Category Archives: Uncategorized

Given the many global issues that are present in over 100 developing countries, the Arc Initiative gives Sauder students a chance to make a change in a community suffering from these problems. However, we are given the question “If the United Nations was fully funded, why would we need the Arc Initiative?”. The answer, I believe, has nothing to do with money.

Even if the UN was fully funded and therefore capable of solving many global issues, the purpose of the Arc Initiative is to educate students for the long term, creating passionate social entrepreneurs who can make a difference in the future. Solving issues with money does not guarantee a permanent solution; there are many other factors such as government corruption that could render money almost useless. The Arc Initiative gives students the skills they need to do a wide variety of things, such as expanding a community and helping it progress. Additionally, Sauder students are shown the true conditions that give the Arc Initiative a purpose; it drives them to become knowledgable social entrepreneurs with the capability to create lasting effects on communities in need.

As the price of oil has been decreasing, Russia has been suffering a great loss in revenue and is facing a potential recession. This article from the Globe and Mail explains that sanctions have been placed on “[the] lifeblood of the Russian economy” (Globe and Mail) at $95 per barrel, and this price is expected to continue to decrease. Due to these sanctions, the Russian economy is not expected to grow at all for the next three years, and inflation rates are currently at 8%. This obviously poses a large threat to Russian consumers, as the economy faces a potential downfall with little solutions. However, should Russia try to counter the high inflation rates by raising interest rates, Russian businesses and consumers would still suffer.

Although this incident will result in a weakening of the Russian economy, I think that it is strong enough to prevent a financial crisis. Russian banks have predicted a halt in growth until 2017, which is “very realistic and suggests Russia is planning for the long haul” (Globe and Mail). I think what plays the a large role in the fate of the Russian economy are the investors who fuel economic activity. Should citizens lose faith in the currency and stop investing, this would trigger a recession. However, if the government plans ahead and takes the right steps to ensure the security of the Russian economy, I believe that a recession in fairly preventable.

In Eleanor Waring’s blogpost, she brings up the much speculated issue of the pricey consequences of being environmentally friendly. Saskatchewan’s attempt at eliminating carbon dioxide emissions costed a whopping $1.4 billion in tax payer’s money to create, and that was only one machine. Ella makes a good point that the likeliness of other provinces adopting this technology is slim to none, as the amount of money it would cost is extremely high. This led me to think about how likely it is for provinces to develop or adopt these types of sustainable technologies in the future if the price is this high with little chance of financial return.

While I believe sustainability is an extremely important concept that governments should be trying to integrate into their provinces, I also think affordability is equally as important. As we can see in Ella’s article she cited, the cost of this new technology was almost unfathomable, and the technology failed to spread to other provinces due to the price. This issue poses the question: how can we be sustainable and economical simultaneously? This is something that I believe governments should be thinking about for the future, because the environment is the basis of our country’s economy and revenue.

Corporate Social Responsibility has become an extremely important aspect of businesses around the world. The CSR that a business possesses provides a huge reflection of the overall success of the company, as well as the satisfaction of its customers and employees. Upon discovering this blog on why CSR is important, I became more interested in the specific benefits that CSR provides within many different aspects of a business. The blog highlights many key factors that I personally believe make up a well-established and well-run company, and gives examples of how companies can either improve or start practicing CSR within their business. 

One of the first benefits mentioned in the blog is a better public image. While I do not think that a company’s public image should be the reason behind the practice of CSR, I do think that it plays a large role in how profitable a business is. The better a company’s image, the more consumers it will attract. According to the blog, “9 out of 10 consumers would refrain from doing business with a corporation if there existed no corporate social responsibility plan” (Double the Donation). Additionally, the blog states that companies with a CSR plan attract much more positive media coverage, which I believe is extremely important because advertisements and media coverage give consumers a first impression of what a certain company is about. With regard to employees, a positive work environment is one of the many beneficial outcomes of CSR. In my opinion, happy and hardworking employees are the most important aspect of a company. With no employees, there is no business. I found this blog interesting because it really delved into the specifics of CSR, and gave solidified reasons on why businesses should adopt this idea. 

Canadian universities are currently struggling to raise their academic standards and rankings while spending as little money as possible. The Canadian government wants to see better results within its schools, and this article suggests that competitive diversity is the answer. By competitive diversity, it means “not only concentrating specializations in existing publicly funded institutions, but enfolding other publicly chartered (but not publicly funded) schools” (Globe and Mail). Robert Joustra, the author of the article, believes that the small, private and specialized aspect of a university education has been ignored by the Canadian government and that Canada should place more focus on building liberal arts colleges that “deliver quality outcomes for lower prices” (Globe and Mail). 

I agree with Joustra’s opinion that Canada’s choice of universities is somewhat limited in the sense that a “good” university education is most often associated with large research universities such as U of T, UBC and McGill. However, if we look at the post-secondary options in the United States, there are many small liberal arts colleges with outstanding academics and prestigious reputations such as Sarah Lawrence, Claremont McKenna and Williams College. However, these colleges are private, well-established, and decades/centuries old. Because all Canadian universities are government funded, we cannot expect that Canada will establish these types of colleges. However, I believe chartered colleges that can operate independently will spark competitive diversity within Canadian schools and will offer more options to students looking for an excellent post-secondary education at a specialized school. As a result, the establishment of these schools will create jobs, generate revenue and attract more international students as the college gains recognition.

