Business, Nonprofits and Your Library

Recycling Industry

2012-01-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

In the town of Yashiro, 27km outside of Osaka, Japan, washing machines, air conditioning units, television sets and refrigerators hum along conveyor belts, each having reached the end of its life cycle, and is about to be disassembled, shredded and, sometimes, pulverized. Machines capture noxious gases that comprise cooling refrigerants. Resins including polypropylene and polystyrene are recovered thanks to technology that can quickly sort and separate various types of plastics. New developments will improve the capture of rare earth metals from high end electronics.
This is the PETEC (Panasonic Eco Technology Centre) complex, a clean, ultra-modern and relatively quiet facility. Since 2001, over 1.4bn appliances have been recycled, producing enough materials to manufacture 95 jumbo jets, the equivalent of 81 of the Great Buddha statue at Nara and 158,000 cars from reclaimed aluminum, copper and steel.
Japan's Home Appliance Law, in effect for over 10 years, is in large part responsible for the innovation that facilities like PETEC have sparked. The law has forced the extensive implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) that has become common in Europe, but has found huge success and buy-in throughout Japan. The law places the burden and responsibility of recycling on everyone: consumers, retailers and manufacturers.
Consumers pay a recycling fee when they drop off their used appliances at either a retail outlet or collection center. They must also purchase a recycling ticket that proves to a collector that any recycling fees, which manufacturers themselves impose on products, have been paid. Recycling fees, which are supposed to cover the costs of collecting, transporting and recycling the appliances, are eventually transferred to the manufacturers. Retailers continue their roles as the middleman as they are tasked with collecting and distributing unwanted machines to the appropriate recycling facilities.
The vast investment in PETEC has provided an approximate 10 percent return on investment, and the thriving research and development staff in Yashiro keeps churning out best practices that filter to Panasonic's 48 other recycling facilities. UK Guardian has a good story on PETEC.

In the U.S. the typical life of most major home appliances is 10 to 18 years. We have local and state programs for recycling appliances but nothing like Japan’s. We probably should, given that major home appliances are made up of approximately 75 percent steel. About 10 percent of the steel processed by the recycling industry comes from large appliances. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the use of scrap instead of virgin materials to make new steel results in a 97 percent reduction in mining wastes, 90 percent savings in virgin materials use, 86 percent reduction in air pollution, 76 percent reduction in water pollution, 74 percent savings in energy, and 40 percent reduction in water use. The remaining materials in appliances include metals such as aluminum, zinc and copper, as well as recyclable plastics and CFC refrigerants.
More interesting, though, is the U.S. scrap metal industry. According to a 2011 study by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the U.S. scrap recycling industry is not only a thriving economic engine, but also a pivotal player in environmental protection, resource conservation and sustainability. The industry recycled more than 130 million metric tons of materials in 2010, transforming outdated or obsolete scrap into useful raw materials needed to produce a range of new products.
In addition to being an environmental steward, the study confirmed that the U.S. scrap recycling industry plays a prominent role as an economic leader, job creator and major exporter. Specifically, the study found that the people and firms that purchase, process and broker old materials to be manufactured into new products in America provide 459,140 adults with good jobs in the United States and generate more than $90 billion annually in economic activity.
The export market is also a huge economic driver. In fact, were it not for the export markets, many materials, including post‐consumer paper and electronics would probably not be recycled at all simply because there is no demand for them in the United States. By opening up new markets, the nation’s recycled materials producers create demand for materials that might otherwise end up in landfills.
In the case of electronic products, for example, there simply is not enough demand in the United States for the more expensive post-consumer materials including gold and titanium that may be smelted out of circuit boards, capacitors and other electronic parts. On the other hand, countries like India, where demand for gold is particularly high, see value in these materials. The scrap industry is the first link in the global supply chain for the growing demand of all manner of commodities ranging from iron and steel to paper; nonferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, and zinc; plastics; electronics; rubber; and more. The result is economic and environmental sustainability for the U.S. and theworld through the supply of high quality, environmentally friendly and energy saving raw materials to the global marketplace.
In 2010, the industry exported nearly $30 billion in commodity grade scrap products to more than 155 countries, significantly helping the U.S. balance of trade.

Week-end in Business

2012-01-06T15:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some interesting, thought-provoking business items I ran across this week:
We all know that the job market is looking better with 200,000 jobs added last month. This good news is added to growing consumer confidence, factories stepping up production and small businesses showing signs of life, but did you know that for the first time in many years, manufacturing is a bright spot in the American economy? The Institute for Supply Management reported that its employment index for December was 55.1, the highest reading since June. Any number above 50 indicates that more companies say they are hiring than say they are reducing employment. The United States is particularly strong in machinery, chemicals and transportation equipment, which together make up nearly half of the exports. Exports of computers and electronic products are growing, but are well below their pre-crisis levels. Production of cheaper computers and parts shifted to Asia long ago. Check out the article here.

If you've ever watched It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, here’s another take-- It’s Always Sunny in Silicon Valley. In Silicon Valley, Occupy Wall Street isn’t really an issue, since, according to Google Chairman Erin Schmidt, “Their issues are not our daily reality.” In Silicon Valley, restaurants are booked, freeways are packed, and companies are flush with cash. According to this week's Bloomberg Businessweek, Silicon Valley gets 40 percent of the country’s venture capital, up from 31 percent a decade ago, the area’s job market jumped jumping 3.2 percent, triple the national rate, and real estate, a cesspool of despair in the rest of the country, is humming along. The closest Silicon Valley got to “Occupy…” was “Occupy: Cupertino” the line outside Apple stores in October for the iPhone 4S.

Retail news: I’m sure you’ve heard that Barnes and Noble is considering breaking off their profitable Nook business, but did you know that Hansen Natural Corp is changing its name to Monster Beverage Corp? Hansen Natural Corp makes a line of namesake juices as well as Admiral Iced Tea, Blue Sky energy drinks and Junior Juice. Its website features pastoral images of rolling hills and butterflies. Not good enough. Hansen’s also makes the gritty Monster Energy drinks, with its neon-green triple-slash logo. Stockholders agreed Thursday that the company needed to toughen up its image with the new name. Monster Beverage Corp. shares will begin trading under the ticker symbol MNST on Monday.

Since my daughter lives in Scotland, I’ve come to read the business section of The Guardian. In addition to all the articles on American politics, Eurozone unemployment, Australian sports, David Bowie turning 65, and might The Hobbit get a new ending? I found an interesting article on the London Summer Olympics—they’ll be fun, but don’t count on them to fix the British economy. Michael Saunders, of Citigroup, examined the data from ten Olympics held between 1964 and 2008. Growth tends to rise in the run-up to the Olympics, but the effect starts to fall away even before the games begin, and afterwards, growth tends to be weaker. This is to be expected since the jobs created are primarily from construction, which ends long before the opening ceremony. What is worrisome is the less productive workers huddled around television sets, and travel disruption as hundreds of thousands of supporters flock to London.
The London Olympics team claim that tourism would benefit "right across the UK, not just during the games, but for years before and afterwards as well"; but what about the visitors who might have come to the UK anyway, and will just switch the timing of their visit. Australia saw a 16% rise in short-term visitors in September 2000 when the Sydney games were held; but visits then declined for three years afterwards – presumably lots of people who'd always fancied going Down Under chose to time their visit to coincide with the Olympics.
David Cameron cites the "feelgood factor", which he claims will lift the mood of the nation as the sporting jamboree unfolds, it won't necessarily result in a sudden boost to consumer spending. In fact, it's just as likely to depress demand while everyone is glued to their televisions.
Research has consistently shown that unless you've a beautiful-but-neglected city you want to put on the tourist map (Barcelona), or plenty of world-class sporting venues already (Los Angeles), the impact of holding the Games is ambiguous at best.
As Saunders puts it, "In our view, the Olympics are likely to be very entertaining. But the games are not an economic policy."

Have a great weekend...

Richard Cantillon, Irish Political Economist

2011-03-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Since we’re about to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Richard Cantillon, the 18th century Irish political economist, and author of Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General (Essay on the Nature of Trade in General), comes to mind. Like other Irish authors I’ve run across, Cantillon is an unknown responsible for many very well known things—in this case, modern political economic theory.

Richard Cantillon’s Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General is generally considered to be the origin of modern political economic thought. His Essai was completed and distributed as a pamphlet sometime between 1730 and 1734, but was not published until 1755, long after Cantillon’s death. The book was recently reprinted by the Ludwig van Mises Institute .

