Throughout recent history, a few large countries have retained unhinged control over world markets and market development. Economic stability from rich countries has come from the political stability that other nations have not had the privilege to enjoy. Emerging market economies (EME’s) have only recently entered the limelight because of newfound political stability in regions that are historically unstable. The impact of politics on EME’s should not be understated.
As business has changed, EME’s have pioneered their own methods of breaking through the worldwide markets. A large portion of EME growth is directly related to foreign direct investment (FDI). Since a majority of EME’s don’t have local venture capitalists who have enough money to improve the business climate on a macro scale, countries look for foreign ways to gain capital. However, when analyzing the relationship between the World Bank’s Political Stability and Absence of Violence index and the amount of FDI, it is clear that there is more than simply a correlation. Countries with widespread violence and civil conflict rank lowest in FDI. Even nations that have high GDP’s such as Brazil and India still have lower ease of business rankings and economic growth than nations such as Poland.

The correlation between increased stability and economic growth is also proved by monitoring the growth in amount of FDI. As Indonesia eliminated corruption and created a safe climate for business growth, FDI grew by 66%, whereas “due to Ukraine’s political turmoil…FDI intensity [declined] from 4.5% of total GDP in 2012 to 2.1% in 2013” (Euromonitor, 2014). Many experts indicate that India is going to be the next huge EME, however, their growth has not occurred when expected, as India has a terrible government and social system. Corruption within the government has hindered FDI and decreased the total amount of investment that is in India. As India begins to become more tolerant, and more groups of people work together rather than against each other, their economy will boom.

Ultimately, the governments that represent their people must realize that creating a safe space for businesses to grow is the most important thing to do. By stimulating businesses to grow within EME’s, employment goes up, income equality goes down, and infrastructure improves. For businesses to exist successfully, governments must strive for political stability, stay away from wars within their territories, and pass legislation that assists economic growth. If current EME’s implement sustainable policies, their leverage on the world market will grow, and help their citizens.
References:
Changes in Political Stability Impact Business Environments in Emerging Markets. (2017, July 10). Retrieved November 10, 2017, from http://blog.euromonitor.com/2014/11/changes-in-political-stability-impact-business-environments-in-emerging-markets.html
Pictures:
https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-current-American-going-to-help-an-emerging-economy-like-India
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/emerging-markets-eagles-nest-mahmoud-refaat

Word Count: 391

The demise of Sears has left many puzzling. I spent a lot of my past seeing Sears as this untouchable department store that was a blueprint for the industry’s success. However, the liquidation of Sears has not come out of the blue. Upon investigation of what went wrong it is easy to see why Sears has fallen to such depths.

Sears has been a company whose brand exposure has not kept up with the competition. While companies like Macy’s, The Bay and Target have sponsored events and ran many ads, Sears has remained relatively quiet. Some of the marketing Sears has endured has been negative, from having a reported pension plan deficit of $267 Million to them closing over 50% of their stores since 2010 (Peterson, 2017). Furthermore, Sears’ demise has been inevitable for multiple years. As referenced in Michael Hua’s blog, Sears has not focused on adapting to the changing consumer taste, but rather focus on cutting costs and being cheaper than the other department stores. Sears made the terrible decision to focus on its competitors rather than its customers. It did not have an effective Value proposition, and the results of this are a 2013 study by Lutz, which indicated that 86% of Sears customers were unhappy with their service.

Moreover, Sears has had an incredible lack of innovation and intrapreneurial advances within it’s administration structure. Sears has maintained the same business model for decades, with little creativity regarding its operations. Their efforts have not brought in new customers, and the brand has clearly relied on its name and reputation to keep up sales. Eventually, however, their loss of their competitive advantage and their lack of novelty regarding their business plan resulted in them reporting a loss since 2010. Some of the potential lack of inside growth can stem from the toxic nature of the Sears workplace. Upper managers are often grilled by the CEO, who has been described to have “45-minute rants” whenever a manger can’t answer a question about any minute detail (Peterson, 2017). Such toxicity in the workplace has made many managers implement plans that are rushed and hectic, and that inevitably backfire. Sears’ leadership’s rigidity has limited the amount of creativity and intrapreneurial work that can revive the company going forward.

