United Nations is an organization promoting international cooperation. Although United Nations are devoting themselves in helping people in developing countries, they cannot cover every area in the world. Additionally, every country has different situations, so United Nations cannot guarantee their funds work well. Therefore, we need the help of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are those who see opportunities where others see failure. Government or United Nations fails to provide certain services to citizens because of financial limitations or other reasons. Social entrepreneurs can use their own capital to help with the poor. They can give out low-interest loans or no-interest loans. Social entrepreneurs have enough money for themselves, and they how hard it is to make a living. They might start their helping actions out of sympathy. We need social entrepreneurs because they are the bridges connecting the poor people who live in the bottom of the society and those who are in better situation. Social entrepreneurs play an important part in our society, and I believe those people will be more important in the future.

Works Cited

“What is social entrepreneur?” Skoll World Forum.

<http://skollworldforum.org/about/what-is-social-entrepreneurship/>

Comment on Anrui Jiang’s post: Alibaba’s Success

Alibaba Group launched the largest IPO in the world in September 2014, declaring the success of e-commerce in China.

As Anrui wrote in her post, the most significant factors of Alibaba’s success is that Jack Ma has seen the potential power of the Internet and persevered chasing his goals. There is no doubt that the wisdom and perseverance of an entrepreneur is critical to the company. Additionally, Alibaba are good at creating the market. By choosing special days, such as, 11.11 and 12.12, Alibaba hold special events for customers. Sales and discount are always attractive to customers. According to the statistics, Alibaba Group made 35 billion Yuan ($5.75 billion) on Nov. 11th, 2013. In this year, “Alibaba Group even hit $2bn in sales in first hour of ‘Singles’ Day’.” No wonder why Alibaba could achieve making the largest IPO in the world.

Apart from that, Anrui also mentioned the value proposition of the company. Alibaba have successfully differentiated with other online shopping platform by releasing AliPay, which making sure that customers can pay after they check what they bought. Alibaba are delivering their principle that customers can have a more convenient way of shopping. By developing e-commerce, there are many job positions for shipping companies, which is another way to deal with unemployment.

Works Cited

BBC News. “Alibaba hits $2bn in sales in first hour of ‘Singles’ Day’” BBC News. 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

<http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29999289>

Driebusch, Corrie, and Alexandra Scaggs “Alibaba IPO Signals Strength in U.S. Stocks”

The Wall Street Journal. 21 Sep, 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

<http://online.wsj.com/articles/alibaba-ipo-signals-strength-in-u-s-stocks-1411328438>

Lin, Liza, and Lulu Yilun Chen. “Alibaba Breaks Sales Record Amid China Singles-Day Rebate.” Bloomberg News. 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/alibaba-breaks-sales-record-on-china-singles-day-amid-discounts.html>

Image (URL)

http://img.chinainternetwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/alibaba-logos.jpg

Comment on Canada Business Network’s post: E-commerce in Canada is a billion-dollar industry

Three days ago, we discussed a company called Zappo, which is like Amazon. Online shopping, serving as a brand new way of shopping, is gaining its popularity around the world. At the same time, e-commerce is merging. As is mentioned in the blog post, e-commerce sales in Canada by retailers reached $7.7 billion in 2012. It is predicted that the number can continue to grow in following years.

However, this figure is never competitive to what Alibaba earned in one single day. According to Bloomberg, Alibaba Group made 35 billion Yuan ($5.75 billion) on Nov. 11th, 2013. It is hard to believe that Chinese people have such a strong buyer power.

The advantages of e-commerce are various. For example, customers do not have to carry heavy products all the way; retailers may provide cheaper stuff online; shipping industry is booming, etc.

With the wide spread of the Internet, I believe e-commerce will be more popular. Retailers should seize the opportunity to establish their own platforms to connect with their customers.

In the business model canvas, there is a column called channels. E-commerce, with no doubt, will be a new channel to connect companies and customers.

