Posts Categorized: Part 5 Managing Technology and Information

Best Buy’s moves meet with investor skepticism

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics chain, swung to a fourth-quarter loss, hurt by charges and lower sales of notebook computers and televisions. Source: Marketwatch.com Date: 03/30/2012 Link:  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/best-buy-swings-to-loss-to-shut-50-stores-2012-03-29?siteid=nwtwk Questions for discussion: Summarize the reasons for Best Buy’s financial problems. Do you think they can be resolved easily?

Total Worldwide Social Network Ad Revenues Continue Strong Growth

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Description:   Worldwide social network ad revenues are still going strong and set to grow nearly 50% this year, according to eMarketer estimates. Source:  eMarketer.com Date: 02/24/2012 Link:  http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008862 Questions for discussion: What explains this rate of growth? At what point do you think it will level off? How should marketing managers deal with this information?

YouTube bets $100 million on original content

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information.

Description:   YouTube is enlisting Hollywood’s help to reach a generation of viewers more familiar with smartphones than TV remotes. Source:  USAToday.com Date: 02/20/2012 Link:  http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/story/2012-02-20/youtube-original-content/53170394/1 Questions for discussion: Do you think this production strategy can work? What other YouTube channel concepts do you think would succeed? Who are the target markets for these concepts?

Gen Y Speeds Up Luxury Goods Spending

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Description:   Flash sale sites and the fashion industry’s maturing web presence boost sales to young consumers Source:  eMarketer.com Date: 02/22/2012 Link:  http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008854&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4 Questions for discussion: Summarize the highlights in this report. Do you agree with the reasons given? Where do you think the marketplace is headed?

How Millennial Men React to Mobile Ads

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Description:  eMarketer estimates that the number of US smartphone users will rise 44% this year to over 106 million. And as these users continue to do more activities on their phones, their likelihood of exposure to mobile advertising becomes assured. Source:  eMarketer.com Date: 02/13/2012 Link:  http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008834&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4 Questions for discussion: What does this research suggest to… Read more »

250,000 ask Apple to change its labor ways

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information.

Description:  Petitions with over 250,000 signatures were delivered to Apple stores calling for reforms to working conditions in its suppliers’ factories. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/02/09/t-ts-change-org-signatures.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you think Apple is being singled-out when the concerns likely apply to any company manufacturing in China? How should Apple’s management deal with… Read more »

How Zuckerberg changed the game

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information.

Description:  Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg grew the college dorm room startup to a global tech giant with more users than most countries’ populations. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 02/03/2012 Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/02/02/f_game_changers_facebook.fortune/ Questions for discussion: Who is Mark Zukerberg? Do you think his engineering background affected the way he managed the development of the company?

The $1.6 Billion Woman, Staying on Message

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  SEVENTY-TWO hours before Facebook’s big moment, Sheryl K. Sandberg was half a world away, hobnobbing with the likes of Bill Gates and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Source:  NYTimes.com Date: 02/03/2012 Link:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/business/sheryl-sandberg-of-facebook-staying-on-message.html?ref=business Questions for discussion: How would you describe Sheryl Sandberg? Do you think her gender has helped, hurt, or made no difference in… Read more »

Small Business Exports Edge Up

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information.

Description:  Small businesses have increased their share of exports in the two years since President Obama set a goal to double U.S. sales abroad by 2015, according to new federal data. Source:  Businessweek.com Date: 02/02/2012 Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/running_small_business/archives/2012/02/small_business_exports_edge_up.html Questions for discussion: What are the reasons for the improved exports by small businesses? Can this be sustained?… Read more »

Kaiser CEO: Time to end piecemeal healthcare

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Description:  George Halvorson, CEO of non-profit healthcare insurer Kaiser Permanente, says the current U.S. healthcare system will drive the economy into the ground. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 01/26/2012 Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/26/n_davos_halvorson_health.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Describe how the not-for-profit and for-profit healthcare businesses work? How should healthcare work, according to CEO George Halvorson? How could… Read more »