Would tourists want to get any closer to favelas?

The video “‪Social Entrepreneurs: Pioneering Social Change” correctly stated: “social entrepreneurs see opportunities where people see failures”. “Favelas” in Rio have carried extremely negative connotations and have been associated with the term “violence”, “danger”, “poverty” and “hopelessness”. However, an outsider named Elliot Rosenberg has surely seen the opposite perspective. Not only has he found a way to bring in money to the biggest Favela “Rocinha”, but he has also found the solution to remove the negativity that surrounds the place.

Rosenberg found a niche! He will be renting out places in the favela for tourists to stay for the upcoming sportive events in the country. The 2016 Olympics will surely need room for the millions of people who will come from around the globe. Living in a favela will not only give them a place to stay, but also allow them to be around what the majority of Brazil is like. Often tourists come to a city and get a relatively “ideal” perspective of the city, however this will give them a “realistic” view of what Rio is actually like. Eventually giving tourists a better understanding of the Brazilian culture!

What will Rosenberg do to convince tourists that it is a safe environment? How will he erase all the stereotypes ?

Field, Anne. “Helping Tourists Go Native In Brazil.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 13 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

“Life in Favela of Rocinha, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.” : Kay Fochtmann- Germany. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

“Social Entrepreneurs: Pioneering Social Change.” YouTube. YouTube, 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

First it was Blockbuster’s turn to bid adieu to the business world and now studies show that TV viewership is also on the decline. According to the Business Insider, there has been a 50% decline on Cable TV viewership since 2002. Even though Television companies are constantly introducing new ways to keep watchers interested – such as the possibility to “record” our favourite shows so we can watch them when we desire or even the option to purchase or rent movies through TV, all these options have not been enough to keep viewers loyal. Strangely enough, I have not had a TV for over a month now, but it has not been immensely missed.

The attendance to movie theatres has also decreased in the past few years. According to Daily Mail UK, it has diminished by 40% since 2002. Viewers have found easier and cheaper ways to access movies online. In addition, not all countries get the movies released on the same dates. Having lived in Brazil, my friends and I have felt the frustration of waiting for the release of a movie in the country for months after it has been released in the States.  Therefore, not having much option, except for to wait, we have opted other ways to watch the movie, such as Netflix, which has always been a very reliable source.

“Are Americans Falling out of Love with Hollywood? Cinema Attendance Plummets to 25-year Low.” Mail Online. N.p., 24 July 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

“BRUTAL: 50% Decline In TV Viewership Shows Why Your Cable Bill Is So High.” Business Insider. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

“Fix Netflix App for JellyBean 4.2.2 TV Players.” ANDROIDTVNEWS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

“Television Declining Rapidly As Shift To Online Entertainment Consumption Grows | Singularity Hub.” Singularity Hub. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Vincent, Alice. “Is Netflix the Future of TV?” The Telegraph. N.p., 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.

Discussions about Blockbuster in COMM 101 classes made me realize that if we were to sit down and think about how many businesses have failed due to the advance in technology we would be shocked! Just like CD’s, desktop computers are being exchanged for laptops, music players for I-pods and workers for machinery.

Those days when people actually went to stores to buy music CD’s are now history as ITunes and other informal businesses have made the download of music so much easier, quicker and cheaper (Even free in some cases!). According to the Telegraph, “nearly three in four independent record stores have closed down in the last decade (in Britain)”, which is an extremely shocking statistic and “only 13% of the people actually buy CD’s from stores”, according to a survey by the consumer Watch Dog.

Even though “Technological” means more profitable and these advances are great for businesses, they also require companies to constantly change and innovate. This is amazing for large organizations as they have funds but what about the small startups? How will they ever catch up?

Bibliography:

1.  Leopold, Todd. “The Death of the Home Stereo System.” CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

2.”Three Quarters of All Independent Music Shops Have Closed down in the Last Decade.” The Telegraph. N.p., 27 May 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

Check out the amount of money spent on cancer research!

The medicine industry is a questionably unethical one as; the larger the numbers of people with a particular sickness or disease, the higher the profits that the medicine industry will make. Looking around the Forbes website, this striking article: “5 Signs You’ll Get Cancer” caught my attention. The video stated that: “Cancer is not better now, the war against cancer is being lost and cancer industry is a BILLION dollar one”. Apparently one of the largest causes of worldwide deaths has become an industry worth billions as chemotherapy and all  the drugs are outrageously expensive.

A lot of money is being made because instead of money being spent of research, more is being spent on the drugs to solve the issue. Therefore, they aren’t worried about preventative treatments but more about treating it once it has already hit your body. Should there be more money allocated to cancer research?  In addition, smoking which is one of the main causes of cancer in completely legal around the world, again because that too is a billion dollar industry. Therefore, where are the ethics of business here? Its legal to sell a product because it can boost the economy but the fact that it is causing deaths of millions is sneakily ignored! According to the UK Cancer Research, cigarettes caused more than a quarter of the cancer deaths.

1. ^{“5 Signs You’ll Get Cancer.” NewsmaxHealth. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.}
2. ^{Pollack, Andrew. “For Profit, Industry Seeks Cancer Drugs.” NY Times. N.p., 1 Sept. 2009. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.}
3.  ^{“Smoking Statistics – Smoking and Cancer.” Cancer Research UK. N.p., 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.}
4. ^{“National Cancer Institute.” Cancer Research Funding –. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.}

Both Facebook and Twitter caused a paradigm shift in communication, empowering the “social media” market.  However, even though they are both seen as rival companies as they came around the same time, I can visualize that they have different value propositions.

Facebook has the primary purpose to allow people to keep in touch with family and friends and share photos. However, Twitter came out with the idea of allowing expression and communication in fewer characters, and wanting people to freely communicate ideas around the globe. Twitter has based its IPO submission on the fact that it is a mobile technology, hence easy to use, practical for advertising. Personally, the first thing I do every morning is read the news headlines on Twitter. The website uses the idea of “trends”, “Retweets” and “account promotion” in order to advertise, in comparison to Facebook, it is a less subtle form of advertising people, products and ideas in general.  So are they rivals? Well they are because they are both working in the social media sector of the market, however, even though closely related they do offer different value propositions and segments of the market. Eventually, people confuse one with the other, which is a clear example of the companies trying to work in more than one segment, hence causing misperception for its users.

Works Cited :

1. BBC News. BBC, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
2. Guglielmo, Connie. “The Twitter IPO: 20 Talking Points.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
3. “TWITTER IPO — TWTR IS NOT PRIMARILY A SOCIAL MEDIA PLAY.” The Slant. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
4.  “Twitter IPO vs. Facebook: Will TWTR Stock Suffer Worse Fate Than FB Debut?” International Business Times. N.p., n.d.