Since 2002, Hewlett-Packard has been shedding enormous employees through layoffs and pay cuts. Recently, for the sake of simplifying the way HP operates and allowing the company to be more innovative, Meg Whitman, the current CEO of HP, plans to funnel most of the savings from the job cuts into product development. However, it is not only about the company’s outlook, but also in an effort to recover from management missteps. HP is trying to use innovation strategy and cost-minimization strategy to improve the poor performance they have right now.

Although the layoffs and pay cuts are beneficial to HP in terms of being on the same level as their competition, it has caused many negative effects such as lower salaries and lower job security, resulting in higher job dissatisfaction among employees. This ultimately creates low productivity, high absenteeism and turnover. Employees might even take further measures and decide to quit on their own. For instance, General Motors, a huge HP customer, announced that it would hire some 3000 HP workers who had been managing GM’s IT operations, thereby putting HP’s $600 million outsourcing contract at risk. Furthermore, two employees from HP took 18 employees to quit the job together and join GM. HP was concerned that these two former employees may have violated the agreements by exposing the organizational and staffing information to GM, which is confidential to HP. This immoral behavior has damaged the organizational culture of HP severely.

HP CEO Meg Whitman

Resource:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2012/05/23/hp-layoffs-a-sign-of-bad-management/

http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-isnt-happy-when-some-people-quit-2013-2

Mr. Robichaud’s, a Montreal entrepreneur who launched startup over the past decade, is going to set out a startup, PasswordBox Inc.,which aim at managing all of people’s passwords.

PasswordBox has raised $6-million from OMERS Ventures and several Silicon Valley investors, including Facebook eCommerce head Lee Linden. It is expected to obtain 10 million users within six months and the company is confident about the numbers of partnerships.

It is supposed to be a successful startup for the following aspects. First of all, the startup looks at “what’s bugging you” and it is like a painkiller for all Internet users, embracing a fabulous value proposition and high practical value. If this software is technically safe and reliable, it is bound to have numerous users without much advertising. Secondly, it has a lot of strong partnership that can offer great help. Third, it will not have very much rivalry for the reason that its user interface is easy to use and its proprietary computing engine enables the app to do one-click log-ins on more than 90 per cent of websites, compared to 70 per cent for competitors. So, hopefully, it could be a monopoly company.

However, the most different part is technology problem. The company promised that it would never gain access to the passwords. But the devices could be exposed to “malware” accidentally downloaded from the Net, which enables hackers to detect what users enter. It may lead to serious ethical problems.

Resource: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-digital/innovation/montreal-entrepreneur-thinks-he-has-solution-to-internet-problem-too-many-passwords/article15410645/

 –Facebook’s partnerships with emerging companies

The article explains a fact that Facebook is still the dominant social media service, and has been an attractive suitor for many small start-ups.  The cooperation between Facebook and start-ups bridges both sides to growth.

In terms of small start-ups, some of them really enjoy cooperating with large social platform, such as Facebook, to spread its brand. A great example might be Instagram, the photo-sharing app it bought for 1 billion. This service, which had 30 million users at the time, now has more than 150 million, and lately, the first advertisement shows up in users’ photo streams. This proves that the two companies were a good fit. However, there exists a lot of start-ups that rebuff the cooperation with Facebook, for fear that selling to Facebook would go against their original purpose. Snapchat is one of them who most likely spurned Facebook because it thought it could fetch much more than Facebook was willing to pay. Though Facebook has had a sharp eye for emerging companies, not all companies are seeking the opportunities to collaborate with Facebook. And its biggest competitor Google often snatches up start-ups that Facebook wants.

Thus, to seize the business opportunity and make effective negotiation become crucial. What is more important for both Facebook and start-ups is that the compatibility and efficacy of the cooperation. It is about brand positioning, marketing and value preposition. For instance, except Snapchat’s aspiration, the compatibility is a barrier for their cooperation.  Snapchat is centered on impermanence and offers privacy and anonymity. However, Facebook encourages users to share more and is rooted in real-world, aiming at creating a permanent.

Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/technology/facebook-strives-to-keep-its-cachet.html?ref=business

Disney released a sequel to Where’s My Water, a hit smartphone game about a showering alligator. It started as a paid download and then became a free app with in-game purchases for the sequel (After completing multiple free levels, players must either take a forced short rest or pay for added energy.). As the iPhone top-grossing chart shows, the game is losing more and more players because they are not willing to pay for the game. However, since mobile games are a major growth opportunity, Where’s my Water 2 is really a new challenges for Disney to shift marketplace.

Here is my SWOT analysis for the game.

I think Disney should make this game free. They can make money by selling virtual goods and upgrades, as Walt Disney Company has a huge platform for these selling. For example, the game Angry Bird develops tons of toys and cloths, which have good sale.

Also, Disney should make the serial in a quick pace to ensure players have affection for this game.

Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/business/media/disney-struggles-to-make-its-free-gaming-apps-pay.html?ref=business

Nowadays, many internet-based business relies on information technology by using MIS and BTM, especially on-line shopping companies who have unified business and information technology decision-making.

Taobao.com online shopping would be a good example. It can track what kind of goods consumers have browsed. The management information system memorizes these record and the business technology management brings together all the available information and automatically make a list of useful information from which consumers can get help conveniently. Honestly, I click on the recommendation a lot and sometimes I can find the thing I want this way. It saves a lot of time for consumers to find what they want and brings sellers more sale volumes. With MIS and BTM, sellers can perform customer data tracking and inventory tracking easily. In this way, advertising and decision-making become effectively.

