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Archives › December 2003
December 29, 2003
Complying with the New Antispam Law
Posted by Carole Matthews at 10:19 AM
Firms that use e-mail for marketing purposes are scrambling to meet a tough deadline this week. On Thursday, the first federal antispam law, the Can Spam Act 2003, goes into effect, and many companies are worried that they'll be caught in noncompliance. The Boston Globe reports today that while the law poses little threat to companies using e-mail for legitimate commercial purposes, it does require a few modifications to how firms present e-mail correspondence that could put some in a bind.
December 19, 2003
A Strange Innovator
Posted by Mike Hofman at 5:46 PM
Turns out that those popular inflatable lawn decorations are from the shop that brought you that singing, wall-mounted bass, the LA Times reports.
For more on constantly innovating companies, check out this Inc. classic on creativity, and this series on innovation.
December 17, 2003
Problem-Solving with the Wright Brothers
Posted by Carole Matthews at 10:23 AM
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight. To commemorate the event a team of engineers, mechanics and pilots will re-enact the first flight in a replica of the Wright brothers' flying machine in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.
Besides pioneering air travel, the Wright brothers' also contributed to the entrepreneurial spirit and the discipline of management, as a recently published book The Wright Way details. Author Mark Eppler distills the brothers' problem-solving skills into seven managerial principles that are still relevant in today's challenging business environment. A few of the principles:
Measure twice: The principle of methodical meticulousness. The fastest and most efficient way to solve a problem is by being meticulous and methodical in your approach.
Tackle the tyrant: The principle of worst things first. When "tyrant" problems are put first, costs for the whole are limited to this subset should a solution prove to be unachievable.
Fiddling: The principle of inveterate tinkering. New approaches can be created by tinkering with portions of a problem in an effort to understand it.
December 16, 2003
The End of the Price Tag
Posted by Carole Matthews at 1:29 PM
New Massachusetts state regulations taking effect tomorrow will allow stores to stop stamping prices on their products. Instead, stores can set up price check scanners for consumers to check the prices of products themselves.
A convenience or a pain in the butt? I think deciding on a purchase is often just as much about the product as it is about the price. My guess is that many of those impulse buys might just fly out the door.
Not surprisingly, big chains like Wal-Mart are jumping at this, installing the scanners in every 5,000 square feet of their stores. Retailers say the new regulations will save them money in labor costs, even though the scanners can cost as much as $1200. Will smaller retailers be jumping at the chance to install these scanners to reduce labor costs? Are the scanners really worth the inconvenience to consumers?
December 15, 2003
Going Private
Posted by Carole Matthews at 2:03 PM
The number of public companies going private has increased since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted on July 30, 2002, according to a recent press release published by accounting and business advisory firm Grant Thornton. From August 2002 to November 2003, 30% more companies went private as compared to the 16-month period preceding the initiation of the Act.
Why are so many going private? Most notably, the Act has placed very strong responsibility, and liability, on CEOs of public corporations. Going private reduces a company's risk to shareholder litigation and affords the once public company a new sense of control and confidentiality, which are appealing benefits, according to Grant Thornton CEO Edward Nusbaum.
In Five Ideas to Watch from the Nov. 2003 issue of Inc., writers Bobbie Gossage and Patrick Sauer noted a survey in which 80% of the 209 public-company CEOs surveyed wished they were running private companies. Their main reasons: Sarbanes Oxley paperwork and related exhorbitant accounting costs.
Sales Tax Education
Posted by Carole Matthews at 10:38 AM
If you're a business owner and have questions about sales and use taxes in your state, check out the Sales Tax Institute. The site and its courses educate business people about sales and use tax concepts and how they might minimize their tax burdens while still complying with with state and federal laws. It also has a page of links to other tax resources on the Web, and a current list of sales tax rates for all 50 states.
December 11, 2003
Today's news
Sunny-Side Up
Posted by Bobbie Gossage at 12:57 PM
Primarily due to the pervasiveness of the Atkins diet, egg prices have reached a 20-year high, the Associated Press reported yesterday. But as reporter Michelle Leder discovered, the Atkins brand is about more than steak and eggs. For more about how Atkins Nutritionals is reforming the brand after the recent passing of founder Dr. Robert Atkins, read her story, "Is the Atkins Brand Toast?" in the December issue of Inc.
December 10, 2003
Women Entrepreneurs rock the vote
Posted by Mike Hofman at 3:46 PM
File this under 'You read it here first': Soccer Moms and Nascar Dads are out as the hot swing voter. Women entrepreneurs are in. So reports the Washington Post in a political column today, noting that two pollsters—one Democrat and one Republican—were releasing a survey that suggested that the votes of women business owners could decide the '04 election.
Inc. actually picked up on party interest in women business owners as a bloc back in 2000, when both Al Gore and George W. Bush scheduled high profile events at women-owned companies just days before the chad-scattering Election Day.
Fond reporting memory: watching the returns in Ohio with entrepreneur Carol Lathem, a Bush supporter, and her employees. What a long night that was!
Is Marketing Unimportant?
