The U.S. government is the largest single purchaser of goods and services in the world, awarding approximately $500 billion in contracts every year. Participating in the process to gain access to these federal contracts can be challenging and overwhelming for small-business owners. On the first Wednesday of every month, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Arizona … [More]
Value as a Service
Across a host of industries, we will move to a model that Bernshteyn calls value as a service. It is already common knowledge that many traditional-products companies are converting the delivery of their offerings to the as-a-service model. With the completion of this transition assumed, the coming disruption will focus less on the delivery model and more on the value … [More]
Contracting Assistance Is ‘Win-Win’ for Small Biz & Government
The Defense Logistics Agency’s Office of Small Business Programs administers a unique program designed to assist small businesses as they navigate government contracting. The Procurement Technical Assistance Program was created in 1985 to provide specialized training and assistance to small businesses to help increase their participation in government contracts at local, state … [More]
For-Profit Stands on ‘For People’
It was 2009. The global economy was in the beginning of its worst downturn in many, many years. Barry-Wehmiller, at that time, was a 124-year-old company that had started as a supplier of bottle-washers and pasteurizers to the brewing industry. In the late 1980s, financial challenges forced the company to reinvent itself by beginning a process of acquiring companies that … [More]
Love the Hustle
After college, Elle Kaplan arrived in Manhattan with a dream of conquering the finance world. When everyone told her to come back in a few years with an MBA, she interviewed for a receptionist position at a private equity firm instead. It was hardly the starter job of her dreams, but it turned out to be her big break; only ten years after starting as the lowest woman on the … [More]
Global Opportunities Measured
Exporting represents a $928-billion opportunity for U.S. midsized companies over the next 10 years, yet only 17 percent of middle market firms currently trade internationally. What if exporting wasn’t as risky as rumored? Or as difficult to get started? What if a business knew it could sell profitably and get paid? American Express Grow Global is a new program that provides … [More]
Global Opportunities Seen
Videos made available through the Global Chamber are helping businesspeople understand and become more informed on areas of global opportunity. Through a series of videos — including those by Alisa Jost, chairperson for Arizona Consular Corps and Honorary Consul from Switzerland for Arizona — the chamber offers what are being dubbed “must-see” videos on manufacturing, retail, … [More]
Back to Basics 2.0
No one is good at everything. So, with the many hats a business owner must wear, some will be in the comfort zone and some in an area of actual expertise. All, however, require attention. Whether a business founder continues to actively handle all responsibilities personally or is able to delegate certain roles in the company’s organization, it remains important in any … [More]
Disrupt You!
In today’s volatile business landscape, adaptability and creativity are more crucial than ever. It is no longer possible — or even desirable — to learn one set of job skills and to work one’s way up the ladder. At the same time, entrepreneurs with great ideas for new products or technologies that could change the world often struggle to capture the attention of venture capital … [More]
Experts Have the Answers
What is the difference between experts who have built a platform and brand around their expertise and experts who are great at their work but haven’t figured out how to launch that one big idea or build a truly successful platform? Conversations I have every day with authors about brand strategy around their books and conversations I engaged in earlier this year at one of this … [More]
Small Business Wins Big with Arizona Consumers
Arizonans have embraced the national trend of patronizing small businesses in overwhelming numbers. Eighty-eight percent of Arizona consumers support small businesses in their communities by buying small at least once a week, and 64 percent buy small two or more times a week, according to the 2015 Cox Consumer Pulse on Small Businesses. For the third year in a row, Cox … [More]
Cracking the Code to Innovation
Everyone says they want innovation in their organization, but when an ambitious employee offers it to a CEO, for example, the idea is often shot down. Senior leaders often miss the value-creating potential of a new concept because they either don’t take the time to really listen and delve into it, or the innovating employee presents it in the wrong way. Innovation should be … [More]
Design to Grow
In today’s world, every company is at risk of having a “Kodak Moment” — watching its industry and the competitive advantages it has developed over years, even decades, vanish overnight. The reason? An inability to adapt quickly to new business realities. Established companies are at risk, but it’s no easier being an agile startup because most of those fail due to their … [More]
Business Opportunity Is a Dutch Connection
There is significant business opportunity for Arizona companies with the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The most recent figures show Arizona exported more than $350 million to the Netherlands in 2013, and Dutch trade and investments here support more than 7,000 jobs in Arizona. Honorary Consul Siebe K.J. van der Zee, in the Phoenix office of the Consulate General, notes the … [More]
Bringing Strategy Back
In Bringing Strategy Back, strategy expert Jeffrey Sampler cuts through the clutter to reveal exactly why the usual tools of strategy are so sorely out of sync with our needs: windows of opportunity close far faster than they once did, many of these opportunities are smaller than they once were, growth rates are uneven across markets, and today’s competition is more … [More]
Top 10 Best Strategies for Business Success
Among the “top 10 best strategies for business success” a business owner can follow is surrounding oneself with the right people to get the job done. But to do that requires, first, determining what those jobs are. We at In Business Magazine have identified the following 10 areas of action that are equally critical to the success of a commercial enterprise. No ranking of … [More]
Financial Health: Planning the Way to Success
Making a profit is the common goal for business owners. Determining how best to spend it is also a challenge. According to Bill Owens, principal of accounting firm Owens & Bondell, there are five main categories that business owners struggle with: funding their retirement plan, buying new assets for the business, paying down debt, paying taxes and personal spending. “The … [More]
Biotech’s Road to Growth
The bioscience industry here is no longer merely a good idea awaiting its time. With an annual economic impact of $14 billon statewide, according to the Flinn Foundation — a private nonprofit organization that supports biosciences in Arizona through grants, programs and advocacy and is tasked with tracking the industry — biotech and its Phoenix hub are a legitimate economic … [More]
