The biggest news on the internet today surrounds the topic of
Alibaba Group making a record breaking $9.3 billion in sales today during China’s Singles Day, which also happens to be Alibaba’s one-day shopping bonanza of the year. They made a 60% increase in sales from last year’s $5.8 billion in sales. So the question now may be, what is this Chinese e-commerce platform doing to declare itself as such a powerhouse, and how are they doing so well?

In the video below that I watched, there was a more detailed explanation as to what Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, is doing to make his company so successful. When I first read the article I was extremely curious as to how this company has generated that much money in sales, in just one day. Was there some kind of exclusively  limited sale going on? Jack Ma goes on to explain his strategy as “global vision, local win”. I strongly agree with his theory and mission statement; the globalization of companies needs to start with the idea of how you can help that other country, what are their needs, and how can you create value for them. Ma also states that there are many small businesses outside of China using their services free of charge, which I think is a great way to build good connections between businesses of different countries. “It’s not about how much revenue we can bring out of China, rather what value we can bring to local people” (Jack Ma, Stanford Business School Talk Video).

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hengshao/2014/11/11/9-3-billion-sales-recorded-in-alibabas-24-hour-online-sale-beating-target-by-15/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/11/11/macys-saks-bloomingdales-and-more-accept-alipay-to-woo-rich-chinese-shoppers/

http://www.inc.com/jack-ma/alibaba-jack-ma-reveals-his-global-strategy.html

In our recent COMM 101 Class about People, Culture and Teams, we discussed the extraordinary benefits the employees of Zappos receive. My friend and classmate, Gurinder Mahal, also wrote a new blog post about benefits. Blending these two discussions together, I want to add on to what Gurinder has stated about benefits enticing employees to stay longer and more faithful to their company. 

The discussion about Zappos and their employees enjoying many perks that other companies fail to offer, had two distinct sides you could look at the situation from. The first perspective is that the benefits are equating to be too much of an expense, and that offering these assets is doing nothing and is a waste of money. On the contrary, I believe that a companies’ employees are one of their most important assets. Without an enthusiastic and faithful team, your company cannot and will not sustain itself with strong brand name known for good customer service. For Zappos especially, as an online shoe retailer, they rely heavily on a good customer service reputation, by ensuring the highest quality trained employees who truly want to be there. I believe that this is a great “moral” to say the least, as businesses should not be being “cheap” in terms of offering the best they can to customers and employees. If you provide a product that is good quality for a reasonable price, and have employees who genuinely want to assist you in a smooth purchase, then that will earn you a positive brand recognition and returning, loyal customers.

Sources:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/gurindermahal/2014/11/10/the-benefits-of-benefits-reality-or-misconceptions/

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/14/happy-feet

After reading my classmate  Ian Paul’s blog , about a recent sponsorship deal between Bose and the National Football League, my thoughts were very parallel with that of Ian’s.

I really enjoyed discovering how Beats by Dr. Dre has responded, to the adamant ruling bound to the sponsorship deal Bose made to the NFL. Bose proclaims to restrict affiliation between any NFL player and Beats. I personally find it to be a bit desperate to “shut down your competition” by inhibiting customers from choosing a different company. From a different point of view, one can argue that it is a sponsorship, and so it “makes sense” to restrict the usage only to that of Bose. However, I believe Bose should not be restricting their competition. Allowing consumers the freedom to choose their products should be a given, and if your product truly rises above all others based on quality, then you should have no trouble being the more favourable company.

Aside from the controversy, Beats’ response to the actions of Bose and the NFL, was that they would pay for the fines given to those who still choose to wear their headphones during any televised events. This is a very calm, cool, and collected way to handle the situation, not to mention intelligent as well. Beats did not start a quarrel, and was smart about their marketing strategy, declaring that personal branding with the more well-known players has prevailed more so than the attempts of Bose.

Source:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/ipaul/2014/11/08/beats-vs-bose-in-the-nfl/

Upon looking for some interesting business blogs to read, I recently stumbled upon Guy Kawasaki’s blog: How to Change the World. His most recent post revolves around “The Art of Evangelism”. This title right there and then caught my attention and put me in a position of confusion; a business blog that discusses the topic of converting people into Christianity? I had to look into it some more… What I learned is that the Greek definition of evangelism means “to announce good news” or to be “made aware”/”brought up to date”. Perhaps for others the meaning is obvious, but for myself it definitely left a questionable impression in my mind. Now that I am evangelized of the interpretation Kawasaki was going for, let me tell you a bit more about this successful business man.