Posted by Carole Matthews at 12:41 PM
According to an Accenture survey of 200 executives worldwide, marketing ranks pretty low on the priority list. The recent survey titled Marketing: Underrated, Undervalued and Unimportant? found that executives by and large felt that sales and customer service makes more significant contributions to the company than marketing does. Of those people who felt marketing was one of their most important functions, only 28% believe their marketing efforts rival their competitors, while 43% feel their efforts are on par with others' efforts in their industries.
What's the problem? Accenture discovered two principal factors. First, senior executives don't fully understand the role of marketing because their backgrounds are generally in finance or operations. Second, it's difficult to measure the ROI on marketing programs since what marketing departments do is largely contingent on how other departments perform.
It seems strange to me that in an increasingly competitive business environment that marketing doesn't rank higher on executives' lists. Where does it fall in your company? And have you found a way to measure its success?
December 3, 2003
Dorm Room Entrepreneurs
Posted by Carole Matthews at 4:02 PM
Many businesses have started in dorm rooms, but not in dorms specifically dedicated to nurturing the entrepreneurial dreams of students. The University of Maryland has opened a dorm that fosters the formation of companies as part of the Hinman Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities program, the Boston Globe reported today in "Great Ideas 101." Outside of the dorm, the students study typical college topics like English, engineering, business, but at the Hinman dorm, they're encouraged to start innovative businesses through a series of weekly seminars on starting and running a business, and the help they receive from UMD faculty. The dorm includes wireless Internet service, conference rooms, and a state-of-the-art computer lab. Hinman students have already started a number of businesses, from developing a wireless emergency alert system to a GPS that measures athletic performance in the field.
Sounds like a promising way to get today's young business owners off to a good start. Do you think this could be the future of teaching entrepreneurship?
Spam is Hurting Small Business
Posted by Carole Matthews at 11:40 AM
A recent survey conducted by InsightExpress for Symantec Corp. reveals that small businesses are considering taking substantial steps to stem the flow of spam if the onslaught continues. According to the 500 small businesses surveyed, 42% would consider abandoning e-mail for business if spam worsened; 55% would consider changing their company e-mail addresses to stop spam; and 56% would consider locking down their e-mail servers to allow only approved messages through, which would also require those people who wanted to correspond with the company to go through an approval process.
Even though the businesses aren't spending a lot of time deleting the spam they receive, they are finding it a drain on resources: 54% said spam cost their business in lost user producitivity; 37% said it ate up server and disk storage space; and 35% said it hurts connnection time.
Certainly, the influx of spam is hurting businesses and productivity, but turning off e-mail for business could hurt productivity even more. The problem is so pervasive that one can only hope new innovations in the fight against spam and a law that is exercised and enforced will put more spammers out of business, much like a recent ruling in California did.
December 2, 2003
Taking Business Overseas
Posted by Carole Matthews at 10:38 AM
"Globalization doesn't mean standardization," notes Carol Hymowitz in the WSJ.com article European Executives Give Some Advice on Crossing Borders." In fact, when considering taking your products overseas, business owners should create strategies that cater to countries' varying cultural tastes.
(Note: You need to be a WSJ.com online subscriber to log in to read the full article. If you're not, I've highlighted the main points here.)
Hymowitz cites a few missteps made by large US companies that share some good lessons, e.g., Procter & Gamble's push to sell solid stick deodorant to a European market that mostly uses aerosol, and its push to sell premium Pamper diapers to Germans who mainly shop at discount stores. In both cases, P&G had to rethink their strategy after having entered the market.
Other bits of advice from European executives: hire and promote local employees to establish better connections with overseas customers and constantly reassess the markets you're in, just in case there might be bigger opportunities elsewhere.
December 1, 2003
Today's news
Trampling the Recession
Posted by Bobbie Gossage at 3:21 PM
You know the economy is picking up when people start getting trampled at Wal-Mart. Maybe that statistic should be added to the list of major economic indicators...
DJIA: 9,782.46
Nasdaq: 1,960.26
Jobless Claims: 351,000
Consumer Price Index: 122.4
People Trampled at Wal-Mart: 1
In all seriousness, I really think Wal-Mart should just go ahead and give poor Patricia VanLester one of those $29.99 DVD players.
Will Antispam Law Help?
Posted by Carole Matthews at 10:37 AM
The Can Spam Act of 2003 that President Bush has indicated he will sign into law should help clear our inboxes of some of those annoying, unsolicited messages, but will it help restore the reputation of the e-mail marketing industry? Today's article in the Boston Globe, "Clearing the Way for Legitimate E-mail?" looks at the Act's promises and wonders whether it will have a positive effect on legitimate e-mail marketers, including small businesses, who use e-mail marketing as an inexpensive and quick way to reach new customers.
The industry might have a bit of a struggle coming back after the tsunami of spam consumers have been subjected to in recent months. Most of us are now programmed to dump any e-mail coming from someone we don't know. Recognizing this, many businesses have abandoned e-mail marketing all together and have instead relied on promotions and newsletters to existing customers to keep them coming back.
"Marketers have to completely rethink and understand e-mail as a medium," said Peter Mesnik, cofounder and chief technology officer of e-mail marketing business IMN, in the article, but it seems to me that it will be a bit more complicated than just "rethinking" the medium. Businesses will have to find a way to change consumers' knee-jerk reaction of deleting unsolicited e-mails. The new law would allow businesses to send commercial e-mails until the recipient opts out of receiving them, but how do you get consumers to open them in the first place?
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