Monthly Archives: November 2011

Elaine’s blog post reminded me of Jeff’s question of whether we would take $100 today or $100 in later years. Elaine argues that she would take $100 today instead of waiting for a couple of years because she believes that prices of products will increase meaning that she can buy more with $100 now than in the future.

I totally agree with Elaine’s point of view. According to an article on Daily Reckoning, monetary inflation is our future. The article mentions that $100,000 50 years ago is considered a huge sum of money and the chances of people paying a loan that large are skim. However,  $100,000 is a payable amount today and this is all because of monetary inflation over the past 50 years.

The existence of monetary inflation discourages people from saving money. I believe that the portion of the class similar to Elaine and I who chose to spend $100 today considers money to be less valuable in the future. Hence, we prefer to spend it now. A counter argument could be if $100 is put into the bank, it would be more than $100 in future years due to the interest rate. However, I believe that even if interest rate help increase the amount, monetary inflation will still cause $100 to be worth less than today.

Works Cited:

Saxena, Puru. “Monetary Inflation Is Our Future.” Daily Reckoning. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <http://dailyreckoning.com/monetary-inflation-is-our-future/>.

Janice Yeung’s blog post commenting on tradition versus social enterprises caught my attention. I recently blogged about a similar topic regarding the key features of social enterprises and how it is different from traditional enterprises or NGOs. However, Janice’s blog post brought up the question: can a social enterprise always stay as a social enterprise? Body Shop was used as an example in her blog because it was purchased by L’Oreal, a company that is more profitmaking based.

I would like to add on to her blog by saying that it is difficult for a company to stay as a social enterprise because unlike NGOs, social enterprises still need to make profit. Hence, Body Shop could have merged with L’Oreal due to overriding financial benefits. It is important to magnify their importance since a lot of social enterprises merge into traditional enterprises. Social enterprises help improve the well-being of society in general.

Video: Committee for Democracy in Information Technology 

CDI is a social enterprise started by Rodrigo Baggio that encourages poor people to learn how to use computers. This will aid in an increase in employment and social well being in poor countries. It can also impact future generations and the economy.

Works Cited:

powerpoint: class 20, Social enterprise and non profit management, Nov 20th 2011

When investors invest in any company, they are buying stocks. This means that they are paying for the control right and power to decide, vote as well as future cash flow gains. The investors receive dividends, which is a way for companies to pay their investors.

Canadian bank stocks have been tumbling recently however they are paying high dividends. The average relative yield of dividends jumped from around 50% from 1980 – 2005 to above 100% after the financial crisis in 2008. Uncertainty is the reason behind the high dividend yields and Michael Goldberg, an analyst at Desjardins Securities, says that the main reasons behind this are the European debt crisis and a slower growth.

When discussing banks, high dividends equals confidence while low dividends reflects uncertainty. One may ask why did the dividend yields increase in times of uncertainty. This is justifiable because when the economy is unstable, people will more likely invest in banks because they are relatively more secure. Although some bank stocks will drop, other will increase leading to a higher yield of dividends.

Works Cited

Berman, David. “How Can Banks Remove Uncertainty? Dividend Hikes! – The Globe and Mail.” The Globe and Mail. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/markets-blog/how-can-banks-remove-uncertainty-dividend-hikes/article2247570/>.

Powerpoint: class 17, Finance, oct. 27

Social entrepreneurship is a topic that I find very interesting yet is a bit confusing. A social entrepreneur has a social mission. They are people who recognize social problems and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change. The companies that social entrepreneurs create are called social enterprises.

An article on New York Times discuss what is important in a social enterprise. Some important points touched upon in the article include: moneymaking, venture capital, and hire creatively. I want to focus on moneymaking because this question aroused in class. The article mentions that moneymaking is not something to apologize for in a social enterprise. This also separates a social enterprise from an NGO. It is striving to complete a social mission while earning money at the same time. Some companies look like they are social enterprises but do not fall in the category of one. Tobacco giant Phillip Morris is not a social enterprise even though it donates money to social causes because it is not addressing any socioeconomic challenge.

