The Wall Street Journal Education Program
Weekly Review & Quiz
Covering front-page articles from April 21-27, 2007
Professor Guide with Summaries Spring 2007
Developed by: Scott R. Homan Ph.D., Purdue University
Questions 1 – 12 from The First Section, Section A
'Benron' Behind Bars
By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER
April 21, 2007; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117709990014377244.html
BASTROP, Texas -- In his journey from Enron Corp. whiz kid to convicted felon to star
government witness, Ben Glisan Jr. says he faced aggressive prosecutors, hostile prison
officials -- and "Mikey." In late 2004, Mr. Glisan was locked up in Houston's federal
detention center. He was nervous. Government "snitches" aren't well treated by other
inmates, and the next day Mr. Glisan, who'd been given the prison nickname "Benron,"
was scheduled to testify against his former colleagues. Mikey, who described himself as a
member of the Mafia, was Mr. Glisan's cellmate.
The heavy metal cell door clanged shut for the night and the interrogation began, Mr.
Glisan recalls. Did Enron dump him, Mikey asked. Essentially, Mr. Glisan replied. Did
Enron owe Mr. Glisan money? It did. Did Enron promise to take care of him when the
dust settled? No. "So, they basically threw you under the bus?" In that case, Mikey said,
testifying was OK.
Mr. Glisan breathed a silent sigh of relief. Until then, "I thought I was going to have to
fight this guy to get to the panic button" and call the guards.
In September 2003, Mr. Glisan became the first in a long line of Enron executives to
enter prison. The energy giant's December 2001 collapse marked the beginning of an era
of corporate criminal cases that continued to play out this week with the conviction1 of
former Qwest Communications International Inc. Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio on 19
counts of insider trading.
During Mr. Glisan's three years on the inside, he worried about his physical safety,
especially as he became an important government witness. To protect himself, he applied
the same types of skills that helped him climb the corporate ladder. He formed
relationships with prison gang leaders. He negotiated with federal officials over the
conditions of his incarceration.
Mr. Glisan even won over Mikey. After approving of the decision to testify, Mikey -- Mr.
Glisan doesn't recall the man's real name -- offered to find someone who would collect
the onetime accountant's money from Enron. Mr. Glisan demurred, but made sure to say
thanks. After that encounter, "going on the witness stand was easy," he says.
The son of a financial planner, Mr. Glisan, 41 years old, was raised in an upper-middleclass home in the same suburban Houston area where he now lives, south of downtown.
In college, he gravitated to business. He joined Enron in 1996 armed with an MBA from
the University of Texas and experience working at accounting firms.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 1 of 23
He quickly became part of the inner circle of Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew
Fastow. In 2000, Mr. Fastow tapped Mr. Glisan, then 34, to be corporate treasurer, with a
staff over 100, annual compensation of $1 million and bigger paydays on the horizon.
Some Enron executives, even his admirers, thought Mr. Glisan at times tried too hard to
ingratiate himself to his superiors, even mimicking one natty dresser. (If that happened,
Mr. Glisan says, it was inadvertent.)
Mr. Glisan commuted back and forth to his two-story brick home in an upscale
neighborhood dotted with pines. He and his wife, Barbara, didn't get into the kind of
lavish lifestyle enjoyed by some other top Enron officials, in part because Mr. Glisan
didn't start making really big money until shortly before Enron's collapse.
Yet he routinely put in 12-hour days, and often didn't see his daughter and son, then age
six and four, much before their bedtime. Much of his work was with Mr. Fastow and
others setting up the complex financial structures that Enron used to illegally hide losses
from some of its businesses. On some nights, when dining with Enron's bankers, Mr.
Glisan recalls personally downing a bottle of wine or more before making the 25-mile
drive home.
Despite this soaring career, Mr. Glisan became increasingly uncomfortable -- ahead of
many of his colleagues -- with Enron's efforts to hide its weakening financial condition.
Fellow workers remember him as agitated amid the burgeoning negative press coverage
and government investigations. At one point, after a particularly damaging financial
revelation, he was heard to say, "we're toast."
Mrs. Glisan had long pressed him to quit. "You are missing your kids grow up. We're not
spending as much time together as we should. You're not paying attention to the
important things in life," she told him. He says loyalty, ambition and greed kept him on
board.
With Enron's 2001 collapse, the government embarked on what would become its biggest
ever criminal investigation of a company. When Mr. Glisan met with the Justice
Department's special Enron Task Force, the encounter did not go well. Prosecutors
thought he was lying about the extent of his involvement with the company's collapse.
They felt "Ben was still drinking his own Kool-Aid," says Tom Allen, one of Mr. Glisan's
attorneys.
Though Mr. Glisan maintained his innocence, even some friends thought he was lying. At
Enron, "this man's life had been built on dishonesty" and it took him time to come to
grips with that, says Baker Duncan, a San Antonio investment banker who met Mr.
Glisan in 2002 through work they were doing at a Houston charter school. During later
court testimony, Mr. Glisan admitted as much.
In May 2003, the government indicted Mr. Glisan on 26 counts of conspiracy and fraud.
It alleged in its indictment that Mr. Glisan illegally enriched himself to the tune of $1
million through his connection to a Fastow-run partnership.
As part of his arraignment, Mr. Glisan spent several hours in a holding cell in downtown
Houston. It was the first time he had spent time behind bars. The cell had two long metal
benches attached to the walls and one filthy unenclosed toilet. Prisoners shuffled in and
out during the day.
Free on bail, Mr. Glisan wrestled with what to do next. Going to trial could cost millions
in legal fees. Losing at trial could land him in prison for over a decade.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 2 of 23
He received advice from others, including three men -- fathers of friends -- who also had
legal problems. One, Harvin C. Moore III, spent two years in federal prison in the early
1990s for committing fraud at a savings-and-loan association he co-owned.
"I told him I knew what he was struggling with, and that he needed to go deep into his
heart and find the right thing to do," recalls Mr. Moore, 69, now a real-estate developer.
Mr. Moore told Mr. Glisan that taking the right course, which could mean prison time,
"wouldn't be easy, but it would work out. He would still have family and friends. There
would be life on the other side."
1. In September 2003, Mr. Glisan became the first in a long line of Enron executives to
__.
a. retire
b. switch jobs to WorldComm
c. become CEO
d. enter prison Correct
2. In May 2003, the government indicted Mr. Glisan on 26 counts of ____.
a. insider trading
b. lying to Congress
c. conspiracy and fraud Correct
d. bank robbery
A Dam Connects Machakos, Kenya, To Archbold, Ohio
By ROGER THUROW
April 23, 2007; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117729086351978575.html
MACHAKOS, Kenya -- Water is so precious around here that when a modest dam was
built last September to catch the seasonal flow of the Ikiwe River, the local farmers
christened it Mercy of God.
