United Nation, as the biggest intergovernmental organization, help maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.  It play a very important role in donating to poor area around the world.  However, there is an old saying in China goes, ” Teach people how to fish is much better than give people fish.”

That is the reason why the world needs social entrepreneurship or program like Arc Initiative.  Unlike UN, they are trying to solve the social problem using their business knowledge from the root, rather than just donation.  Although the speed of making difference for social entrepreneur is slower than the the large amount of fund giving by UN to solve emergency, they give hope to society, they let people in predicament know they have ability to change the situation by their own work.

Another difference between United Nation and social entrepreneurship is scale.  United Nation focus on large-scale issues because of its position, hence UN can not observe the world in detail like individual social entrepreneurs do.  By concentrate on the specific issue or area, social entrepreneurs are more easily to find a practical way to solve the problem and try to change the society.

Reference:

“Can Fair Trade Boutique Expand without Alienating Customers?” The Globe and Mail. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/can-fair-trade-boutique-expand-without-alienating-customers/article4405520/

“What Is Social Entrepreneurship?” Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

http://skollworldforum.org/about/what-is-social-entrepreneurship/

Recent advance in computer and Internet technology have radically changed the business world. E-commerce jumped into the market, and lots of the companies started their online division in order to keep the competitive advantage and expand their customer segment.  However, how to have a successful online business?  Lorna Van Straaten summarized 7 tips in her blog, I would like to reference some of those points to what we have learned in COMM101 class in this comment.

1. Understand who your Customer is.
2.solve your customers problem.
The first two tips is about knowing the customers.  By finding out what is the company’s customer segment, knowing gains and pains of them, the company will improve their value proposition so that it will fit to the customers’ demand.  Impressive value proposition is supposed to be the gain creator and pain deliver for customers.

3.Get traffic to your website from as many places as possible.
Tip 3 is mainly about how to marketing your website.  It mentioned the importance of social media and several ways to grow popularity including:

• Advertise your business where your customer is found.
• List your website in directories.
• Send traffic to your offer as many ways as possible. Repeat your offer everywhere!

4. Add an easy Payment method.
5. Determine how your site is actually working.
6.understand conversion Testing.
Tips 4,5 and 6 discussed the user experience, we didn’t learn about UI in our class, but we can still relate it to a way that express how customer feel about the product, about the website.  Since online business is a window that companies can reach to their consumers directly, what customers experienced decide the success of the business.

7.Use Tech Support.

the last point remind me of we are in a fast-pace world, companies that refuse to accept new technology will obviously lose their opportunity to make the corporation stronger, so in online business, Using technology support will help them improving the company, According to Straaten, the entrepreneurs don’t need to do that by themselves, but they can hire staff with professional skill, and it will pay off.

Link to the original blog: http://smallbusinessbc.ca/post/how-have-a-successful-online-business

eBay recently announced that its fast-going division PayPal would be spun off as a new company in 2015.  This new idea was proposed by an investor, Carl Icahn.  In February he was trying to convince the board that “PayPal’s a jewel and eBay is covering up its value.”  However, at that time John Donahoe, the CEO of eBay, saying that  “Ebay has accelerated and enhanced PayPal’s success, allowing it to be more aggressive, bolder and to take more risk than if it was separate.”   

So why after 9 months, Donahoe make concessions? I think there are several reasons:

Once be released from eBay, PayPal can focus on payment.  After Apple jumped into the mobile payment game and Alibaba’s extremely successful IPO (who also has a mobile payment business) the competition in this category becomes a rat race.  In order to keep the competitive advantage, PayPal should be more concentrate.

The split of eBay and PayPal also means that PayPal can start to cooperate with eBay’s competitor, which obviously will expand Paypal’s market.  Meanwhile, Paypal can find a more outstanding leader to be the CEO because no one wants to lead a company under other company’s control.

Another reason is that With PayPal gone, eBay will save a lot of the cash flow so that they can invest this money in growing its bread and butter business and better compete against Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Based on the analyze above, we can see that the split of eBay and Paypal is an advisable decision.

Reference

Bertoni, Steven. “Ebay And PayPal To Split: Carl Icahn And Elon Musk Wish Comes True.”Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2014/09/30/ebay-and-paypal-to-split-carl-icahn-and-elon-musk-wish-comes-true/ 

Zappos.com is an online shoe and clothing shop currently based in Las Vegas.

In July 2009, the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion. Since its founding in 1999, it has become one of the world’s largest online shoe stores.

