Small Business Operations

How Small Businesses Use Web Apps – and What to Look For

By Anita Campbell - Oct 8, 2010 - 12 Comments

This series is commissioned by UPS. Not long ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt made some startling observations about small businesses and Web-based applications. During a speech at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, he said: “Twenty years ago when you were setting up a small … Read More

7 Ways to Communicate Your Commitment to Sustainability

By Anita Campbell - Oct 1, 2010 - 7 Comments

This series is commissioned by UPS. You don't need to have a big company to embrace sustainability. Smart and committed small businesses are adopting sustainability practices, too. They are incorporating recycled goods in their manufacturing supply chains. They are requiring … Read More

10 Ways to Use Mobile Devices to Run Your Business

By Anita Campbell - Sep 24, 2010 - 13 Comments

This series is commissioned by UPS. Mobile devices –- from the straightforward mobile phone with a camera... to iPhones stuffed with apps -- have given smaller businesses the ability to operate nimbly and cost effectively. Are you using handheld mobile devices to run your … Read More

The Internet of Things: Interesting, But Don’t Hold Your Breath

By Anita Campbell - Sep 17, 2010 - 11 Comments

This series is commissioned by UPS. Imagine a world where everything in it sends information to other objects and to you. Everyday items – from furniture to appliances, from toys to tools -- would be tagged with tiny RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and wirelessly … Read More

Could E-Commerce Sales Tax Become a Reality?

By Rieva Lesonsky - Aug 22, 2010 - 22 Comments

Whether you buy or sell online, you may need to watch out. Cash-hungry state governments are reconsidering something that’s long been threatened and debated: taxing Internet sales. One of the reasons I’m a frequent online shopper is, thanks to a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision, unless the … Read More

Tales of Micro-Multinationals: The Real Time Project

By Bernard Lunn - Aug 4, 2010 - 2 Comments

Angela Kyle is one of those connoisseurs of the transatlantic flight schedules known as "NyLon" (New York to London). But as a jet-lagged Angela told me when I met her in New York, "It's a lot better than Los Angeles to London, which is what I used to do." The Real Time Project founders are all … Read More

Tales of Micro-Multinationals: Bluewater LLC

By Bernard Lunn - Jul 28, 2010 - 2 Comments

Bluewater started at ground zero of the tough economic times in America - Detroit. As one of their people put it: "I love Detroit. But it seems to have become known lately as the world capital of bad business decisions. That has made it a great sandbox to play and learn in." Checking Out Your … Read More

Tales of Micro-Multinationals: Worketc

By Bernard Lunn - Jul 21, 2010 - 4 Comments

Worketc operates in the large and very competitive business software market, competing with well-known companies such as Salesforce.com and 37 Signals/Basecamp. Marketing To Micro-Multinational Worketc's customers are mostly micro-multinational and they also operate this way. Worketc has … Read More

Tales Of Micro-Multinationals: Jadience

By Bernard Lunn - Jul 15, 2010 - 5 Comments

Most micro-multinationals that we profile live in the digital realm. Their product or service is delivered as bits on the wire. Jadience is different. Jadience sells a line of health and skincare products and treatments that is rooted in Traditional Oriental Medicine. They send physical products to … Read More

Tales Of Micro-Multinationals: Generation Alliance

By Bernard Lunn - Jul 7, 2010 - 8 Comments

How about re-branding an entire country? That is what Generation Alliance did for Botswana as part of the global Fair Trade initiative. This branding and design firm delivers projects to clients all over the world via a federated structure, with core employees in Australia and specialist … Read More

Introducing The Tales Of Micro-Multinationals

By Bernard Lunn - Jul 7, 2010 - 2 Comments

This is the era of tiny companies that operate globally. These micro versions of multinationals outsource almost everything to specialists all over the world and sell to people all over the world through the Internet. In olden days, "multinational" meant big. And it took a long time to get … Read More

New Act Introduced in Senate to Help Women Business Owners Get More Federal Contracts

By Rieva Lesonsky - Jul 4, 2010 - 5 Comments

Women business owners' access to federal contracts has long been a bone of contention. I blogged here earlier about the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) rule, proposed in March of this year, and how it would affect women's access to federal contracts. Now, further change is afoot. U.S. Senators … Read More