Comm 101 in the Sauder School of Business has been a truly eye-opening class. It has given me fascinating perspectives on matters that I had hardly considered prior to the beginning of this term. We have covered all of the areas of business succinctly, and I am entering my second semester of university life much more confident in a professional, business environment. Throughout the semester I have amassed several quotes that I believe to be eye opening, that I would like to share with you. Please excuse the lack of the authors names.

“In practise the doctrine of Social Responsibility is frequently a cloak for actions that are justified on other grounds.”

“If you just focus on Financiers, you miss what makes Capitalism tick.” – Ed Freeman

“The taxation a company receives is their form of Social Responsibility.”

Marketing: “Try positioning the product in the mind of the consumer with something that is consistent with what is already known.”

“Companies must innovate. Take Kodak for example; they got left behind.”

And as a certain Paul Cubbon described the purpose of Comm 101: “To learn, practise riding the bike. not by studying the bike all day.”

Thank you.

Rupert Peers

Operations issues are hounding Volkswagen in their biggest recall yet. Due to faulty electrical circuits and leaky fuel lines, this enormous recall is taking place. Some of the key categories of Operations are to blame for this flaw in design. Too much variability, or risk, and poor measurement of quality are key principles of operations that were clearly not implemented to their best ability. From an engineering standpoint, components of higher quality could have been used, but nonetheless these key principles of operations failed to produce a flawless car.

In 2011 Toyota recalled over 10 million cars because of a sticky foot pedal and an unstable floor mat. Similar issues in operations allowed this to occur.  As it is pretty well known, Toyota has one of the most efficient car manufacturing procedures, with their engineers on site observing any processes that could be improved upon. This sub-category of operations was not to blame, but much like Volkswagen it was the measurement of quality that performed below quality standards, resulting in so many cars being recalled.

Had the measurement of quality and amount of risk been better managed by Toyota and Volkswagen, this issue of recalled cars would never have arisen.

UBC has a $2 billion annual operating budget, a faculty consisting of 10,186 workers, and 57,706 students. Considering these stats, I find it striking that an institution, not only the size of UBC, but also with its prestige, can operate an “Online Learning Management System” that crashes on a weekly basis.

The Business Technology Management (BTM) team controlling Connect is providing a poor example of how to deal with Management Information Systems (MIS) when, ironically, inside the doors of Sauder students are learning how these two groups can work together efficiently. It appears that UBC has been conned into paying an unknown but expectedly large sum of money for something that is simply poorly constructed, and even more poorly managed.

Toronto Mayer Rob Ford is alleged to have gang involvement, since video footage was discovered of him with gang members. It is an unfortunate circumstance for the mayor to be in, but from the media’s perspective he does not appear to be particularly phased, claiming that he is going to continue to do his job and allow the courts to deal with the matter.

The recovered evidence in the form of digital video footage is an example of data well managed by Management Information Systems (MIS). It is well known that having large amounts of data is of no use if it cannot be interpreted. Without an organized MIS, the footage that is being used to prosecute Ford may never have been of any use. Continued diligence in defining the actual purpose of MIS projects is fundamental for the projects to be successful, and one day make access to information they provide easier.

Bibliography:
Rob Ford says he won’t resign after Toronto police say they found video

Are Apple products intentionally made to break down over a few years? Users of the iPhone 4 and previous models are beginning to question the durability of their devices. Batteries are dying, phones are responding painfully slowly… It would seem that Apple has intended it to be this way, so these consumers will be pressured to upgrade.

Planned obsolescence is a way to describe how companies are making their products unwanted after a few years. This theory fits well with Friedman’s outlook regarding the sole will of companies; to maximize profits. Profits are sales x price; so maximizing sales is a fundamental part of the profit equation. If people’s products break down sooner rather than later, they will be under pressure to buy a new product. By creating a phone that has a finite lifespan, combined with the vigorous marketing campaign implemented by Apple, they are maximizing profits through increased sales.

          “Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life.” 

Bibliography:

Apple’s planned obsolescence and conspiracy theories

Japanese Encephalitis Kills and permanently damages tens of thousands of the world’s poorest each year. This considered, a vaccine actually exists to cure Japanese Encephalitis. The issue was making the vaccine affordable to the world’s poorest.

A non profit foundation out of Seattle called PATH took action, contacting the CNBG, the Chinese National Biotec Group to make the vaccine available to the world’s poorest. What was once too expensive, have been made affordable by PATH. Explicitly, the benefits of PATH’s action are clear; these people are no longer going to be affected by Japanese Encephalitis. Implicitly, a new outlet of medicinal breakthrough has formed. This is the first vaccine made available to the world by China, increasing awareness that information that may be of little significance to them, can make a great difference elsewhere.

The WHO has prequalified the vaccine, and many of the world’s poorest can thank a Chinese vaccine Manufacturer for offering life-changing secondary data.

Source: A Big Milestone for Saving Children

America’s government is currently shut down.

This seems problematic, and it is. How can the US find a way to battle its massive debt, when it is not even able to resolve a dispute as simple as Obamacare? Albeit, Obamacare is complex, but it is insignificant in light of what is coming towards the end of October; the national debt ceiling. In America, it seems more important to argue over the costs of providing healthcare than actually providing affordable healthcare. I find the economic crisis in America very frustrating, considering how little actually gets done. The spending simply needs to decline, because the more we spend the richer we are making China (16.7 Trillion $ so far.) At what point is this going to become apparent to America? Soon, I hope, because it is only making more of a mess for itself.