Kawasaki has written twelve books, was an advisor to the Motorola business unit of Google and chief evangelist of Apple. He is a very well accomplished man, and his blog, How to Change the World, gives a unique insight to business for entrepreneur from a venture capitalist perspective. For me, I find that his blog is quite technology based as well, which isn’t surprising given his background with Google and Apple. 

What I loved about his blog was the structure of his posts. He would include extremely useful tips on the topic being discussed, and elaborates in fine detail what he means by each recommendation. A great read for those of you who are tech-savvy, and have a entrepreneur/VC mindset.

Sources:

http://www.guykawasaki.com/about/

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

http://www.businessinsider.com/24-must-read-blogs-for-entrepreneurs-2012-6?op=1

”If the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise”?

It is a well-known fact that society benefits from the works of organizations set with a clear goal to better our world. Whether it be keeping peace and security, or generating a business based on a non-profit entity, there are many organizations out there that are determined to make a difference and create positive impacts in different ways.

The United Nations has been around since 1945, and are notorious for mainly peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance. However, there is a significant difference between the UN and a Social Enterprise. A Social Enterprise is a profit generating business, that is not for profit. Confused? Although these businesses are making money, the sole purpose is driven by sustainability – making social, economic and environmental difference (The Triple Bottom Line [COMM 101 Sec 106 Nov.4, 2014]). Now, the UN runs internationally aiming to make improvements for everyone in terms of everything. With there being so many people and so many issues, can the UN really cover all problems and details? Even if they were fully funded, development in undeveloped countries may often times be overlooked if the issue isn’t critical. And that is where the Arc, or a social enterprise can step in to target smaller segments of problems from a business standpoint, giving opportunity for growth to countries that aren’t as privileged as ourselves.

Sources:

http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml

http://www.socialenterprisecanada.ca/learn/nav/whatisasocialenterprise.html

The people of Tsilhqot’in have voiced their opinions concerning the development of the New Prosperity Mine at Fish Lake. The issue brought up by the natives revolves around Taseko Mines Ltd.’s Fish Lake property, which has been recognized by the courts to be outside the title area of the Native’s.  This statement, however, is not supported by the Tsilhqot’in people. They claim that the mine would be trespassing the tribal park boundary.

Large-scale industrial mining and clear-cut logging is not allowed in the tribal park, but smaller-scale resource activities would be suitable in order to provide employment for the natives, says Dave Williams, president of Friends of the Nemiah Valley. But will the Natives agree to this negotiation?

There are strengths and weaknesses to both sides of the argument. The Natives do not have the government backing them up for their proclamation of Taseko’s Fish Lake property lying within the tribal park boundary. For Taseko, their project has been rejected TWICE by the federal government. So why can’t both parties settle down and agree to disagree? It would be more beneficial to not up-scale the situation by instigating their projects without proper communication.

There is no definite answer stating that there can’t be an equilibrium point where both the Tsilhqot’in people and Taseko Mines Ltds.’ can agree on a decision. If they were to sit down and talk it out properly, realizing that both parties have pros and cons to their projects, then a suitable negotiation can be made that would benefit all.

Sources:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Unilateral+park+declared+Tsilhqot+includes+Prosperity+mine/10192766/story.html

http://www.canadians.org/blog/tsilhqotin-declare-proposed-mine-site-tribal-park

The big controversial issue that has people talking from Europe to Canada has been surrounding the issue of Uber, a new taxi service in town that has all other taxi companies raging over their policies and safety of users. 

Uber differs from other taxi companies because they don’t follow as many rules and regulations; They hire anyone over the age of 21, passes a background check, and has an insured car, less than 10 years old and in good working condition.

You can see why taxi drivers are furious with Uber, as this creates a lot more room for human error. No other tests need to be taken in order to be employed by Uber, including extra safety tests, knowing routes, and typical policies that Taxi drivers should all be aware of. This would also up the risk of safety to users and to the employees at Uber.

