While I was browsing Monqiue’s blog I saw her Coca-Cola post, thus I decided to research about Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola seems like an ethical company that repays society. However, when I was searching the word “Coca-Cola’s ethnics”, the first suggestion popped out was “animal test”. At that moment I felt different about Monique’s post. I dug deeper as I assumed Coca-Cola was not as ethical as today’s image. In 2007 there were rumors saying Coca-Cola uses animal to test or develop its products. Apparently Coca-Cola used to use “animals like rats and chimpanzees to test taste perception and in some cases, to bolster support for promotional health claims”. Also according to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Coca-Cola “had a history of invasive animal experimentation”. It would cut open chimpanzees’ face to conduct tests.
As time passed, under the pressure from animal rights activists, it decided to “stop directly financing research that uses animals to test or develop their products.” Hence, Coca-Cola has been trying to redeem its image and give back to the environment such as working with WWF in conserving fresh water.

Resource

https://blogs.ubc.ca/moniqueharjani/2013/11/01/coca-colas-creations-of-shared-value/

When I read Zappos, the first thing that came into mind was an example used in my Organizational Behavior class. My professor showed us a video on Pike Place Fish. Pike Place Fish is a fish market located in Seattle. They are famous for their attitudes toward consumers and their interaction with them. I was amazed at their artifacts, values and beliefs. Their mission is to make everyone’s day happy and their value is to have fun while working. Their tradition is the “flying fish” which employees would start yelling out what fish is needed back and forth then one employee will throw it to another. Sometimes a consumer is picked to try and catch the fish and this “game” gives consumers a sense of pride and happiness because they are proud that they has succeeded in catching a huge fish like the employees.

A common thing I see between these two companies is that they work well as a team. The employers provide training to let employee prioritize consumers. They also create an enthusiastic and energetic environment to reduce stress, thus increased the productivity of employees. Both companies also seems like as if the employees are one big family. These are great role models for companies to follow.

Flying Fish Game

Resource

http://www.pikeplacefish.com/about/

Greece got into this crisis is related to the political system. Political parties spend lots of money as they used patronage, subsidies and government jobs to bribe voters. Then Eurozone implemented a one-size-fits-all currency and Greece could not adjust to it.

Currently Greece owes 350 billion Euros.

SWOT analysis

In conclusion,  Europe will still try and help Greece as Greece is still part of Eurozone. However, the debt Greece owes will not be paid back in the next 30 years.

I am very interested in the food industry and dreamed about being an entrepreneur in this industry. An example is Zimt Artisan Chocolates; its products are all organic as it targets healthy people including vegans. It has the traditional chocolate bars while offering more special products such as cookie dough and macaroons. Although it does not have a store for its own brand, Zimt distributes its products into many stores and cafes all around Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria, Toronto and many more places.
While browsing her website, I had some questions that I wanted to ask her and Emma was kind enough to reply my email
My questions were related to her connections, struggles and tips in being an entrepreneur. (Her reply is the image below)

Her email was really helpful for me to plan on being an entrepreneur. I understand why her biggest struggle is herself because it can be hectic when running a company especially how Emma has to help make the chocolates too.
Before reading her tip, I never thought of staying focus for that long because I only concentrate when I had procrastinated and needed to finish an assignment by a certain deadline. I assume when one is focusing on a certain thing, time passes faster.
I am deeply grateful that I had a chance to meet Emma in class.

My opinion regarding Greg Savage’s blog (External) :

I really agree with this post that it is not “OK” to be late for everything. Initially I just read through about it and went on with my life. Then later on, I received an e-mail from the Head TA regarding this issue. Then I realize this post should be shared to everyone. Being punctual should be applied to every event and not just for school. Punctuality reflects on one’s attitudes, behaviours, values and personalities. For example, in a meeting, if I was on time but my team members were all late, I would feel disrespected and ignored. This act is also unfair to people who are punctual as the “latecomers” seem to have power over others that he or she can be late without suffering from any consequences. The worst part is that these “latecomers” are the ones who normally request a meeting. In my point of view, if I can be on time, I am sure others can too.
Another reason that being late is unacceptable is that you may have missed some important news. For instance, classes and meetings may start without your presence, thus you may have missed out an important discussion or debriefing.
To : Rob, Tamar, and Kelly, I am sorry I was late twice

mini comic strip:

then . . .

I found this article Interesting because it is contradicting that Nokia, who is currently in process with merging with Microsoft, would produce a similar product to the company that will be working together. An analogy would be two people working in a team but deep down they are actually competing with another.

