Enhanced eBooks: Next Frontier or Passing Fad?

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  A new crop of digital books comes loaded with videos, songs, animated shorts and pop-up graphics. Is this the future of publishing or just a passing fad? Alexandra Alter has details on Lunch Break.

Source: Marketwatch.com – video report

Date: 01/19/2012

Link:  http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/enhanced-ebooks-next-frontier-or-passing-fad/C6B97950-5E0F-4EBD-9986-3FB1369FE4AF

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think this new concept in ebooks will be well received?
  • Which markets do you think will most likely be targeted by developers?

Apple Unveils IBooks 2 to Help Boost IPad Usage in Schools

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

Description:  Apple Inc. introduced a service to make digital versions of textbooks available on the iPad and beef up the education content for the tablet computer as it gains popularity in classrooms.

Source:  Businessweek.com

Date: 01/20/2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-20/apple-unveils-ibooks-2-to-help-boost-ipad-usage-in-schools.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of technology?
  • Do you think this strategy will be successful?
  • What are the issues that must be reconciled with students, schools, teachers, and authors?

7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site

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:  In what authorities have called one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have seized the Web site Megaupload and charged seven people connected with it with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy. Source:  NYTimes.com

Date: 01/20/2012

Link:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/technology/megaupload-indictment-internet-piracy.html?ref=business

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the conflicting issues in this situation?
  • Where do you stand on these arguments over copyright?
  • What do you think will eventually emerge as an attempt to resolve the problems?

Building a business with unwanted customers

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

Description:   A Newark, N.J. dental operation is turning a profit by focusing on the patients that most dentists shy away from: Medicaid recipients.

Source:  Fortune.com

Date: 01/20/2012

Link:  http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/20/behind-a-newark-business-success-find-unwanted-customers/?iid=SF_F_LN

Questions for discussion:  What are the social and ethical issues related to this business? What other businesses might be modeled the same way?

If Apple made a TV …

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

Description:  TV makers at CES say they are not worried about Apple breaking into their business. But should they be? 

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 01/11/2012

Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/01/11/t_ces_apple_tv.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • What sort of features would you expect if and when an Apple TV is introduced to the marketplace? 
  • How might consumers change their TV viewing behavior?
  • Do you think an entry into the TV market by Apple would disrupt the industry?

Social media success Rx: “Be a little crazy”

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: Clara Shih is an early achiever. At age five, she arrived in the U.S., from Hong Kong, with her parents. With no access to bilingual education, she was initially placed in special classes for kids with speech impediments and advanced so rapidly that she scored a 1420 on her SATs — in eighth grade. She started her company, Hearsay Social, at age 27, made Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs last year, and married her neurologist boyfriend in October (delaying her honeymoon to attend the Fortune MPW Summit.) Last month, Shih was tapped to replace Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on the Starbucks (SBUX) board. And today, she turns 30 years old. There is no better timing for the Hearsay Social CEO to share, well, lessons from her youth.

Source: Fortune.com

Date: 01/11/2012

Link:  http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/11/social-media-success-clara-shih/?iid=SF_F_River

Questions for discussion: 

  • What does this report say about entrepreneurialism?
  • Do you agree with the argument that “everything will be social”?
  • What does this suggest about future start-up ideas?

Park City Eatery Balks at Credit Card Fines in Rare Court Fight

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, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:   Stephen and Cissy McComb say they managed their Italian eatery in Park City, Utah, for more than two decades without running afoul of security rules of Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. — until they were accused of mishandling data and opening the door to $1.26 million in fraud.

Source:  Bloomberg.com

Date: 01/1o/2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-10/park-city-eatery-balks-at-credit-card-fines-in-rare-court-fight.html

Questions for discussion: 

  • What are the legal and social issues involved in this report?
  • How can small businesses deal with the problems related to credit card companies and their policies?

Turning to Tech on the Road

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

Description:  If Mercedes, BMW and Ford have their way, the new cars they build will be able to port apps, games, music and movies from a smartphone to a car’s entertainment system.

Source:  NYTimes.com

Date: 01/11/2012

Link:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/technology/automakers-incorporate-technology-into-safety-updates.html?ref=business

Questions for discussion: 

  • What are the issues related to the merging of smart-technologies and the automobile?
  • How can safety be reconciled with other social needs?

MySpace Co-founder Moves From Social Networking to Social Commerce

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.

Description:  MySpace co-founder Josh Berman knows how to capitalize on online trends. The entrepreneur behind one of the Web 2.0 era’s most successful companies bet on the rise of social networks, and after spending four years at MySpace and selling the company for over $500 million, he’s on to the next trend.

Source:  Sprouter.com

Date: 01/11/2012

Link:  http://sprouter.com/blog/myspace-co-founder-moves-from-social-networking-to-social-commerce/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=11+January+2012+%2F%2F+Hottest+StartUps%2C+Events+%26+Resources&utm_campaign=Sprouter+Weekly%3A+January+11%2C+2012&utm_term=btn-readon_png

Questions for discussion:

  • What suggestions does Josh Berman have for successful management of start-ups?
  • Why do you think these retail sites are so successful at selling to consumers?
  • Was MySpace a failure?

Computer geeks king in job hunt

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:  Some undergrads with coding skills get approached by 10 to 20 companies before they even graduate.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 01/06/2012

Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/05/n_computer_science_jobs.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • Explain the forces driving the job market for graduates with these skills?
  • Do you think the forces in the economy driving this industry are likely to endure for long?
  • What other non-programming jobs are likely to be tied to this industry?
  • How much do you think the industry is influenced by entrepreneurial drive?