It is widely acknowledged that the United Nations has significant impact on helping the least developing countries. Affiliated with UNDP, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is one of important voluntarily funded organizations , which“assists developing countries in the development of their economies by supplementing existing sources of capital assistance by means of grants and loans” (General Assembly Resolution 2186, 13 December 1966). It is undeniable that it gets donation which is a relatively large sum of money from each member countries every year. This did make a contribution to the economic development of impoverished countries in the last few years. However, it seems that the organization still faces the problem of funding shortage.

From where I stand, what the United Nations has done is not so sustainable as they require a huge amount of money to help the poor when they has, to some extent, nothing in return. Unlike the social entrepreneurs, who are businessmen focusing on creating share values as well as making their own profit, the charity organizations like the UN are not that helpful for the least developing countries in the long term. In the contrary, some business like micro finance and boutiques shops offered by social entrepreneurs would be extremely helpful. The reasons could be divided into 3 parts. Firstly, it enhances the local people’s understanding of how to do business which would be beneficial to the local economic development.  Secondly, some local get a job opportunity. It eases their pressure for basic living. Last but not least, the social entrepreneurs can gain revenue from their business. This makes their business sustainable and encourages them to do it better to trade for social purposes.

Citation

Upward Arc

http://skollworldforum.org/about/what-is-social-entrepreneurship/

http://www.uncdf.org/en/our-organization

http://www.uncdf.org/sites/default/files/Download/income-2013.pdf

Photo from:

http://galleryhip.com/social-entrepreneurship.html

“Lean Manufacturing” is an interesting method used in auto-making industry. It seems something new for me. After reading your post, I think it is a manufacturing strategy focused on efficiency and quality. I can also see your concerns about the application of this method into Starbucks.

It reminds me of some news I have ever read about the sales strategy of VIA instant coffee of Starbucks a few months before.

Starbucks began to think about how to boost the sales of their instant coffee since many of their stores shut down in the financial crisis in 2008. Although VIA instant coffee seemed to be something that was not quite consistent with their value proposition, it was a new way for Starbucks to reach more customers in different countries other than brewed coffee in their stores.  Also, instant coffee was cost-cutting while the taste of it was tested to be as good as fresh-brewed coffee. It mean customers did not need coffee mill or even directly go to their store to get a cup of Starbucks coffee. They could paid less to get VIA instant coffee for convenience. Of course, the most important thing was. this new product – VIA instant coffee did make profit for Starbucks.

From my perspective, the manufacturing strategy of VIA instant coffee can be an application of “Lean Manufacturing” as it cut the cost for the company without sacrificing the quality of their product. To some extent, I believe that it proved the feasibility of this method in the service industry.

Citation:

“Lean Manufacturing–A Panacea for All Industries?”  by Yifan Yang (Classmate)

Lean Manufacturing–A Panacea for All Industries?

The NY times “Starbucks to Sells Instant Coffee” by Reuters

Photo from:

http://hivelogic.com/articles/review-starbucks-via

Airbnb is a company famous for its new way to connect the host and travellers which disrupt the traditional industry. It provides information online for the travellers to rent a room as quickly as they can. It is really innovative as the new idea facilitate the guests to find a place to take a rest when they are travelling in a new city.

Surprisingly, Airbnb is not only creative, but it also has excellent corporate social responsibility. In this post, a “disaster response tool” is mentioned.  It allows those in need to seek help from the local residents who have extra space offered when the unexpected disaster happens in that area. Also, it charges no fee for room-booking in that area.

What the Airbnb does is quite impressive. It creates a mutually beneficial shared value for the company. Both the customers and the company would undoubtedly benefit from this tool. This is because the customers in need get the assistance while the company earns the trust and loyalty of their customers.

From Airbnb Official Blog

http://blog.airbnb.com/emergency-response-flooding-liguria/

http://blog.airbnb.com/getting-ready-for-those-in-need/

Photo from

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/12/airbnb-disaster-response-tool/

Nothing can be more exciting than a nice holiday without disturbance. As is mentioned in your blog post, the internet has made it hard for us to separate our personal life from our work. Although the employees are in holiday, their employer can also easily find them and ask them back to work whenever they would like to. In some urgent cases, it may make sense for the employees coming back to work as it is every employee’s responsibility to help their company through difficult time.

However, it is true that a number of managers sometimes send their employees emails about their jobs in holiday simply for their personal benefit such as the promotion of their own. Not only does it disturb their employee’s relaxing holiday, it also put pressure on them. They would possibly be less productive under such pressure.

