New York SBDC Research Network

The Research Network will be giving a 90-minute presentation on Monday, April 30th, from 1:30 to 3:00. The four of us will each spent 15-20 minutes on certain topics that we feel would be of benefit to you in our new electronic age. The presentation is still a work in progress, but the issues we'll focus on include: * Overview of our new way of doing things * Tips on using Adobe Reader, Internet Explorer 7.0, Windows Outlook, blog features, etc. * Discussion of future projects And other stuff, too. We'll be sending out e-mail invitations as the date draws nearer. (Obviously, the date and time might still be subject to change. The e-mail invitation will have the official info.) Obviously, we'd love to have you all there. However, we realize that there'll be other interesting presentations going on at the same time. To help you plan that block of time, we'll be sending out an e-mail that gives a rough idea when each of the four segments will begin. If you can m

Red Flag Indicators Bureau of Industry and Security Things to Look for in Export Transactions Use this as a check list to discover possible violations of the Export Administration Regulations. You may also wish to visit our page that provides "Know Your Customer Guidance". • The customer or its address is similar to one of the parties found on the Commerce Department's [BIS's] list of denied persons. Case example. • The customer or purchasing agent is reluctant to offer information about the end-use of the item. • The product's capabilities do not fit the buyer's line of business, such as an order for sophisticated computers for a small bakery. • The item ordered is incompatible with the technical level of the country to which it is being shipped, such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment being shipped to a country that has no electronics industry. • The customer is willing to pay cash for a very expensive item when the terms of sale would normally call fo

Survey Based Assessment of Financial Institution Use of Credit Scoring for Small Business Lending: The introduction of credit scoring by banks for small business loans may help increase small businesses’ access to credit, according to a study released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The report also found that relationships continue to be the dominant factor in banks’ decisions to lend to small businesses. Written by Drs. Charles and Adrian Cowan with funding from the Office of Advocacy, A Survey Based Assessment of Financial Institution Use of Credit Scoring for Small Business Lending, shows that banks, particularly those in urban areas, are moving towards the use of both owner and business credit scoring as a key metric in the small business loan decision. A copy of this report can be obtained here , and the research summary here . Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Charles Ou at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov . **

You may have seen this already, but, in February, SBA's Office of Advocacy released a 40-page PDF version of a study called " Small Business and State Growth: An Econometric Investigation ". (If you want to just read the highlights, go to the summary presented here .) The authors looked at several years' worth of data that measures small firm "births" and "deaths" by individual state, and its effects on statewide personal income, employment, and other econometric tidbits. Interesting (though not surprising) results came out of this. Check out the bulleted "highlights" from page 1 of the summary to read about them.

WANTED: Customer Service Champs Fast Company FC Expert Blogs “It’s interesting to me that every time I read articles and newsletters about leadership, I find references to how true leaders treat their employees with respect and dignity, value their opinions, and ask for their feedback. When we feel treated fairly, we are better disposed towards others. A company culture spills onto the experience you have of its customer service.” Microsoft Small Business Center Keep your customers happy and coming back for more By Joanna L. Krotz Best Customer-Service Practices “Today, competition is fierce, and customers have more options than ever -- a tough combination for smaller companies trying to gain market share. Read the articles below for tactics and case studies for improving customer-service for profit and gain.” A good selection of articles on various techniques used by real companies that have made a name for themselves.

While this may not be hot off the presses, I still thought Brandchannel's 2006 Product Placement Awards interesting enough to merit a little blog space. 2006 was the third year for this series, distributing such honors as "Lifetime Achievement Award for Product Placement," (Everlast. Every boxing movie has a set of gloves), " Wayne's World Award for Product Placement" (for making fun of product placement. 06 winner = Thank You for Smoking ) and 2006 Award for Those Who Were Paying Attention (In mocking War of the Worlds , Scary Movie 4 created a scene with the same Penzoil box held by Tom Cruise in WotW ). The grand winner? Ford. Ford cars appeared in 17 of 41 of the top grossing movies of 2006. If this is all too frivilous for you, check out some of the other offerings at Brandchannel.com , including articles, case studies and papers on modern branding and marketing concepts.

Since there seems to be some understandable confusion about the ACS, I was pleased to see that the Brookings Institution sponsored an internet class for journalists in November 2006. The class was given by D'Vera Cohn, Cynthia Taeuber, and Andrew Reamer. The presentation, slides, and transcript are all available on the Brookings site . The webcast provides a good overview to working with the ACS. It is targeted towards journalists so it is not very technical at all. The formal presentation lasts about 30 minutes and the rest of the time (20 minutes) is questions and answers. Or you can just ask your favorite librarians for help.

