Sometimes, money is not the solution to everything. Yes, it can be an essential factor, but it is not the only ingredient needed to solve a problem. For example, you need not only money, but the skills to manage those funds, to know what to invest with it, and to have a plan that you can implement by using it. Through Arc and the examples of social entrepreneurs, we can see how sustainability can be achieved when you know how to “manage your money, manage your staff and manage your ideas.”

Would $1000 be put into better use when left in the hands of a child or in the hands of an adult with financial experience? Even if the United Nations was fully funded, if they left money with firms that don’t know how to “utilize it efficiently”, it would be like leaving the $1000 with a child who knows only how to squander it or keep it stored away never knowing its value. That is why we need not just the funds, but education and knowledge to go with it as well. Employers need to know how they can operate their businesses productively by “mobilizing human, financial and political resources.”

Arc is necessary because they can provide training and experience to current and future entrepreneurs to help create sustainable businesses. We need social entrepreneurs to generate shared value, not just wealth, which means that employees will be trained, demand will be met and quality will be prioritized. Having all these qualities is what makes a business efficient and stable in the long-run, and with the help of financial assistance, any small business can grow in success.

References:

“Sauder School of Business.” The Arc Initiative. UBC, 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Global_Reach/ARC_Initiative>.

“What Is Social Entrepreneurship?” Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://skollworldforum.org/about/what-is-social-entrepreneurship/>.

Williams, Beth. “Upward Arc.” UBC News. UBC, 30 June 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://news.ubc.ca/2014/06/30/upward-arc/>.

Canada Post ends home delivery for thousands

–  CBC News (October 20, 2013)

“All urban home delivery to end by 2019”

Canada Post announced that in the next 5 years they will be slowly getting out of the home delivery business and into deliveries to local community boxes. Thousands of people have already started using community boxes for 3 weeks now, and 5 million people will be off of home delivery by 2019. Due to the increasing usage of electronic communication, mail volume has decreased more than 1.2 billion since 2006. Canada Post claims that switching to local community boxes will save them half a billion dollars, but they did not reveal how much the costs to switch would be. So then, is it right for them to stop home deliveries when seniors and disabled may still be in need of them? Private businesses have already jumped in and taken this opportunity to privatize the delivery industry by offering affected areas like Winnipeg a home delivery system for $20/month.

I have never had home delivery so I don’t really know if ending it is that big a deal. I do know that many mail deliverers will be losing their jobs, though, and that many will be inconvenienced by this sudden announcement. However, times have changed, and with the rise in oil prices and the increase in emails and online resources, it is understandable how Canada Post would want to exit the home delivery business. I don’t see how this change could be a violation to the Charter of Rights and Freedom either, when Canada Post will be the ones to pay for the building and maintenance of these boxes. I do hope that packages will still be delivered to our front doors, but looking at it from their point of view, Canada Post has made a wise decision to reduce further costs.

What the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge teaches us about content marketing

– itbusiness.ca (August 26, 2014), written by: Russel Cooke

“The ALS Ice Bucket challenge is a fantastic example of what happens when a silly meme is co-opted  in exactly the right way. “

How exactly did the ALS foundation manage to get a donation of “$8.6 million dollars in a single day”? Cooke credited their huge success to the viral Ice Bucket Challenge and content marketing: it was simple, light-humored with a little bit of peer pressure contributing here and there, and all for a good, admirable cause.

Social media campaigns, in my opinion, are a wonderful 21^st Century way of sharing strategies and raising awareness. They need to be engaging, with little risk or pressure to commit, in order to get as many people participating as possible. A good campaign would encourage friends to join, like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge did by asking people to nominate their friends. The challenge began with a small group of people, but soon spread like a wildfire, reaching even famous celebrities and athletes who would soon nominate their own friends, and thus the cycle continued.

I admit I was a little cynical about the whole idea when it first started. To me, wasting good ice and water by dumping it on the ground seemed disrespectful to those living in other countries who do not have access to water like we do here in Canada. I do agree that asking people for donations by tugging at their guilt is not the best way to fundraise, but people seemed to be having too much fun and forgetting the original reason for the challenge. But by reading Cooke’s post, I realized that most people who participated in this challenge ended up donating even when they didn’t have to, and I was quite amazed by the total number of donations the ALS foundation had received. The Challenge proved to be a success, and I believe this case is worth studying for future, similar campaigns.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/blessiecanete/

– Blessie Rae Canete’s Blog

Bike sharing is being brought to Vancouver? I would have to say, it’s not the first time I wished for a system like this in my neighbourhood. Thanks to Blessie, I can now look forward to seeing this dream fulfilled sometime next year.

