Bonus Chapter A: Business Law - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

[VIDEO] Starbucks Will Temporarily Close 8,000 U.S. Stores For Racial-Bias Training

April 19, 2018

Last week, a manager at a Philadelphia Starbucks called the police on two African-American men who were waiting for a friend to arrive. Their subsequent arrest was caught on video and quickly went viral as thousands of social media users directed their outrage towards the coffee chain. Starbucks then took the drastic step of announcing that it would close all stores on May 29th for racial sensitivity training. Along with showing clips of the offending video, this short report also Continue reading →

How Private Funding Fuels Modern Corporations

April 17, 2018

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Earlier this month, the music streaming service Spotify went public on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation worth approximately $30 billion. And while that is certainly an enormous amount of money, it pales in comparison to the $93 billion that the Japanese telecom giant Softbank privately raised last year to create a technology investment fund. In the past, major IPOs such as Spotify’s tended to be the most dependable way for up-and-coming companies to receive a major infusion Continue reading →

Wall Street, Spotify, Capital, IPO, Finance, Regulation, Investing

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Chapter 19: Securities Markets, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

[VIDEO] Apple, Google and Amazon Seem Unstoppable. Now What?

March 23, 2018

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In the aftermath of Facebook’s data sharing scandal, critics of the company are calling on lawmakers to discuss ways that the social network could be regulated. To these concerned citizens, Facebook has grown too large to be trusted with so much of the public’s information. The video below looks at how America’s tech giants became so big and the ways that regulators could possibly target these companies in the future.

Questions:

Do you think big tech companies like Facebook, Continue reading →

Innovation, Regulation, Economics, Facebook, Ethics, Amazon, Silicon Valley, Security, Google, Apple, Monopolies

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 2: Economics, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Videos

Facebook Tests Users’ Trust with Data Sharing Scandal

March 22, 2018

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A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the hyperscale data centers that Facebook relies on to handle its userbase of more than 2 billion accounts. With so much information swirling around these enormous structures, it’s easy to assume that any data you provide to the social network will fade away in an ever-increasing crowd. But not only can Facebook access much of the data it collects, the company also routinely shares this information with scholars and researchers. Users consent Continue reading →

Global, Security, Ethics, Legal, Social Media, Crisis management, Cambridge Analytica, Data Mining, Facebook

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Toys ‘R’ Us Plans to Close or Sell All of Its U.S. Stores

March 15, 2018

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Last year, we looked at how Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy after struggling for more than a decade with increasing competition and crushing debt. And while its future didn’t seem particularly bright at the time, the retailer at least had a plan in place to stay afloat in the short term. Along with taking out a massive loan to buy stock for the Christmas season, the company also claimed it had no plans to close any stores.

This relatively Continue reading →

Retail, Amazon, Legal, Product Distribution, Bankruptcy, E-commerce, Debt, Toys ‘R’ Us

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 19: Securities Markets, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

2017’s Equifax Hack Affected Nearly 148 Million People

March 6, 2018

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Last year, hackers targeted the credit reporting firm Equifax in one of the biggest data breaches in history. While the company initially estimated the cyberattack had affected 143 million consumers, it increased that number by 2.5 million a month later. Then last week Equifax announced a further 2.4 million people had been harmed by the hack, placing the grand total somewhere in the neighborhood of 148 million. Unlike the vast majority of consumers who had their social security information leaked, Continue reading →

Regulation, Security, Crisis management, Cyberattack, Management, Equifax, Ethics

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

How Music Copyrights Work in Figure Skating

February 15, 2018

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For nearly a week, millions of people around the world have been tuning into the Winter Olympics broadcasting from Pyeongchang, South Korea. Like seemingly every edition of the games, figure skating has been one of the most watched events as stars like Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu take to the ice with incredible grace and skill. With everyone’s eyes on the athletes, though, your ears may have missed something new about the music that soundtracks these routines. For the first Continue reading →

Sports, Copyright, Entertainment, Television, Product Distribution, Olympics, Licensing

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Licensing Companies Make a Mint from Deceased Celebrities

February 8, 2018

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Earlier this week we looked at how audiences responded both positively and negatively to this year’s lineup of Super Bowl ads. While a number of funny spots seemed to go over well with the public, a Dodge Ram ad prominently featuring a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decidedly did not. After the commercial aired, thousands took to social media to condemn the company for stealing the words of such an admired humanitarian. Of course, these critics soon Continue reading →

Entertainment, Advertising, Intellectual Property, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Licensing, Marketing, Copyright, Ethics, Branding

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

The Year Begins Badly for Bitcoin

February 2, 2018

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When we last looked at Bitcoin in December, the cryptocurrency’s price had skyrocketed to about $16,500 after starting the year at just $985. At its peak a couple of weeks later, a single Bitcoin became worth a whopping $19,511. The ever-increasing success of the cryptocurrency and others like it convinced some investors that the future of money was taking shape before their eyes. Many remained wary of Bitcoin’s boom, however, fearing that the bottom could fall out at any time. Continue reading →

Economics, Global, Ethics, Product Development, Innovation, Currency, Regulation, Bitcoin

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 2: Economics, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 19: Securities Markets, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Beware of Phony IRS Calls This Tax Season

January 30, 2018

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Yesterday, the filing period officially opened for the 2018 tax season, an annual event that many Americans dread. Along with the standard pain that comes with writing checks to Uncle Sam, people also get stressed by worrying whether or not they calculated their tax bill correctly. Matters can become even worse for these anxious earners if they receive a phone call from the Internal Revenue Service regarding back taxes they never knew about.

But while these calls are certainly intimidating, Continue reading →

IRS, Ethics, Regulation, Security, Crime, Taxes

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 17: Accounting, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter D: Personal Finance