Archive for May 7th, 2004
Inc.: “At some point in their lives, every liberal-arts major dreams about opening a neighborhood bookstore. The store sells a ton of books and, just as important, serves as a focus and catalyst for a community of passionate readers. Michael Powell has lived that dream. Powell’s Books has become internationally famous both for its quantity–the [...]
Make Growth an Obsession – and a Plan
Stephen Spinelli, Jr.: “Shortly after buying the local Jiffy Lube, we spent scarce and precious resources on a marketing study that helped us identify the nature of the demand for oil changes. The results revealed dissatisfaction with the current delivery systems. Market trends, such as conversion of garages to self-service gas stations and an aging [...]
Marginal Revolution: “Some Europeans might regard the decay as reflecting our economic weakness. But they have it backwards: our willingness to let industries decline is a significant source of our economic strength. A country with no declining industries is a country that doesn’t have many better new ideas.”
Avoiding The Landmines In Entrepreneurial Business
Dave Pollard on avoiding landmines: In MBA school they now call this Risk Management. This article identifies ten of the major landmines for entrepreneurs, using some real-life examples: Copycat businesses: Thirty years ago I did some financial consulting for a small start-up cruise ship operation. They acquired and completely renovated a ship, which was lovely, [...]
Wharton Business Plan Competition Finalists
Knowledge@Wharton: “Space Tourism. Renewable energy. Computer animation. And not a single dot-com. As the great Bob Dylan once sang, the times, they are a-changin’. The Wharton Business Plan Competition “Eight Great” finalists in the 2003-2004 Wharton Business Plan Competition — the Great Eight, as the organizers call them — want to save the world with [...]
Though the best place to start a business is undoubtedly wherever you are, Forbes’ 2004 edition of the report, Best Places For Business is still an interesting read: Best Metros Madison, WI Raleigh-Durham, NC Austin, TX Washington, DC Atlanta, GA Provo, UT Boise, ID Huntsville, AL Lexington, KY Richmond, VA Best Smaller Metros Sioux Falls, [...]