Bike sharing promotes a healthy, pollutant-free environment by encouraging people to avoid using automobiles when travelling to nearby places. I agree with Blessie how using bicycles are more sustainable, and how places like Vancouver and UBC would support such methods for sustainability. Bikes are less costly to build and to use than cars, and increasing the usage of all those empty bike lanes would certainly be less wasteful. Also, when talking about bikes, you cannot forget the dangers of bike theft. Good bikes themselves are definitely not on the cheap end of the scale, but when you add theft-proof locks to that cost, it can discourage many who are looking for cheaper modes of transportation. Bike sharing can easily solve that issue with its high-tech automatic locks.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to ride a bike. Therefore, to make bike sharing available for everyone, I would recommend pushing this project furthermore by offering free biking lessons for all who are willing to learn. This way it will allow more people to bike share, and hopefully increase the total number of cyclists out in the streets of Vancouver.

Value Village pulls ‘sexy’ Halloween kids costumes

http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1188948/value-village-pulls-sexy-halloween-kids-costumes-after-b-c-mom-complains/

-metro (October 20,2014)

“We all know sex sells, but not on the backs of our children and our youth.” Value Village, a “store that promotes itself as a shopping destination for families,” was caught selling inappropriate Halloween costumes for children. Raina Delisle, the mother of a 4-year old, was looking for a firefighter costume for her daughter when she came across a shiny, tight, black costume that came with a fascinator for a helmet, and it was apparently what they called a suitable firefighter costume for little girls. She noticed that the firefighter costume for boys looked more bona fide than the one for girls, which did not look similar to the real thing at all. Shocked at the stark difference, she wrote about her experience in an online column that “sparked outrage on social media”.

It is wrong to market such sexualized clothes to young children as it can promote objectifying women and teach girls that “their bodies are more important than their brains”. Consumers, that is, families, must not let businesses make products that go against such important societal values. Stores are responsible for being ethical and keeping their products suitable for their target customer segment, but sometimes they might forget the big picture and start maximizing profits with the excuse that they are just giving consumers what they want. This happens because we, consumers, allow them to take advantage of the current issues that we have in society such as the inequality between men and women. We all need to be aware of how much influence we have on not only current trends and values, but on our youths as well, because they will be learning from what we do.

Tsilhqot’in set to declare site of New Prosperity mine a tribal park

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

– Vancouver Sun (September 11, 2014)

 “…. the mine would result in the loss of Little Fish Lake to a 12-square-kilometre tailings pond and contaminate nearby Fish Lake and the upper Fish Creek system.”

Based on this article, Taseko Mines Ltd. will not be running their “New Prosperity copper-gold project” any time soon. The $1.1 billion project has come to a halt due to the Tsilhqot’in people ardently opposing the idea of a mine being built near the lake. Fish Lake is not legally recognized as First Nation property, but the natives “have now folded the mine site into the tribal park boundary.”

Taseko should have been expecting some opposition from the Tsilhqot’in if they had done some serious research of the surrounding areas. The fact that they had originally planned to destroy the whole lake proves that being environmentally friendly is not part of their value proposition. It would be unusual if they did, being the large mining company that they are, but it does not mean that it is impossible for them to have a hand in protecting the environment. As Dave Williams suggested, Taseko could plan for smaller-scale activities such as “sustainable logging with portable mills… to provide employment for natives.”

True, being environmentally safe does not mean that Taseko will be able to make much profit. But carrying out such a large-scale project without some kind of restriction on how much damage they could cause would seriously harm the sustainability of the ecosystem and the lives of those who depend on the natural cycle of the habitats within. Even if the damage is minimal, it would contribute to the total amount of contamination and pollution on the earth in the long-run. If Taseko cared about the environment, they would create a third proposition that would involve collaborating with the Tsilqot’in in keeping the many stakeholders safe.

Candy Crush Soda Saga: will it pop King’s app store bubble?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/20/candy-crush-soda-saga-king

– theguardian.com (Monday 20 October 20)

“It might be the biggest, but the original game has peaked.” According to financial results of this year, Candy Crush, one of the top ranking games in the app store, is expecting the number of its “monthly unique players” (paying customers) to gradually decline during the second half of this year. Although new levels are constantly being updated, the structure of the game has basically stayed the same, and it is not as attractive as it used to be when it first came out. In hopes of gaining more players, King will be releasing a new game next month, called “Candy Crush Soda Saga”. It will not be a sequel to Candy Crush, but “an additional title for the people who love Candy Crush” that can be played side by side with the original game.”

