Shuang (Julie) Xie's Blog

I’ve learned from my dad that it’s important to have a positive mindset on the various things we encounter every day. For instance, if you miss an opportunity to do something, there will always be more opportunities that awaits in the future. If you failed your midterm, just study your butt off and ace the final (easier said than done). The point is, not only do we need to learn from our mistakes and failures, it’s important to keep in mind that some things are just not meant to be. Back when I was first looking for a part-time job, about 3 years ago, I went McDonald’s, where some of the students at my high school were working at. However, I was rejected, perhaps due to the fact that during the interview, when the manager asked me how long I was planning to work there, I responded by saying I wasn’t sure. He then followed by saying that he didn’t want to pay someone $6.10 if they weren’t gonna stay for a long time. Now I realize that the correct answer to that question should have been “forever”. Discouraged, I thought to myself that if I wasn’t even capable of being hired by McDonald’s, then how was I going to get a better position? Reflecting back, I’m glad I got rejected because not long afterwards, I got a new job that pays more than McDonald’s, and I wouldn’t have had to endure the smell of fried, fatty foods all day long. It’s not the end of the world if you fail a test or do badly on an assignment, as I’ve heard of people who failed courses and still ended up becoming very successful people. However, it’s necessary to learn from your mistakes and not make the same mistakes again, all the while looking at the positive side of things if you do make mistakes from time to time.

      Dell today launched a long-term, global effort to partner with its customers to become the greenest technology company on Earth for the long-term. The new Zero Carbon Initiative will continue to maximize the energy efficiency of Dell products and over time offset their carbon impact. The initiative includes the efforts of Dell, its employees and its suppliers and will reflect the direct feedback of its customers. The company also committed to reduce the carbon intensity of its global operations by 15 percent by 2012 and extended its ” Plant a Tree for Me” program to Europe, allowing computer users to offset the emissions associated with the electricity their computers use. The zero-carbon initiative will include IT lifecycle assessments, management of Dell’s direct and indirect climate impacts, reduction of the company’s carbon intensity and partnership with customers.

       Sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions. There are two major ways of reducing negative human impact and enhancing ecosystem services. The first is environmental management; this approach is based largely on information gained from earth science, environmental science, and conservation biology. The second approach is management of human consumption of resources, which is based largely on information gained from economics. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms from reorganising living conditions (e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), reappraising economic sectors (permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture), or work practices (sustainable architecture), using science to develop new technologies (green technologies, renewable energy), to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/en/2007/2007_06_05_lon_000?c=us&l=en

     In 1998, 24-year-old Tony Hsieh sold his company, Internet advertiser LinkExchange, to Microsoft for $265 million. A year later, he met an even younger entrepreneur, Nick Swinmurn, who had an idea no investor would touch: selling shoes on the Internet. But Hsieh (pronounced shay) was intrigued and invested $500,000 in ShoeSite.com (they soon changed the name to Zappos, after zapatos, which is Spanish for “shoes”). Within six months, he and Swinmurn were running the show together. Early this year, Swinmurn moved on, leaving Hsieh at the helm of a company that had sales of $252 million in 2005.

“We all sat around one day talking about what we wanted the Zappos brand to represent. We decided to be about providing the best service; we said, “We’re a service company that just happens to sell shoes.” But in order for that to happen, we had to control the entire customer experience.” -Tony Hsieh, CEO

     Zappos places great emphasis on company culture and core values. In fact, the company publishes a “Culture Book” annually that is made up of contributions from employees describing what the company culture means to them. I found it very interesting that the company would offer new employees $3000 right after the 4 week training if they want leave the company. This is to ensure that the people are there for the love of the job and not the money. The company proves that focusing on culture and customer satisfaction not only leads to revenue, but also a good company reputation.

 http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060901/hidi-hsieh.html

Don\’t Count On OPEC\’s Surplus For 2010     As industrial consumption recovers in developed countries such as U.S. and Germany, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised its 2011 forecast for global oil demand. OPEC expects oil demand to grow by 1.2 million barrels a day to 86.95 million barrels next year. Oil in New York rose to the highest level in two years today after crude inventories declined in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil user, according to a government report yesterday. Recent strength in U.S. automobile and truck sales will bolster gasoline consumption in the fourth quarter, OPEC said. Global oil demand has been rising since the third quarter of 2009 led by developing economies outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development including Brazil and China, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Growth in oil demand next year is still strongest in China, Latin America and the Middle East, according to today’s report. China accounts for over a third of next year’s growth in demand in volume terms, OPEC said.

      Similarly, to avoid stock-outs and maintain adequate inventory levels, it is vital to manufacturers and distributors to understand and predict customer demand. Forecasts are necessary to prepare for actual demand, even though they’re not always accurate or correct. Furthermore, accurate demand forecasts are crucial in order to maintain an optimized inventory and effective supply chain.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-11/opec-raises-2011-demand-forecast-on-signs-of-strong-u-s-german-growth.html

      In order to facilitate the development of the company and its continuous growth, the credit Management Services company, Intrum Justitia, has decided to create 3 geographical regions. The new organization consists of these regions: Northern, Central, and Western Europe. The original region CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) will be dissolved and country operations of Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary will be included in the new region Central Europe. Also, Region Southern Europe, region Belgium & Netherlands and region UK & Ireland will be merged into Region Western Europe. According to Lars Wollung, the company’s President and CEO, “by creating fewer and larger regions we will be able to launch new services faster and benefit from the economies of scale gained across the entire Intrum Justitia Group.”

