Social entrepreneurs are important because they create innovations or execute actions that  transform our society positively. The Arc Initiative is a program at UBC that promotes such people into the community to provide solutions for and improve the economic environment of  South Africa, Ethiopia, Colombia and Rwanda using their business knowledge. Some argue that social entrepreneurship operations like The Arc Initiative are abundant because it is United Nation (UN)’s responsibility. However, I think large organizations make decisions that are executed in a poorly time manner and the time span is too long before realizing the mistakes. Like what the founder of The Arc Initiative and Sauder student Arielle Uwonkunda said, “I told him about non-profits that have donated money to Rwanda following the war but didn’t make a lasting impact… the Arc program creates ongoing relationships with entrepreneurs in participating countries. Arc facilitators share a toolkit of marketing, finance and strategy that the entrepreneurs use to build sustainable businesses.” 

Article: http://news.ubc.ca/2014/06/30/upward-arc/

Abercrombie & Fitch is a popular American clothing brand that can be seen around the world. The marketing campaign of the company, which usually includes semi-nude men and women models, contributed a lot to the popularity of its brand. In fact, the concept of body image and sexuality play such a big role that numerous men and women come to the stores to be casted as an Abercrombie model. As expected, parents are not pleased to see their teenagers obsessed with this brand; therefore, many controversies emerged.

Like Jason Mah suggested, I believe certain values are more critical than maximizing profit. Abercrombie CEO Michael Jeffries once stated that he only wants “thin and beautiful customers” to shop at his stores, which is the reason one wouldn’t be able to find a XL sized clothes. Using Porter’s Generic Strategies, I assume Abercrombie applies focus strategy (differentiation) to generate profit since the brand is definitely not low cost and focuses on “thin and beautiful customers”. Although this strategy has been working really well for Abercrombie, but to me it is ultimately not ethical. For all one knows, Abercrombie might even violate certain business ethics. 

Men models lining up for Abercrombie & Fitch casting sessions

Article: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/abercrombie-won-sell-xl-article-1.1339454

While reading upon an article in The Aleph Blog, made by famous investor David Merkel, I learnt a lot about the psychology of the investors. In Merkel’s article Risk Tolerance – The Ability to Deal with Loss, he addresses that while investing, investors are more likely to change their investing behavior or activities after a loss rather than a gain: ” People feel losses much more acutely than gains, and are far more likely to change their behavior after losses. Can’t tell you how many times I have had people say to me, ‘I’m never buying stock again,’ after 2000-2 and 2008-9.” I very much agree with this statement when putting myself into the perspective of an investor. Like the famous quote “you learn from your mistakes”, what Merkel is implying here is only losses in investment help one better prepare oneself with a plan for the future.

As people over the world grow conscious of the benefits of healthy diets, the organic food market expanded. One of the most dominant sellers in this  market is Whole Foods, which is a  supermarket chain for natural and organic goods in North America. Although Whole Foods will encounter a high level of competition, I agree with Shannon Bell‘s opinions and believe Whole Foods will benefit from the increasing development of the organic food market. This is why:

As the article mentioned, Whole Foods has been executing its expansion plan. This is a smart move because its value proposition and reputation are already firmly established, Whole Foods will therefore stand out among the competitors while increasing its availability to the public. To sum up, I trust the rising recognition of healthier eating will serve as a ladder for Whole Foods.

Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/11/05/the-growing-popularity-of-organics-is-both-good-and-bad-news-for-whole-foods/

Chipotle is the up-and-coming fast food joint in many countries now. Unlike other fast food chains, Chipotle aims to provide non traditional fast food and because of this unique aspect, it has been booming in the market. The Mexican grill chain’s sales have been multiplying; as a matter of fact, every quarter of Chipotle’s 2014 sales have topped the 2013 sales. The menu of Chipotle consists of 5 main items: burritos, fajitas, tacos, quesadillas and salads; each of them attracts countless customers.

I believe Chipotle’s huge success is strongly related to its correct value proposition. Chipotle’s value proposition might be something like this ” to the fast food customers, Chipotle is a fast food chain that provides an unique variety of exotic Mexican food”. None of the other fast food joints have such rare products and value proposition; if you think about it, most of the most famous fast food restaurants (eg. McDonalds, KFC and Burger King) sells the stereotypical fast food – burgers and fries. Finally, I came up with the conclusion that Chipotle will continue to thrive in the future because it provided people a new definition of fast food.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-21/chipotle-is-wrapping-up-a-big-year-dot-will-2015-be-less-stellar

The Tsilhqot’in (River People) are a group of First Nation Aboriginals with the population of over 3000 people in . Among many of the Tsilhqot’in culture, hunting and fishing  has been the most important to them. Many years has passed by and the Tsilhqot’in people built a tribal park to preserve their culture and environment; however Taseko Mines Ltd.’s constructed a mine site at Fish Lake, which is right next to and inside the tribal park territory. Undoubtedly, the Tsilhqot’in were furious because this means a threat to their preserved environment, especially when two Taseko’s mine sites were determined as a danger to fish habitat.

