Beggars can't be choosers!

Dear GM, our country was so kind to bail you out of bankruptcy. So quit whining.

Last week the CEO of GM, Daniel Akerson, met with the overseer of pay limits for bailout companies, Pat Geoghegan. Akerson had the nerves to ask Mr. Geoghegan to consider taking limits off the pay for the top 100 executives of GM that the government put in place after they were bailed out. GM has been doing well and just recently had its IPO bringing GM back to the market.  This all is a step in the right direction for a company that was doing so poorly not that long ago. But, the fact still stands that the U.S. taxpayers own about 30% of GM and nobody wants any extra money going anywhere but back into our governments bank accounts where all the money came from. There are other bargaining tools that a company can use to entice executives to come work for them other than just large paychecks. Maybe you can tell them you'll pay them more just as soon as the taxpayers money is repaid that is allowing your company to exist. That's just a random thought. I truly hope that Pat Geoghegan has a spine as well as a brain and denies them the right to allow higher pay for their executives. They can do whatever they want, when I don't still own them.

[Source: The Wall Street Journal ]

And I thought they'd never come to this....

Those silly marketers are at it again. Just when you think you're safe from another one of those annoying ads that pop up when you just want to (insert here just about anything you do these days) they've get you again. Now, the great minds that have wasted 30 seconds of your life before you can watch videos on youtube bring you..... advertising in ebooks. All I wanted for Christmas this year was a Kindle so that I can enjoy reading thousands of books from one device. It sounded so great to me at the time. Now, I'm worried that in between chapters of Telling Lies by Paul Ekman, I'll find myself being pitched some new Axe spray that will make women want me. Apparently advertising in books isn't new and has been tried before. I'm glad I don't remember that. Forrester Research figures that the ebook business is at just a few million dollars shy of a billion dollar business this year alone. Hearing this makes it understandable that marketers would love to advertise in this booming market. With the capabilities to tailor ads for what books a person reads and update the ads so they'll never be outdated is just frightening to me. The last place I ever want to see an ad is in the middle of a book. So, I'm going to pretend that I'm having a nightmare and none of this is actually real. I still want my Kindle.

[Source: The Wall Street Journal ]

I wanted a VW

Volkswagen has been one of the most iconic car manufacturers in the world. What do you think of when you hear the word Volkswagen? I personally think of a German engineered and tuned car that is made for driving on the autobahn. VW is planning on changing that idea. The next iteration of the VW Jetta that will be sold in the U.S. won't be made for cruising down the autobahn. VW is recreating the car with Americans in mind. With more room in the car as well as a cheaper price, VW is hoping to take a larger portion of the US car market and this is where they are beginning.

The only problem is that VW might lose their core market due to the fact they are transitioning their German tuned cars to cheaper more Americanized vehicles. I have personally like the German made VW's because they are very fine tuned and sophisticated cars compared to what we've been used to in the American car market. But, even if VW dumbs down their cars for the US market I feel that the company will sell even more cars. Their idea will spark more sales but I can't believe that they will meet their goal of being the world's largest car maker by 2018. I just hope that VW keeps its core market in mind and keeps on churning out Golf GTIs and Jetta GLIs for some fun driving.

[Source: Wall Street Journal ]

RIM is joining the tablet market...

RIM has announced that they will be selling their own tablet computer to compete with Apple's iPad. The tablet will be called the Playbook and will be geared towards business people that already have Blackberry's. The device will go on sale in the first quarter of 2011. I'm wondering how well they will do with all the other emerging competition to the iPad. Several tablets have been revealed by computer manufactures and will be on the market early next year. Every one of these tablets have similar functionality but they seem to have different target consumers. While the Playbook looks very interesting I'm looking forward to experiencing the Asus Eeepad that will be out next year as well. While tablets are fun to use they aren't as functional as a laptop or a netbook. The Eeepad will have a keyboard dock for the tablet that allows it to be both a laptop and a tablet. Apple has a docking station for the iPad but its not meant for portability.

[Source: Wall Street Journal ]

China wants free intelectual property from automakers

China has planned to allow for foreign car companies to manufacture cars in their country in exchange for their intellectual property. The plan by China is to allow car companies to open up shop in their country but in doing so will give up their hybrid and battery powered car technologies to the Chinese government in exchange. China will own 51% stakes in any of the car companies that choose to move their business to China. This seems like the worst deal in the world. Even if China has one the largest car markets in the world, it's very bullish of them to only allow companies in if they divulge the technology that sets them all apart from each other. Understandably, automakers are not happy on the decision and are hesitant on expanding to China.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

China gets the Ipad! (And so does Snoop Dogg)

Since the launch of the ipad one major market has been skipped until now. Apple confirmed last week that they will be selling the ipad in China. The base model ipad runs $590 with 16gb and the 64gb model runs $826. These prices are significantly lower than what gray market prices have been for the ipad. China is the second largest consumer of computers in the world so releasing the ipad in China will be a great market to profit from. I will be keeping a close eye on Apple's stocks. I might need to invest.


[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Comcast VS. Online Video Service Industry

 With the online video industry booming in recent years, it seems that this competition might have compelled Comcast to try and enter the market themselves. With the likes of Netflix and Hulu allowing millions of subscribers to stream movies and TV shows straight to their living rooms has caused a potential threat to the cable television industry that Comcast is hoping to halt. Comcast made an offer to purchase NBC Universal television from General Electric for $13.75 billion. The purchase would allow Comcast to have exclusive control of the distribution of all the content that NBC Universal owns the rights to. This is a blatant attempt by Comcast to block all of NBC Universal content from online video services and to provide it only to Comcast's cable television subscribers. Due to the significant amount of content that NBC Universal owns, this would most likely stunt the growth of the online video industry. This situation is being investigated by the Justice Department and hopefully they will not allow for the purchase of NBC Universal by Comcast.

Comcast is a company that a lot of people are going to despise if they keep up their plans to control the content that we can readily access over internet. Ever since winning their battle with the FCC, Comcast has the legal right to discriminate against websites that they don't like by slowing down online traffic on them. This will allow Comcast, along with other internet providers, to have control on what websites subscribers can access and hindering the access to websites they prefer to block.The FCC has tried to enforce net neutrality but they don't have the power to ever since they deregulated broadband in 2005 under the Bush administration.  Comcast is on their way to monopolizing the online video industry with the purchase of NBC Universal unless the Justice Department and FCC imposes restrictions on them. Who's to say that Comcast won't buy even more movie and television companies? While they're at it, Comcast can throttle down access to websites like Hulu and Netflix to directly benefit their company while leaving the competition in the dust. This is very alarming that one company has so much control.

Back to school. Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool. - Billy Madison

 
My decision to start the MBA graduate program was very simple. Since graduating with my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and Management in December of '09, I haven't been able to meet one major goal I had set for myself. I expected to have a job in my career field by now but ever since the economy started to decline the job market has been severely effected by it. I had originally planned on postponing grad school until after I had started my career as a means of advancing in a company. But, due to the circumstances, I realize that furthering my education with an MBA degree would increase my chances of obtaining a job in the first place. As of right now with the unemployment rate at 9.5% as recorded in July, I might have a while before I can start my career. So in the meantime I'm back to school. I'm just hoping that Mr. Obama will have better news on the economy in the near future.


P.S. I just want to let everyone know that if you need any resources pertaining to business, UIS has a great webpage to make searching much easier. I hope this might help!