Case Studies/Corporate Profiles

In part one of this program, filmed prior to the foundering of the Internet economy, NewsHour correspondent Paul Solman examines the methodology of Amazon.com's founder Jeffrey Bezos and Drugstore.com's CEO Peter Neupert, who faced stiffening retail and online competition by innovatively adapting their business plans. In part two, correspondent Margaret Warner analyzes the meteoric rise of dotcoms and their impact on society with Anitesh Barua, co-author of a university study on Internet profitability; Andrew Shapiro, co-founder of technorealism; John Battelle, president of the now-defunct Industry Standard; and former Wall Street analyst Paul Kedrosky. (29 minutes)

Union membership continues to lag and even the term collective bargaining" carries a decidedly un-American connotation. Why have labor unions lost much of the influence they once exerted on the U.S. economy? In this program, a variety of labor leaders and social and political activists examines the dynamic shift in labor-management relations over the past four decades that has changed the face of the American workplace. Among those interviewed are Ralph Nader, George Washington University professor of law Charles Craver, Detroit AFL-CIO president Donald Boggs, and Teamsters leaders and organizers. (29 minutes)"

Welfare and immigration are irrevocably interwined. This four-part series examines the current state of reform and its impact on immigrant and other populations. 4-part series, 29 minutes each.

Tapping into the world of American beer, this CNBC Original program offers an in-depth case study of the industry leader, Anheuser-Busch. With unprecedented access to the company's inner workings, the program depicts the history of Anheuser-Busch-including how it survived the Prohibition era-while illustrating the birth of the Budweiser brand and its eventual dominance of the U.S. beer market. Also discussed: the loss of market share to microbreweries, imports, and alternative beverages; the company's use of TV ads, from the 1950s to sophisticated Super Bowl spots; and Anheuser-Busch's takeover by Belgian brewer InBev. High-level Anheuser-Busch personnel and correspondents from major business publications add commentary. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (43 minutes)

At 44, Barbie had been the queen of fashion dolls for generations of children. But her sales and profits began to slip as she was forced to fend off attacks from enemies both new and old: the fashion-conscious Bratz pack and Sindy, a former rival that may yet prove to be her nemesis. After providing Barbie's history and some background on competitors, this program focuses on Mattel's strategy, which includes giving traditional Barbie a makeover, dumping Ken, and unleashing My Scene Barbie on the Bratz-all to capture the potent new KGOY (kids growing older younger) market. Original BBCW broadcast title: Barbie's Midlife Crisis. (30 minutes)

Alice Shreeve and Hannah Coniam are the founders/designers for Belle & Bunty, London. Their trendy garments can be found in upscale boutiques and in the pages of Vogue, Glamour, and Elle-but they have yet to turn enough profit to expand their business or even pay themselves a wage. In this program, mentor John Boyle advises the duo to strenuously build their brand image to help them secure investment that will enable them to take their company to the next level. Through perseverance, Belle & Bunty gains good press with a celebrity endorsement by TV personality June Sarpong and secures a potential licensing deal with Debenhams, Britain's Favourite Department Store." (24 minutes)"

Hungry consumers in America and abroad are losing their appetite for the world's largest fast food company. Is McDonald's a brand on the verge of collapse, or can it be revitalized? This program strives to find out, as Harvard Business School's David Upton, Philip Morris litigator John Banzhaf, BBC business editor Jeff Randall, and neuroscientist Ann Kelley cite fat- and sugar-laden foods, cannibalistic over-franchising, menu stagnation, and competition with Subway as factors in the giant's decline. McDonald's accepts that there are problems, but is determined to fix them. The plan? More customers, more often. A BBCW Production. (38 minutes)

Despite the low-wage, low-prestige reputation of the typical McJob," a McDonald's franchise owner often manages budgets and income in the millions of dollars. This CNBC program looks at the history and working philosophy behind the world's largest food-service corporation, featuring a number of interviews and concise case studies. An operations manager runs six Connecticut restaurants and hopes to become an owner. A once-struggling store in the same state has built newfound profitability on frequent tour bus crowds. And a former Four Seasons chef talks about his mid-career move to the McDonald's test kitchen, while the company's future in China-and nutrition-conscious America-is also explored. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (46 minutes)"

