After Calm Year, Bank of America Faces Storms

On September 17, 2009

After Calm Year, Bank of America Faces Storms

For Bank of America, 2009 has been a relatively stable year. Management turmoil, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) loans, and potential earnings volatility have all been handled very much business as usual, rewarded with a gain of 21.5 percent in the firm's stock price. For America's second largest financial institution by market cap however, things may be about to get a lot rockier in the coming months. For a start, there's that problem of Andrew Cuomo.  For the New York Attorney General, the bank's usual placative mantra of "we're co-operating fully" only seems to be an incentive to delve deeper in his investigation into which board members knew what at the time of the Merrill Lynch deal last year. Wednesday, Cuomo issued...
On September 17, 2009

How to Keep Online Shopping Carts On Target

Online retail sales are projected to increase by 11 percent this year to US$156 billion, according to Forrester Research. Although that's good news, it's a small decline from last year's growth of 13 percent. It's clear the down economy, with the lack of credit access and low consumer confidence, has dampened consumer spending.
On September 17, 2009

Smarter Planet, Smarter Processes

As the systems that run the way we work and live become smarter, the workplace as we know it is undergoing dramatic and dynamic change. The challenge organizations face is embracing the rapid shifts in today's world for their own advantage rather than resisting them.
On September 17, 2009

Deficits In U.K. and U.S. Growing

Both the U.S. and the U.K. are facing massive deficit projections in the out years. It will take discipline and cuts to fix this problem. These are probably going to be in short supply.
On September 17, 2009

CBI Presents IP Six-Point Plan

In the next couple of weeks, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is about to launch a report on intellectual property (IP). In anticipation of the launch, it has published a six-point plan to encourage businesses to utilise their IP more effectively and so pull the UK economy out of recession a bit faster. As the CBI rightly argues that IP is an important issue for UK companies because As a service economy, IP is often their most lucrative asset. Apparently, many companies don't protect their IP well enough. Briefly then, the CBI's recommendations are as follows: Set up an Intellectual Property Office to act as a champion for IP in the UK. Work to create a common patent that...
On September 17, 2009

Midwest Starts Milwaukee – St Louis on American’s Turf

I just noticed that Midwest announced late this afternoon that it will fly from Milwaukee to St Louis. That might not seem controversial, but it is either going to really anger American or American is doing something in St Louis that we don't yet know.
On September 16, 2009

Suite101 Expands: Another Small Sign of Hope for Writers?

For content creators -- researchers, reporters, writers, editors, designers, photographers, producers and many others, both online or off -- this has been an especially prolonged and disorienting recession. It has often seemed that just about everyone you know in the business has lost his or her job recently, with seemingly few prospects of landing a new one. My sense, however, is that the tide is beginning to turn. In the past few weeks, I've been noticing more and more job listings seeking freelance writers, bloggers, and other professional content creators. Executives I've interviewed at a range of companies -- from behemoths like AOL to large companies like Examiner.com to a range of startups have told me they are now actively...
On September 16, 2009

Lauren Conrad YouTube Tops Kohl’s Online Fashion Effort

So, what do you do if you have a television star for a celebrity designer? If you're Kohl’s you create a YouTube advertising campaign and you take advantage of your opportunities. Kohl’s has introduced a new video, part of a series, featuring Lauren Conrad, once of television’s The Hills, now involved in a design career. The latest installment designated Lauren Conrad Style Tips for Fall is essentially a long commercial for the October launch -- the line already is available on the retailer's website, which also sports Conrad video -- for her new Kohl’s fashion brand LC Lauren Conrad. The behind-the-scenes video features the actress-turned-designer explaining her clothes, working with models to style her clothes evens modeling the clothes herself...
On September 16, 2009

Why Your Small Business Needs a Blog

We’ve posted before on “How a Web Page Can Make Running Your Small Business Easier,” and if you followed that advice and created a web presence, then you might think that your work is finished. But not so fast! When is the last time you updated the content on your website? Has your website caused [...]


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