“If  the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise?” 

Some people argue that if the United Nations are truly fully funded, then we do not need social entrepreneurs because the government would tackle any problems that arise from people. However, I think no matter how affluent a nation is, the value of social entrepreneurs is still indelible. In fact, Social enterprise is not about money but about how small individual can revolutionise the society.

Unlike concrete operations like governments, social entrepreneurs are individuals arising from the big crowd that tackle problems closely related to people’s daily life. To quote from the video, “social entrepreneurs see opportunities where other people see hopeless failures; They see potentials where other people see tragic consequences; they see a future that the others cannot even begin to imagine.” Social entrepreneurs are pioneers, creators and dreamers who understand the root of people’s problems and know how to effectively solve them with minimized resources. Social entrepreneur like Mahammad Yunus used $27 to 42 persons in a village and started a revolution, eradicating poverty and brought happiness to people. No matter how much money the United Nations have, they cannot buy social entrepreneurs’ ideas.

Social entrepreneurship is also about how business can benefit our community. Unlike some who place individual success prior to contribution to the society, social entrepreneurs started off aiming to improve the society as a whole. As a Sauder student, I consider to contribute to this society as a lifetime goal, and I believe many of my peers share my goal. With the knowledge that I acquired during the four years, I hope I could make changes in the world just like social entrepreneurs do.

The following article is a respond to one of Zi Hao Li’s brilliant blogs.

While reading Leo’s blog, I feel both sorry for the Microsoft and ridiculed by their horrible marketing strategy. When competing with such established and well-accepted competitor iPad, what Microsoft really need to do is to think of the unique features and advantages that only the Surface has.

Personally, I have been hesitating to buy a surface even though I already have an iPad. So why would I buy a surface when iPad is so good and popular that it becomes the synonym for any electronic tablet? What are the advantages owned by the Surface that the iPad does not share? First, for a university student, the Surface is better since it is compatible with PC softwares.  Excel is the best friend for any students studying in commerce. I would like to buy a Surface so that I do not have to carry my heavy laptop every time I go to Comm 290. Also, for engineering students, there are several engineering program that has no iOS version. Second, typing is so much easier on the Surface. When you try to type something on an iPad, a keyboard would pop out and take over the half of your typing window. In this way, I cannot see what I wrote earlier on that page, soI find it really interrupts the flow of my article when I try to write something with my iPad. However, Microsoft Surface has an attached, computer-like keyboard that is easy to use for tackling a writing task.

When you look at the advantages, it is not easy to come up with a proper marketing strategy that maximize the advantages of the Surface over iPad. Instead of spending money to cooperate with NFL, Microsoft should cooperate with universities or companies where tablets are valued for their ability to handle words-related problem. No doubt that when a football game is played, the coach would use the attached keyboard, and so this feature cannot be manifested and the “naked” Surface would look like an iPad. Microsoft can consider cooperating with universities to provide student rent or free Surfaces. For example, for a computer-related class, they could place surfaces beforehand at the front for walk-in student to use. In this way, the students would grow a “habit” about using the Surface and buy it for their own. Also, group effect in university is also important for marketing. I personally want to buy a Surface because I saw what my friend did with it in one of my comm 290 class.

In summary, it is crucial for any company to understand its advantages over its competitor before marketing.

The following article is inspired by a brilliant blog written by Song, Jiguang. https://blogs.ubc.ca/jiguang/2014/10/27/bonusesanatomy/

In last class, we learned about how Zappos uses incentive compensation to boost employees’ morale and  to create a creative working environment.  Offering bonuses such as free snacks in vending machine, parties on every weekends, and high salaries for call services persons, Zappos have a high expense on workers’ wellfare. However, seeing all these bonuses, people cannot help but ask: can these wellfare effectively motivate employees to excel in their workplace? or, the costly bonuses are unnecessary.

According to Jiguang, the value of the bonuses depends on the type of one company. In his opinion, companies that rely on innovations need such bonuses to provide a creative working environment. I partly agree with his opinion but also think the labor market matters, too.

As discussed in class, a company needs to provide high bonuses for employees that considered as “scarce” in labor market. Why? first, the cost of free snacks is nothing compared to the opportunity costs to find a new scarce employee and the cost of training him. Also, the risks of losing a excellent personnel is always high when one company’s competitor can offer more for him.

I agree with Jiguang’s idea that the type of company determine the importance of bonus but think that the type is not merely on the value proposition of the company. Anatomy values more than bonuses in a self-owned company. “A meaningful job” is defined in the tipping point written by Malcom Gladwell as anatomy, high returns and intellectual rewarding. The sense of working and getting reward for oneself is the best incentive in self-owned company. Punishment works for the best when the job is relatively easy and has abundant supplies in labor market. Punishment keeps every worker works hard even in the easy job and also provide “fresh blood” to that company.

In summary, in addition to Jiguang’s idea that a company should motivate its employees according to its value and spirit, I think a company should also consider different perspective such as the labor market, the general type of the company, and the scale of its employee.

They call him Neutron Jack. They call him the toughest boss. Fortune magazine calls him “The manager of the century”. In his twenty-year career General Electric, Jack Welch rejected conventional wisdom and turned an aging behemoth of a corporation into a lean, mean engine of growth and corporate innovation.

“Manage better by manage less” is the key point to Jack Welch’s success. Instead of the direct management style that is preferred by most of the companies, Jack Welch revolutionized management a less formal, creative, and flexible management style that minimized bureaucracy, boosted efficiency and created simplification.

Delayer bureaucracy is one key strategy that Jack Welch energized General Electric. Redundant bureaucracy and complicated response system was the big enemy of General Electric, lagging it from the other competitors. By getting rid of the bureaucracy in G.E, Jack Welch broke the boundaries, allowing a free flows of people, insights, and decisions. By doing so, Jack Welch effectively engaged everyone into the team, creating a more enthusiastic working atmosphere that also has more freedom and more responsibility.

However, after learning the last class, I think Welch’s innovation also have advantages in the company’s future globalisation focus. In an increasingly multicultural, global world, GE need to be decentralised in its globalisation focus. However, right now General Electric is too homogeneous, too masculine and too “American”. Welch’s managerial style is good for decentralising  because its flat responsive system allows local-market reports customer feedbacks at the first time and implement improvement to different department efficiently.