America's unions have bet on Barack Obama to initiate a recovery that will revive not only the economy, but the organized labor movement as well. In this program, Bill Moyers and United Steelworkers International's Leo Gerard address topics ranging from economic justice for workers, to the future of American manufacturing, to Gerard's hopes for how unions will fare under the Obama administration. Then, the Journal and Expose: America's Investigative Reports offer their latest on how congressional earmarks really work: a report featuring a crack investigative team from The Seattle Times shows how Congress continues to hide critical information from taxpayers-and does it under the guise of ethics reform. An essay on the Palestinian/Israeli violence in Gaza-self-defense? retribution? terrorism?-concludes the program. Broadcast date: January 9, 2009. (57 minutes)

Philip M. Condit, President, The Boeing CompanyWhen their largest customers asked Boeing to match the innovations being offered by the European Airbus Consortium, Philip M. Condit went a step further. The Boeing 777 represented a fundamental rethinking of their product-and a revolution in the very way Boeing designed, tooled, and built airplanes. Philip Condit explains the new gospel of concurrent engineering at Boeing: Teaming," an approach that integrates people and functions that once operated in isolation, one that has enabled Boeing to stay on top in one of the world's most competitive industries. (37 minutes)"

Few online startups make it-and of those, even fewer make it big. But the odds don't scare the founders of Boso, an online marketplace for Oxford University students to buy and sell secondhand stuff. In this program, mentor John Boyle counsels Harjeet and Kulveer Taggar-cousins who have staked everything on success-to market aggressively to increase users in order to attract investment that would enable them to take Boso national before a rival can challenge them. Unfortunately, they are slow to act on his advice and eBay U.K. launches Student Zone. With a stalled user base and almost no interest from investors, Harjeet and Kulveer fight on, even as they face up to the fact that Boso's best window of opportunity has closed. (24 minutes)

The decision to develop a new squeezable Marmite bottle means altering a container style that had gone unchanged for 103 years. This program follows the process from prototype to final design and the emergence of a brand-new product which the design team hopes will revitalize the Marmite business. Confronting the technical challenges arising from Marmite's thick consistency, the team enlists the help of a renowned package-design guru and, after a harrowing test period, eventually commissions a line of squeeze-bottles from a large German manufacturer. Meanwhile, the marketing director and a graphic designer work out a new concept for the bottle's label. (25 minutes)

On a British sitcom, two characters bottled tap water and sold it as Peckham Spring Water. More recently, Coca-Cola launched its purified-water lifestyle drink, Dasani, in the U.K. The connection was not overlooked. This program tracks Dasani's progressive PR nightmare in Britain-first as newspapers screamed Coke Sells Tap Water for 95p," and then as Coca-Cola recalled 500,000 bottles due to potentially carcinogenic contamination at their factory. It also considers an even larger problem as worldwide Coke sales continue to flatten: without Dasani, the soft drink giant has no bottled water product for the lucrative European market. Original BBCW broadcast title: Coke's Water Bomb. (29 minutes)"

This program examines how brand identity is influenced by consumer perceptions through the struggle between Coca-Cola, icon of American culture, and rivals Qibla Cola and Mecca Cola for market share in Muslim locales. Qibla's Zafer Iqbal and Mecca's Tawfiq Mathlouthi tell the story of two opportunistic, politically correct Davids taking on a marketplace Goliath-and each other-while Coke executives share their plan for defense against a commercial threat that is as serious as it is unprecedented. Original BBCW broadcast title: Cola Wars (a.k.a. Message in a Bottle). (51 minutes)

Savage Sisters is an up-and-coming label in trendy fashion sportswear. But as the demand for this brand grows, are partners Lou and Sophie McDermott ready to take their business to the next level? This concise program examines the process of starting a business on a shoestring budget in a highly competitive industry. Speaking candidly, the McDermott sisters discuss start-up hurdles such as financing and market/product research; setting goals and sharing responsibilities; determining pricing and profit margins; dealing with logistics; maintaining cash flow; developing a marketing plan; and finding good business advice. (22 minutes)