Feature Channels: Story Ideas: Business

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In October there were 4,161,700 online advertised vacancies, a decrease of 108,300 or -2.5% percent from the September level, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series (HWOL) released today. Nationally online advertised vacancies were up (8.6%) over the year (October'06-October'07). There were 2.71 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in October.

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After surviving years of slumping enrollment, these programs are now growing again as a booming industry means graduates are virtually guaranteed employment at salaries upward of $100,000. Programs are hiring faculty to meet the demand and Texas Tech University's Petroleum Engineering Department is even preparing to launch a new fundraising campaign to address the global and national workforce issues surrounding the oil and gas industry.

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Michael Goldberg, associate professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics, has co-authored a new book that offers a fresh way to think about markets and represents a potential turning point in economics.

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"Extreme cherry pickers," grocery shoppers who buy only sale items and nothing else, do not harm retailer profits significantly as generally is believed, according to a forthcoming study in the Journal of Marketing Research.

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Major League Baseball implemented revenue sharing to create incentives for ball clubs to build their teams and build their fan base. It's ended up having the opposite effect. Small market teams may find money from revenue sharing more profitable than what they earn from winning a game.

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Real estate laws that require sellers and their agents to provide prospective homebuyers with basic information about a neighborhood, such as whether it is in a flood zone or an airport noise zone, decrease housing prices by thousands of dollars, according to two new studies from Virginia Tech.

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Close to 16 percent of American households who use the internet watch television broadcasts online, The Conference Board and TNS report today. The number of consumers viewing entire episodes/shows on the internet has doubled from a year ago.

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Job seekers are steadily increasing their use of the internet as a key part of their job search, The Conference Board reported today. In the most recent survey of workers who searched for a job between January and September 2007, 73 percent reported using the internet compared to 66 percent of job seekers in the same time period in 2005.

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Consumers, tired of sifting through overflowing mailboxes can now sign up for a new free service that gives users the power to choose the catalogs they no longer want to receive in the mail.

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Take a look inside the average American household and you're likely to find high-tech electronic equipment, sports gear and kids' toys far too complicated for their owners' use. That's because consumers often buy unsuitable products because they base purchase decisions on their perceived, rather than actual, abilities says a University of Michigan business professor.

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Considerable attention, both in blogs and in popular media, has been given to abusive bosses over the past few years. (See the Web sites HateBoss.com and WorkRant.com, for example.) Less discussed are employees' responses to such behavior. How do employees react to abusive supervisors? Do they simply take what is dished out, or do they actively seek to change the situation?

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A study of 90 Iowa small business owners by three Iowa State University management professors found that there is very little awareness of bankruptcy protection among owners. Their study "The Impact of Bankruptcy Laws on the Entrepreneurial Decision: Are Entrepreneurs Even Aware?," will be published in the October issue of the Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship.

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The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which had declined to 45 in the second quarter of 2007, edged down to 44 in the third quarter.

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Popular primetime TV shows like "The Office" or "30 Rock" find humor in the rudeness and sarcasm of fictional employees, but in the real world, workplace boorishness is no laughing matter: Several forms of 9-to-5 incivility earned spots on a "Terrible Ten" list of rude behaviors, based on a new survey of 615 workers and others in Baltimore.

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Execution is taking precedence over profit and top-line growth as a focus for CEOs around the world, according to a global survey of chief executives released today by The Conference Board.

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Thinking like an entrepreneur begins early for students at Wake Forest University, where last year six freshmen got so excited about their first-year seminar in biophysics they started a company.

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The most vital course of action currently needed on workforce readiness is for business, education and community groups to work together toward developing a shared sense of responsibility.

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As baby boomers move closer to the traditional retirement age, corporations are being challenged to keep mature workers engaged, retain their knowledge within the organization, and harness the benefits of an intergenerational workforce.

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UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Professors Eduardo Andrade and Teck-Hua Ho show that incidental feelings influence strategic decisions, such as employees asking for a raise when their boss is in a good mood.

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You might want to drop that half human-half animal avatar when you head into Second Life for a job interview. Companies, says Rowan University business prof Dr. Darren Nicholson, use cues from avatars when screening job candidates in virtual worlds, and what that avatar looks like can impact your chances to land the position you want.

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The civil society sector in a wide range of countries contributes about as much to gross domestic product as do the construction and finance industries and twice as much as the utilities industry, a new report says.

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Florida's consumer confidence inched up one point to 79 in September but is likely to continue its downward trend in the coming months thanks to higher gas prices and an expansion of the housing downturn to other segments of the economy, a new University of Florida study finds.

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A new study by the Carsey Institute shows that rural mothers with children under age 6 have higher employment rates than their urban counterparts, but have higher poverty rates, lower wages, and lower family income.

