Women in developing nations are more likely to start or maintain a business, according to the most recent Women's Report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
Posted: Dec 19th, 2011
While successful entrepreneurs tend to share some basic characteristics - such as being self-motivated, confident, or determined - not all are natural-born leaders. For many, the idea of managing a company and placating board members is rather daunting, ...
Posted: Dec 19th, 2011
Although the manufacturing sector has been one of the hardest hit by the recession, it appears to be more promising for the coming year than its counterparts in the service sector, according to a new report from the Institute for Supply Management.The se...
Posted: Dec 8th, 2011
Three hundred small businesses in the U.S. are one step closer to a contracting award from NASA. Proposals were selected through the space agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.T...
Posted: Nov 30th, 2011
The employment situation appears little improved for small business owners and entrepreneurs, as hiring in the sector remains tempered by general economic uncertainty. According to the most recent Small Business Employment Index from Intuit, small firms ...
Posted: Nov 29th, 2011
When it comes to growth within the small business sector, owners may run off a variety of reasons why markets have stalled and rendered their expansion efforts a challenge.Most analysts point to hiring in the sector as one of the leading economic problem...
Posted: Nov 23rd, 2011
Members of a 12-person bipartisan "supercommittee" are expected to announce they have failed to come up with $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, triggering an automatic $1 trillion in reductions over nine years. Most of those cuts will target defense and nat...
Posted: Nov 21st, 2011
Retail sales climbed in October, marking the fifth straight monthly gain and providing further evidence that the economy is not headed toward another recession. However, with persistent troubles in unemployment and consumers credit, among other factors, ...
Posted: Nov 16th, 2011
The U.S. Small Business Administration has ramped up its lending activities in recent years. While the agency does not actually distribute loans, it offers guaranteed repayments to banks of up to 90 percent.Since the recession, business leaders and entre...
Posted: Nov 14th, 2011
While Congress continues to struggle reaching an agreement over how to address the nation's looming employment crisis, Americans appear to hold the most faith in small or local enterprises.According to a new Gallup poll, approximately eight in 10 sur...
Posted: Nov 7th, 2011
Lending to small businesses grew in September, although at a slower pace, according to the most recent Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index. The 14 percent increase marks the 14th consecutive month of double-digit monthly gains and a sligh...
Posted: Nov 3rd, 2011
A number of business advocacy groups released an open letter to President Barack Obama this week, outlining five key steps to improving conditions for small businesses through comprehensive regulatory reform.The National Federation of Independent Busines...
Posted: Nov 1st, 2011
Last week, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported U.S. student loan debt has now surpassed credit card debt in total volume for the first time ever. The report brought further attention to some of the grievances facing students and recent college ...
Posted: Oct 28th, 2011
While the U.S. labor market is not expected to improve much over the next year, a new report suggests wage growth in the private sector may, albeit mildly.The third quarter Wage Trend Indicator from analytics firm BNA climbed to 98.36, up from 98.21 in t...
Posted: Oct 13th, 2011
Read any headline about the current U.S. employment situation and you'll gather it's quite an employer's market right now. Americans are taking lowlier positions at reduced wages just to stay employed.However, the segment of "critical-sk...
Posted: Oct 10th, 2011
Taxpayers and business owners in the state of Texas may face a new penalty fee for late tax filings, as the state comptroller's office seeks to add new revenue streams in light of considerable budget challenges.A report from the office of Texas compt...
Posted: Oct 6th, 2011
A number of states and business organizations are challenging the legality of last year's healthcare reform law. This week, the Obama administration is expected to respond to the appeals, which were tendered by 26 states and the National Federation o...
Posted: Sep 28th, 2011
Ever wonder how vital the internet is to society? Well, according to the newest generation of working professionals, it's about as important as food and shelter.As the results of a survey released this week by Cisco found, one in three college studen...
Posted: Sep 21st, 2011
Small businesses have been looking for ways to scale back their budgets. While smaller payrolls certainly help, there are some less obvious strategies that can help nudge out those tiny expenses that add up to a whole lot.For example, electronic payrolls...
Posted: Sep 16th, 2011
Small businesses in the U.S. continue to reel from adverse conditions. Aside from sporadic pockets of credit availability and widespread consumer pessimism, there are few signs of hope on the horizon.Lately, business owners have begun looking to Presiden...
Posted: Sep 14th, 2011
When a business begins to expand, the pressure to outsource certain processes or services becomes immense. While some small firms may be able to manage handling everything in-house, a large enterprise demands a diverse and decentralized series of operati...
Posted: Sep 9th, 2011