To help the SBDC delegation on their current trip to Washington, last week I assembled information for each of New York's 29 members of the House of Representatives. Here's what I put together: http://www.nyssbdc.org/RNFiles/NYS_House_Overview.doc The idea was to prepare a one-page summation of each member - district, party affiliation, committee and subcommittee assignments, etc. Also, what issues are key to them? Where in the press (and in what context) do their names come up in the press? Answering this last question was the fun part. I read a lot of articles about each of the twenty-nine. I wanted to excerpt from only those articles that made reference to a stand on an issue relating to the economy, or those which would affect their local business sector. I found these in local business papers, press releases, the representative's website, business journals, etc. When possible, I only selected items that have appeared within the last 12 months (though there are exceptio

Sometimes I forget about some excellent sources for infomation when I don't have a call for them nowadays. One of them is The Conference Board. With the current market scares and worries about the economy, I had a peek at the website of this service that I have always been much more familiar with in their paper newsletters (circa 1991). Of course there is alot of stuff on their site, much of it for members only but with a number of free articles. This is one on the Conference Board Review Article: Outook 2007 A Long and Winding Road by Gail Foster They also cover other issues like older workers and many other management issues, like decision-making and marketing. They are known of course for their consumer confidence index, leading economic indicators, research reports on a wide variety of topics like directors' compensation, international markets as well as their organization charts.

On Monday, Roger and I attended a workshop on information sources for labor statistics. Sponsored by the Capital District Business Librarians, James Ross, the NYS Department of Labors’ Regional Labor Market Analyst for the Capital Region, discussed the wild world of statistics available on the NYS Labor Department website . There’s a lot here, but it is not always easy to get to. Here are just a few things that I found interesting: Most of us are familiar with the occupational outlook reports available from the U.S. Department of Labor, which offers descriptive job outlooks for a variety of occupations. The NYS DOL provides more detailed and local statistics, offering a ten year forecast for more than 700 occupations, listed by their SOC code . Available statewide and by region, these tables list the current employment figures for that field, projected employment numbers for ten years later, with growth and replacement figures. For those less inclined to crunch the numbers, the o

There are those of you who have probably already filed your taxes, and may have found your refunds delayed by last-minute Congressional action . Then there are those who wait until the last minute. For you folks, you'll have an extra day. Read Announcement Regarding a Change in the Due Date for Certain 2006 New York State Tax Returns to April 17, 2007 , which applies not only to those who file in Andover, Massachusetts, but everyone. Here's a Summary of Personal Income Tax Legislative Changes Enacted in 2006 and Summary of Corporation Tax Legislative Changes Enacted in 2006 . New York State and Local Sales and Use Tax Quick Reference Guide . New York taxpayers who are preparing their personal income tax returns can take advantage of a host of family-friendly credits that may lower their tax bills and increase their refunds. Some tax breaks, like the New York State and New York City Earned Income Tax Credits, may result in a refund even when no tax is owed. To view the entire d

This link leads to the Market Research Library of the U.S. Commercial Service. There, you can access (for free) information about a specific country (or a specific industry within a country) from any of the following three reports: 1) Market Research 2) Country Commercial Guides (CCG) 3) Best Market Reports Again, you can search by specific industry, region of the world, or country. Item #2 is particularly loaded with information. I pulled up the latest CCG for China, and it was 220+ pages of information on market possibilities, contacts within the country, habits & customs, etc. It's a great for your import/export clients.

Lately I’ve been seeing articles and reading blogs all mentioning Second Life , but up until now I hadn’t taken the time to check it out. Is it a computer game? An online community? A business opportunity? Turns out it is all of the above, and more (although I’m not even going to pretend that I understand everything involved). Members build avatars (they look a lot like the Sims), chat with each other, play games, build things, take classes, and even conduct business. Introducing his interview with Second Life creator Philip Rosedale on Inc.com, Michael Fitzgerald writes, “ Second Life is a place where anyone can have just that. It is a richly detailed virtual world where anything a computer programmer can imagine can exist: There are minutely detailed replicas of Rockefeller Center and human-size raccoons; sex and sadism and spiritual retreats; conference calls and a currency exchange. Almost all of it is created by the people who pay to dwell in it.” Lately, it’s getting a lot more

10 Lies VCs Know You're Telling In the quest for capital, many entrepreneurs stretch the truth. One venture capitalist calls them out. By Guy Kawasaki Entrepreneur Magazine - March 2007 From "our projections are conservative" to "so-and-so are ready to sign us, so you better move fast" or "no one else can do what we do", Guy Kawasaki runs through the standard fare from venture capital seekers. I can imagine the eye-rolling that must go on. I especially liked the advice to entrepreneurs to perhaps plug into Google before traipsing off to a VC, all confident and ignorant of the competitors in the field.