Works Cited

Lin, Liza, and Lulu Yilun Chen. “Alibaba Breaks Sales Record Amid China Singles-Day Rebate.” Bloomberg News. 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2014. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/alibaba-breaks-sales-record-on-china-singles-day-amid-discounts.html>

Canada Business Network. “Canada Business Network’s Blog.” Canada Business Network’s Blog. Blogs. 5 Sep. 2014. Web. 8 Nov. 2014. <http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/4778/>

Comment on Tianye Guo’s post: A Huge Jump For International Students’ Tuition

The most popular topic in October around campus was about rising international students’ tuition. I have compared UBC’s tuition to that of other universities, and found that UBC’s tuition is the most students-friendly one. However, Angel has showed us something interesting in different perspectives.

According to Angel, UBC, to some extent, is like a company. Their products are the various degrees, and the customers are students from all over the world. The tuition paid by students is the income. UBC use large portion of the money to construct new campus facilities and residence area, recruit famous professors, and provide students with more services. The reason why UBC charge students more tuition is obvious. They are running out of money. The remaining cash is far from enough to maintain the operation of the whole university. Cash is like oxygen. People need oxygen to survive, and companies depend on certain amount of cash to operate. Angel also used elasticity to explain why the tuition increases, which can be a good point as well.

It is not right or wrong that UBC increase the tuition. When a company makes a decision, the decision maker must consider every aspect and choose the better alternative.

Works Cited

Guo, Tianye. “Tianye Guo’s Blog.” Tianye Guo’s Blog. UBC Blogs. Oct. 2014. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

Couple of weeks ago, I received an email from the AMS President about UBC tuition and residence fee increases. According to the email, the university has proposed an increase to international tuition by 10% above the current levels for the incoming cohort of students, and a 20% increase to residence fees applied for those students living in Winter Session housing.

There is no doubt that there will definitely be more family financial pressure if the university increases the tuition and residence fees. Since not all the students have scholarships, many of them have to face the fact that they need to pay more in order to continue their studies.

However, comparing to other universities, UBC has charged much less than others. For example, student A, who is an international student, had been admitted in several business schools by the end of April, 2014, such as Sauder School of Business, Rotman Commerce, and Queen’s School of Business. He is making his decision. All else equal, he only thinks about the tuition. He would absolutely choose Sauder School of Business. Here is the tuition information. In the first year, Sauder may charge $26,890.20; Rotman may charge $35,280; Queen’s may charge $ 32,723. Therefore, UBC may be a good choice for the students who have a tight budget on their tuition.

Works Cited

Queen’s University Bachelor of Commerce

Program Fees. Retrieved from

http://business.queensu.ca/bcom/future_students/costs.php

University of British Colombia Student Service (2014)

Undergraduates Tuition Fees. Retrieved from

http://students.ubc.ca/enrolment/finances/tuition/undergraduate-tuition-fees

University of Toronto Vice-President and Provost. (2014)

Comm/Bus Admin (International Fees). Retrieved from

http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/link/students/fees15/intl_cba.htm

Image (URL)

https://consultations.students.ubc.ca/consultations/international-student-tuition-consultation

“First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown”

A new dam was designed to build on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia to generate more electricity. In a political aspect, first nation people have been given many privileges. Therefore, their willingness is essential to the construction of the new dam. The thoughts of first nation people should be taken into account. In an environmental perspective, it is predicted “the dam would flood 83 kilometers of the Peace River Valley from near Fort St. John to Hudson’s Hope, destroying farmland and wildlife habitat”. This can be a great change on the environment. The consequences could directly affect local people, and the changes of environment might have a negative influence on ecosystem. Some analysts stated that with the growing population in that area, the federal and provincial government should give up this project. In a social perspective, building a new dam definitely costs a lot. Citizens are those who pay for the dam since they pay the taxes. The voice of society is also important. The government builds a new dam can cause heated discussion.

Works Cited

O’NEIL, PETER. “First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown: Group argues flooding valley would impair their rights to fish, hunt

and use the area for ceremonial purposes”. The Vancouver Sun. 18 Sep. Web. 6 Oct. 2014 <http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html?__federated=1?

With the supporting of Google’s free operating system – Android, Samsung has been Apple’s most competitive competitor in smartphone market. However, Samsung also has to pay a large sum of money to Microsoft for some patents used in Android system as well. Actually, not only Samsung but also other smartphone manufacturing companies who use Android operating system have to face with this problem – paying certain amount of royalty fee to get access to using the patents.

