Original Blog

KFC using chicken fed with antibiotics is very unethical.  However, adding melamine to milk formulas is a crime.  The use of any material in food knowing that it will harm people is a crime.  Baby milk formula tainted with Melamine will affect new-born babies, causing kidney problems and can probably cancer.

Looking back to 2004, milk formula were sold with very low nutritional elements causes malnutrition and 16 babies died. [1] Tests for protein were then implemented, but then unscrupulous businessmen used melamine to trick the test. This time 6 babies died with 300,000 suffered from kidney problems.  [2]

“We spent half of our wages buying the foreign formula,” a parent said. “Some of my neighbors’ children who survived 10 years ….have suffered from abnormal mental development. My sole wish for my two children is that they can grow up healthily.” [2]

Ironically, an official punished for the milk scandal has been promoted to deputy president of the State Food and Drug Administration in 2012.  [3] Maybe this is the reason why most people trust foreign brands.

[1] Tainted-baby-milk scandal in China

[2] Memories still too raw for Chinese parents to trust baby formula

[3] Official punished in Sanlu scandal promoted

External Blog

This blog is interesting because it is about the smuggling of milk formula.  People in Hong Kong and Australia find it difficult to buy baby formula because buyers from China are cleaning out shelves and “smuggling” them back home.  To the Chinese consumers, milk of foreign brands means safety and confidence.

In fact, this is the result of milk formula being tainted with Melamine affected new-born babies, causing 6 death and 300,000 babies to have kidney problems.  [1]   Why would  managers of the Chinese milk industries risk damaging their brand name like this?  They should know such crime would be exposed one day.  Are they just looking at short-term profit and neglecting long-term benefits?

For things to be eaten, the first thing consumers concern is that it should not be toxic.  “We spent half of our wages buying the foreign formula,” a parent explained, just because “some of my neighbors’ children who survived 10 years ….have suffered from abnormal mental development.  My sole wish for my two children is that they can grow up healthily.” [2]

Ironically, an official punished for the milk scandal has been promoted to deputy president of the State Food and Drug Administration in 2012.  [3] Maybe this is the reason why people in China do not trust their local brands.

[1]Tainted-baby-milk scandal in China

[2] Memories still too raw for Chinese parents to trust baby formula

[3] Official punished in Sanlu scandal promoted

The Dreamliner is aircraft’s reply to the hybrid version car.  It uses new composite materials as primary material to save weight, and is considered to be the most fuel-efficient aircraft in the world.

Boeing, instead of competing with Airbus on the Jumbo aircraft market, has decided to change their business plan and bet on fuel efficient aircraft.  This is a very smart move in view of rising fuel cost.  From an environmental and sustainability point of view, I hope the Dreamliner can deal with these teething problems and become more accepted by airlines and passengers.

In contrast, the A380 taking all the slot machines, bars, spa and showers up into the air is not good for the environment.  Lifting all these things up to 30,000 feet high will not only waste a lot of energy, but also not necessary.   Meanwhile, ways of making things on an aircraft lighter is the way forward and valuable.  Even a lighter meal cart or lighter carpets can save fuel on a flight.

Have you ever heard of the Fisker Karma?  Not surprising if you have never heard of it as it is not a popular car.   But it is a really beautiful supercar.  It is also a hybrid car, an environmentally-friendly car.  Environmentally-friendly car should be the future.  But its manufacturer has become bankrupt (http://www.ibtimes.com/will-troubled-us-plug-electric-sports-car-maker-fisker-end-being-chinese-us-car-company-1274749).

Karma is a religious concept.  We reap what we sow.  Pollution is getting worse in big cities like Hong Kong, Beijing and other cities in China.  It is reported by the World Health Organization that severe air pollution can cause cancer (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/17/cancer-air-pollution-carcinogens/3002239/).  But why are so many polluting cars and buses still being widely used?  Why are industries still using polluting methods?  Why is coal still used for heating?  Maybe people care too much about their profit and have no regard for the environment.    Although big companies are aware they should have social responsibility, smaller companies are not as they cannot afford the cost.  Being socially responsible most often has a cost, and for these small companies, survival comes first.  In this respect, people have to be selfish.

So it is up to the consumers themselves to make these companies change.  For their own health, they must.  We should only buy from the companies that care about sustainability.  Destiny is in our hands.

In the final pitch for the 2020 Olympic, Japanese Prime Minister Abe declared to the Committee that the radiation leak at Fukushima Nuclear Station has been perfectly blocked. [1] However, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) which is taking care of the recovery admits that about 300 tonnes of radioactive groundwater are escaping into the nearby Pacific Ocean every day [2]

So who should we believe?

The Fukushima disaster has taught us to believe in the worst case scenario. These nuclear substances have a life of many years, so the ocean will be polluted for decades to come.  With more and more waste being poured into the ocean, what will happen to the Pacific Ocean?  Right now, fishes are already showing signs of contamination, and already at US and Canada’s coast. [3] There are predictions that the situation will get worse.  When the contamination goes up the food chain to most fishes and then to human [4], the worst case will be no more food source form the sea.  So rather than keeping the public guessing and worry, governments around the world should be more transparent.

What is the plan for the future?  Should there be changes in business plans?  These are questions that businessmen should be asking.

