Description:  One company in Orange County, Calif., mines landfills and converts consumer trash into reusable, eco-friendly moving boxes. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 03/25/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2011/03/24/sbiz_green_box.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: What are the ethical and social responsibility issues associated with this business from the company’s point of view as well as their customers’? Should government… Read more »
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Making heavy equipment weightless
Description: Equipois’ “zeroG” devices help lift heavy objects — a major breakthrough for industrial workers. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 03/24/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/03/24/t-tt-robot-arm.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: How might a manager evaluate the cost versus the benefit of installing this sort of equipment? Do you think the purchase of this sort of equipment would produce… Read more »
Silicon Valley Hiring Perks: Meals, iPads and a Cubicle for Spot
Description: Eric Firestone began a new job at a Web start-up here three weeks ago, and he’s already thinking about what he might do next. But that’s just fine with his new employer. Source: NYTimes.com  Date: 03/25/2011 Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/technology/26recruit.html?_r=1&ref=business Questions for discussion: What does this report suggest about the hiring environment in Silicon Valley?… Read more »
Remembering the Triangle Fire 100 years later
Description: As labor unions battle to retain collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states, they are marking the centennial of a tragic factory fire that started the movement that first won those rights. Source: CNNMoney.com Date: 03/25/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/24/news/Triangle_fire_centennial/index.htm Questions for discussion: Summarize the details of this event. How has it come to influence… Read more »
No Buyers for Barnes & Noble at 60 Cents on Dollar: Real M&A
Description: Even with Barnes & Noble Inc. selling for 60 cents on the dollar, the cheapest retailer in America still isn’t cheap enough to entice private-equity buyers looking for cash. Source: Businessweek.com Date: 03/25/2011 Link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-25/no-buyers-for-barnes-noble-at-60-cents-on-dollar-real-m-a.html Questions for discussion: What does this report have to say about the financial viability of this business model? What… Read more »
Japan quake threatens global supply
Description:  Some say the quake’s hit to Japan’s manufacturing sector will have a profound impact on the global supply chain, CNN’s Kyung Lah reports. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 03/18/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/03/18/n_japan_supplychain.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: What does this report have to say about the global nature of business? How might businesses be expected to… Read more »
NOLA’s green renaissance
Description: Five years after Katrina destroyed the city, New Orleans is rebuilt and flowering into a ‘green’ hub of the South. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 03/17/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2011/03/17/sbiz_green_new_orleans.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the green energy renewal effort in New Orleans. How can this serve as a model for other communities? Do you think… Read more »
General Mills Nears $1.1 Billion Deal to Buy Half of Yoplait
Description: The owners of Yoplait, the French yogurt maker, said Friday that they were in exclusive negotiations with the company’s longtime American partner, General Mills, to sell just over a 50 percent stake for about 800 million euros ($1.1 billion). Source: NYTimes.com  Date: 03/18/2011 Link: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/general-mills-set-to-buy-yoplait-stake-for-1-1-billion/?ref=business Questions for discussion: Do you think that General… Read more »
Apple, Google May Profit on a Tax Holiday
Description: Those companies and others say they’ll bring home billions in earningsâ€â€but only if they get a big tax break Source: Businessweek.com Date: 03/17/2011 Link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_13/b4221064108107.htm Questions for discussion: Summarize the basic arguments surrounding this topic. What are the factors favoring allowing tax-free repatriation and those against?
How the Colonel Convinced the Chinese to Eat More Chicken  Lots of It
Description: KFC’s success in opening and operating fast food restaurants in China is such that one analyst declared it to be “the most successful foreign company in China.†Now, here’s one of the broader effects of that achievement  a huge surge in chicken consumption among the Chinese. Source: BNET.com Date: 03/18/2011 Link: http://www.bnet.com/blog/food-industry/how-the-colonel-convinced-the-chinese-to-eat-more-chicken-8212-lots-of-it/2733?tag=fd-featureRoto;fd-featureRoto5 Questions… Read more »
