RIM’s latest foe: fickle youth

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

Description:  When Emily Davis bought her first smartphone, all of her friends had BlackBerrys, so she got one, too.

Source: GlobeandMail.com

Date: June 26, 2012

Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/tech-news/rims-latest-foe-fickle-youth/article4369765/?utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=Business%20Ticker&utm_type=text&utm_content=BusinessTicker&utm_campaign=95917966

Questions for Discussions:

  • Why has Blackberry lost its halo with young consumers?
  • Is there a way to revitalize the brand?
  • What should the ideal product package offering look like, in your opinion?

How we know you’re afraid to invest

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

Description:    CNNMoney has a new way to help you gauge whether investors are greedy or fearful. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: June 20, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/06/19/n-fear-and-greed.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the methodology used to explain stock market behavior?
  • Do you think it is a useful way of measuring and predicting behavior?
  • Based on the current readings, what are your predictions for the market over the next three months?

 

Angry Moms Take On Nutella To Fight Sugary Advertising

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:  Laura Rude-Barbato, a coffee shop owner in Imperial Beach, California, used to feed her children Nutella several times a week. It was easy to identify with the advertising that depicted a frenzied mom serving up the chocolate-hazelnut spread with the tagline “breakfast never tasted this good,” said Rude-Barbato. Then she noticed the 10.5 grams of sugar per tablespoon. “I had no idea,” she says. “I might as well have been giving my kids a brownie for breakfast.”

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: June 21, 2012

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-21/angry-moms-take-on-nutella-to-fight-sugary-advertising.html

Questions for Discussion:

  • What are the social, ethical, and legal issues related to items in this report?
  • What is your view of the division of responsibility when it comes to advertising and consumer behavior?
  • How should managers deal with these issues in order to minimize lawsuits and bad publicity?

Facebook, Twitter Help Publishers Find Their Audience

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

Description: On Facebook and Twitter, a significant percentage of users get news they would not have read elsewhere

Source: eMarketer.com

Date: Jun 22, 2012

Link: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009138&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4

Questions for Discussions:

  • How is Facebook changing consumer behavior?
  • How will this affect the businesses mentioned in the report?
  • How should these businesses respond?

 

The First Five Years of the iPhone Obsession

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

Description: On June 29, 2007, the first iPhone went on sale. The Apple (AAPL) device benefited from breathless advance buzz but also had its skeptics: It cost $600 and had no physical keyboard, limited e-mail options, and no copy-and-paste. In hindsight, it was clearly dumb to bet against Steve Jobs & Co. Apple has since sold more than 217 million iPhones worldwide and sparked a commercial, cultural, and—most surprising—behavioral revolution. According to a study of medical workers at the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., 76 percent say they’ve experienced “phantom vibration,” that insistent buzz from an imagined text or phone call. Scientists speculate it’s the result of random nerves firing, biochemical noise that our brains easily tuned out until they were reconditioned by the iPhone.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: June 21, 2012

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-21/the-first-five-years-of-the-iphone-obsession#p1

Questions for Discussions:

  • What is your answer to the question in the report: Is the iPhone a “bicycle for the mind,” as the late Steve Jobs said about the first Mac, or a crutch that does too much of our thinking for us and increasingly takes the place of real human connections?
  • What future product development can you imagine for iPhone and other similar devices?

 

Know Where The Money is Going Before You Ask For I

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:  Squarespace founder Anthony Casalena didn’t necessarily know he wanted to start a business, but he did have a clear concept of what he wanted. “I was trying to make my personal website and I wasn’t satisfied with any of the existing services” said Casalena in interview, “I had a very clear concept of what I wanted to create and how I wanted to do it, so becoming an entrepreneur was the natural next step.”

Source: Sprouter.com

Date: June 20, 2012

Link: http://sprouter.com/blog/know-where-the-money-is-going/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20+June+2012+%2F%2F+Squarespace+founder+Anthony+Casalena%2C+Hot+StartUps%2C+Events+%26+Resources&utm_campaign=Sprouter+Weekly%3A+June+20%2C+2012&utm_term=_0D_0AKnow+Where+the+Money+Is+Going+Before+You+Ask+for+It_0D_0A

Questions for Discussions:

  • What should drive the decision to start a new company, according to Casalena?
  • What does Casalena have to say about the way to handle growth of a start-up?
  • What does he have to say about managing the operations of the firm and the value of outsourcing services?
  • How should financing and investors be viewed?

Where Jim Rogers is putting his money

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

Description:    If you think 2012 is scary, listen to what Jim Rogers has to say about next year, gold and China.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: June 14, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/06/13/n-jim-rogers-gold.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the economic views expressed by Jim Rogers.
  • Why does he believe we will experience a “lost decade”?
  • What reasons are there to support a belief in economic growth?
  • Where do you think the global economies are headed over the next ten years?

How Aetna Is Building a Social Media Presence

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:  In this video I interview Lauren Vargas, who is the Community Management Strategist at Aetna. Lauren shares how Aetna is to building a corporate presence on social media instead of focusing on a campaign approach in their marketing efforts as they have done in the past.

Source: Socialmediaexaminer.com – video report

Date: June 15, 2012

Link: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-aetna-is-building-a-social-media-presence/

Questions for Discussion:

  • Evaluate Aetna’s strategic use of social media?
  • What other things could they be doing with social media to improve operations?

 

Rajat Gupta Convicted Of Insider Trading By U.S. Jury

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

Description: Rajat Gupta, who reached the pinnacle of corporate America as managing partner of McKinsey & Co. and as a director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), was convicted by a federal jury of leaking inside information to hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: June 15, 2012

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-15/rajat-gupta-convicted-of-insider-trading-by-u-s-jury.html

Questions for Discussions:

  • Is there a better way to run operations of the board of directors so that insider trading violations are easier to track and control?
  • How can management better control the flow of secretive information?
  • Do you believe the publicity surrounding this case will affect managers’ thinking or their behaviors?
  • What does this story say about the public image of people and the law?

 

Immigrants’ Role in the Small Business Economy Grows

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: The share of U.S. small businesses owned by immigrants has expanded by 50 percent since 1990, with almost one-fifth of business owners born outside the country, according to a new report (PDF) by the Fiscal Policy Institute.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: June 15, 2012

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-14/immigrants-role-in-the-small-business-economy-grows `

Questions for Discussions:

  • What are the highlights of this report?
  • How are they explained?
  • Are you surprised?