Month: October 2012

After reading  Mathew Chan’s post -“The Iphone 5: Behing the Scenes”– I was interested in the amount of power trade unions had in China, especially since it’s a relevant to the trade union strikes taking place at UBC. I assumed that there were no trade unions in China, or they had non-existent or negligible power, as I usually hear about chinese workers being exploited in the media. I was surprised to find out that the laws protecting trade unions in China are actually better than most countries. In China, 25 worker signatures constitute a trade union, and the employer must pay 2% of the payroll to the union, whilst employees pay 0.5%¹. Unions such as the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) actually have enough power to take on huge corporations like Walmart. However, the trade unions still aren’t widespread enough considering China’s huge job sectors, and they must grow in order for the majority of employees to be represented. I think that the expansion of trade unions in countries where workers are known to be exploited (China, India, Vietnam, etc) will be great for more international trade and globalization, as the people of the host countries will actually benefit.

Reference:

¹http://www.socialistproject.ca/relay/relay21_unions.pdf

Mathen Chan’s Blog
https://blogs.ubc.ca/matthewchan1/2012/10/07/the-iphone-5-behind-the-scenes/#content

Picture

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/var/news/storage/images/world/china-drives-to-boost-trade-union-role/1577715-1-eng-GB/China-drives-to-boost-trade-union-role_large.jpg

I found Claire Choi’s recent blog- “Seeking the right timing for Twitter IPO”  to be very interesting and relevant. I believe that twitter’s main “Point of Difference” is the fact that it has created a platform in which ordinary people can interact with famous celebrities, along with their friends of course. I think that this celebrity interaction feature has really been a boon to the social networking website. I agree with Claire, twitter should not have an IPO anytime soon, this is because I think that many investors will be hesitant and unwilling to buy shares of another social networking website, in fear of another over -valuation of the stocks, and rapid decline of the stock’s value. I think that this over-valuation fear will apply to most websites looking to go public in the near future, as investor’s will look to put their money on ‘safe bets’ in an already poor economy.

Reference:

http://www.socialbrite.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/twitter-logo.jpg

Seeking the right timing for Twitter IPO

Neuromarketing ‘provides unique insight into the consumer’s unconscious responses to advertising’. Nueromarketing is measured  through MRI, changes in the skin temperature and Electroencephalography (EEG). Electroencephalography measures brain activity.

Nueromarketing is more accurate than focus groups or interviews, as an individual’s level of engagement to an advertisement can be analyzed through their brain activity. There are no barriers to effective research that you might find in a focus group, for example: people in focus groups might not give their honest opinion, as they might prefer to conform to whatever the rest of the group considers to be the norm, or an individual has the inability to express his/herself properly, however, when an individual’s brain activity is being monitored, they don’t have to be honest or be able to express themselves, since the scientific equipment carries out all the research needed.

Reference:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/05/neuro.marketing/index.html