Shirali Desai’s post about the microfinance mentioned SKS Microfinance, a company providing microfinance service in India, had lowered the loan interest to small and medium enterprises.

The move of SKS Microfinance is a mutual-beneficial leap for its company and small and medium enterprises in India. While SKS Microfinance can widen its consumer base, the loans become more affordable for the small and medium enterprises.

In essence, Microfinance is particular financial services provided to comparatively lower income clients. Microfinance has particularly huge impact in developing countries, as it leads individuals from low income families to walk away from the cycle of poverty.

People in developing countries may always have innovative ideas. However, the lack of funds hinders the ideas to become actual plan. Without sufficient capital, no matter how ideal an idea is, it is still an idea, but not an action plan. To tackle the root of the problem, providing loans in a low interest rate is an attainable solution. The provision of Microfinance is not a panacea, to fully utilize the idea of Microfinance, a realistic yet ambitious plan is essential. With the aid of sufficient fund and capital, the business plans of the lower income clients could be achieved more easily.

Some may argue that such service facilitates dreamers to carry out unrealistic ideas as the interest to borrow loan is lowered. However, it may not be totally true. At the end of the day, the small and medium enterprises still have to repay the loans. If their ideas can generate them money, they are the only one to be blamed, and they are the only one to suffer. The provision of microfinance, in fact, only helps the businessmen with realistic and fully developed business plans, which they fully deserve the help.

Source:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/shiralidesai/2015/11/15/the-microfinance-movement/

I am opposed to the “ one for one “ business model because other than really helping the poor, the “one for one” business model is marketing tool.

The one for one business model of Toms Shoes means that for every pair of shoes that a customer bought from Tom Shoes, the company would give away a free pair to someone who needed shoes. The one for one business model is an innovative idea that makes use of the company’s profits to help fighting against poverty by giving people shoes, which are basic necessities nowadays.

However, the one for one business model has come across the same old moral contradiction, “ Is giving the best way to fight against poverty?”

Helping the poor by granting them things is a bad idea as it encourages them to wait for help passively instead of making their own money. It is unarguable that it improves the quality of life of the poor, but is that really helping them? From the long-term aspect, the answer is crystal clear that it is no! The best way to help to poor is to equip them skills and abilities to work in the society and make their own money to support their livings.

The one for one business model is more like a marketing tool to arouse people’s attention and benevolence that to increase the company’s sales as a result.

The one for one business model is definitely a good thing for companies to do in order to help the needy people, however, they are far more better ways to help the people in need. Therefore, I would rather companies to help the poor in a different way, and I am opposed against the one for one business model.

Source:

http://www.toms.ca/improving-lives

After a of series attacks on 13^th November, the French President Francois Hollande has declared a rare state of emergency for only the second time since World War II. Prior to this, in November 2005 when the death of two teenagers of immigrant descent sparked countrywide riots, and the state of emergency lasted for about three months.

Essentially, under the state of emergency, the cities and neighborhoods will implement a curfew, and borders surrounding the nation will have a high security influx.

Moreover, putting the country into the state of emergency will severely harm the economy of the country, especially when a country depends heavily on tourism.

However, after the terrorist attack in Paris, most countries have issued travel alert for France, and France herself has declared the state of emergency. Flights to and from Paris have been affected and people from all over can hardly enter as well as exit France, and people will be less willing to visit France for vacation purposes due to this increased security at borders. Similar to how the heavy increase in border security impacted tourism to New York City negatively for several years. It will also harm the businesses in France, as the trading in France will also be severely disturbed due to the EU’s likely increase of expenditure on national security and decrease in trade across nations.

The terrorist attack in France is so horrifying that as a result people from all over the world are frightened. In a month or so, it will be Christmas time, which is a peak season for travelling and vacation for major cities such as Paris. However, due to the attacks on the city, even if state of emergency in France is abolished before Christmas (which is highly likely) people will be very unwillingly to take the risk and visit France. Therefore, the income from tourism during the Christmas vacation this year for France can be expected to suffer a massive loss. The government of France has to spend a large amount on national security, as well as re-introducing the tourism of France.

Source:

http://time.com/4112625/france-state-of-emergency/

Victor Yang’s blog post discusses about the success of China’s Alibaba reaching a highest volume of transaction, which was 91.2 Billion of RMB.

On the Singles Day of China, which is also the Remembrance Day of Canada, Tianmao reached an insanely high volume of transaction.

The life of being single might be dull and boring, but we can always treat ourselves a little better in order to colorize our lives. Unsurprisingly, Alibaba comes up with an idea of celebrating the Singles Day by shopping. The commodities that we desire never fail to cheer us up, do they?

Tianmao, which was known as Tabao, is an online shopping website that is popular in China. With a huge population of the Chinese, and the rapid growth of China’s economy, Tianmao has a gigantic consumer base with sufficient purchasing power. Moreover, by offering favorable discounts, the consumers would be more willing and tempted to spend money.

