New York SBDC Research Network

The 2010 edition of The Small Business Economy documents the 2008 recession’s effects on small business as well as the changing economy at the end of 2009. In 2009, after weathering a deep recession that began in late 2007, the American economy began to stabilize. For small businesses, one of the biggest remaining challenges was the lack of sales adequate to grow employment. Many economic indicators began to show improvement by year’s end. For example, in the first three quarters of 2009, small businesses accounted for almost 60 percent of the net job losses, with the greatest losses in the first quarter. By the third quarter, net small firm job losses were one-third what they had been in the first quarter. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other policy actions added between 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent to real gross domestic product in fourth quarter 2009 and projected an employment increase of 1.0 million to 2.1 million more

Consider using the Domain Age Tool to research that factor when investigating a website. The tool's quite simple to use. Just plug in a URL (or several at a time), click the "submit" button, and you should get back a page showing the site's exact age in months and years. sba.gov 13 years 7 months old nyssbdc.org 11 years 2 months old whitehouse.gov 14 years 1 months old microsoft.com 14 years 3 months old mcdonalds.com 14 years 2 months old pg.com (Proctor and Gamble) 14 years 3 months old timesunion.com 12 years 1 months old nytimes.com 14 years 2 months old Yet there are some, such as ibm.com, walmart.com, and state.ny.us that it is Unable to Determine.

For New York State residents, NOVELny provides access to two very useful business databases: Business and Company Resources Center and InfoTrac Custom Newspapers . Access is obtained by logging in with your NYS Driver License or NYS DMV Non-Driver Photo ID Card. Business and Company Resources Center (BCRC) contains company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Thomson Financials' Investext Plus database is fully integrated in this database, which contains detailed data and analysis on publicly traded companies in a wide variety of industries. The information is contained in reports generated by analysts at leading research organizations worldwide. Information provided may include trends, sales and earnings forecasts, market share projects, and research and development expenditures. The database also contains all content found in Business and Company Index. InfoTrac Custom Newspapers offers the full-text of sev

How did it come to pass that in 2008 our nation was forced to choose between two stark and painful alternatives — either risk the collapse of our financial system and economy, or commit trillions of taxpayer dollars to rescue major corporations and our financial markets, as millions of Americans still lost their jobs, their savings, and their homes? The Commission concluded that this crisis was avoidable—the result of human actions, inactions, and misjudgments. Warnings were ignored. “The greatest tragedy would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done. If we accept this notion, it will happen again.” Get the Report

Check out Fitch's latest Credit Outlook , published last week.

The General Services Administration plans to open its Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System database to the general public in April. The FAPIIS database tracks contractor performance for the government, and until now, available only to a select group of government officials, legislators and contractors. Under a provision in the wartime supplemental appropriations bill, GSA is required to disclose all information contained in the database except previous performance evaluations. More HERE .

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY You can say one thing with certainty about new product trends for 2011: They're pretty wacky. That's a good thing. Even then, chief among 2011's consumer-packed good trends are these: Keep it simple. And better for me. And cheap. Read HERE .