Description: MySpace co-founder Josh Berman knows how to capitalize on online trends. The entrepreneur behind one of the Web 2.0 era’s most successful companies bet on the rise of social networks, and after spending four years at MySpace and selling the company for over $500 million, he’s on to the next trend. Source: Sprouter.com Date:… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives
Computer geeks king in job hunt
Description: Some undergrads with coding skills get approached by 10 to 20 companies before they even graduate. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 01/06/2012 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/05/n_computer_science_jobs.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Explain the forces driving the job market for graduates with these skills? Do you think the forces in the economy driving this industry are likely to… 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
How Eric Ries Changed the Framework for Startup Success
Description: Eric Ries may be synonymous with startup success now, but in college he was just another kid with a business plan. The entrepreneur behind the Lean Startup philosophy started his first business while still in school at Yale, an online database of student resumes. The company, CatalystRecruiting.com, was a casualty of the dot com… Read more »
Facebook buys Gowalla
Description: Facebook has acquired location sharing service Gowalla for an undisclosed sum, according to a source close to Gowalla. Source: CNNMoney.com Date: 12/02/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/02/technology/gowalla_facebook/index.htm?iid=SF_BN_Lead Questions for discussion: What are the reasons behind this and other acquisitions by Facebook? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy from a strategic managerial as well as… Read more »
The joy (and peril) of small business shopping
Description: Like many Americans, I like to shop at small, locally-owned businesses when I can. Millions of people participated in “Small Business Saturday” this past weekend, with an eye toward improving our local economies. After all, a 2008 study of Grand Rapids, Mich. from research firm Civic Economics found that locally-owned businesses tend to spend… Read more »