Zappos is famous for its outstanding customer services, they offer unlimited-time phone service and 365 days free shipping / return policy.  In order maintain the quality of the customer service, Tony Hsieh, who is the CEO of Zappos, creates a company culture that making all the employee in the company feel like they are family.  In Zappos office, they offer free food, decorate their working place, and organize interesting event for employees. every years, Zappos spend a large amount of money to building their company culture and making the employees happy for what they are working. Hseih says, the pay back will not occur in recent 1 year or 2, but it will eventually work for the company.

However, In my opinion, this kind of company culture that satisfy employees to ensure their working quality and loyalty to company is not fit for Zappos.  Unlike those high tech companies like google, most employee in Zappos working as call center staff to help customers, this occupation does not require specific skills, which means the company doesn’t need to spend too much time and money on training employees, and they can easily get new staff as well.  So there is no reason to spend a large proportion of the cost to fulfill employee.  What have been mentioned in the video is that Zappos only get 5% profit from the total revenue, which is quite dangerous for a company, hence if they stop unnecessary investment, it might help Zappos more.

After Apple announce their new mobile wallet, most of the consumers show their curiosity and interest to this innovative payment method.  Meanwhile, Apple’s are scrambling to prevent it from being too successful.

A coalition of retailers refused to accept it in their stores. More than 50 companies make up this group, the so-called Merchant Customer Exchange or MCX, including global retail giants like Walmart, Best Buy and Gap Inc.(nytimes.com). They are not resist new technology, actually they see the mobile wallet as a way to help retailers understand more about their customers’ shopping habits and, potentially, let merchants avoid the high fees they pay when processing credit card transactions.  However, MCX are building another mobile wallet, CurrentC, which will connect directly to customers’ bank accounts or store-specific credit card. It won’t be available until 2015.

Compared to Apple Pay, first, just like Ms. Webster says, “It just didn’t have the same sort of consumer froth around it.” in terms of the influence to the whole market, MCX is way to behind Apple.  Second, reference to what we have been discuss in the Value proposition lecture, Paul said that there are ladders in a specific category, in this case, mobile wallet, Apple already got to the top of the ladders, although CurrentC trying to climb on the ladder, apparently they cannot push Apple Pay out of the top.  Hence we call tell that how important  to be No.1 in a specific features in positioning of consumers’ mind.   

Reference

Isaac, Mike. “Apple Pay Runs Afoul of MCX, a Group With a Rival Product.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/technology/apple-pay-runs-afoul-of-a-rival.html?_r=0

The Site C Clean Energy Project (Site C) is a proposed third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeast B.C(bchydro.com). The dam would flood 83 kilometres of the Peace River Valley from near Fort St. John to Hudson’s Hope, destroying farmland and wildlife habitat. This project aims to satisfy the growing electricity demand of B.C. province.http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuT-7mnFqOY#t=38

However, Site C is in a dilemma because of the strong disagreement from the local aboriginal groups.  According to the chief of the First Nation,their communities are interested in supporting smaller projects in areas such as wind, solar and geothermal power. But they say the valley flooding would impair their rights to fish, hunt and use the area for ceremonial purposes.

The delay of the project remind us how strongly will the macro environment influence the business,  especially social impact in this case.  Aboriginal people in Canada were treated unfair in the past, so that their right are taking seriously since people start to respect the ancestor of the land.   PEST analysis is a great way for companies to have an awareness about the macro environment before they make any decisions, in other words, BC hydro’s dilemma can be avoid by deeper analyzing before they make the proposal.

Reference

O’neil, Peter. “First Nation Chiefs to Stage Site C Showdown.” The Vancouver Sun. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.http://www.vancouversun.com/life/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html

“Site C Clean Energy Project.” Site C Clean Energy Project. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.  https://www.bchydro.com/energy-in-bc/projects/site_c.html

I read the blog of Yimin (Jack) Jia talking about the newly coming apple watch. the link is showing here as http://blogs.ubc.ca/jackjia/2014/10/04/the-second-generation-of-apple-watch-is-already-here-and-you-can-buy-one-today-from-motorola-com

According to Jack’s words, the design of Apple watch is extremely awful because it is not circle, and the failed in design will make apple watch lose their position in the competition of other high-tech watch companies such as Motorola and Samsung.  In my opinion, I do admit that I prefer a circle watch, but It is hard to agree that we can judge a product only by appearance because people have different appreciation.  If you have watched the keynote of Apple when Tim Cook started to introduce Apple watch, you will noticed that the audience cheers for the watch when they saw it.   I believe as an electronic product,  the function and the user experience are much more important.  If the product has no difference between a normal watch, will consumer spend around four hundred dollars on a watch even though it is a circle one？  Tim Cook describe Apple Watch as an “entirely new product” ,  not only has it the necessary function such as message, music, time, but also combined the watch with the concept of Health; what is more, Apple watch is also customizable product.  It has three edition with 6 colors and 6 different type of bands.  Consumers can choose what they like and they can also choose the type of timepieces in there watch.  In conclusion, I hold a positive expectation to the market of Apple Watch.

