Monthly Archives: October 2014

On October 25, 2014, Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd., the largest energy and battery provider in Bangladesh, was awarded with the Green Business title by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) of Bangladesh. Only 20 companies in the country were awarded with MCCI’s Centenary Awards for significant contribution to the society. Being one of them, Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd. has been a consistent leader, possibly the largest private sector investor, of providing sustainable alternative energy resource to households in Bangladesh. Started as the first company of covering green energy in the country, they have served in the industry for 25 years so far with successfully provided more than 25 MW solar Photovoltaic solutions. 

Mr. Feroz Rahim accepting the award
(source: www.observerbd.com)

Rahimafrooz exemplifies the perfect implementation of the Triple Bottom Line. In the underdeveloped environment, it is especially important for a firm to be able to positively contribute to its surrounding community through projects that achieve towards a common welfare of people. According to the Ashden, nearly 70% of households in Bangladesh are not covered by electricity. To overcome this problem, Rahimafrooz successfully initiated the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development Project and brought the benefit of electric lighting, charging and radio to at least 200,000 households in rural areas of Bangladesh. Along with the benefit of Nobel Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus’s micro-finance, such achievement has been ground-breaking to the welfare improvement of people with low income in rural areas of Bangladesh. Rural population now enjoy a much easier life with accessible electricity and payable debt to pull themselves out of poverty. The average life quality of the rural populations has become significantly better, and Rahimafrooz promised to bring sustainability and efficiency in overall energy generation and distribution.

The Triple Bottom Line
(source: www.chess-llc.com)

In the CEO Mr. Feroz Rahim’s own words, ‘businesses should fulfill both environmental and social responsibility besides making profit.’ Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd.’s business model clearly illustrates the practicality and effectiveness in today’s market, especially the one of the under-developed society. It proves that profitability and sustainability are not always an ‘either-or’ option to a firm. A sustainable business aims at connecting people, the planet and profit can always make a profit through contributing to its users and its surroundings.

After reading Yixin Song’s blog ‘Student debt: Knowledge vs. Poverty’, I found myself in a deep thinking stage. I am in agreement with most of her statements, however, there are also points where I would like to suggest an alternative way of thinking.

I agree with Yixin Song from the perspective of a student. Being a student with no source of income and whose entire life expense is dependent upon my family, I always feel the already-expensive tuition fee burdens my family and the increasing fee will exacerbate on the financial pressure. If the international student fee and residence fee are determined to increase by respectively 10% and 20% next year, many international students, including myself, will find it difficult to manage. Hence, we can consider ourselves as business entities and make value judgements upon the worthiness of paying more than before to receive a exceptional quality of education, which is exactly the same as making an investment now to possibly benefit ourselves in the future. 

However, since students’ way of thinking can be understood through a business concept, then we might change our view to a different stakeholder’s perspective to understand the university’s decision. Despite the university’s constant re-emphasis on the its ultimate goal of providing the best education to future generations, it still behaves like a firm with its business-like operations. It must consider gaining revenue from students to cover multiple costs such as staff, construction and maintenance; it must consider competition with both domestic and international universities; meanwhile it must also constantly improve on the quality of education and depth of research year by year. The board of administration explains that this grand increase in both fees is due to a serious increase in research and construction costs of the school facilities, and the university is behind its competitors in international tuition fee already. Although always putting themselves under the title of unprofitable, the board must execute strategies to make sure the university is at least not making a loss. This in-turn brings a reasonable explanation on the school’s perspective of increasing fees.

In conclusion, the argument falls onto the difference of the student’s perspective and the university’s perspective. The student must consider a balance between the investment for a better future and increased financial pressure in the present. Similarly, the university also needs to find a balance between an affordable education for students and a solution to cover increasing costs. Consensus is a must to solve this issue.

On June 2, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada puts Enbridge back under Canada’s spotlight by declearing that the Tsilhqot’in First Nation held a valid aboriginal title over an area of 1750 square kilometer in central B.C. This landmark decision brings Enbridge’s project into a more difficult situation.