Personally, I think King would be better off creating a brand new game rather than investing in another puzzle game that is basically Candy Crush with the addition of Soda bottles. As a fan of the classic Bejeweled game, Candy Crush is no different than an imitator that chose to fiddle with an existing idea instead of generating an innovative one. In the app store, a red ocean always filled with copies and doppelgangers of popular apps, a completely new and unique app is always a welcome sight. King will have to work harder to face the growing competition in the app store with most apps having social networks and being more accessible on different platforms; qualities that used to be the points of difference for only a select few has now become points of parity for most apps.

“Ford is recalling about 850,000 cars and SUVs because of a problem that could stop the air bags from working in a crash.” Imagine the cost of recalling all the cars that Ford has sold in North America over the past year. However, their call for quick action was a wise decision on their part as they could save possibly millions on compensation claims from accidents. Luckily, when Ford discovered this defection no crashes had been reported, but something critical like dysfunctional airbags would be fatal to the company’s reputation.

As an ex-Ford user, I remember how easily and often their cars would break down. Repairs were not cheap either, and I was greatly disappointed with their product. If Ford is trying to provide inexpensive vehicles to Canadians, I’m afraid that they have not been very successful so far. A possible reason for their faulty vehicles would be that they are using cheap parts and materials in order to reduce their manufacturing costs. It’s understandable that companies would want to reduce all costs if possible, but there are certain things that customers expect from all automobile companies, and that is a safe vehicle for our families to ride in. In my opinion, Ford needs to work on their value proposition: will they continue reducing manufacturing costs or should they start focusing on delivering better quality products to their customers?

https://blogs.ubc.ca/jdogor/

– Josh Dogor’s blog

http://mo-cpablog.com/estimated-tax-payment-due-september-17-2012/

Tax inversion doesn’t sound like a big deal when it’s small-scale, but when billions of dollars are involved, it becomes a big problem. When companies start avoiding their taxes the way they did in the article, it is, as Josh says, “essentially robbing both the people and the government”. The average citizen pays his or her taxes, not willingly of course, yet in honesty. Then with what right do businesses have in evading taxes with the excuse that the saved tax money will be used to “invest much more aggressively in the U.S” (Lorenzetti, par. 5)? It is unjust and obviously unacceptable. Everyone can use that tax money, but we also know that our money will be used to fund the government and that we will eventually receive that amount back in benefits such as health care, education, transportation, and much more. Intentionally decreasing the amount they have to pay means that they do not want to support such systems. Thus, tax inversion should be and is a very sensitive subject in any country, and it definitely should not be taken lightly. I agree with Josh that the legislation should be implemented as soon as possible so that people will realize the gravity of this issue.

References:

Lorenzetti, Laura. “U.S. Legislators Are Stepping into the Tax Inversion fray.” Fortune US Legislators Are Stepping into the Tax Inversionfray Comments. N.p., 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://fortune.com/2014/09/08/u-s-legislators-are-stepping-into-the-tax-inversion-fray-as-companies-continue-to-pursue-the-tax-advantaged-deals/>.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140806-the-slippery-slope

– The New York Times

“The majority of people are capable of doing something slightly unethical”. Bernie Madoff, who embezzled millions, and Jayson Blair, who plagiarized and fabricated a number of articles for the Times, did not begin their life of fraud with a big bang, but rather, with small and miniscule lies. Studies have told us that as rewards increase, people have more incentive to cheat, and once you submit to temptation, you are on the “slippery-slope’ down to cheatsville before you know it. However, the article suggests that by keeping people in a regulated environment with “clear ethical policies that outline exactly what behavior is right, what’s wrong and the consequences of breaking the rules”, we can prevent this “slippery-slope effect”.

In my opinion, there will always be someone trying to cheat their way through the system no matter what kind of environment you’re in. It’s human nature to want to take a detour to your destination. You can’t predict the future, so sometimes what you thought to be a shortcut might prove to be an obstacle course. If you realize that you are on the wrong course, you can fix the problem right away before it’s too late to turn back. However, no one likes admitting that they are wrong, and thus, we convince ourselves that we are right and continue doing what is wrong. If you lie once, lying a second time is no big deal. Then it’s a third, and a fourth, and eventually lying would become a norm. As a saying I know goes, “you cannot button up a shirt properly if the first button is crooked,” so we must be honest to ourselves and to others around as well, for our society needs to be built on trust in order to run smoothly.