Business cycles: Stabilise that certain something IN ADDITION to using my colleague's post as a jumping-off point for broad economic foreboding, I'd like to borrow it in making a much narrower observation about monetary policy. He rightly notes that the American economic picture is the most perplexing. The fundamentals seeem to be lined up nicely: deleveraging has proceeded surprisingly quickly, housing markets are rapidly clearing, petrol prices are subdued, manufacturing workers are once again globally competitive, and so on. Yet once again, the American recovery is losing a step. Is it any wonder that the marginal investor or business would prefer to hold Treasury bonds or sit on cash? This dynamic is clearly important. At its heart, the Federal Reserve ostensibly makes policy on what you might call an "inflation-targeting plus" basis. One can envision an alternative policy approach, however. Now in practice, one has to nail this model of the economy to a support structure of policy tools.
Why Start-up Culture Is Bad for Creativity Something is happening to the start-up culture—and I'm not sure I like what it's doing to me. For a couple of years now, one of the core start-up mantras has been "release early and release often"—or, even more pithy, "fail fast." There's nothing wrong with this idea on the face of it. But combine it with the romanticized notion of working day and night narrowly focused on your start-up, and you have an entrepreneurial culture that's fast-paced on a whole new level. Most days, this is exciting and it is what's required to keep up with the pace of innovation in the tech community. But more and more, I'm starting to think that the constant pressure to go-go-go may be killing more organizations than it's helping. Where 'Aha' Moments Really Come From I've been reading Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. Think about the most creative companies: Apple doesn't iterate on the fly. According to Lehrer, we need the right mix of focus and freedom from pressure to be at our most creative.
Economic Theory Doesn't Say That Small Business Owners Maximize Profits Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GettyImages Adam Davidson profiles the small business owners of the Greenwich Village neighborhood where we both grew up, and finds that many of them are still plugging away even though it would have been more profitable to sell their leases to big national chains that can better take advantage of the currently upscale state of the neighborhood. It's a good piece, but I did want to clarify something. The conceit seems to be that it's somehow surprising or shocking that a business owner would be "disavowing economic theory and not trying to maximize her profits." The thing is to the best of my knowledge there is no economic theory that says small business owners maximize profits. Where profit maximization enters into the picture is precisely with the widely held large business. It's interesting to inquire into the extent that that actually happens.
Jobs: Hiring Process Increasingly Automated by Companies As most anyone who has recently applied for a job knows, hiring has changed dramatically in recent years. The Internet has replaced job advertisements in newspapers, one of the key factors driving the financial decline of the latter, and software has replaced most recruiters. Because job applications are done online, applicants rarely talk to anyone, even by e-mail, during the hiring process. One upside of this automation is that applying for jobs has been made considerably easier, an outcome that was intended in the 1990s, when these systems were born and employers were competing to attract applicants. (MORE: How to Buy a House) Once job requirements have been settled on, however haphazardly, they are then built into the hiring software that screens applications. Once it’s in the software, each requirement, critical or trivial, essentially becomes something like a hurdle that applicants have to clear to become a qualified candidate. (MORE: Your Global Economic Mess is Now Being Served)
4 Brands That Know How to Tell a Story Ekaterina Walter is a social media strategist at Intel. She is a part of Intel’s Social Media Center of Excellence and is responsible for company-wide social media enablement and corporate social networking strategy. She was recently elected to serve on the board of directors of WOMMA. What makes a brand stand out from its competition? Stories, unlike any other element, allow brands to connect with customers on an emotional level. 1. TOMS shoes, which are sold at more than 500 stores around the world, was founded on the ethos that for every pair purchased, one pair is donated to a child in need. The company has developed an extension of this story online, with their One for One campaign. 2. Mr. Sadly, there has never been a real Mr. 3. Chrysler took Detroit’s gritty and tough image and used it in their "Imported From Detroit" campaign. On their YouTube channel, the Eminem Superbowl commercial has nearly 15 million views. 4. Nike’s own story is one of success.
Six Ideas for Increasing Customers to Your Web Design Services | Mightydeals Blog Whether you’re just launched your web design business or you’ve been in the game for a while, you know how difficult it can be to attract web design clients. It seems as though there are thousands of competitors out there, and you can’t seem to get potential clients to choose you over anyone else. But don’t worry – here are six things you can do right now to start attracting more clients to your web design business and increase your bottom line. 1. Often, potential customers are nervous about spending money on web designers because they don’t understand the costs. One way to combat this is to create products for sale. Even if you don’t want to sell these kinds of products, you can package services as products with a fixed price. Examples of services that can be made into products: logo design, website assessment, WordPress template, pamphlets, downloadable PDFs. Action Step: Think about what kinds of services you offer that could be made into products for a fixed price. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
4 Tips for Millennials to Work Well with Boomers Smartphones. Social media. Skype. Technology has made it easier and easier to communicate across distances near and far. Communication across generations, however, is a different matter – especially when it comes to the workplace. In fact, businesses are reporting that generational differences are causing workplace tension, according to Dale Kalika, senior lecturer at the W.P. If you’re a Gen Y-er feeling a little apprehensive about working effectively with older professionals, consider these tips for collaboration: 1. Look around. “Depending on the company culture, especially in old-school corporate environments, it is sometimes common to see miscommunication between generations,” says YouTern CEO Mark Babbitt. It often comes down to how we communicate: “one-sentence texting and on-the-fly, in-cubicle discussions vs. lengthy emails or the longer, more formalized meetings perhaps preferred by Boomers, for example,” Babbitt says. Observe how most people communicate and then follow suit. 2. 3.
Branding a Great Company: Start With Why If you're the head of your company, you have to be able to define not just what your company does, but why it does it. Having difficulty? That's normal. That's where great leadership comes in. So it's up to you, as company leader, to define your "why." 1. Apple can sell phones not simply because they have the smarts to make phones; every single one of their competitors can make phones too. As long as Apple's products are consistent with its cause, the company has the freedom to do things other companies cannot. 2. Most great companies were founded by a person or small group of people who personally suffered a problem, went through an difficult experience, or had someone close to them face a tricky challenge--and then came up with a solution or alternative. Organizations that just look to capture some market opportunity, or are born out of some market research, often fail (or else need endless pools of money to keep going). 3. 4. So ask yourself: Can you define your "why"?
Do Patents Really Matter To Startups? New Data Reveals Shifting Habits Editor’s note: Leonid Kravets is a patent attorney specializing in developing IP strategy for young technology companies. He blogs on the topic at startupsip.com. Robert J. Arguments about the value of patents have heated up over the past few years. Just how much attention are start-ups paying to patents? How We Did It We used the CrunchBase API to identify the industries and backers of 12,404 technology companies. In order to provide the most recent data possible, we limited our study to only published patent applications (not issued patents, which are typically not published until several years after application). Patent Rates by Industry Our findings show that 33% of all funded companies (4,050 of 12,404) have at least one published patent application, but patent rates vary greatly by industry. Companies in the semiconductor and biotech industries have the highest patent application rates (65% and 62% respectively). Company industries were pulled from CrunchBase. Investor Influence