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Potential Research Topics: BUSINESS

This guide will help with settling on a research topic for class.


BUSINESS: Corporate NRA Deals
Several companies have ended financial deals, often discount programs, to members of
the National Rifle Association (NRA) after the school shooting in Parkland Florida. What has been
the public response to decisions by these companies and what was the response by the George
State Senate to Delta Airlines rescinding discounts to NRA members? What companies have
publicly resisted to remove the deals and why?
SEARCH TERMS: NRA AND discount* AND (FedEx OR Delta OR Avis OR Enterprise)

BUSINESS: Walmart Home Shopping
Walmart will be launching a home shopping option that will have features to support the
company’s expansion in fashion and furniture. What percentage of its business is currently through
e-commerce and how does it expect the new home shopping option to change that? What
department store is Walmart going to partner with and how will it fit into the areas that it’s
expanding in?
SEARCH TERMS: Walmart AND home shopping

BUSINESS: Great Britain – KFC Closings
KFC stores closed across Britain and Ireland due to a shortage of chickens. KFC recently
shifted its logistics operations to DHL and the German delivery firm which hadn’t registered its
chicken cold storage unit with the town it was located in. Therefore, they were not able to keep the
restaurants stocked. What happened to the chicken stored in that warehouse? Why did KFC run
low on gravy after most of its stores re- opened? Should DHL make some sort of restitution to KFC?

BUSINESS: Microsoft and Privacy
United States vs. Microsoft Corp. is a case that is being heard by the U.S Supreme Court to decide if the company has to comply with a U.S. search warrant for data being stored in a foreign country. What are the most persuasive arguments for each side of this case? What has been the role of the U.S. Congress in this case?
SEARCH TERMS: Microsoft AND Supreme Court AND search warrant

BUSINESS: Keurig Buys Dr. Pepper Snapple
Keurig Green Mountain, owned by investment firm JAB Holdings and known for its singleserve
coffee brewers, will be taking control of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group in a deal that will
expand JAB’s beverage holdings. What are some other food and beverage companies that JAB
Holdings has acquired? Who are some of the major competitors with JAB Holdings in the food and
beverage industry and how might the acquisition of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group change some
strategies in the industry?
SEARCH TERMS: Keurig AND Dr. Pepper

BUSINESS: Facebook Feed Changes
Facebook will be making some changes to its news feed in an effort to make it more difficult to use it to intentionally disseminate false news or for false articles to circulate. How is Facebook planning to do this and what has been the public reaction to their new process as they have explained it? What are some examples of false stories that have been spread, where did those stories originate and what was it about the nature of the stories that spurred readers to give them wide distribution?
SEARCH TERMS: Facebook AND news feed AND fake news AND change*

BUSINESS: Opioid Lawsuit
About 250 cities, counties and states are suing opioid makers for misleading health care professionals about the addictive aspects in their opioid medical products. What are some of the companies being sued, what are the opioid products they make and how have those products contributed to the crisis of opioid addiction? What company and product has been most often mentioned as a root of the opioid crisis and why?
SEARCH TERMS: opioid* AND (sue OR lawsuit) AND (cities OR states OR counties)

BUSINESS: BBC Gender Gap in Paychecks
The British Broadcasting Corp. finds itself under fire for underpaying women when their salaries are compared with those of men in comparable jobs. Its editor for China, Carrie Gracie, resigned over this and went public with her reason for leaving. What is the BBC’s defense of its actions? How has the British Parliament responded to the claims?
SEARCH TERMS: BBC AND women AND gender gap

BUSINESS: Meredith Corp. Buys Time Magazine
Time magazine has been sold to Meredith Corp. How did Time start and what has made it
so successful? What kind of magazines does Meredith own and how does it plan to run Time?
SEARCH TERMS: Time AND magazine AND Meredith

Transportation service company Uber has admitted to covering up a hack that exposed information on over 57 million riders. What kind of information regarding their clients was exposed in the hack? What is known about the hackers and how this was done? What has been the public reaction to Uber’s admission?

