New York SBDC Research Network

I've recently come across two interesting documents regarding the current state of the U.S. patent system: 1) " Blackberry Picking ," by James Surowiecki, from the 12/26/05 - 1/2/06 issue of The New Yorker . Surowiecki examines the recent case involving Research in Motion (or RIM), the Toronto-based company that brought the BlackBerry technology to widespread use. In this piece, he discusses the phenomenon known as "patent trolling," whereby small companies with patents find their fortunes not by bringing their creations to market, but rather by suing for infringement those companies that expend the effort. In addition, the author cites data showing that understaffing at the USPTO enables patent trollers to thrive. 2) " Competition, Innovation, and Racing for Priority at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office ," by Linda Cohen and Jun Ishii, from the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. This 45-page study challenges the long-standing

Most of the articles I come across on networking have to do with job seeking, but it seems (from what I hear from advisors), that our clients can often benefit from these skills as well. Many entrepreneurs need to get the word out and possibly exchange services with other start-ups. Networking offers a great deal to the new business owner: They can meet a variety of people, often building knowledge of their industry. It is a method of low cost advertising and a way to find bartering opportunities, maintain relationships with other professionals, potential clients and gain referrals. Some articles: 10 Tips for Successful Business Networking by Stephanie Speisman Offers tips like: …Follow through quickly and efficiently on referrals you are given. When people give you referrals, your actions are a reflection on them. Respect and honor that and your referrals will grow… …Call those you meet who may benefit from what you do and vice versa. Express that you enjoyed meeting them, and ask if

Your clients, both as retailers and customers, may appreciate this article from All Things Frugal- Home of The Pennypincher E-zine Tightwad Tidbits Daily & The General Store Maximize your Money by Seasonal Shopping We all know that certain items go on sale at different times of the year. Here is a list of items that regularly go on sale- when and why. Most of these are common sense. Most items go on sale at the beginning of the season they are used in, due to competition. They also go on sale at the end of the season during clearance sales. There are also traditional sales, probably started to fill in the gaps, and inventory clearance sales at the end of the year on almost everything. January *Winter clothes- inventory clearance of clothes, shoes, boots, purses and other seasonal items. *Holiday Clearance- the festivities are over for while. Look for sales on all holiday or festive items. *This is a great time to buy wedding gifts or gifts for children. *January White Sale- The tra

Back on 6/2/05, I blogged that the New York State Library and New York Public Library's databases are accessible to all New Yorkers with a library card. Well, things just got easier. Now you can skip the library card application and log into http://novelnewyork.org/ with a valid New York State driver's license (or DMV photo ID). You and your clients would probably find these databases of interest: Business & Company Resource Center -includes company profiles, brand information, company histories, SEC reports, periodical articles, and links to relevant Web sites. New York State Newspapers -includes the following seven full-text newspapers from around New York State: Buffalo News, New York Times (from 2000 on), New York Post, New York Observer, Syracuse Herald American, Syracuse Herald-Journal, and Post-Standard (Syracuse).

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), whose mandate is “to maintain and extend international cooperation between all its Member States for the improvement and rational use of telecommunications of all kinds” and with members across the globe, they are well placed to offer reliable information relating to the telecommunications industry. You can find maps and graphs, statistics on the number of telephone lines, broadband penetration, and mobile cellular subscribers among other ICT indicators for most countries you can think of. They also have a who’s who directory, and a section on industry regulations in this densely packed site dedicated to telecoms issues and developments. Publications include the World Telecoms Indicators 2004; and the ITU Internet Reports 2005: The Internet of Things as well the practical guideline handbooks dealing with security issues or regulations and standards. Based in Switzerland, the reports available for purchase or download are in Swiss franc

Some employers have made the fateful decision to furlough their employees, only to hire them back as "independent contractors" to avoid governmental obligations that an employee requires, such as matching Social Security payments. Can they do that? Well, "it depends." The IRS has a PDF document here that describes the definitions of an employee and an independent contractor. (Saying they are independent contractors does not necessarily make them so.)

In late December, I heard from a woman named Mary Redmond. At the time, Ms. Redmond was the Acting Director of the New York State Library. In addition, she serves on a committee called the Government Information Roundtable for the New York Library Association, or NYLA/GIRT. The purpose of her call was to inform us that What's Your Signage? was named one of two winners of NYLA/GIRT's 2004 New York State Notable Documents Award. More on that story can be found here: http://www.nyssbdc.org/News/FullArticle.cfm?id=134 If you recall, the book serves as an introduction to the value that an effective sign can provide a small business. It took the better part of eight months to create. It is the result of work done by myself, Mary Beth Bobish, and Josee Fonseca, with invaluable design work done by SUNY Central Administration's David Schillinger. If you were with the SBDC in April 2004, then you should have received a copy of this book. If, for whatever reason, you don't

