Jack Daniel’s Parent Targets a Varied Customer Base

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

Description:  Ted Hissey is senior vice president and director of innovation, consumer planning and global marketing services for spirits and wine producer Brown-Forman, marketer of brands such as Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort, Korbel, Chambord and Finlandia. Hissey oversees new product initiatives, market research and marketing services that support B-F’s brands on a global basis. Hissey spoke to eMarketer’s Debby Garbato about how B-F is using digital media to promote new and existing products.

Source: eMarketer.com

Date: Sep 07, 2012

Link:  http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009327&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4#RreESO6m5KWUAOup.99

Questions for Discussions:

  • Describe the use of social media by the firm.
  • Do you have an ethical or social responsibility concern with the use of social media for the promotion of alcoholic beverages?
  • Do you think there should be restrictions or controls on the use of social media for marketing alcoholic beverages?

How Crayola crayons are made

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: For over 100 years, Crayola has mixed and molded crayons in the hopes of encouraging creativity in children.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Aug 29, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2012/08/29/sbiz-hwgs-crayola-crayons.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Why do you think crayons and Crayola brand in particular have endured for so many generations?
  • Describe the manufacturing process that was illustrated in the video clip.
  • Why does it lend itself to automation so readily?
  • Can you think of a reason to explain the manual loading of large-boxes of crayons?

Facebook Shares Hit New Lows

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: Facebook shares fell 5% to new lows Friday as two analysts from firms that underwrote its initial public offering cut their price targets on the shares, Paul Vigna reports on the News Hub. Photo: AP.

Source: Moneywatch.com – video report

Date: Aug 31, 2012

Link: http://on.wsj.com/R3hzXy

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the explanation in this report for why Facebook share values continue to fall.
  • Do you agree with the analysis?
  • Would you be an investor in the shares?

A Weight-Loss Strategy From an Unlikely Pair

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

Description:  WHEN Myles Berkowitz first met Steven Kates through a mutual friend in 2006, Mr. Berkowitz had serious doubts about him.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Sep 01, 2012

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/business/lifesize-a-weight-loss-strategy-from-an-unlikely-pair.html?ref=business

Questions for Discussions:

  • What is the key selling point in this dieting system?
  • Why do you think it is it successfull with consumers?
  • How else would you promote the concept?

The Innovation That Could Make Most Job Interviews Obsolete

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

Description:  Today I met with three representatives from a seven-year-old company called HireVue that is changing the way a lot of people get hired. Founded by a guy named Mark Newman when he was just 20 years old and fresh out of Westminster college in Salt Lake City, HireVue provides one-way video interviews where candidates respond to pre-set questions without a live person on the other side. Job seekers record the interviews at a time of their choosing and hiring managers watch the interviews when they are ready. In other words, instead of showing up someplace for a job interview, you create the interview yourself on video and send it in.

Source: Forbes.com

Date: Aug 28, 2012

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/08/28/the-innovation-that-could-make-most-job-interviews-obsolete/

Questions for Discussions:

  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system?
  • Can the disadvantages be supported in some other way?
  • How would you improve the design of this system?

Warren Buffett’s simple recipe for success

Posted by & filed under Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  I don’t know how to put this, but … Warren Buffett is awesome, and you and me, we almost certainly are not.

Source: MontrealGazette.com

Date: Aug 27, 2012

Link:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Warren+Buffett+simple+recipe+success/7152863/story.html#ixzz25E1ueyGx

Questions for Discussions:

  • What does this report suggest are the reasons for Buffett’s success?
  • What sort of investor should emulate this strategic thinking?

Obama’s small biz solar star fades

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: A small solar business, once the leading light of President Obama’s green jobs program, is now caught in an international trade dispute.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Aug 24, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/08/23/n-obama-solar-star-not-shining.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the history of this start-up business.
  • What are the lessons to be learned about the globalization of business and the risks associated with government interventions?

eBay: The biz to beat in mobile payments

Posted by & filed under Part 5 Managing Technology and Information, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:   Forget Google Wallet and Square, eBay and its payment unit PayPal are the top dogs in mobile payments … at least for now.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Aug 23, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/investing/2012/08/23/investing-mobile-payments-ebay-google.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • What makes eBay so attractive to investors today?
  • Would you be an investor?

Employing Dietitians Pays Off for Supermarkets

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

Description:  Lois E. Florence recently left her doctor’s office with a diagnosis of colitis, an intestinal disorder, and a complicated set of instructions for changing her diet.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Aug 24, 2012

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/business/dietitians-pay-off-for-supermarkets.html?_r=1&ref=business

Questions for Discussions:

  • Explain the logic of adding the services of dietitians at supermarkets.
  • How can managers calculate the ROI from this effort?
  • What are the marketing implications for the supermarket?

Apple Gets $1 Billion From Samsung—Nothing Changes

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: Apple got the best of Samsung in the first of their many patent trials to go to a U.S. jury. A nine-person panel came back to the federal courtroom in San Jose, Calif., Friday afternoon, after only three days of deliberation, and announced that the Korean electronics giant had infringed six of the seven patents for Apple mobile devices that were at issue in the trial. The verdict came with a $1.05 billion price tag, less than half of what Apple was looking for, but not too shabby, all the same.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: Aug 24, 2012

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-24/apple-gets-1-billion-from-samsung-dot-and-nothing-changes

Questions for Discussions:

  • What does this reporter say about the real meaning of the litigation activities between Apple and Samsung?
  • How do you think this process will affect the marketplace as consumers choose brands?