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Bombardier CSeries: How will Boeing/Airbus Duopoly Respond?

By Curry W. Hilton February 4, 2013

The much-anticipated Bombardier CSeries commercial airplane line provides a uniquely positioned offering, boasting 20% fewer CO2 emissions, 20% fuel savings, and 15%…

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Apple Takes a Beating — What Did You Expect?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 4, 2013

Apple has had a beating both in the market and the press lately. Despite record quarterly profit, they lost their number-one stock spot to Exxon Mobil. By some prognostications, Samsung is rising in the smartphone market, and Huawei is taking a stronger foothold on the price-sensitive emerging-market field, while Apple is stumbling. Well, for those who failed to sell Apple at above $700 prices and now see it below $450, what did you expect?

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Is Your Board of Directors Considering the Right CEO Strategic Business Priorities?

By David Dalka February 4, 2013

Business guru Harvey Mackay stated, “The Japanese have a very simple way of describing the typical American marketing plan: READY? FIRE! AIM.” Sadly little has changed in American business. This is a major reason why the American economy is in constant crisis, and obsolete marketing departments built on late twentieth-century dogma now resemble the spending habits of Communist central planning: disconnected from reality, economically inefficient and lacking accountability to the right things.

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An Intriguing Possibility – Legalize All Drugs

By James T. Berger February 4, 2013

Two academic giants, Nobel Prize Winner (in economics) Gary Becker of the University of Chicago and Kevin W. Murphy another U. of Chicago economics professor, argue that we have lost the war on drugs. So is it time to legalize and tax this industry?

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Low price guarantees have adverse effects on consumer behavior

By Reims Management School (RMS) February 4, 2013

A study conducted by Reims Management School (RMS) reveals that consumers are often put off by promises of lowest prices which are coupled with high refund guarantees – contrary to the usual strategies of many top retailers.

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Economic Price Optimization with Globally Linear Demand — Both Useful and Useless

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 4, 2013

Economic price optimization has a lot to tell us, but not necessarily the price which optimizes the firm’s profits. Economic price optimization relies on a defined demand curve. Unfortunately, defining the demand curve with sufficient precision and reliability for decision making can be done for only a subset of challenges. So if this method is not useful for pricing in many cases, what use is it?

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The Sales Rep Motivational Disconnect

By James T. Berger February 4, 2013

When it comes to personal selling, the 21st century sales representative is a different animal from the 20th century version. The 21st century salesman is a professional consultant who should be far more interested in establishing a long-term relationship with the customer based on giving the customer advice on how best to buy. Because the sales rep. is so crucial to the success of the firm, it is mandatory that she or he be properly motivated.

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Top 6 – January 2013

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 7, 2013

“We’re looking to make progress quickly, either fail fast or succeed fast.” Daniel Hullah, Venture Capitalist Most businesses fail, but some succeed…

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The Collapse of the Big Box: Best Buy

By James T. Berger January 7, 2013

Every Christmas my son comes home and does his Christmas shopping at the Best Buy store about 5 miles from our house. This year he discovered his favorite Best Buy (BBY) store was closed and out of business.

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What Are Firmographics?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 7, 2013

Firmographics are descriptive attributes of firms that can be used to aggregate individual firms into meaningful market segments. In an analogy, firmographics are to businesses and organizations what demographics are to people. Firmographics describe businesses, non-profits, and governmental entities.

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