If this story is true, a lot of people won’t get hurt in the IPO market. The relentless hype in the technology industry has been harmful to the economy and pocketbooks of millions of gullible investors. It is nearly impossible to value a young company and its capacity for growth. Most companies flame out in […]
Posted on September 29th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 198 Comments »
This story is proof of a fact long known in medical administration. You can’t tell doctors what to do. You have to persuade them, frequently one by one, to change the ways they work. Britain’s failure to establish a comprehensive health information technology system is a warning to similar efforts in the US. Here, however, […]
Posted on September 28th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 175 Comments »
One wonders how editors get away with this — recycling articles in their magazines. When you own the barrel of ink, you have privileges. Imagine, if you will, if a PR practitioner recycled his pitches to the same reporters year after year. It might work until the reporters catch on, then there would be little chance […]
Posted on September 27th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 191 Comments »
Scenarios, or mini-cases, are useful to work through how one might handle communications challenges. They present problems that may not be in textbooks but are a part of counseling. There will be several presented here for your consideration. None are long but each is designed to get you to think about how you might have […]
Posted on September 26th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 171 Comments »
Reports have come out that Microsoft has spent $5.5 billion to date in an effort to establish its search engine, Bing. From an economic perspective, one must ask if Bing is a business. Thus far, it is a money pit. Microsoft has enough cash to continue losing a billion a quarter for some time to […]
Posted on September 23rd, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 152 Comments »
This is a fictional case of a brainstorming session and the dynamics that occur in a typical one. It has questions for discussions at the end. In my experience, this brainstorm runs more smoothly than most. Regrettably, many PR practitioners don’t know how to conduct them well. It takes persuasion and subtle direction to get […]
Posted on September 21st, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 190 Comments »
It’s interesting to watch the response to Reed Hastings’ announcement that Netflix is splitting its DVD unit to a new business called Qwikster. As we know, on the internet everyone is an expert and no one is shy on casting judgment on anything within minutes of it being announced. Of course this is nothing new […]
Posted on September 20th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 199 Comments »
This is a candid apology from Netflix to its customers. When Netflix announced its change to separate streaming and DVD-delivery services, I wrote then that it was engaged in a risky experiment. The experiment didn’t go well. So, the CEO of Netflix is trying again to explain what the company is doing. The change in […]
Posted on September 20th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 183 Comments »
This fictional case describes the new crisis — a sudden explosion that is covered instantly by cell phone photos, Tweets, blogs, TV interviews and Facebook entries. There is no chance for a company to control the flow of information. It starts out behind the communications curve and scrambles to catch up. It never does although […]
Posted on September 19th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 190 Comments »
Clothing chain Esprit has given a novel excuse for poor financial performance. The chain says that “it lost its soul.” In other words, it expanded too fast and started to neglect customers. Now it is retrenching and trying to become trendy again. Good luck. It is hard for a clothing retailer to recover its customers […]
Posted on September 16th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 179 Comments »
