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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