LOUIS VILANCHE BOARD MEETING

Louis Vilanche was a fake company that was created by my BST 20 class to teach members of Ms. Sebastian’s English 30 class how a board meeting was supposed to run like. Our company was a luxury chocolate brand which produced chocolate truffles wrapped in real gold.Our truffles were made with the finest Coco imported from Brasil and is wrapped in gold. Louis Vilanche appeals to the upper class of people. It is mostly targeted towards men and women aged from 25-50 years old. I had the privilege of being the president of Louis Vilanche. As the President of Louis Vilanche I was required to give a two minute report on my company. My report included an overview of my company as well as an overview of what the vice presidents will talk about in their reports. On Friday May 23rd at approximately 1:30 pm Louis Vilanche had their first board meeting. I was impressed by the execution of the board meeting because every member of the meeting maintained a high level of professionalism. Every report that were presented in my company’s meeting was perfectly read and implemented into the board meeting.

Everyone had planned what kind of company we were and what our future goals were. This helped the members link their reports with the other members. There were seven students involved in the board meeting and we each had a specific job. The positions we had were President, VP of Marketing, VP of Information Technology, VP of Human Resources, VP of Productions, VP of Finance, and Secretary. After the board meeting was over they asked us questions they still had about board meetings. This was not my first board meeting so I tried to answer almost all of the questions that were being asked by the grade 12 students. I was able to show my understanding of the execution of a perfect board meeting.

 

 

Tweet Chats

Tweet Chats are a amazing way to communicate with others. They are a great way to get a lot of people into a similar discussion and organize it all under one hashtag. A tweet chat is a chat in twitter that people can enter using the hashtag associated with the chat. We had a tweet chat with students from the Hoover Alabama  high school. We had the privilege of communicating with many entrepreneurs around Regina. I would love to see the tweet chats being implemented in other business classes so that we can bring the people in those classes together. I loved the experience of communicating with other students from a different country.  Below is a tweet from Rick Tiefenbach a financial adviser from Regina!

 

Bullying Behind A Screen

Cyber-bullying has become a big problem in the 21st century. It is continuously growing and there are only limited amount of people trying to prevent cyber-bullying. Teens these days have access to the internet through their computers, tablets, and their cellphones. The form of online bullying affects millions of teens on an everyday basis. It is very important to understand this form of bullying so that we can put a stop to this, because cyber-bullying is ruining people’s lives.

The info graphic was created by me through the use of easel.ly. This info graphic highlights many important facts about cyber-bullying. I was amazed that only one in ten victims informs their parent or an adult about their abuse. This is difficult for me to comprehend because adults can really help the kids experiencing cyber-bullying yet only one out of ten victims will inform an adult. We need to teach the youth of today about ways to prevent or avoid cyber-bullying because seeing in the newspaper that a teen has taken their own life is a horrible thing. Plus the parents that found the dead body of their son, will be traumatized for life. Cyber-bullying affects all of us, so there is only one thing to do and that is to stop cyber-bullying and to produce peace with the people that we interact with.

Please visit this link to joint the “Don’t Stand By, Stand Up” Campaign: http://stopcyberbullying.org 

 

 

Business In Saskatchewan : Viterra Inc.

Regina is the capital province of Saskatchewan it is also one of the top 3 entrepreneurial cities in Canada. Which is pretty impressive considering the population of the city is approximately 193100 people. Regina was established in 1882. Regina’s cold climate would scare many away, even though the economy is very strong. The expected job growth rate of this year is 2.3%. That rate might not seem that big of a number, but it is considering our small population and our low unemployment rate in Saskatchewan. Oil and natural gas, potash, and sodium sulphite contribute a great part of Saskatchewan’s economy. Saskatchewan has one of the biggest agricultural businesses the world. One of the things that farmers in Saskatchewan are good at is growing crops and exporting their goods around the world. The rich soil of Saskatchewan and the large amounts of flat land found in Saskatchewan can be used as an advantage to farming.

The biggest company in Saskatchewan is Viterra and their headquarters are located in Regina. Viterra is a Canadian grain handling business and it is also the nation’s largest grain handler. Viterra grew from being a local business to a global agriculture production business with operations in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and China. The CEO of Viterra is Mayo M. Schmidt. The company consists of approximately 6,000 employees, which helped decrease the unemployment rate in Saskatchewan. The company was founded in 2007 and was defunct in 2013. Viterra was on it’s way to dominate the agriculture industry until the company was boughtout by Glencore International. If you want to get an inside look of the company you can look at their annual report to get a better understanding of their business and look at their financial analysis.