Works Cited:

“A Fresh Look at Defining Social Entrepreneurship « Razesquire.” Razesquire. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <http://razesquire.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/a-fresh-look-at-defining-social-entrepreneurship/>.

Moran, Susan. “Some Ways to Get Started as a Social Entrepreneur.” The New York Times. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/business/smallbusiness/23sbiz.html?pagewanted=all>.

Powerpoint: Class 20, Social enterprise and non-profit management, Nov 15

The Globe and Mail provides an article that discusses Lululemon’s current problem: stocks are dropping due to a shortage in supply. Over the past year there was a 28% increase in store sales and RBC retail analyst, Howard Tubin, estimated a 10-12% increase in the first quarter of 2011. However, in March 2011, the stocks dropped 4.4% on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Lululemon is unable to supply its customers with enough yoga wear and combined with their increasing expenses of air transportation of products, their stocks dropped a considerable amount. Lululemon’s problem occurs frequently in many companies because it is difficult to get the product to the right place at the right time in accurate amounts.

I believe that Lululemon in unable to meet their demands because they are unable to deal with variability. Randomness is everywhere in business and demand is a variable; therefore, companies make mistakes. I think that Lululemon should construct a demand forecast using market research, analysis and prototyping. Since a forecast is the possible outcomes and the likelihood of those events happening, Lululemon should use this probability distribution to improve its supplied quantity to better meet customers’ demands.

Works Cited:

“Lululemon’s Problem? Customers Can’t Get Enough – The Globe and Mail.” The Globe and Mail. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/lululemons-problem-customers-cant-get-enough/article1945253/>.

Powerpoint: Class 15, Supply chain operations 2, Oct. 27

There is often confusion as to what Corporate Social Responsibility really means. As learned in class, CSR is achieving economic growth with social and environmental limits. Businesses focus more on producing products in an environmentally friendly way as opposed to a couple of decades ago because environment instability has become more of a problem over the years. Hence, it is important to educate students in business schools about sustainability since they will be the next managers and CEOs.

It is often hard to implement CSR because companies that produce products ethically and treats customers, and employees well, has to think how they are returning to the community as opposed to being satisfied by not taking anything away.

I feel that companies that adopt strategic CSR plans will be more likely to embrace ethical business decision-making because they value the environment and society highly. Such companies such as Lululemon with their breast cancer campaign are more likely to implement Edward Freeman’s stakeholder theory since it values the well-being of all employees, customers, investors, financiers, and community.

Works Cited

What Is Stakeholder Theory? – R. Edward Freeman – YouTube. Perf. R. Edward Freeman. Youtube. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIRUaLcvPe8>.

Powerpoint: class 3, Introduction to business ethics, sept. 15

Powerpoint: class 14, Sustainability and CSR, oct. 26

McDonald’s and Target dropped their Minnesota-based egg supplier, Sparboe Farms due to their unethical behavior towards animals in multiple facilities. After reading this article I want to ask: Should McDonald’s or Target be held responsible in this scenario?

To answer, we need to look at business ethics and supply chains. In the article, McDonald’s and Target both require their suppliers to treat animals in a humane way; therefore, terminating business with Sparboe. Unethical behavior arises because people have different values. In business, things can go wrong and end up being unethical due to three main reasons:

1) People don’t care about what they are doing

2) People know they are doing something wrong but is under financial, social, legal, or personal pressure

3) People come believe the wrong is right.

Consumers of McDonald’s and other companies that use Sparboe as their supplier fear the safety of the eggs. One can suggest McDonald’s to produce their own eggs. However, this is costly and inefficient. Also, McDonald’s obtain eggs from Sparboe through Cargill Inc. Hence, Sparboe can be said as the supplier’s supplier.

