L.L. Bean Inc.


Up and Coming: Electronic Media--What You See Is What You Get

By Susan Greco |  Nov 1, 1994

A quick look at how technology can provide various approaches to marketing and what companies are doing with it.  Read story

Word of Mouth (Literally)

By Robert A. Mamis |  Jun 1, 1994

New computer system allows users to talk instead of using a keyboard.  Read story

Customer Retention Key to Business Success

By Kimberly McCall |  Mar 14, 2000

"Don't they know that if they just treated us nicely, we'd give them our money?" This from a friend who has elevated shopping to a discipline worthy of a ...  Read story

International: Showcases for U.S. Catalogers

By Susan Greco |  Jan 1, 1995

An overview of different U.S. catalogers finding profits overseas regardless of their size.  Read story

The Anti-marketers

By PAUL B. BROWN |  Mar 1, 1988

The best mail-order catalog in America is put out by people who hate to sell, never use the word 'new,' and make customers pay for the privilege of ordering  Read story

How Bean Sprouts Customer Loyalty

Nov 1, 1983

If you are looking for ways to reinforce customer loyalty, consider some of the practices that have made L. L. Bean Inc. a household name. Located in Free...  Read story

Rfd Inc.

By DAVID L. BIRCH |  Feb 1, 1988

Where to go when you want to start a business in a remote location.  Read story

Verizon Expands SMB Business Rewards Program

Dec 11, 2007

Verizon's (NYSE:VZ) small and midsize business customers participating in the Business Link Rewards program can now select from a menu of once-in-a-lifeti...  Read story

Best Practices

Related Terms: Benchmarking The phrase "best practic...  Read story

New Markets;

By Greg Critser |  Sep 1, 1985

SMALL SUPPLIERS TO DECLINing industries have had a brutal time in the 1980s. But beyond the fields littered with casualties are some companies that used t...  Read story

Entrepreneurs Collide: Will Zoning Take Town Downhill?

By Joshua D. Macht |  Apr 1, 1997

Various entrepreneurs from a small town comment on a topic that concerns many small-buisness people--zoning laws.  Read story

Upstarts: Tapping Generation Y

By Mike Hofman |  Dec 1, 1999

A new wave of start-ups is courting an unprecedented swell of cash-rich teens. But even if these teen-obsessed ventures strike the adolescent mother lode, ca...  Read story

Bookmakers

By Robert A. Mamis |  May 1, 1985

Cloverdale Press, an upstart in book publishing, picks its markets before it picks its writers.  Read story

The Price Is Right

By Nadine Heintz |  Jul 1, 2003

Setting prices has always been more art than science. New software aims to change that.  Read story

The Sporting Life

By Robert A. Mamis |  Sep 1, 1985

Orvis goes out of its way to bring an air of authority to its product lines.  Read story

How I Did It: Bob Williamson - Horizon Software

By As told to Andrew Park |  May 1, 2008

Once a homeless drug abuser, he's now king of the cafeteria.  Read story

Is Japan An Open Market?

Dec 1, 1984

The answer to this question used to be a flat no. Until recently, most Japanese would have freely acknowledged that their government nurtured domestic in...  Read story

The Entrepreneur of the Year

By Martha E. Mangelsdorf |  Dec 1, 1992

Introduction and list of winners for Inc.'s 1992 Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  Read story

Portland Plays Perception Poker

By Leslie Brokaw |  May 15, 2000

Can a thriving little city in Maine bluff its way into the ranks of big-time Internet players?  Read story

How I Did It: Amber Chand

Sep 1, 2004

Fleeing Uganda, Amber Chand came to the U.S. and built Eziba, a company that provides a creative and business outpost for artisans in war-torn nations.  Read story

Real Service

By Robert A. Mamis |  May 1, 1989

Mail-order computer software and peripherals company sets new industry standards for customer service.  Read story

Rules Made To Be Broken

Mar 1, 1988

How Patagonia bucks direct-marketing dogma  Read story

Capital Punishment

By Anne Murphy |  Nov 1, 1993

A look at the problems caused by having too much capital and the benefits of bootstrapping.  Read story

America's Favorite Hometown Businesses

By Leigh Buchanan |  Jul 1, 2002

When it comes to businesses that are charming, idiosyncratic, and lovable, Main Street still has a monopoly. To celebrate America's great unsung small compan...  Read story

Regional Entrepreneurs of the Year

By Inc Staff |  Dec 1, 1992

A list of 1992's Regional Entrepreneurs of the Year.  Read story

A Business Transformed

By John Case |  Jun 1, 1993

How one CEO transformed his entire company in order to make its service indispensable to its customers.  Read story

Survival of the Fastest

By Bronwyn Fryer |  Nov 15, 1999

Just because you're an Internet business in the digital economy doesn't mean you've got it made in the shade. A panel of E-commerce experts warns of treacher...  Read story

The Complete New-Business Survival Guide

By Susan Greco |  Jul 1, 1992

Inc.'s catalog of the best books, agencies, networking groups and information sources for the self-educating CEO.  Read story

Too Good to Be True?

By Anne Murphy |  Jul 1, 1994

Is creating the ideal workplace hazardous to your business' health? The founders of Hanna Andersson are finding out.  Read story

Feet Don't Fail Me Now

By Leslie Brokaw |  May 1, 1994

Shoe manufacturer must differentiate its offerings from cheaper imitators through marketing and advertising.  Read story

Inside-Out Marketing

By Susan Greco |  Jan 1, 1998

Mogens Smed, CEO of Smed International Inc., presents his company's chaotic, overcrowded headquarters to customers as a working showroom of the office furnit...  Read story

Virginia Is for Manufacturers

By Leigh Buchanan |  Dec 1, 2002

Jill-Anne Partain bet that a New York-style business could help revive her distressed town.  Read story

Sole Success

By Lucien Rhodes |  Feb 1, 1982

The Swartz brothers combined old-time quality, a new sales strategy, and a lot of luck to move their boots from Army-Navy stores to Saks in just two years.  Read story

A Quantified Success

By Edward O. Welles |  Aug 1, 1991

Profile of a successful start-up in the bicycle industry.  Read story

Sole Survivor

By John Case |  Jun 1, 1994

One third-generation family business has survived imports, mergers, offshore manufacturing and new technologies.  Read story

In the Customer's Shoes

By JAY FINEGAN |  May 1, 1995

Profile of a CEO who rebuilt his men's shoe store by listening to his customers.  Read story

Turbocharging Customer Service

By Jennifer deJong |  Jun 15, 1995

A look at how various companies are using technology to stay in touch with their customers.  Read story

Battle Grounds

By Joseph Rosenbloom |  Jul 1, 1999

Here's how Rand Smith, the founder of coffee-bar chain Maine Roasters Coffee, competes with Starbucks by leveraging the Maine tradition of supporting locally...  Read story

Lost in Patagonia

By Edward O. Welles |  Aug 1, 1992

Profile of a socially responsible company, its founder, and the problems of focusing on ideology rather than profit.  Read story

When Wal-Mart Comes to Town

By Edward O. Welles |  Jul 1, 1993

How one small town reacted to Wal-Mart's opening three stores in the area.  Read story

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