Melody Han's Blog

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)>.