California - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

Food Delivery Services Anger Unsuspecting Restaurants

January 30, 2020

Last weekend during a busy dinner service, San Francisco restaurant owner Pim Techamuanvivit received a strange phone call. The caller wanted to know when the delivery he ordered through Seamless would turn up since he had already waited 45 minutes for it. “I think you must be confused, because I don’t do delivery,” replied Techamuanvivit. The frustrated person on the other line then asked why her business was listed on Seamless. Upon further investigation, Techamuanvivit discovered that both Seamless and Continue reading →

Pricing, Operations Management, Legal, Ethics, Product Distribution, Entrepreneurship, California, Food & Drink, Grubhub, Seamless

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

PG&E’s Rolling Blackouts Anger and Endanger Californians

October 18, 2019

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At the end of summer, weather-tracking services in California began issuing reports that many in the state have come to dread: extreme winds and dry conditions had increased the risk of wildfires. The previous year had been one of California’s worst due to disasters like the Camp Fire, an enormous blaze that killed more than 80 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In the aftermath of this tragedy, many blamed the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for failing Continue reading →

Operations Management, Utilities, Ethics, Reputation, Regulation, California, Crisis management

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Ski Resorts Start Producing Their Own Energy

February 22, 2018

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From keeping lodges toasty to powering chair lifts that must frequently scale mountains, ski resorts go through enormous amounts of energy during the winter months. Along with taking a toll on the environment, this heavy dependence on power can also be quite expensive. That’s why many ski resorts throughout the country are setting up their own utility systems to produce energy efficiently and sustainably.

Colorado’s Aspen Skiing Company, for instance, generates 24 million kilowatt hours of energy per year to Continue reading →

Sports, Entertainment, Colorado, Sustainability, Energy, Operations Management, California, Ethics, Skiing

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

Northern California’s Wineries Face Uncertainty after Wildfires

October 24, 2017

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For the last few weeks wildfires have ravaged the northern portion of California, claiming dozens of lives and destroying at least 5,700 buildings. This catastrophic state of affairs is a far cry from the sunny paradise that many imagine when they think of wine country. In fact, October and November are usually the region’s busiest months as tourists arrive by the busload to sample vintages and enjoy the countryside. Not this year, though: one winery owner said she’s already Continue reading →

Product Development, Tourism, Marketing, California, Operations Management, Natural Disasters, Food, Wildfires, Wine

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution

How a Small Adjustment Can Transform a Product

January 5, 2017

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When David Malcolm took over his family’s sprinkler system business in 1992, he intended to run the company the same way that his father had over the last few decades. But that soon changed once he picked up an old project that his dad started just before he died: finding another use for a low-flow sprinkler designed for farming. At first Malcolm thought he solved the problem by installing the sprinkler heads on hoses and using them to patch up Continue reading →

Product Development, Health, Sustainability, California, Marketing

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price

[VIDEO] Using Wastewater to Brew Environmentally Sustainable Beer

August 9, 2016

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As the U.S. craft beer market has grown over the years, breweries that were once seen as upstarts to larger rivals are now becoming established institutions themselves. But while this is great news for many thirsty Americans, the beer boom has not been as kind to local water supplies. In this video, Bloomberg takes a look at how California’s Half Moon Brewing Company is experimenting with a sustainable system that uses Continue reading →

Sustainability, California, Green, Water Supply, Beer, Product Development, Regulation

Videos

Cupertino Mayor Demands Apple Pay More Taxes

May 10, 2016

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A few weeks ago, a team of investigative journalists detailed the tax-avoiding habits of numerous rich individuals and organizations in a massive data dump called the Panama Papers. The release of these documents inspired debates in the media about corporate tax avoidance and whether the government should put stronger regulations in place to prevent it. While some politicians tried to avoid these arguments, at least one has thrown himself into the fray as a strong advocate for closing tax Continue reading →

Taxes, California, Apple, Tax Avoidance, Cupertino, Ethics, City Services, Silicon Valley

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

Gasoline Delivery Startups Launch with Few Regulations

May 5, 2016

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In our previous post, we explored the new crop of startups that are applying Uber’s on-demand business model to other markets. Although these spinoff services aren’t nearly as successful as the original, a number of entrepreneurs remain convinced that they can develop an Uber for everything. We already took a look at the parking service Luxe and grocery delivery app Instacart, both fairly straightforward and simple adaptations of the concept. But startups like Filld and WeFuel take the idea Continue reading →

Regulation, Uber, California, Safety, Petroleum, Gasoline, Filld, Product Development, Ethics, Cars

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, 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

Driverless Cars Face a Long Road Before Mainstream Acceptance

February 26, 2016

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Even though stories about self-driving cars have appeared in the news for years now, the concept still seems almost too futuristic to be true. Autonomous autos are far from science fiction, however. In fact, some experts estimate that driverless cars will eventually reduce America’s 33,000 annual road fatalities by 80 percent. Carmakers recently took one step closer towards this goal when the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told Google that its artificial intelligence system could be legally recognized Continue reading →

Product Development, Regulation, Transportation, California, Self-Driving Cars, Google

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

California’s Far-Reaching Chicken Legislation

January 19, 2015

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At the beginning of 2015 a new California law went into effect requiring chicken farmers to provide more living space for their hens. As of January 1, every egg sold in the state must have been laid by a bird with at least 116 square inches of room in its coop, an increase of 73 percent from the industry standard. Although the legislation is mandatory only for egg producers in California, chicken farmers across the country are quickly adapting to Continue reading →

Ethics, Food, Regulation, Product Distribution, California, Chicken

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions