Risky Business
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FDA Peanut Recall Continues After Critical Report
Continue reading… 2 CommentsThe recall of peanut products linked to a salmonella scare has expanded. A peanut processing plant in Georgia is recalling all of the products it put out in the last two years after an FDA report claimed it distributed contaminated goods. The FDA has a list of all the products affected, and notes that the recalls thus far do not affect the ordinary peanut butter jars you'd find in a grocery store.
My post from last week looked at previous regulatory responses to recalls of contaminated products, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in particular. The latest news on that issue comes from Walter Olson at Forbes. The law's sponsors in Congress--such as Henry Waxman--have attempted to compromise with the law's critics by allowing an exemption for children's apparel consisting entirely of fabric and ordinary children's books.
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Bacon Explosion: An Artery-Clogging Example Of Web 2.0 Strategies
Continue reading… 3 CommentsThe most popular recipe on the Internet right now creates a little concoction that might increase your blood pressure just by looking at it. I link to the Bacon Explosion (the real name) not to make you salivate, however, but as an example of an effective entrepreneurial strategy.
The New York Times explains how Kansas City Internet marketer Aaron Chronister and friend Jason Day wanted to draw more attention to their barbecue team and its website, BBQAddicts.com (they take their barbecue seriously in Kansas City):
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Stimulus Plan Pushes Employee Free Choice Act To Back Burner For Now
Continue reading… 25 CommentsOne issue noticeably absent from the early days of the Obama administration is the Employee Free Choice Act. There's been little mention of it as Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress have focused on selling the stimulus plan.
(For more on exactly what the Employee Free Choice Act is and why it matters for small businesses and entrepreneurs, refer to my pre-election article on the subject.)
A friend of mine who works full-time on this issue tells me that there might be a different, more important reason that the bill is being delayed: the Democrats need all the votes they can in support of the EFCA, but they have one that is currently in limbo. Al Franken, who seems likely to overcome the electoral difficulties in Minnesota and serve in the Senate, will almost certainly vote in favor of the bill. But the various legal issues surrounding the Minnesota election will likely delay Franken's arrival in Washington into the spring.
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McDonald's To Expand Even Amidst Recession
Continue reading… 2 CommentsSmall restaurants and franchisee restaurants across the country are closing down and laying off employees. Meanwhile, McDonald's is actually adding stores this year--1,000 of them. McDonald's continues to be recession-proof, as I dubbed the fast-food giant.
As the BBC reports, McDonald's global same-store sales rose 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter, and 5 percent in the U.S. alone.
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Green Business Still Needs To Be About Business
Continue reading… 4 CommentsVia Kelly Spors, I read this essay at GreenBiz.com by Joel Makower, author of one seminal book for the current "green" movement, The Green Consumer. His argument, as I understand it, is that the "going green" business practice needs to be more than just putting out environmentally-friendly products and making those products in green-conscious ways. It also needs to take on the problem of what Makower sees as excessive consumption: people buying too many things.
Encouraging your customers to buy less stuff? Seems paradoxical, but Makower gives an example of something Patagonia did recently: it cut down on 30 percent of its clothing line, deciding that, in the words of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, "two styles of ski pants are all that anyone needs."
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Federal Government Might Be Closing Early; Businesses Don't Have That Luxury
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe Mid-Atlantic today is being hit by its first bad winter storm of the season, and as is seemingly the case whenever a flake of snow appears, there's talk of the federal government shutting down early today.
Businesses, of course, can't afford to shut down whenever bad weather appears. They don't have their income guaranteed, unlike the federal government.
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Small-Business Owners' Spending At 30-Month Low, Survey Says
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe results of the Discover Small Business Watch survey were released today, and the big news is just how much the recession has taken a bite out of business expansion plans. Only 19 percent of small-business owners polled in the survey plan to increase their spending on business development over the next six months. That's the lowest number in the survey's 30-month history.
On the brighter side, 53 percent of those surveyed do NOT plan on raising extra funds to stay in business. Of those that will, 20 percent on going to lean on family and friends for the financial support, with personal savings a close second at 19 percent. Somewhat surprisingly given our supposed "credit crunch," 18 percent will seek bank loans.
