The United Nations is a global leader, helping those in need achieve the proper economic stand point they need survive, whether they are lacking sufficient funding or instability. United Nations help to reform policies, tackle corruption and begin build a sense of community and peace between the world’s nations.

With this being said, the United Nations often have difficult time keeping the peace between our nations sane after their work is ‘complete’. Meaning, United Nations required heavy funding to keep UN workers situated and to help people to adapt to their nation’s changes, they are the fundamentals to the countries’ economic success. Being fully funded does not necessarily mean that this job can be accomplished, realistically, it is up to programs such as the Social Enterprise and Arc Initiative to help maintain composure and deal with small deals that may arise.

An example of how these programs help can be seen in an article about Salem, an Ethiopian business owner who gained valuable assets from learning more about how to expand her business and meet the needs and wants of those visiting Ethiopia, which in turns helps to better the Ethiopian poor economy.

Programs such as the two mentioned above help citizens to learn the basic fundamentals of business and strategically helps them to self sustain themselves and empower each other to learn and push through poverty.

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This HBR Blogpost by Amy Gallo caught my attention. From working previously in the customer service industry, I have often be told to not only get new people into the store, but to retain customers,

“make them want to come back again and again!”

I’m often told. Bottom line from the above article is: keeping the right customers are valuable, better known as “churn rate”

Churn rate is the measure of the percentage of customers who end up with a relationship with the company in a specific time period. (Monthly, Quarterly, Annually)

How do companies use the churn rate to maximize their profits?

Main objective: Asking why customers end the relationship with the company. Understanding what has happened in the last period and to predict what might happen next; what they need to change in order to keep customers.

Common Mistakes:

1. Taking the rate as a given rather than as an opportunity
2. Looking at the churn rate as a number rather than as an indicator for behavioural change
3. Marketers believing in a ‘magic’ number
4. Not seeing that high churn rate is the result of poor customer acquisition efforts

I think that often, businesses often overlook the importance of retaining customers, but in turns look to gain new or potential customers. Businesses should refocus and focus on keeping clients happy and wanting to come back every time. (Customer loyalty, word of mouth, life-time value, no acquisition costs)

This article by Businessnewsdaily and it’s research with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business touches on the very controversial topic of why consumers should not equate cost with quality.

Summary of significant points found in article:

1.) Since consumers think that because at low prices, the quality is consistently low they make the assumption that high priced goods are of high quality. This being the first mistake.

2.) Assume automatically that low priced goods indicate a worst quality, which may not necessarily be true.

3.) Learn this by experiencing price and quality relationship one at a time over a period of time and having access to information about products and their prices simultaneously.

My opinion: The relationship between both price and the quality that’s attached with said price is very hard to perfect, if possible. I think that people should not automatically assume that due to a lower cost, the product will not be at par with a similar product of a higher cost. This assumption often leads consumers to over pay for a certain type of product. I think the data that was received from surveying multiple groups of consumers, can be used to theadvantage of both parties: consumers and businesses.

Take Away: Consumers should buy with experience and businesses should price their products at a reasonable price, referring back to quality of production.

This post gives further insight and questions the opinions of classmate: Samuel Tjandra (read more here)

This post caught my eye, as it was one of the first concepts we talked about in COMM 101, that being, Friedman’s thoughts on social responsibility in a business.

To quickly summarize, Samuel spoke of away from Starbuck’s social responsibility, but of the interconnection within stakeholder interest. It is definitely true that investors only go if they know that there is a demand for the said product; in this case, Starbucks. Starbucks, being such a large corporation, will obtain a lot of media attention, therefore, their social responsibilities are frequently monitored. I thought Samuel’s opinions on Starbucks needing to embrace social responsibility could be mistaken, in a sense that most people who walk in to Starbucks could care less of where/how the coffee came to be. The purchase of the Costa Farmland, however has some affect on Starbucks social standing, is not prominent. If Starbucks were to buy a plot of land where they used children labour, would they lose a large customer base or only a mere percentage of their coffee consumers? The answer being, only a mere percentage. This is because consumers don’t care enough about ethics to invest their time into looking for an alternative, when what they are used too is right in front of them.

Ultimately, though the concept of social responsibility is there, I do not believe it plays a significant enough role to have major effect on a business such as Starbucks.

Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey recently co-published a book called, “Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the heroic spirit of business” which speaks of the supposedly new business paradigm and how to implement it. It presents a different way of thinking, speaking and acting in the work environment; conscious capitalism. The book conceptualizes expositions of values, thought patterns and most importantly accepts the criticism of the current practices for capitalism.

