“When Global Crossing, the broadband telecommunications company, was on its last legs, it laid off thousands of employees. Just weeks later, it filed for bankruptcy protection and, as a result, denied severance pay to these workers while a few senior managers got generous exit packages.”

“You know business is in trouble when it starts suing its customers. Bad sign. What has led to this terrible state, and what does it mean for the future of business?”

“David Dickey is director of marketing and communications for direct and new initiatives for Sprint. Susan Goodman leads Goodman and Co. Roger Gray works as VP of plan sponsor communications for Scudder Investments. And Andy Sernovitz is CEO of Gaspedal. Their panel discussion this morning at Ad:Tech 2003 addressed new email ideas to kickstart online marketing programs. Here is a rough transcript of their exchange…”