As we know, United Nations, an intergovernmental organization established to promote co-operation, devote many expenditures to address core missions of security and development in many developing countries. Although funding can be helpful in many ways, money is not the panacea to settle  many intractable economic problems. In other words, we need to solve problems entirely rather than stagnate the situation just with a bunch of money. That’s why social entrepreneurship exists; why Arc develops. Social entrepreneurs seizes opportunities others miss to improve systems, invent new approaches and implements them to social problems.The social entrepreneurship matters because it represents a signal for sustainable development instead of limiting to a temporary solution.

From preparation readings for Class 20, I know Maryanne Mathias‘s clothing company encountered struggling to meet the quality standards for international market. The problem here is not about money, though UN actually wouldn’t pay attention to such a relatively small business. However, through researching for textiles and operating in a sustainable and ethical manner, Maryanne learned from social entrepreneurship that she missed the bigger picture. After changing production processes and giving employees correct trainings and tools, her company resulted in reducing damages and having profit gone up. This example shows me the power of social entrepreneurship.I believe the future development trend for entreprenuers  is to improve or innovate on process and new product by their own hands.

Reference:

http://www.entrepreneurstoolkit.org/images/0/0f/Social_Entrepreneurship.jpg

JEFF,KROEKER.”Production Issues Threaten to Unravel High-end Fashion Label.” The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

After waking up in the morning and checking my social media as usual, I was shocked by the news that first RMB10 billion(US $1.6billion) sales this Single’s day(also known as “Internet shopping festival”) of Alibaba, the world’s largest e-commerce platform, in just 38 minutes. As we always know, people will make many orders on this Internet shopping festival for various attracting discounts. Yet I still haven’t expected that the e-commerce growth is China can be so rapidly increasing. I peruse a Blog analyzing reasons for Alibaba’s success and its future development and have a deeper comprehension about customer segment and customer relationship.

The rural market can be a new growth engine with the propel of digital media mobile platforms. Unlike middle and higher class in urbans tend to focus intangible service and luxury goods, people live in rural areas are more inclined to buy normal good online due to the lower price and the convenience of online shopping. Besides, China’s demography in rural areas far exceeds those in cities. Rather than focusing on young populations live in big cities because they have higher acceptances of e-commerce in the early age, nowadays Alibaba’s customer segment gently shifts to fuel the rural economy.

According to the blog, Handu,the largest online retailer in the Apparel category on Tmall, sets different assortment and promotion strategies (lower-priced items, deeper discounts and more “fast fashion “products )to optimize mobile design and provide better customer experience. It is really crucial to do some market research and improving their shopping experience as much as possible. Through this way, we can build a solid customer relationship and therefore attract more potential customers.

Reference:
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/ceibs/files/2014/11/baba-post-nov11111.jpg

Chiang, Jeongwen. “Mobile And Rural: Dual Engines for Alibaba’s Future.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

Instagram is a free photo sharing app. Recently, I came across an Article declared that Instagram ads coming to Canada soon.As we know, free service comes with a price and that price is ads. Launching in-steams advertisements in Canada is a further step after ads launched in US,UK and Australia. With huge users base, I think this act is profitable  and can be sustainable if Instagram at the same time ensure customer services.

There are many official accounts of diversified brands on Instagram that have more than 10 thousand followers and typically receives a few thousands” like” post. Build a fancy and popular official accounts is a good way to broadcast their brand image. Since people already have a conception that ads do exist on Instagram, it will be much more acceptable for them to have launched ads in their stream.

For free apps, the most important thing is customer service. Launching ads may decrease the experience quality when users use this app.However, Helen Pak ,the strategist who helped coordinate ads launch in Canada, announced that they will try to make sure those ads can be as natural as possible and there would be no ads for very light Instagram users. In my opinion, it is very wise to notice customer service is the core part in future development. Only target usually users is a great way to differentiate its users and protect their feelings and ensure user experience. In this way, users still have “absolute control” over their feed and can stop future ads post just by click an icon in right corner. I have confidence in launching ads on Instagram, but since its still a too early level, maybe only time can tell us the future development of this act.

Reference:
http://i.cbc.ca/1.1275810.1378812773!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/hi-instagram-852-cp-0374405-8col.jpg

Press, The Canadian. “Instagram Ads Launched for Canadian Users Monday.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Recently, my classmate Ryan McCaig expresses  idea about a to be released feature of Iphone, Apple pay. This feature allows people to pay by their Iphones in a similar way to credit cards. The introduction of Apple Pay is a crucial step for Apple to differentiate their product and an attempt to branch online payment market. I would like to add some opinions based on his post.

