In common sense, the United Nations is a powerful international organization. It works on economic and social development programs, improves human rights and reduces global conflicts. However, the United Nations cares about the public benefits rather than individuals. Moreover, the economic support form the United Nations is temporary and it cannot support for a long time. Therefore, we still need the Arc or social enterprise, even though the United Nations is fully funded.

The definition of Arc or social enterprises is pursuing innovative idea with the potential to solve community problems as generating income. These organizations provide education programs, banking services, etc. They not only support people with troubles, but also teach them business skills. With these skills and knowledge,  people can obtain ability to sustain their life.

As a saying goes, “Give a man a fish ad he can eat for a day; but if you teach him how to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.” Social enterprises are trying to teach people fishing. Their behavior will lead people to achieve self-sufficient and live with hope.

 

Communication is the transfer of information from one part to another. Is communication important? Is it difficult to carry out? After reading blogs of Marcia, who has devoted over 25 years to working with sales professionals and managers to enhance sales performance, I got some . In one of her blog posts“Want Better Sales & Customer Relationships? Do This One Thing,” she uses many examples to show that improving internal communication is one of the most important steps to increase sales and improve relationships with customers.

I strongly agree that companies need internal communication to share information and promote cooperation. Additionally, companies also need external communication. They need to exchange information with their suppliers and customers, and they also need feedbacks from their customers.

However, why communication is not easy to set up. Marcia thought the reason is personal conflict between departmental managers. From my perspectives, I think the competition between managers and employees may ; Furthermore, personalities of employees and culture of companies are also reasons for ineffective cross-department communication.

In my classmate Brian Wei Gonce’s blog, he used Zappos’s focus on employee benefits and training to established success as an example to prove his point that happy employees lead to happier customers.

I agree with his viewpoint. I think a comfortable working environment can make employees enjoy their jobs and become more dedicated, so the company can increase productivity. Moreover, comprehensive benefits not only help employees to work hard and maintain their loyalty but also attract more competent applicants for the company. Low employee turnover and employee’s passion and enthusiasm can guarantee the quality of services.

However, I wonder whether all companies should focus on improving employee happiness. In my opinion, I think companies with large number of employees or low remaining profit should not follow Zappos’ example because they cannot afford such a huge expense. If other companies try to duplicate Zappo’s strategy, they will encounter problems before obtaining return. Most companies should focus more on employees’productivity rather than their happiness. Although related-performance pay and bonus may not achieve the same effect, they can at some level motivate employees to work hard. More importantly, these alternatives are much cheaper.

Wherever I go, I can always find McDonald’s. Its crowded stores have been a special advertisement to show McDonald’s strong brand value. However, the transition of macro environment leads McDonald’s strength to become powerless. In one of my classmates Peter Lee’s Blog, he thought consumer preference causes the decline of McDonald’s worldwide sales. From my perspectives, I strongly agree with his viewpoint that McDonald’s should value the quality of its foods.

Low price, cleanness, convenienceand efficiency guarantee McDonald’s popularity. However, people are always greedy. With the improved quality of life, people begin pursuing healthier food instead of cheaper, faster food. This shift in customer preference becomes a huge threat to McDonald’s. Therefore, McDonald’s must include health awareness in its core value propositions and try its best to sell this point to customers.

Furthermore, this macro environment not only influences McDonald’s but also other fast food restaurants. Therefore, being the first restaurant to promote healthy fast food can change consumers’ impression of McDonald’s. Although it may be difficult to change customers’ original impression of McDonald’s (i.e., cheap and unhealthy), it is possible to realize this strategy.

In Common 101, I have learned about the theory of disruptive innovation. When we discussed about examples of disruptive innovation, digital camera was the first thing that came into my mind. This innovation has destroyed traditional film industry totally. Kodak is the most representative example.

In 2012, Kodak, the king of the film kingdom, filed for bankruptcy protection because the rise of digital industry took over the traditional film market. The more unbelievable thing is that Kodak was the first to develop digital camera. However, this new product was dropped to protect Kodak’s photographic film business. As a result, this abandoned technology brought the film industry huge destruction.

Disruptive innovations can become a huge threat although they may only occupy a small market at the initial stage. Therefore, companies ought not to stop making progress and innovating. From my perspective, companies should invest some of their profit in innovation since a valuable innovation can become a company’s unique selling point and give the company competitive advantages.

 

Grasping the trend of market and keeping innovative ability are ways to survive in competitions.

Nowadays, the aboriginal title has been recognized by a Supreme Court of Canada, which means no exploitation on that territory without the permission of First Nation.

Recently, the project of BC Hydro, establishing dam and hydroelectric generating station on Peace River in British Columbia, was rejected by First Nation chiefs, since it will significantly effect on fishing opportunities and practices for the First Nations.

However, I do not agree with that opposition. The population of B.C. is keeping increasing, so it will need much more new energy in the future. Things cannot be both satisfied, so First Nation has to choose one which has lower opportunity cost.