But when the dam's earthly benefactors arrived four months later, as the first irrigated
fields began to yield peppers and tomatoes, Pastor Cosmas Mwanzia of the Redeemed
Gospel Church suggested a new name: Mercy of Archbold.
Archbold, Ohio, that is.
Residents of that small village and neighboring hamlets on the plains west of Toledo
provided the money to construct the crude cement-and-stone dam, which is about 100
feet wide and 10 feet deep. Over the past four years, they have sold cattle and hosted an
annual hamburger festival to raise more than $70,000. That money has helped build
several hundred small-scale dams and water retention ponds in the Machakos area,
delivering 5,000 families from drought and hunger.
"Before when it rained, the water would run away. But not anymore," said Susan Kanini,
a peasant farmer triumphantly waving a freshly picked pepper from her plot beside the
Ikiwe. She presented the pepper to Jim Rufenacht, an Archbold cattle farmer who had
journeyed here to south-central Kenya to see what the donations had wrought. "Thank
you for all you have done," she said.
"Oh, it's nothing special," replied Mr. Rufenacht. "We're just farmers like you."
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 3 of 23
They are farmers tilling a field largely neglected by the big international aid agencies: the
economic development of small farming communities in Africa. While international aid
for education and health projects and emergency food relief has grown over the past two
decades, aid for agriculture and rural development has shrunk by more than half,
contributing to increasing malnutrition and hunger.
The project in Archbold, population 4,500, is part of Foods Resource Bank, a Michiganbased hunger-fighting organization that connects urban churches with rural farm groups.
The churches help finance the growing of crops or cattle dedicated to particular rural
development projects, most of them in Africa. Rather than send the food as aid, it is sold
on U.S. markets and the profit is then dispatched abroad, where the recipient farmers
decide how best to use the money to boost their own production. In the past seven years,
agricultural projects in 19 states raised $7 million. That amount has been matched by $3
million from the public-private partnership initiative of the U.S. Agency for International
Development.
The Mercy of God dam stands as a monument to the big impact of little projects. With
$3,000 from Archbold, the local farmers hired an engineer to design the dam and bought
the cement. The farmers themselves supplied sand, boulders and labor. Within 25 days,
they completed a dam that keeps the Ikiwe flowing for many months past the rainy
season. Twenty-five acres that once were parched bush land now teem with tomatoes,
peppers, chilis and watermelon.
Before the water projects, local residents, mainly the women and children, would trudge
as far as 10 miles to collect water for their crops, their cattle and themselves. During
repeated droughts at the end of the 1990s, Mr. Mwanzia would stand at the pulpit of his
Pentecostal church on Sunday mornings and wait for the pews to fill. He often didn't
commence preaching until noon. "The people spent the cooler morning hours getting
water," he says.
3. When the benefactors of the dam in Machakos, Kenya arrived in Africa, Pastor
Cosmas Mwanzia of the Redeemed Gospel Church suggested the following new name for
the dam: _______.
a. Mercy of Ohio
b. Mercy of Archbold Correct
c. Mercy of the Wabash
d. Mercy of Toledo
4. Residents of a small village and neighboring hamlets on the plains west of Toledo
provided money to construct crude cement-and-stone dams. That money has helped build
several hundred small-scale dams and water retention ponds in the Machakos area,
delivering ______ families from drought and hunger.
a. 50
b. 500
c. 5,000 Correct
d. 5,000,000
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 4 of 23
Critical Case: How an Email Rant Jolted a Big HMO
By RHONDA L. RUNDLE
April 24, 2007; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117737302290279739.html
LOS ANGELES -- On a Friday morning last November, Justen Deal, a 22-year-old
Kaiser Permanente employee here, blasted an email throughout the giant health
maintenance organization. His message charged that HealthConnect -- the company's
ambitious $4 billion project to convert paper files into electronic medical records -- was a
mess.
In a blistering 2,000-word treatise, Mr. Deal wrote: "We're spending recklessly, to the
tune of over $1.5 billion in waste every year, primarily on HealthConnect, but also on
other inefficient and ineffective information technology projects." He did not stop there.
Mr. Deal cited what he called the "misleadership" of Kaiser Chief Executive George
Halvorson and other top managers, who he said were jeopardizing the company's ability
to provide quality care.
"For me, this isn't just an issue of saving money," he wrote. "It could very well become
an issue of making sure our physicians and nurses have the tools they need to save lives."
Mr. Deal signed the email. Before sending it, he says, he printed out a copy and handed it
to his boss. "She gave me a look like, 'I think you're going to be fired,' " he recalls. Soon
afterward, his office phone was ringing off the hook. IT staffers later arrived to seize his
computers, and Mr. Deal was placed on paid leave from his $56,000-a-year job.
Kaiser refutes Mr. Deal's assessment of its custom software system, developed by Epic
Systems Corp. The company says HealthConnect is doing fine despite some missteps.
Ultimately, the company fired Mr. Deal, who worked on patient-education booklets and
provided technical support to his department.
But the email episode shows that, in the digital age, flicking away whistle-blowers isn't as
easy as it once was.
After the message hit, Kaiser sprang into action to assess the damage and figure out a
response. Since the missive was sent on a Friday, it went unread by many employees who
had left for the weekend. Kaiser's IT staff scrambled to delete it before workers returned
to their desks -- but with little success. By Monday, the mass mailing had reached an
estimated 120,000 computers at the company. It had also leaked into cyberspace.
On Monday, Mr. Halvorson sent his own Kaiser-wide email dismissing Mr. Deal's note
as "an unfortunate combination of partial facts, old data, incomplete data, 'conspiracy'
thinking, and naiveté."
Earlier during the day, Kaiser had announced that J. Clifford Dodd, its chief information
officer, resigned. The HMO said the timing was a coincidence and gave no reason for the
executive's departure. Attempts to reach Mr. Dodd for comment were unsuccessful.
Mr. Deal, meanwhile, quickly became a cause celebre in the blogosphere and beyond.
HIStalk, a popular health-care IT site, featured "an exclusive interview," with Mr. Deal.
One stock analyst says that Kaiser's tribulations could alter the competitive landscape for
IT vendors.
Soon after the email leak, ComputerWorld magazine ran a negative story about
HealthConnect, based on a 722-page internal Kaiser document chronicling various
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 5 of 23
problems with the system including power outages, system failures and incomplete
patient records.
That article prompted the California watchdog agency that oversees managed health care
to send Kaiser an inquiry letter in January about HealthConnect's reliability. The agency
says now that it is monitoring the system's performance, but is satisfied that Kaiser has
taken "corrective action."
