tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40706565801330323212024-08-27T21:03:30.129-08:00Business School in the Last Frontier. Issues, ideas & thoughts on business, current events, innovation & Alaska.Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-48880228823678272932009-12-18T10:30:00.002-09:002009-12-18T10:33:31.454-09:00

The following document is the result of a semester-long project in a graduate-level Computer Information Systems course.News Media Case Study Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-25962556479003062292009-09-28T15:06:00.003-08:002009-09-28T15:11:22.427-08:00

In the May 2003 edition of the Harvard Business Review Nicholas Carr sent tremors through the business world with a divisive essay, boldly titled “IT Doesn’t Matter”. While the sensational title was effective in capturing readers’ attention and spurring controversy, Carr’s central thesis is decidedly more nuanced than his audacious opening salvo. Instead of arguing for information technology’s (

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-73545628971182026092009-08-31T16:47:00.004-08:002009-08-31T16:52:16.061-08:00

Intel Corporation Financial AnalysisIn an Executive Uses of Accounting seminar (spring 2009), students were challenged to execute a thorough financial analysis of a company of our choosing. I decided on Intel Corporation, a company I had been following for some time because of its broad product reach, innovative culture and dominant market position in the global semiconductor industry. Intel is

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-83479446673374198452009-08-24T09:15:00.004-08:002009-08-24T09:21:22.339-08:00

For a group project in a Marketing Issues Seminar, we presented a thorough examination of the global Travel and Tourism industry using as our starting point Alvin Toffler’s notion that the world can be viewed in terms of “waves” (i.e. agrarianism, industrialism and the information age) and, within those waves, “spheres”, each covering a specific topic such as information, power, technology,

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-59904309704080254012009-08-18T10:44:00.004-08:002009-08-18T10:52:56.355-08:00

Environmental Scan: The Global Beer IndustryIn a class entitled Business Environment Analysis, a semester long group project required students to choose an industry and execute a thorough environmental scan. Environmental scanning is the practice of systematically gathering external information about issues that may influence the decision-making process of a business or industry. In many ways,

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-70984862078617499022009-08-17T10:00:00.006-08:002009-08-17T10:18:07.274-08:00

With just one week left before the start of the 2009 fall semester at UAA, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at some of the projects that I participated in or completed during my first full year in the MBA program. I will be spreading this out over several postings this week—and in many cases embedding the final product or document into the blog posting—and hopefully it will

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-61859292874197658512009-08-10T14:08:00.006-08:002009-08-10T14:19:38.435-08:00

Okay, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to tout my alma mater, Centre College, and highlight its recent appearance at number 14 overall on Forbes 2009 list of best colleges. Say what you will about college ranking systems—they tend to be highly subjective and often based upon questionable criteria—but when taken in the proper context, they can serve as a useful tool for comparative analysis.

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-53265356094025815632009-01-02T11:29:00.003-09:002009-01-02T11:38:52.047-09:00

Click on the title of this blog to read Business Week's top ten predictions for the new year. Nothing too earth-shattering (and not necessarily representative of their best work), however, it does offer some thought-provoking insights worth considering for the year ahead.

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-90059372824165639832008-12-31T10:21:00.010-09:002008-12-31T10:32:07.797-09:00

As we bid 2008 farewell and look forward to 2009, it is worth reflecting on the year that was. Click on the title of this post for a look at the most inaccurate business predictions in 2008 and keep them in mind as you sift through the coming year's prognositcations. Also, if you haven't discovered the virtues of Business Week (either online or in print) do yourself a favor and check it out every

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-30242162718582658962008-10-27T14:25:00.007-08:002008-10-27T15:14:22.712-08:00

On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger launched and tragically broke apart 73 seconds into its flight killing all seven crew members. For a recent assignment in my Organizational Behavior class I read Diane Vaughn's article on the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy: "The Trickle-Down Effect: Policy Decisions, Risky Work and the Challenger Tragedy". Vaughn has written extensively on this

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-78988157268249271602008-10-14T21:38:00.005-08:002008-10-14T21:48:49.535-08:00

Is the current financial crisis an isolated incident, or is it a symptom of the Information Age?When Michael Vlahos penned “Entering the Infosphere” a decade ago, the excitement surrounding the strange new technology called the Internet was only beginning to percolate with the general public. Prior to this, the Internet primarily lived in obscure journals, technology magazines and in the back

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-33251857542641611912008-10-12T11:37:00.004-08:002008-10-12T11:52:29.755-08:00

Identifying the lateset trends in business is critical to continued growth. There are a number of business trend websites out there and I have found that they come in varying degrees of usefulness, some of which depends on what the end user is looking for. Here is a quick look at some of the trend sites out there:http://www.trendwatching.com/This site has a tremendous amount of information in the

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-52147857603205851962008-10-10T07:57:00.008-08:002008-10-10T13:24:07.621-08:00

It's not very fashionable these days to speculate about the role of the average consumer in our current economic troubles. Rather, fingers are primarily being pointed at folks who wear suits for a living. Certainly a degree of that is warranted, but is there any other logical conclusion to decades of rampant over-consumption than economic turmoil similar to what we are dealing with today?

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-28017940310934712282008-10-08T16:45:00.008-08:002008-10-10T08:44:52.011-08:00

Thoughts on Toffler and MarketingIn order to understand current marketing issues, it is critical to have a grasp on the trends that shape society. Such is the purpose behind studying Alvin Toffler’s “The Third Wave”, which examines shifting trends in terms of waves of change that wash over society, overlap with one another and ultimately create a new landscape from which individuals and

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-49415641478479479572008-10-06T15:16:00.005-08:002008-10-08T17:04:51.117-08:00

It is increasingly appearing that the next President of the United States is going to inherit a volitile economy and a confidence-challenged business environment. Here is a link to an interesting article in The Economist, discussing the opinions of economists on the economic policies of Barack Obama and John McCain. Read the Article Here!

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070656580133032321.post-16028533915074536262008-10-05T12:45:00.009-08:002008-10-08T17:01:37.058-08:00

Why blog about being in Business school? Well, why not, these are absolutely fascinating times to be studying business in America. We are in the midst of some amazing societal changes not only in this country, but worldwide. On a grand scale we are seeing the shift from Industrialism to the Information Age trickle through our economy, our workforce and into nearly every aspect of our lives. For

Brad Hillwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05403014092086354082noreply@blogger.com0