It is quite difficult to establish a new business nowadays. The Porter’s Five Forces suggests that for the new businesses,we need to overcome the barriers to entry. This refers to the threat of new entrants. From the article “Young Woman Breaks through in Sri Lankan Business World”, it demonstrates the young woman named Nimall Gunawardana has successfully established her business through overcoming the barriers. At first, she failed to run a company as she realized that she could not afford the great number of loans and as a result, no bank would lend to her. This illustrates the absolute cost advantages and the bank policy have prevented her from establishing the new business. Also, as for the rural parts of Sri Lanka, it has the discrimination that woman cannot have their own business and Ms. Gunawardana did not get the support at all. However, she did not give up and ask the business support organization for help. Luckily, after training and borrow enough money from the organization, she had her company, “Nimali Chips and Fibre Mill”, which “turns discarded coconut hasks into three useful materials-coir, coir pith and husk chips.” Sri Lankan riches in coconut and Ms. Gunawardana uses discarded coconut as the main resources of her products which greatly decreases the cost. Without doubt, there are competitions that she has to deal with. Gunawardana “currently sells her products to other companies who then export them and she wants to start doing the exporting itself”. She began to improve her product differentiation as she starts to turn its coir into rope, which is also a point of difference. As we can see, innovation is vital in the business nowadays even in the rural parts.

PS: From this article, we cannot only to learn some business knowledge but also, ambitions and confidence is also crucial to our success. Woman also can be outstanding and we should not give up so easily when we are achieving our dreams.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24206038

Recently, from the International brand consulting firm Interbrand, Apple has become the world’s best brand and Coke which was the first one slipping to third place. Brand is the intangible asset that company has. It is not a physical asset that we can count, so how did Interbrand rank brands? From the article, “Apple Surpasses Coke as World’s best brand”, it is said Interbrand ranks brand based on companies’ financial results, the effect that brand has when consumers purchase products, and loyalty company creates to help increase its demand and future profit. Also, the company should have more than 30 percent of its revenues come from other regions and continents expect its home region. These all demonstrates that the top brands should be global and influential.

Surely, Apple has been greatly influenced our life such as, people can connect each other easily through facetime.  And its own unique system IOS is one of the point of differences, which attract more consumers and made Apple be more competitive in the market. Furthermore, Apple has establish its solid loyalty among some consumers as every time Apple released their new phones, a great number of people buy them immediately and even some queue the whole night. It is kind of shocked that Apple can be booming so fast, admittedly, the innovation plays a vital role on it. One of Steven Jobs’ quotes is “Innovation distinguished between a leader and a follower.” This has been proved that Apple innovates all the time as recent they released  IOS 7 and finger scan security system. Apple has been leading the trend of technology as a result of we can see many similar laptops or phones to Apple’s in the market. In order to remain the first place of the brand ranks and keep dominating the market, Apple also has to realize its biggest competitor Samsung and extend Chinese market as its new phone did not sell as well in China as other places. China has the potential market that Apple can explore due to the population and people’s preferences.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/apple-surpasses-coke-as-world-s-best-brand-1.1873259

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stevejobs173474.html

It is necessary for companies to realize the importance of business ethics. In the article, “The Sanlu Scandal”,in order to make more profit, Sanlu Milk Company added melamine to the formula, which is the toxic chemical. This caused infants got kidney stones and even three babies had died. Without doubt, it is immoral to have such a horrible behavior. Obviously, Sanlu Milk Company did not take social responsibilities and have the business ethics. This incident negatively influenced Sanlu’s reputation as well as Chinese milk industry. Consumers do not trust the quality of Sanlu’s milk anymore as well as domestic milk which demonstrates the immoral behavior that one company did can affect the whole society. As Sanlu lost business ethics, the companies went bankrupt. To illustrate, companies should know their business values and offer the products with good qualities to show the true value. Making more profit, improving efficiency and competition cannot be the reasons for companies going against business ethics. Companies have to take the consequences of their behaviors into consideration as well as all the stakeholders. They are responsible for their behaviors and should pay for the damage they cause. Also, companies with good business ethics can strengthen their reputation in the market. Consumers will be loyal to the brand, which can make more profit in the long term.

http://www.bjreview.com.cn/nation/txt/2008-09/22/content_153891_2.htm