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Pepsi Expands Its Russian Empire

July 15, 2013

Throughout Pepsico’s history, one thing has remained constant: the company’s flagship soft drink has always played second fiddle to chief competitor Coca-Cola. Known by name by billions throughout the world, Coke is not only the gold standard of soft drinks, but of branding in general. Although Pepsi and its umbrella of products certainly command a fair market share, Coca-Cola’s continued worldwide dominance is all but assured at this point.

Except in Russia, that is. Pepsi was one of the first Continue reading →

Product Development, Food, Global, Product Lines, Snacks, Pepsi, Russia

Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 8: Organizational Culture and Structure, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution

How to Make the Most of Employees’ Personalities

July 12, 2013

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First days on the job tend to be stressful. Not only must fresh hires learn the names of a litany of new colleagues, they may also be required to endure often boring orientation sessions. In corporate environments especially, these standardized introductory rituals teach new hires to tone down their own personalities in order to conform to the company’s way of doing things. While this is likely an efficient way to acclimate employees to the job, new studies show that Continue reading →

Zappos, Customer Service, Employee Empowerment, Global, Training, Human Resources, India

Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 8: Organizational Culture and Structure, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 12: Labor Management and Unions

Luring Entrepreneurs with Special Visas

July 10, 2013

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In the business world, companies aren’t the only ones who are concerned with attracting top tier talent. Governments, too, have a vested interest in either retaining their most skilled individuals or attracting the best from elsewhere. After all, an innovative and educated workforce can only sustain itself by remaining desirable to other capable candidates. For countries like India, this means keeping doctors and engineers local so they can help a homeland in need rather than travel abroad for greater fortunes. Continue reading →

Global, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Venture Capital, Immigration, Canada

Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

How Accurate Is GDP?

July 6, 2013

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In today’s modern economy, statistics are supreme. GDP, unemployment and interest rates all play dominant roles in the allocation of the government’s budget. No spending bill can hope to pass into law without a battery of statistics and figures charting how such legislation will benefit the country. But just how accurately do those numbers reflect the world we live in?

Take GDP, for instance. The famous figure has only been reliably collected in the U.S. since the 1930s and didn’t Continue reading →

Economics, Global, GDP, Financial Data, China

Chapter 2: Economics, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 17: Accounting, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

[VIDEO] The Surprising Moral Case for Free Enterprise

July 1, 2013

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Suggested by Mark Varycki of Hillsborough Community College, this video makes the case for free enterprise as a moral imperative.

Questions:

Do you agree with the position stated in the video that free enterprise is the best economic system?

Is it correct to credit globalization and free trade with easing global poverty?

From AEI Enterprises

Economics, Global, Entrepreneurship, Finance

Videos

Fast Food’s Secret Menu Problem

May 24, 2013

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Clocking in at 800 calories with 53 grams of fat and 2,430 milligrams of sodium, Burger King’s Suicide Burger certainly lives up to its name. This outrageous creation features four patties, four slices of cheese and loads of bacon all slathered in special sauce. The existence of this burger brings to mind many troubling questions, not least of which is, “Why would Burger King offer such an abomination to their customers?” Well, as strange as it may seem, they technically Continue reading →

Product Development, Fast food, Secret Menus, McDonald’s, Burger King, Chipotle, Product Lines, Marketing

Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Italian Luxury Brands Spend to Save Antiquities

May 20, 2013

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The beauty of Italy’s ancient structures and sculptures has been renowned for more than two thousand years. Over the course of those centuries, maintenance responsibilities for the nation’s antiquities have transferred from their Roman builders to the Catholic Church and finally to the present-day Italian government. But there’s one major matter that separates the latter from its two mighty predecessors: money. As a result of the Italian economy’s recent collapse, the government has been forced to slash the maintenance budget Continue reading →

Marketing, Global, Ethics, Italy, Fendi, Philanthropy, Europe

Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 18: Financial Management

The Rise of Fair Value Accounting

May 17, 2013

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To many businesses the process of accounting is simple: keep track of costs and weigh them against revenue to determine profit. But some of the world’s largest companies prefer to figure out their financial well being by using a more complicated, predictive method. Known as fair value accounting, this technique measures a company’s assets by valuing them on estimates and projections rather than hard data. Its proponents argue that it makes accounting information more relevant for day-to-day operations. Critics of Continue reading →

Ethics, Value, Accounting, Finance, Profit Projection

Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 17: Accounting, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Crowdfunding Beyond Kickstarter

May 16, 2013

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Crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for businesspeople and artists looking for quick injections of cash. But what has it done for the people who actually contributed to these campaigns? While many crowdfunding drives offer prizes and gifts to their donors, they don’t provide participants with ownership stakes like other methods of investment. That’s why a new wave of crowdfunding platforms are coming on the scene to make this burgeoning financing strategy more Continue reading →

Microventures, Kickstarter, Venture Capital, Crowdfunding, Finance, Entrepreneurship

Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Chapter 19: Securities Markets

Pepsi Expands Its Russian Empire

How to Make the Most of Employees’ Personalities

Luring Entrepreneurs with Special Visas

How Accurate Is GDP?

[VIDEO] The Surprising Moral Case for Free Enterprise

Crowdfunding Beyond Kickstarter

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