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:  Building low-cost housing projects is part of the Chinese government’s plan to restructure its housing sector. But some say it’s a risky strategy for the already shaky real estate industry. Source: Marketwatch.com – video report

Date: 12/30/2011

Link:  http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/china-low-cost-housing-boom/8BAB1EA5-0CC6-4ECC-BA0B-D90B9CA2C4E3

Questions for discussion:

  • How does this project relate to the forces of supply and demand as they affect various areas of the Chinese economy?
  • Do you think housing prices will be affected by this project?
  • Why do you suppose some apartments nearby remain unrented?

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

Description:   After watching a busy night of politicians slinging you know what, I wondered if any of them ever took the time to visit the dividend stock of the decade? This fertilizer company has delivered some very sweet returns to investors for the last decade.

Source:  Marketwatch.com

Date: 01/04/2012

Link:  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-dividend-stock-of-the-decade-2012-01-04?siteid=nwtwk

Questions for discussion:

  • Why has this stock been such a steady performer?
  • Why are dividend pay-outs a good measure of success for investors?
  • Who would be an interested investor in this company?
  • Who might not be interested in being an investor?

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

Description:  Emerging from the housing projects of South Boston where James Bulger, known as Whitey, once ruled, Barbara Lynch has become one of Boston’s most successful and celebrated restaurateurs.

Source:  NYTimes.com

Date: 01/04/2012

Link:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/business/smallbusiness/after-south-boston-opening-a-restaurant-didnt-seem-so-risky.html?ref=smallbusiness

Questions for discussion:

  • Explain the business success of Barbara Lynch?
  • What entrepreneurial skills does she illustrate in this report that might suggest the reasons for her success?

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

Description:  Corporate America’s worst nightmare lives in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, loves browsing in flea markets and has a lop-eared brown and white pet rabbit named Crackers. Meet Molly Katchpole. The 22-year-old Washington, D.C. resident has recently tangled with a couple of billion-dollar corporations, and cowed them into submission without breaking a sweat.

Source:  GlobeandMail.com

Date: 01/06/2012

Link:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/social-networking/the-lowly-petition-has-gone-viral-corporate-titans-beware/article2293673/

Questions for discussion:

  • Why were these petitions successful?
  • What does the quick reversal of decisions say about the quality of the decision-making taking place in these firms?
  • How is this an example of consumerism?

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, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  RIM joins Netflix and HP as the tech sector’s biggest losers in 2011.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 12/28/2011

Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/12/20/ts_tech_losers_2011.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • Why did these companies have such a bad year in 2011?
  • Is there a common thread that explains why they performed so poorly?
  • What lessons did you learn about the people who run big successful companies and then make mistakes?

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

Description:  Make your own cigarettes in a store in NY. Too good to be true for some? turns out yes. Cnns richard roth reports

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 12/29/2011

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/12/29/n_roll_your_own_cigarettes.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the related ethical issues represented in this report?
  • Who do you side with?
  • Is the city government correct to control tobacco use?

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:  Wayne Gretzky famously said that a good hockey player plays where the puck is, while a great player skates plays where the puck is going to be. Yammer founderDavid Sacks says it’s the same with startups. The former PayPal COO says you don’t want to create the 20th version of something that already exists, you have to be innovative and stay ahead of the proverbial puck. “Startups always have to do that, you always have to be ahead of the curve,” he says.

Source:  Sprouter.com

Date: 12/28/2011

Link:  http://sprouter.com/blog/skate-to-where-the-puck-is-going-in-startups/#more-2699

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the thinking about start-ups and their likely success.
  • What message does this article send to entrepreneurs?

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

Description:  You see them all across the country, in shopping malls and street corners, suburban towns and city centers: zombie restaurants. Many of the undead are part of familiar chains that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this year: Friendly’s, Chevys, Sbarro, Perkins. The zombie restaurants, barely bringing in enough cash to cover basic expenses, always seem to be one sizzling fajita or glazed chicken skewer away from a merciful end, but somehow keep hanging on — leaving too many restaurants chasing after scarce dining dollars.

Source:  NYTimes.com

Date: 12/27/2011

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/business/bankrupt-restaurants-are-still-holding-on.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=William%20Neuman&st=cse

Questions for discussion:

  • How does the industry adjust to the supply and demand for service?
  • Do you think any of the chains can be revived?

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

Description:  Bob Parsons likes to go to Zimbabwe and shoot elephants. The CEO of GoDaddy, a company that lets customers register Web site domain names, is apparently deeply concerned with the plight of Zimbabwean subsistence farmers, who he says are plagued by marauding elephant gangs that destroy crops and trample fields.

Source:  GlobeandMail.com

Date: 12/28/2011

Link:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/sopas-most-frightening-flaw-is-the-future-it-predicts/article2285015/?utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=Tech%20Alert%20Weekly&utm_type=image&utm_content=SOPAs%20most%20frightening%20flaw%20is%20the%20future%20it%20predicts&utm_campaign=91952665

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the arguments presented in this report against SOPA.
  • Where do you stand on the issues?

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:  Christmas tree stand-ups in NYC provide part time jobs for the unemployed in NYC.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 12/22/2011

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2011/12/22/smb_xmas_tree_biz_nyc.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • Explain why sales in this business would be a good indicator of how the economy is doing overall?
  • Describe the business process that delivers trees to customers.
  • How do you think prices are derived?