Nowadays more and more social problems arouse the public attention and the function of social entrepreneurship has been recognized by more and more people.

I believe that the funding from the United Nations can truly help a lot of people. But I think most of these help are just financial supports. The financial supports can’t last forever if those people still don’t know how to really improve their life by their own hands. Financial support is temporary solution not a permanent cure. Moreover, I think the funding can’t spread to every corner.

So we need social enterprises and social entrepreneurs to contribute their shares to solve social problems and build a better world. Today thousands of social entrepreneurs are tackling a range of problems in all corner of the globe. I like the word in the video “ Most people I have to see to believe but I think that social entrepreneurs they believe and then they see”. Social entrepreneurs are not only support people financially, they also help people from many aspects in life like education and skills. For example, the Arc help people improve the business skills. I believe a skill is much more useful than money. I insist the social entrepreneurship will become a part of indispensable power to make the society and world better.

“11.11” is an important day for all the e-commerce companies because it is a discount promotion period for sellers and consumers. Alibaba will fully engage in “11.11” marketing warfare. After IPO, Alibaba starts becoming an international e-commerce giant. Now the “11.11” is the best time for Alibaba to prove itself and the predicted anticipated revenue will be 50 billion on that day. In the blog “Alibaba Buffs a Key Business Metric”, Author mentioned the concept of GMV( Gross Merchandise Volume) and I think GMV is an easy way to see the situation of transaction of a e-commerce company.

In my own view, the discount promotion period like Single’s Day is one of the most attractive ways for consumers to contact the e-commerce. The period like One’s Day also create new customer acquisition opportunities for Alibaba and its rivals. Compared with the other rivals, Alibaba has more advantages. First, Alibaba has become an international company and its brand name will create more attraction and credibility. International also means larger market. Second, Alibaba has larger platform and more options for customers.  Alibaba has increased sales on its website and guarantee the express to compete with rivals like Jingdong on November 11^th. Alibaba is trying to make the One’s day a worldwide event to maintain its advantage. I look forward to seeing the behavior of Alibaba on One’s Day.

Baidu is a well-known searching engine in China and its brand name is connected with traditional Chinese culture. I support Hui Lai’s idea that brand name is an important factor to show the business’s position and attract consumers. Baidu came from a Chinese poem written by  a well-known poet call Xin Qiji 800 years ago and means (searching) hundred times. So it is easy to connect Baidu with searching engine. A strong brand name or slogan can impress consumers and spread the popularity of business. For example, Nike’s slogan “ Just Do It” has been rooted in consumers’ hearts. The brand name like Baidu which is connected with traditional Chinese culture will be more popular in China. I think brand name is one of advantages Baidu has compared with other searching engines like Google in China.

I think brand name of Baidu also express its organizational culture which is to provide convenient methods of obtaining information and better searching technologies to the public. Baidu also spreads traditional Chinese culture at the same, so I think Baidu deserves the today’s success.

“The revenue of mobile games maker Rovio, owner of the Angry Birds brand, have declined to half of the revenue earned last year. As a result, Rovio plans to cut up to 130 jobs to simplify the organization. ” I agree with what nie Yivi wrote. The changeable consumers’ taste is one of the problems that lead to redundancies of Angry Birds. However, I think the most important problem should be the sluggish innovation development. Undoubtedly, Angry Birds gained huge success in the past, which leads that Rovio wants to take full advantage of brand name of Angry Birds and produce various derivative products like toys and cartoon. Rovio spent too much time and money on Angry Birds and slow down the innovation of new games. Innovation should be the most important part of mobile game area because of changeable consumers’ tastes. For example, Temple Run, Fruit Ninja and Flappy Bird are all popular mobile games during certain period. However, they are all replaced by new successful mobile games. So I think Rovio should emphasize the development of new games to cater to consumers and use consumers’ power to develop the business.

The APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Summit 2014 will be hold from November 8 to 10, 2014, in Beijing, China. Today, member economies together account for about 40% of the world’s population, 50% of global trade and 60% of total gross domestic product. Leaders, Ministers and Senior Officials from the 21 APEC member economies will meet in Beijing to take forward a series of new measures to reinvigorate trade, productivity and sustainable development.

Today, Asian-Pacific region has become an important part of the global economy and I believe it will be the most important region in the future. So the decisions made on the APEC must have profound influence on the economy development in Asian-Pacific region and create a new macro environment. For example, the proposal of Free Trade Area of Asian-Pacific (FTAAP) will have ground-breaking work. If the FTAAP is achieved, it must be a milestone. Asian-Pacific economic integration construction will be more successful in the future and Asian-Pacific will form a larger market, so that Asia-Pacific can really become the engine of world economic development. Other actions like fighting the corruption also focus on the problems should be solved as soon as possible. So I think the summit will be significant for the region cooperation, economic development and sustainable development.