The American Government needs a new perspective, one that can refresh the mundane bickering that the Political scene has fallen victim to. The American government needs to at least put food on the tables of all its people (46m of which are under the poverty line) with the borrowed money, not spend it on lost causes like the maintenance of a White House that is currently shut down by its own incompetence.

Please America,

• Stop putting yourself into more debt
• Fix the issue of widespread poverty

And Democrats and Republicans, stop being winy. Being productive is a much more rewarding pursuit.

Companies who are more successful are the best innovators. But if it were so simple as to just innovate, wouldn’t all companies be on board with this concept of innovation? The reality is that dropping old business models is at times very hard… so hard that it is the cause of monotonous onslaught of the same product, and thus reduced profits and bankruptcy. It is up to the company to manage all the components outlined in the Stakeholder Theory, and to be vigilantly innovative in these categories, for the [almost] ensured success of the business.

As we have witnessed with Dell, its Direct Business model was the most innovative of the time; it set a new precedent. And with that still didn’t stop, it went so far as to pioneer Virtual integration. As it has been seen with an overwhelming number of businesses, Innovation is difficult. The good businesses typically balance things extremely well over the short term (eg. ten years,) but then suddenly and inexplicable profits level off. The Stake Holder theory can often be a good place for Businesses to look when this happens.

• Are Customers needs being satisfied?
• Are suppliers working to improve and innovate products?
• Do employees want to be there?

Ed Freeman put it very succinctly: ”If you just focus on Financiers, you miss what makes capitalism tick.”

Innovation and directed change in one of these categories alone is not enough. Take Apple for example. They are meeting their customers needs by creating a broad array of product sizes; from the small iPod shuffle to the 9″ iPad. They are reaching their customers through many facets, including the online and physical Apple stores, and third party locations such as best buy. A third way Apple has innovated is through its suppliers, who strive to provide them with state of the art components. Everything considered, what has helped Apple achieve success is the undeniable fact that it is relentlessly innovating. Dell on the the other hand failed to continually innovate, and has their modest revenue stream to prove it.

It can be a lot to take in when first considering all of the components to a company, but broken down they provide an excellent canvas to foster innovation. Apple and Dell both innovated well, but Apple took their work rate to the next level, innovating and working hard to set the precedent before other companies in all the fields of Stakeholder Theory. The ability to manage new ideas around the layout of business activities will ultimately determine the success of a business.

It’s about time Syria sorts itself out. We know that, but we don’t really know why that hasn’t happened already. We’re all tired of hearing diluted information that doesn’t quite tell us what is really happening in Syria. Which is why I am going to describe the situation in Syria (something most of us are quite overdue for,) and offer my opinion at the same time.

Since 1971 the Assad family has held power over Syria. Bashar al-Assad being the most recent ruler, failed to offer economic and political reforms for many years until 2011, when the population became, for lack of a better word, ‘fed-up’ with the incompetence of the regime they were held under. So, in a very disorganized attempt to make their voices heard, the civilians of Syria gathered into local tribal groups out of frustration. With no central command, this group of people with relatively mixed agendas grew, and grew… attaining all sorts of diversified people.

Let me point out  that Syria is a place of large religious history. Considering the 87-90% Muslim population of Syria, it is at times difficult for these people to get along with themselves never mind forge a focused alliance on forming a new government. With accusations of atrocities coming from both sides, e.g. the chemical bombings of civilians by the government, and the murdering based on religion.

Long story short, it’s a nasty civil war war with both sides taking cheap shots, and an increasing need for an omnipotent power to come in and set things right (not like in Iraq but a similar thing.) With the religious indoctrination all around, the mixed agendas of the masses, and general chaos and brutality, it is going to take a very deep breath, and a new mindset to overcome the problem Syria is facing.

How interesting it is to understand the misconceptions on what represents true ‘Social Responsibility’ from a Businesses standpoint. One would tend to believe that in order to be Socially Responsible, a Corporation would have to align its intentions to giving back to society. As outlined by Friedman, however, it is very clear that in order to be most efficiently Socially Responsible a company must in fact aim to be more profitable, rather than intentionally Socially Responsible.

Reebok’s standpoint on sweatshops offers an interesting perspective to the matter of ‘Social Responsibility.’ Having employees that worked more than 72 hours/ week in Thailand, they took it upon themselves to terminate business with said supplier because of possible repercussions over the long hours. They allowed a decision based on Social Responsibility to reduce their profits, when having higher profits in the first place is the sole ‘Social Responsibility’ of Corporations. Terminating business with this supplier inevitably: reduced profits, reduced returns for stakeholders, raised prices for customers, and lowered the wages of employees.

The bright side of this decision is that it potentially saved them criticism from the media, and that it may have been ‘Socially Responsible’ of them.

Understanding that the Government taxes corporations, and with this money can support any social cause the people choose, is fundamental to understanding why corporations are not expected to bring about social change. Plus, is it fair for any Corporate Executive to draw from business revenue to support an arbitrary social cause he chooses?

Although Reebok made a sound social decision, It is for the government to decide what Social guideline should be followed, and for the corporations to maximize profits based on the structure the Government provides.