Farmers and Merchants Bank

WELCOME

ABOUT US

ADVERTISING INFORMATION

EDITORIAL CALENDAR

FREE SUBSCRIPTION

BUSINESS RESOURCES

CONTACT US


RECENT POSTS

EDITOR'S CHOICE POSTS

FROM THE PRINT EDITION

TECHNOLOGY

LEGAL INSIDER

SOUTH BAY BUSINESS EVENTS

GREEN BUSINESS

BUSINESS SURVIVAL TIPS

FEATURED COLUMNISTS

MANAGEMENT

HUMAN RESOURCES

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

REAL ESTATE INSIDER

MARKETING AND SALES

FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

RECENT ISSUES

Editor’s Choice Posts

Error: Feed has a error or is not valid

From the Print Edition

Error: Feed has a error or is not valid

Management Insider

Error: Feed has a error or is not valid

Marketing and Sales Insider

  • The Secret to Making Your Brand Truly Great
    November 20, 2009

    By Dan Huston Although many business leaders are obsessed with the concept of branding, few really understand what it means to develop a successful brand. Here’s what it really takes. (Biznik) H …

  • Your New Economy Customer
    November 13, 2009

    Recession Springboarding! By Tommy Jaye Positioning your business for the economic recovery starts now! It’s no longer “business as usual.” Small business owners and entrepreneurs …

  • Understanding the Buzz Around Social Media
    November 12, 2009

    Finding the Right Social Media Mix By Baltej Gill You might have heard that social media can help build your brand, promote your product and services, help collect feedback from your customers, incre …

  • 3 Things that Stop Sales
    November 6, 2009

    How comfortable are you in asking people to become a paying client? Once you know what’s getting in your way, it will be easier to overcome these issues. By Kaya Singer (BizNik) If you own a sm …

  • Stage Your Business to Sell
    November 4, 2009

    (Sacramento) – Before you put your business on the market to sell, be sure you are prepared so you can get the best price possible. The California Association of Business Brokers (CABB – a non-profit …

Legal Insider

  • RB Chamber Helps Stop Anti-Job Proposal
    November 4, 2009

    AB 793 and AB 943, two harmful legislative proposals that would have put businesses in Redondo Beach, were defeated in October when the Governor vetoed both pieces of legislation. The Cham …

  • 7 Simple Ways to Law-Proof Your Business
    October 27, 2009

    By Kurt Andrew Schlichter, Esq. The article appeared in Business Insider Magazine’s first issue of 2009 While the economic downturn will increase most businesses’ exposure to legal problems, it …

  • Protect Yourself When Making Written Offers
    October 20, 2009

    By DeAnn Flores Chase Attorney at Law There are many reasons why a business owner should have legal counsel when starting a business.  The following is an example based on a true story:An owner of re …

  • 7 Steps to Surviving a Lawsuit
    October 6, 2009

    By Kurt Schlichter, Esq, Attorney at Law This article appeared in Business Insider Magazine in the second issue of 2009 As the economy worsens, more businesspeople find themselves being sued.  Ge …

Human Resources Insider

  • Truer U.S. unemployment rate is 17.5%
    November 6, 2009
    (The Ticker – The Washington Post) Each month, as regular readers know, I like to unpack the new unemployment number and get behind the data. The news this month continues to be grim. Indeed, it …

  • Workplace Poster Needs Updating
    November 6, 2009
    Required Updates Due to EEOC Notice Change (The California Chamber of Commerce) A new mandatory change to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) notice in the Employment Notices Poster mus …

  • House Democrats Prepare For Close Healthcare Vote
    November 5, 2009
    WASHINGTON (Reuters – The New York Times) – Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives hustled on Thursday to count votes and round up support for a sweeping healthcare overha …

  • Health Plan “Hurts More Than Helps”
    November 5, 2009
    (Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce)  Consider the plight of the hard-working employee who’s earned the right to obtain benefits from their employer after years of loyal service – a coverage plan tha …

  • CalChamber Partners to Train Employees
    November 4, 2009
    CalChamber Keeps California Companies Competitive; New Partnership With ETP Will Facilitate Training for Thousands of Employees Statewide The California Chamber of Commerce and the Employment Training …

Real Estate Insider

  • Mortgage Holders Rent Back Their Homes
    November 5, 2009

    Fannie Mae: “Deed For Lease” Program Will Let Thousands Rent Out Homes To Avoid Foreclosure By Alan Zibel (Associate Press – The Huffington Post) Thousands of borrowers on the verge …

  • Goldman’s new role: taking away people’s homes
    November 2, 2009

    By Greg Gordon (McClatchy Newspapers) SAN JOSE, Calif. — When California wildfires ruined their jewelry business, Tony Becker and his wife fell months behind on their mortgage payments and experienced …

  • Wilbur Ross: ‘Huge’ Commercial Real Estate Crash
    October 30, 2009

    (Bloomberg) Billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr., said today the U.S. is in the beginning of a “huge crash in commercial real estate.” “All of the components of real estate value are going in the …

  • New home sales fall 3.6%
    October 28, 2009

    (Associated Press – Los Angeles Times) WASHINGTON – Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a soon-to-expire tax credit for first-time owners started to wane. …

  • The Real Estate Weather Report
    October 6, 2009

    By Ken Roberts This article appeared in Business Insider Magazine’s second issue of 2009 If the real estate climate was reported like the weather, it might sound something like the following: “Expe …

K and P Janitorial

Strategic Planning for Small Business Profitability

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Large companies place resources and focus on strategic planning at least once a year. Small businesses seldom complete a strategic plan. Yet in every way, planning is just as important to a small business as to a large business.

