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Study Shows Which Marketing Might Work in a Depressed Economy

The 2009 Industry Outlook prepared by Tom Pirovano for the Nielsen research company is titled "Careful." It says now that the recession is official, Americans will stay home more, will spend more time with tech gizmos, will focus on cutting expenses and will buy more products and services that promise a "rational ben

We select the 400 Best Big Companies in America on such factors as sales and earnings growth, debt to total capital, earnings outlook and stock market returns.

Among our challenges in determining this year's list: sales growth is slowing; profits are declining or even turning into big deficits; analysts are rapidly lowering earnings forecasts; and the majority of big companies have had negative

Take out your calendars for the new year! Intel is sponsoring its second Data Privacy Day on January 28, 2009. Data Privacy Day, which is sponsored by a combination of tech companies, government organizations, and academic groups, aims to facilitate discussions on privacy, especially with regards to teenagers and social networking sites. The three-part framework includes educational materials, events, and government involvement. It was also nice to see the Digital Natives project, which has been active in all three of the above components, under their resources for data privacy issues.

Like many medical centers in Asia, Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital had big expectations for a global trend known as medical tourism. Administrators were especially eager to attract more patients from the U.S. (BusinessWeek.com, 3/17/08) keen on saving money by having hip replacements, cosmetic surgery, and other operations overseas. For years, some of Asia's premier hospitals have been popular destinations for U.S. patients who either lack health insurance or can't get coverage for certain procedures.

Mortgages and personal loans are harder for some consumers to secure. People are losing money in the stock market. More people are being turned down for credit cards, or having available limits on existing credit cards decreased unexpectedly. Formerly-inflated home values are coming down, leaving homeowners with less equity and borrowing power, and large debts. The credit crunch is affecting U.S.