Articles for 04/05/13

Article #1. NASA to Run marketing Video: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-02/nasa-to-run-marketing-video-before-new-star-trek-film#r=hpt-fs

Article #2:  Kareer Me  http://mashable.com/2013/04/03/kareer-me/

Article #3: Porsche Unveils Electric Car: http://mashable.com/2013/04/03/panamera-s-e-hybrid/

Article for 03/27/13

Couldn't find a businessweek article I liked. Check out the following article from the New York Times regarding Target and Database marketing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Ethical? Too Far? or Just a cost of doing business?

Businessweek Articles 03/19/13

Investors Favor Google over Apple: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-14/investors-favor-google-over-apple#r=mar-s

How this Bull Market Stacks up: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-14/how-this-bull-market-stacks-up#r=mar-s

BUS 121 Industry Rankings

Lots of changes in the game rankings this week.

Check it out:  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByPI9x5shrgbbEF2YWltejdVLVk/edit?usp=sharing

Class Canceled 03/06

Students,

Sorry for the late notice of class cancellation. My daughter and wife are both sick. With that being said the following is your assignment (That we were going to do in class). This will count as both your attendance on this day and a quiz grade.

1. Download PepsiCo’s financial statement from 2011 here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByPI9x5shrgbY1hQOWpYZFFkSDg/edit?usp=sharing

2. Complete a ratio analysis (calculate the ratios below for PepsiCo) explaining what each of them mean.

a. Current Ratio

b. Inventory Turnover Ratio

c. Debt to Equity

d. Debt to Assets

e. ROE

f. EPS

3. Compare them to industry statistics (you may not be able to find all ratio statistics for the industry): http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/348.html

4. Comment on PepsiCo’s health compared to the industry

5. If you were a bank, would you be willing to loan money to PepsiCo? Why or why not?

You will submit this to me via email by 07:59am on 03/08/2013 . We will have a quiz on chapter 9 on Friday. We can discuss businessweek articles current game rankings on Friday as well.

Thanks,

Ryan

Article Readings for 03/06/13

•Sports Owners: Being Rich Isn’t what is used to be: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-02/sports-owners-being-rich-isnt-what-it-used-to-be

•Groupon fires CEO, still faces underlying problems: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-03-01/groupon-fires-ceo-still-faces-underlying-problems

•Mississippi. House sells $184 million in bonds: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-02-20/miss-dot-house-seeks-more-than-184-million-in-bonds

Social Entrepreneurship Assignment

Answer the following questions related to social entrepreneurship and "The New Recruit" documentary 1.Define social entrepreneurship. 2.What are the strengths and weaknesses? 3.Do you agree with the statement that "aid and charity on its own will not solve problems"? 4.Do you agree with the ecoTact CEO's strategy with toilets? 5.Do you think it is ethical or unethical? 6.Would you consider social entrepreneurship a viable business opportunity for you? Support your view/answers with examples from "The New Recruits" documentary Submit via email to me as a word document by Monday 03/04 by 8:59am. Late submissions will not be accepted. Worth 2 quiz grades

Articles for class on 02/25

Businessweek Readings (02/25 edition) An AR-15 Semiautomatic is just a Click away Meet the Lords of the flea To fund a startup, go to Kuala lumpur Small to Big: kind Healthy Snacks

Article reading for 02/25

Apocalypse 24/7: Bloomberg Business Week February 18th, 2013 edition. At Wal-Mart: The Doctor is Out: Bloomberg Business Week February 18th, 2013 edition. Bloomberg Businessweek 50: Top perfroming companies: Business Week February 18th, 2013 edition. Erasable You: Bloomberg Business Week February 11th, 2013 edition.

Business Week Article for 02/23 class

Businessweek article for tomorrow: The Turkish King of Greek Yogurt. From the February 4th edition. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-31/at-chobani-the-turkish-king-of-greek-yogurt

Period #2 Results Available

Industry #1 News

Congrats to Daniel and Zane owners of Hebrews Café for their #1 ranking in the balance scorecard. This is Daniel and Zane’s second week at #1. They had a positive net income, their brand awareness increased and customer satisfaction went through the roof.

Cool Beans Café (Parker & Jessica) remain strong at #2.

Hit um Hard (Chad and Tristan jumped up to spot #3). Brand awareness numbers skyrocketed.

Industry #2 News

Congrats to Lizzy and Natalie owners of Chill Beans who remain at #1 this week producing positive net income and increased brand awareness and customer satisfaction.

Lennay’s Café (Cody and Hunter) remain at #2 with strong revenue #’s.

Cuppa Joseph (Matt and Joe drop 1 to #3 but remain competitive.

 

-          Period #2 Review -

 Overall it was a great period #2. By this time some of you should be producing positive net income numbers (hopefully cumulative as well). By period #3, you should strive to produce positive net incomes for your company. 

