Retailers Use Technology to Manage the Holiday Rush

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description:  A Thanksgiving weekend study (PDF) by small business finance provider Capital Access Network shows a 3.9 percent increase in same-store credit and debit-card sales at Main Street restaurants and merchandisers, compared to the same period in 2011. A recent look at how Etsy sellers are faring this holiday season indicates that sleepless nights lie ahead. How canindependent retailers make the most of inexpensive technology to better manage their holiday rush online and off? Here are a handful of suggestions:

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: Dec 11, 2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-11/retailers-use-technology-to-manage-the-holiday-rush#r=nav-f-column

Questions for Discussions:

  • Summarize the advice provided to small business operators in this article.
  • Which do you think is most important?
  • What other advice would you suggest?

Google Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Description:  Google Inc. (GOOG) avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show.

Source:  Bloomberg.com

Date: Dec 10, 2012

Link:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-10/google-revenues-sheltered-in-no-tax-bermuda-soar-to-10-billion.html

Questions for Discussions: 

  • Explain how tax laws have influenced financial planning at Google.
  • Is there anything ethically wrong with management’s decisions?
  • How should government respond to the situation?

 

Management, Organizational Behavior, International Business – Organization, Strategy, Decision

Making, Controls, , Ethics & Social Responsibilit, Leadership, Groups & Teams, Culture,

International Business Issues

What Shutterfly learned from Instagram

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description: Shutterfly CEO Jeffrey Housenbold talks about how the popular smart phone photo app changed his company.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: 04, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/12/04/t-shutterfly-instagram.fortune/

Questions for Discussions:

  • What does this report tell you about strategic management thinking and philosophy at Shutterfly?
  • What did Shutterfly learn by studying Instagram?

Old school bookstore thrives in NYC

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description: The Strand Bookstore in New York has held on for over 80 years despite the changing city around it.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Dec 07, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2012/12/07/sbiz-old-bookstore-the-strand-new-york.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Describe the similarities and differences between the operations of this book store and online competitors?
  • Who is the target customer for this book store?
  • Why would the culture within the organization be critically important for continued success of the business?

6 reasons manufacturing is returning to North America

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description:  Lower transportation costs, competitive wages, technology and employee productivity have made North America a manufacturing destination. In a sign of this manufacturing renaissance, GE, one of the world’s largest appliance manufacturers, gearing up its almost-dormant Louisville facilities for new product development and production.

Source: SmartPlanet.com

Date: Dec 05, 2012

Link:  http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/6-reasons-manufacturing-is-returning-to-north-america/7422?tag=nl.e660&s_cid=e660

Questions for Discussions:

  • Which of these reasons do you think is key to driving manufacturing back to North America?
  • Which industries do you think are most likely to respond to these influences?

No Sleep Till Christmas: Etsy Sellers’ Haggard Holidays

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description:  To keep up with orders on the world’s largest marketplace of handmade stuff, Kelly Engel starts sewing shortly after her four-month-old son wakes up at 4 a.m., and works until her husband, a school counselor, leaves at 7:30 a.m. She squeezes in a couple of hours while her two boys (her oldest is two and a half) nap in the afternoon. In the evenings, Engel returns to the sewing table until midnight, making the organic cotton baby shoes and clothes she sells through her Etsy store, Growing Up Wild.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: Dec 05, 2012

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-05/no-sleep-till-christmas-etsy-sellers-haggard-holidays

Questions for Discussions:

  • What does this article tell you about the character of small business artisans?
  • In which ways do you think the business people in this article are representative of most small business owners?

Why Hewlett-Packard Should Consider Breaking Up

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description:  The struggling technology company is an amalgam of businesses that could be worth more separately than they are together.

Source:  TheDailyBeast.com

Date: Dec 07, 2012

Link:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/07/why-hewlett-packard-should-consider-breaking-up.html

Questions for Discussions: 

  • What are the arguments for breaking up and keeping H-P as it is today?
  • Do you think H-P should be broken up?
  • Is there a re-organization solution for management to consider?
  • Describe what that would involve.

Small businesses worry about the fiscal cliff

Posted by & filed under Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description: Owners of a limousine company and a jewelry business weigh in on what the fiscal cliff means for their bottom lines.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Nov 30, 2012

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2012/11/30/smb-fiscal-cliff-small-business-limo-gold.cnnmoney/ 

Questions for Discussions:

  • What does this report say about the state of small business and their thinking about the economy?
  • What is their view about the impact of the Fiscal Cliff on their businesses?

Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description: When most well-intentioned aid workers hear of a problem they think they can fix, they go to work. This, Ernesto Sirolli suggests, is naïve. In this funny and impassioned talk, he proposes that the first step is to listen to the people you’re trying to help, and tap into their own entrepreneurial spirit. His advice on what works will help any entrepreneur.

Source: TED.com – video report

Date: Nov 30, 2012

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen.html

Questions for Discussions:

  • What messages are directed by Ernesto Sirolli toward understanding and facilitating entrepreneurship?
  • Do you agree with his analysis and recommendations?
  • Do you think they apply globally?

For advertising, a user experience revolution

Posted by & filed under International Business, Management, Organizational Behavior.

Description:  Lynn Teo is impressed. “It’s funny,” she says, “how just one gesture can make such an impact.”We’ve met at the cafe of the Crosby Street Hotel in lower Manhattan. It’s a few days before Thanksgiving, and the dining room already bustles with extra guests. Noting the noise and my tabletop recorder, Teo asked the hostess for a quieter table. The woman lead us to a private drawing room. Teo’s fascinated by consumer behavior, and clearly revels in observing her own “user” experience. She notes how our hostess’s gesture has ensured her future patronage to this cafe.

Source:  SmartPlanet.com

Date: Nov 26, 2012

Link:  http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/report/for-advertising-a-user-experience-revolution/654?tag=nl.e662&s_cid=e662

Questions for Discussions:

  • What is “UX”?
  • How should companies incorporate UX into their planning?
  • How should creative work by ad agencies incorporate UX?
  • Does UX call for unconventional organization structure and management?