Today, our group from COMM 101 class had a meeting for our presentation next week, and what I have learned from this meeting is that IT IS HARD TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!!

We are doing the business plan for a fitness center, and the problem we had was that balance sheet. Owning a business is often glorified as the dream of young people. It is one of the few opportunities in life to truly dig in with hard work and dedication to realize a dream. However, having lived this process firsthand I also know that this is an obviously over simplified description. We have to concern all the costs, and in depth of our hearts, we were trying really hard to reduce all the cost (by giving the minimum wages to our employees T.T)

We will only get out of it what we put into it, therefore we have to put us completely into this case, and assuming us as the owners of this fitness center, I realize that there are many things we have to concern about, and we even decided to not have an office because we do not have enough money T.T

I am definitely not that kinda of guy who wants to take the risk, and staring business is hard for me, i would rather than sitting in my office and playing all those numbers as an accountant 🙂

Last night I was watching “Huckabee” on Fox news while I was having dinner with my family, I heard a funny explanation that Mike Huckabee’s hamburger/Obamacare analogy was very good and understandable.

In his view, Obamacare is like hamburger and suppose hamburger costs $5, if 85% of people have hamburgers and they like those hamburgers, they think 5 dollars is fine for them, but it is not fair that 15% of people don’t have hamburgers, therefore there is Obamaburgers! That will create universal hamburger access, but it is truth that some of those 15% of people don’t have burgers because they are vegetarian and some may want a hot dog, so there is only 5% people truly can’t afford a burger, but with Obamaburger, we have to raise the price of that $5 burger to $7.50 because those who paid 5 have to pay for those who don’t have any burgers. Now, some people will get Obamaburgers for free, others are gonna only pay $2 for the 5 dollar burger which now costs $7,50. But the thing is that so many people want those free burgers and they want those $7.50 burgers now for $2, that people who used to buy $5 burger and thus they would least to pay $7.50, but now they actually have to pay $10 to make up the differences of the free ones and the ones have being given at reduced cost.

I like his explanation, because that is what Obamacare truly is, which people have to have burgers in his way, with all those extras and they have pay for them, even they do not like those burgers or they are vegetarian. Also, some people are forced to pay the higher price, because they have to cover the differences of those people cannot afford the burgers. For all those governmental problems, the only answer is “follow the money”

In order to have great partnerships that can benefit both Vancouver and China, the Vancouver- China business mission 2013 went to China this November. “Mayor Gregor Robertson led the mission along with a consortium of 18 local businesses, including BuiltSpace, Bardel Entertainment and IndoChino. The mission also includes a large cultural component with Ballet BC and Goh Ballet among the participants.”

http://vancouvereconomic.com/vedcnews/news-from-the-vancouver-china-business-mission-2013-0

From what I have heard from the news, Vancouver is actively taking steps in promoting itself on the global stage. Indeed, major business missions can provide a boon to local businesses and encourage foreign direct investment into Vancouver, like China. And i think the goal of this mission is attracting investment to Vancouver, promoting deeper cultural ties and building long-term strategic partnerships with one of Canada’s most important trading partners-China.

From what Mayor Gregor Robertson posted on his Chinese social account (weibo, like twitter) there is gonna be a sky-train between UBC and downtown!!!!And I am looking froward to see how the business mission can strengthen Vancouver’s local economy and the partnership with China.

According to what the Chinese state media (CCTV)’s report, Starbucks is charging higher prices in China than other global markets. They compared the prices in Beijing to Chicago, and a tall latte is almost one-third more expensive in Beijing, which is around $4.43. It is funny that the Chinese government or the state media never talk about their high housing price, and so concern about the price of one coffee, it is ironic that they are afraid people who can buy a million-dollar house cannot afford one 27 yuan coffee.
Official Chinese media has been mad about Apple company long time ago, and now they turned to the world’s largest coffee chain, it is clearly that they are trying to target other prominent foreign companies and come amid a pricing crackdown by regulators.

Starbucks has been able to enjoy high prices in China, and became so popular only because of the blind faith of local consumers in Starbucks and other Western brands from Chinese customers.In my view, Starbucks’s pricing strategy is based on local market costs, including infrastructure investment, labor, commodity costs, currency valuation, real estate and other costs of doing business, and so as other customers, most Chinese people think the Chinese government is over reactive this time. And for now, I don’t think Starbucks will be lowering prices to satisfy the Chinese government.

There was a announcement made by Lululemon on March, 2013, and there were number of black yoga pants off the shelf because of the material used, it was too sheer, the solution was to work with suppliers and other manufacturing cooperation, so that they can replace the fabric and replenish inventory. After the company had dealt with some of the technical and manufacturing reasons for this problem, Wilson(the founder of Lululemon) went on a tangent, during which he appeared to suggest that “some women’s bodies just don’t work” for their pants in a recent interview on the business news channel, and this comment sparked outrage from women who said he was “fating shaming” them. The controversy just wont go away since Chip Wilson had posted a video apology ONLY for his staff.

