Disappointing sales are the number-one problem afflicting America's small businesses, and few business owners expect consumers to start spending again any time soon, according to the National Federation of Independent Business's latest monthly survey of its membership. As we know, sales declines have also forced businesses to shut down. In…
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 and will contribute an incremental $5 trillion in earnings over…
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 government at the federal, state and local levels.According to Americans…
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" metrics like headcount and hours worked. If you watch those…
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 expected to finance the new experiments of Congress and the…
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 can read more about it here.
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 is that banks and creditors have little patience during this…
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 being innovative about how to tailor your product and service…
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 associates who are offered full-time jobs to accept $65,000 to…