It is a thought-provoking question that “If  the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise?”.My answer is that our society need social enterprise and program like Arc to grow and thrive in a more sustainable and efficient way.

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I’m greatly touched and inspired by the stories of Salem Kassahun and Fitih Tesfaye,and genuinely appreciate the active contribution our Sauder alumi made in Africa. I’m especially impressed with the case of Salem’s Ethiopia, a craft boutique in Addis Ababa,which not only aims to make profits but manages to increase the income and living standard of local women.With the help of Arc,she finally successfully expanded her business and employed more impoverished women.

When those entrepreneurs are faced with obstacles in expanding or surviving in business due to the lack of professional knowledge,Arc is there to help.Arc offers finance and marketing workshop,and helps people track down the issues and resolve the problems.By sharing business ideas or simply engaging in the workshop,African businessman and businesswomen get income-generating ideas and are able to rethink their entire business models and revise them systematically.

In the future,I’m eager to join Arc and apply what I’ve learned in Sauder in to real business world to help better social enterprise in African.

Undoubtedly,social entrepreneurs have shared value and characteristics.They are ambitious,passionate,determined.More importantly,they are willing to make the society progressively better with strategic ideas.

Link:

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/can-fair-trade-boutique-expand-without-alienating-customers/article4405520/

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In response to Michael’s blog,he relates to the organizational culture of Starbucks and how Starbucks transforms the rules within the company and promotes a happier and more comfortable working conditions for employees.

As Michael has mentioned,Starbucks allows for  greater self expression of workers,provides them with free snacks for every shift,and creates a more relaxed and inclusive working environment.This is of great significance in business world because it shapes the image of Starbucks as a responsible company who treats its employees in the best possible way and offers satisfactory service to consumers.

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It reminds me of the similar case of Zappos we discussed in class 19.Organizational culture is undoubtedly the shared value and belief within a company and affects the way we make decisions and overcome obstacles.The core value of both company’s organizational culture is “happiness”.Zappos encourages positive team spirit,gives free medical and dental care to employees,and tries best to give  every worker a sense of belongings.Those rules benefit the whole company in a long run.Firstly,job satisfaction of employees increases and the turnover rate goes down.Also,a positive impression of consumers does help in boosting sales because one of the factors consumers will consider when they are purchasing is organization culture.Last but not least,positive organizational culture can serve as  sustainable competitive advantage.

Link:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/michaelsky/

http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/how-zappos-reinforces-its-company-culture.htm

In  Jingwen’s blog,she relates to a latest brand crisis of a well-known shampoo called Bawang.Bawang shampoo previously had a considerably large consumer base.The product contains traditional Chinese medicine,which is indeed beneficial for consumers’ hair and sounds especially attractive for those customers with special preferences.However,it was reported that Bawang shampoo product overuse Carcinogens,posing a threat to consumers’health.Everything changed since then.

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As Jingwen has mentioned in her blog,consumers turn to other products even after the news have been proved fake.She proposed that a company should communicate with its consumers effectively and efficiently to maintain the company image in case of emergency.

This reminds me of how important it is to establish and stabilize corporate image.The competition over market shares is essentially “a battle of mind”①.Obviously,consumers tend to buy a brand that pops up in their mind first.For example,Coco Cola,a leader in soft drink industry,has many followers simply because it is the first company to launch cola product rather than the better quality.

Bawang was once successful because its accurate positioning strategy.It is the first company to combine traditional Chinese medicine with shampoo and appeal to a environmentally-friendly way to attend to your hair.However,the reason it failed is due to the failure of maintaining the image.Overall,positioning is a secret weapon and the first step towards a company’s success.

Link

Positioning—- What the customers think exceeds what the true is

http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/ries-trout/positioning/(①）

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In class 18,we heard fantastic presentations delivered by three alumni who started up their own business after graduating from Sauder. From my point of view,the most impressive idea is from Tangoo,a new and creative app served for social purposes.I checked the Tangoo blog after class,and I found it pretty successful and attractive in terms of delivering their value proposition

Tangoo clearly knows what their customer segment is and how to catch their attention.One way they figure out is to differentiate from others by humanizing blog.Targeting at consumers who are seeking for a perfect place for dating or hanging out with friends or family,designers successfully narrow the distance between the target customers by creating a casual atmosphere with less formal pictures of people laughing and enjoying dinner as well as the breath-taking view.They also showcase customers some behind-the-scenes glimpse of their team and share their inspiring stories.

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With the logo of “Tangoo,your pocket concierge”,Tangoo’s value proposition is clearly defined as providing useful information and recommendations in a fast and simple way to ensure that the social night is perfect and entertaining.Tangoo is a hands-on app that is innovative and convenient to check the destination information at any time,which greatly fulfills the need of modern people trying to save time.

Recently,I began to use the app myself and found it pretty useful and convenient.I believe the future of Tangoo is undoubtedly promising.

Link

https://blog.tangoo.ca/

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Recent years have witnessed a tremendous success of k-pop industry.The total revenue of three dominant k-pop companies,SM entertainment,YG,and JYP amounted to a record of approximately $155,889,608 in the first half of 2013.In comparison to the approximate $102,815,053.60 in 2012.The company managers not only make money through the release of albums,but also find touring and merchandise sales even more profitable.

Through strict selection process,long training time,and professional appearance management,k-pop stars swept across Asia,Europe and North America and become household names.Rain,a leading k-pop singer in Korea, was recognized as the most influential person of the year by Time magazine.Also,music band Big Bang reached the top 10 album chart on US iTunes.

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However,behind the prosperity of k-pop industry is the cruel and unethical treatment to idols.Little care is given to the safety and health of the idols.They are forced to perform nonstop and work as hard as possible in order to survive the fierce competition and remain popular in the market.Despite the excessive exposure and overload,idols are still required to sing and dance on stage during illness and injuries.Krystal,a member of f(x) in SM entertainment company was reported fainting immediately after performance due to over-time working.Besides,Idols get little shares from the revenue they earned at the expense of health after recoup of managers.Once exposed by the media,k-pop company is blamed by the public and some fans even propose to resist on purchasing albums produced by SM entertainment.

From my point of view,k-pop company should take triple bottom line into consideration and create shared value between company and idols.Enough attention should be given to the health of idols by extending rest time and offering physical examinations.Also,increasing the earnings of idols to give them more incentives to make more profit for the company.This enhances the reputation of company and does good in attracting more fans.

http://sophiayulessonbuilder.wordpress.com/

http://www.allkpop.com/article/2013/08/earnings-of-sm-yg-and-jyp-for-the-first-half-of-2013-revealed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13760064