Andrew Wiesenthal, a physician overseeing the HealthConnect project, became worried
about the buzz Mr. Deal was generating. In a counterpunch, he offered an interview to
Matthew Holt, a well-known health-care blogger. A few days later, Mr. Wiesenthal
joined a podcast using his cellphone in the backseat of a taxi. Of the email, he said, "Most
of the things he raises are not true."
Kaiser officials unleashed other communications tactics. To disseminate its side of the
story on the Web, the company paid Google to place a special Kaiser link at the top of
any page returning search results for "Justen Deal."
In February, Kaiser launched its "KP News Center," linked to the company's home page.
When the Los Angeles Times ran a critical HealthConnect story that echoed some of Mr.
Deal's criticisms, the site posted Kaiser's official response.
Mr. Deal, a well-dressed young man who constantly sweeps his sandy hair across his
forehead, has been known to go against the grain. As a teen in West Virginia, he testified
before the state legislature in favor of gay rights and was mentioned in a front-page
Washington Post story. At 16, he dropped out of high school and later dropped out of
college, where he was studying journalism. After stints performing administrative chores
at a West Virginia symphony and a gay-rights group in Ottawa, he moved to Los Angeles
to work for a travel agency.
While at Kaiser, on his own initiative, he edited Kaiser's listing at the online
encyclopedia Wikipedia.org -- until a public-relations manager asked him to stop. Known
to embellish Kaiser's listing with positive fodder, he also got into skirmishes with a
company basher who posted criticism about the HMO on the site.
Mr. Deal's department was involved with employee training on the HealthConnect
system. Mr. Deal says the "sheer cost" of the system caught his attention initially. He
then began pulling budget reports, system engineering data and other documents from
online systems. "Anyone [at the company] could have done it," he maintains.
He was particularly alarmed when he came across an internal projection that the
organization could lose $7 billion over the following two years. "That kicked me into
gear to dig more" into HealthConnect, he says.
His research led him to question the integrity of Kaiser's selection of its IT vendor,
among other things. He accused Mr. Halvorson of mismanagement and Mr. Dodd of
undisclosed conflicts of interest that led to the selection of Epic, the outside vendor.
"Their poor decisions...are positioning us for potentially catastrophic failure," he wrote in
a letter dated Aug. 4. He sent the missive to the company's chief compliance officer as
well as to each of Kaiser's board members.
A company investigation ensued. Kaiser's assistant general counsel sent Mr. Deal a letter
saying that "a thorough investigation" found no evidence of misconduct by the
executives, nor of a "disastrous failure" of the HealthConnect project.
Mr. Deal wasn't satisfied. That's when he decided to send the email. But it wasn't as easy
as pushing a button. He didn't have access to a company-wide "send all" address, so he
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 6 of 23
improvised. He says he bought a cheap software tool that helped him gradually build a
list on his own computer.
When Kaiser switched Mr. Deal to unpaid leave in December, it appeared his job was in
jeopardy. He says he thought that would be protected by a Kaiser policy intended to
encourage people to report ethical or patient-safety problems.
Kaiser fired him on Jan. 11. A company spokeswoman says he wasn't dismissed over the
email flap, but "rather because he violated numerous company policies, including making
an unauthorized order for three Apple laptops that he converted to his own use." Mr. Deal
says the order was approved by superiors in his department.
These days, Mr. Deal helps friends with their computers and is looking for a job. In
February, he was named "IT Industry Figure of the Year" by HIStalk, based on an online
reader poll conducted by the site. Both he and Mr. Halvorson were asked to participate in
a panel discussion at the Healthcare Blogging Summit set for this month in Las Vegas.
The CEO declined the invitation; Mr. Deal says the date conflicts with a job-hunting trip.
5. While at Kaiser, on his own initiative Justen Deal, _____ until a public-relations
manager asked him to stop.
a. posted want ads on blogs
b. emailed stock holder
c. recruited new doctors
d. edited Kaiser's listing at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org Correct
6. Mr. Deal thought his job would be protected by a Kaiser policy intended to _____.
a. save money
b. encourage people to report ethical problems Correct
c. help patients
d. help doctors
Dowdy Craft Business Gets Martha Stewart Makeover
By BROOKS BARNES
April 25, 2007; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117746758515281494.html
On a recent episode of her daytime television show, Martha Stewart set out to make a
decorative songbird out of wool and felt. It didn't go smoothly. She struggled to wind the
wool into a head and strained to insert wire legs. "This is a tough little bird," she told
viewers, frowning.
Now Ms. Stewart hopes a high-stakes crafts project for her company will be less
exasperating. On May 1, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. will roll out a line of
more than 650 products aimed at the legions of hobbyists who assemble elaborate
scrapbooks. It's the company's biggest merchandising initiative since it teamed up with
Kmart stores in 1997, and it represents a strategic shift toward licensing its brand and
selling via the Internet.
What does the domestic-arts maven see in a dowdy industry where merchandise is sold in
cluttered stores stacked floor to ceiling with pipe cleaners, Styrofoam balls, glue sticks,
beads and fake flowers?
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 7 of 23
"Paper crafts may sound like a quaint pursuit," says Chief Executive Officer Susan Lyne.
"But it's actually a rapidly growing business." Preserving photographs and memorabilia
in decorated albums -- enthusiasts call it scrapbooking -- has grown into a nearly $3
billion industry, according to the Craft & Hobby Association. Martha Stewart Living
hopes to ring up enough sales of $1.69 colored markers, $4.99 bottles of glitter and other
merchandise to generate $100 million of annual sales within three years.
The rollout of Martha Stewart Crafts is part one of a planned merchandising blitz that the
company hopes will return it to profitability and deliver long-term growth. Although
Martha Stewart Living posted revenue of $288 million in 2006, up 36% from a year
earlier, it had a loss of $17 million. It hasn't turned a profit since 2002, the year Ms.
Stewart became entangled in a securities-fraud investigation that resulted in her fivemonth imprisonment on an obstruction-of-justice charge.
Ms. Stewart's high-profile media businesses have traditionally been the company's
engine. But both magazines and television face serious long-term challenges, including
the migration of advertisers to the Internet and a declining audience for daytime
television.
Ms. Lyne's strategy: steer Martha Stewart Living into low-cost, high-margin licensing
deals. Ms. Lyne hired Robin Marino, former president of Kate Spade Inc. and a veteran
of Burberry Group PLC and Federated Department Stores Inc., as the company's first
president of merchandising. Ms. Marino already has lined up deals to sell Martha Stewart
dinnerware and furniture at Macy's, premium Martha Stewart house paint at Lowe's and
even Martha Stewart-branded homes.
