Before I start with the rest of this article, I want to address that today is Remembrance Day. I feel blessed to live in this country and I recognize the sacrifices that were made for Canada by millions of lives worldwide.

 For China, today is singles’ day, a day allocated to celebrate single-ness. Like the western Valentine’s Day, singles day has evolved to become a kind of seller heaven for e-markets, especially for Alibaba, who makes up for 80 % of total online sales.

Alibaba is a “testament to immense Chinese ingenuity and entrepreneurialism” (VanderKlippe, 2014),  building an empire of online sales in a country with little credit cards and a distrust in things that cannot be touched. I suspect that in order to do achieve this feat Alibaba had to learn to and become efficient at many or all of the concepts we learn in class- from business ethics to people & culture.

I think it’s our job as students to follow news articles and successful businesses in order to learn more from them and to build on the knowledge we gained in class. Alibaba is a great example.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/asian-pacific-business/alibaba-singles-day-sales-surge-past-6-billion/article21531477/

If the United Nations were fully funded (if the United Nations had enough resources and enough support from every country in the world) then they would be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals and every country would benefit from a world where every citizen is better educated, healthier, and safer.

However, even if the United Nations were fully funded, I believe that we would still need initiatives like the Arc and we would still need social enterprise. This is because initiatives like the Arc emphasize the strength in each individual to lift themselves out of poverty, in their own terms and through their own efforts. The key here is that the individual is active in their own efforts to change their situation.

There is a difference between help in the form of what the United Nations can do, and help in the form of social enterprise and the Arc. A social enterprise is kind of like an investment, and brings positive changes in the form of profit to both the investor and the receiver, among other things. Like the Arc Initiative states in its website,  “the arc symbolizes a two way flow of energy.” (Arc Initiative, Sauder)

Providing individuals in communities with the tools to maximize their potential is an investment in the individual as well as an investment in the individual’s family and community and onwards. In that way, social enterprise could very well change the world in a way that the United Nations may not be able to.

Dragon’s Den isn’t the only road to investments, although Paul Davidescu of Tangoo perused it this year.

During our class about entrepreneurship, I asked Paul Gill (the creator of Naked Coconuts) how he got the start up funds necessary to start his company. He replied that most of his funds had been made up of “love money”- money given by friends and family who believe in the company and the creator. Love money ensures that the company is entirely under the direction of the original owner.

This weekend I read a very interesting article about when to go after investments from outside sources written by Ryan Holmes, the founder of Hootsuite. He argues that sometimes the reason people stick to bootstrapping (using credit card funds for start up) and love money is an attitude issue. He also argues that sometimes its better to invest your time in other issues than finding ways to collect enough funds to keep the company going.

If and when my classmates and I decide to become entrepreneurs, I hope that we will have enough courage, dedication, and belief in ourselves to invest completely (monetarily and time-wise) in our endeavors and to also look for help from other sources when it is needed. As Ryan Holmes points out; sometimes this- knowing when to seek help from other sources- makes a good company into a successful one.

Sources: http://business.financialpost.com/2014/10/29/time-to-go-after-investment-is-now-whats-holding-you-back/

Some examples of female executives

It’s sometimes an uncomfortable topic- but it’s a topic that is very real and very true- in your face or in other, more insidious ways, women deal with different circumstances than men in positions of higher responsibility.

I had the chance to think more about this topic through Joya Martin’s blog http://www.joyamartin.com/10-things/. She goes over a 10 ways to help the experience go smoother through her own experience as an executive. Some of her tips apply to both men and women- like “work hard”- but often times it’s women that must be reminded of her other tips- like “if you don’t ask, the answer is always ‘no'”.

I’ve read before that girls, from an early age, are encouraged (done wittingly or not) to be the listener and the receiver by the media, movies, parents, and people around them. I’d like to add to this conversation the idea of cultural background- girls from Asian cultures are more in danger of this kind of mindset because of Asia’s traditional history of deference to authority and age.

I’d like to see more difference-making, profit-maximizing, society-helping, creative executives out there- and I know that some of those executives are women. We just have to make sure that we are reaching our full potential.

Here are two objects:

One just sold for over 100 million dollars and one is worth just over 30. Can you guess which is which?

If you pointed to the bronze chariot with the human figurine, you are both right and familiar with the sometimes strange world of art.

In economics we learn about opportunity cost and the downward sloping demand curve- and the logic behind it is pretty intuitive- why pay more for something when you can pay less? But that logic is contradicted by millions of dollars spent on luxury goods and services, even by those who might not be able to fit the purchase in their balance sheets at the time.

It’s all about what value consumers place on a product, and it’s up to the company to both control the consumer’s perception and take advantage of it. The article covers how the art museum controlled the perspective of the purchasers to sell the product- by using words like “gold” and “gilt” and that the sculpture is “a triumphant mark in history” and is unique (when it actually is one of six!)

For some companies, this route is not relevant. Walmart, with its cost leadership strategy (Porter), doesn’t have to convince its consumers that its products are “gold” and “gilt” and a “triumphant mark in history.” And it’s been working pretty well for them.

Sources: http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-hundred-million-dollar-giacometti

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/dining/21825/

http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml

Being an entrepreneur has never occurred to me. Even as I heard of people accomplishing their dreams and building their own companies as entrepreneurs, I had never thought about doing that myself. And when I got into Sauder, the entrepreneurship option was never an option for me. Maybe it was because I’m not a big fan of risks and straying from the conventional path of university then climbing up the career ladder. Or maybe it’s because I never saw myself like Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, or Nick Woodman; few of the gleaming elite of entrepreneurs today.

