When people talk about the United Nations (UN), the first description came to my mind is an organization formed by a group of countries that focuses on improving social well-being, maintaining and developing peaceful relationship among countries. However, in the case if the UN had enough funds, I still believe we need  social enterprises and the Arc to support the global community, especially in business area.

Social enterprises are very important since they offer people from developing countries more opportunities. For example, Salem’s Ethiopia hired 15 more marginalized women to the production line. The company also provided these women free training classes so as to improve their skills and productivity.

Because the UN has to solve many different global issues, even if it was fully funded, it cannot spend all money and effort to support a particular business. While for The Arc, which promotes social enterprises and is mostly focusing on business concept. This program provides ways for Sauder students and the faculty as well as local entrepreneurs to apply business knowledge in the real world. When I was watching videos introducing this program and its workshops, I noticed that  many entrepreneurs were being taught to use SWOT and some accounting knowledge to analyze their own business. By getting more detail information related to business, it can help the local entrepreneurs to make use of business tools so as to identify problems and find the best solution based on the analysis.

Although the UN can offer financial support to various businesses directly, it still cannot replace the role of social enterprise. Actually, I think the UN, social enterprises and programs like The Arc should work together because they can benefit lots of people and help businesses to improve problem solving abilities as well as their performance in the community.

“Doing Well by Doing Good” is the main belief of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). It is also the reason why HUL began Project Shakti, which focuses on empowering women who live in rural area by offering them more job opportunities.

Relating to what we have learnt in class, I believe this project is a way for HUL to create shared value (CSV). Because in my opinion, the project brings HUL into a win-win situation as it takes social responsibilities and creates a larger benefit for both the company itself and the local community.

Instead of distributing the company’s revenue to these women or letting them rely on the dole, HUL hires them to work as Shakti Amma (selling HUL products in the nearby village) and offers them wages per month. In this case, more and more women have money available to raise their families and to buy higher quality products. As a result, people’s living standard will be improved.

This project also makes a contribution to the company’s profit. Since 70% of the population in India comes from rural area (Wikipedia), as more people in this area get jobs and receive better payment, the demand for goods and services will increase. Moreover, I consider Project Shakti as a way to expand HUL’s brand awareness because people can easily access HUL products around the rural area.

According to the article written by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, since the pie of revenue and profits is getting bigger and bigger, I think HUL is doing well  in creating shared value. In conclusion, if a company can focus on CSV, recognize and satisfy the societal needs, this can help maintain or improve the company’s performance in the market.

Do you like drinking coffee? If you like, which coffee shop would you choose: Starbucks or Tim Hortons?

Since Starbucks and Tim Hortons are both popular in Canada, how can customers make their decisions? What are the similarities and differences between these two coffee shops?

Using P.o.P and P.o.D can help answer these questions.

Points of Parity (P.o.P):

1. All provide tasty coffee.
2. All offer good services (friendly, and polite employees)
3. Easy to find ( these two coffee shops are mostly located in shopping malls or some main streets)

Points of Difference (P.o.D):

1. Product differences: Starbucks provides customers Frappuccino, latte, and mocha with various flavors. The flavors change regularly based on seasonal changes or festivals. Compared to Starbucks and the other coffee shops like Blenz or McCafe, Tim Hortons is much more  Canadian. This is because it provides special Ice-Cappuccino and other beverages. Despite these, it also provides TimBits, Donuts with Maple syrup and other delicious snacks that can satisfy most Canadians’ taste.
2. Unique buying experiences: When people make an order in Starbucks, they will have their names written on the cups. However, other coffee shops in the whole industry don’t do this since they focus on providing efficient services to customers.

In all, I think it is hard to say whether people will choose Starbucks or Tim Hortons. Some people especially students may choose Tim Hortons because it provides more choices and they are quite cheap. Furthermore, students don’t need to spend too much time queuing up and waiting for their coffee. However, for me, I will choose Starbucks. The changing flavors and putting customers’ names on cups are Starbucks’ marketing strategies to keep and attract more customers. Although Starbucks maybe more expensive, I really enjoy the higher quality coffee and services provided by Starbucks.

One of my favorite movies is The Social Network, which talks about the story of Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. He is a genius, a young billionaire, and a successful entrepreneur.

I’m impressed by the video that Mr. Zuckerberg spoke Mandarin during the whole public Q&A section at Tsinghua University on October 22.

Why Mr. Zuckerberg chose to speak Mandarin? I firmly believe this is one of his important steps to help Facebook enter into Chinese Market. According to Vijayalaxmi Hegde on her blog, it doesn’t matter whether Mr. Zuckerberg can speak fluent Mandarin or not. The main point is, as Hegde pointed out, Mr. Zuckerberg can acknowledge the power of languages and make use of them. This is very true. Although Mr. Zuckerberg’s Mandarin has accents, he is the first CEO that willing to take this challenge. In this case, I think Mandarin acted as a tool for Facebook to build a better customer relationship.

Some people believe a company should mostly focus on the existing market. Providing higher quality products and services to customers are what can help to keep brand loyalty and to maximize profit. However, this is not enough to satisfy an ambitious entrepreneur. In this case, Mr. Zuckerberg noticed an opportunity – What if Facebook becomes accessible in China? Or, what if Facebook treats Chinese customers as its new target customer segments? China is a country with a large population but lack of the accessibility of foreign social networks. So, Mr. Zuckerberg grasped the opportunity and tried to answer all questions in Mandarin so as to make his future customers happy. Once Chinese people can use Facebook, the company’s global market share will become larger. It will also bring a huge potential profit for the company.

How can a company become more successful? It needs an entrepreneur like Mark Zuckerberg. How to become a successful entrepreneur? The lesson Mr. Zuckerberg gives to me is to find and to grasp opportunities. In all, because of  Mr. Zuckerberg, I believe Facebook will be widely spread in China in the near future.