It was Presidents' Day yesterday, and while I can name all of the occupants, and their years of service (useful for games shows, BTW), I'm not always sure of the accomplishments, if any, of many of them. Like the guy pictured. Who IS he? So here are some links from: the White House The Internet Public Library Grolier Encyclopedia Here's a link to all of the Presidential Libraries . Oh, and that guy pictured is James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (1857-1861), James K. Polk's Secretary of State, who was totally ineffectual in stemming the tide towards Civil War, most historians suggest. He was our only "bachelor President".

I noticed a number of news stories over the weekend that cited the 2006 "Oyster Awards," as given out by Consumer Reports. This article provides an overview of this year's "winners," dedicated to those products sabotaged by companies with an interest in tormenting anyone foolish enough to buy these things. (Click "Winners" in the left-hand menu. As someone who spent a fair amount of holiday time trying to liberate toys for a 9-year-old, I can relate.) For all those clients interested in finding packagers for their products, make sure they see this site, if only to know what NOT to do.

For our fashion industry clients, other than, or in addition to, building their own bricks and mortar or online shop, another approach is often to get their designs into larger retailers. Here are a few guidelines and sources to help that process along. Getting your goods in the department stores. Katherine Gray Los Angeles Business Journal August 1 2005 Get into stores Nov. 3, 2003 Mary Stewart Center for Entrepreneurship Ask an Expert Apparently very useful for listings of US and international fashion events: Fashion Calendar Glam Central A blog worth checking out for profiles of fashion editors, coverage of fashion week and to locate other fashion blogs: I know you get WWD , but maybe you should run through if you haven’t already and scan articles for the names of buyers at stores that you might market to. As an example, this is a recent one that mentions quite a few people. By the same token, you can check the magazines for the names of fashion editors to see if you can send them a

Women buy stuff. And marketers are paying attention. With increasing incomes and more purchasing power within the family, even traditionally male dominated fields are re-examining their approach to female buyers. Just how? Check out this New York Times article from October 2006 . A variety of online resources are popping up to assist the female consumer. Here are two mentioned in the above article: AskPatty.com http://askpatty.com/ According to this site, “Women purchase half of the vehicles sold in the United States each year, spending billions of dollars a year in new car purchases. Yet, shopping for and buying a car can be a challenge for women who are first time car buyers or for women who had a bad experience in the past with a car salesman or dealership. The Ask Patty.com, Inc. web site is a safe place for women to get advice on car purchases, maintenance and other automotive related topics.” BeJane.com http://www.bejane.com The NYT article cites a study from the National Associ

In the midst of this cold snap many of us are enduring, think back to the balmy days of December 2006. That unusually mild month may have put the year into the record books. About.com has an article describing the process of determining the temperature, which is over two degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 20th Century mean, which may suggest evidence of global warming . I note this, in part, because of the fact that there is apparently more than one way to measure these things, and that 1998 may instead be the "winner". Something for clients, advisors, and especially librarians to remember when they look for, or receive, information is that there may be more than one way to parse the data, about global warming , the number of small businesses, or anything else. (I do believe, BTW, that there IS global warming, and that humans have contributed to it; it's the different methodologies that I wished to comment on.) And speaking of heat, here's a list of individuals curre

Last year, I wrote a posting about our experiences with a scam artist in Canada. We also get lots of inquiries on behalf of clients who are cautious about their dealings with certain companies. On the heels of this, here's a brief article from the National Consumers League, discussing its recently-released lists of the top telemarketing and Internet scams for 2006. (If you click on the link in its first paragraph, click on the "Telemarketing Fraud" or the "Internet Fraud" icons to read the lists.) In both cases, the NCL is concerned about the rise of fake check scams. Read the lists, and pass them on to your clients as a warning to the "increasing sophistication" of scam artists' methods.