But it's Ms. Stewart's bet on crafts that investors and competitors are watching most
closely. The company sees the sector as a promising new revenue stream, one perfectly
suited for the Internet. Its entire scrapbooking line will be offered for sale on the newly
redesigned MarthaStewart.com, the company's first major retailing attempt via its own
Web site.
7. On May 1, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc will roll out a line of more than 650
products aimed at the legions of hobbyists who ______.
a. create English gardens
b. create rose gardens
c. assemble bird nests
d. assemble elaborate scrapbooks Correct
8. Preserving photographs and memorabilia in decorated albums -- enthusiasts call it
scrapbooking -- has grown into a nearly $______ industry, according to the Craft &
Hobby Association.
a. $3 million
b. $30 million
c. $3 billion Correct
d. $30 billion
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 8 of 23
German Giant Siemens Faces Leadership Crisis
By MIKE ESTERL and DAVID CRAWFORD
April 26, 2007; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117751555700182117.html
FRANKFURT -- For Klaus Kleinfeld, chief executive of German engineering giant
Siemens AG, the end came swiftly as he lost the backing of key members of his board,
who went so far as to try to recruit a new CEO over the weekend. Yesterday, amid a
widening corruption probe at Siemens, Mr. Kleinfeld abruptly said he wouldn't stay
beyond September.
The exit leaves a vacuum at the top of Siemens and marks a dramatic reversal for Mr.
Kleinfeld, a hard-charging 49-year-old who is one of Europe's leading corporate
executives. Mr. Kleinfeld has won plaudits from Siemens shareholders for aggressively
restructuring the sprawling industrial conglomerate and boosting its profits since he took
over in January 2005.
Yesterday's move wasn't widely expected, as no evidence has emerged to implicate Mr.
Kleinfeld in any wrongdoing in the scandal, which involves possible bribery to obtain
business abroad. But when the Siemens supervisory board again postponed a decision to
extend Mr. Kleinfeld's contract, which expires Sept. 30, he notified the board he wouldn't
be available for a new contract.
Mr. Kleinfeld decided to throw in the towel after learning that some powerful shareholder
representatives on the supervisory board were secretly searching for a replacement,
according to a person familiar with the matter.
Indeed, an effort by some outside board members over the weekend to recruit Wolfgang
Reitzle, chief executive of German industrial gas giant Linde AG, to lead Siemens fell
through on Monday when Mr. Reitzle said no, according to people familiar with the
matter. A spokesman at Linde said Mr. Reitzle isn't leaving the company. Under
Germany's two-tier board system, the nonexecutive supervisory board vets major
management decisions, including personnel moves.
Siemens did not immediately name a successor. Some on the supervisory board believe
that an outsider is the company's best hope for overcoming multiple criminal probes that
have tainted the company's reputation and threaten to undermine its extensive global
business. Other top executives could be relieved of their responsibilities in the coming
weeks and months to distance the company from the mounting allegations of
wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the matter.
But a new leadership team made up of outsiders would face large challenges. Siemens,
sometimes referred to as the General Electric of Europe, is huge and complicated, making
light bulbs, medical scanners, steam turbines and high-speed trains, among many other
products. It had sales of €87 billion, or about $119 billion, in its fiscal year ended Sept.
30. The company employs some 475,000 employees and operates in about 190 countries.
Amid the uncertainty about its leadership, Siemens American depositary shares tumbled
$6.67, or 5.4%, to $117.75 in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday. Some
brokerage firms had recommended selling the stock should Mr. Kleinfeld's contract not
be renewed at yesterday's board meeting.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 9 of 23
9. Some on the Siemens’ supervisory board believe that an outsider is the best hope for
____ that have tainted the company's reputation and threaten to undermine its extensive
global business.
a. overcoming product failures
b. overcoming quality issues
c. overcoming distribution problems
d. overcoming multiple criminal probes Correct
10. Siemens, is sometimes referred to as the _____ of Europe.
a. General Electric Correct
b. Pepsi
c. Wal-Mart
d. Kmart
How Motorola Fell A Giant Step Behind
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS and LI YUAN
April 27, 2007; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117763905320884365.html
A year ago, Motorola Inc. appeared headed for a third straight year of rich profits under
Chief Executive Ed Zander, driven by its hit cellphone the Razr. "A lot of you are always
asking what is after the Razr," Mr. Zander said in an April 2006 conference call after
another quarter of 30%-plus growth. "I say more Razrs."
But behind the scenes, Motorola was working furiously to get a successor phone to
market by the second half of 2006, according to people familiar with the matter. When it
failed to do so, profit margins on handsets narrowed and the company swung to a loss.
Key executives left. And as the stock slid, activist investor Carl Icahn built up a position
and began campaigning for a board seat to address what he called Motorola's "operational
problems."
Motorola's travails illustrate the risks for a company that rides high with a big consumer
hit. Amid its success with the Razr, it fell behind on developing a phone with the next
generation of technology. Missing a beat is especially hazardous in cellphones, where it
can take two to three years to develop a new line.
Meanwhile, Motorola faced corporate infighting during the transition to a new CEO from
outside the industry, which interrupted new-product development. Mr. Zander has also
struggled to bring his Silicon Valley ways, developed from years in the computer
business, to the cellphone world.
Mr. Zander, 60 years old, took the reins in January 2004 with a mandate to bring a fresh
vision to Motorola. The 79-year-old Schaumburg, Ill., company had been run for most of
its history by the Galvin family. But the board ousted Christopher Galvin as CEO in 2003
after problems including a shortage of cellphone cameras. The snafu disappointed
Motorola's biggest customers, the wireless carriers that sign customers up for cell service.
In Silicon Valley, Mr. Zander had risen to president at Sun Microsystems Inc. His
straight-talking, feisty manner earned him the nickname "Fast Eddie." At Motorola, he
set about changing a culture he saw as inward and bureaucratic. He tried to bring a West
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 10 of 23
Coast vibe to headquarters, replacing wood-paneled executive offices with open spaces
that encouraged interaction.
He also began carrying around a silver prototype of a skinny phone in development since
2000, the Razr. "I'd go to a restaurant with my wife and lay it on the table and the
waitress would go, 'What is that? How can I get that?'" Mr. Zander said. When the
marketing chief at the time, Geoffrey Frost, said the Razr could inject pizzazz into
Motorola, Mr. Zander authorized a big launch in 2004: appearances for the Razr in a
Gwen Stefani music video and the Razr's own television commercial.