However, with existing established and domanited Paypal, can Apple Pay success in the competition?  On the one hand, as Ryan mentioned, Apple’s extremely large customer bases, as well as deals with major businesses such as McDonald’s and Macy’s, provides a solid foundation to compete in e-commerce industry. On the other hand, from the competition between digital books Ibook and Kindle, we can get some clue. Over years of development, Amazon and Apple are each competitive in e-book market. They offer unique features of annotating, reviewing and sharing content. For general reading purposes, Amazon has a wider selection of books and the online store is easier to access from any device. On the other hand, Ibook allows for copying and sharing selected text from ebooks which may be favored by student and researcher. So for Apple Pay’s performance and competition with Paypal, maybe we can only see in future.

Reference:
http://img.qz.com/2014/09/apple-pay-tim-cook.jpeg?w=1600

Chavanu, Bakari. “Kindle vs. IBooks: Which Is The Best EReader For Your IPad or IPhone?” MakeUseOf. N.p., 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Recently, I read my classmate Zhongnan Xu’s blog analyzing  Risks of globalization . In his blog, he clearly states that resource constraint is the most perilous risk to globalization.
I totally agree with this opinion because increased competition results in skills shortages in key functions, thus creates more demand for effective planning process aligned to dynamic resource management capabilities. Zhongnan Xu’s analysis helps me to realize that increasing rivalry in this industry cause the barrier to entry to be comparatively high for new firm. Since the firm has low market power and faces drastic competition for resources, it can even be hard for companies to find sufficient and appropriate resources, not to mention future expansion in international market. Supply chain is the most important part for a company to hold a spot in a new industry and have future development. Only sufficient resources and dynamic resource management capabilities ensure a solid foundation for the company to enhance its business model.

Secondly, I think strategic choices is the potential opportunities, but risks as well. With the development of globalization, many companies simply decide to “go international” without analyzing the business environment, political and cultural factors,etc,in foreign market. It would be better to pretest the local responsiveness of the product and accordingly make some changes rather than produce standardized product locally. For example, McDonald’s has an incredible variety of culture specific food items across the planet. One example is Australia’s Chicken Mcbites are now being tested in Michigan, and full-size wraps common in Europe are being testes in new markets like UK. They have many products that are bound to be hits but just have to find correct area to expand them to.

Reference:

http://paragkhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/globalization-edudemic.jpg

Rathi, Ghan Shyam. “Global Strategy of McDonald and How It Reached All Corners of World.” Academia.edu. Ghan Shyam Rathi, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

With the approval in June of the Northern Gateway pipeline by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government,there’s a battle from Nak’azdli,similar to other north-central and coastal B.C. First Nations.They believed the construction of the gateway will cause an oil spill and that would harm the forests and diminish their spruce, pine,etc.They claimed they are fighting for sustainability and a better living environment for offsprings with concern of resource development.Even though the company says it has already signed equity sharing agreements with 26 of the 40 First Nations along the proposed route,it seems now it needs more negotiation with first nations.
The company is trying to figure out if they really don’t want such business project, why they show interests and sign the contract for owning two gas stations? So here the question comes, why do they not support the pipeline? Profits from their business enterprises have been used to improve the newly built infrastructure. It turns out they community hate with an energy system that burns wood waste and are trying to find a way to use less fossil fuels.
After meeting and negotiations with First nations, the company spare no effort to convince them to support the pipeline project.And what hold real importance matters the agreement is actually the arrival of the salmon,shows resistence for the claim that the project will harm the river.
Many laws for First Nation, like the Indian Act, are to protect aboriginal interests and the lands reserved for their use during the process of colonization. However, what accompanies with such protect can be disagreement and battle between them and those business enterprises try to build project in their territory.Such external factors can impact business models hugely.The company faces the possibility of huge loss due to the temporarily work shut down.

Keurig, an American manufacturer of coffee brewers for both home and commercial use,has a main product the K-Cup, a single-serving coffee brewing system.Keurig released its 2.0 model in August, with a exclusive feature that initially prevented consumers from using other brands of coffee pods.
With the exploding increase single-serve coffee market in Canada,the profits of coffee makers industry has spawned huge growth. Since the real money dominantly stems from the coffee pods,the company wants to grow their revenue by having more market share for coffee pods.
The monopoly of coffee pods for K-Cup arouses consumer’s anger and reject from other competitors.Coffee pods are hugely significant to some company like Club Coffee.So when it realized the potential harm of the K-Cup 2.0 model,the CEO Pigott obtained a Keurig 2.0 model even before it was on store shelves and assembled a small team to examine the device and its K-cups to understand the technology. “We cracked the code,”John Pigott excited to find the secret of 2.0 model and how it works.
Keurig says its own K-Cup pods give the ‘optimum’ performance from its single-serve machines, but now since other company has figured out their”secret”, can they still stays the top on coffee pod market?Keurig’s core strength now actually becomes a threaten, and their supremacy can be challenged. Only consumers and markets can tell us what product works and what doesn’t .

