BC's Minimum Wage

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/minimum+wage+increased+Sunday/4706418/story.html

        On May 1st, the minimum wage in British Columbia will increase. The new Premier Christy Clark announced the change after a lengthy debate on whether the wage should change. The hourly wage increase will be from $8 to $8.75, then to $9.75 in November and to $10.25 next year. The wage will still be lowest in the country until it reaches $10.25 next year. The training has also now been terminated. As a student who works part time to earn some extra spending money, I don't believe that the increase will have an impact. Since businessses are forced to pay more to new workers, that will force them to increase prices as well in the long run. This will only inflate all the prices on the market. This move in my opinion is only a tactic used to gain more support in the community,

The Next Mark Zuckerberg? Brian Wong!

        Brian Wong, a 19 year-old graduate from the University of British Columbia recently received $4 million dollars worth of funding for an online gaming network. The venture known as "Kiip" allows gamers across the United States to compete and win prizes. Prizes range from energy drinks to larger home electronics. Kiip has also gained a massive amount of sponsors including Sony, Sephora, 1-800 Flowers and Dr. Pepper. Brian hopes that this will allow people to become more competitive towards their gaming. The prizes awarded to the contestants will be awarded based on the level of achievement. For example, beating the game will result in the biggest prize while beating a level will come with a smaller prize. As of its launch on April 12, Kiip is only avaliable in the United States, with no future release date for Canada.
       Entrepreneurs can acheive success at different points in their lives. For Brian Wong, his was at only the age of 19. As a gamer myself, I don't think this is a very good idea. I think they are just giving away chunks of money because most gamers try to be as competitive as possible. Releasing the venture in the United States was a better idea because they have a much more wide open gamers market compared to Canada.

Xerox

             Xerox Corp. has created many technological advances throughout the years including the mouse, windows and the Macintosh computer. Although all these inventions are still around today, Xerox didn't neccesarilly benefit from these products but has been out performed by rival companies. Xerox's problems started in the 1980's when Xerox lost its market of photocopiers to Canon. After numerous attempts at reviving the product, things never really caught back on. In the early, Xerox's success was quite phenomonal, but they never really seemed to invent something that was on the leading edge. In May of 1999, Rick Thoman was brought in as cheif executive advisor. During the next few years, he would find some troubling results that would lead to a company stand-still. "Creative Accounting", was used to show Xerox's Mexican subsidary to look extremely profitable until someone realized that it was all a hoax. The sales had not been what tax statements show but was overstated by $3 billion between 1997 and 2000. This led to more troubles outside of the company. Shareholders were filing lawsuits against Xerox for false investment information. Xerox was dumping shares and bonds which led the company to lose 13% in its net worth. Thoman wanted the chief financial Barry Romeril fired because of this. Romeril however did not lose his job because of his close relationship with Dolan, President of sales. With Xerox's stock declining rapidly, Thoman was fired and Xerox was facing Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

            Xerox seemed to me like a rapidly growing company despite some difficulties. This definitely shows that having the wrong staff could lead to a company meltdown. In this case, Thoman would have been the only one that was trying to work the company in the right direction with the others just screwing around and working for their own good and not that companies.

Job Posting

Rock Religion Denim is a small and upcoming store in the heart of Downtown. Located on Robson Street, Rock Religion Denim is looking for new and energetic professionals to help support this store. We specialize in premium denim brands such as Rock and Republic, Ronan', True Religion, William Rast, Diesel and 7 For All Mankind. As a small independent store, we offer competitive wages as well as possible career advancement in the future. Part-time and full-time positions are available.

Qualifications:
- grade 12 graduation
- previous retail experience
- fan of different types of denim
- excellent customer service
- enthusiastic and up beat
- flexible schedule ( must be able to work minimum of 3 days per week )

Compensation: $11.50+ commission

Please do not reply this article. Drop off resumes in store at 888 Robson Street (Corner of Robson and Burrard)

We would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this position, but only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Business Ventures

       As a young business students, many dream of coming up with the next big idea to get rich. This idea is known to many as a "venture". A "venture" is an idea that you come up with that you could offer to make society better. There are so many possible ventures, as long as you put your mind on the paper and stick to it. As a highschool student, theres only so much that we could offer to society with a lack of experience and low income.

      The first venture idea that I came up with was to offer tutoring lessons to younger elementary school students. The homework is relatively easy so there is a lower margin of error. Although the younger grades of secondary school is also a possibility. In my opinion, I think that it would be better off for me to teach younger students as I am still being educated in school. As I am good at things like Social Studies and English, I could go around dropping off small sheets of paper advertising in the neighborhood mail boxes and sticking some advertisements on lamp poles about English and Social Studies lessons. Another idea of advertising would be to ask for permission to leave flyers in neighborhood restaurants and markets. I could offer to meet up and tutor at these small neighborhood restaurants or have the choice of making house calls. Many parents nowadays know the importance of a good education and would pay to better improve their kids.

      My second venture idea is to offer infant babysitting. As the oldest of two kids, I have had the ability of helping my parents watch my younger sibling. As long as the baby's old enough to be babysat, I would be able to handle him/her with care. Many would find it hard to trust someone that you rarely know to take care of their newborn. My advertising would start somewhere close to home. These people that I could offer babysitting to include neighbors, close friends and people that you have close contact with. There really is no point of advertising to a random target market as people worry about this matter greatly.

      These two venture idea's have been offered around for many years and counting. The good thing about these ventures is that as a young high school student, you would be able to earn a bit of money while studying. The first venture idea would be a harder feat because there could be problems that arise with certain homework assignments. The later, should be fine most of the time hence the baby is not ill or scared. These two venture ideas will always be successful because almost everyone with kids need this service. One growing concern is the drop in birthrates and the lack of children being born, but does that really matter much to a high school student looking to earn some extra spending money?

Business Case of Sustainability - The Green Baby Clothing Company LTD.

       With the whole business world going green, businesses now are taking on the role of being environmentally friendly as well. Sustainability is a hard idea to promote if you actually think about it. All the businesses have their own specific needs while trying to promote the idea of green.
       In the United States, Green Baby Clothing is quite a hit. This company strives on organic hand made baby clothing. Its main idea is the desire to stay green and produce hand made baby garments out of organic hemp and bamboo. People who are now aware of what Global warming is doing to our climate, they will now spend a bit more to keep the planet greener. Although I don't have a baby myself at the moment, I will possibly be a customer in the future as now I'm more aware of the effects of climate change. So please do not hesitate buying from The Green Baby Clothing Company!

http://www.greenbabyclothingcompany.com/

'The Corporation' Video Response

      "The Corporation" was a documentary made to reflect on what large scale companies do ethically and socially responsibly towards its workers and consumers. There are some things that they did properly and most improperly. One promising point was the same for all these upscale companies, they are basically in business to make a big chunk of money and market share. The brand names that we wear such as Nike running shoes come at quite a high price, but have you actually thought about how much  it costs to actually produce that item? Well all of these companies have all of their factories located in either East Asia or Africa. When we buy these pricey items, we usually don't think about who produces them. We all think that we are doing them a favour in buying these items and providing them with a job. Is that actually true? It is true in some cases, but companies don't actually care about their workers. These workers get paid anywhere from 30 cents to a dollar for every thing that they produce. That would seem unfair to the workers as they make so much off per garment. These workers are neglected and treated horribly. The working conditions are dark and gloomy as well. The video did expose to the world that these large corporations are not doing anything socially responsibly at all.