Vancouver is infamous for its shockingly expensive real estate market. What could buy you a mansion in Beverly Hills could buy you an old, modest home ready to be torn down in Vancouver. The reason for this ridiculously high-priced market is foreign investment. Calen Falconer-Bayard’s blogpost talks about “the influx of foreign buyers [that] has driven house prices in the 2-5 million range up by 49% since 2009”. He explains that many foreign buyers are illegitimate in the sense that they purchase homes yet fail to ever live in them. I strongly agree with Calen’s opinion that the increasing house prices could be detrimental to citizens, especially as a Vancouverite that plans to live here for the rest of my life. Calen’s post intrigued me and led me to research the implications of these foreign investors.

I feel strongly about this subject because I believe it is a very serious problem that creates hardships for Canadian citizens who actually live and contribute to Vancouver and its economy. This article states that as the number of vacant homes increases, the amount of economic activity in that particular neighbourhood slowly but surely decreases. Additionally, it drives the price of houses up, resulting in an inability for citizens to purchase homes. There are multiple initiatives that the government could take to alleviate this problem, yet nothing has been done to stop foreign investors from purchasing homes that could actually be utilized by people who intend to live in them. Foreign buyers as well as the government “treat houses as commodities, without regard for community livability” (Globe and Mail). 

The First Nations tribe the Tsilhqot’in are fighting to preserve a very important piece of land that is being challenged by Taseko Mines Ltd. The Tsilhqot’in are planning on opening Dasiqox Tribal Park in the exact location where the $1.1-billion New Prosperity copper-gold project is supposed to take place. As legal battles and disagreements arise, it is difficult to settle on what side of the fence to be on. To begin, the First Nations have been living on this land for hundreds of years. The interference with the tribe, the land and the environment that this mine would cause far exceeds what would be considered an ethical business plan. As the article states, this piece of land is home to “more than 10,000 hectares of threatened white bark pine forest, the last viable refuge for the dryland grizzly bear, [and an] important spawning habitat for chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon” (Pynn). However, it is also important to look at the situation from Taseko’s point of view. This piece of land was not originally declared as part of the Tsilhqot’in’s title, therefore it is understandable why Taseko is frustrated with this sudden halt to the construction of the mine. The validity of this new tribal park declaration seems questionable, so it is fair to say that both parties have legitimate reasons for their position on the disagreement. This new mine was set to be a large source of income for Taseko, therefore the Tsilhqot’in’s actions have a large impact on the success of the company. 

Keurig, the popular coffee-maker, is being sued by fellow Canadian coffee company Club Coffee for creating a coffee maker that only works with Keurig-brand coffee cups. The new model is an attempt by the company to prevent the use of coffee cups from different brands and to force consumers to buy K-cups instead. However, this business plan backfired immensely and resulted in Club Coffee identifying the differentiation in the new Keurig model before it was even out on shelves. The company is being sued for “anti-competitive behaviour, claiming it is keeping the price of single-serve coffee pods artificially high for consumers” (CBC). Club Coffee has announced the differentiation and has warned other coffee companies of this new development so that they are able to create Keurig-compatible cups as well. I believe that Keurig’s strategy was an unfair attempt to exploit their customers and diminish their competitors. Keurig has already raised the price of their K-cups by 9%, and consumers of the new model would be forced to buy these cups. Additionally, the model development that prevents other cups from being used is a minimal alteration in the machine that is easily correctable for producers of other coffee cups. I believe making the new model compatible exclusively with overpriced K-cups would drive consumers away, resulting in the company taking a retrostep rather than moving forward and expanding their business. 

Many Canadian citizens hold part-time jobs by choice as a way to earn extra money or save for their futures. However, many other citizens do not hold these part-time jobs by choice. According to this article in the Globe and Mail, many Canadians have been demoted from their full-time jobs to part-time jobs due to employers’ desires to “keep a lid on labour costs, improv[e] their margins at a time of heightened competition and changing business models” (Grant). As demand for employers’ products rise and fall, employees suffer from hour cuts, resulting in a lower income. This decrease in income has made it difficult for citizens who need a full-time job to support themselves, pay their bills and save for retirement. In my opinion, this issue is an extremely detrimental problem facing Canada’s workforce. Since “the greatest portion of involuntary part-timers are those between the ages of 25 and 54” (Grant), they are unable to support themselves during the portion of their lives that they need to most. The uncertainty that comes with no guaranteed minimum work hours causes the middle-aged workforce to refrain from purchasing as many goods and services, which creates a lack of flow in the economy. Overall, I believe it is extremely important for the government to intervene as this issue could potentially have a snowball effect on the Canadian economy as a whole.

Ello, a new social media site, has caught the attention of many discontent social media users who are frustrated with the lack of privacy and control associated with Facebook. The article explains how the business models for websites such as Facebook are plagued with advertisers who track every post and every photo in order to collect data and post more advertisements. However, Ello is free of advertisements and, more importantly, does not sell personal information to third-parties. Users are not required to sign up with their real names and have the option to choose how much information they share with the site. This new business model also features a “freemium”-type function where users can use the original site for free, but have the option to pay a one-time fee to download special features and add-ons. This would act as a replacement revenue for advertisements. From personal experience with sites like Facebook, I find it very frustrating that any content I post is automatically owned by the site and that I have no control over where it goes or who it goes to. The fact that Ello is private and protects its users rather than selling their information is extremely appealing and a very important value proposition. This is a very clever approach to the overall issue of privacy within social media, and I believe it has the potential to expand and become more well-known within the social media world.