Recently, I read an article from William Sullivan how-is-london-like-vancouver, and it talked about the issues of high housing prices in London and Vancouver, which reminded me of similar issues in China.

                                                                         The words on the picture means “price of house”

In Sullivan’s blog, he mentioned that foreigners buying properties as their vacation homes is the reason for high housing prices in London and Vancouver. This is expected of Vancouver as it is a popular immigration city and a flood of immigrants have moved here to have a better quality of life. As a result, housing prices in Vancouver have risen significantly in recent years, displacing domestic Canadians from their homes, forcing them to move outside the city. Also, the enrollment rate of schools has decreased because the price of houses near schools is too high, acting as a barrier for school-attending children.

Similar issues have happened in China, such as in Shanghai. Currently, Shanghai has become increasingly crowded due to urbanization. There is a vast number of people choosing to work there and many real estates developing as a result. As a result, the price of houses and apartments increased significantly and has caused locals to complain. The different local governments are trying to solve the problem accordingly by placing a building tax and limiting the number of houses one can buy.

High housing prices is a common problem today, and it has been one of the priorities in many governments’ policy. It is society’s responsibility to make an effort to solve housing problem.

The picture is from:

http://wx.house.sina.com.cn/news/2013-05-27/11563214848.shtml

This  article employee-motivation-productivity-_b_2615208.html talks about motivation in the workplace, which got me thinking about what motivates me the most when I work. In class, the same question was asked and the risk of getting fired was what motivated me the most. However, after I read this article I realized that the workplace environment is much more complicated than that.

The workplace is a complex environment, in that all employees come from a different culture and have different personalities. Each employee’s source of motivation is based on their personalities. For example, some employees are only concerned about the security and stability of their job. As long as managers avoid pushing them toward advancement, they will remain capable of sufficiently doing their jobs. Moreover, the most common motivation is money. The employees can be motivated maximally by raises, bonuses, time off and better benefits. However, to know the unique strength of every employee is a critical strategy for managers. There are many employees who get motivated by challenges they feel passionate about. Employees can contribute their talents and abilities to jobs they enjoy doing.

Therefore, it is the obligation of managers to discover the unique abilities of their employees and direct them to a suitable position. This way, they will be motivated and find confidence in the workplace. Their productivity will increase and the rate of turnover will decrease.

The picture is from:

http://www.cmlor.com/blog/motivation-in-the-workplace/

I recently read Rui Wu’s blog starbucks-in-china and she mentioned the reasons of Starbucks’ success in China. I agree with her opinions but there are more factors contributing to the issue.

Nowadays, Starbucks has become the favorite affordable luxury lifestyle brand in China. The reason is because the products of Starbucks are pricier in China than other major branches in the world and the consumer segments concentrate on the middle class. It gradually leads to a prevalent trend among Chinese youth as they want to be closer with the Western culture. Furthermore, Starbucks has developed many new products that appeal to local tastes such as green tea-flavored coffee drinks. This way, many Chinese consumers adapt to coffee drinks instead of traditional tea beverages, as coffee has more adorable flavors. Moreover, the business strength of Starbucks comes from their dedication to recruiting, retaining and training employees. The low rate turnover and high quality of consumer services are facilitated by offering good compensation packages, friendly work environments, and realistic career paths. Thus, Starbucks gains a lot of reputation from their consumers and employees.

However, from my perspective, I still believe that Starbucks would not change the Chinese lifestyle of drinking tea as coffee is expensive, induces healthy problem and is popular for a narrow consumer segment.

More information:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2012-02-12/cnbc-starbucks-secrets-of-china-success/53040820/1

The picture is from:

http://marketingtochina.com/the-coffee-market-in-china/

In Comm101, I experienced the most interesting and exciting class that I had in Sauder. Every group comes up with a product that could help improve their lives and tries to market it to other groups. Take Check-mate (my group’s product) as an example. It is networking software that allows people to send their photo to strangers and get feedback from that person your outfit. This creative and special idea satisfied many students’ desire for beauty and eventually won the activity. Check-mate is really different from other groups’ ideas and it relates to the topic of the class – innovation. Therefore, one of the key points to the success of an enterprise is having a creative idea.

If a founder wants to build an enterprise, setting up a unique idea would be the first step. This idea should satisfy the consumers’ requirements that other companies fail to provide. An economist once said: “new products, new markets, new production methods and new forms of organization, everything should be new in order for it to stand out.” There are a vast number of enterprises in the society facing fierce competition and high risk. Entrepreneurs should be creative and daring—daring to take the risk for no one can succeed without courage.

http://www.quickmba.com/entre/definition/

http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html

If you travel in Seattle, there is a special place that you should never miss—Pike Place Fish Market. Every year there are numerous customers from all over the world who come to Seattle to buy the fresh seafood and have fun with the world famous crew of fishmongers throwing fish. The reason why Pike Place has become famous is due to the strong positive cultures and the beliefs that all the staff have in serving customers.

The employees in Pike Place aim to be famous and make the world a better place. Eventually, they’ve done it. They try to know different customers’ various reactions and find how they can make a difference in customers’ lives. Their culture is built by four principles: choosing your altitude, playing with each other, being there, and best service. These principles facilitate them to be famous in the world.

A strong culture is the core value and belief that all the staff believes. A positive culture is critical for a company to be well managed and developed. It prevents conflict among employees and also provides a high quality of customer services. Just like Pike Place and the example in Comm101 class—“Happy feet”, you should clearly know what you want to be and then just follow it through until you make it.

References:

http://www.pikeplacefish.com/

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/not-exactly-cape/seattles-pike-place-market/

The picture is from:

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/not-exactly-cape/seattles-pike-place-market/

Have you ever thought that one day a romantic chocolate not only can be the gift for love but also a donation to society? Divine, a chocolate company at the forefront of pioneering the Fair-trade movement in the UKis owned by its cocoa farmers in Ghana. Divine ensures farmers receive a better deal for their cocoa and additional income to invest in their community, company ownership gives farmers a share of Divine’s profits and a stronger voice in the cocoa industry.

Divine is a typical example of the social enterprise driven primarily by a social objective as well as to make profit to sustain their work. Divine’s success is credited to the entrepreneurial approach and the strong positive cultures among the shareholders. Also, the high reputation is gained as well as the business is supported by the people whose imagination inspired by the social mission.

Currently, the social enterprise is increasingly prevalent in society which attracts attention from the consumers, the media and the public. It is a direct way for consumers to contribute to the society by purchasing the goods they want. Divine is leading the social enterprise in fairtrade and acting an outstanding model to other companies.

Here are the links for researching:

http://www.theguardian.com/social-enterprise-network/2011/dec/12/divine-chocolate-supporters-social-enterprise-lesson

http://www.divinechocolate.com/us/about-us

Picture is from

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/2008-business-teacher-conference-report-divine-chocolate