Reading Kristina Walker’s post on Nick Woodman’s success as an entrepreneur reminded me of the class we had when we had three entrepreneurs come in to talk to us about their companies and their plans. Three things important things that I took away from that class were:

1) choose something that makes you get up in the mornings

2) don’t kid yourself- don’t do anything that is not profitable

3) you need to hustle

One of the most memorable things I heard all term was when Paul, the founder of Naked Coconuts, said “I never had something that made me truly happy until this”, or something along the lines of that. I lot of people I know, including myself, don’t feel like they have a career in mind that could make them “truly happy.”

Successful entrepreneurs are successful because they are “truly happy” with and are passionate about their vision. And as Kristina mentioned, they are creative and driven.

Maybe I’ll start looking into that entrepreneurship option now.

Source: https://blogs.ubc.ca/kristinwalker/2014/10/22/going-pro-with-gopro/

I am very interested in incorporating social responsibility and profit maximizing in business. I firmly believe that the two don’t have to be separate from one another, and that to work towards the one also means to work towards the other, which is why I enjoyed reading about CVS Caremark’s decision to stop selling tobacco through Bonnie Cheng’s blog post.

I agree that CVS’s act of responsibility (removing nicotine from the stores) is small compared to how much CVS actually makes and I agree that CVS isn’t actually losing much from “doing the right thing”- which proves that CVS in the end isn’t taking any risks out of character and morals but implementing another business strategy. While I agree with all of that, I also think that in this world that is infinitely complicated and multi-faceted, a “cloaked” business strategy that is still in line with Friedman’s idea that the only responsibility businesses have is to the shareholders, is still also an act of social responsibility that benefits both the business and the customer.

As in, businesses don’t have to lose and don’t have to work against profit (as Friedman thinks) through being socially responsible. It just takes a little bit of imagination, drive, and I guess- values, to make social responsibility work in a business.

Sources:

“CVS- ethical or merely strategic?”, https://blogs.ubc.ca/bonniecheng/

“The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits”, Friedman

Enbridge has a lot to think about when building its pipeline, especially when the pipeline is to go through the land of 40 different First Nations groups, and especially when many of those groups are vocal in their stance against the pipeline.

First Nations groups are definitely an external factor that Enbridge must take into account when building their business model canvas, especially when protesting First Nations groups could jeopardize the entire process.

What is interesting to me is how Enbridge is going about gaining the support of the groups. It seems to me that they decided to gain support only after the construction date was set, and although (according to Enbridge’s calculations) only 40 % of groups directly affected by the pipeline have declined to set up a financial deal with Enbridge, Janet Holder believes that those groups will eventually sign on. And if the groups don’t sign on, senior executives will have to talk to those groups face-to-face.

This doesn’t look to me like Enbridge is taking this very serious external factor- the voices of those that will be greatly impacted by this pipeline- very seriously. It looks like they have already made the decision to build the pipeline and the first nations groups are only an obstacle that can be paid off or silenced.

This kind of external factor will affect the key partners and the customer relationship blocks of the canvas. How Enbridge deals with these groups is a reflection of their transparency and their trustworthiness, and how they are dealing with the First Nations groups (who could be considered major partners and stakeholders) is affecting their relationships with partners now and in the future.

Sources:

Hoekstra, Gordon. “”There Will Be No Pipeline”” Vancouver Sun. Vancouver Sun, 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.

There are a lot of things I learned in class that helped me see why even an “iconic” store such as Stollerys may close down after 114 years.

This article from the Globe and Mail points out a few issues in Stollerys that led to its closing down. The issues are as follows: inability to compete with up and coming stores such as Holt Renfew & Co., inconsistencies, and failure to catch up with the changes of the times.

In class 7 we learned about the business model canvas and strategy. Although Stollerys could have taken advantage of their loyal customers, their brand name, and their iconic image, Stollerys still fell to newer competitors because they failed to find their “sustainable competitive advantage.” Although Stollerys knew its place within Porter’s Generic Strategy (focus strategy, differentiation), it failed to to change up its strategy as competitors came along. As in, it did just enough to “stay in the game, but not beat it.” I also think that its failure to start up an online component to the store (the store was open for 114 years, but an online store was set up just last year) was another huge undermining factor.

There are a lot of other companies I see doing the same thing as Stollerys- feeling too safe in its current position to change up their strategies.

References: -Strauss, Marina. “Iconic Upscale Men’s Wear Store to Close in Toronto.” The Globe and Mail. Globe and Mail, 4 Oct. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

– Porter, Michael M. “Porter’s Generic Strategies.” Porter’s Generic Strategies. QuickMBA.com, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.

Friedman says in his essay that the only social responsibility of a business is to make money for its shareholders. But what about in an occasion such as this? In 2012, a factory fire in Bangladesh killed 400 workers, trapping them inside a eight story building. They had been on a tight deadline; when the alarm sounded, some managers told the workers to disregard the alarm and keep going. Is it the responsibility of the company to insure safe working conditions, even if they will have to pay more for it? Is it up to the company to make sure that the damages caused by the fire is reimbursed? What kind of social responsibility does the company have under these circumstances?

It’s true that businesses are about  making money. But it is also true that good business, is good business. The clothing that the workers in that factory had been making was of Disney. After tremendous public scrutiny, Disney announced that it was going to  move its factories out of Bangladesh. This doesn’t mean that Disney is going to use factories with reasonably paid workers and safer working conditions, but at least this means that Disney is aware of the public backlash of disregarding social responsibility and focusing only on the responsibility to the shareholders.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/world/asia/owners-of-bangladesh-factory-surrender-in-deadly-fire.html?_r=0

http://www.scu.edu/r/ethics-center/ethicsblog/business-ethics-news/16120/DISNEY:-Should-Retailers-Cut-and-Run-from-Bangladesh?