A High-End Brand Tries a Different Sales Channel

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:  Last week, we published a case study about Eve Pearl, an Emmy-winning TV makeup artist who founded a cosmetics company by the same name. In June 2011, with online sales and traffic at her three-year-old Manhattan boutique slower than desired, Ms. Pearl, 46, listened hard when ShopNBC, the nation’s third-largest 24-hour home shopping network, invited her to appear live with some of her high-end products.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Oct 03, 2012

Link:  http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/a-high-end-brand-tries-a-different-sales-channel/?ref=smallbusiness

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the highlights in this report that should help small businesspeople like Eve Pearl.
  • Are you surprised by any of the suggestions?
  • How else can she improve sales and operations?

The farmers market goes digital

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: Mobile apps can shorten the food chain, skipping grocery stores and connecting farmers directly to consumers.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Sep 27, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/09/27/n-farmigo-digital-farmers-market.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Which marketing functions are being provided by the Internet system that is connecting farmers directly with consumers?
  • How is this system more socially responsible?
  • Do you believe the farmer deserves more than the 20% mentioned in the report currently divided by the industry?

How a tech co. ended up in Concord, Mass.

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.

Description: Concord, Mass. wasn’t co-founder Paul English’s first choice for Kayak’s HQ, but he did it for the sake of recruiting the best talent.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Sep 27, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/magazines/fortune/2012/09/26/ldrshp-kayak-4.fortune/

Questions for Discussions:

  • What does this report say about the way in which businesses are formed and business people are recruited?
  • Why do you think Concord, Mass was considered a desirable location?
  • Why would senior managers leave a higher paying job for one paying less?
  • What does this report say about recruitment, leadership, motivation, and the team-concept?

Ammunition for a Trade War Between U.S. and Mexico

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:  Estimates are that nearly one out of two tomatoes eaten in the United States comes from Mexico — a statistic  Florida growers would like to change, even at the risk of a trade war.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Sep 27, 2012

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/business/global/tomatoes-are-ammunition-for-a-trade-war-between-us-and-mexico.html?ref=business

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the issues related to this situation.
  • What are the reasons for the problem?
  • Who are the winners and losers at the moment?
  • Why would the US government favor lower priced tomato imports?
  • How do you think this conflict will be resolved?

Marketers Watching Google+ for SEM Impact

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

Description:  Google+ doesn’t have the user base or marketer interest of Facebook or Twitter, but its connection to search results is causing marketers to closely watch the growth of the site.

Source:  eMarketer.com

Date: Sep 27, 2012

Link:  http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009381&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4#tFJKY77s4DQt1J7R.99

Questions for Discussions:

  • Describe the decision-making criteria marketers use to select social media.
  • Why is Google+ behind in popular ranking by marketers?
  • How can they compete better against Facebook and Twitter?

The myth of the entrepreneurial personality

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.

Description:  (MoneyWatch) I’m incredulous when I read or hear people talking about some kind of prototypical entrepreneurial profile. Many well-meaning experts, and even empirical research, would have you believe that most successful entrepreneurs fit an identifiable personal mold. But based on my own experience, and my associations with many entrepreneurs — both successful and not so much — over two decades, this is simply not true.

Source: CBSMoneyWatch.com

Date: Sep 25, 2012

Link:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505143_162-57518920/the-myth-of-the-entrepreneurial-personality/?tag=nl.e857&s_cid=e857

Questions for Discussions:

  • How does the report describe the entrepreneurial personality?
  • How does this compare to the textbook description?
  • Which do you think best describes entrepreneurs?

Goya knows what bean you like

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.

Description: Goya says it became the U.S.’s biggest Hispanic-owned food company by catering to the tastes of varied Latin-American groups.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Sep 19, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2012/09/19/sbiz-hwgs-goya.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the entrepreneurial factors that explain the success of the firm?
  • What are the demographic and other factors that suggest the firm will continue to succeed?
  • Besides the Hispanic market, who else might be a customer?
  • Should the firm’s marketing strategy be different for the non-Hispanic market?

Starbucks Gives Single-Serve a Shot

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

Description: Starbucks is planning a big ad campaign to launch its Verismo single-cup espresso-based beverage machines–the coffee company’s first foray into selling machines–which CEO Howard Schultz claims will be a “game changer” for its ability to make lattes with milk pods. Julie Jargon has details on Lunch Break.

Source: Moneywatch.com – video report

Date: Sep 21, 2012

Link: http://on.wsj.com/S7oyiR

Questions for Discussions:

  • Do you think this product will be a big success for Starbucks?
  • What are the challenges the company faces as it launches this product?
  • Is there a risk that the product will cannibalize their existing sales?

Medicare Bills Rise as Records Turn Electronic

Posted by & filed under Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  When the federal government began providing billions of dollars in incentives to push hospitals and physicians to use electronic medical and billing records, the goal was not only to improve efficiency and patient safety, but also to reduce health care costs.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Sep 21, 2012

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/business/medicare-billing-rises-at-hospitals-with-electronic-records.html?_r=1&hp

Questions for Discussions:

  • What are the explanations in the report for rising health care costs?
  • How can they be controlled better by administrators using the same technology that is generating the increases?

Ancestry.com’s Genealogical Juggernaut

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information.

Description:  In July, Ancestry.com (ACOM) announced that it had uncovered evidence that links President Barack Obama, through his white Kansan mother, to one of the earliest known slaves in North America. Obama’s also related to Brad Pitt. The genealogical website says they’re ninth cousins. Warren Buffett is family, too. He’s Obama’s seventh cousin, three times removed. In recent years Ancestry.com has also connected Obama to Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, even Rush Limbaugh—and they’ve got the paper trail to prove it.

Source:  Businessweek.com

Date: Sep 20, 2012

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-20/ancestry-dot-coms-genealogical-juggernaut#r=hp-lst

Questions for Discussions:

  • Why do you think there is such great interest in knowing ancestry linkages?
  • How can Ancestry.com generate more revenues?
  • What sort of related businesses might be able to capitalize on these database search services?
  • Are there ethical issues related to this business model?