August 2004, Issue No. 3, Monday Edition

HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW

Please consider helping the people in Florida who were devastated by Hurricane Charley last week. The Network for Good website provides a list of organizations that can help you make a difference.

CHANGES IN HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW, by HBR Staff

The Houston Business Review will be arriving in your email box twice per week starting this week. The change transpired for several reasons:

1) Reader feedback. Readers typically can’t get to the newsletter until Monday, so the preference has been to receive the HBR the first work day of each week. Furthermore, the length of the articles is such that most readers prefer more of a piecemeal approach.

2) The sheer volume of information we receive. We receive numerous articles that are helpful to our readers and we want to make as many as reasonably possible available to you.

3) New features in the works. A unique Real Estate section and other special sections are in the works and to accommodate your busy lifestyle we think two newsletters will better meet your needs.

We hope you enjoy these changes and that the newsletter becomes even more valuable to you and your business.

TEN OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES IN BUSINESS IN THE PAST 50 YEARS, PART 1 OF 3, by Kevin J. Price

Kevin J. Price is Host of the Houston Business Show and Editor of the Houston Business Review. He is the author of several books and worked as a policy analyst in Washington, D.C. during many of the Reagan years. Mr. Price is available to speak to your group or organization. Please call him at 713.984.0235 for more information.

Recently, American Heritage, one of the country’s premier mass market historical publications, published a fascinating article on 10 major changes that business has undergone over the last 50 years. As a result of those changes the face of business has changed dramatically. In this three-part article I will review those suggested by American Heritage.

1) The computer. From the latter part of the 18th century to the 20th century we had been living in the Industrial Age. However, the 20th century saw the advent of the computer which did extraordinary things (by historical standards) at a ridiculously high cost. "Cheap" computers were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and paled in comparison to the modern hand held computer. As technology improved and the computer replaced bulky and inefficient tubes with cheap and effective silicon chips, the availability of computers grew as well and that which was reserved for wealthy corporations is now in most American homes today. The Industrial Age has been supplanted by the Information Age, and every aspect of our lives has dramatically changed as a result. People can pay their bills electronically in minutes, rather than hours, and some people rarely go to brick and mortar stores but instead purchase online. The computer has changed our lives dramatically.

2) Globalization. Since space exploration in the 1960s and pictures could be taken of the entire planet, the world has gotten increasingly smaller. Today, it is as easy to start an export/import business as it is any other. Barriers (such as tariffs and quotas) between countries have fallen at a rapid rate, as seen in the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s and the Central American Free Trade Agreement this year. There are virtually no boundaries any more, at least when it comes to international business. This trend is positive for several reasons. First of all, developing countries who have participated in such have seen significant economic growth. Secondly, it has allowed for the maximization of practicing the Law of Comparative Advantage, which means we can have business partners make certain aspects of our products at a lower cost than we could produce such ourselves. This is a huge benefit to the consumer. Finally, Frederic Bastiat, 19th-century French economist, predicted, "[i]f goods don't cross borders, troops will." As we maximize international economic interdependence, we reduce the likelihood of political strife. Preventing wars isn’t best achieved through politics and bureaucrats, but through countries doing business with one another.

3) Communications. Around a century ago, communications were still very primitive and extremely slow. Telephones changed things dramatically, but telegrams remain prominently used for quick documented responses until the latter part of the 1970s. The 1980s saw dramatic change in written communications with the growth of fax machines. Many readers might remember the Federal Express commercials in which they told consumers that you knew they were fast, but the same day? Early on, they were among the few that had bulky and expensive fax machines and people spent around $10 to send a fax on the same day. Today, we all have fax machines or the online equivalent. Furthermore, we can quickly send letters and documents via attachments through email at virtually no cost, all over the world. Such documents usually arrive in seconds. Meanwhile, we can talk endlessly on long distance without fear of our huge bill. Cell phones that, a little over a decade ago, were $10 a minute to use and were ridiculously large, have been replaced with phones with virtually unlimited minutes, long batter life, and incredibly small. Communications, as much as anything, has led to the shrinking of the planet.

