Jennie Yang's Blog

Back in high school, I took a course on entrepreneurship in which we created and ran our own company. At the beginning our goal was to make and keep as much money as possible. However, our teacher strongly suggested that we donate a fracture of profits to a charity. Therefore we chose the Suneeta Bains Foundation which was established by suneeta(our friend and classmate)’s parents after she passed away from leukemia . The purpose of the foundation is to help families in Surrey that are fighting against cancer. Suneeta’s father came in one day and talked about what their family have gone through and how the society helped them to surpass the tragedy. The pain that they have gone through is more than we could imagine. He thanked us over and over again for putting in the time and efforts to help other families. The talk was so heartbreaking that we agreed to donate all of our profits to the foundation. At the end of the course when we presented the cheque to Suneeta’s father, we felt so proud and satisfied about our accomplishment. We all want money to satisfy our own needs because it feels good. However, I learned that helping others can be more satisfying than anything else in the world.

The following is an article from School District No.36 website about our cheque presentation to Suneeta’s father

Cynthia Su, president of Johnston Heights’ entrepreneurship class and button business called Just-Us League, presents a cheque for $740 to Suneeta Bains father Avtar Bains. The money raised and donated by Just-Us League will be used for the Suneeta Bains Trust, established to aid families dealing with cancer.

Johnston Heights grads remember former classmate with trust fund

When 21 students were brainstorming ways to use funds earned through their Grade 12 entrepreneurship class business, they thought of former classmate Suneeta Bains who succumbed to leukemia at the beginning of Grade 10.

Suneeta was a classmate of many of the graduating students for many years, beginning in Surrey’s Berkshire Park elementary. Despite her illness, Suneeta was always smiling and had a way of making those around her feel important.

The students raised $740 from their button business called Just-Us League, and donated the money to the Suneeta Bains Trust, established to aid families dealing with cancer. The cheque was formally given to Suneeta’s father Avtar Bains on June 2, with Surrey Memorial Hospital head of oncology Dr. Derek Prevost also in attendance.

One of my weaknesses is that I am never confident about what I do. Over the past few months I have been constantly doubting myself. “Can I pass this course?”or”am I good enough to stay at Sauder.” All of these doubts made my first semester at Sauder very difficult. In the second semester, we were told to prepare for an interview which brought back the memories from my grade 10 planing class where I had my very first interview. I was so nervous and scared that I could not open my mouth at the beginning. In order to do better on this one, I paid extra attention in class and went through my interview with one of the TAs. Finally, it was my turn to do the actual interview. Just like what happened in grade 10, I kept blanking out and repeating words like eh or um at the beginning. After a few minutes I realized that I cannot let the history repeat itself again. So I took a few seconds to collect my thoughts and reminded myself to just relax and be confident like what the TA had told me to do. I noticed a dramatic change about the way I talk after that. I was more confident and it was actually the first time that I felt like an business woman. It is not the matter of what I can or cannot do. I am capable of doing anything (but nothing bad…) if I believe in myself. I am glad that this course elicited the confidence within in me.

Recently I was informed that the clothing store ( will be referred to as “N”) which I used to worked went bankrupt. Honestly, I was not surprised when I found out. With numerous problems occurring at the same time, being bankrupted is just a matter of time. Referring to what we learned in business fundamental, failure of small business can be caused by many factors. Lack of research and over expansion are they main reasons that caused the store to go down hill.
Like many other business owners in the field, my former boss mistaken success with how fast she can expand her business. Within one year, three chain stores were opened in different areas. Without establishing solid customer base and good cash flow, the profits made in the original store just could not keep up with the losses from other locations.
Also, the company failed on forecasting due to lack of research and planning. Nowadays, customers’ demands can change rapidly. It is hard to predict what they want. But instead of conducting researches on previous data to estimate the possible outcomes, the owner just imported products that she likes.
I believe these are the reasons that led to bankruptcy for “N”.

Jamie Oliver is accounted to be one of the most influential social entrepreneurs in the present days. This British chef, restaurateur, and media personality, known as the Naked Chef, is famous for his food-focused television shows. Years ago, Oliver successfully trained fifteen young people to work in the hospitality industry under his Fifteen charity restaurant. From that point, many other Fifteens have established around the globe.
Fifteen restaurant, created my Jamie Oliver is named after the first cohort fifteen young people. It is more than just a restaurant, it is a global social enterprise that inspire disadvantaged youth and giving them a second chance to establish their place in the world.
Jamie Oliver, in this case demonstrated a clear example of a social entrepreneur. A social entrepreneur is someone that recognizes a social issue and uses entrepreneurial principles to counteract such problem and manage a venture to achieve social change. Profits gained from Fifteen is used to raise awareness of living healthy lifestyles by implementing changes in school menus. Over the past few years, he puts the value of benefiting the society over himself; sharing his knowledge and fortune with the less unfortunates in the hope for a better future.

http://www.fifteen.net/restaurants/fifteenlondon/fifteenfoundation/Pages/jamieoliverfoundation.aspx

