Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media – Page 16 – McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

[VIDEO] When Carmakers Taunted Horses

November 22, 2016

With 43.5 million Americans expected to hit the road for Thanksgiving this year, drivers will likely have to deal with more traffic jams and slowdowns than usual. Then again, at least these dedicated travelers will be making their journey by car rather than on horseback. But while this preference for pedals seems like a no-brainer today, the situation was much different a century ago when automobiles were new and confusing to many consumers. This video shows how carmakers marketed these Continue reading →

Cars, Horses, Marketing, Product Development, Promotions, Transportation

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Videos

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Cell Phone Numbers Become Key Pieces of Personal Information

November 15, 2016

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From a young age Americans are taught to keep a close eye on their Social Security number. After all, this unique code acts as an identifier for everything from bank accounts to medical records. If it falls into the wrong hands, all of your personal information could become compromised. To prevent this from happening, the government requires companies to keep Social Security numbers private while advising individuals to reveal it only to trusted parties.

But in today’s digital age there’s Continue reading →

Ethics, Identity Theft, Mobile, Personal Information, Security, Social Security

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Bonus Chapter D: Personal Finance, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility

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[VIDEO] Inside the Factory Where Robotic Dinosaurs Come to Life

November 10, 2016

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When a group of Australian special effects artists were having trouble finding work, they decided to pool their resources together and create their own animatronics company. Most had planned to return to working on movies and television once they’d made a splash with their enormous, lifelike representations of dinosaurs and monsters. But Creature Technology wowed the world with their creations, leading to the bustling and almost magical workshop shown in the video below.

Questions:

Why must Creature Technology keep Continue reading →

Australia, Creature Technology, Entertainment, Entrepreneurship, Global, Operations Management, Product Development, Special Effects

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Videos

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Chinese Factories Produce Knockoffs at Record Speed

October 25, 2016

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Israeli entrepreneur Yekutiel Sherman had a great idea for a product: a selfie stick that folded seamlessly into the back of a smartphone’s case. He spent a year carefully designing his idea, producing prototypes and securing small investments from family and friends. By December 2015 Sherman launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to finish funding the item, now called Stikbox. But while the project immediately attracted investors, his popular crowdfunding campaign also caught the attention of Chinese bootleg manufacturers. Within Continue reading →

China, Ethics, Global, Knockoff products, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Product Development, Product Distribution, Supply chains

Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management

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Meal-Delivery Startups Aim to Change America’s Eating Habits

October 7, 2016

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For those who have spent years ordering items from online retailers like Amazon, setting foot inside a store can sometimes seem like taking a trip back in time. But while the shift away from brick-and-mortar locations has utterly changed industries like music and clothing, grocery stores have remained largely the same since the dawn of the digital revolution. After all, most people still prefer to examine food in person before they buy it.

But that hasn’t stopped a collection Continue reading →

Agriculture, Blue Apron, Ethics, Food, Labor Relations, Online Retail, Product Development, Product Distribution, Retail, Supermarkets

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 12: Labor Management and Unions, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility

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[VIDEO] Automating the Grocery Warehouse

September 23, 2016

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Although drone deliveries are still a few years away from becoming a reality, automated machines are already having a big impact in other parts of the supply chain. This short but visually rich video takes a look at the robots made by a company called Symbiotic and the ways that they have streamlined operations at a grocery warehouse.

Questions:

What makes Symbiotic’s robots more efficient than human workers?
Will worker robots from companies like Symbiotic eventually replace human labor?

Automation, Product Distribution, Robots, Supply chains, Symbiotic, Warehousing

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Videos

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Streaming Services Provide a Vital Revenue Boost for the Music Industry

September 22, 2016

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As the Internet’s popularity began to rise in the late 1990s, the music industry had just enjoyed some of their best years to date. Annual sales soared over $14 billion at its peak, driven by an enormous demand for CDs that appeared to be insatiable. After 1999, however, consumer interest shifted online where users could download any song they wanted for free. While the Recording Industry Association of America tried in vain to stop illegal file trading, the practice only Continue reading →

Apple, Entertainment, Ethics, Music, Product Distribution, Spotify, Streaming, YouTube

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits

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The Fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos

September 16, 2016

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For Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, establishing a clear narrative around a startup’s foundation and purpose is essential to success. Few people understood this concept better than Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of the formerly acclaimed blood-testing firm Theranos. She founded her company in 2003 at the age of 19 after dropping out of Stanford University’s School of Chemical Engineering. Holmes left college early because she claimed to discover a revolutionary new method for medical testing: rather than drawing a significant amount of blood Continue reading →

Branding, Elizabeth Holmes, Ethics, Health, Marketing, Product Development, Regulation, Theranos

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership

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Shrinking Olympic Audiences Have NBC Worrying

August 24, 2016

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In spite of a few setbacks like a green diving pool and the actions of a blue-haired nincompoop, the 2016 Rio Olympics packed in plenty of action and emotion over its two-week run. For all the unparalleled athleticism on display, however, the TV ratings reward for the games’ American broadcaster NBC was relatively lackluster. The network brought in an average audience of 25.4 million during its primetime coverage, an 18 percent drop from the London 2012 games. While NBC received Continue reading →

Broadcasting, NBC, Olympics, Sports, Television, Video Streaming

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 3: Globalization

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Chip Card Readers Cause Cash Register Confusion

August 10, 2016

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For the last few months Americans have been confronted with a peculiar dilemma at the cash register: to swipe or not to swipe? That is the question as shoppers and businesses across the country struggle to adapt to the credit card industry’s transition to chip technology. While 75 percent of cards are currently chip-enabled, only one-quarter of American merchants have the equipment to read them. The frustration continues even after upgrading as customers endure long waits for payments to Continue reading →