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Can Small Businesses Weather Recession Better Than Large Chains?
Continue reading… 3 CommentsWe're hearing reports today that U.S. businesses are in the worst climate for demand in services and goods in 27 years. Are there any reasons for optimism left?
In today's economy, the only "glass-half-full" messages seem to be that things aren't always as bad as they seem. So here's one of those messages: When it comes to the worst business climate in 27 years, large chain stores might be bearing the brunt of the damage, instead of the small businesses.
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Sasha And Malia Dolls Are Latest Obama Cash-In
Continue reading… 18 CommentsRemember the enterprising Chicagoan who changed the name of his hair salon to "Obama's"? Well today we have reports of an even more shameless cash-in on the fervor surrounding our new president. The AP reports:
The company that makes the popular Beanie Babies is hoping for two more big winners with dolls named "Sweet Sasha" and "Marvelous Malia."
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The Oak Brook-based company chose the names because "they are beautiful names," not because of any resemblance to Malia and Sasha Obama, said spokeswoman Tania Lundeen.
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Academy Awards Controversy: Wall-E Gets Snubbed For Best Picture Oscar
Continue reading… 7 CommentsEven though the technology has progressed so much in the last few years, animated films just can't get real respect. That's the reaction that movie geeks across the globe are having to the list of nominees for the 81st Academy Awards, announced today, with the notable exclusion of Wall*E for Best Picture. A bunch of the commenters at movie news site Ain't It Cool are mad. Here's one example:
WALL-E was amazing and it would have been nice to see it recognized, but now that they have the Animated category you will likely NEVER see an animated feature make it for BP.
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Internet Porn The Victor At The Supreme Court In ACLU v. Mukasey
Continue reading… 8 CommentsEfforts to fight Internet regulation scored a major victory yesterday, as the Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's appeal of a 3rd Circuit decision that overturned the Child Online Protection Act. COPA, fi required owners of websites with "material harmful to minors" to take it upon themselves to prevent minors from getting access to their sites. The 3rd Circuit, however, ruled that it unnecessarily tramples on the First Amendment to place the burden on the website operators, when tools for parents to control what their children see online exist. Jack Balkin explains:
Not all parents are alike and not all children are alike; different parents might want to block different things. Some might decide not to block access at all but supervise and educate their children about Internet use in other ways. Without criminalizing website operations, the market can produce webservers and browsers to facilitate parental choice, as well third party software solutions, many of which already exist.
Generally speaking, the Internet should place filtering decisions and responsibilities on the end user, not the publisher of the content. There are exceptions to this basic rule, but sexually explicit speech is not one of them.
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Pet Food Recall: History Suggests That Overreaction Is Perhaps Most Dangerous
Continue reading… 22 CommentsIt seems like every few months a new recall scare sweeps the country. Well, that's what's been going on today, as at least six people seem to have died from salmonella in peanut butter snack foods, and pet food seems to have been infected as well, with PetSmart Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits being recalled.
The timing is interesting because I've been following the fallout from a different consumer product scare, and the controversy surrounding it is about to hit a major milestone.
Remember a couple years ago when lead poisoning in toys from China was the big story? Well, Congress responded to that whole debacle by passing the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to issue new regulations on children's products. But like all too many laws passed in the wake of media panics, there is evidence that the CPSIA may have overreached.
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Stimulus Bill: What's In It For The Entrepreneur?
Continue reading… 8 CommentsSo did you spend your extended MLK day weekend going through the economic stimulus bill put forth in the House? No? Well, then let me sum up the most relevant provisions for entrepreneurs and small businesspeople.
- As the House Appropriations Committee summary puts it, "to make loans more attractive to lenders and free up capital," $430 million to go to direct lending and SBA loan guarantees.
- There are also provisions to increase the amount of money that the SBA is willing to guarantee for loans to local business development groups.
- $100 million in grants and loans to guarantee $2 billionin loans for rural businesses.
