Entries in "Business"
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January 24, 2007
Venture dollars drop for local biotechs
Crain's Cleveland Business, January 24, 2007
Investors injected $87 million into young health care companies in Northeast Ohio in 2006—barely half of what was raised in 2005, but $26 million more than 2004, according to an annual report by BioEnterprise Corp. BioEnterprise president Baiju Shah said he is "very encouraged" by the findings, which he said indicate an upward trend in health care investment, despite the drop from 2005. Mr. Shah spread credit for the increase in investment over the past few years to institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University; a growing venture capital community; and groups such as BioEnterprise and JumpStart, a nonprofit that invests in early stage companies with high growth potential. Read article.
January 09, 2007
Do startups really need formal business plans?
The Wall Street Journal online, January 9, 2007 (subscription required)
Business schools and consultants have long preached that writing a formal business plan greatly improves a startup's odds of success. But a growing number of academics are questioning whether that's really the case. Scott Shane, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, says most studies that discount business planning are flawed because they don't correct for business failure rates, only accounting for businesses that survived. Read article.
December 11, 2006
Case seeks aid for sublease of Halle space
Crain's Cleveland Business, December 11, 2006
Case Western Reserve University is taking a step that signals it may be preparing to drop or scale back its long-stalled plan to move about 300 employees from its University Circle campus to downtown Cleveland. The university has sought proposals from four real estate brokerages for how they'd handle a sublease of office space Case has leased at the Halle Building, said Lisa Chiu, Case's director of media relations. Case two years ago leased 120,000 square feet in the building at 1228 Euclid Ave. but never has occupied it. Read article. (subscription required)
Case lecturer sees drop in GDP growth
Crain's Cleveland Business, December 11, 2006
Gross domestic product growth will slow and unemployment will rise, but the economy will remain in decent shape for 2007, according to an economic forecast by Sam Thomas, a senior lecturer in banking and finance at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. In an interview prior to delivering the 33rd annual David A. Bowers Economic Forecast on December 8, Thomas said he projects real GDP growth of 2.4 percent for 2007, down from 3.2 percent in 2006. Read article.
Happy returns: Hobbyists-turned-entrepreneurs make their leisure activities serious business
Crain's Cleveland Business, December 11, 2006
Art Good is a certified public accountant. As the owner of Arthur W. Good C.P.A. Inc. in Seven Hills, he provides tax planning and accounting system design services. He also is a Cecropia moth breeder, the "guy that figured out how to raise moths" free from disease and safe from predators. His unusual fascination with moths aside, Mr. Good is far from unique in his drive to make a business out of his hobby. But he does typify the kind of entrepreneur who manages to make money off of what was once just an enjoyable pastime. "These folks back into the business, but still have 'keys' to a business," said Tracey Messer, an organizational behavior doctoral candidate at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland. Read article. (subscription required)
December 08, 2006
Asian concern buying Hoover
The Plain Dealer, December 8, 2006
An emerging global corporation based in Hong Kong announced Thursday that it was adding long-suffering Hoover Co. to its list of international power-tool and appliance brand names. Techtronic Industries Co. said it will pay $107 million in cash along with "certain assumed obligations" for the iconic vacuum cleaner maker, whose home has been in North Canton since its founding in 1908. Susan Helper, a professor at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management, said that although production labor is cheaper abroad, TTI might find value in keeping it in Ohio,"close to its market in the United States." Read article.
December 04, 2006
Growing health advocacy industry takes pressure off individuals
Crain's Cleveland Business, December 4, 2006
Tom Bregar spent two years writing what he calls the "perfect software program" to flush out errors and reconcile and compile medical bills and insurance. In 2002, he turned his idea into MedBill Advantage—his Broadview Heights company that is part health-service- and part technology-based. Today, MedBill Advantage is part of a growing industry of health advocates geared toward helping busy and overwhelmed patients work their way through the health care maze. "This is an outgrowth of taking care of grandma's bills from a shoebox," said J.B. Silvers, faculty director of the Health Systems Management Center in Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management. Read article. (subscription required)
November 22, 2006
Patents linked to income growth
Fort Worth Star Telegram (reprinted from The Plain Dealer), November 20
If necessity is the mother of invention, a recent trend in patents could bode well for Ohio's struggling economy. After starring as an incubator of inventions early in the 20th century, the number of patents awarded to Ohioans fell year after year. But in the 1990s, economists noted a change. Patent awards were on the rise. Ned Hill, vice president for economic development at Cleveland State University, said patents are on the rise because the quality of research at Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University "has just gotten a lot better in the last decade, and they're paying more attention to patents." Read article.
November 21, 2006
Cyber-strikers ask: which site are you on?
The Plain Dealer, November 21, 2006
Northeast Ohio is in the thick of two significant labor actions, a nationwide United Steelworkers strike against Akron-based Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and United Auto Workers Local 1050's strike against Alcoa Inc.'s Cleveland Works. In both, digital communication is playing a bigger role in the conflicts than labor experts have seen in the past. "Perspective is the right word," said Paul Gerhart, economist and professor at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Business. "These sites do function as bulletin boards for striking union members, the company employees and shareholders, and others, too." Read article.
November 20, 2006
Ohio must keep making things
The Plain Dealer, November 19, 2006 (editorial)
When people talk about the economic glory days of Ohio, and especially its northeast quadrant, they invariably speak of this region's once-unsurpassed ability to "make things." Unfortunately, many of the industries that made this region wealthy have grown old. Understand that the recent flurry of fuel cell activity did not come out of the ether. It builds upon groundbreaking work that began years ago at the NASA Glenn Research Center and has continued there and at universities including Case Western Reserve University. Entrepreneurs used that research to start companies that are now attracting outside interest. Read article.
November 17, 2006
Reinventing Ohio
The Plain Dealer, November 16, 2006
If necessity is the mother of invention, a recent trend in patents could bode well for Ohio's struggling economy. Ned Hill, vice president for economic development at Cleveland State University, said patents are on the rise because the quality of research at Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University "has just gotten a lot better in the last decade, and they're paying more attention to patents." Read article.
November 09, 2006
Strategic thinking
Greenbiz.com, November 2006
Column written by Nadya Zhexembayeva
The sign of a tipping point emerged for me at exactly 3:11 p.m., October 25, 2006. It was the closing ceremony of the Global Forum "Business as an Agent of World Benefit: Management Knowledge Leading Positive Change," convened by the Academy of Management (AOM), Case Western Reserve University, and United Nations Global Compact. In a casual, I-forgot-one-more-thing-during-my-thank-you-speech, AOM's President Ken Smith returned to the microphone and announced a joint effort to create "world benefit" principles for management education and research. Suddenly, it seemed that "tipping" the whole system of management scholarship was a reality just around the corner. Read article.