New York SBDC Research Network

The U.S. Small Business Administration is seeking nominations for awards honoring the critical economic role small businesses play in federally funded research and development through SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Two awards will be given: the “Hall of Fame” award recognizing companies that have an extended period of extraordinary success of research, innovation, and product commercialization; and another, the “Tibbetts Award” with two categories, one for companies that have participated in the SBIR/STTR programs, and another for individuals who advocate on behalf of the programs. The Tibbetts Awards are named after Roland Tibbetts, who was instrumental in developing SBIR, a highly competitive program to ensure small businesses get a chance to compete for federal research and development funding, along with the opportunities it provides to profit from commercialization of the technologies they develop. Th

From SmallBusinessNewz : For some time now I’ve been suggesting that social media as we’ve come to address it over the last few years doesn’t really matter anymore because it just is. We’ve given up on seeing it as some separate practice and accepted that it’s simply a function of marketing that must be integrated. Lately I’ve begun to wonder if social behavior, not social media, is actually much more than we’ve made of it. We’ve bolted certain socially enabled practices on to our businesses to provide greater reach, customer service and the pretense of connection, but I wonder if we’ve stopped dreadfully short of the true potential of social. Even those that preach social strategy are generally talking about finding ways to use social tactics to support existing business strategies and models. My belief is that the real opportunity is to build a fully social business model, one that addresses the total picture of social behavior. One that moves beyond social tactics to a pl

ADP Small Business Services division offered tips and reminders to small business owners , their accountants and other advisors to get a head start on year-end tax preparation to help avoid delays, streamline the tax filing process and improve outcomes. The New York State Tax Department offers online demos about enhanced Sales Tax Web File . The four demos cover a variety of filing scenarios and you may view them at your convenience.

From Marketing Profs : On average, nearly one-half (47%) of social media users say they've taken some type of action offline (e.g., attending an event, meeting someone in person, making a purchase) after interacting with a social networking site, according to a survey from ACTIVE Network. Across the five social networks studied—Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest—Facebook drives the most offline actions overall: 87% of Facebook users have taken some type of action offline as a result of an interaction via the site. Pinterest (70%) ranks second in generating offline actions, followed by LinkedIn (60%), Twitter (56%), and Google+ (37%).

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development : After five years of crisis, the global economy is weakening again. In this we are not facing a new pattern. Over the recent past, signs of emergence from the crisis have more than once given way to a renewed slowdown or even a double-dip recession in some countries . The risk of a new major contraction cannot be ruled out. A recession is ongoing in the euro area. The US economy is growing but performance remains below what was expected earlier this year. A slowdown has surfaced in many emerging market economies, partly reflecting the impact of the recession in Europe. The weaker outlook has several causes. A significant drop in confidence is a key driver. This takes place against a background of deleveraging, simultaneous fiscal consolidation across countries and a large multiplier, and weakening global trade. High and, in some countries, rising unemployment is further depressing confidence and spending.

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance said today it will extend its call center hours in order to assist businesses and tax professionals as they file sales tax returns using a new, online sales tax system. The enhanced, more user-friendly system was launched in September, but for nearly 250,000 users, December will be their first time using the new system to file returns. The filing deadline is December 20. From December 13 through December 20, 2012, the call center hours are: Weekdays - 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturday, December 15 - 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The call center's phone number is 518-485-2889. View the entire document .

The Office of Advocacy has just released two new reports on small business retirement planning. The research confirms that small business owner participation in retirement plans remains low but is unaffected in recessions. A study by Advocacy Economist Jules Lichtenstein, Financial Viability and Retirement Assets: A Look at Small Business Owners and Private Sector Workers , uses 2009 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to look at a broad spectrum of individual account retirement assets held by business owners and private-sector workers. Retirement, Recessions, and Older Small Business Owners , by Tami Gurley-Calvez, Kandice Kapinos, and Donald Bruce, uses the 1992-2010 Health and Retirement Study to focus on individuals nearing retirement. The study finds that older small business owners with IRAs and Keogh accounts are likely to have larger amounts of such assets than workers in the same age group. Should you need further information, please feel free to con