Xerox Corporation

The main issue Xerox has is poor human resources which cause lots of their talented employee to leave to another company. The one who stayed did a poor job of completing their tasks. Xerox is unable to bring in new technologies to the market so they start to lose their market leadership in photocopiers to canon. Rick Thoman was the CEO of Xerox in 1999 and he fixed a lot of problems but Barry Romeril the chief financial officer done a bad job of overseeing corporate finances. He writes off a $119 million from a subsidiary with only $400 million in revenue and exposed the company to the turbulent Brazilian economy by failing to hedges against currency exchange rates. Thoman wants Romeril fired but he’s an old friend of Allaire and Allaire doesn’t want him fired. Allaire hired lots of people that are related to him. The poor human resources cause the company to face bankruptcy. I think that Xerox should hire the people that are suitable for the jobs and not just hire someone you know.

UBC grad, 19, launches second startup

Brian Wong is a 19 years old UBC graduate who is already on his 2^nd company. He has reach to $4 million in financing a new ad model that gives rewards to mobile game players. His second venture called “Kiip” is about giving actual rewards such as vitamin drinks to a Sony tablet to mobile game players that reach to a high level in games. The main goal of this business is to make the game players to feel happy that they have achieved something. The companies that decided to support his business are 1-800 Flowers, Dr Pepper, and Sephora.

I think that Brian Wong is a really successful entrepreneur. I’m really shock that he’s already on his 2^nd venture at the age of 19.  I really like his venture idea “Kiip”. It’s really creative and unique because the gamer would probably like an actual reward since they spend lots of time playing the game. This way they will even try harder to achieve the highest level and it won’t be a waste of time anymore because they get actual rewards for all this time spends into it.

Now a day most of us rely a lot on technologies such as computer. The market on technologies is getting larger and larger and it kept on improving. Entrepreneur should take advantage of this point and start their business related to technologies. One example is Mark Zuckerberg the one who invented Facebook.

E- business

What is E-business?

1.       E-business is an online business using Internet technologies to provide superior customer service, streamline business processes, increase sales, and reduce costs.

2.       Pros

-          It’s online, you can work on it anytime at anywhere

-          Large range of customer from everywhere around the country

-          do not need to hire employee to start ( can work on it by yourself) save $$

Cons

-          high costs of optimization that is needed to make a website more visible in search engine results to sell more

-          need to keep undated with anti- virus software to protect it

-          lots of competitor

-          1 unsatisfied customer can have a negative review for the business

minimum wages increase

The minimum wage in BC will increase to $10.25 on May 1, 2012. From $8 increase to $10.25 is a huge increase, so they did this step by step. On May 1, 2011 the minimum wages increase from $8 to $8.75. In November 1, 2011 it will increase from $8.75 to $9.00 and it will go up to $10.25 on May 1, 2012. The training wage was repealed. I think it is reasonable to increase the minimum wages but I think the government should have done this earlier and slower so people will be used to it. Lots of business owner is unhappy with this and they have to increase the prices for their product and the cut the hours of the employees. I think that it’s harder for people to look for jobs now since the minimum wages has increase everyone will be looking for the same jobs.

Venture idea

A venture idea I came up with is to open a café in the school that mainly sell hot chocolate and coffee in fall and winter. In spring and summer we can sell cold chocolate milk tea and ice coffee. So far, Trojan Market and cafeteria haven’t sold any of these two items so there wouldn’t be any competition. Even though students can go to seven eleven to buy it but they might prefer a closer store so they won’t be late for class especially in the morning. My target market is mainly grade 10-12 students because they have more homework and they sleep late, so a coffee or hot chocolate in the morning helps a lot when they feel sleepy. It can also make them feel awake and pay more attention in class. While we make the hot chocolate and coffee during lunch time, the smell of coffee can attract customer to come and create desire.

Another venture idea I came up with is to tutor students during lunch or afterschool at the school library or cafeteria. My target market will be grade 8-10 students because the homework is easier and they need more help. Students always have tests and homeworks they need help on especially near mid term week. I can teach them study techniques so they can study more efficiently. I can also go over notes and questions with them to make sure they understand it. Some students might can’t afford a tutor so I can offer them a really cheap price.

the corporation

Lots of companies only care about profit and they totally forgot about social responsibilities and ethics. For a business I think social responsibilities and ethics should be more important than profit, but that’s not what most business owner thinks. After watching the video “The Corporation” I realize how poorly the companies treat their employees.  Their working condition is dark and they only get paid really little. They usually hires poor kids and pay them really less. This is really unfair for the workers to work in poor working condition and get really low pay. One example the video gave was the Nike company, what they did was totally not social responsibility and ethics.

business sustainability

I think that most companies care about profit too much that they forgot about the environment. The company will have a good image if they help out the environment. If the company have a better image, customer will most likely go there and they can still makes lots of profit. Companies can make profit but also maintain sustainability. The body shop is a really good example. The body shop worked with NGOs and plantation to protect tropical rainforests.  They are also introducing bottles made 100% post consumer recycled plastics. The body shop is also against animal testing. They do not test their cosmetic products on animals.