Besides founding most modern political economic thought, Richard Cantillon had a very interesting life. He was born in County Kerry, Ireland, sometime during the 1680s, to a family long loyal to the Stuart Catholic cause. Because there were Cantillons who fought for the Stuarts, his family held titles and influential positions in banking, especially in Paris. Cantillon moved to Paris in 1714. By 1716 he was a banker to the Stuart court and to other Irish émigrés in Paris. Around this time, Cantillon became involved with British mercantilist and banker to the French government, John Law. The French government granted Law and his bank a virtual monopoly over the right to develop French territories in North America through his Mississippi Company. Law began a financial speculative bubble by selling shares of the company, using his bank’s control on the issue of bank notes to finance investors. Working with Law, Richard Cantillon bought Mississippi Company shares early and sold them at inflated prices, amassing a huge fortune for himself. Their relationship eventually broke down, causing John Law to threaten Cantillon with imprisonment if he did not leave Paris within “twenty-four hours.” His exact words were, “I can send you to the Bastille tonight if you do not give me your word to quit the kingdom in four and twenty hours!” (see Anthony Brewer, Richard Cantillon: Pioneer of Economic Theory, 1992). Instead of leaving Paris, the intrepid Cantillon promised Law he, and only he, could make his (Law’s) system succeed. Soon after, the “Mississippi bubble” collapsed, and Cantillon came out on top, having collected on debt that had accrued at very high interest rates. Most of his debtors suffered huge financial losses in the bubble. They hounded Cantillon with countless lawsuits, murder plots and criminal accusations for the rest of his life, and into his suspicious death.

In 1722, Cantillon had married Mary Mahony, daughter of Count Daniel O’Mahony—a wealthy merchant and former Irish general. By 1729, their permanent residence became London. In May 1734, Cantillon’s London residence was burned to the ground, with Cantillon inside. The fire was believed to have been set by his servant to cover up the murder of Cantillon—the murder having been committed either by the servant because of unpaid wages, or by the servant on behalf of one or a group of Cantillon’s debtors. Lately, however, the theory that Cantillon staged his own death to escape the endless harassment of his debtors has been floated; Cantillon later appeared in Suriname under the name Chevalier de Louvigny (Antoin Murphy, Richard Cantillon: Entreprenuer and Economist, 1987).

So what were the modern theories of political economy developed by this Irishman? His manuscript, published in 1755 in Paris, was pretty much neglected until the end of the 19th century, when it was “rediscovered” by William Stanley Jevons, who considered it the “cradle of political economy,” though it had been one of the few works referenced by Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations. Essai was translated into English in 1932 by Henry Higgs.

In a nutshell, Richard Cantillon’s Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General was the first dedicated treatise of economics as an analysis of the entire economic system . His theories on wealth, inflation, uncertainty, entrepreneurship and value are just some of the original contributions to political economic theory. Other contributions in Essai include his theory of interest, the creation of a spatial theory of economics (economic geography), exchange rate and international monetary relations theory, and the introduction of the notion of economic self-regulation and the “invisible hand.”

In Essai, Cantillon distinguishes between wealth and money, considering wealth in itself “nothing but food, conveniences, and pleasures of life.” Cantillon advocated a theory of value based on the cost of production (input of land and labor). He held that market prices are not immediately decided by this “intrinsic value.” Market prices are derived from supply and demand, by comparing the quantity of a particular good in a particular market (supply) with the quantity of money brought to be exchanged (demand). He was one of the first to consider demand subjective, varying with human fancies, such as styles of living.

One of Cantillon’s most positive contributions to economics is his introduction of the concept of the entrepreneur into economics, though Jean-Baptiste Say is credited with coining the word. Cantillon saw the entrepreneur as a risk-taker. An entrepreneur balances supply and demand in a market while bearing the risk of uncertainty, due to the speculative nature of pandering to an unknown demand for his product. The “hired man,” on the other hand, earned a contractual income, bearing no uncertainty. Cantillon divided society into these two principal classes—fixed income wage-earners (hired men) and non-fixed income earners (entrepreneurs).

You can read more about Richard Cantillon here, and here and, of course, here. Or check your library's eResource, Business Source Premier, for more on theories of political economy.

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day.

LaidOffCamp

2010-05-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

I attended my first LaidOffCamp here in Fort Collins this morning. I participated both to learn how a LaidOffCamp functions, and to get my brain around how a concept such as an Unconference can actually accomplish anything.

I could tell pretty fast that an "Unconference" concept was a paradigm shift for many in the room (including me)—you mean we don’t just sit here and be lectured to? You, you up front, you mean you don’t instruct me on my next step in life, job, home, etc., expecting me to treat you like a guru. I suppose many (most) of the attendees were over 45, and we’ve spent our lives being lectured to. LaidOffCamp doesn’t lecture.

This is how LaidOffCamp works:

LaidOffCamp is considered an Unconference. It’s about the participants, about the community. If you decide to attend, you become a participant, not an attendee. You come prepared to share what you know, to list what you want to know, to facilitate what others want to learn.

1. The first half-hour is spent learning what an Unconference is.
2. Participants walk up to the white boards and write down what they want to learn and/or what they can offer as a session.
3. Lead participants take 15 minutes to organize the sessions based on what the participants want to learn, name a facilitator for each session, and time the sessions.
4. Sessions take place--usually 30 minutes each--either in the session room(s), or a discussion between 2 participants can take place in the hallway.

Participating is as simple as asking a question, taking notes and sharing them, or sharing a specialty. Everyone in that room this morning had something to share—an expertise, a specialty, an experience, a career-changing tidbit. The responsibility for sharing this or learning from another participant is up to each person. For example, I suggested a session on researching new opportunities. My session was about career and job change, and business start-up resources available at the local library.

During the morning, I ran into two women (separately) who both happened to have worked in theater. I wanted to get them together, talk local theater—both had experience in costuming and theater design (what's the chance of that in such a gathering?). There's a void in Northern Colorado for a costume/theater prop rental business. Unfortunately, the atmosphere was not conducive to this sort of networking, or in the end, was it conducive to sharing such experiences. For the next LaidOffCamp, I'll suggest (write down) a session where everyone just talks about what they’ve done as jobs and what they’ve done as a passion, then facilitate connections for freelance business opportunities.

LaidOffCamp started in San Francisco when 400 “creatively employed” or unemployed people came together for an open Unconference to share their experience, expertise, and stories, with the goal of helping each other through the tough times. Kevin Beucher and Nick Armstrong, two local entrepreneurs, brought LaidOffCamp to Fort Collins a year ago. The sessions take place in the Larimer County building and are sponsored by the Larimer County Workforce Center, and various local businesses.

If you want (need) to connect with creative, friendly and helpful people; if you’re seeking employment or are recently laid off; if you’re looking for creative ways to supplement your income or change your career; if you’re running your own business, a freelancer, solo entrepreneur or startup company, LaidOffCamp will be a welcome respite for you.

I’ll be oarticipating in as many LaidOffCamps I can in the next year. I found the experience/concept interesting, new, different--refreshing, a breath of fresh air. In fact, it will be very difficult to sit through my five regular-style conferences this year—two writers conferences, two Irish Studies conferences and one Library conference. Lots of daydreaming and brain-writing ahead.

Baby Boomers as Entrepreneurs

2010-04-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

I’m a bit late in posting this blog, like the entire winter—but trips to Glasgow, Scotland; an 8-week Irish Studies course; lots of SBDC and Tech Incubator research kept me busier than expected. But I have been pulling articles, watching for interesting trends, waiting for the next top story.

I ran across a Kauffman Foundation report on entrepreneurial activity that seems to turn entrepreneurial myths upside down. The belief is (and this is certainly not a myth) that as we recover from this recession, the best determinant of our growth rate is in our level of entrepreneurial activity. The myth is that as we become an aging country, with the baby boom generation moving into retirement, we will become a sluggish society, not an entrepreneurial one. Or will we?

Kauffman Foundation research shows that the country might be heading toward an entrepreneurial boom, and not in spite of the aging population but because of it. Over the past decade, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-64 age group; the 20-34 age group has the lowest. Here are the findings:

· In every single year from 1996-2007, Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20-34.
· For the entire period, the 55-64 age group averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third larger than their youngest counterparts.
· These trends seem likely to persist; in the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal survey of nearly 5,000 companies that began in 2004, two-thirds of firm founders are between the ages of 35 and 54.
· Additionally, Kauffman research has revealed that the average age of the founders of technology companies in the U.S. is a surprisingly high 39—with twice as many over age 50 as under age 25.