Taobao has a strong search engine. Interestingly, the names of products selling on Taobao are very long, because sellers try to comprise as much and specific as information in them. Therefore, when describing their desirables in the search engine, consumers are more likely to find right items. Overall, it is kind of customization service for consumers which does not exist when shopping in mall.

Also, consumers and sellers can talk through online chat software. If there is any question or delivery or product quality problems, consumers can contact sellers very quickly. This BTM, to a large extent provide both seller and consumer convenience.

Toms shoes, a for-profit business that was sustainable and not reliant on donations promised that for every pair of shoes it sold, it would give away another pair to a child in need. In the article, the writer questioned the buy-one, get-one model that is more like a marketing stunt than a method to aspire social entrepreneurs.

I conceive the model as a reasonable way to increase demand but not very effective to deal with the underlying problem that inspired Mr. Mycoskie to create Toms in the first place-poverty.

Social enterprise is using profit as a means to achieve the social objective. So, it is not a shame to the aforementioned strategy to attract consumers who more likely have the heart to help for poverty-stricken people. This business model helps Toms’ sustainable growth and the acquisition of good reputation. More importantly, it eases off fund-raising for the poor thereby avoiding donor fickleness, which is crucial for a social enterprise to contribute social sustainability.

However, Toms seems to be deviated from its original pursuit. Surprisingly, Mr. Fries clarified that Toms is not a business of poverty alleviation. It emphasizes more on establishing good public relationships. Personally, I am not against Toms’s business model, but I hope it is used for finding more ways to help the poor.

Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.

—- Bill Drayton, Ashoka

Resource: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/questioning-the-toms-shoes-model-for-social-enterprise/

Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest UK-based travel business, is now encountering the losses caused by a general fall in tourism numbers as a result of the global recession. The company was also saddled with debts of more than £1bn. Harriet Green, the chief executive of Thomas Cook, is trying to rally the company by multiple ways.

According to Ms.Green, enterprise culture is of top priority of developing a company. Employees should be together as a team, supporting each other and giving their engagement. Furthermore, Ms.Green modifies her style and attitude towards management to improve her leadership.

Then, it comes to financial management. Ms.Green changed costs structure by managing our cash better and reducing cost. She moved the focus on internet-based sales rather than physical store, resulting in job losses.

Finally, Thomas Cook enlarges the market by adding new travel lines from Europe to East and Asia. On 7^th October, the company began to offer outbound travel to Egypt and Lebanon. And it also plans to help Chinese and Korean customers to explore Europe.

In a nutshell, Ms.Green’s confidence is reasonable if all her improvement can be done properly.

Resource: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24328944

As the article indicates, Samsung is now been very confident about its growth rate. The competitive advantages of Samsung attribute to its clear and insightful positioning.

First, at the time of information overload, Samsung gets into consumers’ mind with strong image and advertising.  The names of the products affect consumers ‘perception on the product. For example, Galaxy delivers a sense of infinite and fancy. Notes directly tells the size of screen and its handwriting function.

Secondly, Samsung is doing quite well on segmentation and targeting. It targets both low and high-end segment of the market, catering to different purchasing powers. Therefore, Samsung not only sells top-end products like Galaxy4, but also seizes the growth opportunities in emerging markets, which is the key to overall success of their business. At this point, Samsung’s biggest rival, Apple, is mainly focuses on high-income consumers. However, Apple found out the weakness and launched iphone5c which costs much lower than iphone5s.

Also, Samsung stands out the points of difference. Samsung said that it is planning to launch handsets with curved displays and a smart watch, the Galaxy Gear. Though their credibility is still questionable, Samsung is on the way of exploiting distinctiveness.

Resource: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24393850

Hai Di Lao, the most renowned hotpot restaurant in China, is a tech-savvy and highly customer-oriented enterprise. This hotpot chain born in Sichuan, with 75 branches in China and Singapore, has just launched its first US location in Arcadia this fall.

Hai Di Lao’s success in China mainly due to its meticulous customers services which go beyond the service that a normal restaurant provide. When waiting for tables, customers can play board games, use the Internet, eat unlimited snacks, or even get a manicure and shoeshine. Moreover, when having food, Diners can watch shows performed by “noodle masters”. And diners are provided hair ties and eyeglass wipes to clean off steamy lenses.

This service concept works pretty well in China while it does not seem suitable for the US market.  From Americans ‘views, doing manicure in a restaurant is considered improper and keeping asking customers’ demands is uncomfortable. Even worse, there is no English menu and English operator in the restaurant.

Hai Di Lao exceeds its competitors in providing extraordinary services. However, what it should do is to make itself localized in the US market by repositioning and creating a new frame and strategy. To transit from national to international, Hai Di Lao should better take into consideration the culture difference and broaden its horizon.

Resource: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578485361216000412.html

Corporate social responsibility, to a large degree, determines whether an enterprise is successful or not. It is not sorely up to the amount of profits that a business makes, but also looks at its responsibility for the stockholders, employees and consumers. This concept should be extended from market mechanism to political mechanism, as it deals with the civil and ethic problems.

Let’s take a Chinese company Foxconn as an example.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/technology/22suicide.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk-xqPKOxl4

Foxconn is the world’s biggest contract electronics maker and a major supplier to Apple and other companies. But recently, the scandal in Foxconn reminds all the enterprises to take into consideration the importance of corporate social responsibility and the contribution to the society. Though Foxconn does not commit that the work overload and pressure it imposes on employees, the increasing suicide rate and riots reveal that there are an array of ethic problems hiding in Foxconn. Consequently, from one side, some consumers and stockholders rethink of this company and probably divestment. Unavoidably, Foxconn loses profits. From the other side, the exposed scandal protects employees’ further career life. So, for sake of the long run corporate development and the social harmony, companies should definitely make profits without hurting other stakeholders.