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 »
Posts Categorized: Part 1 Business in a Global Environment
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 »
Internet poker owner says he broke U.S. gambling law
Description: One of the owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a criminal charge of deceiving U.S. banks over the processing of gambling proceeds. Source: Reuters.com Date: 12/20/2011 Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/20/us-poker-fraud-plea-idUSTRE7BJ1DE20111220 Questions for discussion: Do you think the punishment will act as a deterrent to other illegal actions by… Read more »
How Pandora Became a 10-Year Overnight Success
Description: Rarely is a startup an overnight success. Even if a company seems to come out of nowhere and sell months later, there were usually years of work behind the scenes. That’s the case for Pandora founder Tim Westergren. Source: Sprouter.com Date: 12/21/2011 Link: http://sprouter.com/blog/how-pandora-became-a-10-year-overnight-success/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the trials and tribulations of the… Read more »
Put customers first — except on your website
Description: (MoneyWatch) Customer needs are important, but a business website — just like any other — should be based primarily on what you want and what you intend. Then you can think about the customer. The web is a great place for interaction, but it also risks information overload when it comes to customer feedback…. Read more »
Retail therapy
Description: How Ernest Dichter, an acolyte of Sigmund Freud, revolutionised marketing Source: TheEconomist.com Date: 12/17/2011 Link: http://www.economist.com/node/21541706 Questions for discussion: Summarize the highlights in this report. What do you agree or disagree with in the analysis?
What would make Caterpillar add jobs
Description: Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman explains what the company needs to hire in the near and long-term. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 12/13/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/12/13/n_cat_ceo_adding_jobs.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: What are the challenges facing the firm? How do these issues relate to your understanding of the state of the economy? What should companies, governments and… Read more »