Jessica Tse

“If  the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise?”

Although the United Nations is fully funded organization, their mission is to improve peace and security, development, humanitarian affairs and international law. It is evident that the United Nations’ services are very much needed, however, their goals do not align with improving social enterprise matters. That is where the Arc Initiative steps in – the Arc’s primary goal is to develop business skill sets in people living in third-world countries and help those entrepreneurs build their own sustainable businesses. While the United Nations focus on the general improvement of living and political matters on a national or even international scale, social enterprise programs like the Arc Initiative focuses their efforts in a municipal scale in small towns in third world countries. Since the Arc Initiative targets smaller geographic segments, they are able to provide a higher quality and more personal one to one experience for the developing entrepreneurs. Unlike most generalized UN programs, the Arc Initiative’s unique program provides the entrepreneurs with a mentor that genuinely cares about the developing company, leading the entrepreneur to have a contact for life for support and business advice. While the United Nations focus their efforts on fixing problems of the past,  programs like the Arc Initiative are developing skills to build a sustainable future in third world countries. Both the roles of the United Nations and the Arc Initiative are equally as important as they have different tasks to fulfill.

Sources:

http://www.un.org/en/peace/

http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Global_Reach/ARC_Initiative

In Duane Forrester’s blog post, he describes his experience with a retail company’s return policy. Long story short, Forrester ordered a camera online;  instead of waiting for the product to ship to his home, he decided to pick it up in-store.  Although the camera was in the store, the managers did not allow Forrester to take the package due to the store’s shipping policy. Although Forrester was within metres away from the camera that he already paid for, he left the store frustrated and unhappy because of this policy.

Here is my take on this situation. The managers were doing their “job” by following the policies that they are paid to enforce, however, I believe that they should have given the camera to Forrester. If we look at companies like Zappos, we can see that they excel in customer service by having a flexible return policy; Zappos constantly makes loopholes in their policies to cater to their customer’s needs, an example being rewarding loyal customers with free shoes. The difference between a company like Zappos and this unknown electronic retailer is that Zappos intensively trains their workers in providing excellent customer service whereas the unknown electronic retailer likely does not train their workers to that extent. To prevent another unfortunate customer service experience, the unknown electronic retailer needs to restructure and improve employee customer service training.

Source:

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2014/10/10/ideal-customer-service/

This is a response to Sean Fox’s blog post “Telus Winning the Wireless Battle (https://blogs.ubc.ca/seanfox08/2014/11/06/telus-winning-the-wireless-battle/).

Sean Fox suggests that through the analysis of its industry-leading customer loyalty rate and the low quantity of customer complaints, “Telus is a leader in customer retention and attracting new customers” (Fox).

Although Fox emphasized that the main factor to Telus’ customer loyalty rate is the open and positive company culture, there are additional factors to its success that needs to be taken into account. I believe that the high customer loyalty rate and the low quantity of complaints are results of the customer acquisition marketing campaigns and the “simple and friendly” brand image.

Over the past decade, Telus has made numerous marketing strategies to increase customer base while maintaining a strong customer loyalty rate. Through additional research, I discovered that these marketing strategies include but are not limited to giving out free XBOX’s when purchasing a subscription to their services to attract new customers while giving free upgrades to “Optik TV”, (a premium television service) to their long-time customers. In addition, its “simple” brand image is reflected through Telus’ differentiated user-friendly technology that is appealing to all demographics. Telus’ technology is easy to navigate yet has enticing features to please the newer more technologically-adapted generations.

Sources:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/seanfox08/2014/11/06/telus-winning-the-wireless-battle/

On November 4th,  UBC Sauder graduates Paul Davidescu, Tom Dobrzanski, and Jenny Duffy shared their success stories and entrepreneurial paths to the businesses they are running today. It was fascinating and truly inspirational to hear how someone is using the skill set they gained in Sauder and applying this knowledge to their own companies.

Prior to attending Sauder, I have always dreamt of being an entrepreneur.  I am grateful to grow up in a family where both my parents are hard-working entrepreneurs. My mother, Sylvia Tse, is the founder and owner of Tian Xu Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Clinic. My father, Edward Chung Tse, is the founder of the Great Wall Restaurant and co-owner of the Hart Wheel Inn Restaurant.

I was intrigued by Jenny Duffy’s story so after class, I approached her asking for some entrepreneurial advice. I asked, “what is the real secret in creating a successful business?”

Duffy replied, “First, you have to define what your version of success is. For me, success is waking up everyday and being able to go to a job I enjoy. There isn’t a ‘real secret’ in creating a successful business; you just have to find what you love to do and work hard for it. You can either spend your evening sitting in front of a TV or chasing your dreams. The choice is yours.”

The entrepreneurial sector in business is unique in comparison to other sectors such as management, finance, etc. in a sense that everyone is placed on an even playing level. Specifically, I’ve learned that entrepreneurial success is equated to the amount of work and dedication put into a business.

Sources:

http://www.jennyduffy.com

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/vancouver-student-turns-love-for-dance-into-thriving-business/article19240476/

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment. The Walt Disney Company embodies and heavily incorporates CSR in their business model. How does Disney merge the Triple Bottom Line of people, planet, and profit to increase sustainable profitability? For one, Disney constantly shows appreciation towards their valued employees by giving them amazing benefits such as seasonal passes to the amusement parks and opportunities to attend movie premieres. Volunteerism is also major focus for Disney which led them to starting a program where Disney would offer “free tickets to a million people in exchange for a day of volunteer service from an organization of their choice” (USA Business Review).  This encouraged over one million people in the United States to commit to service efforts to volunteer in their communities. As for the planet aspect, Disney encourages environmental education through its Disneynature documentary films. A portion of the profits from the Disneynature films helped over three million trees in Brazil’s threatened Atlantic Forest and conserved 50,000 acres of savanna wildlife in Africa. Now, it is increasingly more important for companies to incorporate CSR because of the competitive evolving market. Having CSR incorporates a differentiation factor that adds a unique value in a business leading to a successful sustainable profitability for the long-run. In essence, corporate social responsibility is good for the environment, society, and profit so what is stopping other companies from doing the same?

Source:

http://www.businessreviewusa.com/leadership/3827/The-Walt-Disney-Company-A-Leader-In-Corporate-Social-Responsibility