Reference:http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/keurig-s-coffee-supremacy-challenged-by-canadian-firm-1.2787075

Netflix,an American provider of on-demand Internet streaming media available to viewers, recently announces the plan to release its first original-feature movie simultaneously as in select Imax theatre.
Netflix successfully delivered many TV series like House of card and now it has over 50 millions subscribers in over 40 countries.The company tries to do it again and this will shatter movie theater monopoly.The announcement really arouses reaction from the theatre chain. Regal Cinemas, the biggest U.S. theatre chain with 86 Imax locations, said it would not screen the movie at any of its locations;and Cinemark, the third-largest movie exhibitor in the U.S., said it would also boycott Netflix’s first original feature.The reason those theatre chains refused to accept this announcement is that Netflix totally breaks the traditional model of releasing movies.Through this way, theatre’s benefits may can be harmed seriously.
Releasing movies on Netflix and theaters simultaneously implies a choice for people. They can choose now.Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the alliance is about giving audiences flexibility to watch movies where and when they want to. Netflix targets to general public and help them to cut the time for the way going to theatre and buying movie ticket.
But whether that “job has been done” for customers is really what customer want needs more discuss. Some customers may enjoy the process of going out with friends and sitting in the theatre with that atmosphere.”We will not participate in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three storeys tall to three inches wide on a smartphone,” said Regal spokesman Russ Nunley. So its not only about movies itself but also the service and experience it offered to customers.Netflix’s value proposition may not perfectly fit the market for customer segments.
On the other hand, Netflix can save lot of money and time for people.The low cost strategy can be really profitable with great production.Although it do owns huge success in online video service,it may not apply to movies as well for movies’ special property. And according to a research,even though the Netflix may have had success with “House of Cards”, but most hit dramas are still on traditional television. In the short-term then Netflix has not come close to killing cable. Those who predicted a dramatic death are more likely to witness a prolonged decline. So it is really crucial for Netflix to distinguish their strengths and weakness and expand their market with deeply consideration.

Reference:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29421555
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/business-technology/netflix-signs-adam-sandler-to-exclusive-four-movie-deal/article20889242/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/netflix-deal-to-screen-crouching-tiger-sequel-slammed-by-theatre-chains-1.2782265
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/08/economist-explains-17
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/netflix-deal-to-screen-crouching-tiger-sequel-slammed-by-theatre-chains-1.2782265

For service-based business, it is significant for providers to know how your target customers evaluate activities offered. So we can adjust the marketing direction and in turn, attract more clients.
Through specific research and investigation, here are three key insights:referrals, brand awareness driven by content and in-person events.Up to 85% buyers use referrals to locate service providers. Given this information, service firms should dedicate more time and investment to the development and execution of referral programs.What happened actually is investment going to create chances for many illusory prospects or improving pipeline full of cold opportunities.From what we learned in the business model canvas, the customer relationship enhanced by firms more dedicated to provide personal assistance.Referral clients are favored and should be viewed with more respect because they are most reliable,pays the most money,negotiate price the least,buy the most often and most importantly, they can generate more referrals.The strategy for service firms is to build relationships with potential referrals because they can connect the dots between who they know and who you help.To some extent, these referrals are also key partners for the company.They can optimize the economy of scale and also less the risk and uncertainty. In this way, services firms may acquire the possibilities to new business.
Content is the core value of a brand.With the development of technology, there are endless options for the contents available such as blog posts and podcasts, website description and webinars. Surprisingly, case studies and white papers are at the top of list for influences.For those channels,no matter direct or indirect,you can distribute content to your customers and position the service with simplifying informations in their mind.It’s crucial to be the first for some factors in value proposition.
The third way to identify and learn about the firm is their seminars,presentations and conferences.Customers have the opportunity to have a face-to-face communication with the firms and engage enough through events.Such in-person event is key activity that the value proposition acquire. Through this platform, the firms can solve problems directly and know what their target customers really need.It would have a higher possibilities to generate more clients with the event’s uniqueness.
The insight for this research is to provide some crucial approaches for the service firms. They can try these approaches to drive growth and start expansion.

Reference:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-money/cash-flow/the-three-most-common-ways-buyers-find-service-providers/article20823920/

Social responsibility of business was regarded as inevitably important element for corporation leaders all over the world. In the present climate of opinion, with public’s spread abomination to “ capitalisms”, “profits”, the “soulless corporation ” and so on, many corporations aware that only after being criticized by public responses. For example, Nike, experienced an widespread boycott after many media outlets, including New York Times, reported abusive labor practices at some of its Indonesia suppliers in the early 1990s. Moreover, even if some companies actually have had little influence on the problem, activists would target these successful and visible companies merely cater to public’s attention. Nestle, for instance, the world’s largest purveyor of bottled water, was attacked in the global debate about access to fresh water, regardless of the fact that Nestlé’s bottled water sales consume just 0.0008% of the world’s fresh water supply. In such background, many corporations are forced to do some activities to enhance social consequences. However, their responses are neither strategic nor practical but pretentious. Most of them are often done to glossy the so-called ”CSR”. They actually harm the foundations of a free society. Corporations should engage in open and free competition without fraud or deception.