Social entrepreneurship is not so much about the cause as it is about the people who are capable of making a difference to the cause. The United Nations has a lot of reach because of how well-connected it is with global governments and the organization definitely targets major international issues, but social entrepreneurs are necessary for their ambition, drive, strategic approaches, resourcefulness, and ability to generate results with what they have.

The innovative ideas they come up with are capable of creating beneficial relationships for communities who require assistance in creating value with their organizations. The Arc Initiative connects with real people and creates results with each of their partnerships. Interactions between people with a shared goal is the best way to share information and teach each other from their own area of expertise.

As the number of social entrepreneurs grows, perhaps the United Nations could take advantage of a partnership with entrepreneurial organizations as these people are the greatest resource in creating social change. If they were to fund the activities of these agents, both parties would be able to reach their shared goal.

 

Shark’s Tank is the United States version of a reality television show that features a panel of venture capitalists offering to invest in business ideas brought forward by entrepreneurs.

Many young people draw inspiration from this show that appears to offer any innovative person the chance to gain financing quickly by offering up high stakes in their companies. What happens behind the scenes may be more relevant to the young entreprenuers among us who wish to recognize some realistic expectations.

There is a possibility that this programme may negatively impact those that attempt to base their business decisions on actions portrayed in the show. This article suggests that the main problems are that:

• the pitch is overvalued – emphasis is placed on the ability to make a slick pitch as a means to receive funding rather than really understanding the business and the entrepreneur
• decisions are “made” in a short timeline – when the panel agrees to fund they are actually pursuing their interest to learn more and create an investor relationship, not writing a cheque
• ideas are vauled over entrepreneurial ability – creative ideas over effective value propositions (the horror!)
• investors lack industry-specific expertise – investors should be key partners that have insight to offer
• unmeaningful valuations – many give up the majority of the business for funds to continue instead of to add value
• focus on consumer goods – revolves around products that the viewer may enjoy although these would generally employ crowdfunding instead of venture capitalists
• public exposure – those who are denied an investment must continue with a negative light

These pose as problems for both young entrepreneurs and investors so I would suggest to not take this show at face value (although similar presentation skills would still apply).

54% of Canadians are active Facebook users. However, our love of being able to easily connect with others does not overrule our need for privacy as demonstrated by issues raised by Sincere Cheong and Blessie Canete.

I agree with Sincere that agreeing to a website’s terms of service with a nonchalant click of a button makes it difficult to justify Facebook’s ability to perform consumer research on their users without their prior knowledge but with apparent consent. This has lead to the release of the Atlas digital marketing platform that Blessie is wary of, but it is also true that Facebook provides the value that we are looking for which is why, even with the knowledge that they are selling our information, we continue to use their service on a daily basis.

With the many companies that deal mostly with the web or with other forms of communication joining the world’s largest companies, it is easy to see why companies are eager to capitalize on digital marketing and gathering data from the information that potential customers release on the Internet. I can see this becoming the main form of market research because of the far-reaching information that is so readily available and is an accurate reflection of their current customer.

In response to Vivan Lee’s blog post on IBM and Twitter’s alliance, I agree that this poses as a competitive advantage but I believe that the combination of social data and enterprise may soon become a point of parity what with Facebook and Google offering consumer data to businesses as well. Further partnerships may consolidate this data into one complete source that allows businesses to market to their customer segments at their full potential.

Making a Deal (Source: UniversalFunding)

Although this may not be a lasting competitive advantage, I see it as a good move for these two firms. Integrating the components that make up a person’s life is a smart move to improve business strategies in the current digital age.

Once again, the consumer data that is being sold may raise privacy issues for many people, but these internet platforms are extremely public and I’m sure that we have all breezed past the terms of service without much thought. My thought on this is that I don’t particularly mind if it means that businesses will be catering to our potential needs and knowing what we want based on our personal data.

The First Nations peoples of Canada are self-governed groups that have obtained rights to reserve lands where many Aboriginal peoples live with a tax-free advanatage. The Canadian government acts as a large revenue source to fund these communities so that they can provide services to their people that include education, housing, and many programs that would be typically provided by the municipal or provincial government.

The First Nations Transparency Act is a recent legislation by the Canadian government that requires all Indian bands make their financial documents available annually to the members of their community as well as to publish on a website after being audited. This comes from the government’s 2011 committment to support democratic, transparent and accountable First Nations governments. Many band members collect salaries from the funds provided by the Canadian government and their have been cases in the past, notably Attawapiskat, where these salaries have been inflated and come at the cost of not supporting their community and forcing them to face below average living conditions.

As a member of the X’axlip band in BC, I recognize many issues that this act may resolve and am all for more democratic First Nations governments. Although I live off-reserve, I am still a part of this First Nations group, but I am unsure as to how the council members are elected and how they use their financial resources. I understand that there are many challenges that face the on-reserve populations and hope that I will see changes in the unfortunate statistics that include suicide, high school completion or post-secondary education, crime and poverty rates in my lifetime. These social issues can’t possibly be resolved by pouring funding into them, but that could be a first step.

