Current Events

The Internet is arguably the most popular technology today. It not only serves multiple purposes for various groups of people, such as consumers, investors, managers, etc., it has a few amount of restrictions in regards to who has the ability to access it. Nowadays, the Internet is capable of being accessed almost everywhere. Libraries and cafes are examples of public places that have included computers with Internet connections to satisfy the community. In operations management, the Internet is an effective way of connecting and communicating with customers, corporations, and firms. Numerous companies use it to do business with the general public. Three examples of these companies are MySpace, Panera Bread Co., and Amazon.com.

MySpace is a free website that allows people to socialize and network using pictures, music, blogs, profiles, and e-mail. Users can write about themselves, their tastes, likes and dislikes in their profiles and upload pictures and images to further illustrate their personalities. It currently has over 70,000,000 members worldwide and is rapidly growing day-by-day. One of MySpace's significant advantages is that it appeals to basically everyone - from the shy, quiet kid in high school looking to make new friends, to the mainstream rock musician wanting to share his music with the public, to the aspiring model looking for an agency to work with. Another advantage MySpace has is over its competitor, Friendster (even though MySpace was released after Friendster) in that Friendster is much slower, has more traffic and runs into more technical problems than MySpace. The founder of MySpace, Tom Anderson, made the site not simply just to socialize, but to socialize through the Internet, which is why the site is as popular as it is. It uses the Internet to bring people together on various levels.

Panera Bread Co. is a chain of bakery cafй restaurants throughout the U.S. They specialize in serving sandwiches, soups, specialty breads and other bakery items. The atmosphere of Panera Bread stores is not like your typical loud, fast-paced restaurant. It is a very intimate setting, with neutral colors, sofas and low hanging lights to make one feel like they're in the privacy of their own kitchen or living room. Recently, more and more locations are offering free wireless Internet access to customers. This is an excellent marketing strategy for Panera, in that customers can bring their laptops to stores, sit on the couches, and eat a sandwich while their doing their homework or transacting business over the Internet. The company also has an online website that includes franchise information for investors, recipes for