After a week at sea, much of it in conditions described as filthy and not at all the luxury cruise touted in brochures, passengers aboard the crippled Carnival Triumph were expected to finally make it to shore Thursday night — only to then face hours-long bus rides or other travel hassles to finally get back home. What began as a four-day voyage in the Gulf of Mexico morphed into a vacation nightmare, an odyssey that saw relatives of passengers growing frustrated with the cruise line, wondering just how healthy and clean it was aboard the ship. The ship was in sight of the Alabama shore about midday on Thursday, but still had hours before it was docked. Meanwhile, television images from CNN showed passengers walking around the ship's deck …

Stepping up the defense of its Model S car to counter the critical review by the NY Times, electric car maker Tesla Motors has released data gathered during the newspaper's test drive. Contrary to the Times review by John Broder, company chief Elon Musk said the car never ran out of battery power in a statement posted on Tesla's website this week — almost a week after Broder reported the vehicle had to be dragged onto a tow truck because it shut down in the middle of his test drive. Data also showed the reporter drove the vehicle at faster speeds than reported in the article, according to the statement, Bloomberg News reports …

Anthem Worldwide announced that its most recent consumer insights study reveals "Creating It Myself" as a driving trend in 2013. Anthem identified 10 Consumer and Shopper Trends and Counter Trends and fielded a study to get a pulse on these sentiments in the U.S., U.K. and China. One of these, "Creating it Myself" vs. "Buying Ready Made," related to what consumers want. Consumers were asked which they believed would be more prominent in 2013: "Buying Ready Made" or "Creating it Myself." "Let's face it, most of us in the U.S. operate at maximum capacity, and adding one more thing to the 'to do' list can tip the scale. So it's not surprising to find that U.S. consumers appreciate products and services that do more for them …"

President Obama had a simple message for Republicans in Congress: Do it my way. Forget about shutting down the government to force spending cuts, he told the GOP in Tuesday night's State of the Union address. Don't think about defaulting on the debt and, while you're at it, close tax loopholes. Clearly, Obama wasn't in a mood to compromise. The president's speech doubled down on his hard-charging inaugural address in promoting liberal Democratic policy ideas, without ceding any ground to Republicans in Congress. And from Obama's point of view, why should he? The president is fresh off a convincing re-election victory and Republicans are soul-searching over their party's future, increasingly reluctant to put up a fight …

Simply doing a "good job" is not enough in today's rapidly changing world. American Management Association (AMA) announced the results of a new survey showing that U.S. executives are looking for workers with more critical skills. The ability to think critically, solve problems, innovate and collaborate are highly valued at every level within the organization, according to Edward T. Reilly, president and CEO of AMA. Moreover, three out of four managers and executives surveyed say these skills will become ever more important in the fast-paced, competitive global economy. "We believe that critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity are the keys to keeping up with the relentless pace of change that confronts all businesses and their employees …"

Just how important is reputation for American corporations? In short, it's everything — and increasingly so. While the overall perception of Corporate America remains relatively grim, there were mixed signals to be found in the results of the 2013 Harris Poll RQ Study. Earning the highest reputation this year is Amazon.com, edging out last year's most reputable company, Apple, which is ranked second. This is Amazon's first time earning the top ranking, but the fifth consecutive year with a great reputation score. The Walt Disney Company, Google and Johnson & Johnson complete the top five. "The public seem to have become pragmatically realistic with their expectations of corporate America, and we characterize this year's overall findings as the great muddling of Corporate America …"

Workers are highly frustrated with today's passive/non-real-time communications options such as email and voicemail, according to a new global survey by BroadSoft. The research results also indicate strong desire for tightly integrated mobile "Unified Communications" (UC) solutions — suggesting mobile network operators (MNOs) investments in LTE networks leave them strongly positioned to meet the communications needs of an increasingly mobile workforce. "The survey reflects the fact that workers are frustrated with everyday communications services, such as voicemail and email, and that they have a growing interest in mobile unified communications capabilities. And because of the higher average revenue-per-user generated by UC services, we believe mobile operators are positioned to more rapidly monetize their investments in LTE networks …

Hard to say whether this news is tragically good PR or ironically bad PR, but a regular patron and unofficial spokesman for Las Vegas' Heart Attack Grill has died of an apparent heart attack, the restaurant's owner said this week. John Alleman reportedly suffered a heart attack last week outside the restaurant, according to the Las Vegas Sun. The 52-year-old was taken off life support on Monday. "He lived a very full life. He will be missed," said Jon Basso, owner of the Heart Attack Grill. "I told him if you keep eating like this, it's going to kill ya." Alleman is the second unofficial Heart Attack Grill spokesman to die in as many years. In March 2011, Blair River, the restaurant's 575-pound representative …

