E-business blog

1. An e-business is also known as an electronic or internet business, where they process orders, handle customer service, and cooperate with other business partners online.

2. Some pros of having an e-business include lower start up costs because of a lack of physical store. Also, because your business is online, international customers can access your business as well. Your business will also be running 24/7 and you can work at home, which can save your expenses for commute and transportation. Some cons of having an e-business include not being able to see your customers physically, and thus not knowing what your market is. You will also need to maintain your site and its security, and keep up to date with all the latest online frauds and scams.

Minimum Wage

1. The current minimum wage is $8.75.

2. With a higher minimum wage, we should have a lower poverty rate, because the people who are working at minimum wage will now have a higher income at their disposal. The cancellation of the training wage will help as well.

As for the employer, a higher minimum wage means that it is more expensive to hire more workers. This means there will be less jobs and competition will rise. The unemployment rate may rise as well. Also, because you will have higher expenses, employers will have to counteract this somehow. For example, they may increase the prices of their services or products.

19 Year-Old Entrepreneur

a) Brian Wong is a 19 year-old graduate from UBC and he has recently started his second company startup. "Kiip" offers real rewards for people who reach milestones in games on mobile devices. When players reach certain milestones, its a "buzz kill" because the reward is just a banner ad. Kiip aims to fill the void by handing out rewards, with the value tied to the calibre of the achievement. Rewards range from gift certificates for flowers, to vitamin water, to a Sony tablet. The rewards are only available to players in the United States for now, but Canada will soon follow.

b) The reason for the increasing success of younger entrepreneurs in technology related industries is because technology is developing at such a fast pace, and because younger people are being exposed to this technology earlier and earlier. For example, according to this article in 2009 http://www.phonearena.com/news/Kids-receive-first-phone-at-the-average-age-of-8_id4154, kids received their first phone at the average age of 8.

Xerox Case Study

Xerox is famous for many of it's technological breakthroughs, such as the first mouse and the user interface seen in Mac's and Windows operating systems. However, Xerox did not always capitalize on their ideas, and many employees kept leaving and joined other firms, bringing their acquired knowledge with them. In 1999, Rick Thoman replaced Paul Allair as chief executive officer, and immediately began fixing problems. Barry Romeril was the chief financial officer, and he did a very poor job at managing the corporate finances. He was to be fired, but he was an old friend of Allaire who did not want get rid of him. Xerox's global sales division was to be revised, but Dolan, president of Xerox's global sales, disagreed and got away with it for being friends with Allaire. Dolan also had a sister, who was Anne Mulcahy. In May of 2001, Thoman was fired and Mulcahy replaced his position.

In summary, I think that the main problem as to why Xerox was not as successful as it could be was because employees, esepecially those who were experienced, kept leaving the company, and the ones who were not contributing as much could not be fired.

EMI12 "The Costs of Employee Turnover" Article Summary

This article talks about employee turnover, and how it can become very costly to the business to replace employees. There are many direct and indirect costs when replacing workers, such as using money for advertisements, using time to interview applicants, and opportunity costs. Many factors contribute to the total costs of employee turnover, and they are pre-departure, recruitment, selection, orientation/training, and lost productivity. They also did some detailed studying, and found that the higher the job complexity, the higher the cost of turnover. The total cost for low-complexity jobs were ~$5700, and ~10,000 for high-complexity jobs. They have also found that the factor "lost productivity" was the biggest contributor to the total costs associated with turnover. In general, the cost of turnover is highest for the more complex jobs in large upscale hotels that operate in high cost of living locations. In order to succeed in the competitive hotel environment, you must understand the costs and factors of employee turnover and use that knowledge to create better policies and procedures for keeping your employees.

-Jimmy, Deepak

Business Ventures

The first business idea is to sell school supplies and stationary. From my own experiences, I find myself often running out of paper, lead, etc and I have to go to stores outside of school to purchase whatever I need. My friends also experience the same thing, so I think it will be a successful business. We could possibly take orders and deliver items during class time. This is also quite a realistic business idea for a student like me, as I will have a small budget.

Another business idea is I could open a hot dog stand. There are alot of restaurants around the school area that sell popular junk food, but hot dogs are not as common, 7-11 does sell them but at quite expensive prices. They will be the main competition for this venture. We could open the stand during break, lunch, or after school. Making the hot dogs may be a little difficult, or we could buy them. Another problem might be regarding the freshness of the hot dogs, do we want to make them beforehand or make them on the spot? This idea may not be as profitable as there are already alot of options when buying food in the school area, but something new and different from the usual could be attractive to students and staff.

The Business Case for Sustainability - Reflection/Research

Business sustainability is definitely an important factor in determining a business's success. However, some people may not be aware of the behind-the-scenes. The leading businesses of this world have gained their reputation through their great products/services, but they're successful because they identified problems and actually made strong efforts to solve them. As customers, we acknowledge those companies who take initiative in providing the best for everyone (people, environment), and continue to purchase their services. That's what separates great businesses from the good ones and the bad ones.

In 2009, McDonalds started a program called "The Road to Sustainability." They have taken steps towards lessening their environmental impact. For example, they recycle leftover cooking oils, and use biodiesel for their delivery trucks. 81% of their packaging is made from renewable materials, and 31% of that comes from recycled fiber. They are also working with Greenpeace in an attempt to stop illegal deforestation. And in 2001, they launched the "Sustainable Fisheries Program" with Conversation International.

When customers purchase food from McDonalds, it shows that they support the efforts the company is making. This is why McDonalds has a great reputation in the fast-food industry, because they show that they care. If McDonalds had not done anything in helping the environment, I doubt that their profits would be as great.

Link (video): The Road to Sustainability - McDonalds