In Thursday’s issue you will read about the Financial Revolution, management and labor, productivity, and women. Next Monday the focus will be on The Imperial (and Imperially compensated) CEO, Antitrust, and the Internet. The best way to make sure you are notified about these and other informative articles is to subscribe to this newsletter by sending an email to subscribe.now@houstonbusiness.com.

THIS WEEK IN DCR, HOUSTON'S DAILY BUSINESS NEWSPAPER, by HBR staff

It's official. The only place one can read Kevin Price’s Selling Tips is in the DCR , formerly known as the Daily Court Review. "Many people have not realized the fact that DCR is a business paper, first and foremost," said Kevin Price, Publisher of the Houston Business Review. "However, you can see such in its editorial content, highlighted with the addition of Selling Tips, that the paper is clearly about providing information for business. But it doesn't stop there, all of the lists and leads are powerful tools in building a business. "It is, in my opinion, one of the city's most established and reliable sources of business information." Furthermore, DCR has unique characteristics. It is Houston’s only locally owned daily business newspaper. The Houston Business Journal, arguably the most prominent business newspaper in Houston, is actually owned by Biz Journals, Inc., an Atlanta-based company.

In addition to finding Selling Tips, you will also find daily updates on HoustonBusiness.com™ media, including the Houston Business Show (Sundays at noon on 650 AM), and the Houston Business Review, found exclusively at HoustonBusiness.com™. You can find DCR at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and in numerous vending boxes throughout the city. To get more information visit DCR's website.

Each day DCR features the following topics:

Mondays: Finance

Examining ways you can cut costs to improve efficiency and plan for the fiscal future all with an eye toward the bottom line.

Tuesdays: Sales and Marketing

Information geared toward helping you get more effective results through your sales and marketing strategies.

Wednesdays: Personnel

Focus on information about hiring employees, managing employees and all the associated legal and taxation issues that come with that territory.

Thursdays: Technology

Examining ways technology can maximize efficiency for your company so that you can spend more time running the business.

Fridays: Entrepreneur Profile

Once a week, DCR shares the story of a successful small business owner.

HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW PUBLISHER TO JUDGE NATIONAL CONTEST, by HBR Staff

Kevin Price, Editor and Publisher of the Houston Business Review and host of the Houston Business Show, has been invited to judge a national contest on the messiest office. Barb Friedman, owner of Organize IT, requested Kevin Price join other national and regional media personalities to judge a contest being called "Ace Your Office Space." Gail Sidman, who is an organizer of the contest, released the following information:

"Walk into one office and you’d be hard-pressed to find dust. Enter another and you’re worried about what might crawl out from under a pile of papers. Professional organizer Barb Friedman said that she respects that much of the working public is challenged with their organization practices but there’s an expensive downside. Thousands of dollars and hours are lost each year by people just looking for things."

Messy office mates, you’re not alone. Organize IT, a business founded by Friedman in 1998, is conducting its first national "Ace Your Office Space" contest from September 15 through December 6, 2004 and will solicit entries from people who have offices at home, in their cars or in traditional remote locations. The winner, which will be decided by five judges from throughout the United States, will be announced on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 during National Association of Professional Organizers Month. The public will be able to weigh in on their opinions early in the entry process. Kevin Price is one of five judges that have been chosen. A brief profile of all the judges will be in a future newsletter.

The winner of “Ace Your Office Space” will receive a Verizon Wireless PalmOneTreo 600 Smartphone and five hours of professional organizing guidance by Friedman. "We want people to emerge from their piles and frustration and see that changing daily habits can help to make a person more relaxed, productive and their projects more lucrative,” Friedman said.

Commenting on being chosen for such Kevin said "I know mess! So well that I think I should be competing. However, I’m hoping this contest will both inspire me and maybe even make me feel better about my situation as I look at the messy offices of others."

Rules on participating in this contest will be released in an upcoming Houston Business Review and on the Houston Business Show on AM 650, Sundays at noon. Getting a free subscription to the newsletter is the best way to stay informed.

Friedman, a past president of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers, and producer of CDs entitled "Don’t Agonize...Organize Your Paper!" and "Don’t Agonize...Organize Your Home!" shares tips and tactics at the Organize IT website.