I think after they merge, one has to be eliminated in the market because it is unproductive to sell almost an identical product. If I was the C.E.O I would eliminate the Microsoft tablet. Personally I think Nokia will have a greater market although it is not a huge brand in U.S. However, I think Nokia can focus its market in Asia.

From a consumer’s point of view, by juxtaposing the two tablets, it reveals the differences in their hardware. Nokia uses 2.2GHz Qualcomm while Microsoft uses 1.7 GHz Nvida Tegra 4. This shows Nokia’s tablet has a faster processer and will not “lag” as much.

Although the price is higher than Microsoft, the demand for Nokia’s tablet seems greater, thus I would immediately stop spending expenses to produce two products that compete in the same market and focus on the Nokia tablet instead.

sources:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57609343-94/qualcomm-microsofts-surface-2-cant-compare-to-nokias-windows-tablet/

http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-22/microsofts-tablet-strategy-is-straight-out-of-the-thunderdome

I chose this article because I wanted to write about an industry that I am interested in, food industry, which can also relate to Comm 101. ALW Food Group is a German company but has an office in the Chicago and it specializes in honey products. However, one day, several federal agents took von Buddenbrock and Giesselbach into questioning about the honey business regarding ALW’s honey shipments. The U.S Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security uncovered a conspiracy about illegally shipping honey from china to the states. Instead of revealing to the government that the honey is from China, ALW reported it from other countries because tariff on other countries are lower. For many years ALW has been shipping its honey to different places to be relabeled before it is shipped to U.S. This has saved $80 million dollars which is one of the largest frauds in U.S history. However, most executives are not in custody because they are currently in Germany. I think this is not only showing bad ethnics but has disappointed its consumers because we spend our money into ALW’s products and believed in its reliability. I would feel taken advantaged as I can pay another product for the same price.

Resource: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-19/how-germany-s-alw-got-busted-for-the-largest-food-fraud-in-u-dot-s-dot-history

While browsing my classmates’ blogs, an article that caught my attention was “City Harvest Church Funds Embezzlement”, posted by Gabriel Chua. I really agree with his analysis and opinion. I think it is unforgivable that people use the Church’s name to acquire donation that is not used for the church, instead the church members spent the money to support a singer. I think the worst part is that they do not believe what they have done is wrong; rather they try to argue against their crime. In a way, I think Ho should have been punished as well because I think she knows there is mismanagement with the church’s finance since suddenly there was lots of money to support her in the music career for the past few years. This ambiguous money should have aroused her suspicion to question the church’s accountants. The article also reminded me of the lecture on accounting when we were discussing about fraud.

Resource: https://blogs.ubc.ca/gabrielchua/2013/09/11/city-harvest-church-funds-embezzlement/

An article that I am interested  was mentioned in class which was about the Netflix Vs. Amazon Prime. Few years ago, Netflix’s stocks dropped a huge amount of percentage due to Amazon’s new streaming-video business. However, within years, Netflix’s stocks raised more than 50%. I am curious how Netflix overcome this challenge. It seems like Netflix changed its marketing strategy to attract more subscribers. Netflix has been customizing their style so that it suits consumers more. Netflix’s videos are in “super HD” 1080p streams and for some videos are in 3d-resolution for people who have 3D televisions. Besides, Netflix has funded a popular drama, House of Cards, which only Netflix has exclusive rights to stream on its web. In my opinion to further increase subscribers, I suggest Netflix creates a place for people to discuss about recommendations for Netflix to  increase connections between Netflix and consumers. Also this can help the marketers realize what consumers really want from Netflix.

Resource: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/12694/5-Marketing-Lessons-from-Netflix.aspx

When people hear the words “business ethics”, they tend to relate it to negative issues because some companies tend to disregard ethics. Disregarding ethics can reduce expense which can result in a greater profit. For example, some companies pollute the environment by dumping toxics into rivers. However, there are still companies that try to make our society a better place to live. This article compliments Safelite as it respects the environment and its employees. Safelite has strictly followed a code of ethics, been aware of its impact on the environment and been donating to non-profit organizations. It is most proud of the windshield recycling program because it has reduced 15,000 to 20,000 tons of material that was going to landfills. Another program named Safelite AutoGlass Foundation has donated more than $5 million to nonprofits. Furthermore, Safelite donates 1% of its trading profits to the Foundation every year. Another great program is the “People Powered” which provides employees with ethnical policy training. Safelite also pays attention to the safety, health and wellness, and employee feedbacks.

In my opinion, I think Safelite has shown care to its employees while satisfying the needs of the consumers and thus, this has maximized the profit.