Nine Shift

Best Buy and the New Economy

Fascinating news this month. Best Buy is moving to smaller stores in denser communities as the suburbs and suburban malls decline.  So did Standard and Poor's misunderstand the strategy when they downgraded Best Buy? 

NineShifter Paul Franklin comments:  "Best Buy is interesting. Many of the big boxes are seeking smaller store in more dense areas. Big move afoot by Walmart in Portland to find new locations in closer to the city center.

"Very interesting move. One reason S&P downgraded Best Buy was their product strategy. S&P thinks they need to move away from big TVs and the like and into more mobile/small technology. They did wrongly attriubute Best Buys move to more dense areas as something other than you and I see it as. This one will be interesting to follow."

 

Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), Tool or Threat?

There's been some more publicity about the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), a knowledge test for students in higher education.

CLA is both a tool, and a threat.  It's a tool for measuring learning and knowledge, and a welcome one, since there is no other widely used test to measure student learning in higher education.

CLA is also a threat to faculty and institutions unwilling to be accountable.  Grades are subjective, unmonitored, with no standards whatsoever.  One student was flunked because he was on a sports team.  Another student we know got a great grade because he cleaned the classroom after class.  With CLA, there's no nonsense.  And no gender discrimination.

It will be interesting seeing how it develops.  What we know is that eventually faculty and institutions will be held accountable for student learning and knowledge.  It can't happen too soon.

Health Care and The Supreme Court

Do not despair over the Supreme Court ruling on healthcare.

100 years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the income tax was unconstitutional.  Ten years later it became law.

The Supreme Court can delay universal health care, but universal health care is such an obvious requirement for a prosperous society in this century, the huge support for universal health care among Gen Y means the Tea Party can delay change, but not prevent it.

The BBC: "struggling motor car industry"

Tonight on a story about Detroit, the BBC described the city as hosting "the struggling motor car industry."   While Americans are still drinking the Kool-Aid that the auto industry is doing well, it looks different from abroad.