Archive for the 'Trends' Category

Sudden interest in alternative fuels such as ethanol are causing corn prices to skyrocket and sending some windfall profits back to America’s farm communities.
The Renewable Fuel Association said it projects total corn used for ethanol production to increase from 1.6 billion bushels in 2005 to nearly three billion bushels by 2015.
The industry group said the […]

When Ross Perot ran for President, he talked about the dangers of NAFTA saying that it would create a “Giant Sucking Sound” as jobs fled the United States.
Now, Ross Perot’s company, Perot Systems, is taking advantage of cost savings south of the border and opening a service center in Mexico to serve U.S. companies seeking to […]

Forbes Small Business released rankings from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council about the survival rates of small businesses in various states.
The report which is 40 pages listed the best and worst states for small business based on tax rates and government policies (meddling). Actually it was based on 29 criteria, including tax rates on […]

According to Money News (free registration), White Collar Outsourcing Could Boom Soon as Fortune 500 companies seek to save $58 billion dollars annually.
These companies have reportedly become much more confident in the ability of foreign workers to do analytical and other back office tasks kept onshore till now.  
 

Since we’re on microfinance already today, here’s a pet peeve I have about it.
Jeff Cornwall at The Entrepreneurial Mind got me ranting and raving about this because of his post today on the Debate about Microfinance.
I’ve discussed this previously in a post called “Microlending Goes For Profit In The Third World” 
I don’t know if my […]

Seed America helps communities recover from Mass Layoffs. Their specialty could be called “making lemonade out of lemons”.
Seed America takes a soon-to-be-empty or presently empty building that is both a financial drain on the company and a psychological drain on the community and helps both “move on” to greater profitability.
The company receives instant cashflow benefits […]

Drs. Jeffrey Robinson, Sammie Robinson, and Laquita Blockson have set out on what promises to be a ground breaking study of African American Women Entrepreneurs.
A working paper is available. Here’s its description.
The current literature on minority entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial growth all speak little to the unique experiences and contributions of African-American women. Our […]

Some of the people posting things on MySpace will quietly be denied jobs, advancement, or lose friends suddenly and wonder “why”?
It might be because of the stupid things they post on their MySpace page.
Any human resource officer with an internet connection can and should check MySpace to see what people post there.
Any medical practice wanting […]

The “common statistic” thrown around even by university professors, Wall Street Journal editors, etc. is that “80 to 90% of new businesses fail within a few years”.
Jeff Cornwall and Rhonda Abrams say there’s just one problem with that statistic: it’s dead wrong.
Credible studies show success rates five years out (the normal time line for such […]

It seems like the free market wasn’t working any more when it came to the health care market. Everyone seemed content to take in their handsome profits while prices continued to soar. That’s still true of prescription drugs that have no generic equivalents though “free prescription” programs so big pharma’s fears of regulation.
But Wal Mart’s […]