Description: Both merchants and banks balk at a Federal Reserve compromise on fees that businesses pay financial institutions Source: Businessweek.com  Date: 07/07/2011 Link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/sniping-at-charges-for-swiping-debt-cards-07072011.html Questions for discussion: Summarize the key points made in the report. Do you agree or disagree with the decision? Who should set price for these services? What are the consequences… Read more »
Posts Tagged: The Changing Face of Business (p2)
Terrafugia Triumph: At Long Last, Here Come the Flying Cars
Description: Sure, video chat on Facebook is important, but what will really let us know the future has arrived are the flying cars. I’m totally serious. And it’s about to happen. Massachusetts startup Terrafugia is cleaning the final hurdles to getting its $250,000 flying car in the skies  and on the roads. Source: BNET.com… Read more »
Meet the world’s last pinball maker
Description: Stern pinball – the last pinball manufacturer in the world – has found its key to success is to make machines featuring popular brands and names. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 07/01/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/06/30/t-tt-stern-pinball.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Why is there only one remaining producer of this device? What does this say about the… Read more »
BlackBerry maker’s struggles
Description: Shares of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion are down 50% from the start of the year, largely due to disappointing smartphone and tablet sales. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 07/01/2011 Questions for discussion: Summarize the reasons for the demise of company’s share value. Given that the product sells well outside of North America, what… Read more »
An Accordion Epicenter Shrinks and Thrives
Description: Jet-lagged but determined, Salomon Salcedo thought nothing of trekking to this small hilltop town in the Marches region on a muggy June afternoon to satisfy a lifelong desire: buy a made-in-Castelfidardo accordion. Source: NYTimes.com Date: 07/01/2011 Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/business/global/02accordions.html?ref=business Questions for discussion: How has this company managed to succeed? Are there lessons to be shared… Read more »
RIM Averts Shareholder Showdown in Agreement to Study Chairman Role Change
Description: Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), facing a shareholder vote on whether to split its chief executive and chairman roles, agreed to study the overhaul of its management structure to avoid a public showdown at its investors’ meeting this month. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 07/01/2011 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/rim-said-investor-s-proposal-to-split-roles-withdrawn-as-committee-formed.html Questions for discussion: What does this report have to… Read more »
Six Innovation Secrets Your Boss Never Told You
Description: Innovation is hard enough without tripping over your feet. Consider these guiding truths. Intelligence is learning from your own mistakes. Wisdom is learning from the mistakes of others. Here, we offer some hard-earned innovation wisdom. Source: Businessweek.com Date: 06/28/2011 Link: http://www.businessweek.com/management/six-innovation-secrets-your-boss-never-told-you-06282011.html Questions for discussion: Summarize the key points made in the report. Do you… Read more »
France’s secret weapon: Video games
Description: Ubisoft, the maker of ‘Just Dance,’ ‘Assassin’s Creed,’ and other hit games, is taking advantage of being the only large publisher in France, which allows it to recruit top talent. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 06/24/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/06/24/t_ubisoft_video_games.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: How does globalization help a business like Ubisoft? How are employees managed… Read more »
Web Games Threaten the Console
Description: A generation of new titles from the cloud have all the action and graphical richness of traditional shoot-em-ups and strategy games Source: Businessweek.com Date: 06/23/2011 Link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235037448495.htm Questions for discussion: Summarize the key points made in the report. Do you agree or disagree with the findings? What are some technological and social factors that… Read more »
Writing a Check to Make a Bribery Charge Go Away
Description: In late June 2004, a plant manager for one of Tyson Foods’ poultry processing plants in Mexico sent a memo to company headquarters in Springdale, Ark.: two women who “most definitely do not work for Tyson Foods in Mexico†each were paid 30,700 pesos, or about $2,700, a month and had been for years…. Read more »
