In the past, military conflicts in the Middle East and the attendant threat of supply disruptions would send global oil prices soaring.^[1]Right now, it’s an really  abnormal phenomenon that oil prices slump regardless of the conflicts in the world’s most important oil producing region^[1]. After reading a reference article, I’d like to explain it by applying what I have learned in class.

To kick off, the oil production from Bakken and the Eagle Ford in the U.S. is pretty fruitful. Abundant of oil supplies from these two areas release the world from a shortage of oil. In addition to that, the consumption of oil is falling all over the world. Not only because of the economic rescission but also the threat from its substitution-coal. Coal prices decrease to half of what they were two years ago, which drag consumers away from oil. With lower demand and excess supply , oil prices drop inevitably.

So, some suppliers are storing oil in bing tanks for future selling. The implication is that they are pretty sure that the lower oil price is temporary, in the long run it will rise again. But to my consideration, with the new energy technology increasingly developing and spreading, as well as public’s awareness of  green economy enhancing, prices of non-renewable energy falling will be a trend. We don’t exclude the possibility that prices of oil may rise slightly, but unfortunately the profit won’t compensate the expenditure of storing.

reference list:

1.Jaff,Rubin,”Why oil prices are dropping despite Mideast unrest.“Sep. 22 2014, 7:49 AMEDT,<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/why-oil-prices-are-dropping-despite-mideast-unrest/article20717966/>

2.Shawn maccarthy,Jeff Lewis,“Oil overflow:as prices slump,producers grape with a new reality“ Sep. 27 2014, 5:00 AM EDT,<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/oil-overflow-as-prices-slump-producers-grapple-with-a-new-reality/article20815601/>

Passbook frees consumers from organizing all kinds of physical boarding passes, ticket, loyalty cards, and coupons. By scanning codes, you can easily store your air ticket on your smartphone and head for the airport without it. Mobile payment is based on the non-coin currency concept, which means consumers can make payment on their mobile devices, without using cash, cheque or credit cards.

Theoretically speaking, passbook and mobile payment may eventually take the place of the real wallet. But in the short run, “passbook + mobile payment” model provides marketers opportunities to promote sales. Say, suppliers could jump into passbook and Google wallet to renew their coupons and loyalty cards, and it’s more cost-saving to hand out them online. Also, they can take advantage of a customer’s proximity to extend the right offer, at the right time, in the right place, leading to stronger conversion rates and increased engagement^[1]. The most important part is, good management and quick payment do help customers to go into the stores and buy more. Just imagine, when you see all your coupons and loyalty cards are well organized and displayed in your phone, when you see them updated frequently, which makes you assume that there are lots of favorable products over there, how can you resist your temptation to purchase?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/articles/apple-pay-creates-new-opportunities-for-marketers/

https://developer.apple.com/passbook/

Iphone6 which is equipped with Apple’s A8 processor as well as the new system IOS8,was released a couple of weeks ago. These new-star products are creating quite a stir. Let’s date back to 2007, in which year Apple released its first iphone and ipod touch. Instead of getting tired of iphone, people show much more enthusiastic on it. It is what that fascinated consumers so much?

Is it just a mobile phone? To most Apple fans, it’s totally not that simple case. Iphone is not just a phone. It also denotes fashion, trend, and a type of living style. When using a phone, whose back is printed with a bitten apple, becomes a modern style, most people will believe in the strength of brand. We can say that, Apple’s unprecedented success is partly depended on its impressive brand culture. At the first sight of an iphone, or an apple series product, you may probably fascinated by its attracting outlook. Thanks to Steven Job’s perfectionism, apple series products are absolutely impeccable.

Besides its appearance, iphone’s incomparable “inside” functions also stand itself out. Apple owns the most advanced developing team to insure every time their update is a historic breakthrough. For example, comparing iphone 5 to iphone4s, iphone 5 collocates the latest A6 processor that is two times faster than A5 processor. Also the charging port was revised to a port called lighting which supports high strength and high power charging. At the same time it supports LTE net. Mostly, we can easily notice that every time iphone is up-dated, it becomes lighter and thinner, and the battery endurance is longer.

https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/

http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/design/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone5

Maybe you are not familiar with this phrase “slippery slope effect”, but you must know this kind of phenomenon clearly: Once you get away from doing something bad, you would probably do something worse next time until you get caught.

Human beings are greedy. Once they are satisfied, they need more, like Madoff and Blair. However when the snowball gets bigger and bigger, it crashed eventually. So a strong sense of business ethics may help to curb a tiny bad thing getting worse.

As a manager, he has several basic responsibilities, like setting clear ethical policies in the company, keeping the employee reviewing them etc. By doing so, misconducts are restrained to some extent. What’s more? Employee themselves’ efforts do count. It’s unadvisable for them to do the ethical ambiguities in case they do something unethical before they realize it.

For individuals, they are supposed to behave themselves and resist outer temptations. External force from superiors is one part, but their self-urges are more important.

Then comes to a group in a company. If everyone is deeply aware of the business ethics, a highly disciplined atmosphere will form among colleagues. A good environment is more likely to keep all the people acting well until someone breaks the rule.

Most importantly, which is also highly recommended is never get close to the ethical boundary. Just as the old saying goes” No one can avoid his wet shoes if he always walk along the riverside.”

Reference list:

Bryan Borzykowski ,”The slippery slope of getting away with small stuff” 7 August.2014,9 Sept.2014
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140806-the-slippery-slope

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