Of course, there could be an increase in entrepreneurial activity among those under 30 during these times of deep employment cuts by large firms, but as the study notes, “a steady increase in life expectancy also means that Americans are not only living longer but also living healthier longer, suggesting that those entrepreneurial 60-year-olds could be 2020’s entrepreneurial 70-year-olds.” (Source: Dane Stangler, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom,” Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, June 2009 www.kauffmanfoundation.org )

But that’s not all I’ve run across about the Baby Boomer population. In a July-August 2009 article in Harvard Business Review, the authors note that two large surveys of college graduates reveal remarkable similarities in workplace preferences between Baby Boomers and Generation Y – the oldest and the youngest groups in our emerging workplace. Both Boomers and Gen Y’s want to contribute to society through their labor; seek flexible working arrangements; value social connections at work and loyalty to a company; put stock in mentoring and generation-jumping, prize other rewards of employment over monetary compensation; and are drawn to opportunities that allow time out to explore passions, hobbies and good works. For the Gen Y’s, the order of compensation is, high quality colleagues; flexible work schedules; prospects for advancement; recognition from one’s company or boss; a steady rate of advancement and promotion; access to new experiences and challenges. The order of compensation for Boomers is, high quality colleagues; an intellectually stimulating workplace; autonomy regarding work tasks; flexible work arrangements; access to new experiences and challenges; giving back to the world through work; and recognition from one’s company or boss. (Source: Hewlett, Sylvia Ann, Laura Sherbin, Karen Sumberg, “How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda,” in Harvard Business Review July-August 2009, p. 71-76 www.hbr.org.)

Hmmmm…interesting.

By the way...did you know that Richard Cantillon (1680–1734), an Irishman with a Spanish name, is considered the first great economic theorist? Cantillon developed a two-sector general equilibrium system from which he obtained a theory of price (determined by costs of production) and a theory of output (determined by factor inputs and technology). This…the result of my Irish Studies courses out of NUI Galway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cantillon

Global Entrepreneurship Week

2009-11-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Last year, the Kauffman Foundation in the U.S. and Make Your Mark , a business-led government-backed campaign in the United Kingdom, launched Global Entrepreneurship Week--one week out of the year when people around the world celebrate entrepreneurs. The goal is to inspire young people to be innovative, creative, think of new ways of doing old things AND become entrepreneurs.

Poudre River Public Library District is celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week Nov. 16 – 22, 2009 by offering a series of films that introduce young entrepreneurs and the work they do.

During the week, we’re bringing in three young successful film makers from the TriMedia Film Festival to discuss how they launched their film making careers, how they enter film festivals, and more. Nick Tart, a CSU student and local entrepreneur who launched JuniorBiz, will discuss how young people can start their own businesses. We’re also showing one of Entrepreneur.com’s top ten films about entrepreneurs, Pursuit of Happyness, and a recent documentary, Lemonade Stories: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs and the Mothers Who Made Them (including Richard Branson and Russell Simmons--two major sponsors of Global Entrepreneurship Week). I hope you can come to one or all of the programs.

Here is the line up:
Tuesday, November 17, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Main Library 201 Peterson St.
A series of short films from TriMedia Film Festival! Three young film makers will discuss making a successful film, showcase their emerging entrepreneurial talents, and share their experiences entering film festivals.

Wednesday, November 18, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Council Tree Library 2733 Council Tree Ave.
Pursuit of Happyness, film starring Will Smith--rated one of the top 10 films about entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur.com--with a short about Chris Gardner.

Thursday, November 19, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Council Tree Library 2733 Council Tree Ave.
Lemonade Stories - a film about extraordinary entrepreneurs and the mothers who made them. Discussion with Nick Tart, Founder JuniorBiz, LLC.

With Global Entrepreneurship Week’s goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, I think our programming will encourage young people to think big, turn their ideas into reality, and make their mark.

The week is expected to exceed 3 million people worldwide, and 8,800 organizations around the globe. Check out the activities in your region at www.unleashingideas.org.

By the way, the Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has approximately $2 billion in assets. Please visit their wonderful website, www.kauffman.org and follow on Twitter.

Economic Development and the Arts

2009-09-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

I recently ran across two interesting articles on economic development and the arts, a topic dear to my heart. I spent many years in the local arts world, trying to emphasize the economic development component of the arts, so was happy to happen onto these articles

“Arts, Culture, and Economic Development,” (Economic Development Journal Winter 2009 8/1 5-13) focuses on what the authors (Steve Nivin and David Plettner) consider the next phase of economic development, the Creative Age (or, Conceptual Age or the Design Age.) The article focuses primarily on a recent study of San Antonio’s creative sector, and the City’s and community’s efforts to enhance the economic impact of this sector -- San Antonio’s top 10 creative occupations by employment registers a sizable economic impact that is comparable to other industries ($3, 375.5 million), employing 26,744 with a payroll of $1,000.1 million.

More interesting to me, however, is how Nivin and Plettner describe the work being done by creative people at each stage of economic development (a concept developed by Richard Florida in 2002) As innovation becomes more important to regional economic development, it is vital for regions to develop a culture that fosters the “creative activity of innovation.” Not only must we innovate, but the designs of our innovations must be aesthetically pleasing—emotions, experiences and aesthetics now drive consumer demand. Where before those educated in science, technology, engineering and math were the key players in the innovation process, now those who are trained in the arts are necessary for proper product design and success in the marketplace. Essentially, now that our left-brain needs have largely been taken care of, our right-brain yearns to be fed.

“Cultural Policies and Local Planning Strategies: What Is the Role of Culture in Local Sustainable Development?” (The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society Spring 2009 39/1 45-63) carries this same concept. In this article, the authors present a strategic model of a progressive cultural district based on an asset-action matrix that intersects cultural policy drivers with capital resources. The authors define a new model of a cultural district—the system-wide cultural district—as an emergent, self-organized model of cultural supply. The concept is illustrated by several successful examples that include Austin, Texas, Gateshead, UK, Linz, Austria, and Denver, Colorado (among others)

In Austin culture has played a valuable role in economic development. The city has more than one hundred stages and production centers, a contemporary visual arts museum, a musical theater, and two national dance companies. More than 200,000 people attend the Austin City Limits music festival every year. The annual South by Southwest Festival features rock concerts and film screenings that utilize new media technologies. Austin’s economic evolution stresses a good quality of life and a development process based on creativity and innovation. Austin not only has creativity, innovation, and support from big companies, but other strategic tools stress a collective community approach. Foundations and private companies have invested heavily in Austin’s social infrastructure because they recognize the need for “human capital.” Austin is an example of a development model that focuses not only on the creation of new jobs but also on improving the community.

Gateshead, UK has seen economic regeneration by local investment in the Baltic Flour Mills, the Millennium Bridge, and the Sage Opera House. The Baltic Flour Mills is a center for contemporary art housed in a grain warehouse. The redevelopment cost (£33.4 million) was covered by regional arts council, public and private investors, cultural organizations, and universities. The Baltic Flour Mills is separated from the Newcastle Quayside by the Millennium Bridge, which opened in 2001 and is the world’s first tilting bridge. It is accessible only to pedestrians and cycles. With its changing colors and unique shape, it has quickly become a regional icon. The Sage Opera House opened in 2001 thanks to a £70 million donation from the Sage Software Group.

Linz’s culture-led regeneration is due to the creative interaction between local cultural tradition and the media’s cutting-edge technology, especially Ars Electronica, a museum, a laboratory, a competition, and a festival. The Museum of the Future, on the north bank of the Danube, is a six-floor space where visitors can learn about technology. Ars Electronica is home to one of the few public 3-D caves in Europe, which creates computer-generated visual art exhibitions for the public and technology-oriented artists. The Futurelab is a complex that consists of studios where workshops are held and researchers carry out innovative projects on digital surfaces, in virtual environments, and in interactive space. The Prix Ars is a multidisciplinary competition on cyber arts that includes digital media designs incorporating art, science, and society. The new modern art gallery, Lentos, was commissioned in 2003 to host the Linz Neue Galerie’s collection. The Centre for Contemporary Art is an experimental laboratory for exploring art that accompanies the implementation of an artistic work from the idea phase to the exhibition. A public platform and a laboratory situation are provided for artists, usually from a younger generation. Concomitant symposia, mediation work, and live acts form networks with art projects and recipients. The quality of culture in Linz has always been high, and cooperation between multimedia and art firms has helped increase the local economy’s competitiveness. Linz applies for state grants, but also accesses capital from the private sector. This cultural effort to boost human capital has resulted in the development of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship, in turn, has played a role in the success of Linz’s creative industries.