While operating a small business successfully can be very rewarding, the typical small business does not have the staying power financially to weather a business downturn. Avoiding a business downturn requires that business managers not only attend to the day-to-day functions of the business but also have an eye on the horizon so that “bumps in the road” … Continue Reading

CalChamber Goes to Court to Protect Businesses from Additional Wage-and-Hour Lawsuits

CalChamber_In_Court_2009_125_WEB(The California Chamber of Commerce) The California Chamber of Commerce is urging the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal to reverse a district court ruling that could result in numerous more wage-and-hour lawsuits against California employers.

The CalChamber is arguing that the district court ruling fails to follow the plain language of the law and disregards the long-standing California requirement that exemption determinations be made based on an analysis of employees’ individual job duties.

The CalChamber has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Employers Group in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in … Continue Reading

Ten Questions with Jeffrey Pfeffer

(How to Change the World) Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He is the author or co-author of twelve books.Dr. Pfeffer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Stanford.

He began his career at the business school at the University of Illinois and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and he has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, London Business School, and IESE in Barcelona.

Pfeffer currently serves on the board of directors of … Continue Reading

3 Things that Stop Sales

How comfortable are you in asking people to become a paying client?

Once you know what’s getting in your way, it will be easier to overcome these issues.

By Kaya Singer

(BizNik) If you own a small business you likely spend more time marketing than everything else put together. You also know that in marketing there’s an  order and a system to the process and when you follow the system correctly, it works and it brings you more clients.

One of the biggest mistakes small business people make is trying to sell to people before building a … Continue Reading

Workplace Poster Needs Updating

Required Updates Due to EEOC Notice Change

2009_poster(The California Chamber of Commerce) A new mandatory change to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) notice in the Employment Notices Poster must be posted by November 21.

CalBizCentral, the source for California business and human resource compliance products, presented by the California Chamber of Commerce, is providing this supplement to download and post next to the 2009 Employment Poster.

The change is required by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), signed by President … Continue Reading

Stage Your Business to Sell

(Sacramento) – Before you put your business on the market to sell, be sure you are prepared so you can get the best price possible. The California Association of Business Brokers (CABB – a non-profit trade organization) wants business sellers to know that there are several key things they can do to showcase their business and make it attractive to prospective buyers.
“Buyers want to know that there is growth potential in the business,” stated Ron Hottes, president of CABB and of several Business Team business brokerages. According to Hottes, there are is a checklist of things a seller should … Continue Reading

Leadership Without a Secret Code

articleInline[1](The New York Times)

This interview with Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

Q. Do you remember the first time you became somebody’s boss or supervisor?

A. I became chair of the department of American civilization at the University of Pennsylvania, and so it would have been in 1980. But a department chair is an interesting kind of boss, because it’s not clear … Continue Reading

CalChamber Partners to Train Employees

CalChamber Keeps California Companies Competitive; New Partnership With ETP Will Facilitate Training for Thousands of Employees Statewide

The California Chamber of Commerce and the Employment Training Panel (ETP) have joined forces in a newly announced partnership that will result in customized job skills training programs for members’ employees throughout the state.

“In this difficult economy, California employers need to have access to training that will improve the skills and productivity of our workforce and help keep our state’s companies competitive,” said Allan Zaremberg, President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce. “Our partnership with ETP will help employees, employers and our … Continue Reading

Survey: L.A. County Layoffs Next Year

By HOWARD FINE

(The Los Angeles Business Journal) One-third of L.A. County businesses anticipate cutting their payrolls next year, more than double the 14 percent rate for the current year, according to a business survey released Tuesday.The findings by the Los Angeles County Business Federation survey come even as Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate jumped in September to a modern record high of 12.7 percent amid the recession.

The survey also found that lack of available credit, the state budget deficit and rising workers’ compensation costs were the top concerns of the 455 county businesses surveyed late September and early October. That’s … Continue Reading

“No-Match” Rule Rescinded

everify_logo(California Chamber of Commerce) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that it has rescinded the 2007 “no-match rule,” which was blocked by court order shortly after issuance and has never taken effect.

The no-match rule established procedures that employers could follow if they receive Social Security Administration (SSA) no-match letters or notices from DHS that question work eligibility information provided by employees. These notices most often inform an employer many months or even a year later that an employee’s name and Social Security number provided for a W-2 earnings report do … Continue Reading


Powered by WordPress SEO & the Atahualpa Theme