Boone & Kurtz Contemporary Business Weekly Updates » E-Business: Doing Business Online (p212) http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com Discussion Topics for Today's Classroom Mon, 14 May 2012 10:05:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Valentine’s delivery: 14 million roses http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2011/02/14/valentines-delivery-14-million-roses/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2011/02/14/valentines-delivery-14-million-roses/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:05:04 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1528 Description:  Valentine’s Day orders bring 20 percent of annual revenue for ProFlowers.

Source:  CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 02/11/2011

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/02/11/n_valentines_day_proflowers.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:  

  • Who is the target market and describe their buying behavior.
  • How important is the Internet for this business?
  • What do you think is the message intended and received when roses are sent on Valentine’s Day?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2011/02/14/valentines-delivery-14-million-roses/feed/ 0 Surfer’s calendar site gives back http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/27/surfers-calendar-site-gives-back/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/27/surfers-calendar-site-gives-back/#comments Mon, 27 Dec 2010 10:05:39 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1416 Description: Custom calendar site CalendarLink.org raises funds and spreads awareness for the California Surf Life Saving Association.

Source:  CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 12/22/2010

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/12/22/n_cc_tides_of_giving.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion: 

  • How is this business socially responsible?
  • Who are the target customers?
  • What makes this business service unique?
  • Describe the product strategy and how the Internet allows for customization to match local customer needs.
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/27/surfers-calendar-site-gives-back/feed/ 0 Getting the message out on Facebook http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/27/getting-the-message-out-on-facebook/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/27/getting-the-message-out-on-facebook/#comments Mon, 27 Dec 2010 10:04:24 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1413 Description: Small businesses are leveraging their profiles on Facebook to boost their business by keeping in close contact with customers.

Source:  Reuters.com – video report

Date: 12/21/2010

Link: http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=170540599&videoChannel=6

Questions for discussion:

  • How does Facebook  allow small businesses to better serve their target customers?
  • How does Facebook differentiate itself on the Internet?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/27/getting-the-message-out-on-facebook/feed/ 0 Groupon reportedly spurns Google’s billions http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/06/groupon-reportedly-spurns-google%e2%80%99s-billions/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/06/groupon-reportedly-spurns-google%e2%80%99s-billions/#comments Mon, 06 Dec 2010 10:04:09 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1361 Description: Groupon Inc. has walked away from a Google Inc. acquisition offer worth as much as $6 billion, according to reports late Friday, appearing to set the stage for a Groupon IPO as soon as next year.

Source: Marketwatch.com – video report
 
Date: 12/04/2010

Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/groupon-reportedly-spurns-google-merger-2010-12-04

Questions for discussion: 

  • Do you think Groupon is overvalued in this proposed deal?
  • How would you evaluate Groupon’s fair value from an acquisitions point of view?
  • Why would the acquisition affect  the value of Google shares?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/12/06/groupon-reportedly-spurns-google%e2%80%99s-billions/feed/ 0 Pirate Bay appeal falls on deaf ears http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/29/pirate-bay-appeal-falls-on-deaf-ears/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/29/pirate-bay-appeal-falls-on-deaf-ears/#comments Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:01:57 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1336 Description: In another blow to online file-sharing, a Swedish appeals court upheld on Friday the copyright convictions of three of the four founders of The Pirate Bay–perhaps the world’s most well-known and notorious file-sharing Web site.

Source: CNET.com
 
Date: 11/26/2010

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023915-93.html

Questions for discussion: 

  • What are the legal and ethical issues surrounding file-sharing?
  • Do you agree with the comment made in the article suggesting that file-sharing will be finished in a couple of years?
  • What drives file-sharing?
  • What solutions are available to copyright holders?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/29/pirate-bay-appeal-falls-on-deaf-ears/feed/ 0 digits: The Beatles Invade iTunes http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/22/digits-the-beatles-invade-itunes/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/22/digits-the-beatles-invade-itunes/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:04:22 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1330 Description: Beatles songs are finally available in Apple’s iTunes store. But ATD’s Peter Kafka says that iTunes is all about apps these days, while digital music sales have flattened out – and even the Fab Four may have a hard time changing that.

