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  • The New Pepsi Challenge

    • December 3, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Consumer Products, Food, Mergers and Acquisitions, News
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    Yesterday, PepsiCo announced the acquisition of Wimm-Bill-Dann (WBD) Foods for $3.8 Billion.  WBD, headquartered in Moscow, is one of Europe’s biggest dairy products companies.  WBD produces yogurt, milk, flavored milk, fruit juices, and soft drinks.  The company has a product portfolio of over 1,000 different types of yogurt and dairy drinks, and 150 types of

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  • SAP-gate – Openly Acknowledged Software Piracy in Muddy Waters

    • November 27, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Ethics, Legal, News, Software
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    There is sometimes a fine line between competitive intelligence, the legal practice of gathering, analyzing and managing information on competitors and corporate espionage, the illegal practice of spying, intelligence gathering, and outright theft for competitive advantage.   However, in today’s world of ethical relativism, or, rather, the outright lack of ethics, that line is becoming a

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  • Debt Addiction Intervention Needed

    • November 26, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Economy, Government, Monetary Policy, News
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    Earlier this week, Forbes published an article by Shaun Rein, Managing Director of China Market Research Group.  As we have done previously, he decries the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing measures, saying (http://www.forbes.com/2010/11/22/ben-bernanke-wrong-quantitative-easing-leadership-managing-rein.html):  1)     “Low interest rates and an increased money supply are worthless tools if companies don’t think there are ways to make money. More

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  • The Fed Says Potato, the Market Says Potahto – Let’s call the Whole Thing Off!

    • November 16, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Economy, Government, Monetary Policy, News
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    The Wall Street Journal reported, today, that investors are selling off U.S. government debt, challenging the Federal Reserve’s efforts to push interest rates lower, and, instead, driving rates, in many cases, to their highest levels in more than three months (See previous blog post:  Inflation Nation).  The rise in borrowing costs is a most unwelcome

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  • Zero-emission Vehicles – Reality or (Exhaust) Pipe Dream?

    • November 15, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Alternative Energy, Automotive, Energy, Environmental Sustainability, News
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    Today, the head of the Renault-Nissan automotive alliance, Carlos Goshn, stated that they plan to produce and sell 500,000 electric vehicles per year, globally, by the end of 2013.  The alliance is banking on the fact that consumers will become more attracted to electric cars as the technologies associated with these vehicles continue to be

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  • QEII – No Luxury Liner for the Average Citizen

    • November 6, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Economy, Government, Monetary Policy, News
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    As the country was watching the election results of November 2, 2010, the Federal Reserve was quietly implementing the second monetization of debt, called QEII.  This Keynsian-style move of issuing debt and buying it back has some unintended consequences: First, the dollar is devalued.  It is estimated that the dollar will be worth 20% less

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  • Defining Direction in Business and Life

    • October 29, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Leadership, News
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    Recently, Dr. Kim B. Clark, President of Brigham Young University – Idaho, and former Dean of the Harvard Business School, presented a seminar on defining direction in a business context.  His presentation is outlined below.  While the focus was business, the application to our personal lives, from a spiritual and temporal perspective, is obvious: 1)    

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  • Insanity – Fed Considering Options That Are Sure to Fail

    • October 15, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Economy, Government, Monetary Policy, News
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    Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  The Federal Reserve is expected to initiate a new round of Treasury purchases, thus monetizing more debt to add to the $1.7 trillion in longer-term assets it has already bought.  Typically, “if a budget deficit persists

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  • MS Windows Phone 7: MS ≠ Market Share

    • October 11, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: High-tech, News, Telecommunications
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    We wrote in past months about the emergence of the 4th Paradigm, or internet appliance, which extends from an employee to a lifestyle focus.  The 4th Paradigm became firmly entrenched as Apple Computer surpassed Microsoft as the most valuable tech company – Apple is on a path, now, to overtake Exxon Mobil Corp. as the

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  • Will Things Go Better with Coke? Acquisition of CCE North America Will Pose Challenges

    • October 8, 2010
    • Posted by: Ted Bullen
    • Category: Consumer Products, Mergers and Acquisitions, News
    No Comments

    In 2007, The Coca Cola Company (TCCC) introduced the slogan: Live on the Coke Side of Life.  Early this year, The Coca Cola Company turned this slogan into an invitation for the North American business of its largest bottler, Coca Cola Enterprises.  The deal was completed earlier this week.  The strategy is to control the

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