Judging from a survey by the Boston Consulting Group, your best bet is a business that knows how to cater to women. According to BCG, women today are driving $12 trillion of the overall $18.4 trillion in global consumer spending...
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Cost of Government higher than ever!
August 12 is Cost of Government Day (COGD), the day of the calendar on which most the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his share of government spending and services including regulatory costs imposed by...
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Are you measuring productivity?
Today's WSJ article touting the leap in productivity is a good reminder that metrics based on unit inputs/outputs is a very valuable tool. Make sure that you're not just measuring revenue, margins and profits ... but measuring them against "unit"...
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Small Business Confidence Drops
Small businesses have become more pessimistic about the chance for economic recovery in the next six months, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. The indicator fell 1.3 points in July to 86.5. "Now they are...
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Vol. 47: Building a Business: Hey, I’m profitable; so why don’t I have cash?
The North Bay Business Journal, a publication of the New York Times, is a weekly business newspaper which covers the North Bay area of San Francisco - from the Golden Gate bridge north, including the Wine Country of Sonoma and...
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How to budget your time
The Wall St. Journal sponsored a series of video interviews with executives to probe some of their "leadership lessons".The 90 second monologue by Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft about how he budgets his time is an interesting and unique approach...
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Leadership | The Fires You Want Are The Ones You Set
Create your own firesFire has been around since before Prometheus stole it from Zeus and shared it with us mere mortals.We won’t revisit the penalty that Zeus bestowed but suffice it to say, Prometheus probably regretted his thievery.Are you spending...
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More Help for Small Business?
The Obama Administration is considering additional assistance for struggling small businesses. A large part of the focus is on creating additional liquidity for small businesses. Among the ideas is a direct underwriting program to support loans to small business. You...
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Pay cuts increasing
Many of you have seen the drop in layoffs recently ... but they're increasingly accompanied by pay cuts. We've commented here before about the value of that approach for companies seeking to adjust to the Great Recession while doing everything...
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Are banks encouraging bankruptcies?
Business Week's recent article seems to think so. More than 100,000 companies—about one in every 270 American businesses—have landed in bankruptcy court since the downturn began 18 months ago, according to data compiled by Oklahoma City-based Jupiter eSources. One suggestion...
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Aggressive pricing finds NEW customers
A recent WSJ article focused on a few small businesses who are finding that aggressive pricing, the death spiral that usually befalls struggling companies, can also be used to create new customers. It's not just about dropping prices ... it's...
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Sure you don’t want to be a lawyer?
The big New York law firms continue to amuse and titillate. Again, one of the firms, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, is offering $80,000 to incoming lawyers to defer their starting dates for a year. Cravath is also requiring current summer...
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Why Business Plans don’t deliver
I have written several posts lately about the value of business plans and the nature of the pitch to raise money.The MIT Sloan Management Review weighs in with a new article Why Business Plans Don't Deliver which offers some ideas...
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Do you find yourself always asking, “Where Are We?”
“Where are we” is a question I hear all the time. Usually, the questioner is looking for some answers about the business landscape and where we might be in the trough between recession and recovery. A challenging question but one...
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Getting in hot water with bank covenants?
This month's issue of CFO magazine included an article, Tripped Up, about the many companies that are violating their loan covenants and offers some ideas about how to avoid those pitfalls.
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Work Share program avoids layoffs
In our CEO Round Table meetings, we have discussed on several occasions the Work Sharing Unemployment Insurance program available through the California Economic Development Dept., which provides a temporary and practical alternative to layoffs. In short, the program allows for...
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Like I’ve been saying ….
Angels invested more than $19 Billion in 2008 according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. The NY Times published an article today reporting the resuls ... what many of us have been saying all...
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Light at the end of the tunnel?
One leaf does not a fall make ... but there is some glimmer of economic improvement in the Bay area. Too slow ... not enough ... but maybe a beginning?
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Don’t skip this! Create Goals that Have Meaning
Creating goals that have meaning “It’s just a goal.” That’s a phrase I’ve heard too many times when a business leader engages in a performance review with an employee or when companies embark on a corporate planning effort. Do they...
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Hope is not a Strategy: June 3, 2009
Thank you for attending our FREE Live Webcast: Hope is not a Strategy: Driving Success in Turbulent Times today. You may find a summary of today's presentation by clicking here.
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The Meineke Syndrome?
I can't say I've heard that phrase before ... but it refers to the Meineke ads that shouted: "I'm not going to pay a lot for this muffler!" The NY Times article, however, is the latest ... and includes some...
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We Will Never Forget
Today is a special day devoted to the memory of our fallen heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. No matter your political or personal proclivities, the willingness of young men and women to put themselves in...
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The need for independent directors
As you know, I have long advocated the value of independent directors in the middle market. They bring perspective and diversity to family businesses in particular, and more subtly, help keep the conversation focused on business issues rather than emotional...
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Seriously? Taxing a round of golf?
The New York Times had some fun with Gov. Schwarzenegger’s idea ... I missed it the first time around ... to put a $10 tax on a round of golf. It got quashed, thankfully, but I like some of Bill...
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Trump on Valuation? Really?
For you valuation junkies out there, it's kind of a hoot to hear The Donald talk about how he values companies and his interest in them in an interview with the Wall St. Journal. My favorite is his "mental projections",...
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Too much stress? Time for a break?
I am not sure exactly how it works, but this is amazingly accurate. Read the full description before looking at the picture. The picture below has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress...
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Is the Worst Over?
There are certainly some who think the tailspin is ending and the flight path is leveling out. The NY Times reported that more than half of the companies surveyed say they do not plan layoffs in the next 12 months....
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