” If the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise”?

The purpose of the United Nations strictly speaking is to: “maintain international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promote social progress, better living standards and human rights”.

The Arc initiative seeks to build a genuine relationship between the UBC students, Sauder School of Business alumni and faculty, with communities in South Africa, Ethiopia, Columbia, and Rwanda. Through building a two-way exchange of business and skills not only does this create opportunities for entrepreneurship but enables individuals in third world countries to receive education on how they can start successful companies that can contribute back to their community.

Even if the United Nations was fully funded it would still be crucial for these social enterprises to exist because first of all, even with full funding which can ensure healthy living and standards, the promise of further education cannot be ensured. Secondly, if the Arc initiative provides a two-way beneficial relationship, countries lacking the educational attention should definitely take advantage of the accessibility to further their knowledge on how to create a business that can contribute as well as benefit the society they live in. Moreover, the Arc initiative is more likely to yield more long term results that can prove to be highly beneficial for the community than the United Nations that may only be able to provide help in large quantities but at sporadic intervals.

http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Global_Reach/ARC_Initiative

http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml

As of last Tuesday, Rogers and Shaw officially launched their joint project Shomi: a new streaming service that carries a wide variety of over 12,000 hours of films and TV shows. The release of this joint venture will surely tackle Netflix, currently on top of the leaderboard for streaming content, although it is difficult to say if whether users will switch over as the cost per month for both services currently stand at the same price of $8.99 after a free month trial.

This was a bold move for Rogers and Shaw yet not completely unexpected. Not only did Netflix’s disruptive innovation as a internet streaming platform completely kill DVD rental industries such as BlockBuster, but it reduced television subscribers as well. It is actually extremely clever for Rogers and Shaw to bounce back from Netflix’s blow to their numbers by spinning this situation into an opportunity to come back stronger and positively tackle the current threat in their industry. Shomi may have to face the challenge of entering the market since Netflix has been the dominant provider with little competition for years and is favourable in consumers minds due to familiarity of this. Canada’s delay of putting out a competitor to U.S.-based Netflix Inc has also been criticized but hopefully due to the currently limited online streaming providers this will be overlooked and Shomi will emerge successfully in the next few years.

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http://www.worldtvpc.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/shomi_canada.jpg

http://media.darpanmagazine.com/news/content/rogers-shaw.jpg

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/review-is-shomi-a-better-streaming-service-than-netflix/article21453921/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/new-rogers-shaw-video-streaming-service-to-match-netflix-cost/article20204045/

While browsing fellow classmate blogs, Heidi Lung‘s post “Ever wonder why you were forced to download Facebook messenger?” stood out in particular. Not only am I another fellow bitter Facebook user who tried to avoid making the download as long as possible, but one who faced inconvenience since my phone did not have the space available for the application. Users who do not have the messenger application are completely blocked from accessing Facebook messenger on their mobile devices, which when on the go is extremely bothersome.

Heidi raises a good point on how despite the short aggravation users faced from Facebook’s insistence on downloading Facebook messenger, this clearly was a smart long run decision by Facebook. I personally never would have downloaded Facebook’s messenger application if it was optional, even if it offered better upgrades and features. By nudging users to switch over to the quicker and smoother messenger application not only does Facebook improve their quality of service but increases the number of users on this extended application which can easily create a new revenue stream for Facebook.

This article expands on how the Facebook messenger application can make profits in the near future. Although Mark Zuckerberg states Facebook has no intentions of going in the direction of easy advertisements, they have considered expanding as a “promotional tool for consumer products”. Stickers, cute little emoticons sent through messenger, are an opportunity that could generate profit if Facebook decides to work with Disney or other animation studios. A prime example of this promotional tool was last year when “Despicable Me 2” stickers were released closely to the launch of the second film. It’s interesting to see how such a simple concept can still drive revenue.

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http://techifreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/644698_162696197226388_2095957007_n.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Y1mf8x3IgM/Udm6MSnMzfI/AAAAAAAABNY/wonTscglTkU/s400/Despicable+Me+2+Smileys.jpg

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-facebook-messenger-could-make-money-2014-11