SBA offers several free e-newsletters to keep you up-to-date on a wide variety of information and business opportunities for small businesses. Subscribe to one or many and receive e-mail notification as soon as items are published. Here's a sampling of the available newsletters: BUFFALO, NY NEWSLETTER This monthly newsletter provides current events, lender reports, and up-to-date information on SBA programs and small business issues. REGION 2 NEWSLETTER Inside Region 2 is a quarterly newsletter focusing on SBA news in New York State, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as program and policy updates from SBA headquarters in Washington, D.C. SBA BUSINESS LOAN GUARANTY Be among the first to receive emails with Agency approved, time-sensitive information regarding SBA's business loan guaranty programs. SMALLBIZOPPS SBA's Office of Government Contracting offers this newsletter to help small business owners understand how to market to federal agencies and pri

There are several sources useful when searching for minority or women owned businesses in an area of sector. Here are a few I have used: Empire State Development Minority & Women Owned Businesses Searchable Database This database can searched by: Economic Development Regions Business Market Areas Certification Types Gross Sales Product/Services Type Federal ID number 8(a) Sources "The comprehensive source for current information on federally-certified minority and woman-owned businesses." Business Research Services, publishers of business directories and electronic directory products, offer this online service, searchable by company name, industry and location. They also publish the Set-Aside Alert , a newsletter for small, minority, and woman-owned business issues and contracting news. BRS also create custom-generated electronic directories for a fee. The MWBE Directory : The Source for locating minority and women owned businesses. This is

Happy 2006! Here are some ways we can better serve you in the new year: When you have a reference question, please call the Research Network at extension 149 or e-mail the Research Network . Each of us have days that we do telephone coverage. We really prefer that, in most cases, that you call us with your reference query. It may be a bit of an interrupter in terms of working on questions, but the tradeoff is that we believe that we get a better understanding of the query. However, when you call an individual librarian who may be out, or may be trying to work on getting the reference out, it slows up the process, for the librarian, and ultimately, for you. If you have a complex reference question and no one is available, please leave a number so we may call back. It is a rare occurrence that none of the librarians are available, but it does happen: staff meetings, building fire drills, or occasionally, when we're all already on the phone. Leave us a message; we will call you back.

I'm not a strong believer in waiting until January 1st to create a list of tasks whose completion is to be a test of my resolve. Challenge and self-improvement are year-round endeavors. However, sitting here in an empty office on January 2nd, with nothing but an iPod to keep me company (an old Jackson Browne song is playing, for those keeping score), I can't help but feel reflective. Starting tomorrow, the whirlwind begins again in earnest, and workday reflection won't be available for a long, long time. With that, here are some long-term items that the Research Network strives to accomplish in 2006: 1. Reduce the turnaround time. For a variety of reasons, it's hovering around three weeks right now, which is unacceptable to all of us. Talk about a year-round endeavor - this has been at the top of our list for several years running. 2. Finish the signage Web site that preoccupied all of 2005 (this is near & dear to me especially). 3. Explore what it takes to

"Upscale." "High-end." Advisors seeking information from the Research Network often use these terms when they make their requests at their clients’ behest. But do your clients have any sense of what these terms mean when they say them? High-end does not merely mean that the items or services provided sell for a higher price, an assumption I’m getting when an advisor merely "passes through" the clients’ question (not a good idea, by the way.) Upscale means that the product being sold is not only more expensive but also of a higher quality than the average product of its type. In the service sector, it means a greater amount of time and effort being exerted. The client cannot just slap a higher price tag on what they are doing and expect to receive it, at least over the long term. There are some industries that are more mature, so that the sense of upscale is well-defined. The restaurant industry has codified upscale. Restaurants are divided into limite

The Small Business Development Center at LaGuardia Community College helped a couple from the Philippines achieve their American Dream: a veterinary clinic. More than 1,100 budding entrepreneurs were assisted by the center, which was created following 9/11. View the CUNY-TV segment . (Requires Real Player or equivalent.) Running Time: 3:24

Back in September, Jan Pisancyzn spoke to a reporter from the Democrat & Chronicle. Jan offered advice for business owners whose children do not want to take over the business. Look at a trusted employee or two who have demonstrated some skill in running the business. In the case of a restaurant, the head chef might want to take over. Talk with competitors - and in the case of restaurants, suppliers - who may be interested in buying it. Look into hiring a business broker who does for businesses what real estate agents do for home sellers. Be realistic with expectations of how much the business is worth. Ask yourself, what is the current demand for this kind of business and what is a realistic price for the business. Regarding item #4, the Research Network can help, too. We have a few sources in our reference collection that contain valuation formulas and rules of thumb plus chapters describing methods of determining a fair price. The titles we have are: Handbook of Business Valua

