Month: November 2014

Personal Blog #10: SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

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Topic: If the United Nations was fully funded why should we need the Arc or social enterprise?

Before 2012, Shega Shero Eatery in Ethiopia’s capital city faced a risk of being shut down due to the limitation of expansion and the increasing competition in the local eatery area. However, its revenue ascended tremendously afterwards, contributing to the help of Arc Initiative.

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Arc Initiative

What is Arc Initiative? Unlike the usual NGOs, Arc Initiative is a social enterprise set up by the Sauder School of Business whose main mission is to introduce solutions to local entrepreneurial business problems in African countries. Despite the fact that United Nations takes a vital part in the development of Africa, there are still improvements that can be done by social enterprises like Arc Initiative. As a huge international organization, United Nations mainly focus on human rights, humanitarian affairs and war conflicts, rather on entrepreneurial problems.

By contrast, social enterprises take the responsibility for resolving those problems by teaching the entrepreneurs in Africa to “fish” more than simply giving them “fish”. For instance, Arc Initiative inspired Ms. Tesfaye to expand her businesses–Shega Shero Eatery and Yana Sweet using the “strategy map tool she learned at the Arc workshop.” The effect was amazing as Ms. Tesfaye’s monthly income almost doubled after implementing the new approach. This case is just the tip of the iceberg. Social enterprises like Arc Initiative have already successfully given assistances to a great number of individual entrepreneurs in Africa.

Supposing that the United Nations has unlimited resources, Arc Initiative and other social enterprises are still needed in current society, for the reason that they pay more attention to individuals’  further sustainable development.

SocialEnterprise_graphic2

Endnotes:

1. Jeff, K. (2014, April 11). In a crowded market, entrepreneur finds a sweet way to stand out. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/going-global/in-a-crowded-market-ethiopian-entrepreneur-finds-a-sweet-way-to-stand-out/article17912688/>

Picture reference:  

Retrieved from <http://kiecocenterorg.ipage.com/demo22/2013/07/07/social-enterprise-economic-challenges-in-central-indiana-and-the-missing-middle/>

<https://www.linkedin.com/company/arc-initiative>

Article Reference:

Jeff, K. (2014, April 11). In a crowded market, entrepreneur finds a sweet way to stand out. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/going-global/in-a-crowded-market-ethiopian-entrepreneur-finds-a-sweet-way-to-stand-out/article17912688/>

Read more:

United Nations’s official website: <http://www.un.org>

Definition of Social Enterprise: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_enterprise>

PERSONAL BLOG #9: Ford’s organizational culture

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Ford: Lower or maintain service level?

Ford Motors Company, as one of the leaders in motor vehicles, is known for its positive organizational culture. Although its stock is undergoing a depreciation now, the values it shares within the company used to enable it to maintain high levels of customer service and employee experience. As a matter of fact, in order to get its previous leading position back in automobile market, I would recommend Ford to emphasize the importance of its organizational culture to the public.

Personally, I especially appreciate one of Ford’s organizational culture: “the leadership team is encouraged to admit mistakes.”¹ It could greatly trigger employee’s respect to leaders, and thus trigger their loyalty to the company. But the question is that does organizational culture bring more benefits or more costs to Ford? This reminds me of the debate in yesterday’s lecture that related to Zappos Company. Zappos is a shoes retailer company that values organizational culture much. Many of my classmates considered that Zappos provided employees and customers with too much welfare, which will in turn decrease profit.

However, The Good Job Strategy suggests that it is possible to “offer the lowest prices to customers while ensuring good jobs for their employees and superior results for their investors.”² As organizational culture is not built in a day, its benefits will be observed in a long run as well. Therefore, instead of lowering service level, maintaining current service level and developing a “sustainable competitive strategy in which everyone-employees, customers, and investors“³ will be better choices for Ford.

Ford

Ford Motor Company

Endnotes:

1. Hellriegel, Don. “The Organization.” Organizational Behavior. 9.th ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Publ., 2001. Print.

2. “The Good Jobs Strategy.” Zeynep Ton. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://zeynepton.com/book/>.

3. Refer to endnote 2.

Picture reference:  

Retrieved from <http://www.victoriapremiumauto.com/inventory/ford>

Article Reference:

Hellriegel, Don. “The Organization.” Organizational Behavior. 9.th ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Publ., 2001. Print.

“The Good Jobs Strategy.” Zeynep Ton. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://zeynepton.com/book/>.

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Personal Blog #8: Comments on Stem Cell Beauty’s post –Alexis Wolfer “The Female Beauty MacGyver” – Interview + New Book

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Is It Hard to Be a Female Entrepreneur?

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Alexis Wolfer: Founder and editor-in-chief of TheBeautyBean.com

TheBeautyBean.com was an online women’s magazine that I accidentally came across when I was shopping online. It was surprising to notice that the founder of this website was also a female whose name is Alexis Wolfer. According to the blog of stemcellbeauty.com, Wolfer had the prototype of today’s company as early as she was in graduate school, and it becomes “the business model for the Beauty Bean”¹ now. After reading through the blog, my interest in entrepreneurship was triggered.

Recently, we have many alumni guests coming to the lecture. As the matter of fact, they are all Sauder alumni, so their successes become more genuine. Both Alexis Wolfer and the alumni share a common characteristic that they believe in their ideas and have the desire to make them into products. Like what Amielle Lake said in alumni lecture, to be an entrepreneur, “your job is to sell the dream.” To tell the truth, I have never thought about being an entrepreneur before, as I believe it is extremely complex to set up a new business. However, after getting to know how Alexis Wolfer succeeded from this blog, I began to consider this option. Maybe I will be able to share my entrepreneurship experience someday as well. Who knows?

