New York Times featured blogger Kistin Hohenadel wrote a fascinating post this past July on the Mall of the World, an über-mall dubbed by the United Arab Emirates as the “First City Mall”. This massive project will take a decade to compete and cost the Middle Eastern kingdom a staggering 6.8 billion dollars. It will boast 20 000 hotel rooms, a 4.3 mile network of retail stores, and 8 million square feet of air-conditioned streets.

From a bCom perspective, the ridiculously huge investment in tourism alone invites speculation, yet I found myself drawn to an interesting marketing strategy deployed by the United Emirates: it insists that the Mall of the World is, in fact, a city.

Now why would anyone call a mall anything other then what it is? Well, I suppose the answer to that is both—from a marketing perspective—amusing and enlightening. The Mall of the World is billed as a city because the term “city” is much more refined than “mall”. Why? Because when one thinks of cities, one pictures elegant metropolitan skylines, whereas when one thinks of a mall, one sees their local strip.

Not that all malls are unappealing, far from it. However, the United Emirates has played a clever game with branding. I’ll use a duck and a swan as a metaphor. The Emirates will build itself the most marvellous duck ever seen; however, it has made certain to tell the world that it is building a swan, and a gloriously commercial swan at that.

Source:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/07/16/dubai_s_mall_of_the_world_the_world_s_first_temperature_controlled_city.html

Though ethical behaviour may seem fairly obvious to some, it has become a necessary part of business education, what with a base rate of “33% of students cheating in classrooms” (Prof. Donald McCabe, Rutgers University). This blatant apathy towards ethical  behaviour at a schoolroom level only raises concerns for the future of workplace ethics, when our generation, apparently rife with cheaters, takes over the helm.

Much like many angst-filled students, I often wonder just how accurate or applicable a classroom ethics scenario truly is. As with most critical real-life events, decisions must be made in seconds, and the consequences of one’s actions last for more than one term. However, “the aim is to force ethical problems into the open, such that students feel compelled to find a solution instead of looking the other way..” (John Delaney, Huffington Post). By making future business leaders more aware of ethics, these courses are laying the groundwork for a more morally sound market.

Though it may make Milton Friedman turn in his grave, a modern and successful business cannot conduct itself in a manner similar to Stratton Oakmont in Martin Scorcese’s Wolf of Wall Street. My generation is supposedly filled with ethically unsound young men and women, yet I am confident that classroom education is a large stride in the right direction. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-t-delaney/an-education-business-ethics_b_4846555.html