Being one of the most anticipated initial public offerings since Facebook, social-networking phenomenon Twitter has recently revealed its plans to focus on expanding internationally rather than just catering to its users in the United States. An outstanding 77% of its active users in the past three months were from outside the US, and many potential investors and analysts see great potential in its international growth. However, Twitter’s advertisement system is still largely undeveloped compared to its social-networking rival Facebook. This revenue stream holds the tremendous potential at the moment and if Twitter is not careful in developing it then the company could end up like Facebook on the stock exchange. Twitter will need to evolve and adapt its development strategies in order to accommodate the different countries around the world it’s targeting.

Countries with authoritarian governments like China have become a large obstacle for Twitter. Its massive potential market for social networking services has already turned over to other its own solutions such as Weibo, Wechat, and Whatsapp as websites such as Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter have been banned. China, emerging as an economic super-giant holds great influence in social media as there are already a significant number of users using these websites in the neighbouring countries of China and even North America. Twitter will need to work extremely carefully with marketers in order to successfully expand overseas.

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/business/twitters-ipo-plan-has-an-international-focus.html?ref=media

https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2284174690/kg15c0qobqp5op14zcp1.png

Underwear manufacturing giant, Fruit of the Loom, has recently launched a strange but unique promotional campaign, “Fresh Gigs”,  aimed towards 25 000 lucky users on LinkedIn. As part of its goal to highlight the importance of putting on a properly fitting pair of underwear at the beginning of the day, a handful of business professionals who have recently changed their employment status will receive a free pair of underwear as well as a $5 discount for a multi pack from Fruit of the Loom. Underwear recipients will then be requested to share their gift via LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter in an attempt to promote the company’s philosophy of how having a good pair of underwear can have a positive impact on new starts in life, and in this case, starting a new job.

In today’s incredibly fast-paced and competitive business world, creativity and originality is crucial when competing in marketing campaigns. Fruit of the Loom spent a whopping $34.9 million in advertising in 2012 and they don’t plan on slowing down with its new “Start Happy” campaign and witty actor-based commercials. They continue to focus and promote its company’s ideology on how vital it is to start off the day with a clean, fresh, and properly-fitting pair of underwear as a poorly manufactured, ill-fitting pair of boxers can derail one’s entire day.

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/business/media/fruit-of-the-loom-sees-workers-in-their-underwear.html?ref=media

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/10/04/business/Adco2/Adco2-popup.jpg

Self-proclaimed “Chinese Warren Buffett”, Weizhen Tang was sentenced to six years in prison with a $2.8 million fine in February for raising a whopping $50 million from clueless investors fraudulently. This Toronto-based “Financial-Businessman” and Mayoral Candidate was caught with an overflow of evidence showing falsified account statements and proof of him using investments from newer clients to make payments to earlier investors. Weizhen Tang “invested” his clients’ money into risky trades in foreign currencies when they were promised security and stability through investment in government bonds. These investors were primarily middle-class Chinese-Canadians living in Toronto and had made large commitments into Tang’s Oversea Chinese Fund, as many had poured out their life savings, borrowed money, and mortgaged their homes in order to finance the investment.

In Class 9, one of the major focuses of the class was Financial Statement Fraud in Financial Accounting. The importance of being literate with financial statements was highlighted during the class as similar cases are bound to happen to everyone in the future. This article only reinforces the fact that one must be able to analyse and interpret financial statements to at least a basic level in order to succeed in the business world regardless how accomplished they are in other areas.

References:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/osc-files-new-allegations-against-self-proclaimed-chinese-warren-buffett/article14663864/

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/archives/sunnews/canada/media/2012/10/20121031-190415-g.jpg