Top News
Cyprus plans to launch a state investment fund to raise billions of euros required to qualify for a 10bn-euro (£8.5bn) international bailout. The new package of measures is still under discussion to reach a target of 5.8bn euros demanded by the EU and IMF, and may include a revised bank levy. (BBC News)
Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21875246 to view the full article online.
Every year, there is the same debate about whether March Madness hurts office productivity. While some experts say the office pools and chatter around the NCAA's basketball tournament is a morale booster, just as many insist that it's a productivity drain. (AOL Jobs)
Visit http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/03/20/march-madness-office-it-hate/ to view the full article online.
Career
When Jim Donald took the helm at Extended Stay America a year ago, he sensed fear. Many employees at the national hotel chain, which had recently emerged from bankruptcy, were still stuck in survival mode. Worried about losing their jobs, they avoided decisions that might cost the company money, such as making property repairs or appeasing a disgruntled guest with a free night's stay. (The Wall Street Journal)
Visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323639604578370383939044780.html to view the full article online.
John Coletta quit as chief financial officer of Real Goods Solar Inc. in late August – just five months after he arrived. He announced his departure to his boss and other company board members in an email. Mr. Coletta says he felt guilty leaving so soon to take the same position at Quiznos. But the restaurant chain, which needed him to start in mid-September, offered a chance "to go from a good fit to a great fit," he adds. (The Wall Street Journal)
Visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324077704578358830071860390.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_3 to view the full article online.
Diversity in the Workplace
International
Iceland, a country with a $13 billion economy, had six dollar billionaires before the financial crisis struck in 2008. Now it has none. Five of the men – including former West Ham soccer team owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Baugur Group hf founder Jon Asgeir Johannesson – have lost all, or most of, their fortunes after building empires on loans from banks that used the island’s investment bubble to stretch their assets to 10 times the size of gross domestic product. (Bloomberg)
Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/iceland-s-lost-billionaires-unmourned-as-riches-draw-ire.html to view the full article online.
Caterpillar has a well-earned reputation as a global technology leader, having done a masterful job diversifying from its main construction equipment business into mining equipment, heavy-duty engines, electric power generation, and locomotives. Yet when it comes to performance in China, the world’s largest market for its products and services, Caterpillar (CAT) seems to be floundering. Although it opened a Beijing office in 1978, the company’s current market share in China is only about 7 percent, behind such local competitors as Sany and global players such as Komatsu. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-15/caterpillars-chinese-lessons#r=nav-fs to view the full article online.
Education
A full-tuition scholarship to a top-rated MBA program might seem like a pipe dream, but for nearly 800 students this year it was anything but. What follows is a list of Bloomberg Businessweek's 20 highest-ranked business schools that awarded the most full-tuition scholarships as a portion of total enrollment. Leading the pack is Washington University in St. Louis, where more than one of five MBAs at the Olin Business School got a full-tuition deal worth nearly $100,000. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
Visit http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2013-03-19/top-b-schools-for-full-tuition-scholarships#slide1 to view the full article online.
The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan plans to launch team-based interviews as part of its MBA admissions process for 2014. The interviews, unlike traditional one-on-one or group interviews, will bring together several applicants to give the admissions team a chance to evaluate them on how they interact. Ross is the second major business school to experiment with this approach. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-19/ross-to-use-team-based-interviews-for-mba-admissions#r=hpt-ls to view the full article online.
Technology
As recently as a few years ago, broken monitors and televisions like those piled in the warehouse were being recycled profitably. But flat-screen technology has made those monitors and televisions obsolete, decimating the demand for the recycled tube glass used in them and creating what industry experts call a "glass tsunami" as stockpiles of the useless material accumulate across the country. (The New York Times)
Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/us/disposal-of-older-monitors-leaves-a-hazardous-trail.html?hp&_r=0 to view the full article online.
Entrepreneurship
The San Francisco-based business was enjoying "slow but steady growth", says founder Bayard Winthrop. Come December and the company thought it was a little overstocked for the holiday season, but nothing was amiss. Then American Giant got the type of positive publicity many companies can only dream off. Orders rocketed, and the firm was sent into emergency mode. (BBC News)
Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21680884 to view the full article online.
Corporate America
Company directors say they pay CEOs based on performance. Now the numbers show they mean it. More than half of the compensation awarded to 51 CEOs last year was tied to their companies' financial or stock-market performance, according to a preliminary review of proxy statements by consulting firm Hay Group and The Wall Street Journal. In most cases, the companies must hit specified targets for the CEO to receive the promised money or equity. (The Wall Street Journal)
Visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324373204578372444079319544.html to view the full article online.
If you’ve been following the media industry over the past year, you probably don’t need anyone to tell you the waves of disruption continue to increase in both height and frequency. The news that widespread cutbacks have caused dissatisfied readers to flee shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. But while those waves have swamped some traditional players, other parts of the industry have been able to ride the tide, and non-traditional sources continue to play a growing role in how people get their news – although whether that is good or bad is still open for debate. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-19/media-study-the-news-business-is-awful-people-want-news#r=hpt-ls to view the full article online.
Leadership
Companies like Box, TaskRabbit, NASA, and The Huffington Post have such huge missions that there's no easy way to put it on a to-do list. So how do founders and leaders at these places stay motivated? Read on for advice from Aaron Levie, Leah Busque, Arianna Huffington, and more. (Fast Company)
Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3007098/how-maintain-motivation-when-your-goals-are-epic to view the full article online.
Having been the founder and CEO of USA Networks for more than two decades, I was quite used to leading from the front, as many CEO’s do. We know we have to set the vision, establish values, set strategy, build a team and achieve results. Like many of the CEO’s I grew up with, I was quite used to leading from the front. (Inc.)
Visit http://www.inc.com/kay-koplovitz/springboard-lead-from-the-middle.html to view the full article online.
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