Sustainability is all about using renewable and reusable resources to create a stable and eco-friendly environment. In class we discussed how more and more businesses are taking on a sustained and environmental approach with their companies.  Even UBC is doing its part to try and create a more sustainable approach to its facilities. This includes the various recycling and compost bins around campus, the highly efficient CIRS building and the reusable containers given out to students in resident dining rooms.

I was most interested in the class assignment about ways that we could make UBC more eco-friendly.  After thinking about it further, I feel as though driving is a huge issue that should be addressed. I was surprised to learn that the most common source of pollutant for a household is cars. In actuality, this fact a lot of sense. For example there are many people that must commute to UBC and quite a few of them drive. This wastes a lot of gas when other alternative methods could be found. I noticed in my fellow classmate Annie Huang’s Blog that she mentioned raising the cost of parking at UBC in order to discourage students to find other means of transportation. Although this is a solution it doesn’t solve the means by which students can get to school in a more eco-friendly and sustainable manner.

This is when I did some further reading into my fellow classmate Omneet Madan’s Blog. She mentioned using “Car2Go” as source to achieve a more eco-friendly means of transportation to school. This business uses one of the key words defining sustainability and that is “reusable.” Now this alternative wouldn’t be a way to change the whole world but by everybody doing their part to reduce a little bit of pollutant consumption then there could be a significant impact on the world as a whole.

Source of Car2Go: https://www.car2go.com/en/austin/

In my opinion Free the Children is one of the most inspiring social enterprises. This is because it really emphasizes on how youth my age  can make a difference. Children and teens often feel like they are too small to have an impact on the world. It seems as though everything is run by adults because they are the ones with the ideas, the creativity and the power to inflict change.

Craig Kielburger proved at the young age of 12 that this assumption is wrong. Free the Children was an organization that began when Craig read the story of a 12 year old like himself who lived in Pakistan and worked as a slave for a carpeting company. When the Pakistan boy was released and tried to alert citizens to his story, he was murdered. Craig then went on to form a committee of his friends and family members to raise money in order to get word out to officials to free child slaves in Pakistan. Eventually his plan succeed and all child slaves in that facility were released. Since then Free the Children has participated in numerous causes to help with child slavery, poverty etc around the world.

They have built several schools and even started conferences like the Me to We conference held every year in Vancouver and Toronto. I have been to three Me to We conferences and feel inspired every time by how much passion and commitment Craig Keilburger, as well as everyone else involved, has for what they do. This operation which started in the mind of a 12 year old has grown to become huge and well known around the world.

The link listed below is the blog for the Me to We conference that shows ways to get involved and accomplishments that this social enterprise has embarked on. It also shows what others, who were inspired by this business, have done in their efforts to help change the world.

http://www.weday.com/we-day-blog/

Me to We Website: http://www.metowe.com

Free the Children Website: http://www.freethechildren.com

Organizational structure is defined as the way a business divides up its tasks. The way these objectives are grouped and organized can greatly effect the running of a company. Therefore finding an organizational structure that is appropriate for a specific company is detrimental to that company’s success.

For example a tall pyramid organizational structure involves a more centralized decision making process with a distinct chain on command. This would work well with organizations  such as banks or militaries. In contrast a flat pyramid organizational structure involves a decentralized decision making process that would be more suited towards businesses that need more creativity among employees. I feel as though neither structure is better than the other because it simply depends on what kind of business is being run under them.

Another way to divide an organizational structure is by work specialization. I feel like this has a key connection to the discussion in class over money not always being the best factor to motivate better performance. With work specialization each employee specializes in one task. Over time with repetition they grow better at this task which enhances the quality of the product. The only problem is that this becomes tedious and tiring which increases job dissatisfaction. Sometimes pay is not enough within this kind of organizational structure.

An example is with the Ford company around the time when Henry Ford created the assembly line. Workers grew tired of repeatedly completing the same task with limited breaks and little pay. It was efficient for the company in the amount of cars produced but not for the works whom soon began to quit. Ford simply raised the amount of pay and doubled wages in order to entice more workers to join his business. Although this approach did work at gaining employees, it did very little to help with job satisfaction and many workers were still  unhappy doing their jobs.

This just shows that money doesn’t always create better performance and it isn’t the only factor to a successful business with happy employees. The structure of the organization can play a large factor into the inner working of the company.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtYRLtT8bvY&feature=related

The fact that everyone has heard of Google shows just how widely successful this company is. It is large and popular, with over 1 000 000 applicants and around 400 000 workers. What makes this company a so well sought after business to work for? In part it has a lot to do with its organizational culture.

Organizational culture is defined as the beliefs and assumptions that make up the atmosphere of a company. Google has a very relaxed cultural environment that is very welcoming to its employees. People enjoy going to work due to its very positive and friendly atmosphere. Employees do not have a firm dress code, are allowed casual hours and are very team and people orientated. They even are allowed to bring pets such as dogs to work!. Their management makes them feel more like equals to them rather than pose as overbearing figures dominating with control.

