This video is one of my favourite TED talks that has both inspired and motivated me.
As a first year Sauder student, I’ve always wondered how some businesses are so much more successful than others. What is it that makes these companies different from the rest of its competitors? How do you motivate your workers?….What is the definition of a Great Leader?
In the video, Simon Sinek presented a simple, yet powerful model for inspirational leadership. He stated that most companies operate and communicate with the order of (1) What (companies’ products), (2)How (products’ features and functions) and then expect some results in sales. However, he introduced a new idea in which true successful companies communicate first with (3)Why (Why we do what we do), (2)How, then finally(1) What. It is what the company believes, its company belief (the brand value), that has driven customers of the same beliefs to purchase these products.
Similarly, true leaders inspire others by stating what they believe in, instead of telling others what they do. Those with no belief, their workers will work for profit; those with beliefs, however, will attract workers of the same beliefs and they will work because they “want” to and not because they have to. Hence, people (whether customers or employees) do what they do for no one but themselves – they choose to follow merely for their own believes.
From this video, I learned to always communicate with my core values first. I learned that in order to be successful, we cannot simply be a leader, but we must become those who lead.
Many companies nowadays have started to switch from sending employees to expensive training lessons to providing online teaching videos. By allowing the workers to be trained online, this creates advantage in terms of cost, quality, and access [1]. Online training provides employees to access 24/7 at their own pace as well, making their learning experience more flexible.
This emerging situation can be seen as both an advantage and disadvantage in human resources. Advantage being that the existing technology can create more opportunities for employees to have access to these resources, which also benefits the companies as well by saving costs. However, disadvantages also arise as consultants and counselors are no longer needed due to their relatively expensive prices. Although some might argue that real life experts will perform and help train the workers more efficiently, there are still video training online provided by true and famous experts of the field.
The bottom line, I believe, is that the human resources organization need to keep up with the pace of technology and the consultants must use them as new resources to their own advantage, and not be threatened by them.
Sources:
[1] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-managing/human-resources/e-learning-is-hit-and-miss-how-to-choose-wisely/article5339634/
Image Source:
http://www.3dvia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/banner_training_elearning.jpg
I recently found an interesting external blog of a senior Sauder student in UBC, in which I’ve followed and gained a couple of tips from.
In one of her articles, she stated her experience of meeting with Microsoft Canada President Eric Gales during her Campus Rep Program, where she provided a few takeaways from their discussion: (1)Innovations, (2)entrepreneurs, and (3)how students can find innovations to help society.
Gale defines innovation as “doing something in a new way;” and entrepreneurs as those who convert ideas into action. He further commented on the fact that people nowadays don’t really have a problem in generating ideas, but the issue lies in what to do once you have one. He states that there are those who “dream big” and those who breathe life into big dreams to become action [1]. “We have to be prepared to believe that there is better way. Be prepared to be wrong and challenging your inner thought. We have to b prepared to put thoughts in benefits for motivation instead of hovering over the risks.”
I find this article very inspirational, as I am a student of many dreams; yet, none of these ideas can come true if I never work to make them happen. By defining the three concepts of entrepreneurship, I feel more confident of experiencing new boundaries to explore my potentials.
Sources:
[1] https://blogs.ubc.ca/valeriesong/
This article gave me some insights into Information Technology which I find quite interesting.
First of all, in the article, to incorporate information technology in a smart way is to set off a revolution in innovation covering 4 dimensions of measurement, experimentation, sharing, and replication. Erik Brynjolfsson, a digital business expert, also commented on an example in which Harrah’s, a casino company, is an offline company that has successfully cover IT in all four ways. While other companies were adding decorations to enhance their casinos, Harrah’s was doing different experiments to find the ultimate force driving profitability.
The problem is that some companies have a lot of data, but they are not quite sure how to make use of these data. As well, Brynjolfsson further stated a shift from long-term planning to more of sense and respond.
