Employers step in to prevent staff burnout

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Description: Volkswagen turns off some employees’ email 30 minutes after their shifts end. Goldman Sachs is urging junior staff to take weekends off. BMW is planning new rules that will keep workers from being contacted after hours. Source: VancouverSun.com Date: Dec 07, 2013 Link: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Employers+step+prevent+staff+burnout/9259561/story.html#ixzz2mnpH6D2r Questions for Discussions: What does the article say about the… Read more »

The Rise and Fall of BlackBerry: An Oral History

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Description: In 1984, Mike Lazaridis, an engineering student at the University of Waterloo, and Douglas Fregin, an engineering student at the University of Windsor, founded an electronics and computer science consulting company called Research In Motion, or RIM. For years the company tinkered in obscurity, until it focused on a breakthrough technology: an easy, secure,… Read more »

Fined $3,500 for critical online review

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Description: Online merchant KlearGear.com fined a customer $3,500 for posting a critical review about the company’s customer service. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: Nov 29, 2013 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/11/29/fined-for-bad-online-review.cnnmoney/index.html Questions for Discussions: What are arguments for and against management applying this policy? Is the publicity surrounding this story likely to hurt sales at the firm… Read more »

Interns who sued now can’t find jobs

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Description: Former Hearst intern Diana Wang says her lawsuit over an unpaid internship at Bazaar has made it difficult to find a full-time job. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: Nov 18, 2013 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/11/18/n-asher-interns-sue-companies-job-prospects.cnnmoney/index.html Questions for Discussions: What are the ethical and legal issues surrounding internship working conditions and contracts? What are the potential… Read more »

Facebook’s pain may be Instagram’s gain

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Description: BLOG: Facebook (FB-Q 47.01 0.52 1.12%) may have a problem with teenagers. During its third quarter earnings call, CFO David Ebersman admitted Facebook saw a decrease in daily users in its latest quarter, specifically among younger teens. Since then Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has been in damage control mode – saying the reaction to Ebersman’s comment… Read more »

BlackBerry shakeup: Third time’s a charm?

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Description: The Canadian phonemaker has seen three management regimes in as many years. Is this the one that will save the company from obsolescence? Source: Fortune.com Date: Nov 25, 2013 Link: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/11/25/blackberry-shakeup-third-times-a-charm/?iid=F_F500M Questions for discussion: How important is a new management team for the firm at this time? How do think the introduction of yet… Read more »

GE Turns to 3D Printers for Plane Parts

Posted by & filed under Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description: General Electric (GE), on the hunt for ways to build more than 85,000 fuel nozzles for its new Leap jet engines, is making a big investment in 3D printing. Usually the nozzles are assembled from 20 different parts. Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing can create the units in one metal piece, through a successive… Read more »

Why Data Analytics is the future of everything

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Description: Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and Civis Analytics Chief Executive Officer Dan Wagner discuss the way big data can change everything from corporate strategy to the way people vote. They speak with Trish Regan at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead: 2014 conference at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Source: Bloomberg) Source: Bloomberg.com – video report… Read more »

McDonald’s CEO: We will continue our expansion

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Description: McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson speaks with Bloomberg Television’s Betty Liu at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead: 2014 conference at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Source: Bloomberg) Source: Bloomberg.com – video report Date: Nov 21, 2013 Link: http://bloom.bg/18U53UH#ooid=5zNXBqaDreGgymOn83TY2NeE0R4Ff_Qy Questions for Discussions: What did you learn about CEO Don Thompson and his management style by watching this… Read more »