Article taken from: BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15336297

India has now advanced to identifying itself in the group of countries that use e-commerce. In the recent years, people, in India, have not only started buying their clothes and accessories online, but it has gone as far as buying grocery products through the internet.

One thing I found really interesting and at the same time not very surprising was that instead of paying by credit card for the purchases done online, India has adopted a cash on delivery payment method. Since I originally come from India, I can understand why this is done. The whole e-commerce aspect is still quite new to India and like any other new invention, this one will take some time to earn people’s trust before being able to purchase online through a credit card works.

The advancement to e-commerce is definitely a step up however it does have its disadvantages. There are many small markets run by the poor people and the usage of e-commerce could very possibly hinder their income, especially if food is also bought online. However, there is still time before that happens since only about 65 million people in India log onto the web.

Response blog to: Bonnie Zhou

After coming across Bonnie’s article over the discovery of the harmful ingredient called DEHP in Taiwanese food products, it got me thinking over a similar situation that took place in one of the Indian products. There is this Indian sweet called Kaju barfi in India and since I was a child, I loved eating it. I was shocked to find out, after eating it for well over 15 years of my life that the product contained lead poisoning.

I, like Bonnie, got very conscious over any food item I bought in India because of this. However, I realized that I was lucky that I had the liberty to be picky  over what items I bought but the financially deprived people of India do not have this leisure and often have to eat whatever they can find. The only cheap products they can find mostly are unfortunately products with harmful ingredients.

It is almost revolting to know that people are still producing goods with harmful substances. I feel like it is the responsibilities of people like us, who have the option to just avoid these products altogether, to help out the ones that don’t have the same chance.

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Article taken from: One Man’s Blog: http://onemansblog.com/2010/02/01/steve-jobs-outstanding-stanford-commencement-speech-from-2005/

Entrepreneur Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech in Stanford in the year 2005. I had read it a while ago when I was still in high school but I found it again a couple days ago and now, being a business student in UBC, I found myself closely reading every single word he said.

Steve Jobs dropped out of university after 6 months into freshman year. He got by with collecting coke bottles and trying to get free meals whenever possible. He went through a series of obstacles, some of them being fired from his own company, Apple, then advancing as an entrepreneur by creating Pixar and NEXT, before finally settling down when he started working with apple again.

I went to a presentation given by the IB club in UBC where a new entrepreneur spoke to us about his experiences. He is still on his journey to establishing his company. I remember, while he was talking about what his business is about (I cannot quite remember what exactly he talked about), I felt quite unconvinced as a potential customer about his work. However, after this class I looked back and realized that he is just doing what he loves. He had said that his whole life, he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He had already been rejected quite a few times from different sponsors and still, he was fighting for his product because he truly believes in its success.

Article taken from: BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15137948

So Denmark is implementing a “fat tax” now? Why am I not surprised?

I moved to Denmark when I was 5 years old and lived there for almost 14 years before moving here for university this year. Denmark has very high taxes but the system there is very different other countries. When the Danish people were asked to vote if they wanted to lower the taxes (but then that would naturally mean cutting down on funds for public schools and medical care), they said NO. Foreigners always find taxes in Denmark TOO high but Danish people are perfectly happy with them.

I am somewhat undecided on my opinion over this matter however, in some ways this “fat tax” might be taking it a bit too far. Yes, I definitely see the advantages and its implementation could have very positive effects, but won’t its negative effect on the poor people be greater than its advantages? The article also mentioned that Danes might just start shipping these “fat products” from abroad.

Although one could argue that there is not much poverty in Denmark which in turn is because of the high taxes that the government uses to help support those in need.

I guess we will just have to wait out and see. Maybe Denmark will surprise us with positive results.

Oh Denmark, I miss you!