a mainstream lifestyle yet.

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stuart-muszynski/cvs-a-prescription-to-do-_b_4897499.html

CVS is ending the sales of tobacco products and cigarettes in consideration of the people’s health. It is very ethical and brave for CVS to do this as it’s giving up $2 billion of it’s revenue annually. In doing so, CVS as a corporation, shows it’s civil responsibility by ending the sales of products that harms people’s health conditions which might eventually lead to death. As the taxes on cigarette and tobacco rise and social media develops, it has proven that less people are smoking comparing to earlier decades; with CVS’ big and bold decision of not selling these products, it might actually reduce smokers or young potential smokers.
CVS is also raising awareness in the business world by being a role model of valuing purposes more than profits. This ethical action by CVS surely affects many businesses and will hopefully create a trend of valuing the purposes more.