Description: Companies have long emphasized the role of content for providing customers and prospects with useful information and meaningful insight, and the rise of digital distribution and production channels over past years has certainly propelled content marketing to new heights and investments. Source: eMarketer.com Date: 04/23/2012 Link: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008991&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4 Questions for discussion: Why do you think… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Part 4: Marketing Management
Demand Alone Doesn’t Make a Successful Startup
Description:  Odysseas Tsatalos’ entrepreneurship story started during his childhood in Greece. Reading about inventors in his encyclopedia, he decided early on that his dream was to one day see himself in print for one of his inventions. While his parents wanted him to become a doctor, Tsatalos travelled to the U.S. and got his Ph.D… Read more »
Verizon’s Answer to iPhone: Windows
Description: Verizon, fed up with the high costs of offering the iPhone, plans to push smartphones powered by Microsoft’s Windows software, as a counterweight to the popular Apple device. George Stahl reports on digits.Photo: HTC. Questions for discussion: How is the cost of a smart phone spread out through distributors? What risk does Verizon face… Read more »
Disney Bets on ‘The Avengers’ After ‘John Carter’
Description:  In the months prior to the release of Walt Disney’s (DIS)John Carter sci-fi epic, Hollywood debated why the film wasn’t catching fire with potential moviegoers. Maybe it was the ho-hum trailers; a title that didn’t cue viewers that the story took place on Mars; or the departure of the studio’s marketing chief two months… Read more »
Five Ways to Turn Your Website into a Sales Machine
Description:  Your online presence is a vital part of any sales strategy. But is your website the sales powerhouse it should be? Source: Entrepreneur.com Date: 04/16/2012 Link: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223348 Questions for discussion: What do you think of these recommendations? What other suggestions would you make?
Nokia: The Finnish RIM
Description: Mobile device makers Nokia and Research in Motion continue to struggle against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 04/11/2012 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2012/04/11/mkts-bz-nokia-rimm.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you think there is a strategic solution for either of these firms? How much blame lies with management? Explain.
Best Buy CEO out as shoppers move online
Description:  Best Buy Co Chief Executive Brian Dunn has left the world’s largest consumer electronics chain, which has struggled against stepped-up competition from internet retailers and discounters. Source: Reuters.com Date: 04/10/2012 Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/10/bestbuy-idUSL2E8FA3ZK20120410 Questions for discussion: Is there a solution to this shopping trend working against Best Buy? What sort of manager is needed in this… Read more »
Instagram’s Systrom Builds $1 Billion Application in Two Years
Description:  Silicon Valley is one of the few places where a 27-year-old Web entrepreneur can parlay a photo-sharing application with no known source of revenue into $1 billion — in two years. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 04/10/2012 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-10/instagram-s-systrom-builds-1-billion-application-in-two-years.html Questions for discussion: Do you think the background experience of these two entrepreneurs had anything to do… Read more »
Avon, 125 years old
Description: Avon Products, the iconic door-to-door cosmetic seller, celebrates 125 years in business, Felicia Taylor reports. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 04/02/2012 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/03/09/n_avon_taylor.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: What does the Avon brand represent to women today? What are the benefits to Avon’s participation in social causes?
Hostess Serves New Batch of Cuts
Description: If negotiations fail, Hostess and its unions will face off in a trial over whether the company can scrap its labor contracts-an example of how wage levels across many once-vibrant industries are falling. Mike Spector reports on Markets Hub. Photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images. Source: Marketwatch.com – video report Date: 04/02/2012 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/hostess-serves-new-batch-of-cuts/A64EE3DD-0867-4DE5-B20B-F85496993B9A Questions… Read more »
