Author Archives: Cynthia Lu

Coral reefs are home of the world’s most diverse ecosystems which provide a variety of` communities around the world. On the one hand, the coral reefs help to benefit the coastal communities through the development of tourism; on the other hand, it prompts the economics growth especially for the developing countries. As a developing country in East Asia, China is evidently facing the problem of the preservation of coral reefs, and the amount of coral reefs in the South China Sea has occupied almost 30% in the world. It is undeniable that coral reefs preservation has became a significant issue on the global stage.

In the modern tourism industry, using the animal bone or fossil to decorate the souvenirs has become a major part of their benefits. However, these animals are now facing the problems of surviving, once they are destroyed, the ecosystems will become unbalanced and this will affect whole marine environment. Also, the human being will not see the beautiful and brand scene anymore.

As I mentioned before, The UN has put the Coral Reef preservation as a key issue to be tackled. One of a good example among the developing countries is China. In year 1996, China endorsed the United Nations (UN) Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which affirmed that Chinese government attitude to the preservation of coral reefs in the national organization.

As the global economy continue to grow and expand, as a member of the global community residence, I think a business or even a country needs to put the environment protection as one of a key factors into the considerations.

References:

Our Mission

http://www.coralcoe.org.au/news/chinas-corals-facing-wicked-problem

Blue Ocean is an innovative market growth strategy created by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. Which gives a new market-growing framework to business managers, and this is an effective way to open the market in new fields and offer better services to customers in the real business society.

Why Blue Ocean has such a big power and influence? In my personal thought, it comes from one word, that is, the “Creativity”.Yes! What Blue Ocean does is to provide a different route to meet the market demand and customers’ needs in an alternative way. Which means the business is going to open a new market space and distinguish itself in the “Red Ocean”.

One of a convincing example is theSouthwest Airlines Inc. As the airlines market continue to expand, how to survive in a competitive market become extremely crucial. Jim Parker, the CEO and Vice Chairman of board of directors used the Blue Ocean to steady the SAI’s status in airline market. He used the Low Cost pricing strategy to attract more customers, and only focus on using Boeing 777 to reduce the cost of maintenance and training. While the most effective idea is the flight route design, he found that all the airlines companies did not provide the short distance services to customers, and this caused lots of inconvenience at that time. Based on the low cost, the Southwest Airlines offered the short distance services without transfer flight or stations. After the revolution of the SAI, it jumped to the top 3 companies in United States.

Thus, how to construct a blue ocean in a competitive market is a key growing strategy for businesses, not only for business itself, but also for customers, one of the biggest beneficiaries in the tertiary sector.

References:

http://flevy.com/blue-ocean-strategy

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/54/Blue-Ocean-Strategy-A-Small-Business-Case-Study.aspx

http://www.southwest.com/

Nowadays, whether to split HR has became a hot-debated topic among CEOs on the global stage. One of a convincing example is the Multinational Corporations.

The reason why CEOs are considering kick it out should be the ineffective cooperation between subordinates and superiors. Some higher-level managers inside the business complained their human resources department should be rewired because they miss the key value of their works. That is, although HR is good at the business fundamentals, they put a lot of time into talent architects, staff training as well as culture building. On the other hand, they think more about the staff compensation rather than costs, it is unrealistic. Just like the Libby Sartain said, who was a board member from ManpowerGroup.

HR leaders should deliver the business strategy to CEOs and help them better allocate the labour resources, but most of them are not doing these in the current situation. Which brings so many pressures to CEOs because it is difficult to meet their businesses’ performance goals without the guidance from HR people.

Ram Charan, a worldwide business advisor has a plan and solution to tackle this issue. He appeals the companies to eliminate the positions of Chief Human Resources Officer and then divide them into two strands: which is the HR-A and HR-LO. HR-A focus on the administration, helping the CEO manage the compensation and benefits and reporting the valuations to CFO directly, so that the CFO can judge weather the compensation is effective to staffs or not. The other one, HR-LO is designed to assess the staffs’ performance and find their potentials, those people would get chances of promotion after a long time observation and judgement.

References:

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=998d628d-5254-420b-b0cc-ac7a20966c8d%40sessionmgr115&vid=4&hid=127

http://hbr.org/2014/07/its-time-to-split-hr

http://www.dtssydney.com/blog/time_to_split_hr:_backlash_from_around_the_web

“We are deeply concerned and disappointed by these serious allegations of fraudulent behaviour and ethical misconduct by certain individuals at the company and third-party agencies. Such behaviour would be a clear breach of GSK’s systems, governance procedures, values and standards. GSK has zero tolerance for any behaviour of this nature.” Said by one of the official representatives in GSK in 2013.

GSK, a global healthcare company which aimed to help people live longer and better enjoy the life by offering them a diversified range of services, including chemical reagents, drugs and also some health care products. Last year, the Chinese government and judicial department accused the huge bribery scandal in GSK plc, they revealed the whole bribe process from internal of the business to the outside society. From the latest news, the Ministry of Public Security has arrested several suspicious includes the sales director and financial manager in GSK China and other related people from third party like the travelling agencies etc.

After a long investigation, the police got to know the cause for their bribery: due to expanding of the chemical market and inflation reasons, GSK China chose a special ways to release sales pressure in order to maintain the market share in the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, the superior passes sales target to subordinate and then give the plan to pharmaceutical sales representatives, those sales people use the travelling tickets to try to attract attention of the doctors as well as the superintendent in hospitals. So that the doctors need to use the prescription they gave and introduce them to patient. Thus “invisible dark hand” prompts the sales growth of a company without caring about the customers.

That evidence of unethical conduct violated the human right of general public and collapses the moral dimension and social rules. Which is a typical case to appeal the public start thinking about the business’s social responsibilities and sustainability, once a company gains the profits, what they need to do is how to pay back the society, not try to maximize the benefits only, some great examples just like the Novartis, the MSD, they donate a lot of money every year to set up own charity and school. The public, as well as the individuals should realize that the business ethic is a fundamental of success.

References:

http://www.gsk.com/

http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2013-07/05/c_124964343.htm

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/uk-gsk-china-corruption-idUKKBN0H407S20140909

http://www.stockwisedaily.com/glaxosmithkline-plc-adr-gsk-might-face-legal-trouble-in-chinese-consumer-healthcare-unit/235406/

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