SoftBank Plans $4.8 Billion Share Buyback Following Pressure From Elliott

SoftBank Group Corp is planning on spending $4.8 billion to buy 7% of their own shares back. This is the second major buyback of its own shares as they try to rise up. The company's biggest investment fund is $100 billion on Vision Fund. Many analysts have recommended the company to spend money on share buybacks rather tech investments. As of now there has been a stop for a second massive Vision Fund as they would like to see better results. 

The article was interesting due to the idea of spending so much money on young companies to help them succeed but dramatically fail.  Now they are searching for ways to help return money to shareholders and have money to invest on others. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/softbank-to-buy-back-up-to-4-8-billion-in-shares-following-pressure-from-elliott-11584068498?mod=hp_lead_pos6

Coronavirus Remakes U.S. Life in a Weekend

With the spread of the coronavirus the entire world has shut down. From schools to concerts and professional sports leagues to social gatherings. What bring in tons of income to cities for example like the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo have been completely cancelled and abandoned and the city suffers for that. Not only this but also jobs have closed down leaving people out of work and not able to pay bills. Italy for example, has shut down and have lost millions in tourist but also with the jobs closing they have also announced that people do not need to worry about their mortgages and will not be penalized for not being able to make payments. The way this entangles with marketing is that jobs and schools have moved online and this is a great time to show market your business to the online world since basically the entire world will soon be in the online community. Although this is a terrible time we can only make the best of it and take advantage of this opportunity to market and grow your business.

The Bosses Who Prefer When Employees Work From Home

The spread of Coronavirus has forced many companies to shift to unconventional ways of work. But such a practice was already in place at some companies with a concept that remote working can be better for business. Idea behind working from home is that it can present access to talent, a better culture, and more productivity. And it just did not happen without any planning. Companies adopting to work from home, put many practices in place about meetings, equal participation of employees, easy communication among the co-workers, and online meetups to enhance friendly relations. It can bring prosperity to places where economic potential was untapped in the past. Remote work has its glitches like availability of appropriate system or some annoying features of a software, being used for official work.Remote work has emerged as a prominent tool to combat virus in recent days. It may have many advantages as mentioned above, but it can also prove to be a bone of contention for various reasons like availability of employees, ad-hoc meetups, accountability, and many more. Being a student of management, all the afore-mentioned practices have to be kept in mind to keep a business up and running, while not forgetting about the risks remote work bring with it.

Link to the Post: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-rules-of-remote-work-11584038840
Time Posted: March 13, 2020, 5:30 amET

The Pinnacle of Golf Gets Postponed Due to the Coronavirus

This article talks about one of the most popular golf tournaments of the year, the Masters Tournament. The chairman of Augusta National golf club, announced that the tournament was being postponed due to the Coronavirus. The Coronavirus, COVID-19, shut down all sporting events, from the NCAA to all professional leagues. The PGA Tour was the latest sporting organization to cancel it's tournaments and competition schedule due to COVID-19. The NBA, MLB, and the NCAA, just to name a few, have cancelled all their tournaments and games in fear of the virus outbreak.  The Tour's decision to cancel it's tournaments was not an easy one to make. Originally, the plan was to have the tournaments be played without any fans or spectators, but ultimately it became suspended.

I feel like with the fears of the Coronavirus, this is going to take a huge toll on the world of sports. The hiatus going on in the world of sports is going to have an affect on all the athletes involved, as well as television broadcasters, and also not to mention the staff of all sports teams and organizations. The fear of the Coronavirus is having a huge impact on the world of sports and the entire world in general. Hopefully the virus can clear up or a cure to be found, so that the world can return to normal and the world of sports can resume their seasons for the entire world to enjoy watching the best athletes in the world compete.


Article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/augusta-national-postpones-the-masters-11584109699

Should you Clean Your Phone to Combat Coronavirus? Definitely... Maybe.

Should you Clean Your Phone to Combat Coronavirus? Definitely… Maybe.