- $70 million to boost the Technology Innovation Program. TIP is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and it was started in 2007 "to accelerate innovation in the United States through high-risk, high-reward research in areas of critical national need." The Appropriations Committee says this money would go into R&D for projects that are likely to yield high job growth. What's not known is exactly how TIP would choose those projects.
- $250 million for the Economic Development Administration "to address long-term economic distress in urban industrial cores and rural areas distributed based on need and ability to create jobs and attract private investment." Although the Appropriations Committee bills this as a "small business" provision, would this money really go to innovative entrepreneurs? Here's a local news story that gives an example of the kind of projects the EDA funds. Perhaps they are important for stimulus, but "shovel-ready" construction projects are not exactly the next Google.
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Obama's Inauguration Message: Risk-Takers Will Get Us Out of Recession
Continue reading… 1 CommentHere's a selection of Obama's inaugural speech that I hope doesn't get lost in all the commotion:
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.
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Circuit City To Liquidate In The Latest Massive Business Failure
Continue reading… 31 CommentsEven the Cars couldn't save Circuit City. The electronics retail giant is shifting from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and as early as tomorrow will begin liquidating all 567 of its stores' merchandise and laying off over 30,000 employees.
What are the lessons for other businesspeople from Circuit City's demise? Now is a good time for me to point you toward an interview I did with Paul Carroll, author of Billion-Dollar Lessons, a guide to some of the most devastating business failures of all time and why they happened.
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Indie 103.1: Has Radio Run Its Course?
Continue reading… 88 CommentsSpeaking of dying media, many Southern California residents were saddened to learn that Indie 103.1, a long-running radio station known for playing the edgy music that "corporate" stations wouldn't touch, is ceasing to broadcast today. Indie 103.1 had came under criticism for watering down its playlists in recent years to compete with rivals like KROQ, and it seems, based on a farewell message at the Indie 103.1 website, that the station's management did not like that direction either.
Former Indie 103.1 host Chris Morris writes on an LA Times blog about why this is a "very sad" day:
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SCHIP: For The Big Hospitals, Not The Children?
Continue reading… 12 CommentsYesterday I pointed to the NFIB's advocacy of the bill to expand SCHIP. Today, another major small-business organization--the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council--issued a press release taking the exact opposite stance:
The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) renewed its opposition to the vast expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) as legislation passed by the U.S. House and being considered by the U.S. Senate not only blows open a flawed and mismanaged program, but includes new mandates and options for states that will drastically drive up costs. In addition, the bill includes a protectionist measure that erects growth barriers for innovative physician-owned hospitals -- small to mid-size businesses in their own right that are providing patients with choice and access to efficient, high-quality health care.
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Ailing News Media Needs Help From Startups
Continue reading… 1 CommentMany tears have been shed over the supposedly imminent death of traditional journalism, to the point that some have even advocated a journalist bailout. But what's been too often ignored in analyses of the media is the role of the entrepreneur. The problems for the news media are creating opportunities for startup businesses to help the industry adjust to a new world.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that several major newspapers are outsourcing their foreign coverage in order to reduce the costs of maintaining foreign bureaus themselves. In some cases, this is going to mean newspapers just getting material from other newspapers. But there's also a very interesting role for the "new media" to play. As the article says,
Meantime, the New York Daily News has reached an agreement with a Boston-based start-up called GlobalPost to use the company's network of part-time foreign correspondents.
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SCHIP Gets Support From Small Business Organization
Continue reading… 16 CommentsThe National Federation of Independent Business, one of the largest small-business advocacy groups, is part of the coalition of organizations pushing for more spending on the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Hill reports.
SCHIP gives money to states to pay for the health insurance of families with children that do not qualify for Medicaid but have modest incomes. The issue of whether or not it should be expanded has been one of the most partisan in the past year or so.
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Video Game Regulation On The Way?
Continue reading… 6 CommentsThe video game industry has brushed off the recession. But can it escape the wrath of Washington (and state capitols) unscathed?
Michael Thompson at Ars Technica reports on the latest attempts to crack down on video games. Most notably, Congressman Joe Baca of California has introduced the Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2009, which would treat games the way the Surgeon General treats cigarettes. Any game with a Teen or higher rating gets a warning label slapped onto it: "WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."
