Business News Online

Turning A Hobby Into A Global Brand

Posted on Friday, 1st January 2010 by admin

An interview with Tim and Nina Zagat, founders of Zagat Survey.

Tim and Nina Zagat (left) with Robert Reiss

In June 2006, Jeff Howe of Wired magazine coined the term “crowdsourcing.” But the concept it describes, gathering insight and wisdom from the broad populace and using it to build a powerful communications medium, was born more than two decades earlier–at a dinner party. There a husband and wife decided to begin drawing on all their friends to rate restaurants, in the belief that the opinions of consumers could be more accurate than those of a few professional critics.

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The TightRope Walker

Posted on Friday, 1st January 2010 by admin

Vikram Akula is a rare microfinance entrepreneur who tries to bridge the gap between profits and compassion.

VIKRAM AKULA

HE IS a microfinance entrepreneur and founder of SKS.

WHAT SPURRED HIM ON: The inability of traditional microfinance firms to scale up and help more people.

NEXT BIG THING: Aiming to make SKS the largest MFI in the world and planning a big bang IPO in 2010.

In 1994, 26-year-old Vikram Akula was disbursing loans to villagers in remote areas of Andhra Pradesh state on behalf of a voluntary group.

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Make a Contract with Yourself for New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on Thursday, 31st December 2009 by admin

I love a new year. It’s a fresh start, an opportunity to refocus my goals, a chance to try something new. And there’s party hats!

But there’s not a lot to poke fun at. You can use the number of the year, but that obviously has an extremely short shelf life. There’s the ball dropping in New York, but drawing a big crowd is no fun. So, you’re pretty much left with resolutions.

After some thought it occurred to me that a New Year’s resolution is very much like a contract. It’s a promise to either do or not do something. But it’s just

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U.S. slaps levy on Chinese pipes

Posted on Wednesday, 30th December 2009 by admin

The steel imports to be taxed are called “oil country tubular goods.” They are hollow, circular steel products, including well casings and tubing. And in 2008, the U.S. imported $2.7 billion worth of them from China, a 357% increase in volume compared to 2006, according to the Commerce Department.

Overall, the U.S. consumes about $11.5 billion worth of the steel piping, according to the commission records.

The U.S. International Trade Commission said more information would be available later Wednesday.

The U.S. and China already have a tense relationship when it comes to trade, despite visits to Beijing earlier this year by President Obama and top cabinet officials

The first shot was fired earlier this fall, when the U.S.

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The EPA Tackles Greenhouse Gas

Posted on Wednesday, 30th December 2009 by admin

But the reductions won’t come cheap.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced earlier this month that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare,” and are thus subject to inflexible command-and-control regulations under existing law. The move could pressure Congress to pass a new law containing a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases. The EPA should have no illusions about the economic costs that will result from reducing greenhouse gases with these regulations.

Arguing in favor of cap-and-trade, Paul Krugman recently wrote that “cutting greenhouse gas emissions is affordable.” He reasons, correctly, that there will be cost savings stemming from the financial incentives for emission reductions provided by a cap-and-trade system relative to command-and-control.

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