New York SBDC Research Network

From BizWomen The result of this baby boomer retirement surge? A massive brain drain that threatens to destabilize American business. Many companies are unprepared for the challenge... A recent study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reveals that less than 40 percent of employers have taken action to address the imminent loss of detailed know-how. Adding even well-trained millennials to the workforce may not be enough to restore the balance when your company is hemorrhaging its veteran employees... Dorothy Leonard, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, says there is a big difference between information and knowledge. Information is something you can get from Google. Knowledge is the critically important stuff in your head that has never been written down. And companies often fail to retain it. It is critical that longtime workers transfer the knowledge they’ve gained from decades of experience to employees who will be taking on th...

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Millennials B2B buyers want to interact directly with vendors' representatives far more than Gen X or Baby Boomers buyers when researching products and services, according to a recent report from IBM. The report was based on data from a survey of 704 people who influence or are responsible for B2B purchasing decisions of $10,000 or more for their company. Respondents came from 12 countries and 6 industries. The researchers compared the responses of Millennial employees (born 1980-1993) with those of Gen X (born 1965-1979) and Baby Boomers (born 1954-1964). Millennial buyers rely most heavily on information provided by vendors when researching products and services, the analysis found. In contrast, Gen X buyers rely most on third-party articles/blogs/reviews to research vendors, and Baby Boomers rely most on tradeshows. Read more from MarketingProfs

There's been a lot of discussion about the Wii in the office lately (Congratulations to Erin, Camille, Molly and Alexis on their special Christmas gifts!), and it's not just about video game fans under the age of 18. Intuitively, we know that " Older folks like Wii , PCs and cellphones, too ," but now there's more evidence to support that fact. This article discusses Wii bowling leagues happening within retirement communities, but it also cites a Forrester report, revealing that "U.S. adults 64 and older who bought technology in a recent three-month period spent an average $365 on consumer electronics products and $429 on computer hardware and peripherals." The author also reminds those who might be interested in marketing technology products to the 55 + crowd to consider senior-friendly computers, smartphones for seniors, tools to keep the mind and body sharp, and the importance of simplicity.

The Urban Institute has just released a new report addressing the job market for the baby boomer generation. Will Employers Want Aging Boomers? discusses the fastest-growing occupations for those over 55 and the types of skills employers will be looking for in this working population. From the report's abstract: "Boomers will probably want to work longer than earlier cohorts, but their continued work requires that employers hire and retain them. Employers value older workers for their maturity, experience and work ethic, but worry about out of date skills and high costs. Slower overall labor supply growth will increase demand for older workers and occupations with higher shares of older workers will increase modestly as a share of all jobs. Future jobs will require less physical demands and more cognitive and interpersonal skills, trends that favor educated older workers, but job opportunities for less educated older workers may remain limited."

Here's something I didn't know: The average age of a U.S. head of household is 49.5 years old. According to Advertising Age's " The Changing Face of the U.S. Consumer: What We Can Learn from Census Data, and Why It Matters for Brands ," households headed by two age groups, 35 to 44 and 45 to 54, currently account for almost half of U.S. consumer spending. But these groups are shrinking, so in the future more spending come from households headed by someone 55 or older. And they may be looking for different things to spend their money on.