According to Jingyi Jia’s Blog, Taobao broke the one-day sales record on Nov. 11th, which was know as China’s Singles’ Day and gained 35 billion yuan (approximately $5.75 billion). I agree that it was the promotion on the special celebration day that contributed to the big success of Taobao because the biggest discount on products only occurred on that day, which attracted single people to buy things as many as possible to release their stress of being single.

Besides, as is mentioned in Jingyi Jia’s Blog, the development of the technology in smartphones is another factor as people can even use their phones to go online shopping in order to buy what they want, especially on the special day. We have to admit that the strategy of Taobao to combine people’s mind on Singles’ Day with the discount promotion is really wise, which has been proved to be a big success already. After this remarkable event, a huge potential in China’s market can be seen by other companies as well. There is still a long way to go.

Blog Link:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/jingyijia/2013/11/15/taobao-breaks-shopping-record-in-china/

Other links:

http://it-consultis.com/blog/online-shopping-madness-china-singles-day/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/alibaba-breaks-sales-record-on-china-singles-day-amid-discounts.html

I have read William Sullivan’s blog about the human right in Canada and I agree with his view that what the government calls on does not correspond to what they do. The example of the anti- shale gas protest mentioned in his blog is a strong proof to support it as they asked for human rights, but still hurt innocent people like women and children.

Furthermore, I think it is wise for William Sullivan to relate this issue to “Three Questions You Need to Ask Yourself About Your Brand” that we have learnt in comm class. There are huge numbers of companies in a country; however, a country itself is also a brand. What a country does is vital to the public and may influence a whole country’s reputation. Thus, once the rule is set, obeying it all the time is an important but also hard thing, which needs everyone’s efforts. People should do what they want most as well, not just ask for it. For instance, if they want human rights, not just ask the country for it, but also do and realize it.

Article: https://blogs.ubc.ca/williamsullivan/2013/10/19/is-canada-views-fake/

Resource: http://fcis.vdu.lt/~n.klebanskaja@evf.vdu.lt/fov1-00098617/FOV1-0009D4C0/KEVIN-~1.PDF

Do you like yoga or release stress from daily life through yoga? Pay attention now, yoga can cause hip injuries ! It is easy for someone to feel the pain in knees or wrists, but when people become more flexible and reach the end of a pose, it may cause the pain that can not be easily sensed. Hip injuries are uncommon in newcomers in yoga but common in people who are too flexible enough, like teachers who teach yoga as their careers. When their body can go into a very extreme range of motion and it doesn’t feel like anything, some uncommon injuries may occur.

Riki Richter who has been teaching yoga for 14 years has some advice for people who practice yoga:Take classes with an experienced teacher who looks for injury, check your own body regularly to see if there is any injury and also watch out for some uncommon injuries like hip injuries.

In my opinion, taking good care of our own body when we have yoga classes is much more important than learning itself.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/yoga-can-lead-to-hip-injuries-1.2427134

Compared to last year, the average selling price of a Canadian home , which was $391,820 in October, increased by 8.5 per cent.  The rapid growth is totally coming from hot markets in western Canada, like Toronto and Vancouver,  while markets in eastern Canada are much cooler. Not only the price of houses but also the number of houses sole increased as popular cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver had double-digit volume increases. Meanwhile three cities , which are Quebec city, Saguenay and Halifax saw double-digit declines. This comparison shows the evident line of the price and number of houses sold between the western and eastern Canada.

As far as I am concerned, B.C. leading the country with a 26 per cent increase in sales brought no surprise because there is a trend that most Asians choose to move to B.C., especially Vancouver. Also, the weather in western Canada, like Vancouver, is much better than in eastern Canada, like Quebec city, which is another main factor. Without counting in markets in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, the increase would be 4.9 per cent, which is much less than 8.4 per cent and probably caused by the increase of the demand of houses, not by some smart and rich homebuyers.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/average-house-price-in-canada-rises-8-to-391-820-1.2427778

Nowadays, many brands design green products as consumers’ demand for products being sustainable is becoming stronger. For instance, each pair of Levi’s jeans is made from about eight recycled plastic bottles and Nike uses waste to produce knitted sneakers. As a result, both Levi’s and Nike have received a strong response from customers and gained a lot of profits from these eco-friendly products.