Most people find the picture above to be unrealistic,but that might actually be what you are putting into your stomach. Those type of food are called genetically modified food. The process of genetically modifying product involves artificially transferring the genes of one crop to another from a different species. a new gene is inserted into the plant’s DNA. Genetically modified crops can be highly profitable for companies who use the process to make crop grow faster or resist weeds. Such products have only been around in the market for a relatively short period, so there may be some long term effects which we don’t know about yet.
Unfortunately the government and the consumer’s association of Canada refused to label genetically modified food against the will of up to 95% Canadians. Consumers like us have the right to know and chose what we eat. The government and C.A.C. in this case is acting unethically by hiding information from customers to protect the market economy. so unless consumer opinions manages to persuade the government to order mandatory labeling, you still won’t know exactly what you are putting in your grocery cart.

http://archives.cbc.ca/lifestyle/food/topics/1597/

Recently our comm 101 lectures covered topics like entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurs which refreshed my memory of being a part of Junior Achievement back in high school. The program which I was involved is called The Company Program. It gives us high school students the opportunity to create and run our own business with professionals from the business field. After weeks of preparations, our company “Y Change” was created. We sold over 200 t-shirts and donated half of the profits to The Surrey Firefighter Association.

Although the program ended with great success, the last two lectures really made me think about the fields which we could’ve improved on to yield a better outcome. Our product was not innovative, in fact, most companies under J.A. are selling t-shirts. Although we considered ourselves to be social entrepreneurs with a common goal to raise awareness for charity, we mainly focused on maximizing profits . In my opinion, we should have chosen an innovative but relatively more risky product that stands out among competitors (which defines entrepreneurship). And also keeping a balance between making profits and serving social purposes. Decisions could’ve being made with the motivation from social mission rather than profits.

Website for our company “Y Change”:
http://www.freewebs.com/ychange/thecharity.htm

Mark Zuckerberg is not doubt, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the 21st century. Over the past six years, his company “Facebook” made him the world’s youngest billionaire with net worth of $6.9billions of dollars. Zuckerberg’s “product”, a social networking website, is a revolutionary idea for people around the globe to enjoy an alternative socializing experience. It is the fastest way for people to connect with their friends, share personal information and more. Unlike regular email, Facebook creates instant connection with all your friends without all the formality .
On the contrary of the company’s instant wealth and recognition, Facebook encountered high risk of shutting down during its developing stage. A poorly explained new feature brought howls of protests from 700,000 users.  Lawsuits were filed again Zuckerberg regarding to political issues evolved from the freedom of speech on the website. Several communist countries such as China, Vietnam even blocked all access to Facebook through the countries’ internet firewall.
Unfriendly lawsuits did not put an end to Facebook’s growth in popularity. It came back stronger than ever. With Zuckerbergs’ entrepreneur spirit and innovative ideas, what used to be a small online social network for local university students soon became a global hit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg

Company nowadays would do anything to get all the attention from the consumers. The picture above is a woman eating ice cream cone, and the caption under the picture states,” SURE SHE’S ATTRACTIVE, SULTRY, EVEN. BUT SHE IS ONLY EATING IT BECAUSE IT TASTE GOOD AND IT IS HOT WHERE SHE HAPPENS TO BE.” This is actually an advertisement for Old Spice, a brand that mainly targets male consumers. I think it is highly unethical for the company to use this image for advertisement. The picture itself does not promote, nor relate to the actually product. Moreover it is suggesting something sexually which is inappropriate for all underage customers; they are selling more than just the product. This type of media is influencing and corrupting the minds of the younger generations. Surely sales might have been brought up due to this poster, but it also had numerous negative impacts on the society. After all money is not the most important thing in the world. Company should really think about the bad influences they can bring before publishing advertisements like this.

http://media-ethics.blogspot.com/

According to statistics back in 2000, a CEO’s average income is 531 times higher than a regular full time worker. The number increases as time goes on. It is obviously that the business market is getting tougher and tougher each year. Company must put in millions of dollars for the search of the top executives. Many argue that the top business workers put in extra time and effort in their education; they deserve to receive the amount that they have. But according to the statistics, there is no correlation between the size of their pay checks and the company’s performances. I believe if the marginal cost for hiring a CEO is greater than the marginal benefit received by the company then changes should be made. Executive’s income should be deducted in order to elicit the potential they had and increase their performances at work. Their pay should reflect more closely to the employees, and more challenges should be brought to the table. The annual income for CEOs should be calculated based on the company’s performances. By doing so, corporations around the world would find their company operating more effective and more efficiently.

http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/CEOsOverpaid.htm

The suicide incidents at Foxconn caused quite a stir in China. The company was under the blame for the death of its employees. Foxconn International Holding Ltd, founded by a Taiwanese entrepreneur is now one of the world’s biggest producers for electronic components that mainly manufacture products like the iPod and iPhone. Its biggest manufacturing plant located in Shenzhen, China holds more than 600,000 workers under the same roof. All the responsibilities caused the corporation to undertake some extreme measures towards its employees. As a bystander, I do not believe that the company is entirely at fault for those tragedies. Most of the victims are the only child in the family; they were pampered by the parents and relatives throughout their lives. Furthermore, the education in China does not encourage any extra-curricular activities other than academic studies.  So once they graduate from school, all the “protections” stop and they are terrified to leave their “safe zone” and enter the real world. Their immature minds and the crucial external factors caused them the thought of suicide. Although Foxconn did act ethically regarding to the issue, it is not fully responsible for the deaths of the workers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn