External Blog referred to – https://www.tlnt.com/why-building-your-brand-should-be-the-first-thing-you-do/

Given the accelerated pace at which globalization and commercialization is intensifying as a worldwide phenomenon, the international business climate is becoming increasingly hostile in terms of cut throat competition. Understanding how to tackle this competition on a human resource level becomes a chicken and egg argument – will creating a strong brand attract the best employees or will attracting the best employees create a strong brand? The reason why I believe that this blog by DisruptHR provides invaluable insight is because it puts forth the argument that the latter is more imperative to be implemented with immediate effect, which is a view I agree with for the following reasons.

• Better the prospective candidates, better the company prospects

By strengthening the employer brand value, a company can get a leg up in the war for talent that the pool of human resources has immersed itself in. The publicized corporate culture of an organization determines the brand worth of a company digitally, technically, socially and financially, which subsequently ranks the company in terms of the benefits it can provide to an employee. Attracting and retaining employees of the highest caliber successfully is an operation that is a sustainable lifeblood for any company’s vitality and value – human resource is the business lifeblood that doesn’t run dry, but instead reinvigorates with time as the ties of loyalty between an employee and the company strengthen.

• Multifariousness of multimedia outlets

62% of employees surveyed in a sample report that they utilize the social media landscape invariably in their job hunt, and 70% respond that they trust these reviews over the company ads themselves. It is no wonder then, that from 2013 to 2016 the percentage of HR managers facing difficulty hiring has risen from 50% to 68%, and 73% of CEOs are experiencing a shortage in key skills offered by their workforce. Even though companies with bad reputations pay 10% more per hire, 50% of employees surveyed maintain that they wouldn’t integrate such a company into their career profiles. Ultimately, the intangible public image manifests into tangible private interest for each firm, in terms of monetary transactions and manpower – both of which are a currency for corporate advancement and accomplishment.

• Adaptability and agility in the long run

From 2007 to 2017, there has been a drastic escalation in the proportion of temporary staff members needed in accordance to seasonal demand. As a result, enforcing a sense of binding and belonging for employees in a common corporate culture becomes challenging, which entails low levels of drive and dedication to the vision and mission of the firm. To be the team that each player is vying for, superiority must be established by the synergy emphasized in public relation strategies.

Word Count: 450

Websites referred to

Employer branding is more important today than ever before. (2017). Nigelwright.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017, from https://www.nigelwright.com/news-insights/news/employer-branding-is-more-important-today-than-ever-before/

Reddy, K. (2015). Why is Employer Branding Important to HR? 10 Imp Reasons – WiseStep. WiseStep. Retrieved 13 November 2017, from https://content.wisestep.com/employer-branding-important-hr/

CEOs Need to Pay Attention to Employer Branding. (2015). Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 13 November 2017, from https://hbr.org/2015/05/ceos-need-to-pay-attention-to-employer-branding

Employer Branding: Experts on Why Your Growth Depends On It. (2017). Betterteam. Retrieved 13 November 2017, from https://www.betterteam.com/employer-branding

Blog referred to

https://blogs.ubc.ca/jonkim/2017/10/15/mega-microloans/

Within the wide world of economics, there are four main hemispheres – microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, and developmental economics. Each of them progressively provide a larger and more long term perspective of decision makers, and the responsibility that falls upon them. The most beloved and cherished offering bestowed upon the universe of developmental and international economics is microcredit – a financial ladder out of the abysmal chasm of poverty. It is considered a lifeline for those who borrow, a winner for those who lend, and an opportunity to independently finance and fuel the train out of circumstances that spiral out of control into hopelessness for many.

It began in Bangladesh, when Muhammmed Yunus offered a loan of $27 to a stool maker who was a prisoner to her necessitousness, that led her to be exploited because she did not not have the 22 cents needed in order to get around the various agents of her business. In 2006, Yunus was honored with the Nobel Peace prize – but as of today, microfinance as a whole has morphed into a disputatious discussion.

Rapid commercialization of this industry has brought its altruistic and economic aspects at opposite ends. With hostile measures of client enlistment and steep interest rates charged on loans, it has become a game of high stakes and megaprofits. Entrepreneurs like Vikram Akula have reaped the returns of generational debt and deficit, by launching a public IPO for SKS Microfinance and raking in crores of rupees. Likewise, Mexico’s Banco Compartamos IPO gathered a sum of over five hundred million after turning to a for profit organization. To this, Yunus Mohammed responds saying – “Microcredit was created to fight the money lender, not to become the money lender.”

This situation of a counterintuitive Robin Hood that rips off the poor and deposits to the rich questions the basis of microcredit as a self sustaining system. Pointing the blame at any stakeholder in this loop is futile – what can be brought to examination here? Is it the profit centralized approach encouraged and adapted by capitalism? Can it be the inability of the poor to preserve and maintain the wages they receive? Or can it be the process of issuing loans without extensive discretion? Lending in itself requires delicate balance. In United States, too much led to the housing bubble bust and too little led to the long drawn recession.