Finally, the authors focus on Denver, Colorado. The results of the City’s cultural policy have been extraordinary. Two agencies play a decisive role in Colorado’s cultural development. The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) is a publicly financed agency whose aim is to support cultural organizations and activities in seven counties in Coloroado. The SCFD is a collaboration among rural, suburban, and urban counties that distributes more than $30 million to scientific and cultural organizations. It is supported by a 0.1 percent sales tax, which means that 1¢ of every $10 purchase in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, northern Douglas, and Jefferson counties supports metro Denver cultural organizations (2007). The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) serves as a catalyst for business-arts partnerships and creates awareness of the arts community as a vehicle for employee creativity, economic development, and business prosperity. The CBCA places business leaders on arts boards, sponsors organizational and audience development, and trains businesspeople to be arts advocates who use the arts to foster community development. The CBCA also serves as a resource for business by regularly monitoring the economic impact of cultural and scientific organizations in the region, informing the business community about arts issues that relate to business, enabling business leaders to understand the complexities of the cultural community, stimulate employee creativity and morale, build new businesses, and enhance their image.
According to the CBCA’s 2004 Study of Metro Denver Culture, culture in metro Denver had a $1.311 billion economic impact. The cultural industry employs more than 9,000 employees, disburses $86 million in wages, and pays almost $14 million in taxes. As a destination for cultural tourists, metro Denver attracted 2.8 million visitors from outside metro Denver and 1.4 million visitors from outside Colorado; these tourists had a $403 million impact on the economy. In 2007, the SCFD collected $35 million to invest in the cultural community. Of $1.3 billion in total economic activity, close to $500 million was the true economic impact. This represents a 14:1 return on investment, bolstered by the $35 million collected from a special taxation mode. Cultural facilities continue to transform metro Denver’s regional landscape.

In all of the examples, the marriage of art and business (though in different permutations) drove the economic success of the community.

These two articles are available through the Poudre River Public Library District’s business database, Business Source Premier.

Social Media

2009-07-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

The new social media is not, at first, comfortable for a lot of us. The further you dig into it, however, the more comfortable and (actually) exciting it is. Your first Twitter send will be a bit stiff; your first Facebook comment a bit formal; your first YouTube instruction video will feel intrusive. Before you know it, you’ll be off and running. If not, check in with a 15-23 year old and they’ll be glad to get your comfort level up.

Today’s New York Times has a feature on mom-and-pop businesses turning to social media, especially Twitter. For many mom-and-pop shops with no ad budget, Twitter has become their sole means of marketing. Since small businesses grow half their customers through word of mouth, Twitter is the perfect avenue for spreading the word. “Umi, a sushi restaurant in San Francisco, sometimes gets five new customers a night who learned about it on Twitter…” New York Times, July 23, 2009.

In Groundswell, a 2008 book on how businesses can win in this evolving world of social technologies, the authors note that the groundswell of social media and self-organized information transfer is like any other human activity. If you understand it, you can work within it and even thrive in it. It just takes knowledge, experience and enlightenment to get there. The book offers a great introduction to the entire social media world. But more than that, it covers why you should care about it. “Online entrepreneurs are highly competitive, and speed can create a dominant edge because whoever gets to an idea first gets first crack at the visitors (and traffic)…Online, people can switch behaviors as soon as they see something better…” (Groundswell, p. 12).

This groundswell, crowdswell, crowdsourcing or digital swarm (however you want to refer to the phenomenon) has transformed the way business is conducted. Social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, Linked-In, and Twitter, as well as blogs and the mother lode for any business, your website, can be powerful tools in sales, marketing, recruitment, and opportunity identification.

There are workshops all over town introducing people to the new social media and how to use it for business. I attended Integrating Social Media into Your Marketing Strategy (NoCoEntre.net) and by the time the workshop was finished, barriers to understanding, appreciating and using the new social media had broken down completely. I was sold, because I finally understood it.

I’ve been ordering social media books for the library business collection. Check us out at: http://read.poudrelibraries.org/adult/business/ .

Have a great summer weekend.

The Future of Shopping Malls

2009-06-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Real estate developers, leasing agents and retail executives met in Las Vegas in May for the 2009 International Council on Shopping Centers. What is the future of regional shopping malls? This question is especially pertinent since the owner of the local Foothills Fashion Mall, General Growth Properties, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

According to a survey conducted by TNS Retail Forward, about 30% of primary household shoppers visit a regional mall on a monthly basis, down 4% from just three years ago. Gaining the most traffic, by a wide margin, is the power center (Front Range Village here in Fort Collins, where our new Council Tree Library is located)—with 60% of primary household shoppers visiting monthly (49% visit a strip mall with supermarket anchors monthly, and 42% visit online shopping sites). (SBG 10/08)

With tough economic times and rising food prices, consumers are gravitating more to power center retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, for convenience and one-stop shopping. And with Wal-Mart and Target adding food to their mix, power centers are increasing their one-stop-shopping appeal. This is one of the many issues facing the mall owners and leasing agents in Las Vegas.

The economics of a regional mall have, in the past, depended on the anchor department stores; once the customers got to the department store, they gravitated into the mall. With the arrival of category killers—from consumer electronics to bedding and linens—whole departments once owned by department stores have disappeared. The category killers and the power centers are forcing regional malls to find ways to become “destinations” again.

Which is where the International Council on Shopping Centers conference comes in. The ICSC held a design competition. Most entries evidently responded less to the future of the shopping mall than to the glory days “to which we’ve recently bid adieu.” (NYT, 6/2/09). For example, the role of technology in future mall life was largely confined to all the ways one could shop using an iPhone and body scanning; if a shopper expresses a desire for some retail object, it is automatically sent straight to the shopper’s home. CommArts Crossroads City, however, provided some groundwork for what the future mall might look like--generate sales, of course, but also grow food, create crafts, manufacture products, generate energy, and provide education. The mall can become a social center, a “spectacle of hands-on demos, lectures, performances, classes, tastings, parties and shows.” (NYT 6/2/09)

Outside of the ICSC conference, there are changes taking place in mall-world. The Miami-based extreme sports retailer, Adrenalina, has seen sales and traffic grow at its four mall locations because of its prime attraction: FlowRider, an in-store wave-making machine that allows riders to surf a 10 ft. wave while shoppers and onlookers watch through a glass partition. (Chain Store Age 5/09) Or, U.S. mall owners could borrow from their Australian counterparts and have grocery stores anchor the mall. The Newport Beach Film Festival is underway at the still-in-the-running Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach, CA. (WWD 4/28/09).

Custom events do appear to draw major traffic to the malls. Tysons Corner Center in McLean, VA introduced a quarterly women’s networking night called The Ultimate Girls Night Out. Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix ran a two-month Movies in the Park program, where classic films drew up to 700 people a week.

According to Nina Robinson, VP of marketing and communications for three Orange County shopping centers, “People still want to be a part of a community, gather, eat, shop and be entertained. They want to escape. The can come and stroll, shop, dine or watch a movie.”

David Holmes, director of the forensic research group for psychology and social change at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, UK says that the consumers’ urge to frequent shopping malls regardless of whether or not they can afford to buy is primal. Human have been exchanging money for goods for 4,000 years. (WWD 4/28/09)

Architect Daniel Libeskind, of Denver Art Museum’s $90.5 million renovation fame, is taking on smaller projects these days. “The world is suffering. But this is exactly the time to do exciting things. It’s not the time to hide our heads…it’s when we use our imaginations to try new materials, new ideas. Not just add gold and chandeliers!” For his project in Switzerland, he wanted to reinvent shopping. He moved beyond stores and restaurants and added such offerings as housing for the elderly and a gas station. The floor plan is more a labyrinth than a series of straight lines leading from shop to shop. (Business Week Online 4/21/09)

On a less grand scale, the Galleria at Fort Lauderdale recently leased 12,000 sq. ft. to the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre. The nonprofit occupies several of the storefronts in the mall’s east wing, and is considered by the mall ownership to not only be the most creative addition to date, but a safe bet.

A twin issue to reconfiguring the shopping mall is the change in suburban living. The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech predicts that by 2025, there will be a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (on 1/6 acre or more) in the U.S. (Time South Pacific 3/23/09). In a word, the suburbs need to be remade. Suburbs such as Lakewood, CO and Long Beach, CA have repurposed boarded-up malls as mixed-use developments with retail stores, offices and apartments. In auto-dependent suburbs that were built without a traditional center or a downtown, old shopping malls offer a chance to recreate downtowns without destroying existing infrastructure--by recycling what is known as underperforming asphalt. For example, in Austin, MN an old K-Mart is now the Spam Museum. In Denton, TX an old Food Lion Supermarket is now a public library. Baco Raton, FL turned a shopping mall into a mixed-use town center. In Mashpee, MA, a strip mall is now Town Commons.