Sears is a hallmark brand of Canadian consumerism, yet in today’s age, their inevitable fate is bankruptcy. From a negative workplace environment that stifled intrapreneurial developments, to ineffective marketing compared to their competitors, Sears has made mistakes that will lead to it’s end. Sears Canada is a company whose business model should be a framework on what not to do in today’s business world.

Word Count: 438

References:
Peterson, H. (2017, January 08). Inside Sears death spiral: How an iconic American brand has been driven to the edge of bankruptcy. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
Hua, M. (2017, October 11). Former Biggest Retailer to Ruins; What Happened? Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/michaelhuablogs/2017/10/11/former-biggest-retailer-to-ruins-what-happened/

Photograph:
Peterson, H. (2017, January 08). Inside Sears death spiral: How an iconic American brand has been driven to the edge of bankruptcy. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1

Equifax is a company that was relatively low-key until a few weeks ago. That all changed when a security breach was reported that jeopardized the finances of 145.5 million Americans (BBC, 2017). However, their woes seem to continue to grow, as there were reports of new malware being attached to the company’s help page. This new breach has brought up questions regarding the values, finances, and future of Equifax.
Equifax has a straightforward value proposition. Their job is to keep credit information safe for their millions of customers. They are not a small company that was subject to a small hack. This is a multinational, multi million-dollar company that did not perform its due diligence regarding security and put their consumers at risk. Their lack of oversight opened to door for identity theft, fraud, fake tax returns and more. Their complacency regarding security showed their customers that they don’t value as much, and they do not adhere to their core principals.

Equifax’s breach has affected their financial performance. After the original breach, stock prices fell around 30% (NYSE, 2017). Such a drop in their valuation is another slap in the face for their customers, some of who could have invested in Equifax. Moreover, a terrible performance has surely placed loads of pressure onto the company’s brass. The obligation to return the company to high levels of profits results in the company cutting corners and making more mistakes, as they did with their help page. Equifax should be used as a poster child to information companies about the negative impacts of not taking security seriously. Through heinous mistakes, Equifax has gifted their competition with new customers and new opportunities to gain market share.
The future of a company after a huge blunder is often uncertain. There will surely be leadership changes, as seen with Samsung and Uber after their PR debacle. Their stock price was hit with the initial drop, and their credibility rating has fallen below 200 (WSJ, 2017). The share price has been rising steadily over the last month, pointing towards a rebuild of the company’s stock levels. That rebuild has faced some obstacles after the latest malware reports. Consumers no longer place the same trust in the company that they had before. This loss of trust consequentially affects Equifax in the long run, as competitors can now snatch up customers.

Equifax put the lives of 150 million Americans at risk. By allowing the initial breach, as well as the malware link on their help page, Equifax has forced itself onto a rough path. There are doubts if Equifax will reach the levels that it was once at, and only time will tell how they mold as a company.

Word Count: 445

References:
Equifax removes webpage after malware issue. (2017, October 12). Retrieved October 14, 2017, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41601871
Equifax’s Credibility Rating Falls Below 200. (2017, October 13). Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/equifaxs-credibility-rating-falls-below-200-1507909546
Photos:
http://www.mytotalretail.com/webinar/4-ways-to-improve-consumer-trust-online-again/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/winniesun/2017/10/02/what-you-should-do-now-after-the-equifax-security-leak/#1e487f952123

As a government, the hardest thing to do is to maintain balance. From balancing budgets, to balancing freedom and security, it always seems that the most difficulties come from decisions requiring important choices. This was seen recently with Uber. The ride share company has faced dozens of lawsuits and is no stranger to opposition towards their method of operating. The largest opponents have been the taxi industry, and on September 22, 2017, they were handed a heavy loss, as the city of London banned Uber from operating (BBC, 2017).

Since the inception of Uber many questions have arisen around it’s safety. There have been multiple reports in numerous countries of assault from Uber passengers. In 2015, Uber was banned from New Delhi after a driver raped a customer (BBC, 2017). Moreover, Uber has had a myriad of PR nightmares this year, with both upper management and employees. Sam Levin (2017) reported that Uber was involved in a sexism scandal with a hiring manger after the latter declared that “sexism is systematic in the tech industry”. Despite all the scandals, Uber has over 3 million users and 40’000 drivers in London (BBC,2017), many of which were angered by the fact that the local government acted against Uber.

