Yonca Cabir's Blog

Nokia has lost its high reputation within the mobile phone market.

Approximately 16 years ago Nokia cell phones were very popular amongst adults as well as teenagers. Nokia was the producer of some of the earliest mobile phones (Wikipedia).

However, due to the rapid growth of other smartphone producers, such as Apple and Research in Motion (RIM), Nokia has quickly declined in its reputation.

It is now trying to reconstruct its software by switching from Symbian and MeeGo to Windows Phone 7 (Wikipedia). Similarly to Google, Nokia is seeking for a collaboration with other big companies. As discussed in the article “Google shakes up phone wars”, Google is also switching to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 software by purchasing Motorola (Marlow).

However, unlike Google, Nokia is facing severe financial difficulties. Hence, they are in need to cut down jobs in order to not fully go bankrupt. They cannot afford having a vast number employees when facing financial difficulties. Nokia needs to seek serious manufacturing changes in order to continue existing in the smartphone market.

Landis, Marina. “Nokia, the Telecommunications Giant, to Cut 3,500 Jobs – Sep. 29, 2011.” CNNMoney – Business, Financial and Personal Finance News. 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. <http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/29/technology/nokia_job_cuts/index.htm>.

Marlow, I. (2011, Aug 16). Google shakes up phone wars. The Globe and Mail, pp. B.1-B.1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login? url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/ 883433190?accountid=14656

Wikipedia contributors. “Nokia.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Sep. 2011. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

Having students fail their University degree due to a failure in meeting the right quota for picking cotton is not what we are used to hear. We think of failing classes due to low grades in assessments and exams when we hear “not passing a University degree.”

In Uzbekistan, however, students are being accused for not picking enough cotton. Furthermore, students in schools are being dismissed from class to head out to the fields in order to pick cotton during the harvest seasons.

There have been reports that children at the age of 13 were forced to prepare to pick cotton. And on top of that, these children were given a quota which they have to meet by the end of the day. Hence, they could be working all day and all night. They would be penalized for not meeting that quota. Thus, they basically had no other choice but to work until they meet that quota.

One of the main exports of Uzbekistan is cotton. A few of Uzbekistan’s foreign export companies are H&M, Adidas, Puma, Burberry, Levi. These clothing labels are ready to boycott their buyings of cotton from Uzbekistan if the government does not take on severe changes towards its child labor. These clothing labels will not continue buying cotton from Uzbekistan if it comes from the hands of the young children that are forced to harvest the crop.

This movement of the clothing labels is the ethical action to take in order to force some changes to Uzbekistan’s government. If all buyers of Uzbekistan’s cotton stop buying their cotton supplies from Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan’s cotton company will go bankrupt, which therefore will force Uzbekistan’s government to make some changes in order to prevent this crisis from happening.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/uzbekistan/8771473/Global-clothing-brands-boycott-Uzbek-cotton.html

Photo: THOMAS GRABKA