In my own views, it was a negative reaction due to the customer’s disappointments to their products. Costumers should never be a problem or take responsibility for products’ quality issues. The purpose of this product was to service THE CUSTOMERS, this should never change, but now, it seems like we, as customers who have trust in Lululemon, have became the reason of their bad quality. An successful company is supported by their customers, and they have to provide the best services to us, and not shirk responsibility to us.

The same day as Canadian Remembrance day, is Chinese “Single’s day”, which is also the country’s biggest online shopping day of the year (also the biggest in the world), just like American “Black Friday”. Also, I asked my mom to buy something for me online, because there were big sales. From recording, over 50,000 merchants on Alibaba’s consumer-oriented Taobao and Tmall.com platforms took in a total of 19.1 billion yuan (3 billion dollars) from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday.

China has the world’s biggest amount of users on Internet, which causes it has the biggest online shoppers, over 20miilin than the US. (Boston Consulting Group).It is great news for communist leaders who want to shift the basis of growth in the world’s second-largest economy that the spending is being binge, from trade and investment to consumer spending and service industries.

National day is one of china’s most important holidays and is considered one of the country’s two “golden weeks,” the other being China’s lunar new year holiday.

October 2, there was a massive tourist stranded in Jiuzhaigou attraction. Large numbers of tourists were forced to walk more than ten kilometers down to mountain. Decline in service quality, highway congestion, high price of tickets can be seen as a common sight of this holiday, not only in Jiuzhaigou, but for the most attractions. In my opinion, a paid leave system is needed for most Chinese people.

People go on vacation for satisfaction and relaxation, but now,overcrowding, traffic congestion, overloaded tourists and retention, those problems reduced quality of service, which is far away from visitors’ really needs. There is no doubt that centralized and unified leave system and holidays creates a certain favorable conditions for some places and attractions by improving their profits. However, it also brings large number of problems, such as environmental protection. If the government can give the rights of choosing holidays back to people, as the right of free choice on vacation implemented, the dispersion of traveling can change the current situation of concentrated visitors, which can enhancing the overall welling-being.

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On the first day of this October in United Sates, Democrats and Republicans could not resolve their differences over Obama care and now the government is shut down.

Shutdown is not cheap, AT ALL. Federal agencies have to plan for a new one, which will cause huge amount of time, energy and resources.  “Research firm IHS estimates that it’s costing the US government about $300m a day, for each day of the shutdown. Overall, the last time the US government shut down in 1995 for 21 days, it cost the federal government $1.5bn (£927m) – that’s $2.1bn (£1.3bn) in today’s dollars” (Kim Gittleson. October 1, 2013 “What’s the economic impact of a US government shutdown?” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24341406).

Markets have almost shrugged off the shutdown, with all three indexes rising on Tuesday. In different ways, the shutdown can either be big or small. The stores are still open, people will continue to read newspaper every day, and the military is still there to protect the American. However, the Americans have wait if they want a loan from the government, and if you plan to go any national park in US, you have to wait, because 368 national park service sites closed, and it turned millions of visitors away.

On yesterday’s BBC news, it said that “Blackberry has announced it is planning to cut 4,500 jobs, or 40% of its worldwide workforce, in an attempt to staunch huge losses.”

The smartphone market is getting more and more competitive, and in order to be profitable, company has to make changes to resolve problems they are facing to. Looking forward, Blackberry has to focus on making changes, from their design, producing processes all the way to their serves to users.

As Mr. Dattels said, it is time to “explore strategic alternatives”, it may be a hard and long-term process, but it is needed to explore options and to be better and stronger. Changes are necessary, not only for making profit, but also for competitive strength.

      The iPhone 5S disappointed his many fans accustomed to all the amazing products in Jobs’ time. LIKE ME!!!!I have been waiting for this new Iphone for year, but I decided t to buy a Sumsung s4 after I saw this 5s 🙁  In fact, to the world market, Apple’s “cheap” phone –Iphone 5c- is still so pricey, it is too lofty to fend off rivals in smartphone markets. “It will sell for 4,488 yuan ($730 U.S.) in China, more than the average monthly urban income for the country.”(Apple’s shares drop as new iPhones fail to dazzle by Eileen Soreng and Neha Alawadhi on theglobalandmail.com Sep,11th, 2013 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/apples-shares-drop-as-new-iphones-fail-to-dazzle/article14245208/ ) It is also more expensive than its price in the United States, this is an universal fact which appeared before. Every year when I go back to China, my friends ask me to bring couple Iphones for them, because it is cheap here!

There are many factors that cause Apple’s stock keeps falling down, such as products, management and customers. Fortunately, analysts predict a bright future for Apple’s profitability, but according to some investment experts, Apple’s long-term future holds uncertainty.

After all, we will be with Apple, as fans, as customers, and also as parts of market. We will keep a close watch for its future, whether for better or worse.