11. A year ago, Motorola appeared headed for a third straight year of rich profits under
Chief Executive Ed Zander, driven by its hit ______.
a. computer processor chip
b. MP3 player
c. computer memory chip
d. cellphone the Razr Correct
12. As a new CEO Mr. Zander struggled to bring his ways developed from years in the
____, to Motorola.
a. airline business
b. restaurant business
c. retail business
d. computer business Correct
Questions 13 – 17 from Marketplace
Bosses Have to Learn How to Confront Troubled Employees
By CAROL HYMOWITZ
April 23, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117728763130878499.html
Carmelina Procaccini, vice president of human resources at Pegasystems, a Cambridge,
Mass., software company, tells managers at every rank to watch for "warning signs" of
disturbed and potentially violent employees. Angry outbursts, abusive language and
intimidating threats to others "must be taken seriously," she says.
"We've trained our managers not to take any chances," she says, and to confer openly
with the HR staff and executives about employees who seem distressed or potentially
violent.
The horrific shootings at Virginia Tech last week are prompting people to rethink an
array of security issues, particularly how to identify mentally ill people in their midst
before they harm others or themselves.
College presidents could take some cues from company managers who have made safety
a priority in their workplaces for some time. Unlike students, employees tend to
recognize the earliest onset of problems and have little patience for them. "If you've been
sitting next to someone for years and that person is suddenly very angry or depressed and
not talking to anyone, you're going to notice," and maybe not tolerate it for long since the
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 11 of 23
quality of your work may depend on his, says William Nolan, a Columbus, Ohio-based
partner in employment law at Squire Sanders & Dempsey.
Executives should be aware that "violence rarely begins with someone walking in and
shooting others," says Roger Brunswick, a psychiatrist and president of management
consultant Hayes Brunswick in New York. "Violence usually builds slowly and starts
with bullying, intimidation and threats."
Employees who feel free to report these incidents at companies that have put prevention
and disciplinary programs in place are less likely to face bloodshed on the job, Dr.
Brunswick adds.
13. Carmelina Procaccini, vice president of human resources at Pegasystems, tells
managers at every rank to watch for ________.
a. employees stealing company supplies
b. employees arriving late every day
c. "warning signs" of disturbed and potentially violent employees Correct
d. employees leaving early on Fridays
Microsoft Embeds Sleeper in Business Software
By ROBERT A. GUTH
April 24, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117737738757279866.html
When the Miami-Dade County Public Schools set out to build a way for its teachers,
students and parents to collaborate online, it was surprised to discover it already had
Microsoft Corp. software that could help do the job.
Included with software the school district had previously bought was something called
SharePoint Services, which Miami-Dade used as the first step in creating a system for
planning school programs and classes, posting notices, and handling other tasks that
require its teachers and students to collaborate.
"We kind of unintentionally fell into it," says Deborah Karcher, executive officer at
Miami-Dade's information-technology group. The school system considered an
alternative from International Business Machines Corp., but with the Microsoft software
already in place, "it just seemed like a very low risk."
What Miami-Dade wanted to do is part of a broad trend in how corporations and
institutions are beginning to use their computers. Historically, using most PC programs
has been a solitary thing -- workers used ad hoc methods to work together, say by
emailing a spreadsheet among different team members, one by one. Now a host of new
"collaboration" software is letting them use corporate networks to more easily work on
the same documents at the same time and accomplish any number of tasks that groups or
teams do together. Workers using collaboration software, for instance, could have a
particular document like a spreadsheet on their respective screens simultaneously, with
all having access to the material while talking to one another over a videoconference.
To do that, companies need to install a mix of software running behind the scenes that
ties together PCs, databases, email systems and other programs businesses use. Many
businesses, to their surprise, are finding that Microsoft anticipated that demand and has
already sold them SharePoint before they even knew they needed it.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 12 of 23
SharePoint is now Microsoft's contender in an emerging battle over collaboration
software with companies from a cross section of the technology industry including Oracle
Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., IBM, EMC Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Google Inc. and
lesser-known players such as Zimbra Inc., Alfresco Software Inc., the Plone Foundation
and Socialtext Inc. Each company has its own approach to collaborative software market,
but "all want to be central to it," says Peter O'Kelly, an analyst at researcher Burton
Group.
For Microsoft, SharePoint is a critical engine to increase sales of a broad array of its other
software. In 2003, the company made a basic form of SharePoint available as a free
download with Windows Server, a version of Windows for the large corporate computers
of customers like Miami-Dade schools. The hope was that the customers would seek -and pay for -- a newer version of the program with more collaboration features and would
then go on to buy other Microsoft software.
To date, largely unheralded, Microsoft has sold 85 million licenses to the enhanced
version of SharePoint across 17,000 companies. No marketing campaigns are in the
works. "When we get SharePoint in there, it sells itself," says Jeff Teper, vice president
of Microsoft's SharePoint Server group.
14. Collaboration software offered free from Microsoft is called:
a. Socialtext
b. Alfresco
c. Plone
d. SharePoint Correct
'It's the Only Thing That Lasts'
By THADDEUS HERRICK
April 25, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117745643239981202.html
In 2001, Kentucky native Brad Kelley sold his cigarette manufacturing company
Commonwealth Brands Inc. for some $1 billion and promptly went on a shopping spree.
He didn't go to Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue -- he set his sights on the range.
Mr. Kelley bought hundreds of thousands of acres of West Texas ranchland. In Florida,
he snapped up some 60,000 acres near Sarasota, where he breeds animals such as
antelope and anoa, a miniature water buffalo native to Indonesia. Today he is the seventhlargest landowner in the U.S., according to the debut issue of The Land Report, a
publication that bills itself as the magazine of the American landowner.
The rich are accumulating open spaces across the U.S. much as they have with vacation
homes, automobiles and paintings in the past. As urban areas have grown, some well-off
city dwellers have purchased spreads in remote places, thousands of miles from the
typical playgrounds of the wealthy.
"It's like rare art," says Jim Taylor, president of Hall & Hall, a Billings, Mont., real-estate
firm, that has worked with CNN founder Ted Turner, among other land buyers.
In West Texas, for example, Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has acquired several
ranches in recent years totaling about 300,000 acres; making him No. 23 on The Land
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 13 of 23
Report's list of the nation's top 100 landowners (Mr. Bezos declined comment for this
story).
The push to amass acreage among the rich is part of a broader boom in which Americans
outside the agricultural sector have been pouring money into land, pushing up prices.
Farm real estate rose 15% in 2006 from 2005 to $1,900 per acre, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
The wealth accumulated in the last decade by aging baby boomers has left them looking
for places to put their money.
At the same time, in the agricultural stretches of America, the population is aging and the
economy is in many cases unable to sustain ranches and farms.
A study published in the journal Society and Natural Resources said between 1990 and
2001 only about a quarter of those who bought parcels of 400 acres or larger in 10
Montana and Wyoming counties were traditional ranchers.
More recently, real-estate brokers say, buyers have been scouring the Great Plains for
spreads that offer hunting and fishing, wooed by brokerage outfits spearheaded by
retailers such as Orvis Co. and Cabela's Inc.
