The fast development of UNIQLO is written by Xiaoling Xie (the fast development of UNIQLO). The most important reason for me to choose this article is that UNIQLO is one of my favorite brands. This is not only because the clothes they are cheap but also the Japanese fashion style. UNIQLO founded in 1949. It already have 66-year-history. Violin said that UNIQLO use a similar model as DELL which its direct business model. In this way, the cost will decrease and finally benefit consumers as spend less money getting good clothes. Besides, in this way I think UNIQLO manufacture can involve a total control on thier products. I say that this could have some risk during the transportation channel. Another thing I always want to compare UNIQLO to DELL is the inventory control. DELL always hold a small quantity of products, but UNIQLO choice to maintain the optimum level of store inventory by monitoring sales and stock on a weekly basis. I reckon this could be a better action than DELL. Actually, I Don’t think the keep the quantity of inventory as low as possible is the best way. While it is an undeniable fact that maintaining low level of inventory can reduce cost, it’s not the situation that low level of inventory is always a better choice. In my own prospective, if there are some unexpected situations happened, for example, a dramatic increase in demand for one season, in this way consumers could be unsatisfied if they cannot get the products. Another example is that if there is a fire in factory or strike happen, when UNILQLO hold more inventory they can keep their retail store keeps running a period of time.

The point of Xiaoling I support mostly is the competition for UNIQLO. ZARA and H&M are also the store that I usually attend. And I think both of them have the exact same target group of people. However, I found that UNQLO has different focus compare to others. UNIQLO focus on the material to make clothes, but ZARA and H&M are focus on fashion design. As the development of technology, there are a lot of new materials be produced, but there is still a group of people include me like to wear clothes with comfortable and natural materials such as silk, cotton and wool. In this way, think there UNQLO can improve even faster in the next 10 years, because there are increasing number of people care about materials of clothes.

reference:

Business model of UNIQLO

Wikipedia

Air France pilots have called off a strike that has lasted for two weeks and cost the airline hundreds of millions of euros. The strike started on 14th, September and at 10th day in strike both union and management agree to enter talks.
So what is the background of this strike?
This is due to the new strategy from air France-KLM chief executive Alexandre de Juniac. He wants to build up a new budget affiliate called Transavia Europe. However, union do not want to support his plan. During the strike, Juniac said he was prepared to put the project on hold for four months, but unions rejected that offer out of hand. Although the strike end, there are still some differences are unresolved, this means there are still some problems that union and management need to keep thinking and consulting about.

In my own idea, strikes are generally due to three reasons e.g. wages, working conditions and working hours. However this one is a special case. Because this one is because workers do not agree to the plan of managers. I think in this way the power of union is over strong, because although staff could participate in the decision making process, they are not the final decision maker. They should listen to the manager who have more knowledge about stategy. Besides, I think company could choose to use conciliation and arbitration, which are third party that could recommand a optimal solution.

This new reminds me about the teacher strike in Vancouver. Government, management and union should not just think about them self. They should sometimes firstly think about the impacts to consumers.

Cite:

BBC news,http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29401056

There is a good news for both EU and Canada.The European Commission and Canada have unveiled the details of a new trade liberalisation agreement; this means that almost all consumer tariffs will be eliminated. For me, because I am a fan of the Clarks shoes. Therefore, this could be a great chance for me buy cheaper shoes than before. Businesses in both areas can benefit from this agreement too. This agreement covers a wide range of products, such as chemicals, machineries even an insurance. This new remind me about advantages of free trade. Free trade means no restriction or trade barries exist that might prevent or limet trade between countries. Trade barries includes:tariffs, quotas, voluntary expot limits etc. The advanteges for free trading is firstly, offer consumers wider choice of products. Secondly, import and export raw materials and products can improve economy. Thirdly, import goods and services from others can creats additional competition for domestic product manufacuters. The most significant problems for this chould be that local firms may loss lots of profit because of the large competition. The obvious example is the situation of BlackBerry today.

cite:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29375747

BlackBerry lost a huge amount of money in recent years. I think this is mainly because of the quick development of their competitors, for example, Apples and Samsung. From the bar chart, we can clearly see that the market share of BlackBerry reduced quickly in the last three years. In contrast, the market share of Apple and Samsung increased, this is probably because of their rapid development of technology and the fashion design of the cellphone. The maker in April showed some improvement of business, but they still need to work hard and find a good way to overcome those problems. Iphone6plus already launched in America and Canada; thus, this could be a bad news of BlackBerry, because there are a lot of ‘fans’ of Apple. For instance, in China an Iphone can be sold at a high price. BlackBerry still have many challenges to overcome.

cite:

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/personal-tech/BlackBerry+edges+closer+black+bottom+line/10238727/story.html?__federated=1BY DAVID FRIEND, THE CANADIAN PRESS SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

I think being ethical would be an objective of most business orgnizations. It is undeniable that some firms may hold the idea that making profit is the most important goal, in this case they could sometime being unethical like giving workers very low wages or produce a lot of pollution. In this way, although the company may get high profit in a short period of time, thier reputation will be really bad and consumers might stop buying their products in the future.

Anglo American has recognised the importance of taking social responsibilty. I think this will be a opportunity of them. In my own prospective, if one company can not only obey the law but also treat most stakeholders equally, they will finally obtain a lot of benefits. For instance, if Anglo American have wonderful working conditions for their employees, they will easily recruit new workers will good skills due to their good reputation. If company can pay supplier on time they may easily to get a discount in the future.

Promise not break the law is just a really basic regulation for business today. Taking social responsibility and being ethical are become increasingly important for most company. Although there is no doubt that the cost of business will rise when they choose to being ethical, they will benefit from that in the near future.

my comments:

Business ethics

Corruption within FIFA

source:

 http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/anglo-american/business-ethics-and-corporate-social-responsibility/what-are-business-ethics.html#axzz3CyBKIaPfbusiness-ethics.html#axzz3CyBKIaPfresponsibility/what-are-business-ethics.html#axzz3CyBKIaPfresponsibility/what-are-business-ethics.html#axzz3CyBKIaPf