Personally, I think Samsung is facing with a challenge in today’s technology competition. As a giant company, they cannot guarantee to devote enough time and effort to developing operating system. What they can do is to modify their phones to adjust the Android system or to make their phones work better under Android system. Since Samsung is using Android for free, they do not have to charge customers extra. If Google changed their mind and stopped offering free access to Android, the cost of producing a Samsung smartphone would definitely increase. It is hard to predict whether customers will pay for this extra charge in the future. They may turn to their second best choice.

Works Cited

Ovide, Shira. “Samsung Paid Microsoft $1 Billion Last Year for Android Royalty, Filing Says”. Wall Street Journal. Oct 3^rd. Web.

Oct 4^th.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/samsung-paid-microsoft-1-billions-last-year-for-android-phone-royalty-court-filing-says-1412382330

Image(URL)

http://www.met-scan.com/SiteAssets/products-and-suppliers/Samsung-Logo.jpg

With the release of new Apple products, the public is paying their attention to those fancy stuffs. Bending an iPhone 6 has been a heated topic on every social media. Some customers just put their phones in their back pocket, after a while, they can have their phones bent. Also, some people upload videos about bending their phone for fun. It seems that Apple has been involved in a new crisis.

However, Apple has rebutted this problem, and claimed that only nine customers have reported this issue. They also state that when the phones in customers’ pockets such issue would appear.

Last month, Apple launched its new products, many of which have been criticized, especially their new operating system. In my opinion, Apple has not done a good job this year. With so many technical problems occurring, Apple is suspecting going all the way down. They do have breakthrough; however, compared to what they have done a few year ago, their performance this year is relatively disappointing, which directly affects the price of their stock.

Works Cited

Wakabayashi, Daisuke. “Apple Rebuts Complaints of Bending iPhones Tech Giant Says Only Nine Customers Have Complained About Bent iPhones”. Wall Street Journal. Sep 25^th. Web. Oct 4^th

http://online.wsj.com/articles/apple-defends-against-complaints-of-bending-iphones-1411668618?KEYWORDS=apple

Image (URL)

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/znK652H6yQM/maxresdefault.jpg

Tesla has got involved into new trouble in China. Recently, Tesla has made about 4,000 cars for Chinese customers. There is no doubt that Tesla is gradually expanding its global market. However, some argue that Tesla needs to build more charging stations since most Chinese do not park their cars in garages. This will definitely increase the cost. Moreover, there might be a possibility that the customers are scattered. It would be hard for Tesla to decide where to build those charging stations. Analysts think Tesla’ s stock has been overrated, and there are potential crisis in the stock. Even the CEO of Tesla thinks the price of their stock was too high.

Nowadays, there are an increasing number of automobile companies turning to electric cars. Personally, I think the technologies of manufacturing electric cars are not advanced since under some circumstances the cars would catch on fire. Rome was not built in one night; therefore, constructing the charging network does take time. Not only the automobile companies have to spare efforts but also the government. I think government plays an important role in the popularization of electric cars since at the end of the day public charging stations will be part of the infrastructure.

Works Cited

Lewitinn, Lawrence. “This chart spells trouble for Tesla”. Yahoo Finance. Oct 1^st 2014. Web.  Oct 1^st 2014.

<http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/talking-numbers/this-chart-spells-trouble-for-tesla-191716697.html?soc_src=copy>

Image(URL)

http://openitagency.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/tesla_logo_horz.jpg

“The woman who nearly died making your iPad”

According to this article, a woman committed suicide because of the heavy workload in the factory where she worked. The factory is Foxicon, which manufactures the Apple products.

There are many sweat shops in the world. They push their workers hard, and their workers have  to work for a long time in order to make a living. Some people argue that the working and living condition is terrible in sweat shops, the worker’s wages are too low, and they pollute the environment. However, it is undeniable that those sweat shops do make an effort of improving poor people’s living standard. In some African countries, there are sweat shops, and those sweat shops do offer relatively good wages. For example, a nanny may only earn little compared to a sweat shop worker. In this way, those people can lead a better life. Also, those sweat shops can help boost the local economy, which is original expectation of the government. Moreover, the sweat shops provide job opportunities for people, and the unemployment rate decreases. So it may be a dilemma. The sweat shops are controversial, but it makes us to think more about the business ethics.

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