15. Farm real estate rose 15% in 2006 from 2005 to $ ____ per acre, according to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
a. $900
b. $1,900 Correct
c. $2,900
d. $3,900
Activists Turn Up Heat on Beijing Olympics
By SHAI OSTER and GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
April 26, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117753182593782444.html
BEIJING -- The Olympic torch is increasingly lighting up political controversy for
China.
Today, the host of the 2008 Summer Games plans to reveal the route of the torch relay
that will carry the Olympic flame into Beijing. But in what may be a prelude of things to
come, four people were detained on Mount Everest yesterday for protesting a proposal to
carry the flame up the world's tallest mountain, on the border with politically sensitive
Tibet.
Taiwan's government, too, has complained about being included in the torch relay as part
of China. The island, which Beijing considers a breakaway province, wants to be seen as
part of the torch's international route instead.
The torch relay is just the official beginning of China's political Olympics. Just as
corporations are trying to use the Beijing Olympics to promote their brands, human-rights
activists and other groups are seeking to leverage the global attention on the Games for
their own causes. Some are even talking of a possible boycott of the entire event.
Protestors, seeking everything from greater rights for China's ethnic minority groups to
independence for Tibet, have started publicity campaigns tied to the Olympics. On
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 14 of 23
Saturday, Harvard University will host a conference about how the 2008 Games can
influence human-rights causes.
16. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games will be hosted by ____.
a. London
b. Paris
c. Rome
d. Beijing Correct
Can Music Survive Inside the Big Box?
By ETHAN SMITH
April 27, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117763890447584360.html
When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. informed record labels it was looking for CDs to include in a
promotion of Jewish music last year, executives at Naxos of America Inc. leapt at the
chance to get some of their ethnic recordings onto the shelves of the big-box retailer. But
within months of shipping thousands of CDs to Wal-Mart, the classical music
distributor's loading docks were swamped with unsold copies of "Klezmer Concertos &
Encores" and "Great Songs of the Yiddish Stage." Since they hadn't sold quickly enough
to meet the retailing giant's standards, 80% of the CDs Naxos shipped to Wal-Mart were
returned. Record stores typically return only 20%.
"In hindsight, if we'd thought about this a little more, we wouldn't have done it," says
Naxos Chief Operating Officer Jim Selby. "Jewish classical music, going into a WalMart store, it's pretty farfetched that we'd have 60% or 70% sell through." He adds, "It's
niche-y music."
Music executives -- and not just those who traffic in obscure genres -- are in an
increasing bind when it comes to selling their wares on CD. As dedicated music stores,
including Tower Records, have closed up shop by the thousands, big, generalist chains
like Wal-Mart, Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. have tightened their already firm grip on
the sale of physical CDs. The chains order huge quantities of some titles, while other
releases find it hard to get a foothold.
In past decades, deejays and music critics helped shape musical trends. Today, many
music industry executives agree, the big boxes have become the new tastemakers. Even
as compact disc sales fall, their choices dictate which CDs are widely available on store
shelves across the U.S. Big boxes are the industry's biggest distribution channel -- and the
rock, hip-hop, jazz and classical music titles they choose not to carry face drastically
reduced chances of reaching mass audiences.
Thanks largely to aggressive pricing and advertising, big-box chains are now responsible
in the U.S. for at least 65% of music sales (including online and physical recordings),
according to estimates by distribution executives, up from 20% a decade ago. Where a
store that depends on CDs for the bulk of its sales needs a profit margin of around 30%,
big chains get by making just 14% on music, say label executives who handle
distribution. One of these executives describes the shift as "a tidal wave." Despite the
growth in online digital music sales, physical CDs still are the core of the recording
industry, accounting for about 85% of music sales.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 15 of 23
Big-box chains say they're trying to give customers what they want. "We also are making
changes to the CD selections in our stores to reflect customer preferences in each
market," says a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.
But some labels worry that the big boxes are becoming even more restrictive in what they
carry. That's partly because, with CD sales falling steeply, the discs aren't as hot as other
products the stores sell. Also in the wake of the Don Imus controversy, the debate over
the lyrical content of rap, rock and pop has flared up again. Oprah Winfrey recently has
focused on rap lyrics on her talk show.
Wal-Mart, for example, has long refused to carry any album bearing a "parental advisory"
label warning of lyrics that are potentially inappropriate for minors. As a result, major
record labels typically create sanitized versions of albums for sale there and at other
sensitive retailers. People in the music industry, however, say some hip hop and rock
albums can be difficult to sell to the big chain -- even if the releases lack controversial
content. "Even Target's getting more difficult," says Jeff Rabhan, a talent manager who
has pop and hip hop clients. "Especially with everything that's going on right now with
Imus and Oprah, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get hip hop records prominently
displayed and even in some cases stocked," Mr. Rabhan adds.
17. Thanks largely to aggressive pricing and advertising, big-box chains are now
responsible in the US for at least _____ of music sales (including online and physical
recordings), according to estimates by distribution executives, up from 20% a decade
ago.
a. 45%
b. 55%
c. 65% Correct
d. 75%
Questions 18 – 23 from Money & Investing
Why You Should Spy on Yourself
By M.P. MCQUEEN
April 21, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117711006626777439.html
More people are running background checks. On themselves.
Used to be, the best way to pry into someone's past was to hire a gumshoe. However,
today everyone from prospective employers to identity thieves -- and even first dates -can do surprisingly sophisticated searches, looking for skeletons in your closet.
Schools, too, are dialing up their snooping. Wharton and Columbia Business schools are
using investigators to weed out fibs and padded resumes. Harvard recently added a
former professional screener to its undergraduate admissions staff.
In the past few years, 47 states, including Connecticut, Missouri, Nevada and
Pennsylvania, have released records from some courts online, with case files ranging
from gun possession to littering violations. Specialist companies like ChoicePoint Inc.
and Reed Elsevier PLC's LexisNexis Group quickly mine and sell information like this to
companies for a fee.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 16 of 23
18. In the past few years, 47 states, have released ____ online.
a. driving records
b. tax bills
c. tax forms
d. court records Correct
Are Transports Leading Down Wrong Track?
By SCOTT PATTERSON
April 23, 2007; Page C1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117728975211078554.html
This is the week to see if the transports can keep on trucking.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average reached a new high Friday, putting it up 14%
year to date, just as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 4% this year, also hit a peak.
According to Dow Theory, a century-old investing strategy based on the market musings
of Charles Dow, a founder of The Wall Street Journal, when the industrials and transports
hit highs, that's a bullish sign for stocks and the economy. Strength in one index is
believed to confirm strength in the other.
Late last year, the transportation average, which tracks 20 railroads, truckers and airlines,
was stumbling as the 30 industrials rose, raising concerns about an economic slowdown.
