Feature Channels: Story Ideas: Business

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Scores of new alliances are born every day. One of the fastest, least capital-intensive ways for small-to-midsize companies to grow is to connect with a larger, more powerful partner or brand. But there is risk. Experts estimate a failure rate as high as 60 percent among new alliances. An Executive Action report from The Conference Board looks at how mid-market companies can go about finding a "big brother" they can trust.

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The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which had improved to 53 in the first quarter of 2007, fell to 45 in the second quarter. A reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses. The survey includes about 100 business leaders in a wide range of industries.

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From construction materials to office space, several facets of real estate have been transformed by globalization, according to new research from the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

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Companies that cook their books share several common characteristics that can serve as red flags to help predict accounting fraud, according to Patricia Dechow, an accounting professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

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Mergers and acquisitions have strongly rebounded from the downturn in 2001-2002. But many still fail to deliver value to the shareholder. To avoid pitfalls and better manage the process, many companies have begun to structure and formalize their integration practices, concludes a study by The Conference Board.

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A significant increase in royalty rates for Internet radio broadcasters will take effect July 15, with royalty payments retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006, set to be collected. Two Central Michigan University faculty members are available to discuss the royalty increase and its anticipated consequences.

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Using recent advances in the study of networks, two University of Arkansas economists suggest alternative measures of international economic integration, popularly referred to as globalization. Rather than focusing on trade levels of individual countries, the new measures consider the pattern of linkages that tie together countries around the world.

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As U.S. companies continue to wrestle with the implications of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a Florida State University researcher has provided evidence that certifying financial statements doesn't sway investors.

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Most large firms can expect to be sued for discrimination at least once a year, and the potential cost of litigation makes some companies wary of hiring minorities. A Washington University in St. Louis business professor offers a way to avoid lawsuits so that employers and employees benefit.

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In the days leading up to China's taking over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, the media and pundits were spouting cautionary tales of how China would ruin Hong Kong's success as Southeast Asia's financial center. One decade after the takeover, the city continues to thrive, according to a WUSTL professor.

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Avatars, virtual online characters designed to simulate human interactions, can enhance shoppers' enjoyment and lead to increased sales. But they may not be as useful for familiar, low cost, utilitarian products. So say two studies.

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Ports could use their cranes to move goods more quickly without investing in any new equipment. A system called double cycling would minimize empty return trips "“ what taxi drivers and long-haul truckers refer to as "deadheading" "“ by the massive cranes.

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For any leader managing a corporation, small business, school or non-profit, crises are inevitable. Dell Inc., for example announced last week that it will cut about 10 percent of its workforce. The ability to help a business or organization bounce back from adversity is critical for any successful leader.

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Despite the move of many business services overseas, call centers serving U.S. consumers are still largely at home, a Cornell-led study finds. The study examined call center management and employment practices in 17 countries.

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Non-profit organizations could be hard hit by talent shortages exacerbated by the large cohort of baby boomers soon entering the retirement years, but there will be opportunities as well, according to a new report from The Conference Board, the global research and business membership organization.

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Embracing innovation is the only way for Western businesses to succeed in the global market, says Indiana University economics Professor David Audretsch, whose new book, The Entrepreneurial Society, is due for release in July (Oxford University Press).

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Record-high gas prices and a weak housing market caused consumer confidence in Florida to fall three points in May to 82, its lowest level since October 2005, a new University of Florida study finds.

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Women entrepreneurs receive less angel funding than their male counterparts, partly because they seek funding at lower rates, and are more likely to seek funds from women angels than male angels, according to new research conducted by Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.

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Although businesses often choose locations near their competitors, successful companies with more advanced technology capabilities locate their offices near major academic institutions that can partner in research.

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Despite continuing fiscal challenges, the percentage of nonprofits reporting severe fiscal stress fell between 2003 and 2006, according to a survey by the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project.

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McDonald's new advertising campaign to promote high-level career opportunities within the company is a great way to fight the connotation of dead-end drudgery and low wages that comes with "McJobs," according to Jerry M. Newman, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the University at Buffalo School of Management.

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Success isn't always measured in dollars and cents. But does a company's non-financial performance measures reveal anything about the future bottom line? A business professor at Washington University in St. Louis finds that there's definitely a link "” but only when the competition is stiff.

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Washington University in St. Louis business professor says Imus incident shows importance of workplace civility.

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Believing in yourself may be good for the soul, but it can also be good for the bank account, according to a new University of Florida study that finds self-confidence can translate into earning hundreds of thousands of dollars more over a lifetime.

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Minority small-business owners in Washington state are, much like entrepreneurs across the country, confident about their abilities to succeed despite the fact that fewer than one-third of them feel that the state's business climate is supportive. Their overall confidence level, a measure of how positively they view future business success, is 56 out of a possible 100 points.

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Public concerns about climate change, energy independence and corporate social responsibility have pushed companies large and small to focus on sustainability to improve the bottom line. Just last month, Home Depot launched an "Eco Options" label identifying certain products on its shelves as environmentally friendly.

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The Supreme Court's decision April 30 to raise the bar for patents on products combining elements of pre-existing inventions is a landmark in the battle against so-called "nuisance patents" and just one more sign that the tide is turning against overly restrictive and costly intellectual property right protections, suggests a pair of economists from Washington University in St. Louis. "This may be an important watershed in patent law," contends David K. Levine, an economist who studies the hidden costs of intellectual property rights protections.