Businesses now a days value profit maximization and treat all participants in a poor manner. Though these businesses succeed in creating prosperity in the short run, long run problems are dysfunctional and causes these businesses to lose more money than they make. In addition to creating sensible values for stakeholders, the Conscious Capitalism theory excels in the financial department.  Mackey wants businesses to believe that the true purpose of a business is to create value for stakeholders and improve our lives; rather than profitability. The article on Forbes goes on to say that business concepts today are cancerous, in addition to providing insight on the purpose in educating consumers, continuous innovation, competition, marketing and the consciousness of a practice.

The analytical power derived from this book can be seen as similar to that of the many tools we have learned in class. I believe that this shift towards the Conscious Capitalism theory will slowly better business ethics and allow businesses to see past money, but rather, the people.

The New Management Paradigm by John Mackey  – Forbes

The Uber controversy has been lingering in Vancouver for the past few months, this article by Business in Vancouver has an interesting outlook on the situation. The expansion of Vancouver’s taxi service has been in talks for a while now, but rules in Vancouver has put the Uber service to a temporary pause. Uber is a company in which allows for accessibility and possibilities for both drivers and riders. For instance, Uber offers vehicles at a different price. So whether you need a car to get around in like a typical taxi service or a luxury/larger vehicle, Uber has that capability. In addition, the innovation that comes with Uber is impeccable, with service available to anyone with a smartphone. (everyone these days) The article states that Uber Canada Representatives has been in and out of city council chambers trying to reintroduce the Uber service to Vancouverites. What the City is worried about is that Uber is able to operate without the same kinds of training/licensing taxi drivers receive and that the quality of the Uber service is also poor, due to self-employment. While expanding the taxi service in Vancouver would be excellent in creating full-time jobs for Vancouverites, the uniqueness of the Uber service and what it can do for a well-developed city such as Vancouver is hard to say without any chances given out. After further analysis, I believe that the Uber service is something that the city should carefully look into, and be given a chance. Uber not only provides a similar service to taxis, but they offer choice, while also providing jobs, something the city is hesitant with.

In The Verge’s article from the week following the highly anticipated release of Apple’s Iphone 6 and 6 Plus, wrote about the controversy of the bending of these new devices. The title is as stated, ” Apple says Iphone 6 Plus bending through normal use is ‘extremely rare.’ Apple has released a press statement saying that although there has been much controversy behind their bending products, they have only received a mere 9 complaints from users. Many users have sought to Youtube to show the bending of the Iphone, but reviews online by Verge and multiple other online blogs/articles have yet to show signs of this ‘bendgate’ story. Apple also said in their press release that yes, the Iphone will bend, but only in extreme cases where the phone is forcibly bent and not in most normal day situations. This conspiracy however has not stopped the sales of the new Iphone, where the Iphone 6 Plus has remained sold-out at most retailers. What I want you to take from this article is the power of social media and the words of others. It shows how such a large figure head company like Apple often takes a lot of hate and judgement of the company as a whole and their products. This is often far from true and the truth is stretched in order to keep the stories interesting. Social media has migrated into smartphones, tablets and computers, and is always with us. In another example, like during disasters and such, people often reach out to families and friends through this innovative source of communication. But what we need to understand is that social media is used to move around opinions, not facts, and therefore we need to carefully analyze one’s opinion before we use it as a factual statement.

Beginning October 29, 2014, Westjet Airlines will be charging a $25 baggage fees for all flights within Canada and the United States. Westjet spokesman, Robert Palmer said that this change will lead to lower economy flight pricing. Analyst say that this will help Westjet to generate an approximate 87.5 million dollars and cause Air Canada to follow close behind. Is this considered a valued proposition on Westjet’s part? Although this may dissatisfy Westjet’s customers to begin with, the lower flight prices practically pay for the expense that one must pay upfront. Also, the paid luggage fee in turn could be a benefit for Westjet customers and customer relations because with this added fee, it means that Westjet can dedicate a larger amount into baggage claims and lost and found problems. This in turn could benefit both parties. Westjet’s recent decision has great impact both socially and politically. For instance, it is now socially acceptable to be charging baggage fees, while politically, companies will add this fee to their airline cost. Though this is an added cost for those flying economy, the demand of economy flights will not be greatly affected, especially since competitors are following suit. My analysis shows that this added fee will generate revenue while still accommodating customers accordingly.

Globe and Mail- New luggage fees to generate millions for Westjet