In order to popularize the Singles Day and incentivize the consumers to do shopping, discount was offered. Moreover, Tianmao is an easy-to-use online shopping website that consumers can simply browse the website, look for items they want and add them into the cart. And to checkout, consumers only have to pay by their credit card and the transactions will then be done in minutes. Consumers do not have to visit the actual store, and the products will be delivered to their homes within days.

All to all, the Shopping Carnival is a successful marketing tool that contributes to generate a greater amount of sale, as people love discounts all the time.

Source:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/yangshuai/2015/11/13/alibabas-great-success-on-11-november/

The findings of Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer have brought a terrific warning to the public of Canada, which is that every four out of ten workers with a university degree are overqualified for their job after graduation.

The university grads are now taking up jobs that require a lower academic requirement, meaning they are overeducated for what they are doing, or they are underemployed with the level of the academic attainment they achieve.

Ever since the recent thirty years, people all over the world deem the piece of certificate of university graduation the ticket to success in the career. Teenagers are self-motivated, as well as forced by the parents, to attain a certain level of academic achievement, which university graduation is more or less a universal standard of completion of academic.

However, is this a healthy growth for the labour market?

In last year, it reached 40% that the university graduates aged 25 to 34 were overqualified for their jobs.

Attaining a university degree is never an easy task, it takes time, resources and money to get the qualification. Moreover, the university graduates also have to sacrifice the money and experience that can be gained by working in their ideal field of occupation.

Too much overeducated employees is a problem for the whole economy. The university graduates have a low job satisfaction as they may find the tasks to easy, they will feel less attached to the company, resulting to a high turnover rate for employers.

The university graduation seems something within reach, but it takes a few years for me. In my opinion, the university degree is not only a degree or qualification, it is also a tool to equip myself with knowledge and skills that help me develop in my career. The stage of life in university is not only about studying, yet that is what university students do most of the time, it is an experience that will forever stay in our minds. The ups and downs throughout the university journey, the crazy nights working on assignments, the joy while hanging out with friends, sometimes even during class time, will all be our most cherished memories in life. Therefore, even if our jobs in the future might not need our qualifications, university is still somewhere worth going.

Source:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pbo-jobs-1.3317890

Popcorn time, a popular torrent site for streaming movies for free, has been shut down by the Motion Picture Association of America recently. The Motion Picture Association of America brought legal action against the PopcornTime.io as it had been providing illegal content to Popcorn Time. Obviously, the infringement of copyrights by Popcorn Time, which is commonly known as the Netflix for pirates, forms the basis of the Motion Picture Association of America’s argument urging Popcorn Time to shut down.

Chris Dodd, the chair of the Motion Picture Association of America has claimed that by shutting down illegal sites like Popcorn Time, it will protect their members’ creative work, the innovative legal distribution platforms and the millions of people whose jobs depend on a vibrant motion picture and television industry.

However, Popcorn Time is only a tip of the iceberg. In the internet, there are countless illegal torrent sites that allow users to watch movies and TV shows. For the Motion of Picture of Association of America to shut down all illegal online torrent sites it would entail massive effort, as there are just too many of these websites around.

The enterprises that provide such service do not only have poor business ethics, they also harm the movie industry. Firstly, they infringe the copyrights of the moviemakers. Instead of watching the movies in the cinema, people can watch the movies online free of charge now. The sale of movie tickets will greatly drop, and it will deteriorate the profitability of the movies. Secondly, the legal digital distribution platforms will have competitors in an unleveled playing field. As the consumers can now enjoy the movie for free, the consumers of those legal digital distribution networks are very likely to transfer themselves to use the free torrent sites although they are illegal.

If the copyrights of the creative work are not protected securely, the companies of the creative work industry will lose its uniqueness and will be unable to sustain in the industry.

Everyone loves free stuff, including myself. Undoubtedly, the provisions of free movie by those torrent sites is very tempting, yet if everyone does not respect the copyrights of creative work, no one will be willing to invest in the creative work industry. If people still want new captivating songs, movies and TV shows, we have to learn to respect copyrights, which is a crucial key in the creative work industry.

Source:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mpaa-popcorn-time-1.3303428

“Don’t be the hardest worker in your job or in your job hunt” may somehow sound ridiculous to most, but it is definitely an innovative idea brought up by Penelope Trunk, Founder and CEO of Brazen Careerist. “Don’t be the hardest worker in your job or in your job hunt” is actually a blog post of hers supported by studies.

In the blog post, she insisted people should not work the most hours in the job, yet never look lazy in our job. Prevent from worsening quality of work, it is better not to work continuously for too long. Simply, the reason is we lose our passion and concentration if we work nonstop.

Totally, I agree with such an idea, as I always believe, working smart is definitely more efficient than working hard. By working smart, it means we have to know what we are working on, and know what is the most efficient way to work on a particular task. Although tremendous the workload may be, if we work smart and have good time management skills, we can conquer the work for sure (sometimes it might be a matter of time though). For example, instead of working non-stop, breaks are essential to success. By taking a ten to fifteen minutes break, we can freshen up our minds, and new ideas may pop up in our heads. Taking a break is not procrastinating, but a reasonable break for us as well as our minds.

