Jiayu Du discussed the benefits of abolishing China’s one-child policy on her blog. Personally, I think the effects of this policy might not as good as people think.

This new proposal is mostly spurred by the slowdown in the economy. It is a response to the increasing burden of caring for the elderly in the society and the potential shortages in the working-age population that arises from current low birth rate

A survey conducted by a famous news agency in China showed that only a few couples are willing to have a second child even if the government makes relaxations on the policy. The cause is the high cost of raising a child. To increase the birth rate, the government would better to give the young incentives such as providing baby bonus or reducing the cost of children’s education.

Besides, the potential shortages of the labor also has a positive influence. It induces companies to invest more in automated production and innovation to increase the productivity. Jiayu Du mentioned on her blog that China’s economy is largely driven by cheap labor force. It is a good chance for a transition from “Made in China” to “Designed in China”, though the process may be painful.

The two-child policy isn’t enough. China still has a lot to do.

Article from: <https://blogs.ubc.ca/jiayudu/2015/11/01/one-child-policy-is-over/>

<http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/chinas-new-two-child-policy>

Picture from:

<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/China-2014.jpg>

Nowadays, the millennials, as a whole, is playing an increasingly important role both in the workforce and in the market. They are a new generation of employees as well as a distinct segment of customers for companies. Here, I want to examine the impact of the millennials in some aspects of business.

As employees, the millennials are more creative and tech-savvy than older generations. Therefore, they will improve companies’ ability to innovate internally and get work done in a more technological way. To attract and retain the millennials as employees, companies also flatten the organizational hierarchy to satisfy their desire for leadership and transparent work environment.

Recognizing the millennials’ preferences of channels is crucial for companies to conduct customer survey and launch marketing campaigns. According to the research, the millennials are “die-hard fans” of the social media. Sometimes it is more direct and effective for companies targeting on the millennials to advertise on social media platforms. We can see more and more enterprises choose to promote their product or service on Facebook or Twitter rather than spend a large amount of money on TV commercials.

Does companies prepare enough to welcome the boom of the millennials?!

External Blog:<http://blogs.insead.edu/emi/part-3-of-6-blog-series-on-what-millennials-want-from-work-charted-across-the-world-support-them-but-dont-tell-them-what-to-do/>

Image from:<http://tom1st.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/millennials_a7.jpg>

Judging from the wealth it creates, TOMS can be regarded as one of the most successful social enterprises in the world. The business strategy of TOMS is “One for One”. Admittedly, from a business standpoint, it distinguishes TOMS from other shoes maker and helps to attract customers. When considering the social change TOMS promoted-the real objective of a social enterprise, however, we might doubt whether TOMS introduced an effective solution to the social problems it tried to address. Personally, I am opposed to the “One for One” business model because it is made out of good intentions and unintended folly.

On the society level, it arouses ethical problems. When there was no TOMS, the children in villages in Africa might be also happy walking without shoes. Then TOMS came and gave away shoes. The irony fact is that TOMS don’t constantly provide them with free shoes. After they get used to wearing shoes, they will suddenly find that they couldn’t afford to buy new shoes when the old ones are worn-out. Then, what should they do?

On an economic level, TOMs competes with the local small business. There are local shoes makers in Africa who rely on the money earned by selling shoes to support their family. There are local shoes manufactures who hire the underprivileged people in the local communities to work in factories. TOMS “One for One” marketing campaign will be a catastrophe for those vulnerable shoe makers.

In conclusion, I would say that if TOMS wants to go further as a social enterprise, they need to adjust their current business model, though the process might be painful.

Article from:<http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/one-one-business-model-social-impact-avoiding-unintended-consequences/>

Picture from:<https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSDHKz5LFi_jPj5HrzOLhYBIzpWeI_vhifih7E8UhPpZP6-Pd0iPQ>

Money used to be viewed as the most effective motivator at work. However, Laszlo Bock, the SVP of Google’s People Operations once said in an interview, “People don’t stay for the money.” It is especially true with millennials, who has already made up the majority of the workforce. A strong organizational culture is key to motivate millennials.