In addition, I also do not think aboriginal title can bring economic benefits for First Nation. Under this situation, companies must ask permission from chiefs to do exploitation. However, chiefs are not gods, so they cannot predict the future accurately. As a result, the economy of B.C may be limited because of chiefs’ wrong decisions.

 

Reference: O’Neil, Peter.  First Nations chiefs to stage Site C showdown.  Vancouver Sun.  September 18, 2014.  Newspaper Article.http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html

On the first day of October, Hong Kong university students were holding  demonstration for democracy, when Chineses were celebrating the national day.  I do not want to judge the right and wrong between Hong Kong university students and Chinese government. I just want to analyze how does this politic action influence the economy.

According to Chinese national regulation, Chinese people can get seven-day holiday in oder to celebrate the national day. Since this is a rare holiday for most of people with jobs, many people choose traveling and shopping with their family members.

Formerly, many people would choose traveling to Hong Kong because of its duty-free goods. However, the demonstration stop  this travelers. Recently, the central Hon Kong such as Mongkok, a bustling shopping and residential district across the harbor in Kowloon has been occupied by thousands of pro-democracy supporters. Now it is even difficult for inhabitant to pass through, how can travelers go shopping here. Moreover, travelers would give up this great tourist spot because they are also afraid of the tension between students and the police. After all, nobody want to expose themselves to danger.

 

By prediction this week’s protests will cost retailers about $ 280 million in lost sales. Although just a golden week will not make a significant effect on Hong Kong’s economy, a persistent “Occupy” movement may cause a far-reaching influence.

 

 

Reference:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/481ce604-4ad0-11e4-839a-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3FCVT0H5D

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/598a7152-4ab4-11e4-bc07-00144feab7de.html#axzz3FCVT0H5D

In 2011, Sher-Wood Hockey Inc. Canada’s hockey stick manufacturer move its stick production to China in order to cut its cost. Certainly, it is not an exception.Nowadays, China has become a global manufactory. Many countries move their factories into China because of its cheap labour and resources. From my view point, Chinese Government should set standards for foreign factories in order to prevent them rushing into China.

For the society, although introduction of foreign production can help Chinese Government to solve unemployment problem, using cheap labour to do mass production is a kind of exploitation for Chinese workers. Additionally, the foreign factories will grabbed off the  limited resources from domestic manufactories. They will bring more competition.

For the environment, more massive exploitation from foreign factories will make the ecological environment become worse. Moreover, factories will cause pollution including foreign factories, so introducing too many factories will cause serious environment problem.

For this reasons, Chinese Government should stop the increase of foreign factories in the domestic market. I think Government can increase charge of foreign foreign factories and select them more carefully. I also hope one day, China can not only be a maker but also be a designer.

Reference:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/courseblogcl_ubc_comm_101_101_2014w1_44739-cl_ubc_comm_101_101_2014w1_44739_2045960_1/files/2014/04/Sher-wood-follows-rivals-to-China.pdf

 

Positioning is a kind of marketing strategies which can make a brand occupy a distinct position in customers’ mind. In order to attract more customers or get one more customer segment, businesses may choose repositioning. Blackberry is one of examples.

As a corporate-workhorse devices, Blackberry is know for its security and reliability. However, it became no longer competitive in a consumer market with the fast developing technology. Nowadays, customers do not want an affordable corporate mobile phone anymore, they want a popular and high-technic one like iPhone. However, when Blackberry position in a mass market, it diluted its value and lost its elite image. As a result, it cannot compete against mass market mobile phone brands and also loss its own customer segment.

In fact, repositioning is a high-risky strategy. It’s a common sense that companies are quite difficult to change a consumer’s impression once it is formed. Moreover, firms which has been the first to claim a unique position in the mind of customers are difficult to be substituted by other competitors. In this case, Blackberry’s repositioning not only fail to change customers’ opinions, but also cannot turn the tables on leaders of mass market. Therefore, managers should think seriously before repositioning.

 

 

Reference:

http://marketingstall.blogspot.ca/2011/05/blackberry-boys-repositioning.html

 

 

 

The third class Business Ethics reminded me of the Sanlu milk powder,which cause the most serious food safety issue in China in 2008. In order to cut cost of production, Sanlu added industrial chemical melamine, which would form kidney stones, into the milk powder to make it appear to be protein-rich. As a result, 300,000 babies were ill and six babies was killed. Finally, Sanlu went bankrupt and be taken over by a state-owned business.

However, things was not over. Sanlu’s unethical behavior not only destroyed its own brand and also caused a crisis of confidence in domestic dairy industry. Consequently, the market share of national dairy companies shrank as customers rely more and more on foreign brands. For babies’ health, most of high-income people purchased a large chunk of milk powder from HongKong. It even forced  HonKong to publish restriction policy on buying milk powder in order to protect its own customers.

Therefore, Ethics are significantly essential for companies. Unethical behavior of companies is self-destruction, especially famous companies. Additionally, these unethical action can not only influence a certain company but also make customer feel disappointed in the whole industry. If the reputation of businesses is damaged, it will be difficult to be recovered. That’s why foreign brands such as  Fonterra announces have occupied a large part of Chinese milk market.

Reference:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28948102

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7616346.stm