BUSINESS: Tesla and Largest Lithium Battery
Tesla has completed building the world’s largest lithium battery and plugged it into the south Australian power grid. The battery stores energy generated by a wind farm, which was constructed by the French firm Neoen. Why did Tesla commit to building this battery? How is it going to be used? Are there any plans to construct such a battery somewhere else in the world?
SEARCH TERMS: Australia AND Tesla AND lithium battery

BUSINESS: CVS to Buy Aetna
CVS Health has agreed to merge with managed care company Aetna Inc. What are the implications of this merger on the health care industry finances, costs and provision? What is the financial structure of this merger and how do these two companies plan to blend their services?

Glenn Simpson, co-founder of the research and intelligence firm Fusion GPS, has been
called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into Russia’s
interference with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. What is specifically being investigated in
regard to Fusion GPS? What kind of work does Fusion GPS do and what political work has it been
involved in?
SEARCH TERMS: Fusion GPS AND (polit* OR Russia OR research)

BUSINESS: Energy Merger
Total S.A. will be buying Maersk Oil, the energy business of A.P. Moller-Maersk, which will
make Total the second largest producer of oil and gas in the North Sea. Moller-Maersk is
restructuring to concentrate on its transportation and logistics businesses. How much is Total
paying and when is it to be concluded? Besides the North Sea, where else does Maersk Oil
operate? Do these other operations fit in well with Total’s businesses?
SEARCH TERMS: Total AND Maersk Oil

BUSINESS: Wal-Mart and Google Partnering
Wal-Mart customers will soon able to place orders using an app from the commerce platform Google Express. What voice-activated feature is also available with this Google-Wal-Mart joint service? What impact does this have on Amazon and how is Amazon responding to this competition?
SEARCH TERMS: (WalMart OR Wal-Mart) AND Google Express AND (voice OR app)

BUSINESS: Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi
Dara Khosrowshahi will replace Travis Kalanick as the new CEO of Uber. What was his background before Uber? What is his business reputation and what have been his major accomplishments in previous roles?
SEARCH TERMS: Dara Khosrowshahi AND Uber

BUSINESS: Alphabet and Uber
Waymo, a self-driving car technology company owned by Google-parent Alphabet, has
filed a lawsuit against Uber for theft of intellectual property in some of its technology. What are the
specifics of the accusation and how does Waymo claim Uber got hold of some of its self-driving car
technology? What is Uber’s defense?
SEARCH TERMS: Uber AND Waymo AND self-driv*

BUSINESS: Ivanka Brand
Nordstrom, Sears, Kmart and other stores have stopped carrying Ivanka Trump’s brand of
clothing and jewelry. What are the reasons these companies have dropped her brand of jewelry
from their stores? What has been the response from the Trump family and others to her brands
being dropped?
SEARCH TERMS: Ivanka Trump AND jewelry AND store* AND (drop* OR stop*)

Shigenori Shiga, the chairman of Toshiba Corp., resigned from his position with the
company. He was taking responsibility for the financial problems of its nuclear energy business.
The company is facing a loss of 713 billion yen. What U.S. unit of the company is responsible for
this loss and how did it happen? Has any U.S. businessman ever resigned in a similar fashion for
similar reasons?
SEARCH TERMS: Toshiba Corp. AND losses AND Shiga

BUSINESS: Zuckerberg Manifesto
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has released a nearly 6,000-word manifesto stating a goal of global community and addressing issues such as Facebook’s impact on fake news and political polarization. What are the key questions he asks in his manifesto? How does he think Facebook can work towards his goals and what aspects of Facebook does he think need to be changed?
SEARCH TERMS: Zuckerberg AND Facebook AND manifesto

BUSINESS: Ringling Brothers Circus Closes
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus has announced it will close in May 2017 after 146 years. How and when was this circus founded and why is it closing now? What criticisms has there been from animal rights groups and how has the circus responded? What other popular attractions did P.T. Barnum offer the public during his lifetime?
SEARCH TERMS: Ringling AND Barnum AND circus