Google has done extremely well in providing its employees with a motivational workplace, which is in accord with its philosophy “To create the happiest, most productive workplace in the world.” Although Google is famous for its perks, what motivate the employees most is the corporate culture of Google. For example, the employees are given the freedom over how and when work is completed. This allows them to be self-directed, which proved to be powerful in encouraging innovation. Moreover, through social channels and seriously treated surveys, even the voice of a single google employee can be heard. It indicates transparency of the decision process and the trust in the employees.

A successful company always consider its employees to be one of the most valuable assets. To retain today’s millennials as the employees, either a small startup or a large conglomerate should evaluate its corporate culture with caution.

Article from: <http://www.entrepreneurial-insights.com/google-way-motivating-employees/>

Image from: <http://cdn.home-designing.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/google.jpg>

It is undeniable that oil and gas companies should be responsible for the environmental impacts caused by the exploitation and transportation of the oil and gas. Therefore, Obama government’s rejection of Ketstone XL pipeline sounds plausible with regard to the climate change concerns. In my opinion, however, it is not a wise decision.

To begin with, Milton Friedman once said that there is only one social responsibility of business-to maximize profit. In this case, the keystone XL pipeline project neither violates the environmental laws nor has a large impact on greenhouse gas emission. Under the competitive market, there is no reason for the government to prevent companies from making profits if the companies has shouldered their legal responsibilities.

Also, the advantages of the project far outweighs its disadvantages. The project will definitely boost the economy significantly. It will create numerous job opportunities for people in cities along the pipeline route. Moreover, currently a large portion of Canada and the United States’ crude oil is transported to refining hubs in the Gulf Coast by ships, which increases the costs and arouses the energy security issue. The Keystone XL pipeline, however, can solve the problems above perfectly.

From my prospective, Obama administration overemphasized the company’s social responsibility and tried to shift the whole responsibility of sustainability to the individual firms.

Article from : http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-administration-to-reject-keystone-xl-pipeline-citing-climate-concerns-1446825732

Image from: http://cponline.thecanadianpress.com/graphics/2014/static/cp-keystone-pipeline.jpg

A startup always needs the capital. Entrepreneurs have numerous ways to fundraise. They can choose to boot-strapping, borrow loans from the bank, and find angel investors or venture capitalists. All of the above are traditional funding ways. In recent years, with the development of the Internet, Crowdfunding, an innovative way to raise money, is increasingly popular among small business founders.

Neurio, an enterprise regarding home intelligence, successfully raised enough capital in KICKSTARTER, one of the largest crowdfunding platform in the end of 2013 and shipped its products to the backers in the beginning of 2015.

The benefits that Neurio gained from crowdfunding went far beyond funding. Crowdfunding helps the company with improving the project and promises sales in the meantime. The online crowdfunding platform allows the company to collect primary information from its customers straightforwardly. During the process of funding, Neurio found that their customers from the Europe wanted the company to have EU certification. Then it immediately responded to the need of its European customers. Neurio gives the backers its products in return, which is a kind of pre-sale in essence. It allows the company to precisely forecast how much products made by the company would be bought so that it is able to avoid overproduction.

Do you have difficulty in seeking capital? Don’t hesitate to launch your project in the crowdfunding platform!

Article from:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/energyaware/neurio-home-intelligence/posts/631193

Image from:

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/projects/677439/photo-original.pngv=1397834032&w=1536&h=1152&fit=crop&auto=format&q=92&s=e8781e757831fbe977d39ffec2111cdc

To succeed in today’s highly competitive market, a company must figure out various needs of its target customers and provide them with personalized products or services. This goal is especially difficult to accomplish in clothing industry, in which most products are produced in high volume. Meanwhile, most people want their clothes to be unique and reflect their personality. UNIQLO, a Japanese clothing retail giant, has already found a way to solve this seemingly paradox.

Recently, UNIQLO opened its first ‘Magic For All’ store in ShangHai. This store mainly features Disney theme, which is attractive to those with childlike innocence. Moreover, the biggest highlight of the store is UT factory where customers can design their own T-shirts’ patterns and add different accessories to items of clothing.

