People: The Number One Asset

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What radical thinking! Cashiers barred from interacting with customers until they have completed 40 hours of training? Hundreds of staffers sent on trips around the U.S. and world to become experts in their products? No mandatory retirement age? Never laying off workers? All profits reinvested in the company or shared with employees? This is the… Read more »

Big News at Amazon: Fulfillment Robots

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Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it agreed to buy Kiva Systems Inc for $775 million in cash, a deal that will bring more robotic technology to the e-commerce company’s giant network of warehouses. Questions: 1. What other companies use this kind of robot technology? 2. Discuss the trend of Amazon’s fulfillment costs and what they… Read more »

Embrace Change

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Kodak, the 131-year-old film pioneer, filed for bankruptcy protection last month. News got worse this week when the company announced they would stop doing what they were the first to ever do – manufacture digital cameras. Then on Feb. 15, Apple asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sue Kodak for patent infringement, resulting from… Read more »

Super Bowl Sunday!

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Well it’s almost time for the Super Bowl again.  So get the snacks ready in front of the big screen TV.  But what comes with the game and half-time?  Of course, the commercials.  However, the hoopla behind Super Bowl ads has spawned a team of skeptics. Growing research shows the $3.5 million that advertisers pay… Read more »

The Cost of Sweet Music

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Manuel Rodriguez III owns the century-old family business of the same name, heir to a tradition of guitar manufacturers which dates back to 1905 when his grandfather gave up fishing in Cadiz to dedicate his life to his musical passion. Now the Spanish guitar factory is looking beyond Europe to keep the company competitive. Questions:… Read more »

The Volcker Rule

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Regulators released a proposal on Oct. 11 known as the Volcker Rule, which is aimed at overhauling how the banking industry carries out its trading activity. The proposal, spanning about 300 pages, includes provisions that scrutinize how banks collect revenue, award compensation and track their compliance with the Volcker Rule. According to financial industry lawyers and lobbyists these will challenge… Read more »

New Banking Fees

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Customers are frustrated by new controversial fees from banks. However, they are finding out that it is not so easy to disentangle your life from your bank. Questions: 1. What does the article list as the main reason(s) that customers will stay with a bank, even though they are unhappy about new fees? 2. Which… Read more »

The Cost of Financial Ignorance

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In Hernando de Soto’s very interesting commentary, he expands Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s thoughts that the U.S. needed to “re-learn some of the lessons” that have led to success among emerging market economies. The bulk of his commentary focuses on the reliability of accounting records that guarantee or make credit trustworthy, including the deeds,… Read more »

Groupon in the News

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Groupon disclosed a major accounting change on Friday, essentially halving its once-jaw-dropping revenue after it encountered resistance from regulators with its filing to go public. Groupon, the online coupon titan, announced separately that its chief operating officer of about five months, Margo Georgiadis, resigned and will return to her former employer, Google, as president of… Read more »

Bank of America and Loan Modifications

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  Many Americans have applied for the federal government’s loan modification program, meant to keep them in their homes. Instead, less than a quarter of those who signed up have gotten any help. The banks are being sued by several states and consumer class action lawsuits for their failure to follow through. If you research… Read more »