Sustainability isn’t that hard, is it?

I have just read a blog my classmate, Chloe Kim, wrote on sustainability and Starbucks, and it has really made me think: why can’t all companies be like this? Is it that expensive to do?

In my past experience, first working at Best Buy and then as a Program Leader for the City, it has been slightly shocking in regards to the view on sustainability. That doesn’t mean they are not concerned about it, I just think improvements could be made that cheaply help our world.

The best example has to be working as a Program Leader. Each day I go through tons of paper, and lets be honest, 5 year olds are not the greatest at conserving space. Yet the City hardly provides any recycling bins in the facilities, so I have to waste so much paper to the trash. Would it not be easier, and look much better, if they just spent the money to create a more eco-friendly environment?

I will be honest, I am not an environmentalist at all. I keep the water running when I brush my teeth, I keep lights on, I don’t recycle even close to how much I need to, so you know that the situation must be bad if I myself notice it. Come on companies, come on cities, put your back into it, and follow the example of sustainability-minded competitors. They might be onto something.

Images from Google

Yesterday’s Blackberry fiasco quite clearly demonstrates the need for IT in the workplace, especially if you are running a large company with millions of users worldwide.

Somewhere along the way, something went wrong with Blackberry’s technological service, causing a chain-reaction that managed to affect all other users around the globe. This disruption created a massive need for IT personnel and technicians in order to fix it, and prevent profits from being lost.

In this situation, IT can be used to prevent further incidences. They can now look into whether the company should invest in better service, more failsafe measures, better equipment, whatever it will take to make sure this never happens again. If a company did not have IT, how would they be able to deal with any technological issues that will inevitably arise because, well, technology is no where close to being perfect (although Steve Jobs got it pretty damn close).

Blackberry users should find the man who fixed their service, and thank him/her dearly. Mind you, this might make them realize that no matter what, iPhones are, and always will be, the best.

Image from Google Images

This blog is in response to a recent blog by Chloe Kim, where she was talking about apps are able to start cars, and she mentioned apps by Starbucks that enable you to find good deals and such. But honestly, when will apps reach the point of going beyond useful, and into the haze of pointless.

I myself have an iPhone, and I do love the apps on it. They allow me to do my banking, play games, and check the weather whenever I need it. But that is pretty much all I use my apps for. Maybe it is just me, but an app to start a car, is that not kind of pointless? The time it would take to unlock your phone, find the app, start the app, then start the car would be way more then if you just pulled a key out of your pocket, and hit unlock and turned it in the ignition. Do these companies really think that people will use this app constantly?

How these apps are useful are as backups, in case you lose your keys for instance. But I highly doubt they will overtake the old-fashioned method of a simple car key.

(Image from Google)

What was once a tiny sector, India’s automotive industry has skyrocketed in the recent years, leading analysts to ask the question, how much more is it going to grow?

When you think of India, you don’t typically think of cars. I personally think of a lot of people, elephants, and Slumdog Millionaire (just putting this out there, I’m not 100% sure there are elephants in India, but it’s still what I picture). But imagine the market for a small, cheap, decent people carrier. It’s simply enormous! Cars are to India as social media is to North America; an emerging concept that has taken hold and shot through the roof.

What doesn’t hurt either is the fact that India is expected to have the greatest population increase in the next few years, and that it is a developing country, creating new demands for products such as cars. Car manufactures should invest in opening up production plants and putting showrooms there, because the profits will be huge, if they can develop products that suit their lifestyle.

With cars taking off, one has to ask, what is next? What will be the ‘Facebook’ of the developing worlds? The person who can answer that question will find themselves wondering how Bill Gates was so poor.

According to an article on dealbreaker.com, at the Whalton University, they have decided to not release business student’s grades when it comes to the students applying for jobs after graduation. Why? Simple; the school doesn’t want their selective reputation hurt. By not releasing their grades, the school keeps their reputation intact, and the students are being hired purely on the school they graduated from.

How does this affect you and me? As we are busting our butts, trying to study for midterms and finals, these kids can cruise through with a 65% average, and still get high paying jobs, purely from the school they came from. Is that fair at all? Definitely not. Hopefully employers begin to see the same way, and prefer students who can back up their Bcomm, rather then just hiding behind the letters.

So as we sit here, studying hard, and being jealous of these students, just remember. We are Sauder, we have the reputation too, but we can also justify our degree. It will be us the employers prefer, instead of people who “joyrided” their degree to the end.

Image from Google