I believe that companies should not be responsible for their supplier’s unethical behaviour. However, they should terminate business with them immediately.

Works Cited

“McDonald’s, Target Drop Egg Supplier : NPR.” NPR : National Public Radio. 19 Nov. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142556273>.

Powerpoint: class 3, intro to business ethics, sept. 15, 2011

Powerpoint: class 15, supply chain operations 2, oct. 27, 2011

An external blog written by Jeff Beer that analyzes the difference between a consumer and a shopper and how this affects marketing. For example, consumers of Duracell tell the marketers how good their product is and all the benefits of Duracell. However, Energizers and other brands power the electronic devices at their homes. Research was then done to collect more data that can provide marketers the insight to distinguish between what a consume feels about the brand and what he/she as a shopper buys.

I found that this blog post ties into the lecture and reading about marketing research. Take grocery shopping as an example, a research method is needed to collect data regarding shopping habits and this can help marketers betting their marketing strategies. In the article, tactics from observing shoppers to investigating their cupboards were performed to obtain data. The observing method is an example of ethnographic research and the peeking in people’s cupboards is exploratory research.  Both methods are means to collect primary data. The blog provides statistics based on the two research methods but I would add potential data collection errors such as intrinsic sampling errors.

This blog post helped me reinforced marketing research concepts in the lectures.

Works Cited

Beer, Jeff. “What’s the Difference between a Consumer and a Shopper?” Canada Business. 02 Nov. 2011. Web. <http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blog/sales_and_marketing/54911–what-s-the-difference-between-a-consumer-and-a-shopper>.

“Marketing Research.” QuickMBA: Accounting, Business Law, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management, Marketing, Operations, Statistics, Strategy. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/research/>.

Powerpoint: Class 10, Marketing Research, Paul Cubbon and Elaine Williamson

Apple is Steve Jobs because he is the founder and soul of the company. It changed the way we listen and purchase music in the past decade. After the iPods and iPhones, Jobs created the iPad, which he said to be ‘magical’ since it performs much of the functions of a computer. To journalists, Apple can be a pain because no one answers questions directly. This is more or less influenced by Jobs’ controlling persona; therefore, Apple can be categorized as a ‘doing’ company rather than a ‘talking’ one.

This article from the Canada Business website concludes with the question: Can Apple continue its dominance without Jobs? I believe Apple is capable because of this ‘doing’ approach. There are always rumors about new Apple products but they never announce what the product is specifically. Similar to the author, I respect Apple and what it ‘does’ since it is not once of those companies that always talk about what they are going to invent but the products produced are somewhat disappointing. With an organizational culture developed around this approach, I believe all its employees are capable of extending Jobs’ legend.

Works Cited:

Nowak, Peter. “Steve Jobs: Respect the Doing, Not the Talking.” Canada Business. Web. <http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blog/tech/41957–steve-jobs-respect-the-doing-not-the-talking>.

Zara is a huge company that fits the definition of entrepreneurship. The main aspects of entrepreneurship as defined by economist Joseph Schumpeter is innovation. This includes new products, new production methods, new markets and new forms of organization. Zara increases the wealth of the company through a continuous variety of new innovations. For example, it only needs two weeks to develop a new product and have it available to customers at a variety of locations. This is a huge number compared to other companies within the same industry. They can produce new products in such a short time that they are always ahead of other companies.

Zara also has an expensive yet efficient way of restocking their products. This includes private planes that deliver products twice a week to all locations. In addition Zara produces approximately 11,000 items annually, which is about three times as much as competitors. Their fast and innovative production methods help them increase revenue.

Zara is able to satisfy their customers with their marketing department working closely with their supply chain. This reduces confusion and increases efficiency, explaining why Zara can mimic new celebrity fashion in such speed.

Works Cited:

powerpoint: class 15, supply chains and operations 2, Oct 27 2011

“Zara (retailer).” Wikipedia. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zara_(retailer)>.