A Muscle Car to the Rescue for General Motors

.M.’s new Camaro, a throwback to another era, is creating a buzz in otherwise quiet showrooms

New York Times, July 10, 2009 — Believe it or not, General Motors has a hit car on its hands.Amid the gloom of bankruptcy and a miserable market for new vehicles, G.M.’s new Chevrolet Camaro muscle car is winning over consumers looking for a little excitement in a bland landscape of look-alike sedans and watered-down sport utilities.

G.M. sold 9,300 Camaros during the month of June — more than either its entire Buick or Cadillac divisions could muster on their own.

Original Team Tries to Revive Starbucks

New York Times, October 30, 2008 — Since Howard D. Schultz returned to the helm of Starbucks in January, he has desperately tried to recapture the company’s original magic. Mr. Schultz has hired back one of the authors of Starbucks’s original success: Arthur Rubinfeld, its president of global development. Back at Starbucks since February, Mr. Rubinfeld is now guiding a renovation of its stores and refocusing on the urban markets that gave the company its illustrious start.