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According to the “New penalties for businesses that use illegal electronic sales suppression software” this blog, I knew that electronic sales suppression (ESS) software is banned in Canada as it helps people evade taxes by deliberately deleting part of their sales from their computer records. Even though people know it is illegal to do this, there are still some Canadian businesses which buy and use it. The CRA set new policies about new penalties for this action.

Maybe some people think the new penalties are too strict, but I think the CRA is doing the right thing because I have realized the gravity of the situation. The government needs tax revenue because the number of retired people who need pensions is becoming larger and larger in Canada, so the government needs to spend more on the pension parts. If the penalties for using ESS software are not strict enough, more businesses will swindle the taxes off of the government in order to make more profits. As a result, the government will lose a lot of money.

Besides, the government also needs enough money to do something else like investments. If the authorities do not take measures like an administrative monetary penalty of $5,000 on the first infraction and penalties of $50,000 on each subsequent infraction to prevent tax fraud, there will be more and more behavior of taxes evading. What’s more, the tax revenue is an important part of income statement for the government. The budget for road construction mostly comes from the tax revenue.

Reference:                     

http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/4747/

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A social enterprise is an organization which is comprised of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs look for opportunities to apply commercial strategies to maximize social value instead of shareholders’ profits. One of the aims of a social enterprise is help low-income labors fight poverty. For example, Salem Kassahun is a social entrepreneur, and he owns Salem’s Ethiopia, which is a fair trade operation, making profits while respecting fair labor practices so it enriches the lives of its workers.

Even if the United Nations was fully funded, it still needs social enterprises. Most of private companies just care about their total profits, and they do not respect the environment. For example, some of private companies release toxic discharge to a lake directly without any filtration in order to save money. The larger amount of toxic discharge is released, the worse the environment will be.

Besides, there must be several sweatshops existing in every country that has seat in the UN. Labors work for long hours per day at very low wages, and the work places are under poor conditions which have no job security. As a result, labors’ living standards are very poor.

A social enterprise tackles these major social issues. No matter whether it is for-profit or not, it does anything that is effective. “You need to know how to manage your money, manage your staff and manage your ideas,” said Gatete. Social entrepreneurs have specific goals about how to fundamentally improve society. For example, donating their money to charities or operating social business can be an effective way.

References:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/can-fair-trade-boutique-expand-without-alienating-customers/article4405520/

http://news.ubc.ca/2014/06/30/upward-arc/

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

 

The article about “How Mexico’s ‘cupcake queen’ rebuilt her life” interests me. I believe that businesswomen also have the ability to have their own careers rather than just being housewives because women are not worse than men. The reasons why fewer women are as successful as men is that they are not brave enough, and they were scared of knowing how things would go, just like Conchita Valdez said in the story.

Sometimes, women may have to put more efforts on their business because of sexual discrimination. People are likely not that believe in women, and they think women are weaker than men. Conchita Valdez shows people that it is possible for women to be successful. Before she opened a café, she had two-year experience about operating a small restaurant, and that provides her with a good foundation to launch a café business.

In my mind, Conchita Valdez’s market strategies, like market research, help her better achieve the aim. She had several research trips to American in order to find a new recipe which perfectly adapts the US recipes to the taste of the Mexican consumers. However, it is better not to have so many franchises because the history of La Cupcakeria’s coffee is not long enough, people may not know this brand well. If there is any product quality problem, it may destroy the brand’s reputation. As a result, Conchita Valdez has to take the whole risks when the business goes bankrupt because there is no other shareholder.

In my mind, I think Conchita Valdez needs to find some partners to get more financial support so that she can not only spread the business, but also there are other people to share the responsibility.

  

Reference:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29746261

According to the sources, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix said in a letter to shareholders in March, 2014 that he has planned later this year to embark on a substantial European expansion. I found that Jennifer mentioned that , Netflix has expanded into European markets in six countries. I agree with Jennifer that Amazon is the biggest rivalry to Netflix, which also offers instant movies but has entered European markets much earlier than any others. As Netflix originates from America, it does not have as high brand prestige as Amazon. Therefore, compared with Amazon, Netflix is a little less competitive in Europe.

In Jennifer’s blog, she thought the American style of shows has somehow flushed the domestic film production industry and causes the homegrown movies hard to make profit. I think it is partially right because there are 14 percent revenues of Netflix coming from foreign markets. However, “the video-on-demand giant faces a host of challenges if it is to continue to grow abroad.” In my mind, Netflix provides people with similar types of films. Therefore, when people are tired of local tastes of movies, they may switch their wants, changing to other types of movies like Romantic Film. As a result, Netflix cannot earn much profit.