The Research Brief from the Center for Media Research ran an article today on how mature audiences (35 to 54 year olds) are more likely to be watching streaming video than the average consumer. The article states that according to comScore Networks " State of the Consumer Streaming Market ," “the research confirmed that 35 to 54 year-olds are 20% more likely to watch online video than the average Internet user, and 25 to 34 year-olds are 12% more likely than the average Internet user to watch a stream online.” This flies in the face of the widely held belief that streaming video is the domain of the younger age brackets. This should tell advertisers something: they need to be creative to speak to this important consumer demographic. As this article attests, this presents a great opportunity for advertisers to put their best foot forward and present their products and services in innovative ways.

As I mentioned back in July , the American Community Survey is now the new source of Census data. Go to the Data Sets section of the Census page . Click on any of the tabs to the right (data profiles, detailed tables, e.g.) Pull down the counties of New York. You'll only find 15 of the 62 counties for the state: Albany, Dutchess, Erie, Monroe, Onondaga, Orange, Rockland, Westchester, plus the counties of New York City and Long Island. Why is that? Because this is data based on sampling, and only the locations that have 250,000 people have data that are "statistically significant" in this round. You'll also notice that the data are presented differently than you may be used to, with a lower bound and an upper bound. In fact, these parameters have been calculated before, but not shown. Next year, the threshold will be 65,000, as the Bureau expands the process. The places with 20,000 to 65,000 people will be calculated based on a rolling three-year average, so there w

Some of you may have already seen this, but I'm posting here for general consumption. This and other SBA news items can be found here . "SBA Increases Small Business Size Standards Due To Inflation Interim Final Rule With Request For Comments SBA has adjusted its monetary-based size standards (e.g., receipts, net worth, and financial assets), for the effect of inflation that has occurred since the last inflation adjustment in February 2002. Since the last inflation adjustment, the general level of prices has increased 8.7%. This action restores small business eligibility to businesses that have lost that status due to inflation. In addition, this rule changes the process for determining the size of small business concerns applying for SBA Business Loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) from a test considering only the primary industry of the applicant, to a two-part test considering both the primary industry of the applicant and the primary industry of the applica

These days I'm feeling a bit out of the loop. I'm not up on the latest trends in fashion. So, when we took a recent request on hip-hop clothing, I knew I had to do some background research. One of the clients was interested in several brands. I found myself getting nowhere on my search for the brand Academic. I tried doing a literature search, even narrowed the search to a specific fashion industry publication, WWD (Womens' Wear Daily) , but found nothing. Darrin stopped by and I explained my quest. He suggested that the spelling of the brand might not be so obvious (and I had already searched for Baby Phat , another spelling for a clothing brand that wasn't exactly intuitive). I pressed forward searching under alternate spellings and lo and behold , there is a hip-hop brand called Akademiks . If you have a research request for a brand, company name, or trademark, you'll save the Research Network some time (and get more accurate information) with the correct spellin

These are books offered to the Regional Centers from the RN shelves. In most of these cases we have purchased the latest edition. While in some cases it is not advisable to rely on information from an outdated volume, some of these may still be quite useful. Please contact me should you be interested in having any of them. First-come, first-served. Bond’s Franchise Guide 1999 DMA Statistical Factbook 2001 Franchise Opportunities Guide 2002 Kids Count Databooks 2000, 2001, 2002 New York Public Sector The Community Sourcebook of County Demographics 2004 The Community Sourcebook of Zip Code Demographics 2004 The Lifestyle Market Analyst 2004 The Service Business Planning Guide by Warren G. Purdy The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2003

The Empire State Development Library created a list of the NYS County zip codes arranged alphabetically. "Please note: Zip codes bear no relation to county or other administrative boundaries. They are established by the U.S. Postal Service for mail delivery. In many cases a zip code may cover areas in more than one county." For instance, 10466 is primarily a Bronx ZIP Code, but it also appears in part of Westchester County. Albany County, NY (county) Zip Code(s): 12007 12009 12023 12041 12046 12047 12053 12054 12055 12059 12067 12077 12083 12084 12110 12120 12122 12143 12147 12158 12159 12183 12186 12189 12193 12202 12203 12204 12205 12206 12207 12208 12209 12210 12211 12303 12304 12309 12469 Allegany County, NY (county) Zip Code(s): 14060 14065 14536 14708 14709 14711 14714 14715 14717 14721 14727 14735 14739 14744 14754 14777 14802 14803 14804 14806 14807 14813 14822 14836 14846 14880 14884 14895 14897 Bronx County, NY (county) Zip Code(s): 10034 10039 10451 10452 10453 1