Media titan Rupert Murdoch has finally succeeded in buying the company that owns the venerable Wall Street Journal. Now media experts are wondering what's next, not only for the Journal, but also for newspapers in general.

Mark Barratt wants to see Tesco succeed in America. The British expatriate and assistant professor of supply chain management at the W. P. Carey School and his wife have lived in the U.S. for five years, and they still haven't found a one-store replacement for the U.K.'s monster chain.

People who work in service positions — police officers, hair stylists, dentists, real estate agents &mdahs; are aware that they are on stage, playing a role, while on the job.

The supermarket sample is a familiar ploy, but those tasty bites appear to have more impact than marketers imagined.

The Internet has revolutionized ticket scalping, turning it into an electronic extension of the box office, driven by sleek advances in computer hardware and software and by a spate of clever, aggressive online ticketing companies.

Soon, innovation in China will take the form of a move from a primarily manufacturing economy to a more service-oriented one, according to experts gathered at the Fourth Annual Executive Forum in Shanghai.

When people make predictions about certain events, their enjoyment in watching those events decreases, according to a recent study by W. P. Carey School marketing professors Naomi Mandel and Stephen Nowlis.

Everyone needs garbage bags. Women need maxi-pads. Cat people need cat litter. And parents with babies buy diapers.

As companies shift from product to services focus, they face the challenge of a larger, more dynamic and more diverse customer base. Some are turning to universities for assistance from academics to find ways to improve operations or customer relations.

"In real estate, if you keep yourself in front of long-term demographic trends, you will prosper," observes Christopher Cole, founder and chief executive of the Cole Companies, who received the Distinguished Achievement Award at the W. P. Carey undergraduate convocation recently.