 

It is in our nature to label everything with a price tag and apparently Ebola has one too. On September 16, the cost for stopping Ebola was $987.8 million, 2 months later and that cost has risen to $6.18 billion if Obama’s request for emergency funds to combat ebola is a correct estimate.

Besides the evident toll that Ebola has taken on the world, the international economy could become unstable from the effects of the virus. The countries that are financially secure enough to contribute to the cause are spending huge amounts of resources that may never be recouped and the countries where the disease is running rampant may have extreme difficulties returning to their past state.

Prior to the outbreak, Sierra Leone and Liberia were experiencing rapid economic growth with high expectations for Guinea as well. Any prospective projects that these countries had are being hurt by dwindling investor confidence. Their economy barely exists as it is with halts to trade, tourism and agriculture.

There is an extreme estimate of 1.4 million lives being at stake if this continues, not to mention a future at stake if the outbreak is not stopped soon. Pouring funds into the situation now will stop the situation from being drawn out or spiralling out of control, and will allow the world to start its recovery.

Consumer social responsibility is a term that is thrown around by businesses as well as everyday people who believe that it is a major value that firms should stand by. But is this really only something that concerns the decisions of senior level management in well-grounded corporations who have the funds to make a difference?

Rachel Rosenthal writes that Ethical Investing in Emerging Markets adds to the territory of social responsibilty and is actually an extremely difficult task due to a lack of transparency and reporting standards. In our globalized world and economy, this is an issue that should be taken care of to allow information to flow through to stakeholders.

What is interesting about this is that social responsibility is a major driving force to making this happen because firms are benefiting from exposure and the draw in investment. Quantitatively, funds that incorporate ESG (Environmental, Social, Governmental) standards are leading in stock performance by approximately 25% with total asset growth nearly tripling.

For those of us starting to get involved in trading, perhaps it will be a good idea to follow this trend and create our portfolio wisely. Our decisions to invest in certain companies reflect the values that we carry and also determine the trends of successful companies.

Quora is similar to Yahoo! Answers in the way that users can ask questions in a wide range of topics. However, many of the answers are provided by experts in their fields and users can follow topics of their choosing that will appear on their news feeds. Some of these experts even include people such as those on the Forbes Top 30 Under 30 list.

In particular, the entrepreneurship section is extremely useful for anyone in the industry and you could ask questions specific to your business and reliable advice will be on its way. This Q&A describes 10 mistakes that entrepreneurs make when dealing with their startup.

4. Failing to realize that successful corporate approachesare inappropriate for small business startups. i.e. You are in a fight for survival not just playing your part in a management committee decision making activities. A startup is not just a small version of a corporate enterprise, it requires a completely different approach in development like business modelling not business plans, customer development not product development and entrepreneurial lean management not strategic/corporate management.

These tips are based on the experience of Peter Baskerville who has started 13 businesses so they can let a young entrepreneur understand realistic challenges they need to overcome instead of their relying on theory or trial and error.

 

 

Most will recognize this brand for their luxury sports cars and supercars that have become a symbol of wealth and status for its owners, but will an increase in the number of models produced allow this automobile manufacturer to maintain their customer base? Ferrari, a company 90% owned by FCA, recently underwent in some changes in senior management with Sergio Marchionne replacing Luca Cordero di Montemezolo as CEO.

“Ferrari to Boost Production to Keep Pace With Super Rich” highlights a new marketing strategy, emphasizing availability over exclusivity, as the company seeks to increase production to meet the demand of their customers. This appears to result in short-term profit but eventually selling out of a brand that has a long successful history behind it.

In light of an IPO release by Ferrari’s parent company accompanied by a 55 billion-euro expansion plan, one can only speculate if the subtle shift in direction that Ferrari is taking might result in a complete shift in company structure to cater to the needs of their parent company.

Enzo would turn over in his grave.

We have seen a significant decline in the use of tobacco as a result of increases taxes, well-advertised health warnings, smoking bans in public areas and negative opinions raised by WHO research.

However, tobacco companies make every last effort to oppose the many measures taken against them, all in the name of profit. Such devious schemes include raising lawsuits against countries who take action towards them, lobbying against measures, and even designing products that they can claim to bypass the regulations on the basis of technicalities. The industry is also revolutionizing to adapt to changes in consumer opinion about cigarettes with the introduction of e-cigarettes which, while assisting people in quitting their smoking habits, may introduce youth to smoking with this latest fad.

If this is how big tobacco reacts to the idea of corporate social responsibility then the tobacco industry is a perfect example of a whole industry that revolves around increasing profit instead of increasing benefits to all stakeholders. While these multi-billion dollar companies may be raking in the money right now, it is my hope that the companies will face long-term hardships as the result of their neglect of ethics.

link to “From lawsuits to e-cigarettes, how big tobacco is fighting back”: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/sep/01/smoking-tobacco-ecigarettes-public-health?commentpage=1