BUSINESS: Amazon Food Stamp Test
E-commerce giant has announced that it is going to test the practice of allowing customers to pay for groceries with food stamps. What are their hopes in allowing this and what are their concerns? How does this position them in their competition with Wal-Mat?
SEARCH TERMS: (Amazon OR AND food stamps

BUSINESS: Volkswagen Management Change
Slightly over a year after she was hired, Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt has left the board of management of Volkswagen. She had been running its compliance and integrity efforts in the wake of its diesel engine scandal. What did the company say was the reason for her departure? Has she spoken out about it? Who has replaced her?
SEARCH TERMS: Volkswagen AND Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt

BUSINESS: Sprint Jobs
Sprint Corporation has said it will offer 5000 jobs to Americans by bringing jobs back to the
U.S. and creating new jobs. How was President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank CEO
Masayoshi Son involved in Sprint’s new decision? What are the specifics of this deal and what is
still being decided?

BUSINESS: 21st Century Fox
Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has announced plans to purchase that portion of Sky,
the European broadcaster, which they did not already own. Murdoch had been attempting to do
this when the phone hacking scandal emerged several years ago, forcing him to stop the deal at
that time. What is the rationale for this acquisition? How did the stock market respond to this news?
When will the deal be done?
SEARCH TERMS: 21st Century Fox AND Sky PLC

BUSINESS: Facebook and Fake News
Facebook has started working with fact-checking organizations to test the validity of news that is flagged by Facebook users as possibly fake. What is meant by the term fake news and what has been discovered about it during and after the recent U.S. presidential election? What is the difference between fake news, partisan news, satirical news and just journalistic mistakes? What are some examples of people who have acted strangely due to being misled by fake news? How was Facebook impacted by this situation so that it became a major part of the story and the company felt responsible to take action to adopt a process of substantiation?
SEARCH TERMS: fake news AND Facebook

BUSINESS: Uber and California
California regulations have prevented Uber from using their self-driving cars, but Uber has moved testing this latest option to Arizona. What are some concerns that California has had with Uber’s self-driving car tests and why does Uber disagree? What is their business model for their self-driving car option and how does the technology work? What have been some examples of the technology not working?
SEARCH TERMS: Uber AND (self-driving OR self-driven) AND (California OR Arizona)

BUSINESS: AT&T and Time Warner
Telecommunications conglomerate AT&T has announced its plan to acquire media and entertainment conglomerate Time Warner. What factors do regulatory agencies investigate when approving corporate mergers? What industries would a merger like this impact and what would that impact be? What are the potential benefits and concerns for each company in this merger?
SEARCH TERMS: AT&T and Time Warner

BUSINESS: Volkswagen Settlement
A federal judge has approved a nearly $15 billion settlement for Volkswagen’s deceptive practices in emissions testing. What are its specifics, how do they work toward resolving the problems created by the emissions scandal and how does this settlement rank historically in the size of other US settlements? What investigations are still in store for Volkswagen?
SEARCH TERMS: Volkswagen AND settlement AND emissions

BUSINESS: Production Ended
Ford Motor Co. has ceased its production lines in Australia, with its last car being a Falcon
XR6. 600 people have lost their jobs. What reasons did Ford give for stopping production there?
What will its presence be in Australia going forward? What are the plans of the other automobile
manufacturers there?
SEARCH TERMS: Australia AND Ford Motor Co.