Pepsi is hoping to boost sales by reaching Mountain Dew fans at a new time of day — morning. Even as bad PR swirls around the energy-drink industry, PepsiCo announced that it is rolling out a new drink called Kickstart this month that has Mountain Dew flavor but is made with 5 percent juice and Vitamins B and C — along with an extra jolt of caffeine. The beverage giant said it doesn't consider Kickstart to be an energy drink, noting that it still has far less caffeine than drinks like Monster and Red Bull and none of the mysterious ingredients that have raised concerns among lawmakers and consumer advocates. In fact, Kickstart could give the company a side door into the fast-growing energy drink market without getting tangled in any of its controversies …

According to new study results from Voxeo and the International Customer Management Institute, as the number of mobile consumers continues to rise, so too does the need for a well-developed mobile strategy. Those contact centers that get involved early in the planning and support of the mobile customer service strategy will have the best opportunity to enhance the customer experience. "It's become quite clear to the contact center industry that there is an increasing need to support the mobile customer, but many companies aren't sure where or how to start. With only 25% of companies currently having a mobile strategy for 2013, that leaves a lot of opportunity to create a strong competitive advantage …"

In a new survey from SinglePlatform, a division of Constant Contact, 49 percent of local businesses admitted having never updated their online listings, whether that's on a search engine, review site, or mobile app. With consumers relying more on not just online listings, but rich online listings, small businesses are missing a critical opportunity to bring new customers in the door by offering accurate listings with the information consumers want and need to make a purchase decision — menus, products or services. "Consumers are using the Internet as a discovery engine and the opportunity for a local business to be found by their next great customer continues to grow. It is important for small businesses to list …"

New research from Seven Step Recruiting, a provider of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services, reveals that the Fortune 100 companies are lagging in their use of new mobile technology and social media tools for talent acquisition. "When you look at organizations the size of GE, for instance, they have upwards of 5,000 job vacancies. That many critical positions left unfilled is a serious business challenge," said Paul Harty, president of Seven Step Recruiting. "In the face of today's skilled-labor shortage, companies need to get smart about their talent acquisition strategies. That means being where job seekers are, providing a positive experience and engaging them for the long-term …"

MyLife.com recently announced the results of a national survey revealing the proliferation of dubious social media behavior, and a general lack of social etiquette among certain portions of the U.S. population. For instance, the survey revealed that 88% of young parents (aged 18-35) flood Facebook with updates and photos of their children at least once a month; one in ten social media users have lost friends due to political posts; and 36% of women aged 18-35 would be embarrassed if people on the other end of their lurking knew how often they viewed their profiles. "Today, consumers are tied to their social media channels, and both actively contribute to and consume a growing influx of content, including status updates, photos and check-ins …"

SCA Promotions, a Dallas-based event promotions company says it will sue Lance Armstrong this week to recover more than $12 million it paid him in bonuses for winning the Tour de France seven times. The firm tried to withhold the bonuses in 2005 amid doping allegations against the cyclist, but Armstrong testified under oath that he didn't use steroids, other drugs or blood doping methods to win. But now, the company wants its money back — plus fees and interest — since Armstrong has admitted he used performance-enhancing drugs and has been stripped of those victories, an AP news release reports. Meanwhile, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has given Armstrong an extra two weeks to decide if he'll speak with investigators under oath …

Avanade, a global business technology solutions and managed services provider, today released results from a global survey of nearly 600 C-level executives and IT decision-makers in 19 countries. Research findings show that widespread use of consumer technologies in the enterprise are having a sweeping impact on traditional ways of doing business and the results companies can achieve. "The nature of work and how business gets done is going through a transformation," said Mick Slattery, executive vice president of Avanade Global Service Lines. "Consumer technologies in the workplace are a significant catalyst for this transformation. Executives are capitalizing on the opportunity these technologies offer by adjusting business processes and updating policies with measurable results …"

On the heels of last weekend's booming Super Bowl marketing event, ABC announced that it has sold all of its commercial time for the upcoming Academy Awards program. The network's parent company Walt Disney financial officer Jay Rasulo announced the milestone this week during a conference call with Wall Street analysts. ABC's ad sales team established the quickest pace for the Oscars ad sales in more than a decade, the LA Times reports. ABC also notched substantial rate increases over last year's ad rates for the 85th Annual Academy Awards show Feb. 24. The Disney-owned network is collecting $1.7 million to $1.85 million per 30-second spot for the extravaganza …