Besides, I believe that Netflix will find that it is going to be more difficult to expand in European markets not only because the new regulation states in Jennifer’s blog, but also people prefer watching movies via online piracy. People can save a lot of money if they choose not to register in the Netflix website because they do not need to pay for movies any more. If that happens, Netflix will lose much customer volume.

Reference:

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/netflix-goes-global-will-it-pay

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101487231

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-plan-conquer-world-449083

I like Cecile Ouillet’s blog because I have learned that during the economic recession, reducing employer hours and laying people off may help to recover the economy in a long-term period. I agree with Cecile’s opinion that the recession helped to reconstruct companies and lower employment costs. As the essay indicates that “they could take a small severance package and collect unemployment or they could stay at truncated versions of their old jobs if they wished, but as part-timers with no benefits and no commissions”, which companies to pay less on labor salaries since there is no welfare such as house insurance anymore.

These strategies work well because companies can save a lot of money on labor costs. When there is an economic recession, prices of products may fall. Therefore, companies have to cut their costs as much as possible to remain the original profit level. However, the goal of reducing other costs, for example, raw material costs, and etc., are not easy to reach; Therefore, companies decide to recruit cheaper labor who are looking for part-time jobs. Cecile thought that labors have no incentive to work if they are part-timers because they get fewer stable jobs with lower salaries. Besides, these part-time jobs do not offer any benefit to them.

I think the idea of having too many part-time labors may lower production efficiencies. Well-trained labors bring companies more profits. It is necessary for some companies to provide customers with experienced employees. It said that, “her loyal clients return each season saying, ‘You know what I like. What have you got for me?’” If companies fire these old labors or turn them to part-timers, company owners will lose many customers. Just like what Cecile said, workers are important assets.

 

Reference：

Article: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2013/08/20/how-corporate-america-used-great-recession-turn-good-jobs-bad-ones

Image: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/great-recession-part-time-jobs

Talking about First Nations, I have to mention that First Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Metis. First Nations are immigrants from middle Asia. They had been repressed by federal government since Canada was created in 1867.

In 1867, the amended Indian Act allowed the government to control most of those people’s life. In 1999, an agreement called the First Nations Land Management Act was signed by other Aboriginal. It allowed First Nations to reserve their own lands, while remaining other treaties unchanged in the Indian Act.

In 2008, Prime Minister Stephan Harper apologized for the policy about “kill the Indian in the child”. The government had a plan to assimilate Indian, and Aboriginal children were forced to forget their language and culture. In 2010, the Indian Act was abolished at the annual meeting of Assembly of First Nations.

Nowadays, “Eligible former Indian Residential Schools students who qualified for the Common Experience Payment under the IRS Settlement Agreement may now qualify for a one time IRS Personal Credit for educational programs and services.” This is a big change for First Nations. People can go to Indian Residential Schools with a large amount of subsidies provided by the government. Unlike now, people would lose their Indian status as long as they earned a university degree in the past.

The more people who receive high-level education, the quicker the growth of technology will be, and the faster the economy development will be as well. Years ago, the Aboriginal survived on hunting buffalo and cutting trees, and they only knew how to sew clothes by using raw material like leaves. If they can receive education from school, they may know how to trade with others using currency instead of products. To some extent, it can accelerate the circulation of money.

Reference:

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/background-the-indian-act-1.1056988

http://www.afn.ca/index.php/en/news-media/current-issues/irs-personal-credit-available-to-eligible-IRS-students

 

“US unemployment rate hit a six-year low in September. The US unemployment rate dipped to 5.9% in September, a six-year low.”

 

“The rate fell from 6.1% in August and is the lowest recorded since July 2008”. “The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates close to zero since the financial crisis in 2008.” In order to lower the US unemployment rate, the government should lower interest rates because that helps boost spending. As the US interest rates are low, people are not willing to save money in banks. Instead, they would like to spend more money on services and products. As a result, aggregate demands are higher because total expenditure increases. Higher demands lead to lower unemployment rate because we need more workers to produce more products to satisfy increasing demands, and then more people have salaries so that they spend more on consuming goods, which is a good flow that the government would like to see.

More jobs were created in the retail sector, health care, construction, leisure, and professional and business services. Fewer people are looking for jobs because they have got jobs they want. To some extent, high employment rate indicates that the economy is pretty good.

As the US interest rates are low, the currency exchange rates are also low. For example, US bonds can just be bought in U.S. dollars, and low interest rates make people do not want to buy US bonds. What’s more, people overseas will move towards higher yielding investments. As a result, the demands for U.S. dollars are lower and lower. Low demands for US dollars lead to low currency  exchange rates. Foreigners tend to buy more U.S. products because of lower price, and Americans will buy fewer imported products, which improves U.S. balance of trade.