From my point of view, these companies understand how to use CSR to raise reputation and help maintain the position in the long run. They have seen the potential in green products by analyzing the numbers of sales as customers view sustainability as a fashionable trend, which is a cool thing to do, not just right. However, product sustainability improvements still need further discussing because companies must consider that once a brand benefits customers at a fair price through sustainability, what should they do to respond? That is a serious question.

Therefore, companies should not only see the potential market by analyzing customers’ behavior but also consider the consequence of pushing a trend like sustainability.

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/green-new-black-levi-s-nike-among-marketers-pushing-sustainability-153318

Nowadays, Germany is accused by Krugman that it does not offer any help to the PIIGS and forces austerity on those countries, which is called “beggar their neighbors”. As a member of the Euro, each country has the same currency, so the PIIGS could borrow at low interest rates before to pump up public spending. However, they could no longer borrow after the financial crisis and face much unemployment now. Therefore, Krugman blamed all of these issues on Germany.

Although Germany forced the PIIGS to spend less and pay more taxes, which made a worse situation, Germany did not beggar their neighbor. As Germany increased its imports to the PIIGS and reduced its exports, it actually contributed to the growth of  PIIGS but beggared the countries like China, Brazil and Russia. What is more, Germany’s average imports from the PIIGS between 2007 and 2012 equal 3.5 percent of GDP, which has little impact on PIIGS’s economies, let alone on the whole world.

Therefore, the Krugman German bashing argument is silly and obviously wrong as Krugmans draw conclusions before examining facts and the argument does not make any sense.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2013/11/15/germany-bashing-with-bad-economics-and-wrong-facts/

With the development of economy, people’s desire for purchasing luxury is becoming stronger and stronger, especially people in Asia. Nowadays, lots of customers who never own a Rolls- Royce come to Rolls-Royce to buy one. So Rolls- Royce have seen people’s desire and decided to catch the opportunity to expand its markets as Asian buyers buy a premium while people in Europe or other countries pay at a basic price.

Many western companies target Asian areas as their potential markets, especially China. Because of large population and economic growth these years, Asian people is willing to pay more for luxury as they want to improve their social standard and living standard as well. For companies, operating stores in Asia is a good start and will pay off. It is important to choose the right markets and the right consumers for expanding a brand, such as Rolls-Royce.

http://t.money.msn.com/business-news/newsarticle?feed=OBR&date=20131008&id=16974903

Almost everyone knows ZARA-a Spanish clothing retailer. I choose Zara to talk about is because it has a unique operation philosophy. It always chooses to open more new stores instead of advertising for its various products, which is pretty unusual in business. However, Zara is so successful now because of this philosophy, which needs considering further.

The diversity of clothes is its another characteristic as Zara includes clothes for men, women and children. Zara can design a new product just in two weeks, so it can considerably sell more products than other companies, which is its strength although it will still put some basic products in its stores all the time. Shortening the product life circle is to cater to consumers’ preferences because consumers will satisfy to have more new products in such a short time and pay less to go after fashion. It is a good choice for a company. Also, Zara has a lot of international markets and continues to expand.

http://www.zara.com/ca/

Everyone at VW tries to make the company become the most ecologically sustainable manufacturer in the world, so they manage all the resources as carefully and properly as possible. The Volkswagen Group is helping the company become the leader in green mobility by following its consistent aim at optimized energy.

All cars at VW are designed in a sustainable way to reflect its green idea and the company has achieved great success these years. The company has a lot of investors to support its innovation on sustainable products as these investors think it is significant to obey such a sustainable rule and do contributions to the sustainable development.

I think VW will have a brighter and broader future due to its insistence on improving sustainable technology and applying it to producing cars.

http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/info_center/en/news/2013/09/sustainable.html

Every coin has two sides. Business ethics play a significant role in the business world as each company should not only focus on pursuing profits. For the corporate executive, he should take responsibilities to make sure that the company increase its profits  within laws and prevent it from cheating consumers. Also ,the executive should organize and make full use of the money because he must try his best to avoid inflation.

From my point of view, the government is supposed to supervise the company in order to stop it from exploiting or cheating consumers. As for the company, the executive should take goodwill into deep consideration. Each company should not just concentrate on the present profit as building good reputation can get more profits in the long run. However, once the firm breaks the moral lines to increase its profits ,it will be disdained by the public and considered as kind of fraud.

In one word, business must make use of its resources and increase its profits within the rule of the game in the society.