I.B.M., Looking to Buy Sun, Sets Up a Software Strategy

Posted by & filed under Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business.

I.B.M.’s interest in acquiring the server computer maker Sun Microsystems for nearly $7 billion may seem at first to be a reversal of its recent efforts to move away from the hardware business. But analysts say there is more to Sun than servers, which are used in corporate data centers. They say its strengths in software, systems design and research make it an attractive target.

Source: NYTimes

Date: 3/18/2009

Keys: mergers and acquisitions, marketing, finance

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/companies/19sun.html

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think the acquisition makes strategic sense for IBM? For Sun Microsystems?
  • What does each party gain by the merging of their resources into a larger market player?
  • Do you think that IBM  will be seen as a greater threat by competitors than before this merger?

Food Industry Safety Inspections Challenged

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

The food industry’s self-policing system failed to catch poor conditions at a peanut processing plant blamed for a nationwide salmonella outbreak, lawmakers said Thursday. The House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee released new documents and pictures Thursday that attested to long-standing sanitary problems at facilities owned by Lynchburg, Va.-based Peanut Corp. of America. The company is at the center of a nationwide outbreak that has sickened nearly 700 people and is being blamed for at least nine deaths.

Source: WSJ

Date: 3/19/2009

Keys: operations management, ethical and legal issues, government

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123746051155183071.html

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think government agencies or the businesses in an industry should be responsible for the control of the nation’s food supply?
  • What would you suggest is a better approach than the current system?
  • Should the business people involved at Peanut Corp. be held legally accountable for damages caused by their business practices?

AIG names names, now what?

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How did the largest insurance company in the world fall apart? Who’s to blame? Watch Poppy Harlow’s attempt to explain the decisions being made by managers, investors and governments.

Source: CNN – video report

Date: 3/16/2009

Keys: Finance, stock markets, banking, insurance, government

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/03/16/news.031609.maloney.cnnmoney/

Questions for discussion:

  • Should governments let the stock market sort out the financial problems at AIG?
  • How concerned should the general public be about the decisions being made today to support AIG and other failing institutions?