Posted by & filed under Communication, Decision Making, Ethics, Global Management, Leadership, Management, Social Responsibility.

Description: A retired Manitoba farmer is hoping to lead a class action lawsuit against the company that owns Monsanto, alleging he developed cancer after using Roundup on his yard and field to get rid of weeds.

Source: CBC.ca

Date: Aug 29, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-farmer-proposed-class-action-lawsuit-monsanto-1.5269936

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the legal, ethical, and social issues facing management of the firm as well as governments?
  • What is the take-away for managers involved?

Posted by & filed under Communication, Ethics, Leadership, Management, Social Responsibility.

Description: New York (CNN Business)In some ways, Walmart’s announcement Tuesday that it will stop selling some guns and ammunition — and ask customers not to openly carry guns in its stores — is just another step in a years-long process of reevaluating its relationship with firearms.

Source: CNN.com – video report

Date: Sep 05, 2019

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/04/business/walmart-gun-policy-reactions/index.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What do you think about the decisions taken by Walmart with respect to ethical and social responsibility issues?
  • Do you think the decisions will help or harm the image of the Walmart brand?

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Management.

Description: Royal Dutch Shell’s plant will produce more than a million tons of plastic, in the form of tiny pellets. Many in the Pittsburgh area see it as an economic engine, but others worry about long-term harm.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Aug 12, 2019

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/business/energy-environment/plastics-shell-pennsylvania-plant.html

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize what the report says about the industry, company and customers.
  • What are your thoughts about growth of the industry, in light of growing concerns over social responsibility issues in this industry?

Posted by & filed under Communication, Decision Making, Management, Operations Management.

Description: Nordstrom Inc. is trying an unusual approach to get busy New York City shoppers in its doors: Letting them return merchandise they bought online—from other retailers.

Source: Fortune.com

Date: Sep 06, 2019

Link: https://fortune.com/2019/09/06/nordstrom-tests-accepting-online-returns-from-rivals-such-as-macys/

Questions for discussion:

  • Is this a good idea?
  • What is the benefit to customers and to Nordstrom?
  • Would an “any-brand” return storefront make sense today?

Posted by & filed under Communication, Management.

Description: eMarketer principal analysts Nicole Perrin and Andrew Lipsman discuss the wave of contentious subway ads: What’s allowed? What isn’t? Why have startups become obsessed with marketing on public transit? They also talk about YouTube’s latest FTC fine, a new partnership between TikTok and the National Football League and more.

Source: eMarketer.com – podcast

Date: Sep 05, 2019

Link: https://www.emarketer.com/content/podcast-the-renaissance-of-somewhat-controversial-public-transit-ads?ecid=NL1001

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the key points made in this discussion.
  • What are your views on these matters?

Posted by & filed under Communication, Entrepreneurship, Management, Negotiation, New product.

Description: TORONTO — The regulator overseeing Ontario’s legal cannabis stores says a dozen licence applicants who participated in the latest lottery have been disqualified.

Source: BNNBloomberg.ca – video report

Date: Aug 29, 2019

Link: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/12-ontario-pot-store-applicants-disqualified-for-not-submitting-documents-1.1309406

Questions for discussion:

  • What would explain the government’s use of a lottery and subsequent application review process?
  • Do you think a better method could be used to control the retail distribution industry?

Posted by & filed under Innovation/Creativity, Management, Organizational Change.

Description: If you think it sounds like a mathematical impossibility for a company to lose more than 100% of its workers every year, you’ve never worked in the fast-food industry. At fast-food restaurants, losing 100% of employees — and then losing still more of the employees hired to replace those workers — is a common, and worsening, labor problem.

Source: CNBC.com – video report

Date: Aug 29, 2019

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/29/fast-food-restaurants-in-america-are-losing-100percent-of-workers-every-year.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What is the problem facing the industry?
  • How is it responding?
  • Can you make other suggestions to HR management that might help?

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Leadership, Management.

Description: You might not expect modern corporations to tackle an urgent problem of the 21st century by looking back to the 1950s. But that’s what one group of companies is doing with a new service called Loop, whose backers refer to its approach as “the milkman model.”

Source: Fortune.com

Date: Aug 19, 2019

Link: https://fortune.com/2019/08/19/change-the-world-circular-economy/

Questions for discussion:

  • What does this report say about the effort by some businesses to be socially responsible and profitable?
  • Which business do you think presents a model that should be adopted by other firms?

Posted by & filed under Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management.

Description: We surveyed more than one thousand CEOs from this year’s Inc. 5000 companies to better understand what makes up the DNA of an entrepreneur.

Source: INC.com – video report

Date: Aug 23, 2019

Link: https://www.inc.com/video/we-asked-1539-ceos-what-it-takes-to-start-a-business-heres-the-good-news.html?cid=hmvid

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize what the report says about entrepreneurs.
  • Are you surprised by any of the data?