Description: Fancy a last-minute ticket to the opening ceremonies? Get ready to fork over about a thousand bucks. How about a glimpse at Shaun White at Wednesday’s halfpipe finals? It’ll set you back another $1,400. And as for rink-side seats at the men’s ice hockey final game… those will cost you more than this year’s… Read more »
Posts By: Brahm Canzer
Toyota woes lead to bargains from rivals
Description: Prices on Toyota’s vehicles, not surprisingly, have slipped in light of the recalls, but rivals have also slashed their prices to capitalize on a rare period of weakness for the world’s biggest carmaker. Source: Marketwatch.com Date: 02/10/2010 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/toyota-woes-lead-to-bargains-from-rivals-2010-02-10?siteid=nwtwk Questions for discussion: Summarize the explanation for these changes to pricing strategies. Do you believe… Read more »
Credit Card Limits for Youth Can Be Opportunity for Parents
Description: This month, large parts of the credit card bill that President Obama signed into law in 2009 go into effect. Among them are rules governing credit card use by anyone under 21 years old. Starting Feb. 22, they can’t get a credit card unless they have an independent source of funds to pay the… Read more »
These tablets do what the ‘iPad don’t’
Description: With apologies to Sega’s classic “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” ad campaign, there are many tablet and touch-screen PCs that do things the upcoming Apple iPad simply can’t. While Apple’s tablet runs a version of the company’s iPhone operating system, most of these tablets run different flavors of Windows, and (at least in theory) are… Read more »
Toyota customers keep the faith
Description: Despite Toyota’s recent recalls, customers remain committed to the automaker. Source: CNNMoney – video report  Date: 02/03/2010  Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/02/03/toyota_dealership_customers.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you think the damage done to the Toyota brand can be corrected? Explain how or why it can’t. How do you think the communications effort by the dealerships should be… Read more »
Buyer interest in Prius grows. Say what?
Description: By now, you’ve heard that some 2010 Toyota Priuses have a braking problem blamed for several crashes. That sounds scary, but to some it sounds like a deal. Source: CNNMoney.com Date: 02/05/2010 Link: http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/05/autos/prius_deals/index.htm Questions for discussion: Explain how the negative publicity could in fact help boost sales at Toyota Prius? Can the publicity… Read more »
Amazon reshelves Macmillan titles but not e-books
Description: Online retailer Amazon.com Inc resumed selling hardcover and paperback books from Macmillan Publishers late on Friday in a sign the two companies are getting closer to resolving a pricing dispute over Macmillan’s electronic books, which remain unavailable on Amazon. Source: Reuters.com Date: 02/07/2010 Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61517220100207 Questions for discussion: Why would Amazon wish to sell… Read more »
A Search Engine That Relies on Humans
Description: A report this week laying out a strategy for social search has been getting a good deal of attention in tech circles. The paper, “Anatomy of a Large Scale Social Search Engine,†was written by Damon Horowitz and Sepandar Kamvar of Aardvark, one of several companies working on creating social search engines. As of… Read more »
Many retailers post strong January sales gains
Description: Fueled by gift-card redemptions, clearance sales and almost pitifully easy comparisons, the nation’s retailers seem, on balance, to have posted their fifth straight monthly sales gain in January, according to sales figures released Thursday. Source: Marketwatch.com Date: 02/04/2010 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/many-retailers-post-strong-january-sales-gains-2010-02-04?siteid=nwtwk Questions for discussion: Summarize the retailing report. Explain how these results suggest the future… Read more »
Toyota recalls spread
Description:  More bad news for the world’s largest automaker as another 2 million vehicles will be recalled in Europe and China. Source: CNNMoney – video report  Date: 01/28/2010  Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2010/01/28/mkts_toyota_recall_siemens.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you think that this problem will hurt Toyota sales in the long term? Some might argue that the response by… Read more »