Source: Marketwatch.com – video report
 
Date: 11/16/2010

Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/digits-the-beatles-invade-itunes/874EB528-ED14-44A4-B14E-2529BB1659DC

Questions for discussion: 

  • Who do you think will benefit more by the distribution of The Beatles music on iTunes?
  • Who is the target customer for these songs?
  • In the second report on iPads: how would you characterize the different groups of customers?
  • How do you think customers will choose amongst the brands?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/22/digits-the-beatles-invade-itunes/feed/ 0 Start a small biz with $500 http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/15/start-a-small-biz-with-500/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/15/start-a-small-biz-with-500/#comments Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:04:07 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1315 Description: Tweezerman founder Dal LaMagna says his company grew by being frugal with money and keeping stakeholders interests at heart.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
 
Date: 11/11/2010

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2010/11/11/sbiz_tweezerman_dal_lamagna_500_dollars.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion: 

  • Explain the global success of this game?
  • What does its success suggest about consumer behavior?
  • What need does this product satisfy for consumers?
  • How do you explain the appeal of Monopoly in this age of electronic gadgetry?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/15/start-a-small-biz-with-500/feed/ 0 Newsweek’s Printing Press Was a Top Draw for Diller http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/15/newsweek%e2%80%99s-printing-press-was-a-top-draw-for-diller/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/15/newsweek%e2%80%99s-printing-press-was-a-top-draw-for-diller/#comments Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:03:20 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1312 Description:  Barry Diller, who has spent the better part of a decade amassing a collection of Internet companies — a search engine here, a dating Web site there — has figured out how to help make the Internet work a little better for him. He is going into the magazine business.

Source: NYTimes.com
 
Date: 11/12/20

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/business/media/13mag.html?ref=business

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the pros and cons of this merger?
  • Do you think there are good synergies between the two organizations that suggest they can succeed?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/11/15/newsweek%e2%80%99s-printing-press-was-a-top-draw-for-diller/feed/ 0 Turning Customers Into Creators http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/10/25/turning-customers-into-creators/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/10/25/turning-customers-into-creators/#comments Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:02:38 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1257 Description:  A FEW young women are gathered around a conference table dotted with bottles of colorful vitamin drinks, iPod cables and slender laptops. A whiteboard with lime-green writing almost swallows a wall in the room.

Source: NYTimes.com
 
Date: 10/23/2010

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/business/24ping.html?ref=business

Questions for discussion:

  • How is this sort of research superior to other forms of research into investigating customer behaviors?
  • Do you think the participants are being truly honest in their feedback?
  • Are there any drawbacks to this method of interacting with customers?
]]> http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/10/25/turning-customers-into-creators/feed/ 0 Startup Lessons Learned From a 20-Year-Old CEO http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/10/11/startup-lessons-learned-from-a-20-year-old-ceo/ http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/2010/10/11/startup-lessons-learned-from-a-20-year-old-ceo/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:03:02 +0000 Brahm Canzer http://contemporarybusinessupdates.com/?p=1226 Description:  Meet Jessica Mah: The 20-year-old chief executive who’s on startup No. 3. She’s the CEO of InDinero, a Website that lets small businesses automatically track their finances with no data entry required. Barely a month after finishing the Silicon Valley startup incubator program Y Combinator, she scored $1 million in seed funding. Next on her to-do list: Find more paying customers, keep the 5,000 existing ones happy enough so they’ll tell their friends, and — per the advice of her Y Combinator adviser Paul Graham — not “screw things up.”

Source:  BNET.com
 
Date: 10/04/2010

Link: http://www.bnet.com/article/startup-lessons-learned-from-a-20-year-old-ceo/471602?promo=857&tag=nl.e857

Questions for discussion: 

  • What did you learn about entrepreneurship by reading this interview with Jessica Mah?
  • Does she fit the typical profile of an entrepreneur?
  • What did you learn about starting up a business?
  • After reading this interview, do you feel more motivated to consider starting up your own business?
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