A  delegation  of  B.C. First  Nation  chiefs will reach Ottawa to urge the Harper government to reject BC Hydro’s $8-billion Site C hydroelectric megaproject. BC Hydro wants to construct and operate a dam and 1,100-megawatt hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia. The government has argued that “the region’s growing population, as well as the area’s oil and gas and mining industries, need the relatively clean hydroelectric. And the utility downplayed the impact on First Nations.” However, chiefs complain that flooding valley will impair their rights to fish, hunt and use are for the ceremonial purpose. Chiefs said that they welcome smaller projects in areas like wind and solar power.
The objection from chiefs brings hydroelectric project a awkward situation. The development of a business plan must consider the macro environment and laws. The hydroelectric project invades a lot of people’s rights, which must be objected by people in the construction area. If the company can do the research and consider the situation at first, it can change a place to start the project or develop other small projects. So it is important to consider the macro environment.
Reference:

PETER O’NEIL. “First Nation Chiefs to Stage Site C Showdown.”Www.vancouversun.com. The Vancouver Sun, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Apple has launched two new iPhones, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.“Along with larger screens and a completely new iPad-style design with an ultra thin body and rounded corners, the two new phones offer faster processors, better cameras, and Apple’s new Apple Pay payment system.” The launch of iPhone 6 obviously attracts public’s attention and there is a iPhone fever worldwide. Appple sold a record 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone Plus in three days.

From my perspective, the launch of iPhone 6 Plus means Apple has decided to enter the market of large screen mobile phone and it will be powerful competitor. Compared with Apple, Samsung apparently got shock impact. The sales of Samsung declined a lot. However, iPhone 6 are still designed to be used with one hand. During these years, we can see the changes of Apple made. For example, iPhone 5c cater the customers in middle and high-end markets.Apple uses more focus strategies to attract.consumers.Although now iPhone 6 are reported bending problems, the success of new iPhone is undoubted. I am looking forward to seeing more surprise Apple will bring to us in the future.

Reference:

Eddie Makuch. “IPhone 6 Sales Reach a Record 10 Million In Three Days.”GameSpot. N.p., 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Unkown. “IPhone 6: Reviews, Details and Bending Problems.” IPhone 6: Reviews, Details and Bending Problems. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.

Alibaba IPO

On September 19th, Alibaba Exchange formally IPO in New York, stock code “BABA”. The issue price is confirmed to be $68 per share, the opening price at $92.7, surpassing the Facebook to become the second largest Internet company after the Google. Alibaba is China’s biggest online commerce company and it is a company which is more like the combination of eBay and Amazon. Based on the fast growing e-commerce market in China, Alibaba grew fast in the past 15years. Last year online transaction was $28 billion. However, a lot of people still don’t have confidence in Alibaba because of the market in China. Many investors are afraid that the regulations and unknown rules changes from Chinese government. For example, the split event of  Alipay is still unknown for investors.Moreover, the power to make decisions in Alibaba is not based on investors. Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma, will take all the decisions. And other problems like transparency are also the concerns of investors.

I think we should give trust to the Alibaba. Based on the 15 years’ experience of e-commerce ,today’s outstanding achievement and the global strategies in the future, we should be confident in Alibaba and support it become better.

Reference：

MARC LAJOIE and NICK SHEARMAN. “What Is Alibaba?” – WSJ.com. The Wall Street Journal, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.

Jo Ling Kent. “5 Things To Know About The Alibaba IPO.” Investopedia. Investopedia, 03 Sept. 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.

On September 24th， Blackberry launched its Passport which is its latest smart phone. Passport equipped with a 4.5 inch square screen and a QWERTY physical keyboard. However, Blackberry’s financial health still didn’t get better. ”BlackBerry, which once dominated the smart phone industry, now accounts for less than 1% of sales worldwide.” Although Blackberry tried to regain market shares, its competitors like Apple and Samsung had got enormous success and seized market shares. Blackberry also pointed out Passport does not apply to everyone and it will be more office-used. For example, spreadsheet analysis and medical professionals use are the advantages of Blackberry.

In my own view, the launch of Passport is more like to spread the information that Blackberry never left and it has come back. However, I think it won’t bring Blackberry enormous changes. The use of keyboard has been just minority interest and the operating system of Blackberry can’t compete with IOS and Android. If Blackberry don’t make substantial change, Blackberry will always be the minority interest and the situation of itself will get worse.

Reference：Author, Unknown. “Not There Yet.” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 27 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

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