From my perspective, UT factory is overturning traditional operation pattern of clothing industry.It promotes inventory and variability during clothes-making process by allowing cutomers to be co-creators of the products. While designing their unique clothes, customers also gain a sense of achievement and happiness. By launching its first ‘Magic For All’ store, UNIQLO is making a great progress in customization, which proves to be a useful method of promoting sales.

Article from:

https://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/37129/uniqlo-opens-worlds-first-magic-for-all-store-in-shanghai#.VhHGTPlViko

Image from:

http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_159254.jpg

Commerial drones seems to be an emerging market with promising future.DJI,a chinese commerial drone-producing company,is leading the trend.

Commerial drones market is not a market leading by the price factor. Customers are willing to pay premium price for a drone with better performance.How does DJI apply differentiation strategy? DJI keeps focusing on the product uniqueness from the launch stage of the company. Collecting information from customer’s feedbacks regularly, DJI releases new products every year.

Why does DJI manage to have low days of inventory which serves as a competitive advantage? DJI ‘s governance structure creates a loose internal innovation environment for junior employees. Once they have new ideas, they can report to the vice presidents directly and get funds to improve products.Moreover, the company have a high tolerance of failure, which is rare in large companies.

However, DJI is faced with fierce competition because of its differentiation strategy. Commerial drones market is a big cake and everyone want to have a taste of it. From my perspective, DJI should make most use of its current technology advance and large market share to defeat its competitors at home and abroad.

Article from:<http://www.economist.com/news/business/21647981-chinese-firm-has-taken-lead-promising-market-up>

<http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml>

<https://hbr.org/2013/06/transient-advantage>

Image from：

<http://blogs-images.forbes.com/frankbi/files/2015/04/Phantom-3-3-e1428477888137-1940×1089.jpg>

Toshiba, a Janpanese international company which mainly sells electronic products, lost its CEO in July, 2015 because of inflating its profit over the past several years.

Here I want to apply EVERETT E. COLBY ‘s theory about factors of financial statement fraud to analyze the reasons why Toshiba would do such things. Toshiba Corp wanted to maintain its leading position in Japan’s electric industry and live up to its investor’s expectation. Once the company started to exaggerate their profits and hit a sweet spot, it is likely that they will get addicted to it. Additionally, customer’s trust in the company create a smoke screen for the company that it can get away with cheating the public.

From my prospective, publc corporations have intrinsic responsibility of providing the public with real financial statements. However, accounting scandal seems to be a common phenomenon in recent years.The consequences brought by fraudulent financial statements are unfavorable. These companies go against business ethics and would lose market’s trust eventually. Moreover, the whole economy of the country would be affected to some extent. Since the market failed to deal with accounting scandals, the government should intervene through making strict regulation and using the power of external investigation.

Article from:

<http://www.wsj.com/articles/toshiba-ceo-felled-by-accounting-scandal-1437468537>

<https://www.cga-pdnet.org/Non_VerifiableProducts/ArticlePublication/FinStatFraud/FinStatFraud_p1.pdf>

Image from:

<http://cdn03.androidauthority.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/toshiba.jpg>

Someone may argue that since a company’s main goal is to maximize its profits, it doesn’t need to care about business ethics or take corporate social resonsiblity(CSR). However, no company can afford to pay a price for neglecting business ethics.Here is an vivid example.

In July,2014, an Chinese media released a video about Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd plant(capital contribution by OSI Group,an American holding company of meat processors ),which supplied meat for fast food restaurants such as Mcdonalds, sold meat beyond expiration date and even doctored production date.In this case,ShangHai Husi Food neglected their business ethic,which is to ensure food safety for customers.

After this video was released,the product sales of other OSI Group facilities in China drop significantly.It also aroused public concern on Mcdonalds’ food safety and did harm to its reputation.An survey conducted among cities of China showed that parents tended to ask their children not to buy fast food from fast food chains like Mcdonalds and KFC.

From my perspective, there’s no absolute conflicts between making money and obeying ethical principles of business. A successful business can always find a balance point. In the short run, neglecting business ethics might allow companies to earn more,but in the long run,it is likely to bring them to an end.

Article from:<http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/30/osi-china-damages-idUSL1N0V920620150130>

Image from:<http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2014/07/23/rtr36vc3_1.jpg>