In order for professional football to resume later this year, a new collective bargaining agreement must be negotiated between the team owners and the players union (which technically is non-existent). Since no agreement currently exists, the owners locked players out earlier this month. That means that players are not allowed to use team facilities for… Read more »

Pay is the cornerstone of the employment contract. It is difficult to find any worker that is not concerned about their pay to some degree. Although no specific study is cited, in one article, U.S. President Barack Obama references the historical gender pay gap. The second article reports a study conducted by Statistics Canada revealing… Read more »

Dealing with employee problems is rarely enjoyable, yet action is often necessary to ensure problems are not repeated. When the National Hockey League gave its toughest suspension of the season to the Pittsburgh Penguin’s Matt Cooke, it was trying to send a clear message that violent hits are unacceptable. Cooke is popular with his teammates… Read more »

Entrepreneurial activity has been increasing slightly each year during the three years of recession. The paths to business ownership taken by four individuals are chronicled and provide a nice case study in entrepreneurship. QUESTIONS: Discuss how Rino Greenwood’s story parallels that of Anita Roddick in your text. What are the common entrepreneurial elements in the… Read more »

On the eve of the company’s 40th anniversary, USA Today’s Bruce Horowitz interviewed Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Topics include the company’s iconic status, its resiliency, plans for the future, as well as an analysis of successes and failures. One thing appears clear – Schultz is deeply committed to the company and plans to be out… Read more »

Without question, Google is the leading search engine on the internet. Advertisers flock to the company. Businesses (and other websites) clamor to move up in Google’s rankings. Yet not everyone is satisfied that Google’s results are the best they can be. University of California Visiting Scholar Vivek Wadhwa says a lot of spam makes its… Read more »

The much anticipated annual letter to shareholders from Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett is out and the picture is quite rosy. Berkshire reported a 61% increase in earnings for 2010 and net income swelled to $13 billion. The company is poised to make major acquisitions in 2011. The success of 2010 is due largely to… Read more »

Two weeks ago it was Egypt. This week it is Libya. Who knows where the unrest will be in the future. One thing is certain – the political situation in the Middle East is definitely unstable. Predictions about oil supply and pricing are equally unstable. Few will argue that oil drives the world economy and… Read more »

Following the protests in Egypt and the fall of Hosni Mubarak, many are questioning how the Egyptian government chose to respond to social media and the internet. Rather than harnessing its power or, at least minimally, trying to manage it, Mubarak’s regime simply tried to shut it down. Other governments take different approaches, some going… Read more »

In the real-life version of life imitating art, males in their late teens and early 20s are following different personal and career paths from their fathers. The net (yes, pun intended) results are exciting developments in technology and social media. The hubris of youth is the engine for innovation and entrepreneurship. So let “boys be… Read more »