Boone & Kurtz Contemporary Business Weekly Updates » Part 6 Managing Financial Resources 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 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 The cloud goes Hollywood http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/the-cloud-goes-hollywood/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/the-cloud-goes-hollywood/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:02:09 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2412 Description:   The major film studios think they’ve found a way to sell and deliver movies online. Will consumers buy it?

Source:  Fortune.com

Date: 02/03/2012

Link:  http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/03/ultraviolet-digital-movies-cloud/?iid=SF_F_River

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think this format will be successful with consumers?
  • How should the industry market the concept?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/02/06/the-cloud-goes-hollywood/feed/ 0 Bill Gates: Rich should pay more taxes http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/bill-gates-rich-should-pay-more-taxes/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/bill-gates-rich-should-pay-more-taxes/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:05:01 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2396 Description:  The Microsoft founder and philanthropist says that the wealthiest Americans should pay a larger share of taxes than they do.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 01/26/2012

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

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the key points presented about economic activity, incomes, taxes, and the government’s role.
  • What is Bill Gates’ position on the key issue facing business and society at large?
  • Do you agree with Bill Gates?
  • How would you assign the collection of taxes?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/bill-gates-rich-should-pay-more-taxes/feed/ 0 ‘I work for one of the 10 Best Companies’ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/i-work-for-one-of-the-10-best-companies/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/i-work-for-one-of-the-10-best-companies/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:03:47 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2390 Description:   Interesting assignments, unfaltering support, stints abroad: No wonder these folks love their workplaces.

Source:  Fortune.com

Date: 01/27/2012

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/pf/jobs/1201/gallery.best-companies-employees.fortune/index.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What are some common characteristics of these businesses that seem to suggest why they rank among the “best”?
  • How influential is this status on employee behavior?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/30/i-work-for-one-of-the-10-best-companies/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 Enhanced eBooks: Next Frontier or Passing Fad? http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/enhanced-ebooks-next-frontier-or-passing-fad/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/enhanced-ebooks-next-frontier-or-passing-fad/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:04:11 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2378 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

Link:  http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/enhanced-ebooks-next-frontier-or-passing-fad/C6B97950-5E0F-4EBD-9986-3FB1369FE4AF

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?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/enhanced-ebooks-next-frontier-or-passing-fad/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 Building a business with unwanted customers http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/building-a-business-with-unwanted-customers/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/building-a-business-with-unwanted-customers/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:59:11 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2375 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

Link:  http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/20/behind-a-newark-business-success-find-unwanted-customers/?iid=SF_F_LN

Questions for discussion:  What are the social and ethical issues related to this business? What other businesses might be modeled the same way?

]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/23/building-a-business-with-unwanted-customers/feed/ 0 Park City Eatery Balks at Credit Card Fines in Rare Court Fight http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/16/park-city-eatery-balks-at-credit-card-fines-in-rare-court-fight/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/16/park-city-eatery-balks-at-credit-card-fines-in-rare-court-fight/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:03:27 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2357 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

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-10/park-city-eatery-balks-at-credit-card-fines-in-rare-court-fight.html

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?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/16/park-city-eatery-balks-at-credit-card-fines-in-rare-court-fight/feed/ 0 China’s Low-Cost Housing Boom http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/09/chinas-low-cost-housing-boom/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2012/01/09/chinas-low-cost-housing-boom/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:04:53 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=2345 Description:  Building low-cost housing projects is part of the Chinese government’s plan to restructure its housing sector. But some say it’s a risky strategy for the already shaky real estate industry. Source: Marketwatch.com – video report

Date: 12/30/2011

Link:  http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/china-low-cost-housing-boom/8BAB1EA5-0CC6-4ECC-BA0B-D90B9CA2C4E3

Questions for discussion:

  • How does this project relate to the forces of supply and demand as they affect various areas of the Chinese economy?
  • Do you think housing prices will be affected by this project?
  • Why do you suppose some apartments nearby remain unrented?
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