BUSINESS: Faulty Emissions Testing
TOPIC: About 11 million Volkswagen and VW-related diesel automobiles may be outfitted with software that helps them beat the testing for emissions. The CEO has stepped down and other key executives may lose their jobs. How did this software work? What are the attractions of diesel cars? What types of emissions do they create?  
SEARCH TERMS: Volkswagen AND emissions

BUSINESS: Falling Oil Prices
TOPIC: The oil industry, already suffering decreased per barrel prices, is poised for the flood of
Iranian oil that has been kept off the market for years due to sanctions. The sanctions were lifted as
Iran kept up its end of the nuclear deal it signed last fall. Why had the price of oil been falling before
the sanctions were lifted? How do analysts think other oil producing nations will respond to the
advent of Iran oil back into the market?
SEARCH TERMS: Iran AND oil AND prices

BUSINESS: REI Cancels Black Friday  
TOPIC:  Sporting goods chain Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) is cancelling its annual Black Friday sale, departing from a tradition that many retail stores take part in that starts the Christmas shopping season the day after Thanksgiving with midnight sales. Why did REI say they’ve made this decision and how did other retail stores respond?  What are some of the successes and problems that retail stores have had with the Black Friday annual sale?
SEARCH TERMS: (REI OR Recreational Equipment Inc.) AND Black Friday

BUSINESS:  Walgreens buying Rite Aid  
TOPIC:  Walgreens has announced that it is planning on buying Rite Aid.  What will be required for the purchase and how would it impact the drugstore industry?  What are the benefits and concerns of this sale?
SEARCH TERMS: Walgreens AND Rite Aid

BUSINESS: Deutsche Bank Changes
TOPIC:  Deutsche Bank is looking to shed over 30,000 jobs, to leave 10 countries, and to close 200 branches in Germany, among other actions, in an effort to return to profitability. It is also suspending its dividend for this and the next fiscal year. Why has it lost profitability? Do its plans make sense?
SEARCH TERMS: Deutsche Bank

BUSINESS: iPhone Sales     
TOPIC: Apple has announced the slowest growth of their iPhone sales in their history and warned that sales may yet drop further.  What have been the reasons for the long-standing success of the iPhone and why are the sales now slowing down?  What is the usual arc of a product's popularity and what are some other products that had a long run of popularity? How and why did their popularity slow down?
SEARCH TERMS: iPhone AND sales

BUSINESS:  Wal-Mart Closings     
TOPIC:  Wal-Mart is closing 269 of its stores, including 154 in the United States.  What is the impact of these closings on local communities and local economies?  Why are they closing so many stores?
SEARCH TERMS: (Wal Mart OR Wal-Mart OR Walmart) AND (close OR closings)

BUSINESS: Apple’s App Store Breach   
TOPIC:  Multiple apps have been infected with malware in a rare security breach on Apple’s App Store.  What kind were infected and how did the hackers breach Apple’s security? What are some of the popular ones that were infected and how could it impact consumers?  
SEARCH TERMS: Apple App Store AND malware

BUSINESS:  Turing Pharmaceutical Price Hike    
TOPIC:  Turing Pharmaceuticals announced it was raising the price of the drug Daraprim by 5000%, which is used to treat several serious illnesses including malaria and HIV.  Who is the CEO of Turing, what justification did he give for the price hike and how did he respond to public outcry over the price?  What would be the usual process a pharmaceutical company uses to price a drug?
SEARCH TERMS: Turing Pharmaceutical AND Daraprim AND price

BUSINESS: Pfizer and Allergan Merger     
TOPIC:  Multinational pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer Inc and the Irish pharmaceutical company Allergan Plc have announced they are going to merge. What impact will this have on the pharmaceutical industry?  What are the best arguments for and against it?  What are the complexities and considerations for each company?
SEARCH TERMS: Pfizer AND Allergan

BUSINESS:  Marriott Buys Starwood   
TOPIC:  Marriott International hotel chain has announced it will buy Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide which would create the world’s largest hotel company.  What was the largest hotel chain before this merger?  What will the impact of this merger be on the hotel industry?
SEARCH TERMS: Marriott AND Starwood

BUSINESS: Uber Union
TOPIC: Seattle has passed a law that allows Uber drivers to unionize. What are the specifics of it? What do the Uber drivers and management think about it? What were the issues that brought about this law?

