Statistics state that both Starbucks coffee and cups are much cheaper in the US than in China. By considering all the costs of the production, though the transportation fees and tariffs in China is higher than those in the US, the cost of every cup of coffee would only increase a few pennies. Research state that 90 percent of the total production cost is for raw material, labor costs and rental fees. However,The price of coffee beans now is 30 percent less than it was in 2011. In addition, the labour cost in China is lower than that in the US because the lower average income level in China. As a result, there is no reason for Starbucks to charge such high prices of their products in China.

In my opinion, the reason for the high price of Starbucks is Chinese consumers’ blind faith in foreign brands. This is really unfair for other Chinese domestic coffee companies because they do not have competitive advantages in their products even they can provide higher quality coffee with lower prices. Government should take actions to tackle this problem in order to offer better furthers for its domestic coffee companies.

Links:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/starbucks-defends-higher-pricing-in-china-1.2158908

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/21/us-starbucks-china-pricing-idUSBRE99K03P20131021

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303902404579148871471212170

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-10/15/content_17032843.htm

Even with the help of Federal Reserve which bought large quantities of government securities, America was still considered as the country with the highest rate of inflation. However, recently, the inflation rate of America dropped to the lowest level within the several decades. Similarly, other European countries reached their lowest inflation rate as well, such as 2.2 percent in Britain, 0.6 percent in France, 1.2 percent in Germany and 1.3 in Spain. The lower oil price and durable goods price are the two main factors of holding down the inflation rate. The most surprising part is that even the costs of health care service just increased 1.1 percent from the last year in America.

In my opinion, the low inflation rates in those countries both have pros and cons.  Consumers will have higher purchasing power and the unemployment rate may decrease because of the low inflation rate. However, the low inflation rate will result in a relative lower economic growth rate(can be referred as the GDP growth rate). All the governments should balance the advantages and disadvantages of the low inflation rate according to their domestic scenario.

Links:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/europes-low-inflation-problem/?_r=0

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303789604579199330187483774

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303460004579193432663296874

http://www.xpatloop.com/news/75010

These years, the youth unemployment rates of many European countries have increased a lot. For example, the youth unemployment rate in Italy increased from 4.4 percent in 2012 to 40.4 percent. As a result, leaders of state of government from 24 of the EU’s 28 member states had a meeting together and carried out a scheme which to deal with this terrible problem. In this scheme, EU members agree to pledge 24 billion euros to provide the following three priorities: training and education, employment guidance and creating opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

I really appreciate this scheme because I think both young entrepreneurs and governments can benefit a lot from it. Getting job opportunities from the government will positively impact the young people because they can gain lots of job experience after leaving their universities, meaning that they will have a better future. In terms of the government, the lower rate of youth unemployment rate, the lower the crime rate in its country.

Links:

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1036

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/11/eu-leaders-vow-tackle-youth-unemployment-20131112221359305279.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-12/european-leaders-revisit-scourge-of-region-s-youth-unemployment.html

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303914304579193754236946232

This November, German carmaker Volkswagen has made an announcement to recall about 2.6 million cars in the world, especially in China, accounting for about 640,000 cars. The reason for the recall is that Volkswagen had found several potential problems in their previous products, including lights, leaking fuel lines and the wrong type of engine oil. Volkswagen expects to double its manufacturing capacity in China to four million cars a year by 2018. However, this recall decreases the growth rate of the car sales in China.

In my opinion, Volkswagen should prevent making another recall again in the further. The recall costed Volkswagen a large amount of money, including the delivery cost, the fixing cost and maybe some subsidies for car owners. In addition, the reputation of Volkswagen was negatively affected by the recall because both the car owners and other consumers who are considering its products are worried about the quality and safety of Volkswagen’s cars. In order to deal with this problem, Volkswagen should improve their production lines. They can use better supervising systems and hire better workers.

Links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24940238

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303289904579197253153734432

http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_recalls/01/volkswagen/

http://www.auto123.com/en/used-cars/recalls/volkswagen

http://www.motortrend.com/used_cars/01/volkswagen/recalls/

In June, 2013, during this year’s G8 summit, Obama and Putin not only had disagreements in the meeting, but also had a diplomatic crisis out of the meeting. Obama and Putin both lived in a same hotel in Northern Ireland. On the first morning, both of them wanted to go to the gym in their hotel to workout and both of them booked the time yesterday evening. When Putin arrived, he found that Obama had arrived earlier than him and was using the gym at that time. They chatted with each other. At last, they did not workout together in the same gym and Putin decided to leave the gym to Obama and instead swim in the freezing waters of Lough Enre for his morning workout.

This news is very funny and really attracted me. From viewing by other aspects, we can find that America and Russia still butted heads over the conflict in Syria. They bring this conflict into their real lives. In my opinion, I think that Putin did a great job because his back down. It definitely makes him more gentle and attractive which leads to a better reputation of his country.

links：

http://o.canada.com/news/vladimir-putin-sea-monster/

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4971643/Obama-Putin-Northern-Ireland-G8-gym-lake-swim.html

http://www.newser.com/story/169647/obama-works-out-in-g8-gym-so-putin-swims-in-lake.html

http://video.sina.com.cn/p/news/v/2013-06-18/224562563885.html?opsubject_id=top8

These years, some of America’s famous national parks which were forced to close by the shutdown of the American federal government are going to re-open with the help of local governments’ funding. A large number of workers who used to work for these national park lost their jobs and the local government lost lots of travel revenue because of the close of the national parks. As a result, the GDP growth rate may decrease due to the less revenue and the society may be less peaceful due to the unemployment.