“In September 19th, 2014, Alibaba’s stock had just started trading, and it immediately jumped in value. It ended the day up 38 percent, at $93.89, giving the company a market value of $231 billion. The company set the record for the largest initial public offering in history ” (dealbook.nytimes.com) .  As another large e-commerce company,  Alibaba enlarge their markets to the North America, which is a huge threat to Amazon.  However, why Alibaba can be  such successful?  In this blog I want to do a brief SWOT analysis.

Strength  1. Comprehensive services: Alibaba’s vast e-commerce empire includes services such as wholesale, retail, group buying, and payments.                                                                       2.Low cost: Alibaba does not sell anything directly to the consumers and has no storehouse,which means the company can save investment spending on infrastructure.                                     3.deeply rooted among people: Alibaba operates an “open marketplace” that connects buyers with sellers. And it become an extremely successful model that makes the company win a large percentage of market.

Weakness  1. Imperfection of Management: “insiders have a permanent lock on control of the company but hold only a small minority of the equity capital.”(nytimes.com).  This faultiness might lead to the hesitation of investor.                                                                                                          2 .Experience logistic and supply chain management  is insufficient.

Opportunity 1.Flush with IPO cash and a lucrative stock as currency. (Forbes.com)                         2. E-commerce develop consistently in the time period.                                               

Threat 1.Amazon is still the e-commerce leader in North America. So, “Alibaba will find it very difficult to compete with Amazon’s strong brand and well-honed supply chain and logistics skills in Western markets.” (Mohanbir)

Reference

BEBCHUK, LUCIAN. “Alibaba’s Governance Leaves Investors at a Disadvantage.” Nytimes.com. 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.

George, Bill. “Jack Ma on Alibaba, Entrepreneurs and the Role of Handstands.” DealBook. 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.

Sawhney, Mohanbir. “Alibaba vs. Amazon: Who Will Win the Global E-Commerce War?” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.

“the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a notice that takes targeted action to reduce the tax benefits of — and when possible, stop — corporate tax inversions in September 22nd, 2014.”(treasury.gov) This policy can be easily regard as an action that aiming to prevent from American companies evading tax by relocating oversea through acquiring corporation, more particularly, Burger King announced last month to acquire Tim Hortons in Canada.  President Obama has said that companies that invert for tax purposes lack “economic patriotism.”(nytimes.com)

This comment make me think about “business ethic” again. Burger King’s operation behavior will hurt the middle class companies which act responsibly because the burden of tax will be taken by them. However, relocating to Canada do decrease cost of the company, which gain profit for there stakeholders, and the managers of companies should take responsibility to their board and stakeholders. So in my opinion, we can’t judge BK saying they are unethical, what they did is just playing a role in the right position that make much net profit. Business ethic is still a controversial topic that  both sides insist on their points, and I believe this disagreement can motivate more people consider about business ethic deeply and form their own thought.

Reference:

“Treasury Announces First Steps to Reduce Tax Benefits of Corporate Inversions.” U.S. Department of the Treasury. 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Davis, Julie. “U.S. Acts to Curb Firms’ Moves Overseas to Avoid Taxes.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014. 

With the new iPhone6 and Apple Watch be pushed out, the factories that Apple used to produce products were censured again by Green American(A nonprofit environmental protection organization) and China Labor Watch(A labor rights protection organization).  According to The New York Time, after a secret investigation to a factory in JiangSu province, the investigator in China labor Watch said that the working environment in the factory is extremely dangerous: the fire exit has been locked; the floor and air is full of the powder of Aluminum – magnesium alloy, which might lead to an explosion easily.  Another issue is that labors are required to work extra hours, which is around 100 hours a month.  What is worse, they also are exposed to chemical element without appropriate protection.

The press man of Apple company, Chris Gaither claim that Apple already sent a investigating group to the factory to deal with the security and mistreatment problems.  This is not the first time that the supplement chain of Apple is in the grip of labor problem, In order to prevent the irregularities, Apple make a strict code of conduct to their supplier, and audit them in a regular time.  Although there are still some problems to the factories, the behavior of Apple Company is based on the business ethic. It takes the responsibility to protect staff and labors.