While this may be very informal and seem somewhat unprofessional this method is working in Google’s favour. Employees who feel comfortable at work and actually enjoy coming to their jobs everyday, act more productively then ones that don’t. This open environment allows employees more room to be innovate and act effective to the company. All work and no play is definitely not one of Google’s mottos and they are showing that suits and ties don’t have to be the only way to run a company.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bJBeCI0e3U

After learning about the financial accounting equation and liquidity in class the concept I found most intriguing was when we were discussing assets and whether or not a person could be classified as an asset.

Personally, having taken accounting before I never classified a person as an asset because you can’t sell off a person or liquidate them. I only ever considered people or employees from a financial perspective but after the discussion in that class I realize that from other areas in the realm of business people could be considered assets.

I did not think about the concept from a marketing perspective or a company’s success based on a particular person working for them.  Now after having discussed it in class I think that people are large assets to companies but their contribution just can’t be added to a business sheet with the value of a number.

I found the lesson on business plans to be very intriguing especially when it came to seeing how businesses change their structure when operating internationally.

It was smart for Burger King to change its logo while in Russia in order to entice more consumers to their stores. Not every business is suited to cultures in other environments and sometimes adaptation is needed in order to ensure the growth of a branch in a foreign location.

The problem however, is to make sure that company doesn’t lose the identity of the business in the process of adapting. I never thought about the variety of different factors to consider such as management, who will be working in the foreign store, or how the company plans  on getting the funding to ship their products over from a different location.

The fact that employees native to the foreign country running the shop is obvious but the fact that the manager shouldn’t be is something not as obvious. There has to be a communication link between employees management and other branches or the business wont be able to keep down a sucessful path.

Gathering research is very important to determine what consumers want out of there products. I found that conducting our own cookie research experiment in class was a very effective way to learn about different techniques for gathering research. It was also a very interesting way to learn about consumers in general. By conducting our fake research experiment I learned that people have a lot of different views on what they prefer.

With cookies alone the decision towards which ones tasted better than others didn’t have an unanimous vote. Tate was a factor towards the kind of cookie a person preferred but the bigger surprise was that so was texture. The soft/crunchiness of the cookie or the thick/thinness of it determined views of how the cookie was. In addition to that a lot of people’s opinions were based on how their particular cookies were in comparison to others. There was a lot of work involved with gathering research which the bulk of it was finding a way to test others objectively. We didn’t want any other factors to affect our research. Knowing the right questions to ask was important as well as determine the specific variable we were studying. We wanted to see what kinds of things played factor on people’s preferences.

I found the class on value positioning to be a very interesting insight into the techniques different companies use to make their product stand out within its market. Consumers have to be able to recognize the product in relation to another and then look for ways that it stands apart in order to entice them to buy it. This is known as points of parity and points of difference and it almost seems like the two terms are contradicting one another but yet having them both is a key part of launching a successful product.

For example my group when asked to pick a product to value proposition we chose aero bars. This product is part of the market of chocolate bars. While there are many kinds of chocolate, the thing that makes aero bars stand out is the fact that this specific chocolate creates a bubbly sensation within the consumers mouth. No other chocolate is known for this attribute and that is what makes aero stand out in its market against competitors. The company constantly emphasizes this fact about its product by even using bubbles in its own motto. It’s harder for other companies to imitate this style of chocolate as opposed to mimicking a specific flavour or ingredient. The company was smart to go with a more intangible point of difference rather than something anyone could copy such as being known for “nutty” flavour or “dark chocolatey goodness”.

An example of business ethics is the scandal that occurred with the Gold’s Gym fitness centres in BC last year. Employees claimed that management was informing them to lie about their credentials and educational level in order to boost gym membership sales. CTV brought hidden cameras to a Gold’s Gym fitness location and consulted with two separate employees. Both claimed to have degrees in kinesiology but when asked to show proof of their degrees neither could provide any. A former employee spoke with CTV and stated that management had told him to say he was a personal trainer but he had felt uncomfortable with the lies and later quit his post. After several attempts at reaching someone in management, the owner of the Gold’s Gym location at UBC agreed to an interview. He claimed that management never had any part with the employees lies and those workers would be suspended.

The main issue of ethics from this is deception and whether or not it is ok to lie about a service that a consumer receives in order to boost sales. Consumers are being provided with false information about this service and even though it is not illegal to claim the title of a kinesiologist in my opinion it is still wrong. Personally I feel as though a businessman or woman should be held accountable for their actions. Whatever business venture they choose to undertake should involve fairness and be a company full of reliability that consumers can trust.

Source: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-kinesiologists-push-for-regulation-1.714080

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKaBhuFCcgQ