Supreme Court to rule Thursday on health care

By Bill Mears – The U.S. Supreme Court will rule Thursday (June 28) on the constitutionality of the sweeping health care law championed by President Barack Obama.

The stakes cannot be overstated — what the justices decide will have an immediate and long-term impact on all Americans, both in how they get medicine and health care, and also in vast, yet unknown areas of “commerce.” more> http://tinyurl.com/73qyewb

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• Why hasn’t the Supreme Court health care law decision been released yet? Reuters/fyibehealthy.com

Five Capabilities That Mid-Sized Manufacturers Need To Build

By Mindy Fiorentino – Mid-size companies, with revenues between $10 million and $1 billion, are expected to outpace larger companies in growth over the next 12 months, according to recent research (pdf) by the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and GE Capital.

Mid-sized manufacturing companies have three very big advantages over larger companies. They are:

• Focus
• Speed
• Closeness to customers

A mid-sized manufacturer needs to do the following five things right:

• Hire the right managerial skill set
• Gain access to cash and working capital
• Deploy technology that provides insights into business performance
• Look bigger than they are
• Improve operational capabilities and deploy changes rapidly

more> http://tinyurl.com/6r9rkv6

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• ‘Forgotten’ mid-sized firms ‘key to rebalancing’ (telegraph.co.uk)
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Verizon, T-Mobile Agree Spectrum Swap Pending Cable Deal

Verizon Communications (TBV) (Photo credit: L_cy)

By Scott Moritz and Todd Shields – Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, agreed to sell airwave licenses to T-Mobile USA Inc., contingent on Verizon completing a $3.6 billion acquisition of spectrum from cable companies.

In the deal, Verizon will swap advanced wireless services, or AWS, spectrum covering 60 million people for airwaves from T- Mobile covering 22 million people plus an undisclosed payment. more> http://tinyurl.com/6n9dhce

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• T-Mobile USA to buy, swap spectrum with Verizon (kansascity.com)
• Spectrum Swap By Verizon, T-Mobile Agreed Upon Pending Cable Deal (snspost.com)
• Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile Announce Spectrum Swap (phonescoop.com)
• Will more wireless spectrum for T-Mobile mean fewer antitrust concerns? (bizjournals.com)
• T-Mobile USA to buy, swap spectrum with Verizon (bostonherald.com)
• Verizon and T-Mobile To Swap Some Spectrum, if Cable Deal Goes Through (allthingsd.com)
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• News Summary: T-Mobile spectrum deal with Verizon (mysanantonio.com)
• T-Mobile USA to buy, swap spectrum with Verizon (sacbee.com)
• Why the Verizon and T-Mobile spectrum deal could still fall apart, Marguerite Reardon, CNET News
• Verizon and T-Mobile Spectrum Swap: What’s in it for Mobile Users? Jared Newman, PCWorld
• Verizon, T-Mobile U.S. agree on spectrum deal, Nicola Leske, Reuters
• FCC favorably views Verizon, T-Mobile deal, Cecilia Kang, Washington Post

Social ROI is not a Myth

By Christine Crandell – Get Sandy Carter, vice president of social business sales at IBM, to stay in one place long enough and you’ll start to hear story after story about how companies are realizing ROI from social business.

Social Media pushed the boundaries of possibilities and showed us the power that democratized information can wield and how much more we really needed to know (and innovate) to reap its potential. “Social media gave companies first mover advantage,” states Carter. “Time became and still is the primary competitive advantage.” more> http://tinyurl.com/7h7seqr

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• Become a Social Business, StrategyGroup
• Social Media in a Nut Shell (socialmediatoday.com)
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• Opinion: Boost business, let your workers socialize online (cnn.com)
• How to Create Real Relationships With Social Marketing (mashable.com)