The Arc Initiative provides a channel for people exchange knowledge and business skills. The program generally focuses on helping relatively impoverished communities, and is very important considering the possible results it can achieve.

I think there are two main reasons Arc functions so well. One is that the program combines two different categories of information. Uwonkunda, an Arc Initiative Sauder student from Rwanda, can demonstrate how this works. She grew up in Rwanda, which means she is familiar with the environment, market, and customer behavior in the place where business is going to start. Combined with her understanding of background information, the knowledge and business skills Arc program provides can become more useful and function to a greater extend. Another reason is that Arc allows ideas to be exchanged between two almost entirely different points of view. People from different backgrounds have unique perspectives of how business can become successful. Ms. Tesfaye’s career is a good illustration of how exchanging perspectives can solve problems. The new perspective she learned at an Arc workshop tells her that a different strategy can be applied to her business, which ultimately solved her problem.

The Arc Initiative program turns out to have helped many businesses, but it can be improved to become even better. Right now the program only builds connection between UBC Sauder students and four impoverished regions, so maybe the Arc program can expand its range. Engaging students from other facilities may help because they might be able to contribute differently than students from UBC do. Also, the Arc program can consider switching the target regions once a while so that more diversified group can receive help.

Cowen’s blog post talks about how population is a key factor to boost economy and distribute population evenly will make countries richer. I disagree with Cowen’s opinion for the following reasons.

Cowen assumes all immigrants will start working when they get to a new country therefore increase that country’s working force. His assumption is wrong since not all immigrants work in their new country. For example, many people who emigrate from Asia to North America and Australia only see their new destination as a long-time vacation place. Most of this type of immigrants will not contribute to the working force.

In addition, the immigrants who do work may not satisfy the actual shortage. In North America, there are too few doctors because it takes too much time and tuition to become one. The new immigrants from developing countries for example, will not likely fill this shortage. They might even create unnecessary competition and more unemployment. This will not help the economy because the government needs to provide more assistance.

Moreover, having people immigrate out of an over-populated country might not help its economy. Most people immigrate along with their families, which mean both the working and the non-working ones will leave. Take a look at one country experiences large unemployment population and want less working force. Once working and non-working people leave together, there are still less people needing services therefore unemployment rate will not fall.

In conclusion, Cowen’s blog post does not persuade me because many of his assumptions are questionable.

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Yue mentioned in her blog post that Alibaba, a big e-commerce company in China that recently went public in the New York Stock Exchange, reaches its success through detailed analysis of the market and customer behavior.

I agree with Yue’s idea. Internet shopping has big development potential in China because the size of market. Ali provides simple and cheap way to open up an online shop which attracts many youth, especially new graduates from university who want an easy start in their careers. Yet, in my opinion Alibaba should offer start-up loans to sellers. This way more people can be encouraged to join the sell side.

On the buyer side, more and more people prefer internet shopping nowadays. Alibaba understands what customers really seek: convenience and inexpensiveness. Customers are not restricted by geographical location when they shop online. Also, they don’t need to run around to different shops when they want to compare prices because there are approximately 10 million sellers on Alibaba owned shopping website. Besides providing convenience, Alibaba also provide cheaper goods than physical stores do. There are additional discount such as receive 50% off everything when people shop on November 11. There is only one problem that I spot — some goods are fake. Alibaba should introduce policies that get rid of dishonest seller to ensure the company’s good image.

Moreover, I think Yue’s idea of “entering US market is a strategy the company adopts” is reasonable. Alibaba has already built a functioning and stable market platform, so the only way to expand its business and compete is to enter foreign market. Also, Alibaba need to have IPO because it needs more assets and equity in order to expand further.

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21601869-chinas-e-commerce-giant-has-just-revealed-details-its-long-awaited-flotation-america-it

The price of most university textbooks has been rising dramatically in the past decades. I do not agree with Mengjie ‘s idea that hardcopy textbooks will possibly be replaced by e-books.

Electronic textbooks are convenient, but people who did not make any purchase can get easier access to e-books than to hardcopy ones. Publishers and authors of textbooks would suffer more potential losses therefore they are not likely going to start offering electronic textbooks.

Another reason electronic textbook may not be able to replace hardcopy textbook is that it is inconvenient to take notes on electronic textbooks. Many students like to write notes on their textbooks but not all of them can afford touchscreen tablets and a regular laptop at the same time. Considering the fact that students can resell their used textbooks back to bookstores, electronic books can become more expensive for some people.

On the other hand, university courses usually require students to buy specific textbooks that contain all the course contents. This creates stable demand for textbooks, which means publishers and authors don’t need to worry if their unreasonable price will drive away customers.

However, publishers and authors should not make the price of their textbook unreasonably high. Their target customer segments are students who most likely pay for textbooks using student loans. Increasing textbook price is unethical, considering the primary purpose of textbooks is to educate people.

http://bookstore.ubc.ca/customer-service/faqs/textbook-costs

http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/essays/2014/09/21/textbook-prices-that-break-the-bank/

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Pizza Hut recently plans to introduce pizza with many new ideas while abandoning some old ones. Trying to catch up with people’s changing tastes, Pizza Hut now provides its customers the option to customize their own pizza. Meanwhile, many of Pizza Hut’s traditional symbols, such as its logo and worker’s uniform, are gone.

It is reasonable to invent new things, but Pizza Hut should not rely on new things only. Many young people certainly prefer novel flavors and even happier to design their own flavors. However, it is also important to enhance traditional flavor in order to retain different customer segments. At the same time, picking employees becomes vital as Pizza Hut introduce new pizza. Employees need to be experts at making all flavors while learn quickly when the company launch new ideas. Once a company expands to a certain level, it starts to ignore small details which might greatly affect its business. The mal-performance of employees at some branch stores can harm Pizza Hut’s overall image.

Moreover, deleting old logo would weaken Pizza Hut’s noticeability. Companies have symbolizing logos to make them stand out among competitors; therefore Pizza Hut should not change nor delete its original logo.

In conclusion, Pizza Hut should only introduce innovative ideas after making sure the traditional ones have best performance.

http://www.today.com/money/pizza-hut-launches-curry-crust-pizza-amid-revamp-1D80279139

AT&T, one of America’s largest telecommunications corporations, recently agrees to buy a big cellphone service provider named Iusacell in Mexico. Expansion into foreign markets is a strategy AT&T adopts in order to diversify its customer segments.

AT&T’s decision is correct. South American countries, especially Mexico, have growing tourism industries. In fact, Mexico is the number one popular travel destination for Americans. During international travels, cellphone communication and usage are always too expansive and troublesome. After it purchases Iusacell, AT&T can consider providing cheap and appealing travel packages for the Americans who travel to Mexico. Furthermore, AT&T can even provide special plans for people who go to Mexico more often. For example, these people can make a one-time purchase with AT&T and enjoy long term minimum charges in Mexico. This way, AT&T can create a friendlier and understanding public image, which may attract more American users.

For its business in Mexico, AT&T can also make more profit than Iusacell used to make. Although approximately only six percent of Mexican population uses Iusacell, these users spread across seventy percent of Mexico which makes the company well-known. AT&T would require less effort to start its business in Mexico with the foundation Iusacell built. Comparing to the original Iusacell, AT&T is more trustworthy and efficient. Therefore, the new Iusacell which carries AT&T’s credibility will become more popular among Mexican population.

To sum up, it is smart for AT&T to purchase Iusacell because it can become more successful both in America and in Mexico.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/att-to-buy-mexican-wireless-provider-iusacell-for-2-5-billion/?ref=international