Verizon’s Answer to iPhone: Windows
Description: Verizon, fed up with the high costs of offering the iPhone, plans to push smartphones powered by Microsoft’s Windows software, as a counterweight to the popular Apple device. George Stahl reports on digits.Photo: HTC.
Questions for discussion:
- How is the cost of a smart phone spread out through distributors?
- What risk does Verizon face by following this strategy?
Disney Bets on ‘The Avengers’ After ‘John Carter’
Description: In the months prior to the release of Walt Disney’s (DIS)John Carter sci-fi epic, Hollywood debated why the film wasn’t catching fire with potential moviegoers. Maybe it was the ho-hum trailers; a title that didn’t cue viewers that the story took place on Mars; or the departure of the studio’s marketing chief two months before its release.
Source: Businessweek.com
Date: 04/19/2012
Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-19/disney-bets-on-the-avengers-after-john-carter
Questions for discussion:
- Why do you suppose ’John Carter’ was a failure at the box office?
- Is it fair for top management to take the blame?
- What do you think of the chances that ‘The Avengers’ will succeed?
- How would you go about promoting this film?
Five Ways to Turn Your Website into a Sales Machine
April 23, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: Your online presence is a vital part of any sales strategy. But is your website the sales powerhouse it should be?
Source: Entrepreneur.com
Date: 04/16/2012
Link: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223348
Questions for discussion:
- What do you think of these recommendations?
- What other suggestions would you make?
Nokia: The Finnish RIM
Description: Mobile device makers Nokia and Research in Motion continue to struggle against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system.
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 04/11/2012
Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2012/04/11/mkts-bz-nokia-rimm.cnnmoney/
Questions for discussion:
- Do you think there is a strategic solution for either of these firms?
- How much blame lies with management? Explain.
Best Buy CEO out as shoppers move online
Description: Best Buy Co Chief Executive Brian Dunn has left the world’s largest consumer electronics chain, which has struggled against stepped-up competition from internet retailers and discounters.
Source: Reuters.com
Date: 04/10/2012
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/10/bestbuy-idUSL2E8FA3ZK20120410
Questions for discussion:
- Is there a solution to this shopping trend working against Best Buy?
- What sort of manager is needed in this competitive environment?
Instagram’s Systrom Builds $1 Billion Application in Two Years
Description: Silicon Valley is one of the few places where a 27-year-old Web entrepreneur can parlay a photo-sharing application with no known source of revenue into $1 billion — in two years.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Date: 04/10/2012
Questions for discussion:
- Do you think the background experience of these two entrepreneurs had anything to do with their success this time?
- What factors contributed to the rapid adoption rate of the product by users?
- How will Facebook be able to monetize this product?
Avon, 125 years old
Description: Avon Products, the iconic door-to-door cosmetic seller, celebrates 125 years in business, Felicia Taylor reports.
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 04/02/2012
Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/03/09/n_avon_taylor.cnnmoney/
Questions for discussion:
- What does the Avon brand represent to women today?
- What are the benefits to Avon’s participation in social causes?
Hostess Serves New Batch of Cuts
Description: If negotiations fail, Hostess and its unions will face off in a trial over whether the company can scrap its labor contracts-an example of how wage levels across many once-vibrant industries are falling. Mike Spector reports on Markets Hub. Photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images.
Source: Marketwatch.com – video report
Date: 04/02/2012
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the main points presented in this report.
- What are some possible resolutions that you would put forward as a labor conciliator?
Online Movies Set to Overtake DVDs and Blu-rays
Description: Web-based movie download and rental services, coupled with tablets and connected TVs, have led to greater online movie consumption
Source: emarketer.com
Date: 04/02/2012
Link: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008945&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the changes taking place.
- What are the reasons for these changes?
- How would you suggest the industry respond?
Is your company like ‘The Hunger Games?’
Description: (MoneyWatch) Many of us have been there. Your company decided to do “stretch goals,” or, if an executive had recently read a Jim Collins book, “BHAGs” (big, hairy, audacious goals). Someone — often a senior executive — may have encouraged you to “treat it like a game,” and “make it fun.” The tag line is: even if we get to 50 percent of the goal, we’ll be in great shape. Its high-fives all around as people set insanely high goals, just to show people (and themselves) what they can do.
Source: Moneywatch.com
Date: 03/29/2012
Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57405962/is-your-company-like-the-hunger-games/?tag=nl.e664
Questions for discussion:
- What are the managerial issues described in this report?
- How do they compare to textbook models of behavior?