An even more interesting movement that actually resembles CommArts Crossroads City from the ICSC conference is the Ainsworth Street Collective, a group of some 50 households in Portland, OR that came together out of a mutual interest in sustainability and community, and created a micro-economy within their few square blocks. They published a directory of services provided by neighbors from tax preparation to massage services to cat-sitting—encouraging local transactions. They’ve instituted tool-sharing, car-sharing, bulk food-purchasing and even own a farmer’s market that sells produce, baked goods and other items made by its members.

There will always be mega-malls but developers and architects should not ignore local, grassroots solutions to the empty or emptying regional mall. The question that has driven retailers for a thousand years is still the issue: how do we get people to buy stuff?

For these articles and more on the future of shopping centers, go to Business Source Premier via the Poudre River Public Library District business databases link: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/.

Social Entrepreneurship

2009-05-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

This month the British Library Business and IP Centre’s Inspiring Entrepreneurs Series is offering Kick-starting the Sustainable Economy. For anyone interested in general entrepreneurship and/or social entrepreneurship, this seminar will be offered on BIPCTV--YouTube 24 hours after it is held: http://www.youtube.com/BIPCTV. The panel for Kick-starting a Sustainable Economy includes Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project;
Paul Myers, President of the World Fair Trade Organization; Safia Minney, founder and director of Fair Trade fashion brand People Tree; Albert Tucker, Independent Consultant and formerly of TWIN TRADING, a founding partner in Café Direct and Divine Chocolat; and
Anne MacCaig, CEO of leading Fair Trade brand Cafédirect.

This seminar should be of interest to the Fort Collins social entrepreneur community which acknowledges that the world of business is changing, and many consumers and entrepreneurs are supporting businesses that exhibit genuine values and integrity. In this more difficult economic climate, generating jobs and evolving a sustainable economy can fall to these ethically driven entrepreneurs.

Check with the British Library Business and IP Centre for more information: http://www.bl.uk/bipc/

In its May 1 online issue, BusinessWeek SmallBiz published a list of its most promising social entrerpreneurs. BusinessWeek SmallBiz team asked readers to collaborate on tracking down trailblazing companies, in operation for at least a year, that aim to turn a profit while tackling social problems. Here are some of the nominees: $4 million BigBelly Solar, based in Needham, MA, has sold more than 2,000 solar-powered trash compactors around the globe, promising municipalities savings on time, fuel, and trucks used to haul garbage. CraftNetwork, with offices in New York and Bali, boosts employment in marginalized communities by connecting artisan producers with wholesale and retail customers in wealthy nations. Its founder predicts over $600,000 in revenue by the end of the year. And 12-year-old PharmaJet, based in Golden, CO, which just received clearance from the Food & Drug Administration to sell its needle-free injection device, plans to commercialize the gizmo in third-world countries to prevent injury and the spread of disease.
Here are the top three (by vote):
No. 1 Better World Books: a 200-person company sells books it gets for free from a network of individuals and institutions across the country. The Mishawaka (ID)-based company has donated over $5 million to literacy programs and libraries around the world since it launched in 2002. Better World Books expects to secure around $4 million in equity investment in total, to bring in $30 million in revenue this calendar year and be profitable in 2010. The company sells about 10,000 books a day.
No. 2 Impact Makers, based in Richmond, VA, is a $300,000, nine-employee health-care management and consulting company that constructs disease-management programs, and performs IT work, systems consulting, and program audits. One of its big social goals is to provide free medication to the uninsured through its primary nonprofit partner RXpartnership.org.
No. 3 Stonyfield Farm Londonderry (N.H.)-based organic yogurt.
The online magazine is a good tracker of the social entrepreneur community and should be a favorite for all entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. http://www.businessweek.com/

To learn more about Social Entrepreneurship, check out the PBS series on The New Heroes: http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/ .

Financial Crisis, Continued

2009-03-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Fort Collins Public Library has a new name, new website, a new library branch and a new logo. The new Poudre River Public Library District (www.poudrelibraries.org) is now a network of gathering places with the mission to create learners, satisfy curiosities and encourage imagination in children, teenagers, and adults in northern Larimer County, Colorado. Check it out!

We also updated the business and nonprofit webpage, adding new books, new websites, and highlighting some changes in our databases: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/

Under Hot Websites, please notice the Financial Resource Guide. This is an excellent guide developed by the Business and Economics Librarian at Colorado State University, and can answer almost any question you might have on the present financial crisis. Please note, too, the How Things Work—Economics weblink. If you have any questions on basic economics, check this one out.

I also added four of our new books: Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism by Kevin Philips; A Demon of Our Own Design : Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation by Richard Bookstaber; The Foreclosure of America : The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Crisis, and the Default of the American Dream by Adam Michaelson; and The Partnership : the Making of Goldman Sachs by Charles D. Ellis (http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/)

At first glance, these books may appear to be just more depressing news while we’re going through this economic crisis, but each of them provides great incite into their topics. The books reminded me of some of my favorite readings from the 1980s crisis. Remember Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart, about junk bond kings Michael Milken, Ivan Boevsky and Martin Siegel? In fact, remember Michael Milken and Ivan Boevsky? How about, Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis? Lewis, then a rising bond trader at Salomon Brothers, provided us with a funny, straightforward explanation of America’s new found obsession with leverage in the late 1980s, as well as our new-found obsession with greed and self-indulgence. Check out these and others at our (or your) library.

Small Businesses Weather the Downturn

2009-01-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

The New York Times has a great two-part video on how three small businesses are weathering the economic downturn. Check it out here: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/12/27/nyregion/1194836413339/small-business-weathers-the-recession.html
Owners of a New York butcher shop, bicycle manufacturer and movie tourism service talk about the hard realities of keeping business alive during the down economy.

James J. Hill Library's business website -- www.biztoolkit.com -- provides small business owners with quality links and an up-to-date library of original research as well as journal articles. Here is the link to 3 Perks that Work in Lieu of Raises: http://www.bizinfolibrary.org/index.cfm/article/3-Perks-That-Work-in-Lieu-of-Raises. Biztoolkit's Biz Info Library is a service from the entrepreneurial experts at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Edward Lowe Foundation, and the James J. Hill Reference Library. Registration is free, quick, and easy. Check out their other small business publications.

Also check the Library for recent business articles--use two databases: Business Source Premier and Small Business Resource Center--both of which have up-to-date journal and trade articles on the financial crisis, recession, economic downturns and small businesses. Link here: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/. Go to the "databases" section on the right.

Social Entrepreneurship

2008-11-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

In South Africa, a business entrepreneur invents and installs a merry-go-round that, when spun by children, pumps enough water for a village of 2,500.

In Uganda, two young entrepreneurs from San Francisco develop a revolutionary model for microlending, using the Internet to connect borrowers with lenders, person to person – a venture that has grown from one small village in Africa to eleven countries around the world.

In Peru, two CSU students launch their own social enterprise, PowerMundo, to deliver multiple renewable energy products, such as solar lights and hand-crank radios, to people living at the base of the pyramid, between $2-4 dollars per day.

In Fort Collins, a group of entrepreneurs at Envirfit develop and disseminate products and services that address major environmental problems in the developing world, and end up on the cover of this month’s Popular Science.

Entrepreneurs change the face of business; social entrepreneurs change society. Social entrepreneurs create solutions to social problems that leap beyond charity, and encourage the development of systematic solutions that help eradicate poverty, enhance educational opportunities, provide better health care and champion social justice. David Brooks calls them the new do-gooder: “They dress like venture capitalists. They talk like them. They even think like them…they are data driven and accountability-oriented…the highest status symbol in their circle is a Rand study showing their program yields statistically significant results.”

In its simplest terms, social entrepreneurs use business methods and entrepreneurial innovation to solve social problems. According to the Small Business Administration’s 2007 Report to the President, social entrepreneurship is the practice of responding to market failures with transformative, financially sustainable innovations aimed at solving social problems.

ITNAmerica created a new option for seniors: providing rides in private cars available 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, with “door-through-door” service, using a combination of paid and volunteer drivers. Payments must be made for every ride, but no money exchanges hands in the vehicle. Seniors fund their personal transportation accounts in advance and receive a monthly statement in the mail. Volunteer drivers make up about 40-60 % of the driving team. Costs are manageable; many volunteers over 60 years of age contribute their own volunteer driving time, building up credits for their own future use of the services. Family members volunteer time and make in-kind contributions to their relatives who are using the service. Seniors may trade their personal vehicles when they are no longer able to use them and apply the liquidated equity to fund their personal transportation account. ITNAmerica created its own software to plan and track membership accounts, rides and distances, maximizing efficiency of routes. This social entrepreneurial program is an efficient model that ultimately funds itself through nominal fees and leveraged private resources.

