Carol D. Leonnig reports that corporate CEOs and trade groups are wrestling with how they can take advantage of the recent Supreme Court ruling that allows them to spend without limit in political campaigns without leaving tracks that may alienate some members of Congress, customers or employees. As a result, predictions that partisan ads would flood the airways have yet to materialize. Some big firms are considering giving money to business coalitions and conservative political groups "that are going to fight their battles for them and not come back to them," says Stefan Passantino, a campaign finance law …

Cutting out fresh flowers at some locations, and farming out laundry at others, are "seismic" moves for a high-end brand like Four Season Hotels & Resorts, Kris Hudson writes. Like just about everybody else, it's been hard hit by the recession. At least a dozen of the 82 hotels under Four Seasons management are in financial distress; last year, occupancy levels in the U.S. averaged 57% and revenue per available room dropped 26%. As a result, Four Seasons' founder, CEO and 10% owner Isadore Sharp has agreed to concessions requested by owners that won't, in his estimation, hurt …

After some initial prognostications about another New Coke disaster-in-the-making, Domino's Pizza's reformulation of its main product has been a huge success, writes columnist Greg Burns. Sales at domestic stores open more than a year rose 14.3% in the first full quarter after the new recipe debuted last December. The blunt "we stink" marketing campaign that admits that the old crust tasted like "cardboard" and the old sauce like "ketchup" no doubt has a lot to do with the good news. Could such candor work in other categories? Burns wonders. "The one that comes to my mind …

Dell CMO Erin Nelson chats with Moira Forbes about where the company is headed, how she balances her family with her work and what her future holds. She says that the company has spent the last year listening to its customers and learned that the brand has a lot of built-up equity, but that it only goes so far. "I don't really want this to be about [Dell]," the loyalists say. "I want it to be about what I am trying to achieve in my life. And so what I am looking for are partners that really understand what …