It has not been easy for Enbridge to achieve what they already have so far, and the main element that hinders their progress in the Northern Gateway Pipeline project is the voice of objection from the First Nations. Commencing from Northern Alberta, through Norther British Columbia, and eventually to the deep-water port of Kitimat B.C., the pipeline will cross through habitats of 40 First Nations along the way, hence putting many of their life-dependent and spiritually beloved ecological treasures in threat. It isn’t a surprise that many of these aboriginal groups, including the Yinka Dene Alliance—a group of six First nations, now raise protests to adamantly oppose Enbridge from destroying their motherland.

However, what Enbridge did not foresee is a strong uprising trend of protecting rights of the aboriginal culture and society. Even though the initial stages of negotiation progressed smoothly as they made equity sharing agreements with 26 of the 40 First Nations and the project was approved by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government in June, the decision made by the Supreme Court of Canada brought Enbridge back to the status quo it started with. No other words can be more accurate than B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s “new fork in road” to describe Enbridge and the government’s frustration on this thorny issue in relation with the First Nations.

This 7.9 billion worth project is not only profitable in Canada, but also from abroad. The huge demand from the local as well as  Asian and European oil markets makes this project a profit attractive one and puts on strong market forces to make Enbridge take actions. However, this battle of ethic and profit does not have a forecastable result. In Premier Christy Clark’s words, “we’re not where we need to be yet.”

Works Cited:

Hoekstra, Gordon. “‘There Will Be No Pipeline'” The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver Sun, 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.

“Overview of the Northern Gateway Pipeline.” Project Overview. Northern Gateway, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Pynn, Larry. “B.C. Premier Urges Cooperation, Not More Litigation, as Government and Natives Reach ‘new Fork in Road'”Www.vancouversun.com. Vancouver Sun, 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

What is ‘Bendgate’? It is firstly created by a Youtube producer called Lewis Hilsenteger (a.k.a. Unbox Therapy) where he showed an iPhone 6 Plus can be bent with bare hands, and it soon spread via various social networks and became a world-trending topic. Bent iPhones soon occupied a dominant space on the media and this movement of showing bent iPhones on social medias was given the name ‘Bendgate’.

Apple’s iPhone, being the leader of the smartphone market, is known for its elegant design, stable performance and constant high-quality. This enables it to dominate with a huge portion of market shares, and leaving other smartphone brands, such as Samsung or LG, to exert themselves to compete for only a small portion of the rest. With Ries and Trouts’ analysis of value proposition, It is natural that these brands are not satisfied with their current brand positions, hence they seek for opportunities to reposition their brand. To do so, a company can reposition the brand value of its competitor (the leader) and propose to costumers a new brand image or their own. The effort of repositioning is described as the battle of information in consumers minds, and this is exactly what ‘Bendgate’ is all about.

Image credit: ABS-CBN news

Image credit: ABS-CBN News

Image credit: ABS-CBN News

The tweets above are released by Apple’s competitors soon after ‘Bendgate’ became trending. At a glance, these tweets merely bring a laughter to readers as they taunt iPhone’s Bendgate with humorous pictures and captions. However, their strategic use in value proposition is revealed when scrutinized. These tweets does not contain any information of the iPhone, they use the word ‘bend’ and the ‘Bendgate’ hashtag to allow customers subconsciously relate the image to a comparison with the bent iPhone. This avoids covertly advertising for competitors while still achieving the goal of altering competitors’ brand image. Moreover, they each emphasized on a strength of their own that is related to the topic of bending, which converts the weakness exposed of iPhones to a strength of their own products. Samsung and LG both emphasized on the naturally curved design of their products, while HTC proposed the strength of materials of their products.

In this battle of customers minds caused by information overload, iPhone’s Bendgate gives its competitors a great opportunity to lower customer’s perception of Apple’s brand image, and strength’s their own brand images to climb up the ladder of brand values. They successfully seized that opportunity and killed two birds with one stone.

Work Cited: “Samsung, Other Brands Troll Apple over #bendgate.” ABS-CBN News. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2014.