Social Enterprises

As the United Nations progresses and supports thousands of charity organizations and programs consistently and successfully, some may question that”If the United Nations was fully funded why would we need social enterprise”. However, compared to the various global social issues, such as poverty, starving, etc. the singly power of the UN is way too limited.

Social enterprises can be pretty powerful in their area. Like the program in Sauder School of Business, known as Arc Initiative, is an alumni based social enterprise summons support from the graduates and their companies. The resources can vary from country to country and from areas to areas. It uses its strength especially on financing and networking to give substantial help to some money needy places. Cooperating with communities in South Africa, Ethiopia, Columbia, and Rwanda, the Arc contributes to the long-term development of the domestic economy by exchanging their innovating skills. Mature and well-developed social enterprises actually provide better assistance than the UN which usually simply donating money and human resources whereas neglecting the significance to the complicated future development.

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The logo of arc initiative, Sauder

Using professional knowledge, prospective point of view, and specialized skills, social enterprises and programs are influential and essential to the long-term progress of the society as what the United Nations does.

Burberry – Be Ready to Win

How time flies! 2014 is approaching to the end, indicating a battle between brands, whether home-based, famous or luxury, is gradually spreading out. In the article “As Romeo Beckham stars in their new ad, how Burberry went from chic to chav to chic again“, it displays the struggling innovation of  Burberry in order to win the rival as well as appeal the consumers’ attention since the last summer fashion week this year. Burberry special festival advert video is released on its homepage website, Youtube, Instagram, etc. almost every social networking tool people are addicted to, and I personally is fascinated and attracted to the “wonderland” the story creates.

Youtube Video — “From London with Love” | Starring Romeo Beckham Episode

Beautiful women and handsome men dance around a set of London town in their flexible yet stylish Burberry macs,” the entire romantic and pretty advert indeed impress its audience. The company wisely take the advantage of the social media, and hence differentiate itself from the cliche luxury brand, being a brand actually bring happiness to the consumers.  Besides, the Romeo Beckham’s participation in the show greatly attract the public whose interests on the Beckhams to know the new stylish Burberry.

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Romeo Beckham in Burberry Festival Show — From www.dailymail.co,uk

Fashion industry is highly innovative and competitive. As one of the top luxury British brands, Burberry successfully attract consumers by appealing both the interests of public and media. The sailing raises to 1million pounds in two weeks after the video released.

 

 

It’s not too late to follow the trends — Respond to Soheil’s post

iPhone 6 size comparison — From Youtube

Reading through Soheil’s blog article “Was Apple too Late in big size of iPhone?“, personally I strongly agree with his statement “Apple offers more screen size choices, meaning even more future revenue for Apple”. Besides, due to producing larger size of screen, Apple fills the blanks of market as well as serves consumers better by manufacturing larger size of screen, and it is just on time.

The video above illustrates the differences among the existing iPhone products, and introduces the latest changes made. It can be seen that Apply adopts the ideas of previous big screen mobile phones brands, like Samsung, and Nokia, including high screen resolution, new accessibility assistance specially designed for one-hand control, etc.. Subsequently, it comes up with design that specially for iPhone, like keeping both high quality camera and thin outlooking. It is wise to see the feedback of market, and then make changes to improve its own products.

Furthermore, as what Apple usually did, bringing products that it feels right for markets, it knows the last rivalry between Samsung Note2 and iPhone5s displayed the higher demand for consumers to buy bigger smartphones. As a result, Apple is sensitive enough to answer the market with new “bigger than bigger” iPhone6+.

Reference

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBJzHhbNzbs

Article: https://blogs.ubc.ca/snasseri/2014/11/11/was-apple-too-late-in-producing-big-iphones/

The Hidden Cost of Amazon Same-Day Delivery

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A screenshot from Amazon.com Website homepage 

In order to compete with other online retailers, Amazon announced previously this week to provide same-day delivery service in some main cities in North America. The author of the news “Amazon Launches Same-Day Delivery In Toronto And Vancouver” indicates his preference and interests on trying this convenient shipping, whereas, after reading the conditions and terms, I would say it is merely a way to advertise. The constraint time, the expensive shipping fees and the limited supportive area cannot meet most people’s expectation.

When people read the news title on the one-day shipment, it seems pretty nice and attractive. However, if one reads the service terms in details, it shows up like only a few communities can get their goods. In Canada, Toronto and Vancouver are the only two metropolises have the option to choose the fastest shipping method, and only downtown area and some famous communities are in their service area. Besides, an ordinary shipment usually costs $3 to $5 each item, but the same-day delivery costs triple of the price, and additional $5 need to be paid for each more item. The shipping cost is even more expensive than some goods.

It is unquestionable that same-day delivery is so favourable for consumers, but it is not mature enough to really meets the actual demand of the public.

Reference:

Photo: http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8729023011

Article: http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/05/amazon-launches-same-day-delivery-in-toronto-and-vancouver/

A Wonderland’s Magic — Wonderful Disney Parks Blog

 

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The castle in Disney Park, Paris

Established in 1923, Walt Disney Company affects several generations of people all around the world. The exclusively official blog site of its amusement parks is booming these days simultaneously, and tells more stories of the company besides its fairy tales. The newly post “Photo Gallery: Disney Castles That Have Been Covered in Real Snow” demonstrates the beautiful sites of distinctive castles of Disney amusement parks from North America to Asia. The pictures within the article really give a sense of connecting the fairy world to reality.  The buildings are not only symbols of wonderland, but also the representation of Disney. mtc102009SMALL

The post effectively demonstrates the beauty of its amusement parks as well as attract countless audience’s preference. For last decades, Disney was criticized as a company had high cost, narrow consumers segments, and relatively low revenue. However, on another hand, Disney indeed is an outstanding organization leading industry entrepreneurship. Like the executives announced in the blog, the activities Disney parks host nowadays are not limited to simply performance and drama show, more and more charity, community, and society events are hold to support issues of children, arts, etc. (Eg. Children’s hospital donation 2014, Grants to Arts Gallery 2014) The blog site hooks the public’s interest and connects the connects the upcoming events with the readers. Communicating with consumers and contributing to the society is as essential as make revenue, and Disney demonstrates a positive example.

Reference:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/11/photo-gallery-disney-castles-that-have-been-covered-in-real-snow/

Is That Really An Ideal Method? — Hydroelectricity vs. Environment

Nowadays, people seek to efficiently use all natural resources to produce value. Hydroelectric Power is seemingly a wonderful way to achieve the goal of reducing cost as well as producing more power. However, from the passage named “The Hidden Cost Of Hydroelectric Power”, it can be seen that the significant effects on the climate and animal species within the area building enormous dam are not eligible.
Dam-photo

The substantial consequences include damaging river ecosystem, destroying villages nearby, and  flooding agriculture lands.  To begin with, the dams dramatically rises the water level and interrupts the flow of the river. As a result, the climate will change due to the larger amount of water, leading to the temperature and humidity vary, so the animal species live around need to struggle the changes for them. Besides, the interruption of water caused the fish species need to migrate and reproduce lost its living habit, and even become extinct. Thirdly, some artificial heritage, like houses with long history, or some momentary buildings near the river would be flooded. Though some of it can be moved, it costs a huge amount of money of the government. For instance, with the construction of Three Gorges Dam in China, over three thousands of residences’ home were destroyed.

In conclusion, hydroelectricity is an efficient resource of producing power, but the latent costs are considerable.

Reference:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/11/04/the-hidden-cost-of-hydroelectric-power/?ss=energy