The Answer Is (Artificially) Blowing in the Wind

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

Description: ONLY God can make a tree, the poem says. But scientists are working on making artificial leaves that can produce fuels directly from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, just as real leaves do. One day, the new leaves could help people heat their homes and drive their cars.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: 05/21/2011

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/business/22novel.html?ref=energy-environment

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the global ramifications of this technology becoming operational?
  • Where would this technology find adoption by customers more quickly?

Rebirth of the American-made mitt

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: Insignia Athletics of Worcester, Mass., is one of the few athletic manufacturers in the U.S. to make high-end, premium-leather baseball gloves.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 05/12/2011

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2011/05/05/sbiz_baseball_mitt.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • How has this company managed to compete in the marketplace against lower-priced imports?
  • How important do you think the “Made in U.S.A.” label is to the target market?
  • Do you think there is any advantage internationally if the gloves say “Made in U.S.A.”?
  • What other companies should consider following this strategy?

Cody Willard: Why Apple is going to $2,000

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

Description: Cody Willard makes his case for Apple at $2,000 and explains why it could be the first $2 trillion company in market cap.

Source: Marketwatch.com – video report

Date: 05/11/2011

Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/cody-willard-why-apple-is-going-to-2000/4C6F5D5C-B4BC-4737-871C-E5DA3D667949

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the reasons given by the analyst that support his belief in Apple stock rising to such extraordinary levels.
  • Do you agree with his assessment?
  • What else might support this view of future success?
  • What could possibly go wrong over the next 5 to 10 years?

Pricing, ticket sites hit baseball attendance

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

Description: Finding cheap tickets may be part of the fun for baseball fans, but all the browsing around and waiting for the best deals may actually be hurting baseball.

Source: Marketwatch.com

Date: 05/14/2011

Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pricing-ticket-sites-hit-baseball-attendance-2011-05-14

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the major forces affecting the prices paid for tickets today?
  • How can teams respond to these forces?
  • How might technology affect ticket sales in the future?

Google begins war against Windows

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

Description: Google does battle with Microsoft in most of its business areas, but it’s gearing up to tackle the big daddy of them all: Windows.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Date: 05/13/2011

Link: http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/13/technology/google_chrome_os/index.htm

Questions for discussion:

  • Describe the fundamental shift required by users, as planned by Google.
  • Do you think it will succeed with business customers?
  • How about consumers?
  • How might Google go about marketing this new concept in computing?

In Shift, Ads Try to Entice Over-55 Set

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information.

Description: After 40 years of catering to younger consumers, advertisers and media executives are coming to a different realization: older people aren’t so bad, after all.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: 05/13/2011

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/business/media/14viewers.html?ref=business

Questions for discussion:

  • How have advertisers changed their thinking about the over-55 set?
  • Why does this make sense today?
  • Are there other segments that deserve greater attention?

Mother’s Day – flower sales bloom

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

Description: 1800Flowers.com CEO, James McCann says about two-thirds of roughly 84 million American mothers will get flowers on May 8.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 05/06/2011

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/05/05/n_1800flowers.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • Who is the target market?
  • How important is Mother’s Day to this company?
  • What other products have they developed for sale on Mother’s Day?
  • From a buyer behavior perspective, what is the motivation for buyers on Mother’s Day?

How Frito-Lay makes potato chips

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

Description:   Watch how potato chips are made in an environmentally friendly way at a factory run by PepsiCo, no. 43 on the Fortune 500.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 05/05/2011

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/05/04/f_500_frito_lay.fortune/

Questions for discussion:

  • What kind of production process is used at Frito-Lay?
  • How does the process exercise efficiencies?
  • How much do you think the environmental concerns have more to do with saving money?

Sony Apologizes, Offers $1 Million Insurance After Hacking

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

Description:   Sony Corp. (6758) Chairman Howard Stringer apologized and offered U.S. users of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity online services a year of free identity-theft protection after the system was crippled by hackers.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: 05/06/2011

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-06/sony-offers-network-users-free-identity-theft-service-after-hacker-attack.html

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the events that have led to this situation.
  • Do you think Sony’s solution will satisfy customer’s anger?
  • Could Sony have acted differently earlier to mitigate the problem?
  • Do you think this event will have broader impact on Sony and other game manufacturers?

Taco Bell and the Golden Age of Drive-Thru

Posted by & filed under Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 4: Marketing Management.

Description: Operational innovations at restaurants like Taco Bell rival those at any factory in the world. A view from the drive-thru window at how they do it.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: 05/05/2011

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_20/b4228064581642.htm

Questions for discussion:

  • How is the Drive-Thru process similar to the production process?
  • Why is it so important to Taco Bell to be faster?
  • How else could customer satisfaction be improved in the Drive-Thru without reducing wait-times?