BUS 121 Update

A few of things I wanted to update you on:

 

1. Next period decisions for BizCafe are due by Midnight on 02/13/2013

 

2. On Wednesday (02/13/13), you will be working on a case study in class with your BizCafe partner(s). This case study will be turned in as an assignment grade on 02/17/13. You will need to complete this electronically so bring a laptop to class (to look up information and type up your answers). The assignments should be emailed to me directly on or before 02/17/13 by 8:59am. Assignments submitted after this time will not be accepted. Hopefully you will finish it all in class (you should have plenty of time).

 

3. Your Exam will occur on Friday (02/15/13). A few of you asked me what to expect on it. Here is the information about the exam:

 

- The exam will cover Chapters 1-5 as well as anything we discussed in class (businessweek articles, christian ethics section etc......). All exam questions are based on practical application; therefore, it is important that you know how to apply definitions and concepts (rather than simply memorize) to solve problems related to the business environment.

 

- The exam will be all multiple choice

 

- 30 to 40 questions will come from Chapter Material (some of the stuff we covered in class, some of the stuff you are responsible for on your own. remember everything from chapter readings to discussions are fair game).

 

- 5 to 10 questions will come from businessweek articles, and the christian ethics talk/activity in class

 

- Utilize book resources (questions in the back on the cards), online lectures posted, powerpoints posted, as well as online resources from your book to help you study

 

 

Email or send me a tweet if you have any questions.

 

Ryan

Period #1 Results are in!!

The period 1 results are in.  Due to the size of the class, we are actually split into two industries.

 

The top 3 in Industry 1 are:

1.       Hebrews                              86.82

2.       Cool Beans Café                               81.06

3.       Hit Um Hard Café             77.91

 

The top 3 in Industry 2 are:

1.       Chill Beans                          90.62

2.       Cuppa Joseph                    84.79

3.       Lennay’s Café                    79.81

 

I have uploaded a sortable spreadsheet with both industries (industry 1 is on sheet #1, industry 2 is on sheet #2) to the course website. In addition, I have also included a team listing so you can see the names of the managers of each coffee shop. Click Course resources

 

We will discuss more about this soon. Remember period #2 decisions are due by 

Articles for 02/04/13

China's Unsafe Water is Nestle's opportunity:  January 28th, 2013 edition of Businessweek.

Articles for class on 02/01/13

We are going to take a look at some international activity of Coca-Cola & Pepsi.

http://www.wphna.org/2011_aug_hp4_coke_pepsi.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_39/b4148051511340.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_39/b4196026887723.htm

Explore the  top 50 of the Fortune Global 500: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/full_list/

Article for 01/30

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-24/in-dubai-services-and-exports-drive-a-new-boom

In Dubai: services and exports drive a new boom

Articles for 01/28/13

In addition to the article assigned on 01/25/13. The following are assigned for Monday:


The Economics of Sports Insurance., The Economicst:  http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21570723-calculations-behind-insurance-athletes-claim-game 


To fix overproduction, China wants to supersize industires., Business weeek. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-25/to-fix-overproduction-china-wants-to-supersize-industries#r=glo-s

Bernanke, B., Benefits of Free Trade: Competing and Prospering in a Global Economy. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20070501a.htm

Article for class on 01/25/2013

The assigned article can be found in the January 21st, 2013 edition of Businessweek. The article is titled "Wage growth may signal inflation ahead".

This article directly corresponds to Chapter 2: Economics. Use the article to make connections with the chapter and be prepared to discuss in class on Friday.

Ryan

Articles for 01/23/2013

Students,

We will discuss the following articles in class from the January 21st issue of Businessweek:

• Love is blind, and costs $3 (or less) 
• Um, Can I get a Receipt? The nine most insane things employees tried to expense last year. 
• Companies & INdustries 5/5 articles (Briefs: Facebook, JPMorgan Chase, Wal-Mart Stores, Boeing, Dell)

Be thinking about the external environment as you read through each of these. 

These are all available in this issue. 

See you then. 

Ryan 

BUS 121 Article to Read: Can Meg Whitman Rescue HP?

Class, We will discuss the following article in class on 01/21:

"Can Meg Whitman Rescue HP". Business Week January 14th issue.

 Link to article: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-10/can-meg-whitman-reverse-hewlett-packards-free-fall

Our discussion will focus on the history of CEO decisions and their effect on the company and a discussion related to all variables of the external environment (L05 in Chapter 1 of BUSN5).

 Questions for reflection:

 How has the business environment affected HP's efforts in the past?
 Which parts of the business environment look most promising for HP? Which look difficult?
 You may want to learn the history of the various CEOs in this article (google them):

Mark Hurd
 Leo Apotheker
 Meg Whitman

 Here is a link to Meg Whitman's plan to revivie HP (interview, very informative): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COfLVRlspfo

You should also visit websites of the companies discussed: HP: hp.com
Autonomy: http://www.autonomy.com/

 Look forward to discussion on Monday (01/21).

 Ryan

test