The decision to end Uber’s license in London was a difficult one. Despite Uber’s innovative system that provides an incredibly affordable alternative to taxi services, it is also a disorganised, mismanaged corporation. Last October, a British tribunal declared that Uber drivers were not self-employed, but rather they were employees of Uber (BBC, 2016). Uber was now directly responsible for the conduct of their “employees”. The local government realized that Uber saw their employees as individual businesses and that they had a freelance attitude towards those businesses. The government determined that Uber was acting irresponsibly by treating them this way. They had to find a balance. A balance between the capitalist side of freedom of businesses to operate, but also the responsibility of citizens safety. Certain liberties must be restricted for the public to be safe, and Uber faced the full effects of this decision. Despite that fact that most users were not happy, as the taxi service is expensive, this decision is ultimately for the greater good.

The main issue with Uber is that there are many grey areas in their industry which offer them legal leeway and little accountability. However, there is a lot of hope for Uber to exist in major cities. For that to happen, many jurisdictional and legal changes must occur, things Uber cannot directly change themselves. Perhaps that is the most frustrating thing to consumers, the fact that there is little they can do.

Word count: 445

References:
Levin, S. (2017, March 24). Uber manager told female engineer that ‘sexism is systemic in tech’. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/24/uber-manager-sexism-systemic-tech-kamilah-taylor
Uber London loses licence to operate. (2017, September 22). Retrieved September 26, 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-41358640
Johnston, C. (2016, October 28). Uber drivers win key employment case. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37802386

Social responsibility is a term that appears to be utopian in today’s modern world. It seems that these days, the larger a company gets, the more its goals become solely about profit. There is no doubt that a corporation should mainly focus around making profit-in fact, that motivation is what has helped advance our industries over the past 100 years-however, there has always been a certain ethical standard surrounding the way that companies make profit. Does a company really need to be ethical, and to what extent?

Earlier this year, Perrigo Co. was found at the center of a scandal after authorities found that the world’s largest over-the-counter drug company was colluding with other smaller companies to create an unfair market price for pharmaceutical drugs. Whenever price collusion occurs, it always seems that pharmaceutical companies and other health care related corporations get the most public scrutiny. The notion that certain companies are purposely restricting access to medication for the sick is one that, excuse the pun, makes most sick. Certain corporations “might [exist] for an eleemosynary purpose – for example, a hospital or a school…such a corporation will not have money profit as [it’s] objective but the rendering of certain services.”[1] Many apply this argument to pharmaceutical companies, since they have a relatively inelastic good, one that is vital to many people’s health. Their practice should not only be ethical towards their stakeholders, but also to their market. Price collusion is something that does not allow the market to operate and adjust freely. It reduces competition and creates a negative image for every company involved. Not only is it immoral to society, it is also unethical to business.

There is an expectation by the public that a business will comply with laws and-hopefully-act in an ethical manner. The question that arises, however, is how much of an effect should ethics have on a business’s practices? The answer ties back to the type of business, and the public exposure said business has. A corporation that is a household name or provides a vital service is more likely to act ethically in order to maintain its PR image and maintain a fair market. Other companies that are smaller may feel they can get away with unethical practices, yet that shouldn’t be the case. Ethics should have a large impact on the decision making of a company, since those decisions usually impact employees, stakeholders, and the image of the company. Ultimately, practicing ethical business is the best way for a company to show social responsibility.

[1] Zimmerli, Walther Ch., et al. Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance. Springer, 2010.

Information about Perrigo Co.:
Chen, Caroline. “Perrigo Offices Searched by U.S. Agents in Drug Price Probe.”Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 2 May 2017, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-03/perrigo-offices-searched-by-justice-department-in-drugs-probe.

Photos:
http://www.algonquincollege.com/hr/benefits/ehcs/over-the-counter-drugs/
https://www.trustedclothes.com/blog/2016/06/01/corporate-social-responsibility-is-good-for-business/

Word count: 393