Case Study
The Problem: Handmark had 50% of the market for software for PDAs. Unfortunately, fewer people are buying PDAs Read more
Strategy and Planning
Recent Strategy and Planning Articles
How To Assemble a Board of Directors
Advice on putting a board together that will serve your needs. Read more
How To Get the Kids on Your Side
Keeping the lines of communication open with your children can help foster an appreciation for the work you do. Read more
How To Groom a No. 2 (or, Gasp, a Successor)
Here's how to handle choosing a No. 2, whether you stick inside the company or look outside. Read more
How to Spot Trouble in Your Financials
Diagnose what's wrong with your company by zeroing in on your financials. Read more
NASA Offers Free Rocket Scientists
A great NASA giveaway. Read more
Thinking Small
Forget about finding the killer app. New research shows that smaller ideas pack a bigger payoff. Read more
Grist: Beyond the Vale of Smiles
Come in out of the sun. Your employees are shining you on. Read more
Five Ideas to Watch
Father's Day doodads, franchising dish, Gateway's biometrics, fine food in the air, and an Amber Alert for violins. Read more
Hot Tips: Look Lower on a Client's Totem Pole, Sales Strategies and Techniques Article
The Pro: Rocky Scales The Company: Vesta Inc. of Portland, Oreg. Key St... Read more
Concrete Tips for Urban Pioneers
What to keep in mind if you do business in the inner city. Read more
Five Ideas to Watch
Clothing that repels bugs, Bill Clinton's latest plaything, and more. Read more
Five Ideas to Watch
A pick-me-up patch, haggling made more marvelous, and more. Read more
The State of Being Hip
Why Michigan's economic policies are linked to music acts. Read more
Mickey Mouse Needs to Eat His Vegetables
"I write a column about small business. A question I often get is, 'What's the biggest problem facing a small business?' ... My answer always surprises pe... Read more
Five Ideas to Watch
Easy parking, better emergency response, free names, fragrant law enforcement, and precocious fashion design. Read more
Controversial IPA Silences a Watchdog
One of the most controversial Inc. 500 companies ever wins a legal battle. Read more
The Best Bang For Your Tech Buck
With new offerings hitting the market like a tsunami, entrepreneurs should spend their precious IT dollars with care. Read more
The Well-Balanced Life: The Turnaround
How a life plan charted the course of one company and its owner. Read more
Running the Gauntlet at Wal-Mart
The process of selling to the behemoth of Bentonville starts well before you push open the doors of its Arkansas headquarters. But it's within the fortress i... Read more
Those Weren't the Days?
Clinton economist Joseph E. Stiglitz ponders his legacy. Read more
More Bang for the IT Buck
Corporate buyers of IT goods haven't had it so good in a long time. Technology vendors, feeling the pinch after two years of sluggish sales, are discounti... Read more
War Stories
As writer Joan Raymond points out in the June 2003 feature " Enduring Lessons from a Short WarRead more
Enduring Lessons From a Short War
Over the course of 21 days of war, seven companies faced a test: Would their best-laid plans work? And if not, could they quickly adapt? Read more
Grist: The Rising Cost of Bad Advice
Given all the bad advice out there, business owners need to develop a healthy skepticism of the experts, recognizing that doing so requires more than just an... Read more
More Bang for the IT Buck
Corporate buyers of IT goods haven't had it so good in a long time. Technology vendors, feeling the pinch after two years of sluggish sales, are discounti... Read more
FCC Turns TV Off on Small Businesses
Hey, what about us? Regular readers of my column know I get really irked at how small business is overlooked by the government. Legislation and regulation... Read more
To Pay or Not to Pay: Business Weighs the Cost of Terrorism Coverage
Confronted with high premiums and their own skepticism about whether such coverage is necessary, many managers are deciding against terrorism insurance. Read more
Book Review: Intuition At Work
Gary Klein, an acclaimed business researcher, demystifies the role intuition plays when making business decisions. Read more
How to Take Risks in a Time of Anxiety
Is there a way to overcome your concerns about risk and make smarter decisions? Actually, there are a lot of them. Read more
Calculated Risk
In the May 2003 article, " How to Take Risk in a Time of Anxiety ," senior writer Leigh Buchan... Read more
Projecting Outcomes with Probability Modeling
Plans based on averages are wrong, on average. So says "the flaw of averages," as coined by Sam. L. Savage, a consulting professor in the Department of Ma... Read more
Decision Making with Decision Trees
Every business owner must make decisions in the face of uncertainty, and live with the consequences. But decision-making doesn't have to be done in the da... Read more
