In response to Lapowsky’s “Alibaba’s Founder on Why His Company Is Killing It in China” on Wired

Those who haven’t heard of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, will be hearing a lot him after his company’s record breaking IPO last week, generating $25 billion. Alibaba is the largest and primary e-commerce network in China. Spectators are predicting that with this move to go public, the company is looking into entering the US e-commerce market competing with Amazon and eBay. However, instead of exposing the company to two of the largest e-commerce networks at once, Ma mentioned his company’s plan to expand into developing countries where the infrastructure of commerce is weak. The lack of competition in these countries will prove to be an advantage for Alibaba similar to the market in China. Asides from business plans, he also decided to invest $3 billion in “environmental and educational projects in China to ‘help hose who want to be successful.'” As someone who once made $20 a month and started Alibaba from home, Ma believes with his investment he can nurture creative/entrepreneurial talent in his home-country. While his IPO marks the 30th spot on Forbes’ billionaires, practice of good business ethics is evident here. Asides from his generous donations, his success story sends a message similar to the one of the late Steve Jobs: It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, as long as you have passion, you will succeed. Ma quotes, “…When you have more than $1 billion, you have responsibility.” The world could use more wealthy people with a sense of social responsibility.

Response to Ethics are an Important Process to Local Businesses by Vicki James

There was a particularly interesting article I once read called, “Don’t Make Money By Being Bad” from the Templar’s “The Rules of Money.” It featured the importance of practicing good ethics whether in business, or just life in general. Since reading it, ethics and morals have been a major part of my daily life; thus, very important to me. James commented on the importance of a companies’ “commitment to business ethics” and “demonstration of good corporate citizenship.” I think it is amazing for foundations such as the Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation (RABEF) to encourage, promote and award local businesses for “celebrating high standards of ethics” with their ETHIE award. The beauty of the award is both participants and finalists should be commended by their exemplary effort to conduct business at the highest level. After reading the article I also found out that business ethics have a direct impact on the company’s success. It is really important for foundations like RABEF to help nurture ethics in local businesses so that it may benefit legally, through employee conduct and when interacting with other businesses.

Business Ethics

It’s almost been a year since Apple released the iPhone 5S and the most anticipated Apple keynote is less than 12 hours away. And as always, no one (except for the ones at Cupertino) knows for sure what to expect for the iPhone and whether or not the heavily-rumoured “iWatch” will be released. In order to combat the dominancy of Samsung smartphones in the recent years, Apple is rumoured to be releasing the iPhone in two larger sizes than their current model: 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch. Other rumours speculate the iPhone will be thinner and feature sapphire crystal glass. Nothings for sure until the event starts at 10 AM Pacific tomorrow.