Corporate Philanthropy
By Include corporate philanthropy as part of your corporate strategy. Both the company and the community win.
It has been proven time and time again companies that practice Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) gain tremendously. Gain in the community, gain with employees, gain on the bottom line, and gain in their whole value proposition.
Businesses today operate in an interdependent environment with multiple stakeholders that include owners, customers, staff and the community, who all require that their needs and concerns be addressed. As such, the rules of engagement in business are changing and there is no doubt that CSR has a major …
Truth and Consequences
Certain business myths have a profound impact on the decisions business owners make every day, yet some of them are only partially true and others are not true at all. Why then are we so susceptible to them? This is primarily due to our propensity to generalize.
The only way to be successful in business is to be a low-cost leader. No. Conventional business wisdom has identified numerous approaches resulting in comparable levels of business success, however the most commonly recognized are (1) creating products with highly desirable features (that are reliable and user friendly), (2) targeting niche markets, (3) …
Whose Ox Gets Gored
A brief look at choices in the M&A process
Understand the basic motivations parties bring to the transaction.
The first step in proper deal planning and structuring is to understand the basic motivations parties bring to a particular transaction. From the sell side, the primary goal is to maximize the after tax proceeds (or as my colleague would say, “money in fist”). To meet this goal, a transaction needs to be structured so that its proceeds are subject to taxation at the lowest rate possible. On the other hand, buyers are looking for ways to maximize their return on investment. …
The Value Of “It”
A balance sheet doesn’t tell an owner the company’s true worth, or fair market value. The difference between a company’s book value and its fair market value is its intangible value.
A study conducted by business consultants Richard Boulton, Barry Libert and Steve Samek compared the market values and book values of 3,500 U.S. companies over a 20-year period. Their findings indicate that in 1978, a company’s book value was 95 percent of its market value; however, in 1998, book value accounted for a mere 28 percent of a company’s market value. An unrelated study conducted by the Brookings Institute …
Nightmare on LAN Street
Somewhere, at this very moment, devious criminal minds are hard at work conspiring at computer stations.
As you read this article consider this fact: Somewhere, at this very moment, devious criminal minds are hard at work conspiring at computer stations. They are compulsively targeting you as their next victim. Everyday, there are multitudes of sociopaths all over the world designing assaults devoid of empathy, thus placing everyone’s technology networks in jeopardy.
It is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when.
The nightmare
Imagine what would happen if all the computers in your organization suddenly stopped working …
Substance Over Form
The burden is on the taxpayer to find the opportunities, interpret the Code, adapt his or her behavior accordingly and finally file the appropriate forms with the IRS.
The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that taxpayers have the right to arrange their affairs to minimize tax liability. Lawmakers create tax opportunities within the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) for several reasons including the stimulation of the economy through business owners. However, the burden is on the taxpayer to find the opportunities, interpret the Code, adapt his or her behavior accordingly and finally file the appropriate forms with the IRS. With the …
Digital Smoke Signals
Whatever your marketing objectives might be, e-mail can play an important role in your integrated marketing mix.
E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating specific messages to an audience. In a broad sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used in reference to sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing customer/merchant relationships, encouraging customer loyalty and repeat business, acquiring new customers or convincing old customers to buy a product immediately.
Most likely you have received e-mails trying …
The Devil You Don’t Know…
The underreporting of income carries civil penalties of 20% to 75% on the portion of the underpayment resulting from the severity of misconduct.
The day Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion represented a proud moment for accountants everywhere. The Chicago gangster of the 1920s was known in the Prohibition era for evading the authorities for years, although his illegal activities also included gambling, liquor, prostitution and even murder. Unable to make any other substantial case against Capone, the government finally proved its tax evasion case. He was sentenced to 11 years in Federal prison, fined $50,000 and charged $7,692 …
ESOPs: Not A Magic Bullet…
…but a viable retirement vehicle for business owners
According to a recent survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, workers’ confidence in their ability to live comfortably in retirement has hit a new low. Confidence about having enough money for a comfortable retirement this year hit its lowest level (13 percent) since 1993, continuing a two-year decline.
Retirees also posted a new low in confidence about having a financially secure retirement, with only 20 percent now saying they are very confident (down from 41 percent in 2007). For many business owners, the company is their source for funding retirement. …
The Ingredients Of Success
“I’d seen the stars, I’d seen the sky and I’d seen the instruments, but I had no idea how to put it all together and make it work.”
The Old Daley Inn Catering Company has been serving New York’s Capital Region, and beyond, since 1975. The business originally functioned as a restaurant offering a lunch and dinner menu to the locals of Troy, N.Y. Over the years, the restaurant gradually expanded to include catering. The company’s management found catering to be a business they could grow and profit from; therefore, the restaurant was eventually closed.
These are the words of …