     Commonly, divisional structure is based upon region, product, and function. In this case, reorganizing the company’s regional structure allows for greater efficiency and productivity. Thus, in order for Intrum to expand, structural changes are necessary, allowing them to be more responsive to local cultural differences and consumer needs. This corresponds to the spans of control. As Intrum expands, managers may need to pass on to others some of their roles and responsibilities.

http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/wireless-news/mi_hb5558/is_20101004/intrum-justitia-unveils-adjustments-organizational/ai_n55440106/

Apple is an extremely successful entrepreneurial company. It’s an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics and software. The company’s best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, Iphone, and iPad. The company exhibits each of the four characteristics of entrepreneurship in terms of amount of wealth generated, the speed of which this wealth is created, risk, and innovation. As of September 25, 2010, Apple had 46,600 full time employees and 2,800 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $42.91 billion in its fiscal year ending September 26, 2009. Apple was one of several highly successful companies founded in the 1970s that went against the traditional notions of what a corporate culture should look like in organizational hierarchy (flat versus tall, casual versus formal attire, etc.). When Apple went public, it generated more capital than any IPO since Ford Motors Company in 1956 and instantly created more millionaires (about 300) than any company in history. As a computer and software company, there are a lot of potential risks involved, such as the success rate of their new software or product. As for innovation, Apple is considered to be near the top for the company constantly tries to come up with new products, such as the Ipad, iPhone, and their laptop designs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.

When we think of celebrities, such as Michael Jackson or Paris Hilton, we usually relate them to fame, a luxurious life, and money. But as difficult as it is for one to imagine, there exists financial issues and debts behind this Hollywood image. Take Michael Jackson for example: poor knowledge in personal finance has lead him to be buried in a $400 million debt, which is now the burden of his family. Apparently, the entire Jackson family has been dealing with just as many financial troubles as the fallen icon had. But how did the once lucrative family find themselves in financial ruin? Reports suggest “a slew of bad investments, poor advice, bankruptcy, stubborn pride, divorces, IRS debt, and child support.

Most students learn about finance at school and relates them to big companies and their investments, but they tend to develop an ignorant attitude towards their own financial issues. It’s important to have a good knowledge in personal finance and money management, taking into account various financial risks and future life events. As students graduate from university, enters the workforce, and eventually goes into retirement, they’d need to deal with many things such as credit cards, income tax, bank loans, and retirement plans. Thus, learning how to save and manage money effectively at an early stage would prove to be essential later on.

Reference: http://momsword.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2072:apparently-michael-jacksons-entire-family-has-financial-problems&catid=1:latest-reviews&Itemid=50#ixzz11zIKxpeL

Do you find that the commercials on TV are becoming more and more generic and less appealing? Well, it’s not just the audiences that find this a problem. According to a survey released by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester Research, Inc., 78% of advertisers feel that traditional television advertising has become less effective from 2004-2006. The survey also found that marketers are exploring emerging technologies to help bolster their television advertising spend. The joint survey asked 133 national advertisers about their attitudes towards TV advertising and what impact new technologies, such as digital video recorders (DVRs) and video-on-demand, will have on their TV advertising budgets. Those surveyed represent more than $20 billion worth of advertising, including marketers from Colgate, Dunkin’ Donuts, Johnson & Johnson, and Verizon. “As DVRs look to climb above 30 million households in the next three years, advertisers are finding themselves forced to reconsider their media mix,” said Josh Bernoff, Vice President, Forrester Research.

Indeed, as new and traditional media alternatives compete more aggressively for a share of the media pie, and marketers look to improve consumer targeting, reduce costs and enhance accountability, television is aggressively responding. With technology-based advances in addressability, enhanced television options, Internet convergence (IPTV) and branded entertainment opportunities, television is likely to continue as the dominant part of the marketing mix.

Reference:http://www.marketingtoday.com/research/0306/tv_advertising_less_effective.htm

When we think of competition between rival companies, the idea of price wars and product improvement comes to mind. However, the executives at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp., competitors in the $76 billion US warehouse-club market, have taken their rivalry to a new level: national politics.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, gives more money to Republican candidates than any other company while Costco chief executive Jim Sinegal, 68, is a Democrat who says Bush’s $1.7 trillion in tax cuts unfairly benefit the wealthy. He opposed the Iraq war and supports Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts for president. ”Wal-Mart is extremely strong in Republican strongholds; they are a red-state retailer,” said Amy Bonkoski, an investment adviser. On the other hand, Costco is stronger in Democratic states and is “a friend to labor”.

The differences are based on more than ideology: each retailer has a stake in the election’s outcome in areas from healthcare to the minimum wage to the way unions can organize workforces. All in all, competition is something that can’t be avoided but it’s the fact that some companies go through intense measures to ensure their position on top that raises other moral questions. Corporate espionage, hostile takeovers and unhealthy competition should be eliminated for healthy business practices and national growth.

Reference:

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/07/25/rivalry_between_wal_mart_costco_also_extends_to_national_politics/