[1]Abe had stressed at the presentation that the radiation leak has been blocked within the port at the Fukushima complex under constant monitoring.

[2] Radiation deadly high, 300 tonnes of radioactive groundwater is escaping into the ocean every day

[3] Tuna caught off California carry radiation from the Japanese disaster, Stanford scientist finds

[3] US Northwest /Fish and water have shown signs of Fukushima contamination.

[4] Radioactivity in the Ocean: Diluted, But Far from Harmless “This is not an imminent health concern, but we haven’t seen the end of it,” said Theo Teofanous, professor of chemical and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Will travel up food chain.

In an article “Go ahead steal all you can”,  it is said that Netflix, a provider of on-demand Internet streaming media, “enabling freeloading could be a counter intuitively savvy promotional tool for getting potential customers hooked on a product they wouldn’t otherwise sample.” (http://www.bluetoad.com/article/Digital/1439642/165054/article.html)

This illegal downloading is like software piracy.  This goes against our belief that piracy hurts a company’s revenue.  Then why does it work?  Well, it works like a free trial, or giving free samples.  On the internet, there are a lot of programs that let you use for free.  It is a channel to reach customers and gain their awareness.

This also happened to Microsoft in its early days.   Bill Gates once said “….in China, … people don’t pay for the software… Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.” (http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/market/23137-how-piracy-benefits-microsoft)

Ethics according to the Oxford Dictionary means “moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour”.  A company is not a human, so ethics in business should be about moral principles of the people who manage the company.

“The Insider” is a movie which best shows the theme of business ethics.  It describes the situation when the executives of a tobacco company know the possibility of nicotine is addictive and can cause cancer, but still add it to the cigarettes to increase its sales.  It is not against the law to do so.  So this is a question about moral.

Firstly, there is no clear moral standard, however there should be a minimum standard which is not to harm others. of course this is only a minimum, and setting a higher standard should be encouraged.

Secondly, profit maximization to the shareholders is not the only objective.  Shareholders are not the only party which has an interest in the company.  Workers, customers, and second-hand smokers are also stakeholders and their benefits should also be considered.

Recently, technology has been developing at a fast pace, especially for genetic engineering.  New materials are discovered and used widely, so ethical use of these materials is very important.

Definition of Ethics

I have seen the movie Iron Man 3 this summer.  In the Iron Man series, robot have got better and better.  In real life, robots are also getting better and better.  In fact, already in many car factories now, robots are working at great speed with amazing accuracy.

In the future, a robot will operate a below the cost of a Chinese worker, and so will replace the manual labour in working.  Cheaper robots will help cut the production cost sharply.  This will definitely change the whole manufacturing business in the world.  This robot revolution is very much like the industrial revolution.  The world will be changed, I suppose.

Entrepreneurs in India or China’s factories should be worried as robots will replace manual labour.  Labour-intensive manufacturing processes will then shift back to the western world.  Facing such a revolution like this, it is a good chance to position its brand to be the leader.  Entrepreneurs should think about developing cheap and intelligent robots, and the winner will then be the leader in this business.

After this revolution, maybe human brain will become bigger while our arms and legs shrink, much like the aliens wee in the movies.

Video: 60 Minutes: Robots

In a survey about global brand names, Samsung comes second in 2013, just after Apple.  It was ranked just 18 in 2011 so it is a really big jump.  Not surprisingly why we are surrounded by so many Samsung products, especially its smart phones.

Not long ago. “made in Japan” means innovation and good quality.Regarding audio and visual products.  Sony used to be the best brand, but now it is overtaken by Samsung.  How did samsung make this possible?  There was s story that Samsun Chairman once visited an electronic store in California, and found all products selling there were Sonny Panasonic.  He was very upset, and so in Frankfurt, he asked his managers to ” Change everything but your wife and children.”.  This became the “Frankfurt declaration1993.”

In the business world, especially in electronic products, technology develops very fast.  Consumers’ tastes also change very quickly.  Therefore a company must make changes in order to survive.  It has to go out and find new products and markets for its products.  A business cannot assume that its existing successful products and business models can remain successful forever.  The word “Change” in a business is very important.

We should learn form this Samsung style and make changes.

Article 1: Global Brand league

Article 2: The Frankfurt Declaration 1993

I have just bought a new PC which comes with Windows 8.  The new system is efficient and response time is quick.  It only takes several seconds to switch on and shutdown, which is much better than the old Windows versions.

However, there are so many negative comments about the windows 8 user interface and so many reports on the poor sales.  Therefore I started thinking, why such a good product receives so many bad reviews?  With Microsoft’s famous brand name, this should not have happened.  With so many smart people working in Microsoft, what went wrong with their sales and marketing?  Some people suggest that Microsoft wants to merge the PC interface with tablets and phones, so they have decided to change to have a uniform look.

To me, the new system took me a few days to get used to since the familiar icons are no more present.  However, most users now are office workers and I suppose they would not want to spend time learning the new system.

Perhaps Microsoft has become too confident assuming the customers would change to suit its products.  In the past, PC was more for entertainment than work, therefore customers were eager to adapt the new software.  Nowadays, PC is commonly used at work while people use smartphones for entertainment.  People only want to be working with something they are familiar with and that is the reason why they complain about the unfamiliar software.

Read the Article Here.