BLOG OF ADAM HARTUNG
Microsoft’s Last Stand
Over the last couple of weeks big announcements from Apple, IBM and Microsoft have set the stage for what is likely to be Microsoft's last stand to maintain any sense of personal technology leadership. To many consumers the IBM and Apple partnership probably sounded...
Walmart Investors Should Worry about Tracy Morgan Lawsuit – A Lot
Famed actor and comedian Tracy Morgan has filed a lawsuit against Walmart. He was seriously injured, and his companion and fellow comedian James McNair was killed, when their chauffeured vehicle was struck by a WalMart truck going too fast under the control of an...
Two Lessons For Us All from Crumbled Crumbs Bake Shop
Crumbs Bake Shop - a small chain of cupcake shops, almost totally unknown outside of New York City and Washington, DC - announced it was going out of business today. Normally, this would not be newsworthy. Even though NASDAQ traded, Crumbs small revenues, losses and...
Hobby Lobby – Win the Battle, Risk Losing the War
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby and against the U.S. government in a case revolving around health care for employees. I'm a business person, not a lawyer, so to me it was key to understand from a business viewpoint exactly what Hobby...
The Kindle Smartphone is a Game Changer – But Not As You Think
Yesterday Amazon launched its new Kindle Fire smartphone. "Ho-hum" you, and a lot of other people, said. "Why?" "What's so great about this phone?" The market is dominated by Apple and Samsung, to the point we no longer care about Blackberry - and have pretty much...
Herding Cats – 4 Leadership Lessons from Top Publicist Jeff Ballard
Charlie Sheen, Chandler Massey, Johnny Depp, Paula Abdul, Zac Efron, Rob Lowe, John Davidson, Dick van Patten... This is just a short, partial list of the people Jeff Ballard works with, and has worked with in some cases for nearly 30 years, as one of the top...
Will Steve Ballmer Be a Good LA Clippers Leader?
Anyone who reads my column knows I've been no fan of Steve Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft. On multiple occasions I chastised him for bad decisions around investing corporate funds in products that are unlikely to succeed. I even called him the worst CEO in America. ...
Resign Shinseki – Relying on Statistics is Lazy Leadership
It is ironic that on this Memorial Day weekend (a remembrance of our fallen soldiers) America is learning that its military veterans have been ineffectively served by the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital system. Hundreds, if not thousands, have gone months...
Why You Don’t Want To Own IBM
IBM had a tough week this week. After announcing earnings on Wednesday IBM fell 2%, dragging the Dow down over 100 points. And as the Dow reversed course to end up 2% on the week, IBM continued to drag, ending down almost 3% for the week. Of course, one bad week -...
Investors May Regret Target’s CEO Ouster – Look at Sears, JCP
Lots of press this week about Target's CEO and Chairman, Gregg Steinhafel, apparently being forced out. Blame reached the top job after the successful cyber attack on the company last year. But investors, and customers, may regret this somewhat Board level...
Wake Up Call! How Stagnation Spiral is Hurting Illinois
Economic growth is a great thing. When the economy booms people make more, so they pay more income taxes. They spend more, which generates more sales tax. They upgrade homes and buy bigger homes, which have higher property taxes. But even though they pay more...
Do Earnings Announcements Matter? Not To Smart CEOs
Every quarter I have to be reminded that "earnings season" is again upon us. The ritual of public companies announcing their sales and profits from recent quarters that generates a lot of attention in the business press. And I always wonder why this is a big deal....
How this Zebra Changed Its Stripes – Bold Move
Zebra Technologies is a company most people don't recognize. Yet, I bet every product you buy has the product on which they specialize. Since 1982 Zebra has been the leader in bar code printers and readers. Zebra was a pioneer in the application of bar codes for...
Tesla is Smarter Than Other Auto Companies
"Car dealers are idiots" said my friend as she sat down for a cocktail. It was evening, and this Vice President of a large health care equipment company was meeting me to brainstorm some business ideas. I asked her how her day went, when she gave the response above....
Why Microsoft is Still Speculative
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast" (Alexander Pope) As it does for most investors. People do not like to accept the notion that a business will lose relevancy, and its value will fall. Especially really big companies that are household brand names. ...
The Race to Communicate – Was Malaysia Airlines Right to Text The Lost Plane?
5:00pm, September 20, 2009 was when I got the call. Someone’s telling me to call the Wisconsin Highway Patrol, my oldest son was in a terrible accident. Then I call the police, who tell me my son has been airlifted to a hospital. I’m in the car, madly driving 500...
Like Sbarro, Will You Be the Next Domino to Fall?
Understanding trends is the most important part of planning. Yet, most business planning focuses on internal operations and how to improve them, usually neglecting trends and changes in the external environment that threaten not only sales and profits but the...
Obamacare – America’s Greatest Legislation Since the Civil Rights Act?
Obamacare is looking like an economic game changer that will drive long-term health care affordability in America
The Smart Leadership Lessons from Facebook’s WhatsApp Acquisition
Look past the stated $19B price and you’ll see the smart reasons why Facebook bought WhatsApp and the lesson this offers for all business leaders.
Microsoft Should Give XBox Biz to Nintendo
Nintendo and Sony are in a no-profit fight-to-the-death war for game console sales. Microsoft should get out now to avoid future losses.
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