In order to solve this problem, the local states spent money funding those national parks. For example, the re-open Status of Liberty attracted thousands of visitors’ attentions which leads to a large amount of government revenue and the re-employment of the staffs. The revenue which the local states earned is much more than the funding they spent.

In my opinion, it is very wise for the local states to fund the re-open of national parks. Both the citizens and the government can benefit a lot from it.

Links:

Burger King and McDonald are the top two hamburger restaurants in the world. The competition between them is very intensive so that they should try to find some new ideas to maximize their profits.

Recently, Burger King produced a new product called “Satisfries” which contains 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories than the McDonald’s equivalent. This change looks small but it is actually a dramatic change. In terms of health, fries with low fat and calories are better for everyone’s health. People who always worry about their health may change to eat “Satisfries”, instead of McDonald’s regular fires. In addition, consumers who dislike fries because of its large amount of fat may choose to eat “Satisfries”.

Overall, the new technology of  Burger King gives itself a comparative advantage. As a result, the new product attracts more attentions from more consumer segments and leads to huge profits.

Links:

http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/10/4/Burger-King-tries-to-fatten-margins-with-skinny-fries.aspx

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/09/24/burger-king-french-fries-satisfries-fast-food-restaurant-industry-mcdonalds/2854243/

http://www.bk.com/en/us/satisfries.html

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-24/for-burger-kings-satisfries-healthier-is-a-very-relative-term

On October 4th, 8 million 5 cent coins were dumped on the city’s street by protesters in order to strive for minimum income for every Swiss household. Switzerland, one of the most richest countries in the world, does not have any law which aims to ensure households’ income. As a result, more than 100000 citizens signed their signatures in order to support this event.

The enactment of the minimum income will cause both positive and negative effects. As everyone has extra income, all the thieves and criminals may stop committing which leads to a more peaceful society. On the other hand, workers who used to have low income and work in bad conditions may stop working because they have enough money to cover their daily expenses, such as cleaners and builders. As a result, the labour force of the country  decreases and result in the decrease of GDP growth rate. In addition, some of the citizens may spend their extra money on bad things, such as drugs.

Overall, I believe the government of Switzerland should prepare many precautions in order to prevent from the side-effects of the minimum income.

Links:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2443812/Streets-Basel-paved-gold-15-TONS-cent-coins-dumped-citys-streets-protesters-demand-increased-minimum-wage.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/04/us-swiss-pay-idUSBRE9930O620131004

http://www.thelocal.ch/20120803/swiss-population-set-to-hit-8-million-mark

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/switzerland-to-vote-on-2-800-monthly-basic-income-for-adults-slideshow/

2 days ago, over 100,000 people gathered together at the Tiananmen Square to watch the ceremony of the rising of the Five Star Red Flag, which is the symbol of the beginning of the Chinese National Day. What impressed me the most is the 5 tones of garbage lying on the ground after the opening ceremony.

After reporting this news, many people have the similar comments: all of us, as Chinese citizens, should pay more attention to our environment and do not throw away garbage away where anymore. However, I do not fully agree with this opinion. I believe that if people do not throw away garbage anywhere, all the cleaners will lose their jobs and may leads to a more terrible consequence. In addition, other areas may have the same causation, such as the police and criminals. If there are no criminals in the world, the police will lose their jobs. In my opinion, we should consider two sides of every social event due to its effects on our entire society.

Links:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/305410-national-day-brings-flags-and-trash-to-tiananmen-square/?photo=2

http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/stories/national-day-tiananmen-square-litter-calculated-explained.html

http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/pictures/litter-after-national-day-flag-raising-ceremony-reactions.html

http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1325354/five-tonnes-trash-tiananmen-provoke-questions-about

When i think about business ethics, the first thing crashes into my mind is the terrible food safety of China. Most Chinese businesses are so greedy that they only focus on their profits, especially on Chinese Food Industry. It is extremely dangerous for Chinese citizens to eat food because large number of fakes was found in different kinds of food. Recently, rat meat was found being passed off as lamb in many Chinese hotpot restaurants. The production factories which sold fake lamb to hotpot restaurants are accused by the government. The emergence of fake lamb is the despair of Chinese citizens and it really shocked consumers by confusing them what to eat.

It is my personal belief that both the producers and hotpot restaurants not only ignored the business ethics, but also ruined it because some of consumers felt sick after they ate in hotpot restaurants. Stakeholders such as consumers, executives of Chinese Food Department and lovely rats got side-effect from the fake lamb. Government should take actions to avoid these fake foods, such as enhancing the strength of supervising on food production and so on.

Links:

http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-05/06/content_16479943.htm

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1228960/rat-meat-sold-lamb-shanghai-police-say

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20130507000040&cid=1102