NEED A GREAT SPEAKER?

Don’t look any further than the Houston Business Show Speakers Bureau, sponsored by HoustonBusiness.com™. The Speaker's Bureau features award-winning writers, nationally recognized experts, and entertaining speakers. Perhaps best of all, we provide these speakers free of charge to qualified organizations and speaking engagements receive free publicity for the event in this newsletter, on the HoustonBusiness.com™ Business Calendar, and on the Houston Business Show.

Houston Business Show Speakers Bureau members will be speaking at several events in the next two months. Kevin Price, Richard Sonnier, and Aubrey Theode (Houston Business Show co-host) will be speaking at the Ravenaux Breakfast Club. For more information send an email to arch@achillesgroup.com. Mr. Price will also be speaking at the Houston West Chamber of Commerce, for more information send an email to info@hwcoc.org.

Recent Comments about Kevin Price on the Stump.

Mr. Price has recently given several speeches about the Houston economy. Following are some of the commments about his speech at the Services Cooperative Association ("SCA"):

• Kevin was GREAT! (SCA comment sheet)
• Very clear voice, very interesting! (SCA comment sheet)
• Good stage presence (SCA comment sheet)
• Very thorough and knowledgeable! (SCA comment sheet)
• WOW! (SCA comment sheet)
• Great presentation...Dynamic! (SCA comment sheet)

Get Mr. Price--or one of our other great speakers--and the free promotion that comes with one of our speakers, by calling 713.984.0235 and asking for Stacy Walston.

MARKETING AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN SOCIETY: THE TREND OF TODAY’S PHILANTHROPIC GIVING by W. Michael Richards, Jr.

Michael Richards, Regional Director of the International Bible Society was a guest on Sunday’s Houston Business Show, on which he discussed a unique approach to marketing. He obtained some of this information from the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Over $200 million dollars given away to charities in dollars and product in a single year? That’s what a single pharmaceutical company, Abbott Laboratories, gave in 2003. But if you think that amount is the highest and I’m simply working my way down the list, you are sadly mistaken. Last year Merck, the leading corporate charitable giver, gave away $843,000,000. The simple truth is that business, big and small, is doing more for charity than ever before. Why?

Let’s take the Bank of America Corporation in Charlotte, N.C., as an example, as it established its Neighborhood Excellence Initiative this year. The program, which will reach 30 geographic areas in which the bank does business, will provide $15 million over two years to non-profit groups, individuals, and high school students who are helping their neighborhoods by building low-cost housing, improving public education, and fighting local crime problems. Andrew Plepher, president of the company’s charitable-investments program, described the new effort as “enlightened self-interest.” He says it will benefit charities and the public, but also indirectly provide marketing value by creating a program customers across the country can associate with the bank.

Besides the increasing connection between giving and marketing strategies, a recent survey identified other trends influencing corporate-giving programs, including:

Volunteer programs. More companies are creating programs to encourage their employees to volunteer or are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the use of technology to aid in that effort.

Business mergers. Many companies, especially in the financial services fields, are revamping their giving programs after mergers with other businesses or acquisitions of smaller companies.

Unrestricted donations. While most businesses continue to earmark their money for specific charitable programs, a growing number of companies are providing money for general operating support.

Let’s take a look at the mutually beneficial value of a volunteer program in one very visible non-profit, PBS-TV. Think about any Public Broadcasting System (PBS) television fundraising drive you have ever seen. There, on the screen, are 15-20 volunteers on two tiers of phone banks from X company, answering calls to take pledges for the support of PBS-TV. All of the volunteers are wearing X company’s shirt, the person making the pitch and asking for your support is from X company, the host of that segment recognizes X company several times, thanks them for their support and numerous close up shots are taken of the volunteers, wearing their shirts, answering calls, smiling, waving, generally very happy to be there. Of course X company had to give a required minimum corporate amount to even be on PBS. But both entities win in this charitable marketing scenario. They both help each other look good and advance their own interests. Using charitable dollars to market causes someone to look at a company in a different light. It is a soft, “cause-couched” ad for a business that is always looking for ways to make their dollars go as far as possible in today’s ultra competitive environment.