However, instead of focusing on their business ethics, why not focus on their business strategies. Uber has chosen to make use of technology in the best way possibly – they created an app for smart phones that allows customers to find a cab with the touch of a button that is the closest to their location. Other taxi companies should also take advantage of technology and create custom apps for their own business too. The use of smartphone apps to get a taxi is much easier than calling for one, especially late at night when sometimes it can be difficult to get a hold of a service representative, and let alone memorize the phone number of a specific taxi company.

Sources

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29475059

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/09/08/uber-technologies-inc-toronto-launch/?__lsa=c5c6-108e

A new and upcoming social network called Ello, has declared that they shall remain ad free and not mine its user’s data. The proposition is very similar to that of Mr. Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg, who started out Facebook with the same declaration. That of which has now taken a turn for the worst.

Will Paul Budsnitz, one of the co-founders of Ello stick to his word? I believe that for Ello to truly succeed over the oh-so-popular Facebook, they must truly base their business on this declaration and remain consistent with their promises. It would gain and earn the trust of users and perhaps even cause a game changing turn of tables for social media.

Facebook has also been rumoured to begin charging users soon, which Ello can use to their advantage. Keep their freemium business model and offer cheaper alternatives with more privileges in comparison to Facebook, which they are doing well with so far by making Ello quite exclusive as it is for invite only users. If Ello is able to market greatly in their policy of remaining ad free and not mining user data, they should be able to gain positive recognition as the next best alternative to Facebook, and in the future, perhaps even exceed Facebook.

As long as their market campaign will allow them to gain interest, trust, and preference of user’s over Facebook, they will be able to climb to the top, while taking advantage of Facebook’s soon-to-be downfall.

Sources:

http://www.theprovince.com/business/Ello+founder+wants+change+money+made+online/10260085/story.html

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/05/ello-and-goodbye-facebook-competitor-social-networking

HMV has made the announcement that many people have been waiting for; they will be relaunching their flagship store on Robson in Vancouver for the holiday season.

The reason they gave for leaving in the first place was that the lease was too expensive. A three-storey building and 55,000 square feet was not necessary and had caused financial issues for HMV, causing them to close down three years ago.

But with music being so readily available online, and a majority of people using products such as iPods, will starting up a smaller retail store help HMV with their sales?

Big companies such as Blockbuster and Rogers who offered DVD, CD and hardcopy game rentals have suffered severely with everything now all being online. So what makes HMV think that they will be able to make a big comeback based solely on a smaller store?

Our society is slowly but surely moving more and more into and ONLY into in the cloud technology. There aren’t very many people using CD’s anymore to play their music or popping in DVD’s to watch movies. HMV leasing a smaller store may help slightly in terms of reducing costs, but their profits will not be flowing in at massive amounts. So is it even worth it to start up a new store in Vancouver only to find themselves making little to no money?

Sources:

http://www.biv.com/article/2014/10/hmv-set-return-vancouvers-robson-street/

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/09/hmv-robson-street-vancouver-is-back/

Look in the mirror. Do you see someone who was born naturally beautiful? If yes, then great! But unfortunately, there are only a handful of people like you.

Today, large corporations force us to believe that we must be a certain way, fit a certain size, and look like the poster girl of their ads. But in the game of ethics, when has that ever become a reality? Yes, making a profit is important. However, is the main purpose of an advertisement to manipulate the meaning of beauty by inducing a generic standard?

According to the ad produced by Target – and many other corporations – it is shown that the model looks stunning in their Junior line bikini, but only after being (horrendously) air-brushed and moulded via Photoshop. This product is for JUNIORS, meaning the objective buyers are YOUNG ADULTS – The mindset of the younger generation is already being clouded with misinformation regarding a person’s appearance.

Target, being a superstore who’s supposed goal is to provide affordable products for everyday people, could torpedo their company by continuing these ads; opening their flood gates to potential oppressors against the torturous tool of Photoshop. This may even turn away potential customers who genuinely believe they can’t buy the product because they look nothing like the model.

Photoshop will always be a hot topic bringing about debates, but how much longer are we as a society going to tolerate all the negative effects that it brings?

Sources:

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

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/11/target-photoshop-fail_n_4940819.html

http://www.women24.com/FashionAndBeauty/NewsandTrends/Targets-photoshop-fail-20140311