This article discusses whether it is safe or not to clean a phone with disinfectants and cleaning wipes. Amid the global pandemic, the Coronavirus, being clean is a good way to prevent infection; citizens are becoming aware that now is a good time to clean and disinfect their phones. Although most phone companies would only recommend using microfiber towels to clean a phone, disinfectant wipes have now been added to the list of materials that can clean a phone safely. One of the main reasons phone companies did not allow the use of alcohol based wipes was because these can remove the oleophobic layer on the phone’s screen; this layer serves as a repellent of oil and water when spilled on top of the phone.

Many psychological and social factors play a role in marketing, here it can be seen that now that the virus is spreading everywhere, psychologically, people get scared that their phones may be carriers or potential hazards. Social factors, such as the growing panic among everyone is calling for the cleanliness of surfaces to be a great priority. Certain industries will benefit from this because their profits will increase as the demand for disinfectant agents increases. 

Article:https://www.wsj.com/articles/should-you-clean-your-phone-to-combat-coronavirus-definitely-maybe-11584018237?emailToken=0db8cf2f495c2da741f8bd01f56600c96fsiZ7H3zb2JPz81cBXSeiweJxCI1f9tJL86/gBhm1jxChRGObGrH9+DRFWqD5b5GhQVwvBvLb2rhSU+onJ5y7BwI0vyhqW2FLvExGBsmSQxG9awBmFkmN9X1vujkKND&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Picture:https://www.cnet.com/how-to/coronavirus-and-your-phone-how-to-effectively-clean-and-disinfect-your-device/

"Take a Deep Breath and Assess Whether It Is Time to Buy" Analysis

Anthony Nguyen
Dr. Zhang
Marketing 3343 N
March 13, 2020

"Take a Deep Breath and Assess Whether It Is Time to Buy" Analysis

Source: WSJ and Refinitiv

          By now, just about everyone knows that the coronavirus is effecting many markets. Because of this many markets are struggling, while some are doing better because of how people are reacting. What makes this topic fascinating is that the article is reporting on these reactions and tries to advise what should be done and what shouldn't be done.

          As stated before, the article is touching on the responses to the coronavirus. The writer is observed that companies are being effected by political decisions as many governments are thinking about how to spend their money in order to try and maintain the stock market. This decision making leads to another issue, and that's how the market might be damaged as funding and investments might decrease, leading to many companies having to try and make judgments surrounding these decisions and stock decrease, such as how they're going maintain inventory and their own money to make sure they don't go bankrupt.

          The way this article relates to Chapter 12 is that a lot of what's going on involves decisions by wholesalers and retailers. Now, wholesalers might have to think about which locations they should send their supplies to, and which locations they shouldn't because it might cause profit loss. Online purchases have to now be closely monitored and some companies might have to consider which stores they should close down. Accommodating to customer health becomes a bigger factor as well as grocery stores might want to keep themselves clean because there will be a long line and high demand for many products. Strategies will also be changing seeing as how there might be "longer-lasting economic effects as layoffs and lost opportunities leave a post-viral gloom on the economy, making a U with an extended low more likely, even as governments are eventually forced to respond in size." (Mackintosh, New York Times). The thing to take away from this, as marketing students, is that we should always consider preparing for the unexpected and make sure companies have contingency plans way ahead of time for situations like these. That way in the long run, a company won't suffer as bad as others might.

Credit to information used comes from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/take-a-deep-breath-and-assess-whether-it-is-time-to-buy-11584129259

Article Published on March 13, 2020

Corporate America Races to Respond to a Crisis That Upends Work

The spread of Coronavirus has forced employers to devise mitigation strategies, keeping their businesses running. Contingency plans are being set in place that ranges from dividing teams across different locations to limiting visitors to stem the spread of the pandemic. The purpose behind such moves is to avoid disruption in businesses while keeping their workers safe. Employees are even being asked to work remotely and share their travel plans. Social distancing measures are in place at various locations around the world.
This article concerned me as it is something that is related to the management of employees. Managing the daily business, as usual, has become a concern in the ongoing spread of novel Coronavirus. And this article tends to propose various measures intended at controlling this epidemic as well as an efficient response to a crisis that has the potential to upend work.

Link to the Article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/corporate-america-races-respond-crisis-that-upends-work-11583604174?mod=business_minor_pos1
Time Posted: March 8, 2020, 5:04 pm ET