Recent articles published called “Ask The Headhunter” by Nick Corcodilos (PBS) and “Has LinkedIn Crossed an Ethical Line” by Nancy Collamer (Forbes) has commented on the ethics of LinkedIn. The main issue that both articles point out is the fact that LinkedIn has transitioned from a free service to one that’s charging an optional fee ranging from $20 to $50 per month for job seekers that want a “featured applicant” posting , despite actual employee qualifications.

This option leads to skewed information for employers who are looking for potential employees that suit their company, not just a LinkedIn member who paid to get priority.

According to the SWOT, this could both be a strength and weakness to LinkedIn; although it is increasing the company’s revenue (strength), LinkedIn is also faced with ethical problems and a less reliable reputation (weakness). However, there aren’t many solutions to this issue as well. As a job board, the company has to charge its members some sort of fee in order to profit and keep the website running, unless it was to have more advertisements or receive donations (opportunity).

Citation:

Collamer, Nancy. Has LinkedIn Crossed An Ethical Line? Forbes. Web 3 September 2013

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/09/03/has-linkedin-crossed-an-ethical-line/

Corcodilos, Nick. Ask The Headhunter: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employees and Job Seekers Alike? PBS Web 13 August 2013.

Twitter has filed for it’s IPO and despite the fact that its document lacks information on its main source of revenue, advertisements, many predict that it will still do better than Facebook’s IPO last year with a multi-billion dollar valuation. According to one news article, the author believes that it could be a competitive advantage to not include information on its advertisements; however, it is still crucial for investors to know, even if twitter is growing in terms of members.

The prediction that Twitter will do better than Facebook comes from the fact that Twitter went public sooner than Facebook, preventing hype and an inflation in the valuation. Also, the underwriter for the Twitter IPO, unlike that of Facebook, is Goldman Sachs, not Morgan Stanley (which has led many failed tech companies).

Taking in these points, I believe that Twitter will do better than Facebook for its IPO if its revenue from advertisements is growing and there isn’t a pre-hype that causes a fiasco when stock prices drop.

Citation:

Vardi, Nathan. Why Twitter’s IPO Won’t Be Like Facebook’s IPO. Forbes. Web, 13 September 2013.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2013/09/13/why-twitters-ipo-wont-be-like-facebooks-ipo/

Berman, Dennis K. The Big Hole in Twitter’s IPO Filing. The Wall Street Journal. Web, 10 October, 2013.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304500404579126950604701622

As the world’s second largest economy, China’s crude oil imports rose to 25.61 million metric tons, surpassing those of U.S., according to the General Administration of Customs. However, communist leaders believe that it is a weakness to be relying heavily on Saudi Arabia and Iran for imports for political reasons. There are also environmental ramification with the result of increase in oil imports for cars, factories, etc; cities are with pollution and smog.

Oil imports into China have risen “as a result of expansion in the economy and its growing demand for resources,” customs spokesman Zheng Yuesheng said at a briefing in Beijing today.

China is also the top world’s top buyer of commodities like copper, iron ore, soybeans and  coal. As a result of economic growth, auto-ownership has increased (Sales of vehicles rose 11%), thus leading to a high demand of oil imports.

Citation:

n.p. Bloomberg News. China’s Crude Oil Imports Increase to Record as Economy Expands. Web 12 October 2013. 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-12/china-s-crude-oil-imports-increase-to-record-as-economy-expands

Tan, Florence. Aizhu, Chen. Update 1- China to ramp up overseas M&A as it overtakes U.S. as top crude importer. Web 11 October 2013.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/11/china-oil-idINL4N0I12UZ20131011

McDonald, Joe. China passes U.S. as world’s biggest oil importer. Web 10 October 2013.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/10/china-passes-us-oil-imports_n_4076857.html

According to research firm, Gartner, PC shipments has fallen 6 shipments in a row, down 8.6% September one year ago. Mikako Kitagawa, principle analyst in Gartner, believes that this could be due to the growing popularity and affordability of tablets.

“A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets.”

Although PC’s PoD includes its affordability and compatibility, like the statement made by Kitagawa, tablets also provide these characteristics as well as the fact that they’re even more convenient than PC’s. When faced with the decision between tablets and PC’s, by comparing the advantages each device provides, consumers will be more attracted by the tablets, hence causing the decline of PC’s.

I also believe that the growing competition in the technology industry is also causing the decline of demand for PC’s. Products like the MacBook Air, Macbook Pro, iMac, iPad from Apple are also drawing the attention of consumers away from PC’s. Though expensive, Apple PoD (quality, branding, unique software, user-friendly) are in sharp contrast to PC’s, leading to consumers trading in their PC’s for Apple products.

Citation:

n.p. Global PC Shipments Drop to a Five-Year Low. BBC News. Web 9 October 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24470639

When Apple’s new iPhones, iPhone 5c and iPhone5s, became on sale for customers on September 20th, they became 2 of the top 3 smartphones for four different carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile). However, despite the 9 million shipments being made, there were still doubts on the success of sales of these iPhones due to the large price cuts made by both Best Buy ($50 discount) and WalMart ($45 discount).

Although the price cuts are associated with the need to get rid of inventory for the lack of sales, there could also be a positive explanation for large discounts. It could be that they’re  trading “some of their profit margins in exchange for a higher share of sales for a hot new product.” (All Things D’s Ina Fred).

The discount could be an incentive for customers to buy more of the products and sign up for the phone plans, becoming a regular customer.

Citation:

Sparks, Daniel. “Apple’s iPhone 5c sales may be faring well after all”. 8 October, 2013. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/10/08/apples-iphone-5c-sales-may-be-faring-well-after-al.aspx