Description: Dell Inc plans to launch a smartphone with Google’s Android mobile software on carrier AT&T’s network, a source said, marking the PC maker’s first foray into a cut-throat U.S. cellphone arena. Source: Reuters.com Date: 10/08/2009 Keys: Competing in world markets (p100), Marketing (p387) Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5965IP20091008 Questions for discussion: Who is the target market for… Read more »
Posts By: Brahm Canzer
Ralph Lauren admits it needs Photoshop lessons
Description: I’ve never seen Ralph Lauren in real life, but when he appeared on “Friends” a few years ago, he looked somewhat diminutive and not entirely in the first bloom of slenderness. So I wonder what he might have thought when a recently produced Ralph Lauren ad seemed to feature a model who last ate… Read more »
Budget plug-in car for the city
Description: Former Mindspring CEO Mike McQuary enters the electric car market with the Wheego Whip. Source: CNNMoney – video report  Date: 10/02/2009 Keys: Small business management (p140), Marketing (p388) Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2009/10/02/tech_all_electric_car_wheego.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you think the future belongs to small car companies? Explain why or why not? Who would you select as… Read more »
Want a job on Wall Street? Good luck.
Description: Job cuts in the financial world are expected to persist for some time. But there are bright spots for MBAs, bond traders and investment bankers. Source: CNNMoney.com Date: 10/03/2009 Keys: HR (p286), Economy (p66) Link: http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/news/companies/wall_street_jobs/index.htm?postversion=2009100320 Questions for discussion: Are there any differences in the hiring and firing practices of Wall Street HR departments… Read more »
Three more U.S. banks closed, nearly 100 for year
Description: Three U.S. banks failed on Friday, bringing the total to 98 this year, as regulators continue to shutter financial institutions that are overwhelmed by bad loans and liquidity problems. Source: Reuters.com Date: 10/02/2009 Keys: Banking (p558), Economy (p66) Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE59208120091003 Questions for discussion: How are banks similar and yet different from other businesses? Why… Read more »
How Yahoo is betting its cloud will pay off
Description: There was a day when information technology personnel toiled behind the scenes to make their corporate computing infrastructure work. But in the Internet era, those experts increasingly are getting starring roles in corporate computing leadership rather than being supporting cast members. Such is the case for Shelton Shugar, Yahoo’s senior vice president of cloud… Read more »
Ford to build new plant in China
Description: In a global push, the carmaker will open its third plant in China and introduce four new vehicles before 2012. Source: CNNMoney – video report  Date: 9/25/2009 Keys: International business, management, marketing, strategic planning Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2009/09/25/mkts_asia_ford_china_u3x.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Why do you think Ford is building new plants in China? Explain your thinking…. Read more »
Bullish Estimates Fail to Keep Up With S&P 500 Gain
Description: Strategists at Wall Street’s biggest securities firms can’t keep up with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after the steepest surge since the 1930s. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 9/23/2009 Keys: Stock markets, economy Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=azdTAKZ2QQ7w Questions for discussion: Summarize the explanations for the rise in stock markets as well as the arguments saying they are… Read more »
Silicon Valley reinvents the lowly brick
Description: Forget microchips. Silicon Valley sees a profitable future in the humble brick thanks to a low-energy production process that illustrates the greening of the U.S. technology capital. Source: Reuters.com Date: 9/22/2009 Keys: Marketing, new product development, technology Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE58K47220090922 Questions for discussion: What are the risks to builders using these new bricks? What risk… Read more »
Study shows U.S. bank CEO pay dwarfs rest of world
Description: You wouldn’t know it by his pay stubs, but Jiang Jianqing heads the world’s largest bank. Jiang, chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, made just $234,700 in 2008. That’s less than 2 percent of the $19.6 million awarded to Jamie Dimon, chief executive of the world’s fourth-largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co…. Read more »
