Boone & Kurtz Contemporary Business Weekly Updates » Part 5 Managing Technology and Information http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com Discussion Topics for Today's Classroom Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:05:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 How Zuckerberg changed the game http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/how-zuckerberg-changed-the-game/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/how-zuckerberg-changed-the-game/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:05:40 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2421 Description:  Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg grew the college dorm room startup to a global tech giant with more users than most countries’ populations.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 02/03/2012

Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/02/02/f_game_changers_facebook.fortune/

Questions for discussion:

  • Who is Mark Zukerberg?
  • Do you think his engineering background affected the way he managed the development of the company?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/how-zuckerberg-changed-the-game/feed/ 0 The $1.6 Billion Woman, Staying on Message http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/the-1-6-billion-woman-staying-on-message/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/the-1-6-billion-woman-staying-on-message/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:03:07 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2415 Description:  SEVENTY-TWO hours before Facebook’s big moment, Sheryl K. Sandberg was half a world away, hobnobbing with the likes of Bill Gates and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Source:  NYTimes.com

Date: 02/03/2012

Link:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/business/sheryl-sandberg-of-facebook-staying-on-message.html?ref=business

Questions for discussion:

  • How would you describe Sheryl Sandberg?
  • Do you think her gender has helped, hurt, or made no difference in her success?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/the-1-6-billion-woman-staying-on-message/feed/ 0 Small Business Exports Edge Up http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/small-business-exports-edge-up/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/small-business-exports-edge-up/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:01:35 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2409 Description:  Small businesses have increased their share of exports in the two years since President Obama set a goal to double U.S. sales abroad by 2015, according to new federal data.

Source:  Businessweek.com

Date: 02/02/2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/running_small_business/archives/2012/02/small_business_exports_edge_up.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the reasons for the improved exports by small businesses?
  • Can this be sustained? If so, how?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/small-business-exports-edge-up/feed/ 0 Kaiser CEO: Time to end piecemeal healthcare http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/kaiser-ceo-time-to-end-piecemeal-healthcare/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/kaiser-ceo-time-to-end-piecemeal-healthcare/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:06:52 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2399 Description:  George Halvorson, CEO of non-profit healthcare insurer Kaiser Permanente, says the current U.S. healthcare system will drive the economy into the ground.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 01/26/2012

Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/26/n_davos_halvorson_health.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • Describe how the not-for-profit and for-profit healthcare businesses work?
  • How should healthcare work, according to CEO George Halvorson?
  • How could it be better?
  • What managerial issues are stopping the for-profit industry from adopting these policies?
  • How does consumer psychology affect this business?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/kaiser-ceo-time-to-end-piecemeal-healthcare/feed/ 0 Amazon’s Hit Man http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/amazons-hit-man/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/amazons-hit-man/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:04:12 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2393 Description:  Larry Kirshbaum was the ultimate book industry insider—until Amazon called

Source:  Businessweek.com

Date: 01/25/2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/amazons-hit-man-01252012.html?chan=magazine+channel_top+stories

Questions for discussion:

  • Describe the changes that management is dealing with in the publishing industry.
  • How has management at Amazon been affected by technological changes?
  • Do you think management decision-making has been responsive?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/amazons-hit-man/feed/ 0 Six Strategy Insights RIM’s New CEO Can Use http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/six-strategy-insights-rims-new-ceo-can-use/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/six-strategy-insights-rims-new-ceo-can-use/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:02:27 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2387 Description:  The usual moves won’t work when new technologies and rivals dramatically shake up the field

Source:  Businessweek.com

Date: 01/24/2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/management/six-strategy-insights-rims-new-ceo-can-use-01242012.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the recommendations made in this report?
  • Do you agree with them?
  • What else would you suggest to RIM’s top management?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/six-strategy-insights-rims-new-ceo-can-use/feed/ 0 How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/how-the-u-s-lost-out-on-iphone-work/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/how-the-u-s-lost-out-on-iphone-work/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:01:29 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2384 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?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/how-the-u-s-lost-out-on-iphone-work/feed/ 0 Leaving the plastic (and fees) behind http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/leaving-the-plastic-and-fees-behind/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/leaving-the-plastic-and-fees-behind/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:05:03 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2381 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?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/leaving-the-plastic-and-fees-behind/feed/ 0 Apple Unveils IBooks 2 to Help Boost IPad Usage in Schools http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/apple-unveils-ibooks-2-to-help-boost-ipad-usage-in-schools/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/apple-unveils-ibooks-2-to-help-boost-ipad-usage-in-schools/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:01:17 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2369 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

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-20/apple-unveils-ibooks-2-to-help-boost-ipad-usage-in-schools.html

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?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/apple-unveils-ibooks-2-to-help-boost-ipad-usage-in-schools/feed/ 0 7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/7-charged-as-f-b-i-closes-a-top-file-sharing-site/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/7-charged-as-f-b-i-closes-a-top-file-sharing-site/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:00:08 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2372 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?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/7-charged-as-f-b-i-closes-a-top-file-sharing-site/feed/ 0