Reflection 1
Reflection 2
I am doing my research project within my own business and researching and develop a business model call social sustainability business that will positively impact the local community. This research aim to development a business model that can be utilise for people who want to start a small business that focusing on social sustainability and benefit to their community.My current small business is running an Asian grocery store aiming to employ some refugee people who have language barrier and have no work experience back in their home country. they faced huge challenge in getting the work as they do not have any work experience in Australia.
My other small business is based in Thai-Burma border which aims to create some job opportunity for migrant women and local people to earn some extra income while doing house work for their families. My small food production business produce some of the product that we can't get from other supplier here in Australia to sale in my grocery. Reflection 2
Maintaining
a productive life during this semester has been a challenge. My research keeps
going even though we are currently facing with the COVID 19 pandemic and my
small business store stays operating during this period as demands from our
customers continues.
I am
documenting all daily business activities in daily to get more sufficient
resources for my research and keep working hard on arranging my final paper. But
I found it difficult even though I have raw resources. Managing a business
during this period has been extremely difficult because all the suppliers
changed their systems and prices due to the pandemic crisis. Another issue is
customers are concerned about going out and most are only going out for
essential shopping. The work we have to do has doubled, to keep our store clean
and safe from the virus, and we have to spend more on cleaning product than
usual period.
In the meantime, another challenge we face is
merchant fee charges as we encourage our customer to use card payment to reduce
cash handling which could prevent the spreading of virus. I found it both
challenging and an opportunity during this period because it allows me to
critically analyse the weakness and strength of small businesses in the event
of a disaster.
We have to
operate differently, but I learnt a lot and overcame this in day by day. Based
on my own opinion these are all changes happening to not only my store but
impacting to all: customers, suppliers, employees and business owners. However,
I strongly believed this event and change are given me resources to develop a
successful small business model that can be utilized for those who want to
establish a successful small business.
The
business model that I am researching and will develop is targeting social
change values and community inclusiveness values which increase financial capability
and capacity building for local refugee communities. This is a community
development work in my own perception and understanding as our daily lives have
to be dealing with social and financial issues essential to make life
improvements or ease poverty in our society.
I know and
understand what are key issue impacting our lives in regard to financial
capability and capacity building. I also strongly believe that this can only be
achieved through business that aims to empower disadvantage groups and intend
to improve social change value and having community development values. I have the
knowledge and skill to implement this to happen but I struggle to put it on
paper. As English is my third language, sometimes it is difficult to express
concisely, however, getting support from friends to help me proof read my work
is making a huge difference. Getting advice from course teachers is extremely
helpful to my work because it helps me to illustrate my business ideas and
develop a small business model that other people can utilize is as a tool to
establish their business. This is relevant not only for the refugee community but
for the whole community, and for those whose intend to start a small business.
Gathering
resources take time particularly when I am working full time in my business. I
tried to push myself to move forward as I understand that developing a business
model will benefit to some refugee communities and give me huge motivation to
work hard to make this research happen. Another key value is giving an example
of my achievements to refugee communities as an empowerment tool to encourage
others. All these passions combine with capacity I have to enable social change
values in small businesses that value community inclusiveness through financial
capability and capacity building work.
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Reflective Writing 3
ReplyDeleteI’ve almost reached my goals but it has been a great struggle for me this semester, as so many things are happening during this period, with the Covid-19 social restrictions, people losing their jobs, businesses closing, and some people suffering with mental stress when families members or friends are impacted by this virus. This virus has impacted the Australia economy as well as other economies around the world limiting our capabilities. It has been very difficult to get through these times however regularly dealing with multiple crises has allowed me to gain more experiences.
As my research project is based on my own grocery business, I have found that I am having both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is being able to reflect in depth how the business is going and measure the achievements more effectively, with the disadvantage of having huge management load for the business here and in Thailand. I discovered that it is too difficult to put forward every individual thing that needed to be included in my developing business model as well as Working full time whilst studying.
Initially I was struggling to develop my business model, I thought only a big and multi-million dollar company needed a frame work or a guide to run the business. However, the more I explored in depth on my own daily business management activities I then started to realise that it is fundamental to have a business model that will guide the business or be used as a tool in daily management routines.
I had identified that developing a business model will not only benefit the local refugee community instead as a development practitioner I can also utilize it in my future development field like social-economic empowerment and identify a cause of social- political dimension that impacts our daily lives.
Conducting my research project during the pandemic period, it is really stressful but the advantage I have discovered through this crisis allowed me to critically reflect on my development carrier by having some experiences and strategy on handling upcoming future crisis situations.
The most difficult aspect whilst developing this small business model is (time) as a business owner, student, and mother this is really challenging furthermore English being my third language, it is a difficult and time-consuming project.
Another essential knowledge that I have gained in tern of the International development perspective is how to practically put forward my ideas and identify the underlining issues impacting our society in the social and political context.