At last, I am so glad to see that it is legitimate for the employees to have a peaceful holiday without any contacts from their employers in Germany.  I hope that Andrea Nahles’  hard work on protecting the right for the employees in holiday in his own country would be paid off some day. 

Citation

“KNOCK OFF IS OFF” by Zhuge Jiamin:

KNOCK OFF IS OFF

The Lavender Town, a very small town in the map of the cheery game Pokemen Red & Green is a mysterious place. It was connected to the suicide issues in Japan as a lot of children killed themselves after the exposure of the game.  It is also weird that an obscure programmer of this game committed suicide a few days after the game was released.  As is known to all, Pokemen series are very positive games for the children. The only thrilling part of the game would be the Lavender town in Pokemen Red & Green. Thus, the public thought that the Lavender town was the cause of suicide.  That is how the rumour about the Lavender town began to spread.

Actually, the Lavender town was designed for the dead pokemen. In this town, you could see the spirits of the pokemen haunted around. The trainers of these buried pokemen were always there mourning their beloved pokemen. The background was black and white. However. all these things listed above were not the most horrible part. The music, which was  a clever use of binaural beats, was really creepy even for an adult like me. Some people even thought this music had special frequency which only harmed the children. 

This story was proved to be unreal after many years. However, it pops up from time to time on the internet. People may think it interesting as there are many different version regarding the detailed stories behind the Lavender town and the suicide coincidence. Also, out of curiosity, a number of people may start to play this old game in order to unravel this mystery by themselves. This would be something good for the game company.

Citation

http://kotaku.com/pokemons-creepy-lavender-town-myth-explained-1651851621

Photo from:

http://www.gopixpic.com/1280/-lavender-town-buried-alive-pokemon-white-hand/http:%7C%7Ci1*ytimg*com%7Cvi%7C2Rn7qjl1LXE%7Cmaxresdefault*jpg/

The movie “Men Women& Children” released this month is about  the effect of the internet on relationships. According to the interview with actor Jennifer Garner, we know that she herself likes to hold the phone all the time as many people always do.

Nowadays, it is undeniable that internet does revolutionise the way we live. It facilitates the way we contact our beloved one. It also makes it easier for us to get new friends. We are typing when we have lunch with our parents or have a conversation with others. We know what our friends are doing at this moment through their posts. It seems the distance between people is decreasing while we keep our eyes glued on the screens of our mobile phone.

However, the truth is, we are steadily isolated from the real world. We feel lonelier and lonelier. Our friends and parents around us also share the same feelings as we focus more on our internet social network rather than the real ones. In this case, figuring out an internet policy in a family cannot be more important.  Starting it from a family and letting the children know that the real ones around them should be cherished. only under the parents’ guidance can  the new generations critically think about how to appropriately use social networking websites and softwares.

Citation:

10 questions for Jennifer Garner -TIME October 20, 2014 (hard copy of the magazine)

photo from :http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2905589504/tt3179568?ref_=tt_ov_i#

In this September,  one of the most influential politically democratic  protest happened in Hong Kong since 1989’s Tiananmen Square Occupation. A large group of  protesters(the majority is the university students) gathered in the main financial district and outside government buildings, protesting against the the new voting policy implemented by mainland government. What triggered the anger  among HK democratic people in the policy  is that HK citizens cannot nominate their own chief executive. With time past, the parade has caused disruption. Therefore, the police were out trying to disperse the crowd with pepper smoke and tear-gas shell aimed at maintaining order of the city. This made some of the protesters more angry. However, the current chief executive – CY Leung still hidden dealing this problem when he was hit with financial scandal in this period. The truth is, the student activitists  are not only calling for the democracy of HK but also the resignation of CY Leung.

At this event, most of protesters treated the police as the representative of government as they executed the task commanded by the government. People threw out irresponsible comments on the internet,  criticising what the police did to the public. It is extremely unfair for those policemen who are also HK citizens, pursuing the wellness of HK society. Besides, this protest might not win in the end as many of them expected(most of them have never expected to win though), but it did make some noise which might promote the democracy for their next generation.

Meanwhile, the chief executive CY Leung should undoubtedly been investigated and resigned if what he had done was all truth(bribery and official misconduct). It is also the commitment of HK government to respect the protesters’ view about voting for the first-ranking official as the government should work for the well-off of the majority of citizens. They should have the democratically right to nominate and vote.

Citation

http://time.com/3483405/hong-kong-chief-executive-protests-democracy-leung-chun-ying-ugl-dtz/

photo from

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29563788

Under the effort made by Tsilhqot’in leaders, a new tribal park – Dasiqox Tribal Park was created in Sept. 10, 2014. The establishment of  this reserve develop the process of protecting aboriginal people’s right, which means a lot to B.C.  government and  Tsilhqot’in own government.

