If the United Nations was fully funded, why do we still need Arc or social enterprises?

Although the United Nations is indeed fully funded, it is a global organization striving to eradicate world problems it struggles to be “down to earth”. As once an active member of the Model United Nations back in high school, I realized that although member nations come together in hopes to resolve world issues, at the end of the day, a little bit of politics is inevitably involved. For instance in the Security Council, the US and about 6 others hold rights called the Veto Power in which they’re allowed to reject any resolutions if they feel it is “unsuitable”. With so many member nations of different political and socioeconomic circumstances, there will be difficulties in providing sustainable help to those in need.

Hence, the Arc initiative and other social enterprises must exist. Through the Arc, entrepreneurs of the local area can help its local community. Social enterprises often employee those in impoverished areas of the world. Instead of spoon feeding money or food whenever they need it, providing employment or education allows the whole community to grow in the long term, which can be much more socioeconomically sustainable.

Stella, a fellow classmate, has commented on The Globe and Mail’s “Twitter Conversation More Important than Blatant Advertising”. She has commented that in such digital age, comments on Twitter, Youtube, or Facebook about certain brands can make more of an impact than the advertisements the companies release.

As a person who readily uses Facebook and Youtube, I couldn’t agree with Stella and The Globe and Mail more that social media has now become such a large part of our lives that, if the brand fails to impress us on these media outlets, it fails the business.

With that said, I would also like to add that with social media, anyone can be an entrepreneur. “Beauty Gurus”, as Stella has pointed out, are now on YouTube reviewing cosmetics products. I’d like to add that, not only are they reviewing products, they’re also starting to create their own line, and promoting their brands on YouTube. A great example of this is beauty guru Michelle Phan. Michelle Phan started out on YouTube by giving makeup tutorials, and frequent reviews on what cosmetic brands she prefers to use. With now more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube, she launched her own line called “Em”.

What was interesting about her marketing strategy was that she used Emotional marketing to try and appeal to her subscribers. She made a 10 minute video in which she repeated reinforced that the brand name “Em” comes from the reflection of “Me” and that the “Me” was made by the subscribers’ support. She knows that YouTube provides a medium in which her and her subscribers (aka her customers) can relate in a very close and personal way. Hence, she used this to market her own product. Very smoothly too.

Both Stella and The Globe and Mail are right. Businesses now must understand Social Media to reach its target market.

Stella’s blog post can be found here.

“Small City Routes Hold Big Potential for India Airlines” by Reuters has reported that small cities in India, such as Patna has seen growing demand for airplanes as more people are now travelling.

One surprising point Reuters has made in this article is that airlines companies are now seeing more revenues coming from routes going to and from smaller cities than the typical  Mumbai-Delhi route. This reminded me of a previous article I read on Entrepreneur.com, about the barriers to entry of starting a new airlines. The article stated that although investors are very interested in starting new airline companies (because there is potential for huge revenues), it is also a very risky business as all the existing airlines dominate spots in airports of major cities. As a result, start up airlines companies can only look for opportunities to fly in smaller cities.

The Entrepreneur.com article made it seem as though it was a challenge/significant disadvantage to start up airlines. However in this article, I was able to gain new perspective that in a country such as India, the growing economy may give opportunities for companies to gain more profit in smaller cities. Since the middle class is growing in smaller cities such as Putna, flying in smaller cities is no longer a disadvantage for airlines companies. Rather, it is a great opportunity for them to expand their business further.

The India Airlines case was a very good example of how a perceived disadvantage can become an opportunity due to external changes.

The original article can be found here.

Recently, I attended a conference in New York in which the former CEO of Armani came to talk about luxury brand management and marketing. This led me to the Forbes Magazine article: “Inside Hermes: Luxury’s Secret Empire”.

In this Article, the soon to be CEO of Hermes, Axel Dumas, was introduced. Forbes also talked about the interesting business model Hermes has, and some potential qualities that have driven Hermes to success.

One point in the article I found interesting was that Hermes was officially independent of LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton), the largest luxury empire in the world. In the past, LVMH has been buying shares off of Hermes in the attempt to acquire the brand. This led to a public “war” of Hermes trying to stay independent, while LVMH trying to bring in the brand into its empire. As a result, LVMH has decided not to take over the company. As Hermes is the fastest growing luxury brand in the market, successfully staying independent reiterates Hermes’ growing power.

Another point I found extremely interesting was that Hermes has no marketing department. As a person who is interested in working in the marketing department of a luxury brand, this was very surprising to learn. Forbes put Axel Dumas not just as the CEO, but the Head of Marketing. It stated that the whole company was one big marketing department. This further taught me that when you’re trying to sell luxury goods, or any good that seeks to satisfy a customer’s need rather than a want, marketing is all the more important.

The original article can be seen here.