Dell plans first U.S. smartphone with AT&T: source

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management.

Description: Dell Inc plans to launch a smartphone with Google’s Android mobile software on carrier AT&T’s network, a source said, marking the PC maker’s first foray into a cut-throat U.S. cellphone arena.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 10/08/2009

Keys: Competing in world markets (p100), Marketing (p387)

Link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5965IP20091008

Questions for discussion:

  • Who is the target market for this sort of device?
  • How important is the brand to the customer when selecting a device?
  • What advantage or disadvantage does the Dell brand name have with these customers?
  • Do you think Dell’s entry into this market is going to succeed? Explain your answer.

Ralph Lauren admits it needs Photoshop lessons

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment.

Description: I’ve never seen Ralph Lauren in real life, but when he appeared on “Friends” a few years ago, he looked somewhat diminutive and not entirely in the first bloom of slenderness. So I wonder what he might have thought when a recently produced Ralph Lauren ad seemed to feature a model who last ate in 2004 and clearly enjoyed the attention of a plastic surgeon whose diet consisted entirely of mushrooms from the magic department of his local supermarket.

Source: CNET.com

Date: 10/09/2009

Keys: Business Ethics and social responsibility (p32), Marketing (p458)

Link:  http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10372127-71.html?tag=mncol

Questions for discussion:

  • Why do you think some people would say that this advertisement is socially irresponsible?
  • How would you have responded to the publicity if you were Ralph Lauren?
  • Do you think this advertisement might have been created in order to generate publicity for the company and its brand? Explain your answer.

Budget plug-in car for the city

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management.

Description:  Former Mindspring CEO Mike McQuary enters the electric car market with the Wheego Whip.

Source: CNNMoney – video report
 
Date: 10/02/2009

Keys: Small business management (p140), Marketing (p388)

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2009/10/02/tech_all_electric_car_wheego.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion: 

  • Do you think the future belongs to small car companies? Explain why or why not?
  • Who would you select as the target market for these vehicles? 
  • Develop a simple marketing plan and explain your decisions.

Want a job on Wall Street? Good luck.

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

Description: Job cuts in the financial world are expected to persist for some time. But there are bright spots for MBAs, bond traders and investment bankers.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Date: 10/03/2009

Keys: HR (p286), Economy (p66)

Link: http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/news/companies/wall_street_jobs/index.htm?postversion=2009100320

Questions for discussion: 

  • Are there any differences in the hiring and firing practices of Wall Street HR departments and say, GM? Explain your answer.
  • What risk is there to firing employees, especially highly skilled financial specialists?
  • Are there alternatives to firing when revenues drop at a firm? Explain your answer.

Three more U.S. banks closed, nearly 100 for year

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment.

Description: Three U.S. banks failed on Friday, bringing the total to 98 this year, as regulators continue to shutter financial institutions that are overwhelmed by bad loans and liquidity problems.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 10/02/2009

Keys: Banking (p558), Economy (p66)

Link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE59208120091003

Questions for discussion:

  • How are banks similar and yet different from other businesses?
  • Why have these banks failed?
  • How are the problems and successes of the economy reflected in the operations of the banks? Explain your thinking.

How Yahoo is betting its cloud will pay off

Posted by & filed under Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description: There was a day when information technology personnel toiled behind the scenes to make their corporate computing infrastructure work. But in the Internet era, those experts increasingly are getting starring roles in corporate computing leadership rather than being supporting cast members. Such is the case for Shelton Shugar, Yahoo’s senior vice president of cloud computing.

Source: CNET.com

Date: 10/01/2009

Keys: Marketing (p420), Finance (p590), HR (p286)

Link:  http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10364900-264.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think Yahoo’s strategy will work? Why or why not?
  • What advantages and disadvantages are there for clients to use Yahoo cloud computing services?
  • How does the decision to use cloud computing services affect firm’s financial planning?

Ford to build new plant in China

Posted by & filed under 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:  In a global push, the carmaker will open its third plant in China and introduce four new vehicles before 2012.

Source: CNNMoney – video report
 
Date: 9/25/2009

Keys: International business, management, marketing, strategic planning

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2009/09/25/mkts_asia_ford_china_u3x.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion: 

  • Why do you think Ford is building new plants in China? Explain your thinking.
  • What advantages are there besides lower costs for manufacturing? Are there any disadvantages?
  • Do you think the target customers for Ford automobiles could also be customers of Honda’s uni-cycle? If not, who would they be?
  • Where and how could these uni-cycles be sold?
  • What advantages and disadvantages do they have over other forms of personal transportation?
  • Develop a simple marketing approach for one target market.

Bullish Estimates Fail to Keep Up With S&P 500 Gain

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

Description: Strategists at Wall Street’s biggest securities firms can’t keep up with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after the steepest surge since the 1930s.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: 9/23/2009

Keys: Stock markets, economy

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=azdTAKZ2QQ7w

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the explanations for the rise in stock markets as well as the arguments saying they are over-valued?
  • Where do you think the truth lies?
  • How have the markets performed since this article was published?
  • Would you be a buyer or a seller today?

Silicon Valley reinvents the lowly brick

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

Description: Forget microchips. Silicon Valley sees a profitable future in the humble brick thanks to a low-energy production process that illustrates the greening of the U.S. technology capital.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 9/22/2009

Keys: Marketing, new product development, technology

Link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE58K47220090922

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the risks to builders using these new bricks? What risk is there for producers? Explain your thinking.
  • Who are the likely target markets for this innovation? Explain your thinking.

Study shows U.S. bank CEO pay dwarfs rest of world

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

Description: You wouldn’t know it by his pay stubs, but Jiang Jianqing heads the world’s largest bank. Jiang, chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, made just $234,700 in 2008. That’s less than 2 percent of the $19.6 million awarded to Jamie Dimon, chief executive of the world’s fourth-largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 9/23/2009

Keys: Management, HR, ethics

Link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE58M2QU20090923

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think U.S. bank CEOs are fairly compensated? Explain your thinking.
  • How else could compensation for these sorts of important managerial positions be decided? Explain your answer.