1. Our Wall Street Journal article for next week is “Wal-Mart Defies Retail Slowdown,” November 14, 2008, p. A1. A “hard” copy of this article will be handed out in lecture on Tuesday.   If you have an online subscription to the WSJ, you can access the article at http://online.wsj.com/public/page/us_in_todays_paper.html?mg=com-wsj .  If you do not have a WSJ online subscription and would like to access the article before receiving the hard copy, please see instructions at the end of this article.  In preparation for our discussion, you should consider the following issues:
   1. What are likely explanations that Wal-Mart is currently doing relatively well?  Do you expect this advantage to last?
   2. What proportion of non-auto U.S. purchases are now made at Wal-Mart?
   3. Two years ago, which problems did Wal-Mart appear to face?
   4. How has Wal-Mart’s current position affected relations with vendors?
   5. What are some threats and complications that Wal-Mart is currently facing?
   6. How have foreign Wal-Mart operations performed in the past, and what are their prospects?
2. A study checklist for the final examination has been posted on the course web site at http://www.buad307.com/PDF/FinalChecklist--F08.pdf .  A hard copy of this checklist will be distributed in lecture on Tuesday.
3. The PowerPoint slides and notes for the remaining topics for the semester have been posted to the course web site at http://www.buad307.com/PPT_notes.html .
4. The updated grade progress report is scheduled to be sent out this evening.  To ensure that the report will display properly, it will be in the form of a PDF file attachment.

To access this week’s article through the Marshall Library:

1. Login to MyMarshall at https://mymarshall.usc.edu
2. Click on “Academics,” then “Marshall Library,” and then “Electronic Resources.”
3. Select the "ABI/Inform through Proquest Direct" link.
4. Click on the “W” link under “Show all publications.”
5. Click on the Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition link.
6. Click on November 14, 2008.
7. In the list of articles, find the article entitled "Wal-Mart Flourishes As Economy Turns Sour."  If the index structure remains static, this will probably be article #103.  To reach this, you would click on the number screen #10 and then on #11 on the bottom right corner of the screen and then select article number 103.

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