rebecca yang

Apple company has successfully sold 9 millions iPhone5s and iPhone5c in the first weekend after its launch, though once being considered as one of the trailblazers of smartphone industry, Blackberry is cutting 4500 jobs due to the dramatic decline of sales. Although majority of the smartphone companies are striving so hard to avoid the downfalls, Apple surprisingly almost doubled its sales of iPhone compared to last year’s first weekend of iPhone5, which was 5 million units. In addition, the last 12month’s iPhone sales also beat out a number of strong companies such as Microsoft and Procter & Gamble in various fields.

Apple’s continuous successes inevitably lead one to ask what contributors to its achievements. Basically, Apple provides a textbook example of “Customer Relationship” which is the 4^th step of a business model. First of all, Apple did an excellent job on attracting the customers from other smartphone companies by introducing the first iPhone instead of following the conventional Android system though it was risky to launch something novel into the market. Secondly, it also did a good job on retaining its customer in the means of annually producing a better model with longer battery life and other new features, which are exactly what their target consumers have been looking for in a smartphone. In addition, Apple also cooperates with a number of Communication and Media companies such as Rogers and Bells to sell iPhone at a lower price with roughly 2-year contract. Last but not least, one of biggest contributors in impressive progress in the recent iPhone’s sales success is that it has expanded iPhone’s launch towards more countries. In other words, Apple has been progressively expanding its market internationally and its customer base.

Sources :

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-25/listen-up-apple-haters-iphone-sales-eclipse-microsoft-and-amazon#r=discussed

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-23/apple-sold-9-million-iphones-last-weekend-dot-heres-why

Ethical Fashion

In the article “Shoppers face hurdles in finding ethical clothing” by Anne, the ethical fashion raises the shoppers’ awareness of where their clothing is made in.  A recent building collapse in Bangladesh that killed hundreds of garment workers not only stirs peoples’ sympathies but also brings them into thinking that they might need to pay more attentions to where the clothing are from and in what working condition they are made.

Video related:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHRRisIKQkM

To be honest, as a big shopper for clothing, I barely paid attentions to where my shirts are from but the price when I looked at the label. It sounds really apathetic and immoral when consumers indicate that they are not concerned about the working conditions, but its shoppers’ natures to purchase the goods at the lowest price and best quality instead of better working condition for the garment workers. From the companies’ perspective, it’s difficult for them to supervise if the clothing is “ethically made” overseas and they will tend to squeeze their costs on labors in order to maximize the profits, which might eventually jeopardize workers’ benefits. Thus, social responsibility of business lies on all the stakeholders including customers, producers and so on. Ethical fashion is a good start to change the appalling working conditions in Asia because producers can lead the fashion and shoppers will go with the flow. In this way, both of them will eventually come into consensus that “ethically made” shirts are more appealing than some shirts that are made by a 9-year-old boy.

supporting article: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-04-30/shoppers-face-hurdles-in-finding-ethical-clothing#p1