Saturday April 27, 2024

Ripe For Disruption

This is a product ripe for disruption.  Texas Instruments has sold the same graphing calculator to high school students and their teachers for more than 15 years.  It has a lock on the market and lesson plans of math instructors throughout the US.  Essentially it has no competition, and it can afford to charge what it wants […]

Embarrassment Explained

By now, the world knows that during the Tesla presentation of a new pickup truck, the armored windows, which weren’t supposed to smash when hit by an iron ball, did break.  Elon Musk gamely went on with the presentation and the company has counted 200,000 preorders for the vehicle.  It wasn’t enough for Musk, however.  […]

RICO Suit

In an extraordinary move, automaker GM has targeted a competitor, FCA, with a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit.  GM alleges that FCA bribed the United Auto Workers union officials and union members to keep its labor costs down while forcing GM to pay more.  It’s a crisis for FCA and potentially a reputation problem […]

Cynicism Allowed

President Trump has said he might be willing to testify to the Congressional committee.  Democrats are skeptical and well they should be.  Trump is a president who lies constantly, whenever it benefits him.  He prevaricates so frequently that he has trouble remembering what his last lie was.  The Democrats’ cynicism is justified.  Trump fancies himself […]

Self-made Crisis

Google has a crisis on its hands that it alone has created.  It has gone into partnership with Ascension healthcare to codify and store the large medical chain’s records and the information of millions of patients.  It has apparently failed to tell its own people or the public what it plans to do with all […]

Bankrupt

The nation’s largest milk processor has gone bankrupt.  Dairy consumption continues to drop and the company couldn’t hold on.  Clearly advertising and PR haven’t worked.  The question is what to do now?  There are still millions of milk drinkers, and they expect to find the product on supermarket cold cases.  The market might need to […]

Blindsided

When Apple launched its credit card with Goldman Sachs, they didn’t foresee this.  Should they have known that their credit algorithm scores men and women differently?  If not, they do now and they have a black eye, which will take time to heal.  It’s a public relations debacle for the companies and the only answer […]

Military Burial

I was out of the office for two days last week to attend a funeral and military burial.  The flag ceremony at the gravesite is deeply affecting and full of symbolism as is the playing of taps that precedes it.  The country is communicating its thanks to the family and friends of the deceased.  In […]

Et Tu, McDonald’s?

Who would think the CEO of McDonald’s would be fired for a relationship with an employee?  It happened, and he is gone, waiting for severance.  It shows a healthy concern for public relations and perception on the part of the board.  It also forestalls power plays and favoritism on the part of the CEO.  The […]