Pfizer whistleblower’s ordeal reaps big rewards

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

Description: Taking on corporate giants can feel like tilting at windmills, but John Kopchinski’s six-year legal battle against Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) just made him a rich man. The Gulf War veteran and former Pfizer sales representative will earn more than $51.5 million as a result of his whistleblower lawsuit against the world’s biggest drugmaker and the record penalty the company must pay the U.S. government for its massive marketing transgressions.
Source: Reuters News

Date: 9/03/2009

Keys: Law, ethics, management, marketing

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN021592920090903

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think this story will motivate or deter potential whistleblowers to come forward? Explain your thinking?
  •  Do you think the financial reward was appropriate? Besides, fines and awards, how else would you suggest the regulatory authorities work to deter illegal corporate behavior?

A winning formula for fashion retail

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

Description: Chic digital merchant Net-a-porter is proving that women will buy a $2,000 dress with just a click of a BlackBerry.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Date: 9/03/2009

Keys: Marketing, retailing, technology

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/02/technology/net_a_porter.fortune/index.htm

Questions for discussion:

  • How would you describe this target market and their buyer behavior?
  • Do you think this concept can grow to include a large portion of retail buyers or is it a niche?
  • How would you expand this business with special promotions?
  • Can this model work with other categories of consumer products that are normally purchased at retail stores? Explain your thinking.

Zipcar’s $1 billion ambitions

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management.

CEO Scott Griffith says the car rental company plans to grow its customer base and become a billion-dollar company.

Source: CNNMoney – video report
 
Date: 8/26/2009

Keys: Marketing, buyer behavior, small business

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2009/08/26/f_tt_zipcar_ceo_griffith.fortune/

Questions for discussion:

  • Who is the target customer for Zipcar?
  • What are the firm’s competitive advantages over alternative customer choices?
  • Besides local governments, who else could be a potential new large-scale target market?
  • Would you be a potential customer of Zipcar? Explain why or why not.
  • Could someone who owns a car also possibly be a Zipcar customer? Explain your answer.
  • How would you go about building the customer base?

UPDATE 2-Time Warner Cable, Verizon to test TV on the Web

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management.

Two more U.S. pay-TV providers, Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), plan to test systems to offer shows on the Web to paying customers in a bid to protect their subscription revenue.

Source: Reuters News

Date: 8/27/2009

Keys: Marketing, pricing, new product development, technologies

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN2732267220090827

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think that this business model of paying for television programming by subscription will work or will consumers avoid the service? Explain your thinking. 
  • Would you set the price for this service on a flat rate for all subscribers, on a scale related to the amount of viewing, or some other method? Explain your thinking.
  • What advantages and disadvantages are there for this sort of model? Explain your thinking.

More questions than answers on Google Books

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management.

Google’s Dan Clancy had patiently answered question after question regarding Google’s’ Book Search settlement with publishers and authors until late in the afternoon Friday, when he was finally left speechless. A young man from the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information asked Clancy what kind of message was sent when Google decided to “copy first and answer questions later.” The question–for which there’s no safe answer, if you’re in Clancy’s shoes–perhaps underscored the core of the opposition to the settlement, reached in October, after Google was sued in 2005for scanning out-of-print works without explicit permission.

Source: CNET News.com

Date: 8/29/2009

Keys: Law, ethics, management, marketing

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10321371-265.html?tag=mncol

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you have any concerns for the way in which Google handled the copyright issue?
  • What were the ramifications for Google if it had sought all legal permissions from the start? Do you think this decision has given Google unfair advantage over competitors? Explain your thinking.
  • How can Google commercialize this content in the future?

Intel raises outlook on PC sales optimism

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

Chipmaker says demand for microchips will be better than expected in the current quarter. Raises sales and gross margin estimates.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Date: 8/28/2009

Keys: Marketing, economy

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/28/technology/intel_raises_outlook/index.htm?postversion=2009082809

Questions for discussion:

  • Why are Intel’s projections an important indication of future economic activity for firms such as computer and other electronics manufacturers?
  • Why do you think sales of electronic products are likely to increase in the business and the consumer markets? Explain your answer.
  •  Are you planning to buy an electronic product in the next three to six months? Explain the reason for your purchase.

The birth of Costco

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

Costco CEO Jim Sinegal on how the wholesale retailer went from concept to $1 billion in just three years.

Source: CNNMoney – video report
 
Date: 8/17/2009

Keys: Management, marketing, small business

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2009/08/17/sbiz.hwgs.costco.sinegal.smb/

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the small business developmental history of Costco into the firm that exists today?
  • What were some of the key problems faced by management in the early years?
  • What would you say is the key competitive advantage offered to customers that has resulted in Costco’s success?
  •  In which ways do you think Costco will be different in say, five years from today? For example, will its customer base or product offering change?

Corporate BlackBerrys to get Google Apps syncing

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management.

If your office has given you a BlackBerry for work purposes, you may soon be accessing your Google Apps Gmail, calendar, and contacts via the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Source: CNET News

Date: 8/21/2009

Keys: Marketing, market segmentation, new product development, technologies

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10315236-2.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Questions for discussion:

  • How does this new product development help RIM and Google as well as their corporate clients? Explain your answer.
  • Although this article highlights developments to better serve the corporate market, how could it be argued that it also will be attractive to the broader consumer market for smart phones? Explain your answer.

Reader’s Digest to File Chapter 11 to Reduce Debt (Update2)

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

Reader’s Digest Association Inc., the publisher of the pocket-sized magazine, will likely file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy under an agreement with a majority of its secured lenders to reduce debt by 75 percent.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: 8/17/2009

Keys: Marketing, management, finance, bankruptcy

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=asX0oQc5YBZc

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think there is a market for this venerable magazine today? Explain your thinking.
  • What would you do to revive the magazine? Explain your marketing strategy in terms of target markets, and the four Ps of marketing.

Gap’s denim revamp

Posted by & filed under Part 4: Marketing Management.

The chain’s new line of jeans is designed to compete with $200-a-pair designer models but costs a lot less.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Date: 8/13/2009

Keys: Marketing, pricing, product development, consumer behavior, strategic planning

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/13/news/companies/gap_denim_jeans.fortune/index.htm

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think that the new jeans will revive sales at The Gap? Explain your thinking.
  • How can one product, like jeans, influence the overall buying behaviour of consumers? Explain your answer in terms of a consumer decision-making model to purchase clothing.