On a handshake deal, Wal-Mart started using a video-production company, Flagler Productions, to capture its corporate meetings and culture in the 1970s. Two years ago, the retailing giant axed the tiny company. Now Flagler is selling clips of its 15,000 Wal-Mart tapes to the outside world to the tune of $250 an hour. The material is proving irresistible to everyone from business historians and documentary filmmakers to plaintiff's lawyers and union organizers. Unlike the polished presentations delivered at business forums, the videos provide an unvarnished look at Wal-Mart leaders as the corporation grew into one of the world's largest, …

Each of the three big U.S. automakers are investing in engineering, design and development centers overseas, aiming to draw on talent from other regions and develop a more global business outlook. Perhaps the most striking example of this trend has been Chrysler's decision to close down its Pacifica Advance Product Design Center in Carlsbad, Calif.--a studio that had a part in designing some of the automaker's biggest recent hits, including the Chrysler 300 sedan. The decision to center design operations near the company's headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., is not necessarily to shave costs but rather is part of the …

John Anderson, Levi Strauss and Co. president/CEO, admits the quintessentially American brand faces a bumpy road but is banking on emerging markets--namely China, India and Russia--as well as the women's sector, for growth over the next three to five years. Currently the business is relatively evenly split between domestic and international. Eventually, Anderson believes international markets will represent 60% of sales. Still, the U.S. will need to find ways to generate growth in order to drive international expansion. "It's essential that the U.S. business remain strong to us," Anderson says. "It gives us authenticity and legitimacy." …

Royal Philips Electronics, the Dutch consumer electronics giant, will license the manufacturing of flat-screen TVs to Tokyo-based Funai Electric for at least five years. Funai already sells Emerson, Sylvania and other lower-priced brands in North America. As prices for flat-panel, LCD TVs continue to fall, Philips has been squeezed: while a well-known name, its televisions have not occupied the premium brand position of Sony and Samsung and the company could not compete on the low end with commodity brands like Vizio and Westinghouse. Funai will be responsible for sourcing, distribution, marketing, sales and customer service for …

Consumers can receive a free iced coffee when they use a Cellfire mobile coupon at 113 participating McDonald's in Utah, Wyoming and Nevada through April 27. Founded in 2005, Cellfire is a mobile service that provides coupons on goods and services for cell phone users. A number of other major companies is also testing the medium. Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Clorox and Del Monte are currently testing mobile coupons at select Kroger locations. McDonald's customers are asked to go to cellfire.com or text "mcd" to 22888 to receive the Cellfire application. They then receive …

President and CEO Howard Schultz is leading a nationwide free tasting of Starbucks' newest brew--Pike Place Roast--in Manhattan's Bryant Park at noon today. The company built a replica of the original Pike Place store there last night. Free coffee will be available at about 7,100 stores around the country today. Customers will be instructed to smell, then slurp ("by slurping," the guide for store managers says, "you aerate the coffee by spraying it across your palate, which enables the subtle flavors to reach your nose"), taste, then describe. Describing is like "poetry" and involves aroma, acidity, body and flavor, the …

All three of Detroit's automakers hope to sizably increase their exports of U.S.-made vehicles to markets around the world. Later this year, GM will begin shipping the Buick Enclave--a seven-passenger crossover sport-utility vehicle--to China, where the Buick brand is a big seller. It is also making plans to sell the Chevrolet Malibu--and possibly other U.S.-made passenger cars--in Brazil and other Latin American markets, GM executives have said. Chrysler this year began exporting the Dodge Caravan minivan-- branded Chrysler Voyager in Europe. It is also exporting increasing numbers of compact Dodge and Jeep models to several countries. Ford executives last fall …

Chrysler's new advertising campaign portrays the now-private automaker as quicker to respond to customer needs. The automaker wants to show that it is taking customer's dreams and getting them into Chrysler cars and trucks. "If you can dream it, we can build it" debuts April 14 during professional basketball and hockey games. Chrysler Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Meyer says the company has already made 400 changes to 2008 and 2009 models based on customer feedback. Also, a marketing campaign for the Dodge Journey crossover kicks off this week. The product-focused launch will be the automaker's largest-ever online effort, with 29% …