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Managing a socially responsible investment fund is one of the new learning experiences the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business will offer to its graduate students starting this fall.

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Finance research has demonstrated that in the global economy, non-U.S. firms benefit from convergence toward U.S. market and legal regulations. Researchers have examined the relative advantages of the two convergence methods "“ cross-listing and acquisition by a U.S. firm "“ and determined that passage of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which tightened reporting and accounting procedures in response to major corporate scandals, is changing the way foreign firms converge.

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When it is time to sell a change in your company, know the culture of your organization, especially of the group you need to impress, and tailor your argument in the language and metrics of your target group so your message will resonate, says a University of Oregon management professor.

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Family photos, kids' artwork and favorite knickknacks help personalize an office workspace, but too many personal touches may reflect poorly on a worker's professional image, say researchers at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

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Outsourcing. Offshoring. Compartmentalizing. More than corporate buzzwords, these trends are redefining the nature of work for millions of Americans, as well as their counterparts all over the world. But what are the ramifications of these trends for the people who actually do the work?

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Researchers have found a new way to predict who will fail or succeed in a managerial role or in a competitive academic environment by assessing the cognitive functions of the prefrontal cortex - often described as the "executive" of the brain.

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USC Marshall team presents findings at APEC summit.

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In August there were 4,104,800 online advertised vacancies, an increase of 20,600 or 0.5 percent from the July level, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Seriesâ„¢ (HWOL) released today. Online advertised vacancies were up (12%) over the year (August'06-August'07). There were 2.65 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in August.

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Despite the bleak real estate outlook nationwide, Florida's new home market appears for now to be stabilizing as a result of persistent demand for homes and lack of overbuilding, according to a University of Florida study released today.

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Central Michigan University journalism professor and USA Today expert John K. Hartman is available to speak with the media as the 25th anniversary of USA Today approaches.

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Babson College is featured in the Princeton Review's 2008 edition of its annual book, "Best 366 Colleges."

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Office workers are well aware that gossip is an inevitable reality of the workplace. "She did what?" "He said that to the CEO?" While some gossip is relatively harmless, other forms can be damaging to the target and even result in a criminal complaint.

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The latest round of bad news in the housing market dealt a blow to consumer confidence in August, causing a three-point drop to 78, its lowest level in a year, a new University of Florida study finds.

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Starting your own company is difficult but the journey is worth it, say most Southern California entrepreneurs in a first-ever survey by the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the USC Marshall School of Business.

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All-in-one multifunction business machines "“ the ones that print/ fax/ scan/ and copy, which are popular in business offices across the nation, may also pose a security threat.

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States that allow private repair shops to conduct emissions tests give the stations incentives to cheat, but not in a way that helps reduce pollution, according to a professor at the Olin School of Business.

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Companies are now being forced to constantly reorganize in order to stay competitive. A new report from The Conference Board pinpoints the implications of executing a new organization design, and the telltale signs that indicate organization problems. The report is based on discussions from recent Conference Board conferences and workshops, with senior executives from a wide variety of industries.

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The end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994 brought the African National Congress to political power along with a mandate for reform of nearly all the nation's institutions, including the telecommunications sector. But "the reform of telecommunications has largely failed," according to an analysis by Robert Horwitz, professor of communication at the University of California, San Diego, just published in the journal Telecommunications Policy.

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The rich really are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, a new University of Michigan study shows.

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In response to continuous developments in the realm of corporate governance, The Conference Board Governance Center has issued a new handbook to assist boards of directors in the performance of their duties.

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Wal-Mart and Greenpeace may seem unlikely bedfellows, but when it comes to the push by the retail industry to go green, old conventions are dissolving while new collaborations are being formed, according to a Wal-Mart executive speaking at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting in Chicago.

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The pursuit of health and wellness is no longer an option for four of the biggest global food companies; it's mandatory, said senior officials from major food companies at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo.

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A private equity acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover might be the best thing to happen to the companies, according to a professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Luxury consumers in the U.S. and much of Western Europe are remarkably similar in many ways, especially in the emphasis consumers place on experiences, rather than something that one has or owns, according to a report released today by the Consumer Research Center of The Conference Board.

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Just before a July 18 forum held by the FTC, 11 of the largest food companies in the United States announced they established and will adhere to new standards for marketing high fat, high sugar foods to children. American University's Kathryn Montgomery, an expert on children and media, testified at the forum and said more change is needed.

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How much time consumers have to buy a product significantly affects their purchase decision as well as their reaction to different marketing messages, according to a forthcoming article coauthored by Jennifer Aaker of the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business; Cassie Theriault of Stanford University; and Ginger Pennington of the University of Chicago.

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The Conference Board says today that after a very long wait, long-term Treasury bond yields have begun to reflect a better outlook for the U.S. economy and the prospect that the next move in the federal funds rate will be up.