The signal worked. Growth slowed early this year, thanks in part to the housing market
and subprime-mortgages woes.
The latest transport rally suggests the economy may turn the corner soon. But is that
really going to be the case?
The jump has been fueled largely by an upward run in railroad stocks, which have a 29%
weighting in the average, the largest of any group.
19. The Dow Jones Transportation Average reached a new high Friday, putting it up ____
year to date, just as the Dow Jones Industrial Average also hit a peak.
a. 4%
b. 8%
c. 14% Correct
d. 24%
Dr. Z's Chrysler Predicament: Selling Unions on Sacrifice
By DENNIS K. BERMAN
April 24, 2007; Page C1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117737430423079782.html
Forget about making better cars. Or even about the rise of private equity. The best way to
understand the sale of Chrysler Group is as blood sport between parent DaimlerChrysler
and its North American unions.
Is DaimlerChrysler willing to get fully ruthless with its employees, in spite of its wellhewn image as loveable corporate citizen? The answer will make for some gripping
theater in the months ahead. That is because this deal really is about persuading the
company's unions to roll back their own health and pension benefits.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 17 of 23
The stock market already is acting like an agreement is nigh, having added $20 billion in
value to Daimler since the auto maker said it was considering a sale. But the market
underestimates just what rough business this separation is going to be.
"If people buying it think they're going to get concessions out of us, it's not going to
happen," said Buzz Hargrove, head of the Canadian Auto Workers union, in an interview.
To first approach the problem, it is best to consider the 82-year-old Chrysler Group less
like a car company and more like a hard-luck case. The company carries an estimated $18
billion in unfunded health-care and other benefit costs, all of which weigh heavily on the
business.
"They clearly have to do something different than what they're doing now," says Paul
Walser, owner of the Walser Chrysler Jeep dealership in Hopkins, Minn. "It's not
working."
20. The best way to understand the sale of Chrysler Group is as blood sport between
parent DaimlerChrysler and _______.
a. its stockholders
b. Wall Street investment banks
c. the Federal Reserve
d. its North American unions Correct
Will Radio Shack Lead Investors To a Letdown?
By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN and KRIS HUDSON
April 25, 2007; Page C1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117746547405081447.html
Investors have been lining up at Radio Shack Corp. They may leave disappointed.
Shares of the big electronics retailer have soared nearly 70% this year on enthusiasm over
new management's moves to cut costs and boost profit margins. Yesterday, RadioShack
was down 34 cents, or 1.2%, to $28.11, in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York
Stock Exchange.
Investors should realize that the run-up has come despite the fact that the company hasn't
been able to sustain any significant improvement in revenue over the past decade and that
its sales at stores open for at least a year fell almost 6% in 2006.
RadioShack also is facing some longer-term obstacles. While there likely is additional fat
to cut that will help the bottom line, RadioShack's shares now are quite expensive,
suggesting that anticipated improvements in operations already are factored into the stock
price. RadioShack, which is at expensive levels based on a number of valuation metrics,
trades at about 24 times its expected per-share earnings this year, above the
price/earnings ratio of competitors such as Best Buy Co., which has a multiple of 16.
"I sure as heck wouldn't be buying at this level; the juice is pretty much squeezed out of
this orange," says Steve Monticelli, president of Mosaic Investments, a San Francisco
hedge fund that doesn't have a position in RadioShack. "They don't have the growth
drivers" to justify the current price.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 18 of 23
21. RadioShack, trades at about ____ its expected per-share earnings this year.
a. 14 times
b. 24 times Correct
c. 34 times
d. 44 times
Why Market Strength And Economic Growth Don't Always Line Up
By GREG IP
April 26, 2007; Page C1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117755454840982990.html
The stock market has been a lousy barometer of the economy.
From the beginning of 2004 through the first quarter of 2006, economic growth averaged
an impressive 3.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose just 6%. Since then,
economic growth has slowed to a little more than 2%, yet the blue-chip index has leapt
18%, ending yesterday's session at a record 13089.89, the first time it has closed above
13000.
22. The ____ has been a lousy barometer of the economy.
a. unemployment rate
b. international trade report
c. stock market Correct
d. manufacturing inventory report
Maybe U.S. Markets Are Still Supreme
By GREG IP
April 27, 2007; Page C1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117762254495883942.html
In recent months, policy makers and business groups have argued that post-Enron
regulatory burdens have made U.S. markets less competitive -- citing as proof the many
foreign companies that list their shares in London instead of New York.
Now, three academic pioneers in the field are casting doubt on the assertion.
In a new study, they conclude there is no evidence the much-criticized 2002 SarbanesOxley Act, which beefed up corporate accounting and financial disclosures, among other
things, increased London's appeal to foreign companies at New York's expense. The
study looked at thousands of companies that either listed, or didn't list, their stocks on
various U.S. and London markets from 1990 to 2005.
The research also found that investors are still willing to pay a sizable premium for
foreign-company shares listed in the U.S., in return for meeting tough U.S. regulatory
standards. Foreign-company stocks in London receive no similar premium, they said. The
researchers also say the decline in new foreign listings on U.S. stock markets since 2001
isn't due to regulatory overkill. Rather, today there are simply fewer foreign companies
that fit the historic profile for listing abroad: namely, larger, faster growing and less
indebted companies from countries with stronger legal protections.
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 19 of 23
Relative to historical patterns, the U.S. attracted more foreign companies since 2001 than
would have been predicted, while London attracted slightly fewer.
"All of our evidence is consistent with the theory that there is a distinct governance
benefit for firms that list on the U.S. exchanges," say the authors, Andrew Karolyi and
René Stulz of Ohio State University and Craig Doidge of the University of Toronto.
"There is no evidence...this benefit has weakened over time."
Experts and policy makers have been arguing over the impact of the post-Enron
crackdown for months. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and others have cited the shrinking number of foreign new-stock
offerings and company listings on NYSE Euronext's New York Stock Exchange and
Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.'s Nasdaq Stock Market as proof that regulatory burdens and
legal risk are driving that activity to competing markets.
23. A new study concludes there is no evidence the much criticized 2002 _____, which
beefed up corporate accounting and financial disclosures, increased London's appeal to
foreign companies at New York's expense.
a. Sarbanes-Oxen Act
b. Accounting and Financial Disclosures Act
c. Enron Act
d. Sarbanes-Oxley Act Correct
Questions 24 – 26 from Personal Journal, Section D
The Man Problem
By TARA PARKER-POPE
April 24, 2007; Page D1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117735809444879393.html
When it comes to health, one of the biggest risks a man faces in his lifetime is being a
man.
