As China becomes more sophisticated in its business manufacturing processes and management of its international presence, the type and sophistication of products being produced is evolving. Moving toward more high-end profit producing activities as well as into niche markets is beginning to pay off. This video clip exposes the changes in the Chinese manufacturing landscape.…
Walmart’s Mexico business unit is accused of paying bribes regularly to local officials in exchange for rapid delivery of building permits. Already facing financial difficulties in the US and other international markets, this latest accusation could be the beginning of the end of the retail giant as we have known it. Burt Flickinger, a recognized…
Using your classroom teams in their online Wiki sites, have students conduct the following studies: Look at the short case on the Walmart, Mexico bribery accusation case this month. While there are many issues of interest in this case, it is a good example of ethical behavior choices seemingly gone awry. Take a look at…
Innovation from the ground up is Boeing’s new key to competitive positioning. This short company-developed video clip describes the many aspects of innovation that led to the design and manufacturing of the Dreamliner B 787 aircraft. Its maiden flight was in 2009 and the first commercial flight followed in 2011. With over 18 aircraft now…
With the advances in search technology have come a plethora of offers that claim the best keyword navigation results. The Ultimate Research Assistant offer goes beyond the simple search output and provides a research report that includes concept visualizations, mind maps, tag clouds, bar charts and even a podcast. The interpretive report goes beyond a…
Created by the Visual Communication Lab at IBM Research in 2007, Many Eyes is a collaborative community that permits users to upload data, create diverse visuals that illustrate investigations of the data and then exchange ideas with the larger internet community. Users can upload data from public sites as well as from their own research. …
Not all user entrepreneurs commercialize their innovations. In this theoretical research paper, the authors present a model that purports to explain when user innovations are commercialized by users, manufacturers or not at all. Given the current belief of the importance entrepreneurial venture development to a country’s economic success, this research provides some interesting policy considerations…
Ray Weaver, Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School, suggests that business can learn something about knowledge management by observing museum curators. Museums collect, catalog and display objects using a specific strategy process. The choice of objects all along the process fits with the museum’s particular vision-mission statement. Once a display choice is made, the process…
Subscription models lock in customers for more than one purchase. While not a new concept, the plethora of offers looking to lock in customers across a variety of products and services appears to move the internet banner ad model one step further toward sustainable business. This blog post by a venture capital firm that invests…
Curating for classroom discussion
In recycling lecture materials this month, I found I was going through the same curation process that is discussed in this month’s news blog on museum curation and business. Digital cataloging materials that include lecture slides, lecture notes, assignments, images, background support materials, rubrics, student work of value and journal notes on improvements is a…
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