UK’s Mail Online holds top spot through combination of whimsy and savvy

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

Description:  If someone is an internet user, there’s a decent chance they are reading the newspaper online. According to comScore, 644 million people worldwide visited online newspaper sites this October, which it estimates to be 42.6% of the world’s internet users. As their business models continue to tilt away from print and toward digital, newspaper outlets around the world are competing to win the attention of this large and growing audience.

Source:  eMarketer.com

Date: Dec 26, 2012

Link: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009565#HzQMjHoSOFIWLsZU.99

Questions for Discussions:

  • How are advertising revenues changing for print and online news sources?
  • Are you surprised by the list of top global online news sources?
  • How do you think the news publishing business is going to look in five years time?
  • How do you think pay-walls affect consumer decisions about the sites they visit?

5,500 people fund Made in USA undies

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business, 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: Flint and Tinder used Kickstarter to bring men’s underwear manufacturing back to the US, but was surprised by the challenges they encountered.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Dec 17, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/12/17/t-kickstarter-flint-tinder.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • How did this company get the needed financing to succeed?
  • How did this approach to financing dove-tail with marketing?
  • Do you think this approach could work with other products?

GM Buying 200M Shares, U.S. to Exit in 12-15 Months

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

Description: Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Dominic Chu reports that General Motors will purchase 200 million shares of its stock from the U.S. Treasury as part of the department’s plan to sell its entire holding of GM stock within 15 months. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “In The Loop.”

Source: Bloomberg.com – video report

Date: Dec 19, 2012

Link: http://bloom.bg/XJiyR2

Questions for Discussions:

  • What is the government’s motivation to reduce the amount of ownership of GM?
  • Do you think the transition will be smooth, with respect to the market price of the shares?
  • How does government ownership affect the purchase of automobiles and other vehicles?
  • Why are GM executives motivated to remove government ownership?

Watching Searches by Content Fleet Seen Saving Newspapers

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management.

Description:  Sixteen hours before Whitney Houston was pronounced dead on Feb. 11, a startup in Hamburg noticed a surge in Web traffic about the American singer after she had been seen drunk and arguing in a Hollywood club. The data analysis company, Content Fleet GmbH, knew Houston would dominate headlines the next day

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: Dec 16, 2012

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-16/watching-searches-by-content-fleet-seen-saving-newspapers.html

Questions for Discussions:

  • How does this technology assist reporters and their newspapers?
  • What is the down-side of everyone in the business following the same trending stories?
  • Do you think this technology will help the newspaper business?

Instagram Does Damage Control. Can It Keep Its Core Users?

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

Description:  Once Instagram courted professional photographers. On Dec. 17, it kicked them in the teeth—or so the reaction to the photo-sharing site’s new terms of service suggests. On Instagram, professional photographers were not pleased.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: Dec 18, 2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-18/instagram-does-damage-control-dot-can-it-keep-its-core-users#r=hp-lst

Questions for Discussions:

  • What happened in this management decision-making fiasco?
  • Do you think management believed the decision would be “all right” with the customer base?
  • Is the negative publicity manageable?

Are executives too big to jail?

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  Critics ask why many bankers don’t face money-laundering charges

Source:  Associated Press: VancouverSun.com

Date: Dec 19, 2012

Link: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/executives+jail/7719105/story.html#ixzz2FVWyW6mP

Questions for Discussions: 

  • Do you think some executives should be jailed?
  • What are the implications if they are and what are the implications of they are not jailed?
  • How should financial penalties be decided in these large-scale operations of fraud or money laundering?
  • Should the shareholders be held financially responsible for criminal activities by executives? If not shareholders, who?

 

Anti-Gravity Innovation

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management.

Description: Bloomberg Enterprise is your exclusive look at the leadership and strategy behind America’s most intriguing and growing businesses. This week, how Alter-G founder Sean Whalen is defying gravity with his father’s space-age idea.

Source: Bloomberg.com – video report

Date: Dec 12, 2012

Link: http://bloom.bg/VW7Nzj#ooid=Z5YTBsNzq5GPGYjbHWD0nCyEvAxQtIt8

Questions for Discussions:

  • What are the product development possibilities for this technology?
  • How can the technology help in the medical applications field?
  • How should the technology be sold?
  • Would licensing the technology in order to produce other engineered products make sense?

EA’s Moore Says Mobile Gaming Future of Industry

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: Peter Moore, chief operating officer at Electronics Arts Inc., talks about the transition to mobile gaming and EA’s games. He speaks with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.” Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton also speaks.

Source: Bloomberg.com – video report

Date: Dec 07, 2012

Link: http://bloom.bg/UCDhpx#ooid=Rsd2JsNzqa56Bz9ML2QeDhgQtZjqUG1i

Questions for Discussions:

Summarize the trends taking place in this industry.

Where do you think the industry is going?

Do you think other businesses will be losing customers to this industry?

In an era of mobile apps, is there room for the children’s toy?

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management.

Description:  Fourteen years ago, Hasbro unleashed a small, furry, wide-eyed toy into the world. It came in wild colors, spoke a strange language and disliked when its owner held it upside down.

Source: SmartPlanet.com

Date: Dec 13, 2012

Link: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/report/in-an-era-of-mobile-apps-is-there-room-for-the-childrens-toy/752?tag=main;carousel

Questions for Discussions:

  • How does the report respond to the question in the title?
  • What is your opinion?

Walmart vs. Union-Backed OUR Walmart

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives.

Description:  Cindy Murray has been working at Walmart store No. 1985 in Laurel, Md., for 13 years. She’s stationed in the fitting rooms and earns $12.40 an hour. Murray, who’s in her fifties, says she loves her job. She thinks of herself as a model employee.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: Dec 13, 2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/walmart-vs-dot-union-backed-our-walmart#r=hp-ls

Questions for Discussions:

  • What are the labor issues facing Wal-Mart and its employees?
  • What strategy do you think employees should take?
  • What strategy should management at Wal-Mart take?