How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
January 30, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources
Description: When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president. But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke,President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States?
Source: NYTimes.com
Date: 01/22/2012
Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?hp
Link to video: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/20/business/the-iphone-economy.html?ref=business
Questions for discussion:
- How does Apple illustrate the global nature of business today?
- Why, according to the report, will these manufacturing jobs never return to the U.S.?
- Do you agree with this view?
- What does this report suggest managers do in order reduce the loss of manufacturing employment?
- How can future employees – in the U.S. and elsewhere – prepare for work in a global market for jobs?
- Is there a role for governments here?
Leaving the plastic (and fees) behind
Description: Dwolla, of Des Moines, Iowa, is taking on credit cards by allowing users to transfer money and pay for items on their phones for a small fee.
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 01/17/2012
Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/01/13/t_dwolla_credit_cards.cnnmoney/
Questions for discussion:
- Describe why this business is better than competitors?
- What are the problems managers will have to overcome in order to succeed on a large scale?
Enhanced eBooks: Next Frontier or Passing Fad?
January 23, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources
Description: A new crop of digital books comes loaded with videos, songs, animated shorts and pop-up graphics. Is this the future of publishing or just a passing fad? Alexandra Alter has details on Lunch Break.
Source: Marketwatch.com – video report
Date: 01/19/2012
Questions for discussion:
- Do you think this new concept in ebooks will be well received?
- Which markets do you think will most likely be targeted by developers?
Apple Unveils IBooks 2 to Help Boost IPad Usage in Schools
January 23, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information
Description: Apple Inc. introduced a service to make digital versions of textbooks available on the iPad and beef up the education content for the tablet computer as it gains popularity in classrooms.
Source: Businessweek.com
Date: 01/20/2012
Questions for discussion:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of technology?
- Do you think this strategy will be successful?
- What are the issues that must be reconciled with students, schools, teachers, and authors?
7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site
January 23, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources
Description: In what authorities have called one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have seized the Web site Megaupload and charged seven people connected with it with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy. Source: NYTimes.com
Date: 01/20/2012
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/technology/megaupload-indictment-internet-piracy.html?ref=business
Questions for discussion:
- What are the conflicting issues in this situation?
- Where do you stand on these arguments over copyright?
- What do you think will eventually emerge as an attempt to resolve the problems?
Building a business with unwanted customers
January 23, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources
Description: A Newark, N.J. dental operation is turning a profit by focusing on the patients that most dentists shy away from: Medicaid recipients.
Source: Fortune.com
Date: 01/20/2012
Questions for discussion: What are the social and ethical issues related to this business? What other businesses might be modeled the same way?
If Apple made a TV …
January 16, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information
Description: TV makers at CES say they are not worried about Apple breaking into their business. But should they be?
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 01/11/2012
Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/01/11/t_ces_apple_tv.cnnmoney/
Questions for discussion:
- What sort of features would you expect if and when an Apple TV is introduced to the marketplace?
- How might consumers change their TV viewing behavior?
- Do you think an entry into the TV market by Apple would disrupt the industry?
Social media success Rx: “Be a little crazy”
Description: Clara Shih is an early achiever. At age five, she arrived in the U.S., from Hong Kong, with her parents. With no access to bilingual education, she was initially placed in special classes for kids with speech impediments and advanced so rapidly that she scored a 1420 on her SATs — in eighth grade. She started her company, Hearsay Social, at age 27, made Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs last year, and married her neurologist boyfriend in October (delaying her honeymoon to attend the Fortune MPW Summit.) Last month, Shih was tapped to replace Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on the Starbucks (SBUX) board. And today, she turns 30 years old. There is no better timing for the Hearsay Social CEO to share, well, lessons from her youth.
Source: Fortune.com
Date: 01/11/2012
Link: http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/11/social-media-success-clara-shih/?iid=SF_F_River
Questions for discussion:
- What does this report say about entrepreneurialism?
- Do you agree with the argument that “everything will be social”?
- What does this suggest about future start-up ideas?
Park City Eatery Balks at Credit Card Fines in Rare Court Fight
Description: Stephen and Cissy McComb say they managed their Italian eatery in Park City, Utah, for more than two decades without running afoul of security rules of Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. — until they were accused of mishandling data and opening the door to $1.26 million in fraud.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Date: 01/1o/2012
Questions for discussion:
- What are the legal and social issues involved in this report?
- How can small businesses deal with the problems related to credit card companies and their policies?
Turning to Tech on the Road
January 16, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: If Mercedes, BMW and Ford have their way, the new cars they build will be able to port apps, games, music and movies from a smartphone to a car’s entertainment system.
Source: NYTimes.com
Date: 01/11/2012
Questions for discussion:
- What are the issues related to the merging of smart-technologies and the automobile?
- How can safety be reconciled with other social needs?