The use of lithium ion batteries to power aircraft systems isn't necessarily unsafe despite a battery fire in one Boeing 787 Dreamliner and smoke in another, but manufacturers need to build in reliable safeguards, the nation's top aviation safety investigator said this week. National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman said she doesn't want to "categorically" rule out the use of lithium ion batteries to power aircraft systems, even though it's clear that safeguards failed in the case of a Japan Airlines 787 that had a battery fire while parked at Boston's Logan International Airport last month. "Obviously what we saw in the 787 battery fire in Boston shows us there were some risks that were not mitigated, that were not addressed …"

Consero Group, an international leader in creating events for senior executives, in partnership with Applied Discovery, a leader in electronic discovery and legal risk management, recently announced the findings of the Consero 2012 General Counsel Survey. According to the survey, 30 percent of General Counsel surveyed indicated that their corporations are not prepared to defend against cyber attacks. In addition, 28 percent of respondents said their companies had experienced a cyber security breach in the past 12 months. "The findings of the Consero 2012 General Counsel Survey are alarming," said Paul Mandell, founder and CEO of Consero Group. "From cyber terrorism to competitive attacks to random hacking, the proliferation of security breaches remains a growing threat facing corporations …"

New research findings may have marketers and PR pros doing a double-take about their social-savvy strategy. A majority of people surveyed by the Pew Internet and American Life Project said they had taken sabbaticals from Facebook at some point, for reasons ranging from too busy to just plain bored. Disengaging from Facebook for weeks at a time is actually rather commonplace, according to the research, which found that a majority of the current Facebook users it surveyed have at one time or another tired to the point of avoiding the social networking site, CNET reports. Pew's most disconcerting finding, at least if you're betting on Facebook's long-term success, confirms what the social network warned its investors last week: the cool kids are so over Facebook …

Companies reporting a profit from their sustainability efforts rose 23 percent last year, to 37 percent of the total, according to a new global study by the MIT Sloan Management Review (MIT SMR) and The Boston Consulting Group. Interestingly, the study found that companies in emerging markets change their business models as a result of sustainability at a far higher rate than those based in North America, which has the lowest rate of sustainability-driven business-model innovation and the fewest business-model innovators. "Sustainability-Driven Innovators see the opportunity differently than do companies that haven't gleaned sustainability's financial rewards," said David Kiron, executive editor at MIT SMR and a coauthor of the report. "They don't dwell on it as a cost issue …"

The concept of the purchase funnel first appeared in the late 19th century, as a linear journey from a need to a final purchase. Since then, nearly everything about how consumers interact with brands has changed. Proprietary research conducted by About.com in collaboration with Latitude, confirms that the actions of consumers have evolved drastically, and that what most influences shopping decisions varies widely by purchase category. "With the rise of mobile and social, along with the sheer volume of information available online, the path to purchase has radically shifted for consumers — and smart marketers are taking note. The information in this study allows marketers to understand how they can walk specific paths …"

Foxconn Technology Group, the maker of Apple iPhones and gadgets for other global brands that has made headlines over the last several months because of deteriorated workplace conditions and reported abuses, is widening the scope of union elections at its sprawling facilities in China. The move, confirmed by the company this week, follows a series of recommendations from an international panel hired by Apple to audit conditions for the 1.2 million workers in Foxconn's mainland factories. Foxconn's union efforts have been criticized on numerous occasions. In November, for example, the Economic Policy Institute wrote a paper criticizing Foxconn for, among other things, representation issues on the union leadership committee …

Oracle this week announced the results of its Global Insights on Succeeding in the Customer Experience Era report. This global survey of 1,342 senior-level executives from 18 countries in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America yields new insights on the challenges, strategies and lessons learned for succeeding in the customer experience era. "This report demonstrates that organizations around the globe and across many industries are beginning to understand the real business impact of not offering great customer experiences, but are facing execution challenges," said David Vap, group vice president of Oracle. "We recommend that organizations map their customers' journeys to identify specific improvement areas that will help them cross the execution chasm …"

On the heels of persistent tension between Walmart and its employees over workers rights and benefits, the retailer and its union nemeses have come to terms on the degree to which current and former employees will protest the company's workplace conditions. In a new agreement between Walmart and the unions, labor groups that have long spoken out against the mega-retailer will stop much of their picketing against the company, though they still plan to continue to push the company to improve working conditions, the NY Times reports. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, and OUR Walmart reached an agreement with the National Labor Relations Board, the groups and Walmart U.S. said last week. The agreement is "a big victory for the company …"