Reference:

http://www.bbc.com/news /business-29479533

“One of Britain’s largest cigarette companies has labelled Ed Miliband’s plans for a new tax on tobacco as “unjust and just a bad idea”.”

 “Mr. Miliband said the tax would target tobacco firms which make “soaring profits on the back of ill health”

A value added tax is a form of indirect tax, and it is a tax on the sale price. Only the end consumers need to pay for the VAT. One of the purposes the government charge for the VAT is to generate more revenue, and the other is to stop people from smoking. “Labor said the proposed tax would raise £150 million a year for the NHS.” These revenue can be used for road construction, education, welfare and many other ways.

Taxes from cigarettes is a main financial inflow of many countries. If Ed Miliband plans to propose a tax on tobacco companies’ profits based on market share in the UK, it will raise revenues but the prices for cigarettes will also be higher.

Actually cigarettes get larger market shares and the profits have been increasing rapidly during these years. If the government increase taxes on cigarettes, it will drive a lot of consumers into the hands of criminals as many of them cannot afford the higher price cigarettes. People cannot give up smoking in a short time period, and it is difficult for smokers to do so.

As a result, consumers will buy cheaper cigarettes in black market which is an illegal action. More and more children can also buy cigarettes from black markets as sellers have no qualms about selling to children. When the government calculate GDP, black markets are excluded. Therefore, the stronger black markets are, the less precise the value of GDP.

Reference:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29335440

“Chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to refund the cost of up to 25,000 visas for Chinese tourists in an attempt to attract more visits to the UK.”

“Visa applications for Chinese visitors entering the UK will be simplified, Chancellor George Osborne has announced during his trade trip to China.”

More Chinese tourists travelling to Britain means more investment to the UK. As UK plans to refund the cost of up to 25,000 visas for Chinese tourists, Chinese people are more likely to visit UK. Years ago, Chinese people need to submit the separate UK visa application if they want to travel some European countries. In this case, a lot of people’s trips from including the UK to Europe are deferred and eventually deterred. As long as the visa rules for Chinese coming to the UK to be relaxed, the British economic will be promoted.

“Let me make this clear to you and to the whole of China, there is no limit to the number of Chinese who could study in Britain. There is no limit to the number of Chinese tourists who can visit. No limit on the amount of business we can do together.” Said by Mr Osborne. Even though the UK gets less money from visa, tourists spend more on other products such as restaurants, hotels. Thus, more tourists promote the development of tourism and helps the UK government earn more profits through the tax.

Government agencies must invest more funds in training and development programs, so they need a lot of money. If it is easier for Chinese people to get into the UK, they may invest in British companies. More money also allows companies to purchase more advanced and high-tech equipments. Managers can hire more skilled labors and finalize employees to receive higher level education. Therefore, the quality of products will be much better.

As Chinese medicine, computing and technology programs are developing rapidly during these years, simplifying visa application, to some extent, it means the removal of trade barriers, which helps to speed up both countries research progress and can also boost the development of social economy.

Reference:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-24512781

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29184299

“In light of Facebook’s IPO, Twitter seemed to do everything right; that is, everything except having a gender balanced leadership team. At the time of filing, Twitter had no women amongst its board, major investors, or its executives (save for Vijaya Gadde who was appointed 5 weeks before filing). The story grabbed headlines and brought the issue of female representation in startup and tech companies to the front page.”

Business ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations. To be simplified, business ethics helps people to measure if the business activities are moral.

In essay “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits”, I can understand that business managers’ responsibility is to maximize profits for shareholders, and they need to follow certain social customs. They are not supposed to do things that break the law and go against the business ethics. For example, fraud and deception are not acceptable in business.

About short story, I think Twitter disobeyed the ethical principle because “Twitter had no women amongst its board, major investors, or its executives”. Sexual discrimination is not allowed in a business activity. “All men are created equal”, and there is no working ability difference between women and men. On the other hand, sometimes women are much better in some fields such as management personnel. Therefore, women deserve working opportunities.

In my opinion, sexual discrimination can be a serious issue to the society because women will protest for themselves, which causes rebellions, or strike. Maybe sometimes men have no idea how sexual discrimination is harmful to women’s spirit. If the government wants to booster the economic growth, it should set some policies to help women safeguard their legal rights.

References

http://www.scu.edu/r/ethics-center/ethicsblog/business-ethics-news/17664/TWITTER-IPO:-Where-are-the-Women?

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

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/reader.action?docID=10187339&page=171