New York SBDC Research Network

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 Employers value older workers for their maturity, experience and work ethic, but worry about out of date skills and high costs.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."

Advocacy funded, U.S. Census Bureau Statistics of U.S. Businesses dynamic data has been updated to 2005. The data contains firm/establishment births, deaths, and related employment creation and destruction data by firm size, industry, and geographic location. From 2004 to 2005, firm births numbered 644,122 and deaths numbered 565,745. Firms with fewer than 500 employees accounted for 78.9 percent of the net employment growth during this period. See the dynamic data sections of http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/data.html for details.

While trying to figure out an idea on what to blog about today, I stumbled across the article Business Books for the Beach . A list of books that entrepreneurs are reading this summer, I thought that it would be the perfect article to highlight on a Friday afternoon with 90+ degree weather across the state. It is a rather short list, so other business book lists are available here and here .

I learned on a listserv this week the existence of ReBrand.com . It is a consulting firm that assists businesses in trying to overhaul the image of a brand in the mind of a consumer (and I'm sure that greatly simplifies the scope of their services). What I like about the site is their annual list of top rebranding efforts. Here's their top 100 for 2008 . This is a list of efforts by a variety of rebranding & marketing companies, so it's not limited to just them. The name of each company brand is linked to their full story. In most cases, you'll see images of marketing efforts used in the rebranding process. At the bottom of each page is some narrative that outlines the challenges the brand faced, and how they were overcome. (And, for a shamless local plug, check out the story of Brown's Brewing Company [the second listing underneath the "Best of Awards" heading]. It's in Troy, about 10 miles from where I'm typing this. Given that it's Frida

The New York State Directory 2007 - 2008 World Chamber of Commerce Directory June 2007 Las Mas Grandes Mentes De Marketing Del Mundo/How to Think Like The World's Greatest Marketing Minds: Lecciones De Negocios Marcia Layton Turner Cuando se mata una venta: Los 10 errores fatales que los vendedores cometen y como evitarlos / Kill the Deal Todd Duncan Negocios por internet para las pymes/ E-business for the Small Business John G. Fisher Anatomía de un plan de negocio / Anatomy of a Business Plan Linda Pinson Sea un propio jefe / Be Your Own Boss David Mc Mullan

We like to think and plan here at the Research Network, but one of our newer mottoes (thanks Nike), is "Just do it." We have lots of good ideas, but they could just sit around forever as we build consensus. Sometimes it's better just to take action, and if its not the right action, you can fix it later. Here's some more evidence for the "just do it" camp- 3 Good Reasons to Stop Thinking So Much, And How to Do It

Trulia is a "real estate search engine that includes demographic information," according to the Albany Times Union's Chris Churchill. The fascinating but slightly spooky Google Maps, street view "allows you to take virtual...tours of about 30 U.S. metropolitan areas," including Albany and Buffalo. One of the pictures of my house was either taken on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning, based on the location of the garbage cans. There may be local resources as well, such as the City of Albany search and Times Union real estate .