Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Xerox
When one hears the company name Xerox, a present Fortune 500 company in the United States of America, they may not have heard of the extreme downfall they encountered in the late 90s all the way through to the early years of the new millenia. Xerox's own research and development facility, The Palo Alto Research Center, has developed many technological breakthroughs such as the computer mouse and GUI (the graphical user interface). However, key events caused their company to spiral down. First of all, computer expert and programmer Steve Jobs left the company to build his own. Further environmental factors caused Xerox to lose its share in the photocopier market such as the explosive use of emails, sales representatives leaving the company, and other companies stealing sales, such as Canon. However, the big problem was Xerox was guilty of accounting fraud. With it, they were on the brink of bankruptcy due to their stocks falling to an all time low, and CEO Rick Thoman at the time, was fired.
Trying to meet the standards of Wall Street was the main reason why Xerox had to turn to accounting fraud for a company who meets the impecable standards deserves the world's attention. However, they met them through fake statements of their revenue over a period of time, and the only attention they deserved back then were investors pulling out of the company.
Trying to meet the standards of Wall Street was the main reason why Xerox had to turn to accounting fraud for a company who meets the impecable standards deserves the world's attention. However, they met them through fake statements of their revenue over a period of time, and the only attention they deserved back then were investors pulling out of the company.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Business Ethics and Social Responsibilities
The documentary was based on one topic: whether a corporation is considered a legal person or not. By law, yes, a corporation is considered a legal person, but from what see in newspapers, articles, magazines, and reports about their actions towards the world, they don't seem very much legal to me. Some things that corporations do to maximize profit include pollution, toxic waste, animal cruelty, and child labour, sickens me to my stomach.
Despite all the trash talk about the actions of a corporation, child labour, and pollution, it really comes down to one idea, and that is if people were given the chance to go back in time and have another shot at changing the world of business, they wouldn't. We would probably eventually end up in the same place because humans are greedy, and if they know that polluting the air in small portions over a long period of time can potentially increase sales of up to billions of dollars, why wouldn't they?
Also, the topic of child labour is what I want to comment about. Much fuss has been made on this topic, but has anymone really considered the lives of the people working at lower than minimum wage? The money they earn may be so little to even support life, but I am pretty sure that they are better off working for the Nike Store rather than to be out in the streets begging for money. That is what it comes down to: there are way too many people, and too less jobs. So what Nike has done is provide the same amount of jobs at a lower pay to attract more people to work than to be out on the streets.
The issue is being addressed, but there is nothing we can do about it. Corporations will keep earning their billions, children will be working their arms off, and the world will soon be destroyed by human action. I truly believe that to save the world, the entire human race must be wiped out. However, the fact is that planet Earth will be destroyed first before our race is diminished.
Despite all the trash talk about the actions of a corporation, child labour, and pollution, it really comes down to one idea, and that is if people were given the chance to go back in time and have another shot at changing the world of business, they wouldn't. We would probably eventually end up in the same place because humans are greedy, and if they know that polluting the air in small portions over a long period of time can potentially increase sales of up to billions of dollars, why wouldn't they?
Also, the topic of child labour is what I want to comment about. Much fuss has been made on this topic, but has anymone really considered the lives of the people working at lower than minimum wage? The money they earn may be so little to even support life, but I am pretty sure that they are better off working for the Nike Store rather than to be out in the streets begging for money. That is what it comes down to: there are way too many people, and too less jobs. So what Nike has done is provide the same amount of jobs at a lower pay to attract more people to work than to be out on the streets.
The issue is being addressed, but there is nothing we can do about it. Corporations will keep earning their billions, children will be working their arms off, and the world will soon be destroyed by human action. I truly believe that to save the world, the entire human race must be wiped out. However, the fact is that planet Earth will be destroyed first before our race is diminished.
Sustainability
The phenomenon of corporate sustainability has been recently flourishing the market due to the new trend of being economically friendly. What a sustainable company has to offer is that they are making changes to suit the needs of the consumer as well as mother nature, hoping to reduce the corporations giant ecological footprint.
Some brief examples of business sustainability include using natural oils and sweeteners in place of artificial products to create food and using natural fabrics to create better clothing. One company, OQOQO, the sister company of Lululemon are making their mark in business sustainability by offering all their clothes to be made with at least 76% of natural materials such as hemp, organic cotton, etc. This new line of clothing is hoping to attract new consumers by converting them into followers of the new trend: sustainability.
Some brief examples of business sustainability include using natural oils and sweeteners in place of artificial products to create food and using natural fabrics to create better clothing. One company, OQOQO, the sister company of Lululemon are making their mark in business sustainability by offering all their clothes to be made with at least 76% of natural materials such as hemp, organic cotton, etc. This new line of clothing is hoping to attract new consumers by converting them into followers of the new trend: sustainability.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Venture Ideas
One venture idea I have thought of is to sell the service of tutoring. This is actually very bad timing, as the best time to start my business in school would be a week or two before the Midterm Break. However, learning is on-going, and there will always be a need for tutors. My strongest subject is mathematics, and I am able to teach it very well. This will be a great venture idea because many of my friends have been telling me to tutor them, thus having demand for the service. Startup costs are extremely low; I won't have to pitch in money to pay for heat, electricity, or any other miscellaneous expenses because I will probably be using public locations for my tutoring sessions. I won't have to pay for supplies since the students will bring their own work, paper, and writing utensils. The only legitimate expense is transportation and food. That is why the venture idea of tutoring students in math will be a great one; it is easy to execute.
Another venture idea is selling school supplies in school. In the past years, DT has had a similar project called the Trojan Junior, where they sold supplies and winter gear to the students. It wasn't very successful because students just wouldn't buy from there, and I plan to bring it back. With the Winter time rolling away, there will be no need to sell cheap winter gear; I will be foucusing on selling school supplies. This is a great idea because there is always a demand for school supplies simply beacause students need them in a school environment. There will always be times when they run out of paper, lead, ink, pencils, and pens, and that is where I will step in. However, this venture idea will be very hard to execute because I believe that students will rather borrow from their friends than to buy new supplies. But overall, this idea is very suitable in a learning environment, and the supplies will sell.
Another venture idea is selling school supplies in school. In the past years, DT has had a similar project called the Trojan Junior, where they sold supplies and winter gear to the students. It wasn't very successful because students just wouldn't buy from there, and I plan to bring it back. With the Winter time rolling away, there will be no need to sell cheap winter gear; I will be foucusing on selling school supplies. This is a great idea because there is always a demand for school supplies simply beacause students need them in a school environment. There will always be times when they run out of paper, lead, ink, pencils, and pens, and that is where I will step in. However, this venture idea will be very hard to execute because I believe that students will rather borrow from their friends than to buy new supplies. But overall, this idea is very suitable in a learning environment, and the supplies will sell.
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