Posts Tagged: Production and Operations Management (p314)

Computer geeks king in job hunt

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information.

Description:  Some undergrads with coding skills get approached by 10 to 20 companies before they even graduate. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 01/06/2012 Link:   http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/05/n_computer_science_jobs.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Explain the forces driving the job market for graduates with these skills? Do you think the forces in the economy driving this industry are likely to… Read more »

2011’s worst in tech

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… Read more »

Skate to Where the Puck is Going in Startups

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,… Read more »

The life of a Christmas tree seller

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… Read more »

How Pandora Became a 10-Year Overnight Success

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:  Rarely is a startup an overnight success. Even if a company seems to come out of nowhere and sell months later, there were usually years of work behind the scenes. That’s the case for Pandora founder Tim Westergren. Source:  Sprouter.com Date: 12/21/2011 Link:  http://sprouter.com/blog/how-pandora-became-a-10-year-overnight-success/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the trials and tribulations of the… Read more »

What would make Caterpillar add jobs

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.

Description:  Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman explains what the company needs to hire in the near and long-term. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 12/13/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/12/13/n_cat_ceo_adding_jobs.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: What are the challenges facing the firm? How do these issues relate to your understanding of the state of the economy? What should companies, governments and… Read more »

How Eric Ries Changed the Framework for Startup Success

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:  Eric Ries may be synonymous with startup success now, but in college he was just another kid with a business plan. The entrepreneur behind the Lean Startup philosophy started his first business while still in school at Yale, an online database of student resumes. The company, CatalystRecruiting.com, was a casualty of the dot com… Read more »

Disney’s Big Ambitions for Swampy, an App Star

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:  The cartoon alligator’s hit game on the Apple App Store may lead to books, toys, and a movie Source: Businessweek.com Date: 11/17/2011 Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/disneys-big-ambitions-for-swampy-an-app-star-11172011.html Questions for discussion: Summarize this new business model. Do you think it can be successful? Explain why. What are some other character concepts that could work for Disney?

HP: Nowhere to go but up?

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  I started the week with a column about IBM (IBM, Fortune 500), so it’s only fitting that I end the week with a piece about a company I like to call IBM Lite. Or “Little Blue,” if you will. Source:  CNNMoney.com Date: 11/18/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/18/technology/thebuzz/index.htm?iid=HP_LN Questions for discussion: Summarize the key points presented in… Read more »

Robot army helps run warehouses

Posted by & filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 3 Management: Empowering People to Achieve Business Objectives, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information, Part 6 Managing Financial Resources.

Description:  The future of warehouses may be one with fast shipments and few human employees if robots like Kiva Systems continue to invade the workplace. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report com Date: 11/09/2011 Link:  http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/11/08/ts_kiva_robotics_robot.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: How can this system improve productivity in a warehouse? How would a financial manager make a decision… Read more »