SMB

Consumers are enamored with HD entertainment devices. What consumers abhor, however, is the quagmire of cabling that tethers their HDTVs, high-def DVD players, gaming consoles and surround sound systems together. Hudson, Mass.-based Radiospire Networks is banking on consumers clamoring to its breakt...

You probably realize that startups experience an inordinate amount of failures. Of course, starting any new business is fraught with risks. However, these risks can be minimized with the proper planning. Based upon my experience in owning and advising businesses, I have come up with seven tips for t...

The world of commercial radio is getting ever more homogenized, as media giants are running thousands of stations in hundreds of markets with remarkably similar formats and playlists. On the other hand, specialized radio services have begun offering increasingly particular formats and programming op...

In the summer of 1999, I was researching potential software partners for a Web hosting company. I originally thought it would take only a few days to identify the leading vendors in areas ranging from ERP to CRM and e-commerce, but after weeks of research I had barely scratched the surface. While it...

As the world becomes "flatter" and globalization drives new opportunities for international commerce, how do small and medium-size businesses jump on the bandwagon? The Internet allows any business to gather orders and process them across borders very easily at low cost. For SMBs in the U.S., curren...

Cisco on Thursday unveiled a long-term plan meant to significantly expand its presence in China, saying it would spend as much as $16 billion -- nearly double the $8.5 billion it has spent in the past five years -- to build out the footprint it started there nearly 14 years ago. Cisco laid out a thr...

In many cases, the entrepreneur who had the courage to start a new business was on the right track by choosing a startup that could be both viable and profitable. Yet, the company failed. Why is that? Because of lack of working capital: the main cause of startup failures. This kind of failure can be...

There's a wealth of opportunities available for aspiring and small to medium-sized business e-tailers looking for shopping cart technology. While this makes it easier than ever to find this important piece of the e-tailing puzzle, it also means startup and SMB e-tailers face greater challenges when ...

While many companies are focused on their business online, they tend to put up sites that turn off rather than turn on potential customers. Because there are so many potential options, a business needs to be careful about how it designs its e-commerce site. For instance, a visitor can't purchase wha...

These days, just about every business -- from the corner store to Wal-Mart -- has a Web presence. While the Internet's vast expanse provides companies with the ability to reach more potential customers, it also pits them against more competitors than ever before. As a result, it has become increasin...

Imagine a world in the not-too-distant future where anyone can work from anywhere, using whatever communication device they have at their disposal. This type of world is not hard for us to imagine. After all, many professionals are finding that they have less and less need to be in an office to get ...

There is a great deal of talk today about our carbon footprint -- referring to greenhouse gas emissions caused by industry and/or consumers -- and how critical it is to our planet to reduce these emissions. Companies such as General Electric have begun to fully realize that reducing our carbon footp...

Dell on Monday debuted a new data storage device aimed at the fast-growing small and medium-sized business market. The solution, known as the "MD3000i," will be easier to use and less expensive to set up and maintain than solutions from rivals because it is specifically designed for smaller firms, D...

A survey done by the U.S. Commerce Department stated that of every 10 small businesses, seven will survive their first year, three will still be going after three years and only two will remain after five years. These are quite startling numbers and really beg the question: "Why do startups fail?" T...

Small to medium-sized e-commerce companies can go a long way toward marketing themselves online by doing some simple search-engine optimization and taking the time to foster some inbound links to their site. Both can be done without an advanced degree in computer science, and both can cost little or...