Glencore International made $6.1-billion acquisition on 1 January 2013 for Viterra Inc. Viterra wasn’t for sale but four suitors had independently approached Viterra’ board with potential offers. There was no formal sale or auction process to buy Viterra, so each original bidder thought that their offer was the only one on the table. “They were basically aiming their guns at Viterra’s board. And what Viterra’s board did was decide to have them aim all of their guns at each other.” said Philip Evershed. This concluded with the Switzerland-based company Glencore International to reacha friendly deal with Viterra to buy the iconic Canadian grain handling business for $6.1-billion.

Viterra promotes youth sports and recreation in rural communities as well as support agriculture and their activities. Viterra is also known in their communities for promoting safety on the farm and within the grain industry. Some jobs that Viterra offers are Facility Sales & Admin, Facility Assistant, Desk Side Support Analyst, Maintenance Technician, Project Manager, and Sales Representative.

Are entrepreneurs overrated?

Entrepreneurs are some of the hardest workers out there. This is because they chose the life of becoming their own boss. The reason I am very passionate about entrepreneurship is because I really like the concept of being my own boss. Another reason is that I would rather work for myself making my dreams come true, instead of helping others fulfill their dreams. It may sound a bit harsh to some people but that’s the truth. Ben Horowitz said “As a startup CEO, I slept like a baby. I woke up every two hours & cried.”

“If you’re not in a constant state of TERROR, you’re DOING IT WRONG”-unknown. That in all reality is a perfect example of an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur you must truly believe in yourself and your ideas, without doing that you might as well be a failure as an entrepreneur. Sometimes it’s hard to be different from each other but as an entrepreneur this is a must because your whole job revolves around different ideas.

Money is not something that is very easy to get especially for starting entrepreneurs. When staring a business the entrepreneur goes to the bank to get a loan or gets an investor that believes in the company to invest into the company. After that they are responsible to repay that loan or investment. This is why it is crucial for the entrepreneur’s company to succeed, otherwise they will be in a lot of financial problems. I know that if an entrepreneur is truly confident in his company, the company shall be receiving lots of customers. You have to be a people-person to be an entrepreneur because in business it is crucial for you to go out and promote your company when it is starting. I have had the privilege to be the vice president of marketing in my entrepreneurship 30 class. This gave me the opportunity to learn more about business and confirm my thoughts about becoming an entrepreneur. Our company was Verglas Industries and it was a Junior Achievement company. Our product was Ice’B’Gone.

If you have any questions I highly recommend going on the Forbes website. You may also check the video below for how entrepreneurs get investors.

Cash Going Mobile

Technology is always advancing, and now there is a new thing called mobile banking and mobile wallet. there are many advantages to this and some disadvantages. but isn’t that the case for most successful products. By using the mobile wallet you will not have to spend your time going through your wallet to find the exact change. which is a plus for the mobile products, but let’s say you lost your phone and someone else finds it. they can spend your money on whatever they want to buy for themselves. I think that this is the future for money, because as human beings of the 21st century we tend to go towards the technological side of life then the real world. we love things that are new. I’m not saying that mobile banking/wallet will be an overnight sensation and everyone will love it from the first day that they are introduced to it. What I’m saying is that slowly over time people will learn to appreciate this new form of technology. Or maybe some celebrities will start using this newly form of technology which will make us non-famous people want to get it and start using it. We can never be sure about these things.

A Mobile Wallet is a new way of looking and using your money for buying purposes and may hit us in the near future. Two of the most used kind of mobile wallet in Canada are Square and SmartSwipe. For Square they will ship you a 1-inch tall card reader that connects to your phone once you put it into the headphone jack. Then all you have to do is scan your card and using the square, and boom; you will have made your first mobile payment using the square. For the SmartSwipe all you have to do is connect the device via USB while making a transaction and your card will be swiped smartly. What I mean by smartly is: when you swipe your card, SmartSwipe goes trough a process to encrypt your card number and information.

Click on the link for more info about the Square: https://squareup.com/reader

Click on the link for more info about the Smart Swipe: http://smartswipe.ca/how-it-works

Using the mobile wallet will be easier to use and easier to carry around. It will also let companies to go paperless and you can get automatic coupons. I am always looking for new forms of technology that I can learn from and this is one of them. Overall I love the idea of mobile banking/wallet even though there are some negativity and consequences to using those products. If I like the products then why think twice about using them, yes there are consequences to using mobile banking/wallet, but isn’t there consequences for everything we do in life?