Working non-stop is only a fatigue to our minds. To work efficiently, we don’t always have to be the hardest person, but we always need a correct attitude towards work, work smartly, and work a dedicated heart towards what we are doing.

External Blog :

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/04/16/dont-be-the-hardest-worker-in-your-job-or-in-your-job-hunt/

Apple Inc, commonly known as Apple, is a technology company that designs, produces and sells electronic appliances. Apple is known as being innovative, and its new project, which is in rumors, is definitely going to thrill the world.

The Apple Car, also known as the Project Titan, is expected to come in 2019. The Apple Car will very likely be a self-driving electric car. In other words the Apple Car will be a robot car!

Apple has been keeping Project Titan as a secret project for years, but the existence of the Project Titan is documented for the first time as Apple senior vice-president Jeff Williams has called the car “the ultimate mobile device” in May.

Apple is always innovative. For example, the iPhone has it own mobile operating system know as iOS, while most of the other smartphones in the market are using the operating system of Android. Moreover, when most of the other computers are using the operating system of Microsoft, Apple has its own operating system known as OS X for all of their macs.

Apple never fails to surprise. And this time, the Apple Car is going to be a huge surprise for the massive car industry if the Apple Car really comes out in 2019. A self-driving car made by a technology company that originally mainly sells mobile phones and computer, who could have imagined that? Moving from the electronic appliance industry to the automotive industry is a giant leap of the company. From engaging a new industry, Apple clearly can diversify its risk, and open up new business opportunities. As arguably the leader in the electronic appliance industry, it is obviously a clever move that will benefit the company in long term.

The Apple Car might be too early to mention at the present, as it will most likely not come into production until 2019 at the earliest. But still, the Apple Car, also know as the Project Titan, is something we can dream of for now and look forward to in the future.

Source

http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/09/21/apple-car-2019/

Nike has been the favorite brand of lots of people all over the world, but the brand might undergo a revolutionary change in 2016, as the chairman, Phil Knight will be stepping down from the company.

Phil Knight had told the world that he will only be stepping down as chairman. Instead of walking away entirely, Phil Knight will remain a part of Nike in some capacity.

To most, Nike is merely a company, but to Knight, Nike is a lifelong passion. And to me, Nike is one of my favorite brands. Mark Parker, the current CEO of Nike will take over as chairman of the company from 2016. From my point of view, Nike has an uncertain future. The internal structure of the company may undergo a massive transformation, which is common whenever a new boss is taking over the company.

Nike has always been my favorite sports brand. As a huge fan of Nike who have a variety of different collections of their sneakers, Phil Knight is always appreciated as a legend. Without Phil Knight, Nike would never be such a dominating sports brand that has multiple series of sneakers. The Air Jordan, the Air Max, the Roshe Run, and countless different sneakers from Nike would not have been the fantasy of most teenagers.

   

Phil Knight has been chairman for Nike for half a century, started from a small project of $500 in 1964 to one of the, if not the, biggest sports brand in the world which sponsors world class athletes, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lebron James and Rory Mcilroy. The company is becoming synonymous with sports around the world. Personally, I hope Mark Parker will continue to do successful work in the Nike brand.

A company will definitely go through different stages throughout the business cycle, and as the top management of Nike, Phil Knight has led the company to success. What will Nike become without Phil Knight is uncertain as of yet, but as a fan of Nike, I hope Nike will further expand its business, and come up with new sneakers for the sneakerheads all over the world.

Source:

http://registerguard.com/rg/sports/33562923-81/phil-knight-stepping-down-not-walking-away-from-nike.html.csp

Business ethics, basically, are the moral standards that a company relies on when the staff make decisions. In the business world, all decisions will be related to everyone engaged in the business environment. But, are business ethics all about that?

Google, apparently, is one of companies that is known to have the best business ethics.

Firstly, the staff of Google, also known as the Googlers, can enjoy complete free health care and treatment from on-site doctors, professional legal advice in a discounted price, a pantry that is fully stocked. Google even provides childcare facilities, academic scholarships and travel insurance to its employees. By then, it shows that towards the employees of Google, as the targeted stakeholder, Google is demonstrating what good business ethics are supposed to be like.

As a wide impact of Google’s business ethics, Google endeavours to minimise the degree of negative impacts to the environment while the business is ran. Moreover, Google has a Google Green Program that donates a huge amount of money to reduce the damage to the environment, as well as to further develop renewable energy projects. By the heavy investment on renewable energy sources, especially solar power and wind power, Google is ambitious to be the first carbon neutral company in the world.  Currently, the company’s buildings are known to be energy efficient which contribute to a greener and healthier, yet productive working place for the staff.

The ethical business standards upheld in Google is a demonstration of being socially responsible to the world. Imagine how terrible a business world would be if everyone in the business world cared merely profit making, and turned a blind eye to all the things that were not considered as beneficial nor profitable to their companies. It is obvious that nobody will ever want to live such an horrifying environment, isn’t it?

Business ethics, are basically and undeniably, what a company should treasure the most in order to build a healthy business world that everyone enjoys to be engaged in.

Source:

http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/publications/google-code-of-conduct-don-t-be-evil