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How hard is it to deliver a package to Ouagadougou? A Georgia Tech logistics group puts the major carriers (UPS, FedEx and DHL) to the test every year with its Great Package Race, a contest to see which carrier can get a package to a very challenging locale the fastest and in the best condition.

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In the business world, it's a fact of life that companies sometimes let their customers down. Whether the letdown is minor "” such as forgetting to provide silverware at a restaurant "” or major, such as making airline passengers sit on a stuffy plane for 10 hours during bad weather "” all companies have a vested interest in addressing such "performance failures" in a way that encourages customers to keep coming back.

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In a new study, University of Arkansas economists show that trade structure "“ the number of trade partners a country has and the concentration of trade among those partners "“ affects a country's economic growth independently of trade volume. The findings indicate that disparities between poor and rich economies may demand different policies regarding trade structure.

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The study surveyed 238 salespeople from stores dealing in durable goods. Written scenarios outlined possible customer behaviors to test salespersons' reactions to three aspects of the legitimacy of the return request - whether the customer behaved in a socially acceptable manner, whether the return request made logical sense, and whether the return would be within store rules.

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Six student businesses in the areas of energy, recycling, health and sleep aids, and custom diamonds will participate in the final round of the 2007 Babson College Business Plan Competitions as part of Babson's Founder's Day celebration on April 19th.

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In a new paper, Northeastern University Professor of Marketing Samuel Rabino, Dr. Howard Moskowitz, President of Moskowitz and Jacobs Inc. and colleagues analyze the consumption patterns of 6,700 respondents' evaluation of 22 food and beverage products in three countries, creating a comprehensive database of their findings.

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Total online job ads were 3,754,400 in March, a dip of 69,800 or 2 percent from February, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Seriesâ„¢ released today, reflecting the shorter reference period of mid-February to mid-March, when there were three fewer days than in the previous month. There were 2.5 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in March.

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More companies will be able to use phased retirement to retain valuable skills and knowledge while providing mature workers with an alternative to the all-or-nothing approach to retirement, according to a report released today by The Conference Board, the global research and business membership organization.

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Corporate governance has been in the forefront of public debate lately, in the form of options backdating, inflated CEO compensation packages and attempts to change shareholder power. The backlash is felt the boardroom, throughout an enterprise and, ultimately, it takes its toll on all of society.

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Investors put more money into mutual funds that advertise, but in the end these customers pay a high price. A new study in Sweden found that mutual funds that advertise don't perform any better than their competitors. But, maybe as a result of their advertising costs, these firms do tend to charge higher fees, meaning that their customers may actually earn less income over time.

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Texas Tech University's Cotton Economics Research Institute forecasts that in terms of cotton production, China will remain on top while the United States falls to number three as India rises to the second spot on the heels of recent technological breakthroughs in seed and production practices.

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A life sized blue whale web banner has been a runaway success. It is the latest awareness-raising initiative to highlight the risk to whales from on-going whaling activities by countries such as Japan, Norway and Iceland. We are now looking for a generous IT partner to help host the interactive web banner in face of growing demand.

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The angel investor market experienced steady growth in 2006, with total investments of $25.6 billion, an increase of 10.8 percent over 2005, according to the 2006 Angel Market Analysis released today by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.

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"This jacket makes you look 20 pounds lighter!" Sales pitches such as this can be heard every day in just about any mall in the United States. However, such ploys likely do little to clinch a sale "” and may, in fact, create negative perceptions among shoppers, says Peter Darke, an assistant professor in the department of marketing of Florida State University's FSU College of Business in Tallahassee, Fla.

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Charging online content providers such as Yahoo! and Google for preferential access to the customers of Internet service providers might not be in the best interest of the millions of Americans, despite claims to the contrary, a new University of Florida study finds.

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Total online job ads were 3,824,200 in February, an increase of 682,400 or 22 percent from January, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series released today.

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Consumers perceive restaurants with higher menu prices but no tipping to be more expensive than restaurants with lower menu prices and tipping, finds a new study from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research.

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Women Entrepreneurs worldwide"”in high and low income countries and with varied levels of education"”are more than likely employed in a second wage-earning job. Dual employment is a critical factor in the creation of women-run entrepreneurial ventures according to The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2006 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship released today by The Center for Women's Leadership at Babson College.

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Futures traders tend to sell more contracts on windy days at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In particular, the strength of the wind in the morning impacts what the traders do in the afternoon, according to research by three finance professors.

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A personal financial planning professor advises keeping long-term goals in mind in the face of Tuesday's sharp stock tumble.

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Actuaries, those number-crunching whizzes who help determine insurance premiums based on the odds of bad things happening, are in high demand these days, because new mathematical models are needed to respond to natural disaster trends and the growing complexity of healthcare insurance. "” Drake University

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New digital technologies and broadband Internet access have increased digital piracy of music, movies and other creative products. But the threat of widespread digital piracy also has produced "copyright panic," spawning an illogical expansion of copyright protections in recent years, contends an intellectual property expert at the University at Buffalo Law School.

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The Association of University Technology Managers, the premier nonprofit group for academic technology transfer professionals, announces the release of both the 2005 U.S. and Canadian Licensing SurveyTM Summaries "” quantitative data and real-world examples about licensing activities at U.S. and Canadian universities, hospitals and research institutions.