Endnotes: 1. The Blog of StemCellBeauty.com. (2014, September 9). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from http://blog.stemcellbeauty.com/alexis-wolfer-the-female-beauty-macgyver-interview-new-book/

Picture reference:   Retrieved from <http://www.stylebistro.com/You+Complete+Me/articles/ZNpvohZ0mpU/Complete+ Alexis+Wolfer+Multi+Purpose+Mixture>

Article Reference: 

The Blog of StemCellBeauty.com. (2014, September 9). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from http://blog.stemcellbeauty.com/alexis-wolfer-the-female-beauty-macgyver-interview-new-book/
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Personal Blog #7: Respond to Dibleen Grewal’s post of “Jell-O Aims To Make Comeback”

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Why did Jell-O’s previous campaign fail?

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Jell-O

Dibleen Grewal’s post on “Jell-O” drew my attention when I was reading through classmates’ blogs. Grewal put his own experience related to the product in the post, which I think is the major reason I choose to comment on. However, his arguments and analysis are reasonable and explicit as well. I agree with him that the company should focus more on the customer segment of family, and increase marketing campaign meanwhile for their future development.

Jell-O is currently experiencing a tumbling sale due to its wrong target market. Kraft Foods, which owns Jell-O, in order to solve this crisis, announced that it will change its recent “adult-targeted approach”¹ back to the previous “family-targeted approach“¹. Basically, I believe the failure to identify its customer segment contributed to the defectiveness of its business model. Especially the part of customer segment, which is the heart of the whole business canvas. It is the company’s duty to define which segments to serve and then implement proper campaign.

As a consequence, since Kraft Foods recognizes Jell-O’s most suitable customer segment, it needs to alter its marketing campaign fitting to the new target group. If the company successfully attracts their previous family-based customers back, as what Dibleen Grewal expects in his post, Jell-O will “get back to being a solid competitor in the snacks sector.”²

Endnotes:

1. E.J., S. (2013, August 12). Kraft Launches New Campaign to Revive Jell-O | News – Advertising Age. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-launches-campaign-revive-jell-o/243616/>

2. Dibleen, G. (2014, October 5). Dibleen Grewal’s Blog. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <https://blogs.ubc.ca/dibleengrewal/2014/10/05/jell-o-aims-to-make-comeback/>

Picture reference:  

Retrieved from <http://canigivemybaby.com/jell-o/>

Article Reference:

Dibleen, G. (2014, October 5). Dibleen Grewal’s Blog. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <https://blogs.ubc.ca/dibleengrewal/2014/10/05/jell-o-aims-to-make-comeback/>

E.J., S. (2013, August 12). Kraft Launches New Campaign to Revive Jell-O | News – Advertising Age. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-launches-campaign-revive-jell-o/243616/>

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Personal Blog #6: Respond to Nezika Mulyadi’s post of “New Opportunity or a Wrong Decision?”

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Respond to Nezika Mulyadi’s post of “New Opportunity or a Wrong Decision?” 

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iWatch

A recent blog post from my classmate Nezika Mulyadi discussed the upcoming product “iWatch” introduced by Apple Inc. According to the press conference in September 2014, iWatch “won’t be available until early 2015.”¹ Even though society still has to wait for at least one year, iWatch has already become a heated topic. Based on Mulyadi’s post, she has a optimistic attitude towards the prospect of iWatch, which I share the same.

The value proposition of iWatch has become a vital factor to decide whether this product is a new opportunity or wrong decision. Nevertheless, according to the information I obtained online, I believe iWatch is demonstrating a competitive value proposition currently. To begin with, the existed Apple products have provided iWatch with a high perception in consumers’ mind. Hence, consumers trust iWatch will be a “gain creator” which fulfills the needs they want, and maybe even beyond their expectations. More importantly, iWatch presents powerful “points of difference“. Unlike other high-end watch companies (especially those in Switzerland), Apple designs iWatch to be a product that combined with both traditional appearance and state-of-the-art technology. The product is no longer just “a wrist-worn timekeeping device.”²

After analyzing the product from the aspect of “value proposition”, iWatch seems more likely to be a new opportunity to Apple. However, even Apple can not guarantee each of its product will be a hot item, for the reason that plans can’t catch up changes forever.

Endnotes:

1. Shara, T. (2014, September 7). Big-screen iPhones, iWatch start the clock on Apple’s ‘amazing’ product spree – CNET. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://www.cnet.com/news/big-faced-iphones-iwatch-start-the-clock-on-apples-amazing-product-spree/>

2. Horace, D. (2014, October 31). Measuring the Apple Watch opportunity. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://www.asymco.com/2014/10/31/measuring-the-apple-watch-opportunity/>

Picture reference:  

Retrieved from <http://www.bidnessetc.com/25169-what-to-expect-from-apples-iwatch/>

Article Reference:

Horace, D. (2014, October 31). Measuring the Apple Watch opportunity. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://www.asymco.com/2014/10/31/measuring-the-apple-watch-opportunity/>

Shara, T. (2014, September 7). Big-screen iPhones, iWatch start the clock on Apple’s ‘amazing’ product spree – CNET. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://www.cnet.com/news/big-faced-iphones-iwatch-start-the-clock-on-apples-amazing-product-spree/>

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