In the end, such companies are seen as members of the community at not merely profiteers of the community.

BILLBOARDS ARE AFFORDABLE

Businesses pay thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars to advertise on billboards in Houston. We think these businesses are wasting serious cash. On the other hand, businesses interested in saving money to reach the same-sized, qualified consumer audience rent a billboard from HoustonBusiness.com™. From between $155 to $180 per day, your business can seen by hundreds of thousands of people daily. Learn more by visiting our Outdoor Division. You'll be glad you did.

Businesses buying multiple days of billboard advertising...

Several businesses are making the smart move of buying multiple days of billboard advertising from HoustonBusiness.com. In addition to reptition--the key to advertising--those companies who purchase advertisements on multiple boards or multiple days get free promotion on the Houston Business Show and in this newsletter. Some of those businesses include:

Furniture Systems & Cubicles, which can be reached at 713.460.1037. FSCI is a leader in meeting your office furniture and cubicle needs.

Time for a new automobile? Call Ian Mac Moy at 832.249.2107 with Park Place Jaguar & Land Rover North for the best deals on the auto of your dreams.

COST EFFECTIVE IT: FUTURE TECHNOLOGY by Richard Sonnier

Houston Business Show commentator Richard Sonnier, of the Information Technology Services firm Nimble Services, Inc., provides weekly information on our show about information technology issues. Mr. Sonnier can be reached at 281.445.4800 x 250 or rsonnier@nimbleservices.com

Future Technology

At my company, Nimble Services, we are constantly surveying the technology landscape for new technologies that will improve the use of computers and networks for business. Recently, we have been looking at a company called Microvision Corporation and their technology that could revolutionize computer displays.

Display Technologies Today

Today, you can get computer displays or monitors as CRT's or LCD's. CRT's are big and bulky but tend to have higher quality, especially brightness and contrast. However, the CRT is hard on the eyes. LCD's are easier on the eyes, lighter and take up less space on your desk. The LCD's are more expensive and have less brightness and contrast. However, over the past few years the price has come way down and the quality has improved. It appears that LCD's are well on the path to replacing the traditional CRT monitors.

While LCD's do in fact have advantages in terms of space and power usage, they do not address the issue of resolution and mobility. The average laser printer prints at 1200 dots per inch while the computer monitor displays at 75-100 dots per inch. This is why printed text looks so much better that text displayed on a computer screen. The problems are especially difficult on small devices like cell phones and PDA's. The human eye can process incredible amounts of information but we need higher resolution and larger screens.

Scanned-Beam Displays

Microvision has a solution called Scanned-Beam Displays. The technology projects the image directly into the eye using tiny mirrors and a light source. Thus, information goes directly from the computer to the eye with greater resolution, higher contrast and brightness, a full range of colors, and very low power usage. These displays offer the promise of even smaller computing devices since the display will be an eyepiece. The display would become like the earphone that you plug into your cell phone today for hands-free operations. The technology supports superimposing the computer display on the user's field of view or what is referred to as a heads-up display. In one application, automobile technicians can see detailed repair manuals and information while they are working on the car. This eliminates going back and forth referring to the manual or computer screen. Microvision claims that the new system pays for itself in less than 3 months.

Next week, I will discuss E-business.

AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE?

Who says you can’t afford health insurance? Truth is, you can’t afford to not have health insurance. With measures for cost containment that have been implemented, today health insurance is more affordable than at has been at times in the past. Contact the Benefits Division and ask for information on how to offer health insurance through your business at no cost to the employer, how to reduce your tax burden through your health insurance, or inquire about the most affordable and convenient ways for the unemployed to get coverage (hint: it isn’t through COBRA). Call 713.984.2431 and ask for Stacy to request more information.

NONE OF THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF HOUSTONBUSINESS.COM™, THE HOUSTON BUSINESS SHOW, THE HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW, OR ANY OTHER FIRM OR COMPANY REPRESENTED OR REFERENCED HEREIN. FOR ADVICE OR OPINION, WE SUGGEST YOU CONTACT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL OF YOUR OWN CHOOSING.