I discovered an intriguing concept – in my previous post where I reflected upon Zara’s case study, one of the key components to Zara’s success was having a quick response, short term supply chain, which is similar to Information Technology. Due to the fast pace in technology, one of the important aspects to business success nowadays is to maintain an efficient, relatively productive speed – so you can beat your competitors within the industry.
Article Source: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/224965860/13221C4DF9B2BA6CADA/1?accountid=14656
Image Source:
http://www.poker-tomorrow.com/casinos/vegas/harrahs/harrahs.jpg
In response to @Joey Tung’s Post:
In her post, Joey stated her thoughts toward a news article this August: Becoming Green, a Welsh call centre, had brought in cheap prison labour – paying its prisoner workers for only £3 a day [1]. This in term relates to the issue of Business Ethics in which certain companies act in their own interest to take advantage over vulnerable people: the prisoners. By hiring cheap labour into the workforce, Becoming Green had also laid off some of its original workers who required higher wages [2].
Although from short term perspective, the company seemed to have gained some advantage as this had reduced some variable wages cost for the company. Yet, judging from long term, this may not be the best approach for several reasons:
1. The company’s actions might disturb its own workforce and stir up disloyalty and complaints within the organization by replacing their workers with cheap labour[3]. The fact that prisoners of various crimes are taken in to work alongside others will create distrust and insecurity; therefore, leading to employees’ unwillingness to go to work.
2. As well, the company’s image would be threatened with immoral issues and thus leading to decrease of customers. Regular callers would also feel insecure because they would not know if they can trust the people they are calling.
For these reasons, the company’s actions would start to decline in long term, despite temporary advantage.
Sources:
[1]http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/08/prisoners-call-centre-fired-staff
[2]http://boingboing.net/2012/08/08/call-centre-brings-in-prison-l.html
[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-19184054
Image Source:
http://www.becominggreen.co/
In class 15, I had the opportunity of studying the Supply Chain Management of Zara, which I find very fascinating. Zara’s constant success and industry expansion over these few years had been mainly the result of excellent supply chain operation. Being in the fashion industry where customer preferences are constantly changing, the business is all about reducing response time.
Zara’s strategies for always producing fresh fashion [1]:
(1) Short Lead Time – keeping up with fashion
Short lead time allows Zara to operate from identifying a trend to selling the items in stores within merely 30 days, beating all its competitors – while most retailers forecast what/how much customers might buy, Zara moves along with its customers. Catching fashion at its hottest time will gain better margins for more prices at full price and no discounts!
(2)Provide lower quanlity – provide scarce supply
By lowering quantities of each product line, Zara can create scarcity that will drive the price high and keeping its customers on the verge of buying as soon as the clothing are in stock. As well, it would also reduce risks of losing great amount of sales if the trend is unsuccessful.
(3)More styles – various choices, meaning that there will be more chances of hitting the right trend
Instead of providing more quantities per style, Zara provides more styles with lower quantity. It has more styles and variations than most of its competitors.
Supply chain is an area of study that I am quite interested in. The success of Zara’s strategy gave me many insights in creating a successful operation management system.
Article Source:
[1] http://thirdeyesight.in/articles/ImagesFashion_Zara_Part_I.pdf
Image Source:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4P9lCNJFkls/TPjPTiPvGAI/AAAAAAAADb0/mRTeYNZ7t5Q/s1600/zara+kerst+2010.jpg
In response to @tobykwan’s post:
The article stated the unethical termination of contract by Air Canada toward Aveos, its maintenance repair division. In March, Air Canada had terminated the contract with Aveos before the agreed date, and since AC made up 85% of the company’s revenue, Aveos was forced into bankruptcy [1]. As a result, 1,800 employees were put out of work almost overnight; thus sparking protests outside Aveos buildings in Montreal and Vancouver [2].
In her post, Toby stated the importance of trust between two businesses as it can affect the reputation of the company in the business world. In addition to her statement, I want to further point out: Besides influencing the external image of the company, a broken trust may also stir up the company’s internal organization and function. AC’s contract termination toward Aveos may create insecurity inside AC’s own employees. Knowing that their own company had just laid off workers from its partner company with no compensation, how can AC’s employees ensure that they won’t be laid off as well any time soon? Hence, this incident can influence AC’s employee loyalty and their working attitude, which may even lead to a long term misguidance of the company’s internal values and goals. Thus, trust must be handled with precaution and care both internally and externally by any company.
