Blogonomics

gull7 is the Spring 2011 Winner!

Great blogs! I enjoyed your writing, in depth thoughts, hard work, and consistency throughout the semester.

You were selected as the winner by your peers!

Enjoy the summer!

Ms. Rondon

Seems hard to believe we are just two weeks away from the end of the spring semester!

For your last blog assignment, pick your favorite company out of the portfolio project and perform a SWOT analysis. Make sure to justify your statements with financial facts, and with information obtained from Business Source Premier and Lexis Nexis. If you missed class last Monday, make sure to visit the library to find out about these databases.

In addition, nominate the best blogger for the spring 2011 semester. Nominees should have completed blogs on a timely basis, supported their personal opinions with third party facts, and given credit to their sources. Furthermore, nominees should show good use of grammar and proper spelling.

Good luck to all!

Ms. Rondon

Welcome back!

As we wait for spring to finally arrive, let’s take a look at some interesting financial statements.

If you attend the Lynn section, do not attempt to complete this blog until after the lecture scheduled for March 29, 2011. If you attend the Danvers section, and you missed class on Wednesday, March 23rd; make sure to get the lecture notes from a classmate before completing this blog assignment.

Using Yahoo Finance, look up Balance Sheets and Income Statements for the last 2 years for Apple and Ford Motor Co. Compare and contrast the following financial information:

Sales and/or Revenue
Cost of Goods Sold or Cost of the Merchandised Sold
Gross Profit
Operating Expenses
Interest Expense
Taxes
Net Income or Net Profit
Cash
Accounts Receivable
Total Assets
Total Liabilities
Common Stock
Total Equity

We will discuss this assignment during the week. If you miss class, make sure to get the lecture notes.
Good luck!

In two to three paragraphs, explain your reasons for pursuing a college education and what motivates you to come to school every week. Tell us about what you hope to accomplish by attending school and how it fits into your overall life goals. If you don’t feel motivated, tell us what you think would motivate you, how and why.

As you think about your answers, try to incorporate Maslow’s and Herzberg’s motivation theories.

Good luck!

Up to this point, you have learned about basic macroeconomic issues, the business environment, ethics and corporate social responsibility, corporate forms of ownership and entrepreneurship. Using what you have learned in class, answer the following questions:

Given the current economic environment, what kind of business do you think would be successful and why?
What type of business form of ownership would you recommend and why?
Give the funding cut to the SBA announced less than two weeks ago, how would you finance a business in this economic environment?

Do a little research and try thinking outside the box. After all, that is what American entrepreneurship is all about.

GDP “… does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our courage, nor our wisdom, nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”
- Senator Robert Kennedy, 1968

Because GDP is a critical measure of economic growth in the United States, I like to start every term discussing GDP with my students. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, has many limitations. It doesn’t tell us about unemployment or productivity, or whether economic growth will be sustainable over time. In addition, it doesn’t tell us how wealth is distributed among citizens. However, it tells us about consumer spending, private business investment, government spending, and net trade.

GDP is a measure of all final goods and services produced within a country. However, goods and services produced and consumed at home as well as illegal goods and services are not included in GDP. Can you think of how this might cause GDP numbers to be misleading in comparing living standards around the world?

Make sure to explain your answer. You will have to include GDP statistics from at least one other country. Feel free to discuss your assignment with a research librarian. They will be able to help you find GDP and other economic data needed to support your claims.

Dear students, to help you test your access to Blogonomics and have some fun with the parade of storms we have been enjoying lately, post your best storm pics link right here and earn 1 extra credit point.

Note that due to size limitations, you will only be allowed to enter the links to the pictures and not the actual pictures.

Congratulations aleclecc01.

Your comment on Apple and Ford Motor earned first place.

Thanks to all the students who participated this term.

I wish you all a Great Holiday Season!

Once again, we have come to the end of another term and the closing of an educational chapter for many of our students. Congratulations to those of you who will be graduating this December.

It was with great difficulty that I and my helpers selected the blog comments that you will get to vote on. We tried to reward hard work, research, creativity, enthusiasm and academic integrity throughout the term. In the end, we had to make a choice and picked what we felt were the top comments. Congratulations to all of you for your hard work and many thanks for making Blogonomics a respectful and fun learning environment were students are free to express their views in an approachable manner.

Congratulations to the finalists who wrote the comments selected.

Click here to take survey