The holidays could be a tough season for retailers, but some are taking a proactive stance, heading into the end of year by trying to generate a little excitement despite the cold water that’s being flung by the economy. On the heels of Kmart’s announcement of an exclusive line of Dora the Explorer products, comes notice from Walmart that it is introducing a new exclusive play and learning toy line under the Garanimals label. It will offer age appropriate toys for infants, toddlers and preschool children in bright packaging  -- you can almost see tiny hands snatching at Walmart shelves now – that features many of the same animal characters that lend Garanimals outfits their particular charm. The product line...

SandRidge Energy's deal to buy bankrupt Crusader Energy Group for $230 million will give the independent oil and gas company access to a number of unconventional gas plays and boost its positionin the Anadarko basin of Western Oklahoma and Permian basin in West Texas. The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based company announced it would pay up to $85 million in cash and issue common shares valued at $13.45 per share. Crusader filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March -- and listed assets of about $750 million and debts of $325.8 million as of Sept. 30, 2008. SandRidge Chairman and CEO Tom Ward declined to discuss details of the purchase during a conference call with investors Wednesday because of pending approval of the transaction...

Humana's letter to Medicare Advantage enrollees about the consequences of proposed cutbacks in reimbursement has set off a political storm. The Obama Administration is making a mistake by not leveling with the public.

Earlier this week, I argued that you’d have to be a fool to buy into the Talecris Biotherapeutics initial public offering. Now a banker presents the other side of the story.

Okay, okay, so Subway is nowhere near McDonald's size in terms of sales. But very soon, the sandwich chain could have more worldwide locations than its ubiquitous rival. Subway is close to 31,800 stores and is set to surpass McDonald's, with 32,158 locations, by the end of the year. McDonald's shouldn't be too upset -- expansion has not been its focus recently. Instead, the burger chain has looked at making individual restaurants more profitable -- and it, too, has succeeded in its goals. In the U.S., each McDonald's store brings in about $2.3 million a year, compared with about $445,000 a year for the average Subway, according to Technomic. Subway, on the other hand, has aggressively pursued new store openings;...

[podcast] Have you found yourself out of work? In this edition of BTalk Australia some useful advice on how to get yourself back on track from Paul Lyons, Group Managing Director for recruitment firm the Ambition Group.

Did you know that Google penalties actually have benefits to webmasters? They can serve as a wake up call to take action on a site. This is a topic that Ross Dunn of Stepforth Web Marketing discussed in the latest WebProNews video. He makes a pretty good point.

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The incubator or accelerator concept for start-ups is simple. Wikipedia initially defines Business incubators as “programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services.” The question for a young start-up becomes “what is the value of working with an incubator – and what are the tradeoffs?” I spoke with Steve Barsh, a managing partner of Philadelphia-based DreamIt Ventures and a Project Faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, about how DreamIt works with Startups. (I also had the privilege of speaking to this summer’s group back in August. ) Howard Greenstein.: What’s the role of an accelerator/incubator? Steve Barsh: The number one blended role is to help them refine their idea and de-risk it. Entrepreneurs run around with assumptions, thinking that everyone is going to want their product or service. Most business ideas are based on three to five key assumptions. How do you test and remove risk from those assumptions as quickly and as capital efficient as possible? By turning assumptions into knowledge as quickly and cheaply as you can. Build a product or service, release it to the world, and get it out to your market and test metrics. That way you de risk. Figure out “What did I learn?” and then iterate. Another way of doing it is to speak to your target market first, before you build anything. There is no need to build software to test entrepreneur’s assumptions. Ask your market and you’ll get requirements you didn’t know about, including feedback and reactions. HG: What resources can a company get from an incubator? SB: The most important thing is a mentor, a been-there done that entrepreneur who can help you through the process. Another critical resource is a speaker series that is very pragmatically focused with tips, tricks and help that companies can use to take action immediately. Professional support like accountants and attorneys and office space are usually included. Don’t minimize the ideation time, bouncing thoughts off others. The teams cross pollinate and work together and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Finally, they provide some working capital -“mac and cheese money” – so you don’t worry about paying the rent and eating. We take pressure off so you can focus on ideas. HG: What are some of the tradeoffs? SB: It will be a lot more intense – people describe it as “working out at the gym vs. working out at home.” Everyone is watching; so you lift more, work harder. You’re in a more competitive situation – if another group met with business prospects, you feel pressure to meet with business prospects. Another tradeoff is a some of your company’s equity. For some of the entrepreneurs, they had to move to Philly for the summer, find a sublet and just work - like boot camp for 3 months. You can learn more about the start-ups Dreamit worked with this past summer on their Demo Day page. In the next few weeks, I hope to have one of the ‘graduating’ company’s feedback on their experience. Did you work with an incubator? Share your story below.

During his wrap-up comments after the University of Southern California football team beat Ohio State University in Columbus, Brent Musberger, ABC/ESPN's long-time announcer, said that he believed that one of USC head coach Pete Carroll's greatest attributes was his ability to keep his team loose.

Managers can learn something from Carroll's loosey-goosey sideline demeanor. He prowls the sidelines but is often clapping, cheering, and giving "atta-boys" to his players. USC is a football juggernaut but even talented teams can get caught up in emotional swings, and Carroll's style helps keep everyone calm, and inevitably, more able to pay attention to what is happening and what they must do.

The purpose of keeping a team loose is not entertainment; it's a matter of keeping people focused. And that's why managers — especially those coping with challenging conditions like declining resources, tougher competition, and more demanding customers — can do well to keep their teams loose. Here are some suggestions.

Instill camaraderie. Optimal team performance depends on people pulling together for one another. Camaraderie-building can happen naturally between teammates, but managers can encourage it by creating groups or units of people whose talents complement each other. Injecting some humor into the mix through jokes and gentle teasing can speed the meshing of individuals. Camaraderie builds when people can laugh with each other, not always at each other. (That is, you can tease, but make certain you are available to be teased yourself.)

Get personal. Know your people and their capabilities. The secret to maintaining a loose atmosphere is belief in individuals' and the team's ability to perform. Trust that people know their stuff and will execute. Being light and loose with underperformers is not advised. You need to get people in gear before you can ease up with levity.

Coach 'em up. The art of management is putting the right people in the right places so they can succeed. Toward that end, good managers spend their time coaching their people for performance. If a manager has established good rapport with individuals through his light-hearted demeanor, he has a better ability to connect and get them to listen. (Note: too much joking will undercut a manager's ability to be perceived as serious.)

Make no mistake, too much fun and games is not healthy; it can be distracting and adversely affect morale. (USC lost its game to the University of Washington the following week.) Therefore, a manager must always make certain that people understand the importance of what they do. Treating people as though their contributions matter is critical. Likewise, holding people accountable for results is vital.

Just because work is serious does not mean everyone needs to take themselves or others seriously. You can be light and lively as long as you respect individual boundaries and the culture of work. Keeping things loose is not always easy, but it sure makes coming to work a bit more pleasant. And when people want to come to work, it's a good thing.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison can be a wellspring of newsworthy comments. Little wonder, then, that for close to an hour on Tuesday, IT journalists were rapt as he ruminated on the subjects of the day in an interview with Sun Microsystems' Ed Zander at the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley.