Monthly Archives: November 2014

With most organizations now taking shortcuts to success, you would wonder: how susceptible are Canadian businesses to bribes? In a recent article concerning ratings assigned to countries according to levels of bribery found within company operations, Canada follows Ireland with a 22%, the second lowest score of 197 states.

One of Canada’s strong suits includes the undivided prioritization and incorporation of business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility among Canadian businesses. Currently, consumers are beginning to add sustainable operating measures and business morality to their supplier checklists when deciding on which company to support. This provides Canadian corporations with a competitive advantage over internationally-based countries, as we currently place second for business ethicality.

Canada has also earned a low score of 9 in the 2013 corruption ranking, and  I believe that Canada’s business morals serves as a point of difference and distinguishes it well from all other countries. Upon discovering this information, I’ve begun to feel my patriotism blooming. I feel grateful to be a Canadian citizen and to have the opportunity to reside in such a sustainable and conscientious environment. I have also understood that seeking employment within a company with high business morals for Canadians is much simpler than in most other places. Therefore, I believe that as the least corrupted nation we have the capability to and should aim to change these statistics sometime in the near future.

Sources: (x), (x)

The United Nations is known worldwide for initiating peace among countries and maintaining these positive international relations. Therefore, we can assume that the unlimited funding of the UN would allow optimal functioning for the organization, leading to an increase in humanitarian assistance provided to other countries and enable greater publicized enforcement of justice and human rights. It would seem most of the world’s problems would dissipate with assistance from the UN and world peace would soon be achieved.

However, I believe relying on a single organization is not the best solution to optimize economic well-being. Rather than entrusting the entirety of the world’s assets to the UN alone, distributing it to multiple large or smaller-scale organizations with the same goal could achieve the same or even better results.

Many non-profit organizations are managed and led by social entrepreneurs with a thirst for innovation and creating change in the world. Arc Initiative helps build a foundation for prospective entrepreneurs, fueling those who possess the intensity and passion needed to spark change and aiding them in establishing their paths to success.

The Skoll World Forum states that social entrepreneurs’ “innovations are the most promising solutions to global problems.” With combined efforts, social entrepreneurs from all over the world can contribute thousands of different ideas and solutions to world issues. Perhaps, with unlimited funding directed to these leaders, world peace will be right around the corner.

Sources:

The United Nations (x)

Arc Initiative (x)

Skoll World Forum (x)

Despite intensively exploring Tesla Motors in the past few months, I for one did not expect the sudden spike in sales for the recently-launched Model S. After reading about the Model S’s engine failure which in turn reflected poorly on the automobile company, most students predicted this would lead consumers to shy away from further purchases of the product.

According to a recent article, sales for this model in the past year surged past predictions by the analysts of Tesla Motors and are predicted to rise to 50% in 2015. Although it’s quite satisfying to discover professional analysts have also been proved wrong with this astounding improvement, it appears that Tesla Motors is finally successful in addressing the firm’s strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps with reference to an improvement plan or a SWOT analysis, Tesla Motors has become increasingly prepared in regards to future and present action plans.

CEO Elon Musk also states that Tesla has “delivered the highest number of Model S vehicles ever, with several new records set in North America and worldwide.” With the engine failure of the Model S serving as a major weakness for Tesla, the company must have undergone extensive planning and discovered a way to recover and counteract this weakness with their acquired strengths. By combating these threats and weaknesses, aiming to maximize profits and incorporating CSR and sustainability into company measures, the continual rise of Tesla Motors within the modern automobile industry is inevitable.

Source: (x)

According to a post from Ramesh’s business blog, typewriters are predicted to experience a new-found wave of global popularity in the near future. I have personally experienced the typewriter fad around the year 2012 (also known as the “modern hipster era”), when teenagers would purchase and use them as a prop for Instagram photos.

In connection with my first blog post about Google’s global invasion of personal privacy, Ramesh’s blog post discusses how Germany’s government plans to counteract the hacking of their computer systems. To avoid infiltration, the government aims to withdraw from computer use, starting with a German defense contractor who reintroduced the use of typewriters for creating sensitive documents.

As “sales have gone up by 35% and [are] expected to go up by 100% in the near future,” I believe that the reestablishment of a typewriter market would be an excellent business opportunity for prospective firms. The typewriter industry has little to no competitors, and can be estimated to have a very diverse Customer Segment which will range from hipsters to members of the government. By offering a unique Value Proposition, the production of typewriters will have the ability to generate amplified sales and profit.

Although this seems to be a backward step in technology evolution, I greatly look forward to seeing the redistribution of typewriters in department stores.

Source: (x)