Professor Elam

Whew, we finished our first week of the spring semester.  I have enjoyed meeting the new faces and getting re acquainted with the familiar.  I am usually very available during the week M-Thursday, I teach T R 9:30-12:20.  If you would like some tutoring at other times, just give me a buzz thru e mail and we can arrange a time, and not just a one time visit, I am here to help.

Yes you will be writing more this semester but I think that will help us form a stronger bond.  And it should extend the classroom beyond the usual twice a week format.  I have recently upped my interest in digital photography.  I am noticing the number and extent of interactive forums for digital photography in general and camera brands in particular.  No waiting for a monthly magazine, folks literally around the world are corresponding in a real time asynchronous manner, no wonder newspapers are for sale.

I mentioned the value of subscribing to Business Week. I just got my 1/28/08 copy, they usually arrive every Saturday. So let me take a quick run through and highlight a few things to give you a flavor of what I mean. I am not compensated in any way by the magazine or its owner McGraw Hill.

Prof Elam will be designated by PE, my personal take on the item

IBM is rebuilding to that teams around the world, read in different places at the same time, can work together more efficiently,

PE Gee what a great idea, and profits jumped 24%

The stock market tanked on the opening after INTEL earnings came out-up 15% but not enough to make folks happy

PE In a bear market, all news is bad news!

More on interactive as I mentioned, the Burger King ads showing actual employees telling actual customers that a whopper is not available are the best recalled ads in five year

PE Reality works, more examples of real time shared experiences asynchronously

Doing a presentation on Autos, see page 13 of this issue, great graphs, efficiency noted in particular and to teams in general, good example of graphical depiction of data

PE I must be going soft giving out all these tips

ON the Businessweek.com Apple introduces new products at annual macworld conference,

PE Design as I said in class, design  is key

Britain Lives it Up For the first time since 1885 British GDP per capita passes the US. Lower corporate taxes, , an ind Central bank, looser rules on hire and fire and the weak dollar pushed Britain up

PE I have been reading British websites and noticed how many of them have the much more expensive camera, I bought an OLY 510 for 650 bucks, but I am reading about Brits buying the $1695 USD E 3 for personal shooting, my take, someone over there is making disposable income

Maria Bartiromo interviews Ken Lewis of B of A on why they bought CFC

PE He says the govt did not urge them to buy CFC, does anyone believe that?

More on home equity woes for the consumer, an interesting ad for business in Madrid Spain and Turkish Airlines

PE Globalization and embracing a capitalist model of lower taxes and easing of restrictions and regulations  is finally bringing former mediocre economies into the bigger leagues, too bad we can’t do that here….

L Oreal recruit using a game, MSFT opens in Canada to skirt visa laws, perks vary by culture, young Indians want more NOW

PE Jim Rogers traveled the world in  his books  Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist making theses observations several years back….

New Breakthrough What If Game, What Would Apple Do?  Article says many companies brainstorm by trying to guess how Apple would handle a problem, answer a more elegant design, and page 70-71 World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer

PE See I told you so, DESIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two year colleges woo foreign students

PE  I think we are getting closer and closer to finding out just where elasticity of demand cuts in on attending higher ed versus community college

Lincoln Ok, if a Mercedes is a taxi in Germany a Lincoln can be a taxi and a great luxury car

PE, Well a slower than Christmas Mercedes diesel is a taxi but that is a world away from an AMG high powered two seater which Lincoln has never made, Ford should keep Lincoln Town Car as is, Volvo sold their slab sided 240 for twenty five years, do the same with Lincoln now that Checker is out of the picture

Jack Welch comments on surveys about continuous improvement, or CQM our topic in the next few weeks in managerial, he says he is all for such surveys from employees if they are done right

PE Okay Jack, how many employees did you survey at GE as you shipped their jobs off to India, did you get good feedback from them on that, note GE stock has been going down to sideways since you left….