Charged for Battle: How Nissan & GM Went Electric
In his small office deep inside GM’s Vehicle Engineering Center in suburban Detroit, Posawatz pulls out some books on the history of electric vehicles, which date back to 1881 and outsold gasoline-powered cars in the early days. Henry Ford’s wife drove one. Posawatz points to a 1910 ad for the Baker Electric. Beneath a drawing of a woman at the wheel, the ad copy boasts of the “quietest and most refined electric car.” Back then, he says, electric carmakers like Baker, Detroit Electric, and Waverly Electric targeted women, who wouldn’t have to crank a starter or tolerate the noise and soot of gas-powered cars.
The Fall of Niagara Falls
Decades of decay, corruption, and failed get-rich-quick schemes have made the city one of the most intractable disasters in the U.S. “Among the many proposals for a replacement revenue generator, put forward by various fly-by-night impresarios or Niagara Falls Redevelopment itself, are a dinosaur park, a boxing Hall of Fame, a Chinese-themed attraction called Dragon City, and an underground aquarium featuring 5,000 creatures of the deep. ‘I have a file full of the craziest ideas,’ Bergamo said, ‘but no one comes here with any money.'”
Don Draper’s Revenge
Everyone is waiting for Omnicom, Interpublic, WPP, and Publicis to fade away. But these lumbering advertising behemoths have advantages over smaller, cutting-edge firms. “All these little companies with fun names,” says David Lubars, “we’ve kicked their butts.” Lubars is chairman and chief creative officer of Omnicom’s BBDO North America, an 82-year-old Madison Avenue agency with more than 17,000 employees. “Americans like a story of the big guys getting taken down. But that doesn’t mean that’s what is actually happening.”
How Baidu Won China
Robin Li—the 41-year-old, American-educated chief executive officer of the Chinese search engine Baidu—has a fan club. And each year at the Baidu World conference in Beijing, the members of the Robin Li fan club come out to get close to the object of their worship. When Li emerges from a dark blue sedan, the fan club mobs him, waving signs and screaming his name while Li poses for pictures with a tight, uncomfortable smile before darting into the building to rehearse his keynote address. The exuberance, club members say later, was coordinated by Baidu. “If I want to know about what happens abroad, I will use Google,” says one of the students. “Baidu’s information is influenced by the government so much.”
The New New Andreessen
Andreessen Horowitz—Silicon Valley’s newest, hottest venture capital firm—claims a new, Michael Ovitz-inspired approach to venture capital. Marc Andreessen wants to create a full-service VC firm that helps with all the needs of startups, from recruiting to public relations, just as CAA catered to every aspect of career development—and every personal demand—of film stars and directors.
Africa: Coke’s Last Frontier
Annual per capita consumption of Coca-Cola in Kenya is 39 servings. In more developed countries like Mexico, which consumes more Coca-Cola than any other country, it runs 665 servings per year. One does not need an MBA to see the possibilities.
What Amazon Fears Most: Diapers
It is good to be the chief executive of a company that’s about to ship 500 million diapers in a single year. On Marc Lore and Diapers.com
How to Fix the Economy: An Expert Panel
Tom Keene talks with Bob Shiller, Peter Orszag, and other leading economists on how to “get out of this mess”
The Man Who Makes Your iPhone
Foxconn founder Terry Gou might be regarded as Henry Ford reincarnated if only a dozen of his workers hadn’t killed themselves this year. An exclusive look inside a postmodern industrial empire.
How to Survive in Vegas
Gary Loveman left a Harvard Business School professorship to join Harrah’s Entertainment. By putting his theories about customer service into practice, he built the world’s biggest gaming company. Then came the crash.