Other social entrepreneurial programs in the U.S. include--City Year a multi-city organization that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them skills and opportunities to change the world; New Leaders for New Schools provides a pathway for current and former educators to become outstanding principals of urban public schools; Benetech, an innovative technology firm, has moved from its own technology innovation for scanning documents to funding other technological social enterprises. Louisiana has a new Office of Social Entrepreneurship. North Carolina recently established a Low-Profit, Limited Liability Partnership Company legal business entity (L3C) where a private enterprise can function for social or educational purposes.

Kevin Jones and his partners at Good Capital, a San Francisco venture capital firm, say if you're looking for investment money during these tough economic times, then the way to go is with a business venture that's socially responsible. “There is a wave of new investing where people are not wanting it just to be about their money, but also to be about their impact in the world…From healthcare to consumer products, fair trade kinds of things, financial services - a whole lot of things, and there's ways to make money and do good."

Recently, the Fort Collins Regional Library District, CSU Libraries teamed up with Skoll Foundation, PBS/FRONTLINE and the American Library Association to engage the Northern Colorado general public, students, academics and professionals in a discussion with leaders in business, humanitarian aid, academia and social activism on the concept of social entrepreneurship as a way to create meaningful solutions to our local social problems. Fort Collins Regional Library District and CSU Libraries have been and will continue to offer programs to introduce groups and organizations to the basic concepts, ideas and themes of social entrepreneurship. We have also put together public library and academic library online guides about social entrepreneurship (http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business.) PBS/FRONTLINE ‘s video, Social Entrepreneur Series and Community Engagement, is available for check out at the Fort Collins Regional Library.

The local public library is the perfect location as a center for social entrepreneurs to learn about case studies, projects around the world, possible capital infusion, grants, foundations and more. I'll keep you informed on the social network we're setting up.

Take care and have a nice Thanksgiving!

Finanical Crisis

2008-10-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

The financial crisis is the top of everyone's agenda today. Here are a couple of ways the Library is working with you: Go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business for a link to the CSU Libraries Resource Guide to the Financial Crisis. The Guide is well-organized and up-to-date. Find it under Hot Web Sites!

The Library is also offering a 4-part series on the Financial/Economic Crisis (Final Time and Dates TBA):
The Economic Crisis -- How did We Get Here? presented by Dr. Deepanker Basu, CSU Department of Economics. (Tentative: October 25, 2008)
The Bailout -- What is This? What is Happening to the Financial Community? presented by Dr. Ramaa Vasudevan, CSU Department of Economics. (Tentative: November 1, 2008)
How to Protect Your Family in Economic Tough Times presenting by Consumer Credit Counseling Service. (Tentative: November 8, 2008)
The Emotional Price We Are Paying. How to Cope presented by Dr. Carolyn Bartlett, Psychologist. (Tentative: November 15, 2008)

Also, read, read, read--Financial Times; Wall Street Journal, New York Times.
Check out your favorite investment websites. for up to the minute information: http://www.finance.yahoo.com/; http://www.moneycentral.msn.com/; http://www.clearstation.com/; http://www.fundalarm.com/; http://www.marektwatch.com/; http://www.fool.com/; www.economy.com/dismal. For a description of these, go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business -- go to "quick guides."

Here's the best advice I've heard: If you have a home, keep it. If you have a job, keep it. Cut down on your spending. Clear up your credit cards.

Try to have a good weekend!

Measuring the Effect of Nonprofits

2008-09-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

A looming question in the nonprofit world is how to measure the efforts of the mission-driven organization. Has the world become better since the organization was formed? Has the organization created value in other ways? Lately, nonprofits and NGSs have been challenged to measure their efforts.

Recently, MBA students at Harvard Business School were challenged to measure the efforts of two environmental organizations—Greenpeace and The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF--formerly, the World Wildlife Fund) http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html. Since Greenpeace and WWF’s goals are not linked to a profit-objective, the MBA class looked at how the organizations create value. In the very general sense of the word, the students concluded that both organizations call people’s attention to environmental issues, lobby business to change policies, and influence governments to put laws in place to improve environmental issues.

Looking at value from an economic point, the class compared willingness-to-pay (WTP) to cost as a measurement of the economic value of the organizations’ efforts. The students were asked, hypothetically, how much each of them was willing to contribute each year to protect the earth against degradation. If each student is willing to put $1 toward the protection of the earth, that equates to approximately $6 billion per year. If the top 5,000 global corporations were willing to pay $200,000 per company per year, there would be another $1 billion. In addition to these, governments might be willing to add another $1 billion. These amounts would add up to $8 billion. On the cost side, if Greenpeace and WWF have campaign costs of $677 million, there is a $7.2 million gap between WTP and cost. This might be one way to measure economic impact.

However, according to Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, the case study showed that nearly all of the captured value of the two organizations is for the public good. This leads to the problem of free-riding, whereby people are able to enjoy the public good such as cleaner air and uncontaminated water without doing anything themselves. “The major challenge for both organizations is that they are dealing with a public good. Considering that a public good is non-excludable and non-rival, it is difficult to make people pay for it. People will free-ride since they can access the improved environment without paying.”

This cuts across governments, countries and societies, as well as individuals. If one country moves to stringent environmental policies, the other is better off by staying with lax policies because it will incur less cost and accrue more benefit. The class discussed some generic strategies to change this equilibrium, based on an example of improving the air quality by reducing CO2 emissions, i.e., the structure of the Kyoto Protocols: 1) Increase the cost of current policies. 2) Increase the benefit of a stringent policy. 3) Encourage governments and companies to move away from maximizing their own benefit and make them look at the greater good.

In the end, can any economic value be captured by studying the nonprofits’ efforts toward the public good? According to Casadesus-Masanell, Greenpeace and other similar NGOs have been formed to make sure that the public good is supplied by changing the payoffs of those who can supply it, but the value creation and the capture angle is but one perspective; most environmentalist (and social resource workers) would be quick to point out that the debate extends far beyond economics.

You can read the interview with Professor Casadesus-Masanell at: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html.

Digital Marketing

2008-06-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Digital Marketing Facts

On a typical day, Americans spend an average of 24 minutes purchasing good and services. This doesn’t include travel time. These 24 minutes are more than people spend relaxing and thinking (19 minutes on average) and about half the time people spend socializing and communicating with other people (46 minutes).

How much of that shopping time is spent online? Pew Internet & American Life Project released an online shopping study that tells us that American internet users have embraced online shopping – it’s convenient and a time-saver. However, the study also shows that online Americans also have high levels of concern about sending personal or credit card information over the Internet. Two-thirds (66%) of online Americans have purchased a product online, such as a book, toy, music or clothing. For those online Americans with household incomes greater than $100K, 32% say that the internet is the best place to buy items that are hard to find; 26% of those with household incomes less that $25K agree.

Several fact-packs and fact-books have recently been released online. The Pew study of online shopping is available at: http://www.pewinternet.org

The ninth edition of the Digital Economy Fact Book, recently released by The Progress & Freedom Foundation is available at:
http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/books/factbook_2007.pdf This fact book provides a factual basis from which to analyze the digital economy. The fact book includes best available information on the growth of the internet, the hardware sector, the communications sector, digital media, electronic commerce, threats to the digital economy, and the worldwide digital economy.

In addition to these fact books, Advertising Age carries it supplement, Search Marketing Fact Pack 2007, online (download at: http://adage.com/images/random/datacenter/2007/searchfactpack2007.pdf). Contents include interactive channels that marketers use, the top search engines, top terms and the leading sites by category, and things to watch in 2008.

Advertising Age’s other important fact book is the Digital Marketing and Media Fact Pack (download at: http://adage.com/images/random/digitalfactpack2007.pdf). Like the Search Marketing fact book, Digital Marketing and Media serves as a guide to marketing in this space. One fact: After breaking onto the scene a few years ago, social marketing is booming. MySpace and Facebook continue to defy gravity, growing 72.5% and 59.2% respectively, and depending on what surveys you use, advertisers are set to spend between 4.7% and 7.7% of their online ad budgets on the space (2007 numbers).

For more studies, contact your business librarian – these are all available online. For Fort Collins library users, go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/ and check out other business resources online and in the library.

SBA Office of Advocacy New Research Publications

2008-05-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Each year the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy documents the importance of entrepreneurship to the American economy, and highlights policy issues of significance to small firms.

