"Chaos by Design," pp. 86-98: Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google, never wanted their brainchild to be like other companies. From the looks of things, they've succeeded. Google's 1.3-million-square-foot headquarters, which Page and Brin manage alongside CEO Eric Schmidt, is a mélange of two-story buildings full of festive cafeterias, crammed conference rooms, hallway bull sessions, and an anything-goes spirit. All of this is just fine by Shona Brown, Google's senior vice president for business operations, or more accurately, its chief chaos officer. A business theoretician and bestselling author of Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos, Brown regards Google as her own personal petri dish, a place where she can put her research into action. Brown's goal is to determine how much management the company needs and then use a little bit less. The theory is that too much structure in a fast-paced, ambiguous industry like info tech stifles innovation, the very ingredient needed to stay competitive. Google's performance thus far seems to suggest that Brown's thinking is dead on. The chaotic company is pulling in $10 billion a year in revenue and is worth about $125 billion. What concerns investors is that Google might not have a profitable second act. While there’s nothing to suggest that its growth engine — ad-supported search — is in any jeopardy, Google has yet to come up with a big moneymaking follow-up, despite all the innovation going on. Will Google's chaos experiment ultimately prove its top thinkers wrong? Only time will tell.

In this article, students examine the wildly successful Google's fast-moving, unorthodox approach to business.

Discussion Questions:

"Rahm Emanuel: Pit Bull Politician," pp. 102-116: Rahm Emanuel may not rank among the nation's best-known members of Congress, but he is fast emerging as a new force in the Democratic party. The one-time investment banker and current chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Emanuel isn't one to shy away from a battle, and that's precisely why Democrats have pinned their hopes on the feisty Chicago politician for wresting control of the U.S. House from Republicans. Make no mistake — it will be a struggle. The Republican National Committee's war chest is about 25 times the size of the $2.4 million commitment Emanuel rancorously brokered with Democratic National Committee chair and Vermont governor Howard Dean to be spent on competitive House races. And so Emanuel has had to resort to other tactics to raise the kind of money that wins elections, including publicly chastising liberal financiers of being stingy, accusing left-leaning activists of being ineffective, and relentlessly hounding donors for cash. His aggressive style has been duly noted by both political allies (Democratic strategist Paul Begala has called him a "cross between a hemorrhoid and a toothache") and enemies (Tom Cole, a Republican Representative from Oklahoma and self-proclaimed friend of Emanuel's, called him "dangerous" in a recent letter to GOP colleagues). In the end, all that matters is whether Emanuel succeeds in returning House Democrats to power. If that happens, look for him to vault up the House leadership ranks into position to bid for the Speaker's title.

Students take a closer look at U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel and his efforts to end 12 years of Republican control of the House of Representatives.

Discussion Questions:

"Partners in Crime," pp. 130-143: Try passing this plot off on a Hollywood producer: two smart, ambitious young men from immigrant families mastermind a scheme to make a killing on the stock market with the help of forklift operators in Wisconsin, a Jersey City mail carrier, some Manhattan-based strippers, and a couple of Croatian club rats. Oh, and one of the men is a nationally ranked competitive ballroom dancer. Sound a little far-fetched? Well, it's all true, according to the SEC, FBI, and U.S. Justice Department. The agencies worked together to nab former Goldman Sachs analysts David "Jeff" Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin for running "one of the most widespread, varied, and premeditated insider trading rings" ever prosecuted. Although their total take — about $7 million — was not enormous, what sets Pajcin and Plotkin's scheme apart was its sheer brazenness. Some of their more profitable tricks included placing operatives inside the plant that prints Business Week to steal advance copies of the magazine's Wall Street column, and getting tips on pending merger deals from a contact inside Merrill Lynch. It was the pair's biggest coup — a $6 million payday off a tip on Adidas-Salomon AG's acquisition of Reebok International Ltd. — that landed them and their network of 15 co-conspirators in hot water. Plotkin is maintaining his innocence, while Pajcin has pleaded guilty and is helping the government try to convict his friend. What both are apparently learning is that, unlike the movies, in real life, crime doesn't pay.

This article reveals the details behind one of the boldest insider trading schemes ever carried out, and the investigation that led to its perpetrators' downfall.

Discussion Questions:

1. According to David Pajcin, why did he leave Goldman Sachs after only 5 ½ months? How did a subsequent employer describe Pajcin's tenure at his firm?



2. How did the SEC uncover the Reebok scam? Describe how the pieces came together in its investigation.



3. On what basis is Eugene Plotkin pleading his innocence? What do you think the outcome of the criminal case against him will be? Why?

"The China 100: China's Stock Boom," pp. 159-166: For years investors have set their sights on China, hoping to ride the wave as the massive country jump-starts its economy and opens up to Western business. An increasing number of Chinese companies are going public, and China's economy continues to expand, with 10% GDP growth. But the country's markets remain highly volatile, leaving investors to wonder whether its often mysterious stocks are mature enough yet for any but the most speculative investors. Many companies listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges have been poorly-managed, closed operations hardly accountable to shareholders, and state-run banks especially have been plagued by bad loans and politics. There are indications now, however, that this is about to change. To comply with World Trade Organization rules, China is expected to open its banking and communications sectors to foreign companies. Furthermore, some of China's big banks, oil companies, and communications giants are starting to list on the Hong Kong exchange, which is open to Western investors, and even on U.S. exchanges. For the average American investor, buying individual Chinese stocks has gotten easier, but still requires caution. Most Americans interested in investing in China's high-risk emerging markets are advised to buy one of the growing array of mutual funds or exchange-traded funds focused on the country — and only then as part of a broad international portfolio.

Students analyze how investing in Chinese businesses is gradually becoming simpler and safer, and in due course more profitable.

Discussion Questions:

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