Successful marketing efforts require good marketing intelligence. People working in marketing jobs can erect or demolish businesses overnight with the aid of effective market intelligence. To be effective marketing intelligence must be close enough to policy, plans, and operations but not so close that it loses its objectivity or the decision makers lose their integrity of judgment.
Now that the deadline on merger talks between technology titans Microsoft and Yahoo has expired, the consequences are unclear and the stage is set for a dramatic period ahead.
Your promotion to a managerial position demonstrates that you have the desired knowledge, expertise, and skills to perform well in your functional area. However, managing people is a new skill you need to develop in order to play your new role as a manager successfully. As a successful manager, you will need to rely more than ever on your interpersonal skills. Read on to learn about how to sharpen your managerial abilities and apply them to your new marketing job.
Marketing careers exist in every industry, including manufacturing, trade, retail, media, research, and public service. Read on to find out about the various opportunities that await you in the field of marketing.
Sun Microsystems Inc. has registered an unexpected loss in the quarterly earnings which has prompted the company to cut as many as 2,500 jobs after the sales slump. Sun has attributed its loss to tax expenses, which amounted to a whopping $52 million. The net loss incurred is about $34 million. The computer company also blamed costs relating to its takeover of the Swedish software firm MySQL, as well as a 9.7% drop in orders from US customers. The job cuts will erase about 7.5% of Sun’s total workforce of 33,500. Analysts from Thomson Financial and the Wall Street Journal had expected that the company’s strong global base would enable the company post profitable quarterly results, but the results stunned analysts and investors alike. CEO Jonathan Schwartz has expanded Sun’s software business to increase the sales of its servers, which lost market share last year. He is even offering programs to customers for free in anticipation of selling more services and hardware.
Apple Inc. has announced that it will make popular films available for iPhones and iPods through iTunes as soon as the DVDs are released, owing to deals with several movie studios. The deals involve several studios including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to Apple. “We’re thrilled to bring iTunes store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release,” said iTunes vice president Eddy Cue. “We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios.” Furthermore, Warner Bros. will be releasing movies for video-on-demand systems on the same day when DVDs are released, according Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes. Newly released films will cost around $14.99 to download, while they may be rented for $3.99. This iTunes feature will now face stiff competition with movie rental giant Blockbuster and Internet firm CinemaNow.
Adobe Systems Inc. will be launching a next generation media player to replace the mobile version of Flash – Adobe Flash Lite – to enhance the overall video and animated content viewing experience in numerous mobile platforms. Adobe has reportedly struck a deal with several handset and mobile makers to bring its Flash multimedia content to more cell phones. The program, called the Open Screen Project, is initiated by Adobe and includes prominent device manufacturers, content developers, and telecom carriers under the proposed project. Adobe will also remove the licensing fees imposed for embedding the Flash player and will also nullify licensing restrictions from its .swf file format. Microsoft, Sun, Apple, and Google are not involved in the project. David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe, said that Adobe is actively recruiting additional partners.
Time Warner Inc. has decided to disassociate its cable company, Time Warner Cable, from the rest of the company as decreasing stock prices and losses have continued to hurt the media giant. CEO Jeffrey Bewkes announced the decision in the company’s first quarter sales report: “We’ve decided that a complete structural separation of Time Warner Cable, under the right circumstances, is in the best interests of both companies’ shareholders. We’re working hard on an agreement with Time Warner Cable, which we expect to finalize soon.” Time Warner was reportedly coaxed into making the move after the Wall Street Journal exhorted the company to refocus on its ailing media content company. American Online (AOL), one of the company’s arms, has recently suffered a steep fall in revenue, with a loss of about 23%, making it the prime culprit for the company’s overall profit decline.
MySpace has launched a targeted ad platform called HyperTargeting to boost its advertising systems. According to Travis Katz, senior vice president for MySpace International, HyperTargeting classifies people according to the interests listed in their profiles and then stores their information in interest-specific categories, allowing advertisers to target users based on those interests. However, in a nod to increasing concerns over how personal information is used, MySpace will allow users to opt out of the HyperTargeting system. The Times Online reports MySpace boss Chris de Wolfe saying that he hopes to expand the number of categories to more than 1,000 in the coming months. Facebook also has similar features in its site and will be announcing newer ones shortly. MySpace also says that early tests resulted in a 300% increase in the number of ad click-throughs.
Creating your career brand is a must if you want to avoid getting commoditized in the job market today. Career branding compels potential employers to hire you because it allows them to more easily see the benefits you can bring to their organizations. Climb the professional ladder more rapidly by simply positioning yourself right in the crowd!
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