Fish Lake, where Tsilhqot’in people reside and Taseko’s new mine site lies

A similar incident happened in Iskut, British Columbia, where a group of Tahltan First Nation elders refused to allow Imperial Metals, a company guilty of Canada’s largest mining waste spill, to access the company’s mine site called Red Chris. The Aboriginal leaders protested for the obvious reason, the environment. They were afraid the habitat they lived in for years will be endangered by the redundant mine waste.

Mining companies should set standard tests to minimize the chances of waste spills. This will not only avoid further conflicts so that the company can operate regularly but also provide a bettered environment.

http://www.vice.com/read/first-nations-are-blockading-an-imperial-metals-mine-and-the-rcmp-may-intervene-932

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Unilateral+park+declared+Tsilhqot+includes+Prosperity+mine/10192766/story.html

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chilcotin-tsilhqotin/

Nike and Adidas are two leading sports brand in the world, however Adidas is significantly losing in the U.S market. Nike controls most of the U.S market while Under Armour has been growing significantly. One of the main reasons Adidas is not the top dog in U.S is the false image of Adidas being too “European” for the American customers.

“I don’t think U.S. teenagers are thinking of Adidas when they want to buy basketball shoes.” said Cédric Rossi, an analyst in Paris. This statement is presumably correct because Adidas has been focusing on producing for soccer, a sport that is relatively new in the U.S. One of the main reasons Nike is so successful is its evenly focuses on different sports. Also, many people wear basketball shoes casually because they are aesthetically fashionable. In conclusion, Adidas should focus more on producing and developing products for other sports.

Adidas and soccer

The CEO of Ello, which is an up-and-coming social network, described Facebook as an advertisement platform rather than a social network. Among all the social network companies, Facebook is no doubt the leading company that occupies most of the social network market. Despite the multiple failed attempts of other social network to take over Facebook, Ello drew a huge portion of Facebook’s customers, which mostly consists of annoyed Facebook users tired of the endless advertisements on the site. This is very  accurate because many Facebook users have complained about the excessive advertisement

First time experiencing Ello, it has many advantages including no countless advertisements, simple to read (wide and white) and user friendly features… etc.

When being asked about customer’s dissatisfaction with Facebook, CEO of Ello Paul Budnitz  answered that he considers Facebook as an advertisement platform more than a social network, therefore not considering it as a competitor. Budnitz also talked about how social network has been violating and overloaded with useless information but instead it should be place where friends can simply communicate with each other. Indeed, social network is where friends can communicate with each other; however, Ello is not in the position to say that because its social network website does not have a chat feature while Facebook does.

Also Budnitz shared his plan to make money off special features instead endless of commercials. Although Ello has the decent intentions to create the social network many desires, making money off selling special features and outrun Facebook ? I don’t think so.

Ello’s homepage

Article: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-30/interview-ello-ceo-wants-to-be-the-anti-facebook#r=read

Famous burger chain Burger King has recently acquired the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons for 11 billion dollars. The Miami-based burger chain plans to relocate to Canada. Hearing this, many U.S politicians believe Burger King’s real purpose behind this acquisition is to avoid American tax, which is 40 percent while Canadian tax is 26 percent. However, Burger King disagrees with this accusation.

“We don’t expect our tax rate to change materially, this transaction is not really about taxes. It’s about growth.” said Daniel Schwartz, who is the Chief Executive at Burger King. What Schwartz is saying can be be proved; The Brazilian private firm 3G bought 70 percent of Burger King’s shares and practically owns the burger chain. For the past few years, together Schwartz and 3G expanded Burger King in China, Russia and Brazil.

Personally, this Burger King- Tim Hortons deal will only be beneficial if the two use each other to climb up the ladder. What this means is that, for example, Tim Hortons can make use of Burger King’s stable place in the foreign market as an advantage to develop and become a more successful franchise. Likewise, Burger King can improve on its breakfast business by implementing similar products from Tim Hortons. By any means, Burger King made the correct choice to purchase Tim Hortons.

Burger King buys Tim Hortons for $11 billion

Article: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-26/the-burger-king-tim-hortons-deal-isnt-about-taxes

Google, an international corporation that concentrates on Internet products and services, launched a seven-city tour in Europe to seek advices from experts regarding Internet privacy. Google has planned this trip to Europe for a long time because the European top court has called for Google to allow individuals to erase results that may expose their identity; however, at the same time, Google needed to assure the availability of information for the world.

Google is facing a tough decision between protecting individual’s privacy while allowing people to access information. This situation perfectly touches the term “business ethics”, which, to me, vaguely defines a list of ethical principles and problems. Personally, I believe Google should simply follow the orders of the European top court and allow users to erase personal information. The Internet is a very convenient spot for criminals to commit crimes and Google makes it even easier because anyone can simply type in a name and gain access to his or her basic information if not, private information. To conclude, if a person uses Google for any unethical purposes, Google should be held accountable for it because it is against business ethics to allow such action.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/google-seeks-views-in-europe-on-right-to-be-forgotten-1410268827

Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chairman, with Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister