New York SBDC Research Network

Each year the  New York Small Business Development Center  recognizes outstanding small businesses in a variety of ways.  This Success Story from the   Jamestown SBDC  appears in our  2016 Annual Report .  John Lipari   All American Karate School Jamestown SBDC John Lipari came to the SBDC for assistance with opening a karate school after moving to Jamestown from California. John has an 8th degree black belt in karate and owned a karate school in California. After moving, he wanted to keep teaching and open a school in New York. The All American Karate School (AAKS) opened in October 2015 in Ashville in a 4,000 square foot facility. AAKS instructors focus on teaching students a set curriculum of skills and techniques, which are then incorporated into self-defense moves. This base of skills and self-defense, lead to self-control, self-discipline and in turn self-confidence. The school’s motto, “Be Better Than You Were Before,” puts these goals within reach for people of all ag

Obtained From:   Fortune  The U.S. expansion has put millions of people back to work and economists agree that the economy is now at or close to full employment. But what does that mean exactly? When economists talk about full employment, they don’t mean everybody has a job. And they don’t mean that even the rosiest economic health can cut unemployment to zero. If unemployment falls too much, inflation will rise as employers compete to hire workers and push up wages too fast. To economists, full employment means that unemployment has fallen to the lowest possible level that won’t cause inflation. In the U.S., that was thought to be a jobless rate of about 5 percent — above the February rate of 4.1 percent. Is higher inflation therefore on the way? Or is full employment a smaller number than economists supposed?

Obtained From:  Fortune Large digital companies operating in the European Union, such as Alphabet Inc. or Twitter Inc., could face a 3 percent tax on their gross revenues based on where their users are located, according to a draft proposal by the European Commission.  The draft, seen by Bloomberg, was circulated on Friday and outlines how a targeted levy on gross revenues would increase the tax bill digital giants face, as the bloc seeks to raise money from an industry it says provides less than it should to public coffers. EU countries have been looking into methods to tax digital companies, including Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc., in a way that captures the true value created in the region.  The commission’s planned revenue tax, which is expected to be proposed on March 21, would only represent a targeted, short-term solution. The bloc also plans to propose a more comprehensive, longer-term approach that will focus on a digital permanent establishment.  The scope of the

Obtained From:   CNN The crisis unofficially began a decade ago today, with JPMorgan's shocking deal to rescue Bear Stearns for $2 a share after the investment bank suffered deep losses tied to its mortgage investments. Bear was the first major investment bank to fail, but it would not be the last.  Now, with a buoyant economy finally starting to lift some of the United States' most depressed pockets, CNNMoney is taking a look back at the 10 years following the financial meltdown that stretched around the globe — and signs that something similar might again be on the horizon, as Congress and regulators begin to loosen some of the rules they put in place to fix and prevent the problems.  "We're sitting here, 10 years later, with a short-term memory that doesn't seem to recall how we got into that mess," Taylor says. "We got into that mess because of the lack of regulation, and now we're talking about making banks less accountable. It makes no se

From Gallup : Which of your employees are most likely to quit? If you follow Gallup's analytics, you might answer that the least engaged employees quit more often. That is true -- improving engagement among your employees is one of the best ways to slow down turnover. However, there is a group of employees that merits particular attention: your most talented employees. In our recent work with organizations across various industries, we discovered something really interesting and somewhat unsettling: Highly talented employees who are not engaged were among those who had the highest turnover in each organization -- on par with low talent, disengaged employees. In other words, when your best employees are not engaged, they are as likely to leave your organization as your employees who tend to have performance issues and are unhappy. Why do they leave so quickly? We speculate that your most talented employees are more likely to have high expectations of their workplaces... But

Each year the  New York Small Business Development Center  recognizes outstanding small businesses in a variety of ways.  This Success Story from the   Queens-York SBDC  appears in our  2016 Annual Report .  Lawrence Thorne   Thorn Electric Inc. Queens-York SBDC Thorn Electric, Inc. was established in 1990 by Lawrence Thorne. After a short time in the private sector, the business was approved by the New York City Housing and Preservation Development (HPD) to provide emergency repairs and apartment and building wiring upgrades. While maintaining the business structure of a small company, Thorn Electric Inc. brings the flexibility and professional approach that is well-suited for the sectors and communities it serves.  Thorn Electric specializes in all areas of electrical installation including: electrical distribution systems, lighting systems, fire alarms, public address and clock systems, surveillance cameras, and emergency services. Thorn’s primary focus is electrical con

Obtained From:   eMarketer A recent  HRC Retail Advisory  survey of consumers in North America found that nearly all respondents (95%) only want help from a sales associate when they need it. Therein lies the issue—how to balance shoppers’ need for self-sufficiency with in-store tech investments meant to help staff on the front lines? More than half (53%) of consumers surveyed ranked the in-store experience as the most important factor while shopping, but what does that exactly mean? A good number of respondents (30%) said mobile checkout was important to them, and almost as many thought apps that would make personalized recommendations were as well. But sales associates who served this same function were less desirable, cited by just 17%.  A separate survey of US internet users by  Zebra Technologies  discovered that the younger the consumer, the more likely they are to be receptive to sales associates using tech for assistance. Indeed, 58% of respondents ages 20 to 36 thought