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… Read more »
Posts By: Brahm Canzer
The dividend stock of the decade
Description:  After watching a busy night of politicians slinging you know what, I wondered if any of them ever took the time to visit the dividend stock of the decade? This fertilizer company has delivered some very sweet returns to investors for the last decade. Source: Marketwatch.com Date: 01/04/2012 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-dividend-stock-of-the-decade-2012-01-04?siteid=nwtwk Questions for discussion: Why… Read more »
After South Boston, a Restaurant Was Easy
Description: Emerging from the housing projects of South Boston where James Bulger, known as Whitey, once ruled, Barbara Lynch has become one of Boston’s most successful and celebrated restaurateurs. Source: NYTimes.com Date: 01/04/2012 Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/business/smallbusiness/after-south-boston-opening-a-restaurant-didnt-seem-so-risky.html?ref=smallbusiness Questions for discussion: Explain the business success of Barbara Lynch? What entrepreneurial skills does she illustrate in this report that… Read more »
Social Media: The lowly petition has gone viral: Corporate titans beware
Description: Corporate America’s worst nightmare lives in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, loves browsing in flea markets and has a lop-eared brown and white pet rabbit named Crackers. Meet Molly Katchpole. The 22-year-old Washington, D.C. resident has recently tangled with a couple of billion-dollar corporations, and cowed them into submission without breaking a sweat. Source: GlobeandMail.com… Read more »
2011’s worst in tech
Description: RIM joins Netflix and HP as the tech sector’s biggest losers in 2011. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 12/28/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/12/20/ts_tech_losers_2011.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Why did these companies have such a bad year in 2011? Is there a common thread that explains why they performed so poorly? What lessons did you learn about… Read more »
Roll your own cigarettes in NY store
Description: Make your own cigarettes in a store in NY. Too good to be true for some? turns out yes. Cnns richard roth reports Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 12/29/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/12/29/n_roll_your_own_cigarettes.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: What are the related ethical issues represented in this report? Who do you side with? Is the city government… Read more »
Skate to Where the Puck is Going in Startups
Description: Wayne Gretzky famously said that a good hockey player plays where the puck is, while a great player skates plays where the puck is going to be. Yammer founderDavid Sacks says it’s the same with startups. The former PayPal COO says you don’t want to create the 20th version of something that already exists,… Read more »
Slicing Costs, and Still Serving
Description: You see them all across the country, in shopping malls and street corners, suburban towns and city centers: zombie restaurants. Many of the undead are part of familiar chains that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this year: Friendly’s, Chevys, Sbarro, Perkins. The zombie restaurants, barely bringing in enough cash to cover basic expenses,… Read more »
SOPA’s most frightening flaw is the future it predicts
Description: Bob Parsons likes to go to Zimbabwe and shoot elephants. The CEO of GoDaddy, a company that lets customers register Web site domain names, is apparently deeply concerned with the plight of Zimbabwean subsistence farmers, who he says are plagued by marauding elephant gangs that destroy crops and trample fields. Source: GlobeandMail.com Date: 12/28/2011… Read more »
The life of a Christmas tree seller
Description: Christmas tree stand-ups in NYC provide part time jobs for the unemployed in NYC. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 12/22/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2011/12/22/smb_xmas_tree_biz_nyc.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Explain why sales in this business would be a good indicator of how the economy is doing overall? Describe the business process that delivers trees to customers. How… Read more »