BUSINESS: Coffee Consolidation
TOPIC: JAB Holdings Co. has made an offer for Keurig Green Mountain, who make single serving coffee machines. JAB has other properties in the international coffee field. What family controls JAB Holdings? What other coffee holdings do they control? What is environmentally controversial about the Keurig machine?

BUSINESS: Apple and the FBI  

BUSINESS:  Cleber LLC       
SEARCH TERMS: Cleber AND Cuba AND tractor*

BUSINESS: Beijing is New ‘Billionaire’ Capital
SEARCH TERMS: Beijing AND billion*

BUSINESS: Sea World Ends Orca Shows
TOPIC: Sea World has announced that it will end its Orca shows in 2017, however they will continue to hold Orcas in captivity. Animal rights groups have responded by stating the following analogy: This move is like no longer whipping lions in a circus act but keeping them locked inside cages for life. How does this analogy fit situation? Why has Sea World decided to stop the Orca shows? How do they intend to move forward in their work and containment of Orcas?

BUSINESS: Asian Merger
TOPIC: Taiwanese company Foxconn has purchased Japanese firm Sharp Corp. Foxconn is best known as the manufacturer of Apple products. Sharp is an electronics firm. Why was Sharp struggling in the market today? What is Foxconn most known for? How does this deal impact Apple?
SEARCH TERMS: Foxconn AND Sharp Corp.

BUSINESS: iPhone Security vs. Federal Government
TOPIC: Apple, Inc. would like to know how the FBI was able to break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino murderers. Normally, the government is required to disclose technology security flaws so that companies can address fixes so that consumers’ data is protected. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the FBI disclosing how it cracked the iPhone security system? How can individuals’ rights to privacy be protected while allowing the government to pursue criminal investigations?

BUSINESS: Theranos  
TOPIC:  The private medical laboratory services company Theranos has been investigated for using traditional machines to do blood work instead of the Edison device that has played a big role in the company’s reputation and stock value. Why are they using traditional machines, what is the Edison device and how does it differ from traditional machinery?  In what areas have they been found to be at fault, what punitive measures were taken and what has been their response?
SEARCH TERMS: Theranos AND Edison AND Elizabeth Holmes

BUSINESS: Facebook and Politics   
TOPIC:  Former Facebook news curators have told the technology blog Gizmodo that Facebook’s Trending Topics feature was suppressing some conservative views.  How did they say this was being done and what has an investigation revealed?  How has Facebook responded to these accusations?  
SEARCH TERMS: Facebook AND conservative AND trending topics

BUSINESS: EgyptAir Plane
TOPIC: EgyptAir Flight 804 vanished over the Mediterranean as it was flying from Paris to Cairo. While no groups have claimed responsibility for this action, it seems as if an explosion caused the plane to crash into the sea causing the deaths of all aboard.  What is the likely economic impact on the airline? How is the investigation being managed? Is tourism to Egypt going to be affected by this crash?  
SEARCH TERMS: EgyptAir Flight 804

BUSINESS: Apple iPhone
SEARCH TERMS: Apple AND iPhone AND sales

BUSINESS: Credit Card Chips

BUSINESS: Fuel Consumption Rates
TOPIC: Mitsubishi Motors has been falsifying its fuel consumption rates for several of its smaller vehicles for a quarter of a century. These numbers were submitted to the Japanese government. Why did they do this? What vehicles were involved? From where did they get the false numbers?
SEARCH TERMS: Mitsubishi Motors AND mileage

BUSINESS: Mall Opens
SEARCH TERMS: Mall of Africa

BUSINESS: Microsoft Buys LinkedIn
TOPIC: The tech giant Microsoft has bought LinkedIn, a popular networking service for business professionals. What are the benefits to both companies of this acquisition and what are Microsoft’s plans with LinkedIn? What are the most popular ways customers of LinkedIn have used the service and what are some possibilities you can think of for Microsoft’s use of LinkedIn?
SEARCH TERMS: LinkedIn AND Microsoft