Image source:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1148528%E2%80%93air-canada-hits-more-turbulence-as-plane-maintenance-company-aveos-files-for-bankruptcy
Sources:
[1] https://blogs.ubc.ca/tobykwan/2012/09/11/aveos-shutdown/
[2]http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1148528%E2%80%93air-canada-hits-more-turbulence-as-plane-maintenance-company-aveos-files-for-bankruptcy
I had the wonderful opportunity of reading this book during the summer, which completely blew my mind. In the book, Daniel H. Pink outlined the idea that our world is slowly leaving the Information Age: era of “left brain” dominance, and is heading towards the Conceptual Age: an era of “right brainers” where creators and empathizers will be the new leaders in business [1]. Pink refers to the 3 trending A’s of the business/economy in the future : Abundance(Is what I’m offering in demand?), Automotive(Can a computer do it faster?), and Asia (Can someone overseas do it cheaper?)[2].
When those three questions are present, creativity and empathy (jobs including the use of right-brain) now become the competitive difference to differentiate individuals in the competitive business world. This new concept will soon change the model of how business function as a whole: marketing strategies, business plans, and even consumer targets would all be completely different in the next decade. This book provided me an insight of the direction my generation is heading, as well as many opportunities/ choices that are available for me to explore in the future. I feel both anxious and excited of entering this new era with numerous possibilities awaiting me.
Image source:
http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind
Source:
[1] http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Whole_New_Mind
Have you ever wondered if advertisements on social networks can affect our consumer behaviour? After the lecture in Comm about Marketing, I did a quick research on Facebook advertisements, and found some interesting results:
Recently comScore, a consulting company, is hired by Facebook to measure its advertising effectiveness, in which they performed primary, and quantitative research, showing that paid advertisements on Facebook do influence consumer behaviours and attitudes toward certain products/brands [1]. For instance, in the case of Target, comScore studied two groups of users: one group is made up of fans of the Target page and their friends (where they will all see Target messages on their news feeds), and another group of those who are not fans of Target and their friends (where they will not see any messages). The result showed that 19% of the Target fans were more likely to buy goods at Target, while their friends were 27% more likely.
I find it interesting that the friends of those who become fans of Target are in fact, more likely to purchase at Target compared to the fans themselves (27% and 19%). One of the factors contributing to this result may be of social influence from family and peers: Those who see their own friends liking/buying from Target may be more motivated to buy at Target themselves as people tend to follow others’ footsteps, as well as gaining the reassurance that others also purchase from the same store.
Image Source:
http://socialmediamagic.com/blog/images/facebook-advertising.png
Sources:
[1]http://business.financialpost.com/2012/06/12/facebook-ads-influence-consumer-behaviour-comscore-report-says/
According to Chris MacDonald’s article taken from Canadian Business, Samsung has been accused of ignoring the workers’ rights and mistreating its factory workers in China. A report by the New York-based NGO China Labour Watch showed that the employees were working more than one hundred hours over time within a month, with children under the age of sixteen working in factories.
Yet, despite the difficulties that they endure, many of the employees voluntary asked for more overtime. This proved the company’s inability to support its employees. The fact that these workers want more overtime showed that they needed additional money than what they earned during regular hours; thus, confirming their insufficient wages.
In addition, China Labor Watch also issued that workers in the factories lacked a voice or system that allowed them to lodge complaints. The existence of such mechanism would surely be represented as having a right. The unavailability of such system within a workplace, therefore, would be considered as ignoring the workers’ rights.
Stan Abrams, a law professor, pointed out that Samsung owns and controls many of its own companies which were accused of ignoring labour rights. Thus, the company cannot deny the fact of not knowing the mistreatment of the workers.
source:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blog/business_ethics/97780–samsung-chinese-workers-and-labour-rights