As a large mining company seeking opportunities to do business, Taseko previously invested in the fish lake right besides the boundary of the tribal park area recognized by the courts. However, due to the disagreements of native for Taseko to earn profits through  damaging their living environment, Taseko was in dilemma to his gold-copper project.

From where I stand, it is important that Taseko try to hire native employees which may improve the local families’ living standard, making them earn benefit from their project as the decision from First Nation Government would depend  on how this project would influence their long-term development.  Also essential is that  Taseko makes its projects more environmentally-friendly and respect the Tsilhqot’in government because it is an external factor which has  significant impact

on their business . For instance, mining projects should be under First Nation Government’s supervision. Sharing a appropriate proportion of their profit earned in this project with First Nation Government as funding for rebuilding the environment. I firmly believe that Taseko would be successfully run its project though doing what is mentioned above.

 Citation

Photo from http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Cayo+Taseko+wants+Ottawa+regulatory+unfairness/10250210/story.html

Pynn, Larry.  Tsilhqot’in set to declare site of New Prosperity mine a tribal park.  Vancouver Sun.  September 11, 2014.  Newspaper Article.

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

Apple began to sell its new product, iphone 6 and iphone 6 plus on September, which has caused wide public concern.  While the new design of 4,7-inch screen for iphone 6 and 5.5-inch for iphone 6 plus attract people’s attention, the ads on its official website “Bigger and bigger” sounds  original.

However, the product – iphone 6 plus is not as perfect as it looks like.  Few people who bought iphone 6 plus immediately after it is offered found it accidentally  bent in their jeans’ pocket. That is how rumours spread. Some media exaggerated this flaw into a extremely serious issue which might negatively affected the reputation of Apple even though only 8 out of 10000 iphone 6 plus  became warped.

From my perspective, it is not fair for  Apple to be blamed excessively for 8 bent iphone 6 plus.  As a company which has a huge quantity of following as its innovative design and high quality,  Apple apparently is one of most popular brand right now. Therefore,  its products are always under spotlight.  People easily become captious about it, hoping that Apple products are permanently flawless. However, what people ignore is that iphone is a human product made by low-weight metal. It is bigger so it is scientifically much easily to bend.  Meanwhile, Apple also has indicated that customers owned a bent iphone can have replacement in Apple Store.

To sum up, iphone 6 plus is still worth buying as it is creative and awesome.

citation

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2014/09/30/iphone-6-bendgate-science/

Photo from

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/09/25/iphone-6-plus-bent-apple-inc-may-replace-it-depending-on-how-it-was-warped/

Alibaba, which is a online shopping company founded by a talented guy – Jack Ma, has generated “buzz” all around the world recently for its IPO.

Like Ali Baba, who discovered the secret of a gold coin cave and got rich in that old Arabic folk tale, Alibaba is getting strong economic power as the founder – Jack Ma found out the secret of how to attract customers and build brand reputation for Alibaba. Now, with increasing public concerns about its world-wide expansion plan, the competitive advantages of it reveal. Meanwhile, it possibly posts a threat to online-shopping giants – eBay and Amazon.

Established in 1999,  Alibaba has been though a tough time to convince customers e-tailing is trustworthy. It is, at present, focusing on two channels online – Tmall and Taobao. While Tmall is primarily for brand goods with authorization (E-tailors should have business licence.), Taobao is for whoever wants to sell anything they are willing to (A consumer-to-consumer platform).  From statistic provided online, there are almost 1 billion products provided in Taobao, and 60% of the parcels in express are from Taobao.

China has the biggest market on e-business as people prefer e-tailing because it saves money and gives them a variety of choices in goods. It is, to some extent, boost the prosperity of online shopping. At the same time, this may result in an influx of wholesalers into Alibaba as the demand increases. With this positive cycle model, it is not a difficult thing for Alibaba to apply its excellent models to explore world-wide market.

In  a word, Alibaba is a legend with intelligent stuff and extraordinary model. It is predicable that Alibaba would be a lot stronger in world after its IPO.

Reference

Photo from    (https://www.google.ca/search?q=alibaba&espv=2&biw=1185&bih=621&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=bNUkVOORFtD6oQS054HACQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg)

Forbes   (http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2014/09/20/beyond-the-ipo-buzz-alibabas-advantages/)

The Economists  (http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573981-chinas-e-commerce-giant-could-generate-enormous-wealthprovided-countrys-rulers-leave-it)