At every stage of life -- from infancy to the teen years to middle age -- a man is at far
higher risk for getting sick and dying than a woman. The average life expectancy of a
man -- 75 years -- is more than five years shorter than that of a woman.
The reasons for the troubled state of men's health are complex. Biology -- such as the
different ways men and women react to stress -- likely plays a role. And men, taught
since boyhood to be stoic in the face of pain, often are their own worst enemy, avoiding
doctors and engaging in risky behaviors such as reckless driving that threaten health.
Men's health issues also get less public attention and funding at a time when women's
health concerns -- such as breast cancer -- are in the national spotlight.
There's now a growing effort by doctors and health researchers to bring more resources to
improving men's health. Medical schools such as Johns Hopkins and Columbia
University have created departments devoted to gender-specific medicine. Health groups
are calling on Congress to create an Office of Men's Health similar to the current Office
of Women's Health, established in 1990.
Men on their own can take a few simple steps to boost their health. Doctors say that by
focusing on a few key areas -- blood pressure, cholesterol, waist size and sexual function
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 20 of 23
-- a man can make dramatic improvements in his overall health. One recent study in the
medical journal JAMA found that preventing weight gain and alcohol abuse in midlife
were two major factors in determining whether a man lived and stayed healthy until the
age of 85.
24. The average life expectancy of a man in the United States is ________.
a. 65 years
b. 67 years
c. 75 years Correct
d. 85 years
Search Engines Seek to Get Inside Your Head
By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO and KEVIN J. DELANEY
April 25, 2007; Page D1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117746162492681332.html
Search engines have long generated the same results for queries whether the person
searching was a mom, mathematician or movie star. Now, who you are and what you're
interested in is starting to affect the outcome of your search.
Google Inc. and a wide range of start-ups are trying to translate factors like where you
live, the ads you click on and the types of restaurants you search for into more-relevant
search results. A chef who searched for "beef," for example, might be more likely to find
recipes than encyclopedia entries about livestock. And a film buff who searched for a
new movie might see detailed articles about the making of the film, rather than ticketbuying sites.
Google has been enhancing and more widely deploying its search-personalization
technology. Within coming weeks, Google users who are logged in will begin having
their search results re-ordered based on information they have provided to Google. For
instance, they may have entered a city to receive weather forecasts on a personalized
Google home page. As a result, a user in New York who types in "Giants" might see
higher search results for the football team than a user in San Francisco, who might be
more interested in the Giants baseball team.
Consumers who use its Web-history service to track previous search queries currently get
results that are influenced by those queries and the sites they have clicked on. The
company plans eventually to offer personalization based on a user's Web-browsing
history -- including sites people visited without going through Google -- when users
agree to let Google track it.
25. Google has been enhancing and more widely deploying its ______.
a. ad selling technology
b. photo storage technology
c. call back technology
d. search personalization technology Correct
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 21 of 23
Read This and Weep: Crying At Work Gains Acceptance
By SUE SHELLENBARGER
April 26, 2007; Page D1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117754050635782643.html
Kathryn Brady thinks crying at the office is getting a bad rap.
As a corporate finance manager, Ms. Brady has occasionally had bosses who drove her to
tears. While they saw crying as a sign of weakness, Ms. Brady says she was actually
crying in anger because they were so hard to work with. When you want to do a good job
and "you're thwarted in that, you become frustrated," says Ms. Brady, 34, of Atlanta.
"The misinterpretation that I'm whiny or weak is just not fair."
Crying at work has long been seen as verboten. But there's evidence that a growing
number of workers, especially those in their 20s and 30s, see it differently. Some think
it's old-fashioned to hide your emotions. Others are quick to cry over negative feedback.
And many find themselves at odds with managers who grew up with a more repressive
definition of professional conduct.
That doesn't mean people are crying openly. Early in my career, I nearly broke a leg
racing to the restroom after some tough feedback from my boss drove me to tears. Today,
most workplace criers still prefer to weep in private.
Nevertheless, research offers evidence of a shift. Today's young adults are more
comfortable venting all kinds of emotions, says Jean Twenge, an author and associate
professor of psychology at San Diego State University, based on generational studies of
personality-test results for a total of 1.3 million people. They were "raised with the phrase
'express yourself,'" she says.
Gen-Yers -- who, it is often noted, are accustomed to lavish praise from their parents (See
related article3.) -- are often ill-schooled in taking criticism and burst into tears at
negative feedback, Dr. Twenge says. Kathy Lyle, 55, owner of a Chagrin Falls, Ohio,
accounting firm, was dismayed when an employee in her early 30s cried in response to a
request to install software on a computer. "When I asked her why, she said, 'You scare
me,'" Ms. Lyle says. Startled, Ms. Lyle told her to pull herself together.
Although women still report crying more often than men, it has become more socially
acceptable since the 2001 terrorist attacks for both men and women to cry in certain
situations, says Stephanie Shields, a psychology professor at Pennsylvania State
University and author of a book on emotional expression. Bonnie Sashin, 56, a
communications specialist in Boston, says a male co-worker in his 20s fought back tears
while telling her about a chewing-out he'd gotten from a colleague. "A guy less in touch
with his feelings ... might have expressed anger, outrage or pounded the table," she says.
In a more public case, no one accused 6-foot-3, 253-pound Vernon Davis of being a
wimp when he cried last year over being chosen as a first-round NFL draft pick by the
San Francisco 49ers. Onlookers took the burly 22-year-old at his word -- that he was
moved at achieving a dream.
Some say crying gets issues out in the open. Lynne Segall, 38, an Atlanta strategy
consultant, has cried over feedback from her manager, often when she's stressed or
frustrated. This sparks "healthy dialogue" with her boss, "a very sensitive guy," she says.
Some bosses see tears as a natural side effect of the emotional investment required by
many jobs. George Merkle, CEO of a San Antonio credit-counseling service who is in his
© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
WSJ Professor Guide: Page 22 of 23
50s, says he doesn't feel he can expect his employees to be "compassionate and caring to
our clients," then "turn off their feelings like a switch" in other dealings. If employees
cry, "I just say, 'No apology needed, I know it's upsetting and we can work our way
through it.'"
Savvy bosses also avoid jumping to the conclusion that tears signal weakness. In a survey
of 182 medical students several years ago, Nancy Angoff, an associate dean at the Yale
School of Medicine, found 133 had cried at least once during clinical training, for reasons
ranging from stress or mistreatment to compassion and empathy for patients. Instructors
"need to acknowledge that it is not only OK to cry," she wrote, "but it is understandable,
appropriate and sometimes desirable."
26. There's evidence that a growing number of workers, especially those in their 20s and
30s, think it is OK to ______ at work.
a. date
b. use drugs
c. drink alcohol
d. cry Correct
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WSJ Professor Guide: Page 23 of 23