Small Business Trends

Welcome to the January 17, 2005 edition of Carnival of the Capitalists, the Internet’s most intriguing collection of free-market articles. With nearly 45 entries, we’ve got a huge line-up this week.

Organizing the Carnival entries is always a challenge. Since many of the entries could have fit into multiple categories, I decided the fairest thing was to organize them in alphabetical order by blog name.

• The Big Picture – Barry Ritholtz points out how the iPod Shuffle is similar to the experience of listening to a typical radio station…and notes the decline of radio continues.

• Blog Business World – Wayne Hurlbert has another great post about online marketing, this one about viral marketing to get more subscribers to your e-mail newsletter or visitors to your blog or website.
• BPWrap – A Different Point Of View – Barry Welford references a speech by Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman, discussing the subject of managing change. Barry writes that embracing change is good, but change for change’s sake is clearly bad, and explores how to tell the difference.
• BusinessPundit.com – Rob discusses “Information Relevance” and the problem of overwhelming information that we face today, suggesting that an important future skill for business leaders will be to determine quickly if given information is relevant or not.
• Byrne’s Marketview – Byrne says it’s easy to read a business book and come away certain you now know how the business world works, but the only way to really solidify your understanding is to make a colossal mistake misapplying what you’ve learned — after the first 30% or 40% market loss, everything clicks.
• Capital Chronicle – In a meaty post, Rawdon Adams writes that behavioral finance can be used to find a way of identifying and aligning to our own risk profile the ideal national GDP growth patterns of the Asian economies. But as always, there is a risk to bear – or preferably diversify away.
• Cap’n Arbyte’s – Kyle Markley writes about the scope of the failure of Tennessee’s TennCare public health care system and the economic inevitability of that failure — and he’s not even a resident of Tennessee! Want socialist medicine? Don’t use my federal taxes to pay for it, he says.
• Catallarchy – Patri Friedman urges people to channel their altruistic reactions to the tsunami to causes where the marginal impact of another dollar of aid is greater.
• CIO Weblog – Steve Shu cites an article presenting a surprising view of outsourcing by employees faced with having their jobs outsourced — employees in Europe, that is, who are guaranteed other positions after outsourcing occurs.
• The Comp Expert – Cary Duke discusses how workers compensation system costs could be substantially increased for businesses if the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2001 is allowed to expire this year.

• Conglomerate – Christine Hurt explores whether Google’s IPO auction was a harbinger of change or a technology-era publicity stunt. Writing about Morningstar’s IPO, and its decision to cease discussions with Wall Street cohort Morgan Stanley in favor of online IPO pioneer Hambrecht & Co., she says Morningstar will provide investors the opportunity to answer this question.
• Coyote Blog – Warren Meyer offers a proposal for an alternative way to establish who’s eligible to use the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on some highway systems, by auctioning passes.
• Crossroads Dispatches – Evelyn Rodriguez says that while most wait for pain or illness to precipitate with the stress associated with the rapid pace of a changing global workplace, there’s another option. The book, “Full Catastrophe Living” charts out an eight-week program that produces measured effectiveness even in “healthy” employees. She has a suggestion for how she plans to delve into the book and invites others to participate online.
• Drakeview – John Dmohowski notes that the traditional means of getting to the top of America’s largest corporations is changing. And the people getting the top jobs are more diverse, younger and usually from outside.
• EconLog – Arnold Kling finds frequent flyer miles as interesting as toenail fungus in this entertaining yet thought-provoking post. He opens a discussion about whether having $700 Billion of outstanding frequent flyer miles means they have huge value — or whether it actually signifies they have little value.
• EGO – Martin Lindeskog has made a New Year’s Resolution to find a new job and eventually return to the United States where he once worked. He is looking for networking and career blogs to aid in his search. Can you help direct him?
• The Enterprise System Spectator – Frank Scavo notes that Microsoft is offering discounts to encourage PeopleSoft customers to switch but thinks that Microsoft doesn’t have much to offer.
• The Entrepreneurial Mind – Jeff Cornwall answers a reader’s question about where to find entrepreneurial opportunities, and points out the right way to find those opportunities.
• First Call – Rob Thomas declares the new Apple Home Media Server the most overhyped device in years. When he found out what it really was, he felt like he’d “just ended a bad date.” Click through the link in his post to see where he predicts this product will end up.

