Archives: November 2014

UN Vs The Arc Initiative – do we really need both?

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The UN is an international organization that is committed to maintain international peace and security; developing friendly relations among nations; promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. The UN touches every corner of the globe and focuses on these broad range of fundamental issues. However, if the UN is fully funded, is there really a need for the Arc Initiative?

Yes, the Arc Initiative is definitely needed, even though it only touches upon four countries of the world, the ability for Sauder students to share their skills with entrepreneurs in these countries without any business knowledge will be doing the UN a favor because it will only speed up the progress of what the UN is really trying to do since this helps create better living standards and promote social progress through acquiring such knowledge. Moreover, this approach tends to be more focused oriented on one issue rather than a broad approach like the UN, thus, change will be seen more rapidly.

The UN is already preoccupied with many fundamental issues about the world and if the Arc initiative is able to relieve their responsibilities on several aspects, then why not just coexist in society so that more can be done in a shorter time frame.

Although the Arc Initiative isn’t as large as the UN organization, it is a starting point that will create change rather than creating more obstacles for the UN. Therefore, the opportunity for both to coexist will help create a lasting impact for many communities.

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Penelope Trunk: A trustable blogger?

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Penelope Trunk’s post about her advice in starting a business captivated me into learning about her reflective experience with her own start up because it reminded me of the class when the Sauder Alumni came in and shared their own experiences. I find that being able to start your own business even when you never thought about it before was interesting because none of the Sauder Alumni graduated in entrepreneurship but are of other majors such as accounting and yet still decided to pursue the path of creating their own business. I was curious about their inspiration and how they managed to pull it off despite not majoring in entrepreneurship. Through their sharing, it only touched upon their own experiences, but this post was able to inform and touch upon my curiosity further as to how i would determine if I was a capable entrepreneur.

As I read through this post, I found that I need to have the right attitude and personality for it. There will always be challenges during this journey, and it will always involve some kind of opportunity costs as well as associated risks that must be considered. But most importantly, it is rarely a smooth journey, as there will be failures that come by before success is achieved.

Reflective upon myself, although my future is uncertain, there may be a point in time where I  create paths that I could never have imagined and end up just like the Sauder Alumni. Therefore, I’m still keeping an open mind about the path of my future.

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“Uber” Revolutionizing the Taxi Market?!

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Uber is a taxi brand that uses technology in order to get its customers just by clicking on the app on their phones. I think that Uber’s ability to integrate technology into their business is what makes it a very successful company because their operations are in the most cost efficient manner. Due to this they are able to avoid variability in demand as the demand for Uber is increasing tremendously due to its convenience and its cheap fares as compared to other taxi rates while also the supply of Uber taxis remain plenty.

This convenience is what resulted of Uber  targeting families instead of just individuals who needs cab rides. Uber’s customer segment has been the cause of its rising demand because in families, parents are always busy with work that they are unable to drive their kids around themselves. Therefore, by potentially tapping into the customer segment of families, they are able to appeal to teenagers – which will be the customers of the future and help multiply Uber’s growth. 

However, there is always the problem about parents’ worries about safety especially letting their children go on cabs alone. This is why Uber implemented its business solely around technology because it provides parents the ability to monitor their child by using GPS tracking so that they know where their child is at all times. This therefore helps foster the relationship between the customers, an aspect of customer relationships in the Business canvas model.

All in all, Uber is a business that will continue to flourish in the future due to its close knitted business model.

Source:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/digital-culture/busy-parents-call-uber-for-kids-and-ditch-the-carpool/article21397868/

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