In my opinion, there is no neat answer to qualify microcredit as positive or negative. Coming together with collective ownership of financial, human and physical resources and long term programming of a development plan that is both feasible and fast is the only way to claw out of impoverishment and indigence.

Websites referred to

Toyama, K. (2011, January 28). Lies, Hype, and Profit: The Truth About Microfinance. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/01/lies-hype-and-profit-the-truth-about-microfinance/70405/

Flounders, S. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.workers.org/2010/world/microloans_0304/ 

Blog referred to

https://blogs.ubc.ca/jonkim/2017/10/15/mega-microloans/

A police officer stands guard in front of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) head office in Mumbai April 17, 2012. The Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates on Tuesday for the first time in three years by an unexpectedly sharp 50 basis points to give a boost to flagging economic growth but warned that there is limited scope for further rate cuts. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (INDIA – Tags: BUSINESS)

This article is based on the act of the central bank of India, RBI, notifying the general public of their monetary policy – this is a stabilisation tool directed at actualising full employment with low inflation. This is done by the central bank, which decides upon a target interest rate, and then accordingly adjusts money supply to match this. The monetary policy exerts indirect influence upon the level of aggregate demand in the economy, by its influence upon the rate of interest.

In order to understand the dynamics of the money market, money must be viewed as a product which acts as a medium that facilitates exchange of goods and services. In that sense, the rate of interest can be regarded as the price of money. The interest rate in question is the repurchase rate – the rate at which RBI lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds – which has been reduced by 0.25%. RBI act as a bankers to commercial banks by offering them loans, so by decreasing the repo rate, commercial banks are incentivised to borrow more from them. As interest rates decrease, the opportunity cost of holding money decreases, thereby increasing its demand.

Meanwhile, the supply of money is independently determined by the RBI. This control is exemplified by the reduction in the reverse repurchase rate – a monetary policy instrument which is the rate at which RBI borrows money from commercial banks. If the central bank wants to reduce interest rates, it must increase the supply of money. Since the repurchase rate has reduced, the interest rate commercial banks have to pay to RBI decreases, thereby decreasing their opportunity cost of holding money in deposits, in terms of sacrificed income from accumulated interest. They will sell bonds to the central bank who will purchase them by open market operations. The payments they receive will increase their excess reserves, increasing the loans they can make and thus the amount of new money created.

The purpose of this is fundamentally to alter the level of aggregate demand. According to the article, the Indian economy has kept its inflation target at 5%. In the process of inflation targeting, a central bank estimates and makes public a projected inflation rate and then attempts to steer actual inflation toward that target, using tools such as in this case, interest rate changes. A drop in interest rates translates to a lowered cost of borrowing. Owing to this, both consumers like the general public and producers like firms borrow more and spend more. The interest rate determines how much income people want to save and how much they want to spend. A low interest rate increases consumption spending as it reduces the incentive to save and increases investment spending as it results in cheaper borrowing costs. As mortgage interest payments reduce, disposable income increases, and rising asset prices cause  business and consumer confidence to increase – all of which contributes to strong increases in aggregate demand, given that investment and consumption spending are components of it.

However, the trade-off between growth and inflation is inevitable. Inflation is an expected part of India’s monetary strategy, as they are at par with their predetermined inflation target, and “growing robustly”. If aggregate demand rises faster than the aggregate supply by firms, excess demand will result in upward pressure on price. The fact that “food inflation” has been minimised leaves the economy able to manage the inevitable rise in inflation that comes with the projected growth of 7.6% – the reason behind this is the “normal monsoon” which has maintained supply levels. Thus, augmented aggregate demand by expansionary monetary policy can improve living standards in India by strengthening the accessibility, availability and affordability of public utilities like healthcare and education.

Article referred to –

India: New policy committee cuts interest rates – October 2016. (2017). FocusEconomics | Economic Forecasts from the World’s Leading Economists. Retrieved 16 October 2017, from https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/india/news/monetary-policy/new-policy-committee-cuts-interest-rates

Other websities referred to –

Current RBI Monetary Policy Rates. (2017). Entrancegeek. Retrieved 16 October 2017, from http://entrancegeek.com/current-rbi-monetary-policy-rates-2/

‘Reverse Repo Rate’ – The Economic Times. (2017). The Economic Times. Retrieved 16 October 2017, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/reverse-repo-rate

Finance & Development. (2017). Finance & Development | F&D. Retrieved 16 October 2017, from http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fan

Econmentor.com – Monetary Policy. (2017). Econmentor.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017, from http://www.econmentor.com/hs-advanced/macroeconomics/monetary-policy-and-the-federal-reserve/monetary-policy/text/744.html#Monetary Policy

Since deregulation, the major US airlines are exhibiting prominent oligopolistic characteristics.  An oligopoly exists when high barriers to entry result in a few interdependent companies controlling the majority of a market. In the airline industry this includes high set up costs, legal requirements, existing brand loyalty and extensive economies of scale. The five major airlines in the US market collectively comprise of 69.5% market share, and a 70% portion of the entire industry revenues.