• Gongol.com – Brian Gongol says “Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack thinks so much of economic-development programs that he’s willing to spend my money on them. Even if it might put me out of business.” Highlighting the fallacy inherent in many economic development programs, he suggests the state stop taxing small businesses out of existence in order to “create” jobs.
• Interested-Participant – Mike Pechar writes about a crack (literally) in Airbus’s facade: an inspection on several Airbus airplanes detected cracks around small holes inside the airliners’ wings. As a result, checks will be performed on the entire worldwide fleet of twin-engine wide-bodied A330s and four-engine wide-bodied A340s. [Suggestion: if you're planning to fly anytime soon, check your itinerary for the equipment.]
• The Internet Stock Blog – David Jackson posts that TheStreet.com is for sale but is having trouble finding buyers. He dissects the reasons, suggesting that blogs and niche websites pose threats to traditional media by providing more targeted coverage.
• Libertarian Girl – Libertarian Girl picks up on Mad Anthony’s post (see below) about Wal-Mart, suggesting he’s right and that the public doesn’t decide whether to go to Wal-Mart based on what it pays its employees.
• Lip-sticking – Yvonne DiVita offers an insightful post about blogging: what is it, how to do it, the top questions non-bloggers ask, and an introduction to some new blogs out there in the blogosphere.
• Mad Anthony – Mad Anthony of the blog of the same name looks at — and disagrees with — a claim by a fund manager who thinks that Wal-Mart’s decreased Christmas sales are due to their employee pay policies. Read the post and find out the real reason people don’t shop at Wal-Mart.
• Management Craft – Lisa Haneberg is starting a discussion on her blog about Social Constructionism, which is all about the way people interact and communicate in a business setting to improve results. Check out this post and then return for more on the topic over the coming weeks.
• Mises Economics Blog – When is it acceptable for a supporter of free markets to accept government money? Robert Murphy had some thoughts, among which that he would never teach at a state college, and then the commentators piled on. Check out the comments on this one.
• Mobile Technology Weblog – Russell Buckley talks about the new phenomenon of stalking celebrities with camera phones ringtones. Everything has a price, especially fame.

• The New Federalist – Charles Barksdale asks: “How much money did CBS pay Dick Thornburgh and Louis D. Boccardi — and their associates — for the ‘independent’ Rathergate Report? As any good economist knows, it’s all about the Benjamins….”
• Odyssey of the Mind – Travis blogs that religion is more connected to economics than you think. He explores an interesting correlation between free markets and freedom of religion, using the United States as an example.
• Photon Courier – David Foster blogs about something new in offshoring…US kids in California are getting tutored by teachers in India over the Internet.
• The Raw Prawn – Adam Crouch blogs about the challenges Boeing faces with a customer base (airlines) in dire financial straits. So what does Boeing do? They find a way to make their customers successful. They’re going to do it with the new Boing 7E7.
• RFID Weblog – Over at my other weblog I’ve provided a link to a fascinating and substantive interview of Verisign’s CEO, Stratton Sclavos. In the interview he talks in detail about some of the latest Internet security issues, as well as Verisign’s ambitious plans to create a central database of all electronic product codes. The upshot: one day we’ll have the Internet of Things, where every foot of our nation’s streets can monitor traffic flow and where shipping containers can search themselves for hazardous material.
• Roth & Company Tax Update Just in time for tax season, Joe Kristan blogs that the IRS has listed ways to avoid fraudulent tax return preparers. He describes other warning signs the IRS appears to have missed. Hint: meth and taxes don’t mix.
• Scrivener.net – Jim Glass urges that something has to be done about Social Security. He says that those who suggest maintaining the status quo don’t realize that in fewer than 15 years either a huge tax increase will be necessary or benefits will have to be dramatically reduced.
• Slacker Manager – Brendon Connelly issues a call for help in building a new charitable blogging organization based around the Weblogsinc and Gawker models.

• SmallBusinessBranding Blog – Michael D. Pollock applauds how Jackie Huba, co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists, takes on, and clobbers, some academic heavyweights over their “lying and cheating” approach to marketing. It’s a KO in the first round.
• SMB TrendWire – Steve Rucinski’s entry is a 45-minute audiocast consisting of an original interview of economist and professor of entrepreneurship, Dr. John Soper of John Carroll University, that Steve and I conducted. Dr. Soper outlines the key economic trends for small business in 2005.
• Social Tools Weblog – Jonas Luster writes about Jeremy Ensight being the latest employee to be fired for blogging, saying “employers, like lovers, don’t deal well with polyamorous partners ….”
• Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching – Rosa Say writes that people who are not part of the community can feel isolated and adrift, and community disengagement does matter.
• TimWorstall.com – The redoubtable Tim Worstall disses a Guardian journalist during a discussion about relative poverty, and suggests that Great Britain is actually close to wiping out absolute poverty.
• VC & Entrepreneurship Weblog – In a small but significant piece, Torsten Jacobi notes his weblog’s policy regarding the separation of advertising and content — never the two shall be combined.
• Wordlab – In a post entitled “Abra Cadabra,” Abnu traces the history of the company name Cadabra. From Jeff Bezos reject, to a company that is now part of one of the Internet powerhouses, Cadabra lives on but without the name. (Before you click, try to guess which company it is part of today.)
• The Zero Boss – Jay Allen “rips on bloggers who proclaim they blog only for ‘pure’ reasons.” In a colorful [euphemism for R-rated] post he makes it clear he is grateful for capitalism and for blogs as marketing tools that help him earn a living.

Thanks to all participants and to all readers of Carnival of the Capitalists. It’s been a lot of work, but also incredibly interesting and enjoyable to read so many fine articles. If I missed anyone’s entry, my apologies — please let me know and I will add it.

Next week, January 24, 2005, Carnival of the Capitalists will be at the Business Opportunities Weblog. For more information about Carnival of the Capitalists, visit the Carnival home page.