Here are some videos on mobile banking/wallet:

http://vimeo.com/53634501

Communicating with Different Countries

Japan

When you are greeting someone in Japan you should bow and do the same thing when you are saying good bye.

There are 3 different ways of saying Hello in Japan.

Saying Hello in the morning is Ohaiyou Gozaimasu (O-hi-yo Go-za-eye-mass).

In the afternoon you would say the typical Konnichiwa (Kon-ee-chee-wa).

In the afternoon you can also say Konbanwa (Kon-ban-wa).

Saying goodbye in Japanese is  Sayonara (Sa-yo-na-ra).

Bowing is used both for hello’s and goodbye’s but the way you bow is very significant! Always bow deeply to elders to show respect to their age.

Italy

When you are greeting someone in Italy you should shake their hand if you are not good friends, and if you are close you should kiss on the cheek and or do a pat on the back. This also applies when you are saying good bye.

Ireland

Shaking hands, or simply saying Hello also known as  Slán (pronounced slawn). To say goodbye you simply saying goodbye.

Intercultural Communication Terms

The concept of culture – Can be defined as a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitude, values, expectations, and norms for behavior. The average person belongs to several cultures and the established cultures tend to be coherent.

Ethnocentrism – Is the tendency to judge all other groups according to the standards, behaviors and customs of ones own group. When making comparisons, people tend to decide that their own group is superior.

Stereotyping – Assigning a wide range of generalization attributes to an individual on the basis of membership in a particular culture or social group, without considering the individuals unique characteristics. So basically saying something about someone that is untrue or offensive. Avoid assumptions, judgments, and acknowledge distinctions to not be stereotypical.

Contextual differences – The pattern of physical cues, environmental stimuli, and implicit understanding that conveys meaning between members of the same culture. Cultural context is the pattern of physical cues, environmental stimuli, and implicit understanding that convey meaning between two members of the same culture.

Legal and Ethical Behavior – The difference of how cultures would want to do something socially or in a business fashion. For example, low context cultures value the written word while high context cultures prefer personal pledges. Here are 4 principles to follow when communicating across cultures to keep your messages ethical:

1) Actively seek mutual ground


2) Send and recieve messages without judgment


3) Send messages that are honest


4) Show respect for cultural differences

Non-verbal Differences – The difference in how people communicate with each other without talking. For example shaking someone’s hand in your culture may be fine but in some other cultures it may be offensive. The simplest hand gestures change meaning from culture to culture and could be taken the wrong way. Study the topics below on the culture that you don’t know, and you will be good to go!

1. Greetings


2. Personal space


3. Touching


4. Facial expressions


5. Eye contact


6. Posture


7. Formality 

Challenges, Opportunities, And Advantages Of Intercultural Communication In The Workplace.

Advantages of Intercultural Communication –

Different Perspective:

A common advantage of a multicultural workforce is a broader range of perspectives on issues or challenges. People from different backgrounds bring their own unique cultural experiences to the situations they face in their companies.

Broader Coverage:

Employees with intercultural backgrounds can also provide the company broader coverage in a global marketplace. The ability to accurately speak and write the language, overcome cultural barriers and communication filters and know what customers want.

 

Challenges of Intercultural Communication –

Risk of Discrimination:

An intercultural workplace presents more potential for discrimination. It is natural that if you put people together with different traits, employees could turn against each other. That’s why companies need to provide cultural awareness and sensitivity training to help create a company’s culture of tolerance.

Internal Communication:

Companies with a multicultural workforce have more obstacles to overcome. Though global communication is usually a benefit, internal communication is typically more challenging when you have language and cultural barriers.

 

Opportunities of Intercultural Communication –

New Communication Technology:

There are several opportunities to Communicate Intercultural in the workplace. One of the opportunities is having the privilege of using new communication technologies to allow teams all over the world to work on a project without having to fly out to their cities.

Produce Goods With Low-Cost Labor:

Manufacturers can produce their goods in foreign countries or cities that offer corporate tax rates that are favorable and also have a low-cost labor.

 

“Natural boundaries and national borders disappear as increasing numbers of people work in multicultural settings.”

 

 

 

Quote of the day

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”
-Henry Ford