This is advantageous for the producers in a market, because cartel behaviour eliminates the uncertainty of price rivalry. The airlines are likely to have entered a strategic arrangement called collusion, through formal agreement, to charge a certain fare that ensures higher profit margin collectively, that is more mutually beneficial than entering price war to gain competitive edge. Along with controlling the price competition, they may control non price competition too, for example, by jointly disagreeing upon elaborate and expensive marketing campaigns.

Consumers will have to comply, as high concentration reduces consumer choice and given the lack of competition, oligopolists are free to engage in the manipulation of consumer decision making. Also, an oligopolistic industry is generally allocatively and productively inefficient, resulting in potential welfare loss. Customers pay, and conversely firms receive, a relatively higher price than the original market price, due to price fixing. This creates a imbalance in the consumer and producer surplus, as the consumer surplus decreases, and the producer surplus increases.

To prevent this scenario, the CAB carefully restrained and regulated the market for domestic air travel. Air travel lacks close substitutes in other transportation industries giving it high inelasticity and its consumers susceptibility, with its prime feature being convenience. Therefore, it had to be managed like a “public utility”. To protect this factor, the CAB had to step in to ensure affordability (‘fares’), accessibility (‘routes’) and availability (‘schedule’).

However, excessive checks and balances made introducing any changes a tedious legal procedure, discouraging research and development. Possibly resulting from this, the Airline Deregulation Act came into the picture. Reducing interference of civil authorities allows airlines to behave competitively, allowing demand and supply to adjust and settle at an equilibrium price in the long term, which would strike the balance between feasibility and profitability.

Instead, airlines began to consolidate, which refers to the amalgamation of smaller companies into larger companies. These larger companies benefited from extensive economies of scale, and their lower average costs allowed them to slash their price to a level that would drive the smaller firms into bankruptcy. Consumers will suffer, because at an hour of urgency, if the need for air travel arises, they have no choice but to accept being exploited. An advantage could be price stability, and increased funding towards research and development, but if this comes at the cost of exploitation to society, it is counterintuitive.

Article –

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/011215/airline-industry-oligopoly-state.aspI

http://www.readthehook.com/72271/higher-plane-minor-sought-jet-during-landmark-default

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

In the 13th century, Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, termed the businessmen who engaged in activities which did not contribute fruitfully to the wellbeing of society as “parasites.” Since then till now, movies such as The Wolf Of Wallstreet embody what Michael Lewis, author and financial journalist, refers to as the central sociocultural assumption of modern finance, “that a trader is a savage, and a great trader, a great savage.”

This movie is based on the notorious and nefarious Jordon Belfort, portraying his debauchery, deception and decadence. No attempt is made to defend such conduct as the requirement of a well-functioning financial sector – this movie doesn’t say he is wrong. Instead it asks – what does it say about us if he’s right?

The money fueled machine of corporate and crony capitalism understands greed and grit as its foundation – but it doesn’t take the perception of a socialist to deem this as morally incoherent. This blog will be unpacking the Triple Bottom Line theory, with respect to three major ethical violations from the unknown trenches of the corporate world that are recently coloring our news. The phrase “the triple bottom line” was first coined in 1994 by John Elkington, the founder of a British consultancy called SustainAbility. The triple bottom line (TBL), as seen in the image below, consists of three Ps: profit, people and planet.

Economic sustainability, dealing with ‘profit’, was violated in the case of Wells Fargo, when they prioritized surviving the credit crisis over thriving, by trying to cross-sell lucrative products to its existing consumer base which employees replied to by creating fraudulent customer accounts. As a result, Wells could lose as much as $212 billion in deposits and $8 billion in revenue over the next year and a half.

Social sustainability, regarding ‘people’, was denigrated in the case of Mylan, a drug company that decided to increase the cost of its EpiPen which was a life saving drug for the children that suffer from food allergies in America. They set a $500 price tag on their monopoly – an act of cruelty for desperate families. After media attention and a congressional grilling, its stock is now trading at its lowest of 30 years.

Environmental sustainability, about ‘planet’, was ignored entirely by Coca-Cola. The soft drinks giant has become emblematic of big business’s contribution to the waste problem thanks in part to a high profile campaign by Greenpeace, which claims the company generates more than a hundred billion plastic bottles a year.

Together, these three tenants of sustainability – economic, social, and environmental – guide businesses towards fitting into the conception of the corporation as a participating citizen in the community and not as a money making machine.