A new “CMO Compensation Report” from the Chief Marketing Officer Council reveals that chief marketing officers (CMOs) who report directly to CEOs are likely to earn more than their peers. And CMOs who forge close partnerships with chief financial officers and chief information officers are among the highest paid. This may support intuitive logic, but the CMO Council’s executive … [More]
Fraud Is Big in Online B2B Sales
Fraudulent Online Product Inquiries The impact of fraud is felt unevenly. As fraudsters succeed against businesses in an industry, they beget copycatters who continue to target that industry. Percentage of Inquiries that are Fraud Attempts Percent of Businesses Affected 75% … [More]
Employment Growth Opportunity in Clean Energy
Arizona made it to the short list of the top 10 states for clean energy jobs added in the first quarter of this year. Sharing this distinction with Idaho, Texas, California, Missouri, New York, Kansas, Hawaii, New Mexico and Louisiana — named in order of ranking — Arizona came in at No. 7 in the country. This was primarily due to two efforts: Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, in … [More]
Cost and Effect of Employees’ Bad Internet Behavior
Information technology managers report a high incidence of troublesome habits among office workers using company computers, according to a U.S. survey recently released by TeamViewer, a leading provider of remote control and online meetings software. The survey was aimed at determining how big an effect common “bad behaviors” have, both on the IT department and on the company’s … [More]
Businesses Are In Expansion Mode
Sixty-five percent of Arizona business owners and executives plan on investing in their business in 2014, with upgrading and/or purchasing new equipment, along with modernizing technology and systems, cited as their primary expenditures, according to an anonymous survey by independent research company Pollara released recently by BMO Harris Bank. That coincides with a … [More]
The Sickness and Workplace Mix
While employers deal with issues of healthcare coverage and employee benefits, the workplace environment is also impacted by the actions and attitudes of the work force. Study after study supports the belief that productivity is impacted by employees’ health; that healthier employees are more productive. But do employees consider the effect of their healthcare choices on their … [More]
‘Spring Training’ Is a Year-Round Business
Spring Training calls forth talk of batting averages and RBIs. But there are other figures equally compelling. The revenue impact of Spring Training and Cactus League Baseball Association extends beyond the ballpark box office to — of course — hotels and restaurants, but also to grocery stores, other retail and municipal governments throughout the Valley. Nor is it just a … [More]
Success Follows Attitude
The Success Index was developed based on responses to questions regarding business growth and characteristics proven to be emblematic of high-performing entrepreneurs. Based on a 100-point scoring scale, four distinct levels emerged: “strugglers” (scoring 0-40 points), “sustainers” (scoring 41-60 points), “strivers” (scoring 61-80 points) and “high achievers,” who scored … [More]
TPP May Drive International Trade and Investment for Arizona
Negotiations are continuing on the U.S. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which aims to broaden trade between the United States and 11 other countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Arizona trade with TPP countries — exports and imports — supported nearly 278,000 jobs in 2011. Notwithstanding controversy … [More]
Customer Experience Has Market Impact
Research from Watermark Consulting and Forrester Research tracked the six-year stock performance of companies on Forrester’s Customer Experience Index. Even during the recession years of 2007-2012, customer experience leaders averaged double-digit gains in stock performance, besting customer experience laggards by an impressive margin. This is not a coincidence — the better a … [More]
Update: Recovery in the Phoenix-Area Real Estate Sector
Phoenix-area home prices shot up since hitting a low point in September 2011. From last August to this August, the median single-family-home price rose 28 percent — from $150,000 to $192,000. The median townhouse/condo price rose 31 percent. This dramatic rise is largely due to the relatively small supply of homes for sale. Now, an increase in homes on the market is helping … [More]
Economic Growth Up in Valley and Nation
Real GDP increased in 305 of the nation’s 381 metropolitan areas in 2012, led by growth in durable-goods manufacturing, trade and financial activities, according to new statistics released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Real GDP in metropolitan areas increased 2.5 percent in 2012 after increasing 1.7 percent in 2011. Greater Phoenix-Scottsdale-Mesa was among the … [More]
Tourism Makes Economic Indicators Travel in Right Direction
Tourism provides a significant counterbalance to economic shortfalls. Even as the nation’s trade deficit for May swelled by $4.9 billion to $45 billion, the U.S. Travel Association reports that travel was doing more than its share to increase total exports for the U.S. While exports fell by $500 million, travel exports (all purchases by international visitors, including … [More]
How Boardrooms Assess CEO Performance
Boardrooms are giving poor grades to CEOs for their mentoring skills and board engagement. However, although an overwhelming majority of companies consider long-range planning to be important, they place very little weight on many non-financial performance measures when actually evaluating a CEO’s performance. The survey found that only a 5-percent weighting was given to a … [More]
Sales Managers are Key to Unlocking Peak Sales Performance
“Forecast accuracy” is an oxymoron, according to the recently released Sales Management Optimization Study from CSO Insights. Key findings show that only 45.7 percent of forecast opportunities are being won as projected. The report also shows that, while process and coaching are considered important areas for sales management time allocation, these functions are disconnected … [More]
Big Price Tag on Counterfeit Software
Unwitting piracy is a “surprisingly large problem” in the United States, says Peter Han, Microsoft’s vice president of original equipment manufacturing in the U.S. Counterfeit software has become harder to spot — instead of packaging with misspellings and poor printing that made the counterfeit product fairly obvious, packaging now is more sophisticated, “even with some … [More]
Taking the Pulse of the Housing Market
Along with dropping foreclosures and waning interest from investors looking at Maricopa and Pinal counties, as of February, Phoenix-area home prices have risen sharply since hitting a low point in September 2011, according to the latest housing report from ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business. The median single-family home price went up 4.3 percent from January to … [More]
Sports Figures Are Prime Here
Major events bring millions of dollars to the Valley Sports is an attraction, no doubt about it. Blockbuster events attract impressive numbers; more importantly, they generate impressive numbers in a far-reaching impact that this issue’s cover story explores. The Valley is host to a great number of these marquee events for a variety of sports, both professional and … [More]