BUSINESS: Cinemark Lawsuit
TOPIC: A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Cinemark Theaters by the family of a
victim of the deadly Aurora, Colorado movie theater shootings in 2012. What was the basis of the
lawsuit, what is the basis of the dismissal and what are the most compelling arguments for either
side? What have been some other examples of mass shootings and what kind of security was
present at each place?
SEARCH TERMS: Cinemark AND lawsuit AND judge

BUSINESS: Volkswagen Settlement
TOPIC: A $14.7 billion payment plan has been reached for Volkswagen to settle claims after it
deceived buyers and regulators on diesel emissions. What will be the impact of this settlement on
Volkswagen? How was the amount of the settlement decided?
SEARCH TERMS: Volkswagen AND (settled OR settlement OR payout)

BUSINESS: Walt Disney in China
TOPIC: The Walt Disney Co. has opened its first theme park in China, Shanghai Disneyland. It is
expected to become the most visited attraction of its type in the world, due to China’s population.
When did Disney decide to build in China, how much was their investment, and what problems, if
any, did they encounter during construction? What attractions are featured at Shanghai
SEARCH TERMS: Walt Disney Co. OR Shanghai Disneyland

BUSINESS: Pokémon Go
TOPIC: Pokémon Go is a virtual reality game by a company called Niantic that is played on mobile technology. How does it work and what are the objectives of the game? What have been some of the problems that people either playing the game or near people playing the game have had to deal with? Why is the game so popular?

BUSINESS: Verizon Buys Yahoo!
TOPIC: The telecommunications company Verizon has bought the technology company Yahoo! What are the benefits and concerns for each company in this acquisition? What troubles has Yahoo! had over the past few years and why?
SEARCH TERMS: Verizon AND Yahoo!

BUSINESS: Mobileye and Tesla
TOPIC: Mobileye, the company who made the chips and software for Tesla’s driverless cars won’t be working in the future with them. Why are the two companies parting ways? How do Tesla’s driverless cars work and what problems have they had?
SEARCH TERMS: Mobileye AND Tesla

BUSINESS: Business Merger
TOPIC: Japan’s Softbank Group Corp. has made an offer to purchase ARM Holdings plc, a British semiconductor and software design firm. It would be Softbank’s largest international takeover. Who founded ARM, what do they make and what is their business strategy? What are the reasons for Softbank’s purchase of it?

BUSINESS: Apple and the EU
TOPIC: The European Union has ordered Ireland to collect 13 billion euros in unpaid taxes owed from Apple, a record penalty. Both Apple and Ireland intend to fight the EU’s demand. What is the main message that the EU is sending to member countries and the major American corporations with operations in the Europe? Why are they specifically naming Ireland in the findings of their investigation? How might their ruling affect ongoing investment and job creation opportunities in the EU? What other American tech giants are in trouble with the EU? What does the U.S. government think of these actions?
SEARCH TERMS: Apple AND tax* AND (EU OR European Union)

BUSINESS: Airline Technology
TOPIC: Delta Airlines lost millions of dollars in August due to a power outage that brought down their entire computer system. Hundreds of flights were cancelled wreaking havoc among many passengers. In the airline industry, what functions does IT support? How do concerns about today’s airline technology compare between the consumer and the business operation perspectives? When technology is antiquated, how have companies managed damage control when IT systems fail? How long does it take for an airline to recover from technology failure?
SEARCH TERMS: Delta AND Airlines AND technology

BUSINESS: Self-Driving Cars
TOPIC: Silicon Valley giants Google and Uber have both put a stake in the ground to both promote and launch the self-driving car. Although buying an autonomous car is still a few years away, Google has established its own self-driving company. Because the self-driving cars will not be generating revenue, Google will start its own taxi service in specific areas such as college campuses and military bases. How will this affect the ride-hailing business? What will the consumer gain with Google competing with Uber? How does the research and development of the self-driving car compare between Uber and Google?

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