An option businesses can use in managing their finances is captive insurance. Captive insurance is a separate legal entity — a corporation or limited liability company — that a parent company creates to cover insurable risks in a more cost-effective manner than insuring through a traditional insurance carrier. “It’s generally a wholly owned subsidiary of an existing business … [More]
Luxury Follows Its Own Trends
The Phoenix-area housing market is unlikely to see a significant boost until next year, according to the latest monthly report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “Demand has been much weaker since July 2013 and still shows little sign of recovery,” says the report’s author, Mike Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at … [More]
Communication Is a People Skill
In the always-on digital age, we’re all guilty of indulging in communication shortcuts. These shortcuts save time, but they are costing us something valuable: Our overwhelming preference for quick and easy communication is causing our more difficult communication skills to erode from lack of use. It’s easy to email a client, but far more difficult to persuade the same person in … [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]
Avoid Desperation Selling
Have you ever done this: Looked at the bank account, looked at the bills, looked at your upcoming schedule and then just went into a major panic? What are you doing to do? The bills are coming in, the clients are heading out, and you are stuck right dab in the middle with what seems like no solution in sight. The last few months might have been great, but now, for some reason … [More]
Healthcare: Networks and Coverage
The alphabet soup of healthcare today includes MEC (minimum essential coverage) and EHB (essential health benefits). What is required under one does not neatly mesh with what is required under the other, which contributes to the confusion as employers and employees attempt to meet the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. MEC refers to the … [More]
Business Built the Glendale CVB
Glendale hotel executives, looking for a way to boost business, took the unusual step of asking for a tax increase, and it turned out to be a win-win-win. Revenue from a 1.6-percent increase in Glendale’s bed tax is earmarked for the Glendale Convention & Visitors Bureau, which has increased its promotional and marketing activities; hotel occupancy rates are growing by … [More]
Leading through Inspiration
Inspiration and motivation are two completely different concepts, but a majority of managers still make the mistake of interchanging the two. It’s easy to get lost in the semantics, but the difference can be boiled down to one simple observation: motivation can be manufactured, inspiration needs to be instilled. Money, job security and career advancement are all effective … [More]
Employee Cynicism: The ‘In’ Attitude that Hurts Business
In an age of cynicism and irony, Northwestern Mutual is a throwback to a more innocent time. The company is the antithesis of “cool.” It has the kind of culture in which people embrace plain suits and sincere handshakes, take pride in wearing achievement ribbons, kick off conferences with patriotic music. It’s the very portrait of wholesomeness and earnestness — the Boy Scout … [More]
Healthcare and Open Enrollment: The Employer’s Role in Employee Choices
For many, healthcare insurance has been a personal or family need they have taken care of through their employer. Now, whether or not they continue to have a policy purchased through their employer, employees are asking their employer for the information on what the employer will offer and whether those offerings will meet the individual’s “shared responsibility” requirements. … [More]
Technology: Marketing
Technology is giving merchants a newer, slicker, 21st-century way to offer customers reward/loyalty programs, signaling a shift away from those wallet-clogging buy-ten-get-one-free punch cards. Indeed, merchants of all kinds are signing up for tech programs that enable them to keep tabs on their regulars and reach out to new customers while the customers pile up reward points … [More]
Plan Exit Strategies to Yield Positive Outcomes
Are there any true positives that can come from selling a business? Yes, say three experts who have experience making cash-outs and exit strategies both happy and lucrative events. There are various reasons an entrepreneurial owner may decide to sell a successful and profitable company, says Orville (Chip) Fisher, an attorney, investment banker and managing director at the … [More]
Selling to Uncle Sam: What Business Owners Need to Know
The U.S. government is the world’s largest customer, spending billions of dollars every year on goods and services and buying everything from hair care products to cyber security consulting. Although selling to Uncle Sam might seem challenging, the payoff can be an upward spike in the growth of any company, large or small. Do’s and Don’ts for Government … [More]
Bridge the CIO vs CMO Divide
Behind closed doors, in the corner offices of companies throughout the nation, a heated C-suite battle rages on. On the surface it looks like a battle waged over the corporate budget — a tale as old as time — with both sides seeking to claim a bigger portion of the pie. But a closer look at the classic fight between chief marketing officers (CMOs) and chief information officers … [More]
Even in the Matrix, Labor Does Have a Price
Matrix teams — formed by bringing together under a new project leader people who already report to another supervisor — is a common method of staffing projects. This is one alternative to outsourcing a project when a business has no team already available that has the requisite skill set. Matrix teams have their benefits and their challenges. There are pitfalls, however, that … [More]
Employee Engagement Lies in the Little Things
True employee engagement needn’t be expensive or difficult to implement. Engagement is really just another word for on-the-job happiness, and we intuitively know that happiness is connected to the simple things in life. So why not apply that principle to the workplace? Over the years, I’ve found that simple things like gratitude, respect, and autonomy make people far happier … [More]
The Blind Spot in Sales Management
It’s a simple fact of business: Without sales, no one else downstream can do their jobs. Because of how vital sales are to a company, CEOs frequently tend to misuse their best people. There are three “sins” that minimize the sales management role, which ultimately holds the company back from achieving its growth. When they misallocate key players, small to medium-sized … [More]
What Does Technology Look Like in the Valley?
Technology industry sectors, ranging from aerospace and defense to semiconductors and bioscience, represent the cornerstone of Arizona’s economy. They provide high-paying jobs, most of which are located in the Greater Phoenix area. Many of the major manufacturers are household names, while others are start-ups aided by venture capital that never seems to be enough to meet the … [More]