The Library just received the Office of Advocacy’s Research Publications 2007 (published January 2008). This is a list of 34 reports on small business topics including banking, general small business and entrepreneurship, human capital and employment benefits, innovation and technology, owner demographics, procurement, regional economic development, and regulations and taxes.

Included in the list of publications is a report entitled, Small Business and State Growth: An Econometric Investigation (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs292tot.pdf). This report found that small business start-up is one of the most important factors in determining gross state product, state personal income, and total state employment: “…our results indicate that the most fruitful policy option available to state governments is to establish and maintain a fertile environment for new establishment formation.”

Several other studies examine regional economic development issues. Friends or Foes: The Spatial Dynamic between Established Firms and Entrants (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs293tot.pdf) shows that state and municipal economic development agencies are increasingly designing policies to nurture and support home-grown businesses to achieve their growth objectives. This study explores the impact on established firms of new local entrants. Conclusion? By the third year after entry, the effect on the financial performance of existing firms is positive. In the short term, entrants are foes and in the long term, entrants are friends.

In the SBA Office of Advocacy’s annual report, The Small Business Economy: A Report to the President for Data Year 2006 (2007 edition) (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/sb_econ2007.pdf), there is a chapter on social entrepreneurship focusing on a new breed of entrepreneurs developing solutions to social problems, and a chapter on characteristics of veteran business owners and veteran-owned businesses. Both of these chapters are worth reading if you’re a policy-maker; in the Library, I’m getting more questions from veterans opening businesses and entrepreneurs wanting to start nonprofits to solve various local social issues.

Frequently Asked Questions is a 2-page summary of other research material and provides a series of quick, easy-to-recite facts for an external audience to recognize the importance of small business to the economy. You can find this at http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf.
I keep a copy at my desk and at the Reference Desk.

SBA Office of Advocacy Research Publications 2007 is available in the Library’s Business Reference section at Main. You can also access the reports online at www.sba.gov/advo.

Authenticity and Consumers

2008-05-02T10:48:00.001-07:00

We have two new books in the library on authenticity in advertising. The first, Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II (Harvard Business School Press, 2007), shows how successful enterprises identify themselves with their customers' self-images and desires. The book provides practical management tools to help businesses assess their perceived authenticity, develop new approaches for appealing to the "real," and implement specific strategies to render authenticity. A second new book on authenticity is by social media specialist, Rohit Bhargava. *Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose their Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back (McGraw Hill, 2007) is also based on the premise that the age of the faceless corporation is over. The new business era is one where great brands and products must evoke a dynamic personality in order to attract passionate customers. To be successful today, businesses must redefine themselves in the customers' universe.

This week, I also received an Harvard Business School Working Knowledge email, "Authenticity Over Exaggeration: The New Rule in Advertising." According to John Deighton, consumers are using the Internet to blunt traditional commercial messages, and it's time for companies to rethink their marketing strategy. For example, successful advertising campaigns today are self-parodying , and spark discussions rather than blatantly sell products. Deighton cites Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, a multiphase effort with an underlying theme that subverts traditional beauty product messages of aspiration and perfection. In one ad, full-sized regular-looking women are used. In another, young girls reveal insecurities about their looks, showing the harm done by unrealistic standards set by the industry. In these cases, the ideas belonged to the consumer you're trying to engage; get them talking by presenting a topic they want to discuss. Deighton notes, "When a brand adopts a point of view, rather than simply making a claim for softer skin, for instance, it can become a lightning rod for discourse." However, you do have to be confident that your message can withstand Internet threads of re-interpretation. John Deighton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His working paper, "Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing, and Consumers," will be published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing.

In a nutshell, authenticity has to do with the consumer using technology to learn about the marketers, rather than the other way around. Consumers today use sites such as eBay, YouTube and Facebook to gather information and share opinions on how they spend their money. The marketer no longer controls the message.

Adapt Your Marketing Strategy

2008-03-04T09:51:00.001-08:00

I just finished reading Harvard Business School's online publication, Working Knowledge http://hbswk.hbs.edu , "Marketing Your Way Through a Recession," by Professor John Quelch.

According to Quelch, during an economic downturn, companies should keep several factors in mind when making marketing plans for 2008-2009. Among the factors are, supporting distributors, adjusting price tactics, and stressing market share.

More interesting, however, is Quelch's insight into consumer spending patterns and cultural tendencies during a recession. Quelch contends that instead of cutting the marketing budget, get to know how consumers are redefining value and how they are responding to the recession. For example, consumers take more time searching for durable goods, are more willing to postpone purchases, and they buy less in economic hard times. They learn to live without what was just yesterday a "must-have."

In a recession, the consumer retreats to home, hearth and village. Cozy family scenes tend to replace images of extreme sports, adventure and rugged individualism. Zany humor and appeals on the basis of fear are out. Greeting card sales, telephone use, discretionary spending on home furnishings and home entertainment will hold up.

According to Quelch, economic downturns are not a time to cut advertising. It is shown that brands that increase advertising during a recession when competition is cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at a lower cost. Uncertainty leads consumers toward known brands, and more consumers staying home watching television can deliver higher than expected audiences at lower cost-per-thousand impressions.

Customers will be shopping around for the best deals in tough times. Price cuts attract more consumer support than promotions such as sweepstakes and mail-in offers.

Finally, Quelch urges companies to emphasize their core values; maintain quality rather than cutting corners, serving existing customers rather than trying to be all things to all people.

Check out this article! These are only a few of the many strategies he discusses. John Quelch is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business at the Harvard Business School.

Nonprofit Networking

2008-02-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

One of my goals as the new business librarian is to expand the collection and the resources for nonprofit organizational administration, and emphasize social entrepreneurship. Recently, I've been researching nonprofits, their missions, and how the sector has changed, grown and consolidated. Overall, has the sector achieved significant social impact?

Jane Wei-Skillern, assistant professor in the General Management Unit at Harvard Business School, studies entrepreneurship in the social sector. I've ordered her book, Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector (Sage Publications, Inc., 2007, 424 pp. $69.95) for the library's nonprofit collection. One focus of her study is nonprofit networking. Nonprofit networking is a new way to achieve significant social impact of a nonprofit. Wei-Skillern and her research colleagues found that growing an organization did not always lead to the benefits the organization had thought. For example, many nonprofits anticipate that fundraising would be easier with organizational growth. However, significant new costs are created; the nonprofit needs to now manage and coordinate operations across multiple locations.

Too, recent studies from the Rand Corporation, including, "Arts and Culture in the Metropolis: Strategies for Sustainability," (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2006, $25.00), show that the nonprofit sector, most importantly the arts nonprofits, will need to soon transform the traditional nonprofit model into a more business model, focusing on cost over revenue, collaboration over single-use, and networking. This will require conscious change in how nonprofits manage themselves.

For example, instead of "growth" as an organizational strategy, Wei-skillern's research shows that a more powerful lever to increase a nonprofit's social impact might be to focus on building network relationships among like-minded groups, even competitors. "Often times an organization might be engaged in a partnership at one point or another, or be a member of an umbrella organization...but it's not really a network approach" to the day-to-day operations. A key to successfully fulfilling a nonprofit's mission might be to understand the nuts and bolts of how to create, build, and sustain effective relationships (networks) with like-minded organziations to better accomplish a social goal.

This is especially pertinent to my present work with Arts Alive Fort Collins, a local arts service organization, the mission of which is to bring the arts to the community and the community to the arts. There are several arts organizations in the community, a City Cultural Resources Board (for granting); Beet Street, a new presenting organization; Arts and Cultures Committee for the UniverCity Connections group (a discussion group), and Arts Alive. These organizations are like-minded in their mission to grow the arts in the community, and would be perfect networking organizations. We just need to figure out how to solidify and professsionalize such a structure.

Benefits of networks that have been documented by researchers include mutual learning; enhanced legitimacy and status for the members; economic power; and an enhanced ability to manage uncertainty. These are very conducive to the work of nonprofits, in that nonprofits are trying to solve large, complex problems that really cannot be addressed by any single entity. According the Wei-Skillern, "trust" forms the core of such a network.

By creating a network, you can see and work toward the bigger picture, you can invest in affiliates and associates; build a culture around quality and accountability; and get more services out to your targeted populations. This change can serve the nonprofit managers who are trying to create social value, as well as the funders who drive the dynamics within the nonprofit sector.

Think about creating and managing networks to help focus on your social cause. Think in new entrepreneurial ways. Instead of concentrating on the overwhelming management challenges, think about how to mobilize resources within and outside your organizational boundaries to achieve your social aims.

