Thailand Flood

According to the article, Thailand’s worst flood in decades has made massive destructions not only for Thailand, but also for the global supply chain.

The flood destroyed local industries in the production area of the city and left hundreds of people dead. But why would that affect anything abroad?

Well, with the Thai factories which supply ‘about 40% of the world’s HDD market’ gone, it seems that giants such as Dell, Toshiba, Toyota, and Ford will see shortages. Customers will start seeing price increases, or, even worse, the disappearance of these products on the market because companies would rather stop selling than trying to sell at a high price that they know customers would not accept.

Thailand Floods Harddrive Factories

It seems that too many companies take their supply chains for granted and rely on the “just-in-time” delivery system which delivers components and raw materials only when needed. Companies employ this system because demand forecasting can have too many possible outcome and is almost always wrong, and yet operations aim to get the product out at the right time with the right amounts. However, when in crises like the Thai flood, we can see the fragility of this system.

Graduation Is Built On Money

I had never considered how expensive my UBC tuition bills were before. Perhaps it was my mindset that university bills are naturally high; or perhaps, I had always thought there was nothing I could do about my bill, so why would I second-guess it?

This could be explained, according to Kash Kaur’s blog, as the students having weak buyer power. We, as individual students, cannot go up to the dean and demand a lower tuition individually: we simply accept the price as is.

Each university is unique in what it can offer its students, be it the environment or the faculty, and it is that point of differentiation that makes students have few substitutes, and thus giving them a high supplier power.

Since it’s hard to build a university, there is a high barrier to entry into this field. And since people usually choose universities over community, universities have low rivalry. Overall, universities are very secure and will probably never be out-of-business.

They have no fear in losing us, because, as Kash Kaur puts, “Students must buy inputs (education) to create output (successful future).”

Sad, but it seems students will never beat the university.

University = Future

Sustainable Earth

“Sustainability is the most critical issue of our time,” claims Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca-Cola. In this article, Kent explained many of Coca-Cola’s effort in promoting sustainability across the globe, starting with their partnership with the World Wildlife Fund to provide safe habitats for polar bears. Their efforts include sustainable packaging made of sugar cane waste and giving back to each community the exact amount of water it uses to make its average.

Water Neutrality of Coca-Cola

It seems like sustainability is all the rage these days. Every company wants to show their corporate social responsibility, but are they doing it for the right reason? Are they becoming sustainable because they recognize we are depleting our future generations’ resources, or because customers will be more impressed?

Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminum, has been recognized, for the sixth time, as a model of sustainability in Brazil. It has included sustainability as part of its corporate values since the start, incorporating it in its operating practices and product designs.

Alcoa Named Brazil´s “Sustainable Company of the Year” by Exame Magazine

Alcoa obviously sees the need in not compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, and other companies are catching up.

The Era of Sustainability is coming.

Jamie Oliver and Fifteen

Though I knew of Jamie Oliver, I had always thought of him as just a chef. It wasn’t until I read toptable.com’s blog post on Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Foundation that I realized he was actually one of the most well known social entrepreneur.

He founded the Fifteen Restaurant which takes in unemployed and underqualified young people and teach them all the necessities in starting a culinary career. Once the apprentice chefs have completed a twelve-month program, they graduate and are qualified to work anywhere else. The restaurant would then take on another generation of young people. The profits yielded from the restaurant would be reinvested into local charities.

Jamie and the Apprentices

A social entrepreneur, as he clearly demonstrates, is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to create a venue to make social change. Jamie Oliver recognized that many disadvantaged families need to break out of their poverty cycle, and developed this program in the form of a restaurant to accomplish this.

In the blog, the author quotes, “I can’t think of another person in the public eye who has used their fame, fortune and talent so honourably and charitably.” Jamie is truly deserving of the name ‘Social Entrepreneur.’

Amazon.com

“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” – Jeff Bezos

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Have you ever heard of a website that allows you to browse variety of products and services at the convenience of your home, compare goods, offers a wish list for gifting, and allows you to shop with a simple click of the mouse?

Amazon.com, founded by Jeff Bezos is the world’s most customer-oriented online retailer, offering low prices, vast selection, and convenience to its customers. It is an entrepreneurial e-commerce platform that is now one of the Fortune 500 companies.

Its startup from Bezos’ garage as a book-selling website was everything entrepreneurial companies were supposed to be. Within a mere 2 years since start-up, it had had its IPO and earned millions of dollar. While there was substantial risk doing business on the Internet, Bezos understood that the Internet was a marketplace where there was a lower production cost precisely because all transactions were done online. He capitalized on the opportunity and was able to sell for far less than the retail sellers could. Such was Amazon’s competitive advantage that made them stand out from the rest.

Amazon did not invent anything, but rather, it revealed a new market that was overlooked before.

Internet Market

For you sugar addicts (in middle east), you’re in luck. Brand name bakery Sugar Daddy is going to open new brand ‘Hey Sugar’! In the article, the owners address the issue of positioning Hey Sugar to attract more customers.

Hey Sugar

According to Ries and Trout, the ‘Free Ride Trap’ has happened to countless companies as they try to build a sub-brand on top of an existing brand name. They believe it’s impossible for a single brand to hold multiple positions because either the new or the original product will take the other’s market shares. For that reason, the owners chose to differentiate Hey Sugar.

Since this is a new brand, and not the first bakery; the brand’s point of difference is its unique DIY-bakery concept “Mix, Batter, and Bake” as well as an array of new desserts different from the original store. The owners also tried to introduce a name that is simple enough to tell people immediately what the store is about and give people a ‘fun’ perception to the store.

Hey Sugar Cupcakes

Hey Sugar’s value proposition has been clearly set out, and if people like its PoD, they will be positioned as the ‘first’ with that concept and succeed.