Small Business Resource Center

2008-01-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

The Library District recently began an online subscription to the Thomson/Gale Small Business Resource Center. This database contains a wealth of information and resources for the new, growing or maturing small business or the budding entrepreneur. The resource center includes hundreds of sample business plans created by real-life entrepreneurs, as well as business plan "templates" that students and entrepreneurs can develop on their own. I'm especially excited about access to the Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns, which showcases advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives from some of the world's best-known companies -- from McDonald's to Merrill Lynch. The database also has access to hundreds of small business and industry journal articles, from Custom Home, Automotive Body Repair News, Family Business Review to Financial Management and The Tax Advisor. Go to: http://dalva.fcgov.com/ link to "Databases" then use the drop down box to Small Business Resource Center. You can also link through the Business and Investment database collections. Make sure you have your library card number ready--if you're working from your office or home, a popup will appear asking for your number.

Once you're in the database, for users not sure where to start, go directly to the "subject guide," or search "business topics," "business types," "sample business plans." Or, just go to the "How to..." link. Advanced searches are available based on document type, subject areas and publications.

This is just a great source for the small business owner or manager to access information they could not afford on their own, and have the opportunity to do it from your office or your home. You can get information on accounting, finance, human resource management, general management, marketing, tax and more.

So, keep the Fort Collins Library District's Small Business Resource Center database in mind when you need quick information, research or just to peruse you favorite industry and/ or small business journal.

Rules of Engagement in Economic Development

2007-12-31T15:10:00.000-08:00

The Fort Collins Regional Library District was inaugurated today, December 31, 2007. This is a good time to take a new look at the recent study by the Urban Institute and the Urban Libraries Council, Making Cities Stronger: Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development.

The rules of engagement in economic development are changing. More and more, economic development success startegies involve people, technology, and growing an infrastructure for economic activity built on ideas, knowledge, experience and quality of life. The Urban Institute and the Urban Libraries Council commissioned this study to see how public libraries contribute to the human dimension in economic development; to strengthening places and community quality of life. Here are some of their findings:

1. Improving Early Literacy and School Readiness. Research shows that there is a strong correlation between investment in early literacy and long-term economic success. Because of this, public libraries are expanding beyond their traditional story time services, engaging in high-impact strategies with community partners. Many libraries lead public awareness campaigns, reaching new mothers with materials and resources that promote reading early and often. Such services are the first link in a chain of investments needed to build the educated workforce that ensures local competitiveness in the knowledge economy. The new Fort Collins Regional Library District has been a leader in providing literacy skills for young people through outreach programs, teen clubs, poetry slams, and more.

2. Library Employment and Career Resources are Preparing Workers with New Technologies. With an array of public computers, free Internet access, and media products, public libraries have become the first point of entry for many new technology users. A 2006 survey by Hart Research found that 70% of people on the computers in libraries only have access through that source. Ninety-two percent (92%) of public libraries surveyed for the Urban Council study provide computer instruction on a montly basis. Now that job readiness, search and application information are all online, libraries are expanding training opportunities, often in collaboration with local workforce agencies, which focus on using and building technology skills. Our library offers year-round classes in Internet searching, basic computer skills, computer skills for seniors, job hunting skills online, homework help online, searching databases, and many others.

3. Small Business Resources and Programs are Lowering Barriers to Market Entry. One of the biggest traditional barriers to small business has been access to current and comprehensive busienss product, supplier, and financing data. Libraries are the source for new online business databases that reach entrepreneurs around the clock. Researchers find that when libraries work with local and state agencies to provide business development data, workshops and research, market entry costs to prospective small busiensses are reduced, existing businesses are strengthened, and new enterprises are created. Our Library District works closely with the City economic advisor, the Small Business Development Center and the County Workforce Center to make sure we have the resources that are needed to start, grow and mature a new business. Recently, the library began a subscription to Thomson/Gale Small Business Resource Center--an online database for business plans, marketing plans, access to small business industry magazines and journals.

4. Public Library Buildings are Catalysts for Physical Development. I loved this portion of the study, showing that libraries are frequently local destinations. Urban Institute researchers repeatedly found that public libraries are highly regarded, and are seen as contributing to stability, safety and quality of life in neighborhoods. They are bolstering downtown and suburban cultural and commercial activity. Among private sector developers of malls, commercial corridors, mixed-use development and joint-use facilities, libraries are gaining recognition for other qualities--their ability to attract tremendous foot traffic, provide long-term tenancy, and complement neighboring retail and cultural destination. Library buildings fit in a wide range of public and private sector development. Here in Fort Collins, the downtown library is becoming a hub of activity, working with the Downtown Business Association in programming and events. Too, with a new mall in south Fort Collins, the library will soon be an upstairs tenant--with 16,000 square feet for a bookstore-style library. And, the Fort Collins Regional Library District's other south branch is a joint-use facility with the local community college. The concept was quite new ten years ago, and is now an active Place for Front Range Community College students, as well as suburban moms and newly-arrived seniors.

The study concludes that public libraries have positioned themselves to fuel not only new, but next economies because of their roles in building technology skills, entrepreneurial activites and vibrant, livable spaces. The combination of stronger roles in eoncomic development strategies and their sheer prevalence (16,000 branches in more than 9,000 systems) make public libraries stable and powerful tools for cities seeking to build strong and resilient economies.

Here's to a New Year and a great new Library District!

Price It!! Antiques and Collectibles

2007-12-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

The Library recently began subscribing to Price It! Antiques and Collectibles. This is a comprehensive database that will help you identify, research and price art, antiques and collectibles. The site contains over 23 millions records and is a sophisticated, up-to-date, easy-to-use tool for anyone dealing online or checking out land-auction items. If you're a professional art appraiser or a budding eBay seller, check out this free (to Library District users) database.

Have a bunch of Pokeman cards cluttering up your basement? How about that Star Wars collection of action figures in your son's closet? Did you get a preview of a local auction and want to check on the base prices of that piece of Japanese art? Go to www.dalva.fcgov.com . Once you're in the Library District's webpage, go to "databases", then drop down to Price It! It's easy to use and can get you the base price you need to make the most of your selling efforts. If you're searching from home, a box will pop up asking for your Fort Collins Regional Library District borrowing number.

Price It! is great if you're new to eBay and online selling. When I had my eBay business, I found the biggest problem was in pricing the items. Items like packets of, or boxes of, trading cards that my son had collected in second grade, or those boxes of Spanish language Christmas cards I picked up from a gift store close out. Rare books? I can hardly wait to get my collection online.

Databases like Price It! Antique's & Collectibles are available (from Thomson/Gale publishers) through your local library. When people comment that libraries are no longer relevant, think of this or other databases you can get online through your local library. I see public libraries today as places where the community pools its tax dollars and says, "Here, we'll provide the funds. You choose the expensive databases that will help our small businesses grow, our high school students get their homework done, our college students excel. Provide the databases that can get us that part for our 1982 Pinto, or can give us the research material we need to attract that primary employer."

In any case, enjoy searching Price It!

All You Need is Your MP3!!

2007-12-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

Too busy to sit down and read the latest book on selling your product in a changing market? Are you thinking about returning to your career after fifteen years of raising kids?

The Fort Collins Regional Library District subscribes to NetLibrary downloadable audio books. All you need is an MP3, and you can download and listen to the book while working at your desk or driving to the parent-teacher conference.

Just go to the Library's website:http://dalva.fcgov.com/. Type in the title or author. If you want to browse the Library's collection of downloadable audio business books, go to "databases" and drop down to "netlibrary." On the right bar, you'll find "audiobooks." Type in your topic or keyword and get the list. Create an account (upper bar) and you're set.

Here are a few examples

Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or LessYour Coach in a Box; Unabridged.
by Joyner, Mark.
Your customers are going to give you three seconds to make the sale. Do you know what to say in those three seconds? The marketing methods of the past are losing effectiveness as consumers are getting smarter and smarter and have less and less time. What is needed is a new way of doing business-a method that is simultaneously socially responsible and far more effective than ""old"" marketing. This new way is The Irresistible Offer.

Direct Selling 101: Achieve Financial Success Through Network Marketing (eAudiobook) Your Coach in a Box by Phillips, Neil.; Phillips, Dana.Publication: Prince Frederick, Md Recorded Books, 2006.

The Entrepreneur Starter Kit: Expert Insights Into Small Business Success! (eAudiobook) Your Coach in a Box by Christian, Lyn.Publication: Prince Frederick, Md Recorded Books, 2006.

Good Luck: Create the Conditions for Success in Life and Business (eAudiobook) Recorded Books Development; Unabridged. by Rovira, Alex.; Trias de Bes, Fernando.Publication: Prince Frederick, MD Recorded Books, 2007.