World's oldest business - 1,428 years old - closes!
cn | 18 April, 2007 14:18
There's a really interesting article at BusinessWeek.com. Apparently the world's oldest business - a family temple-building company - closed this past year:
The world's oldest continuously operating family business ended its impressive run last year. Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, in operation under the founders' descendants since 578, succumbed to excess debt and an unfavorable business climate in 2006.
The article is pretty good and walks through how the company did so well for so long, finishing with a good point:
These lessons are somewhat contradictory and paradoxical, to be sure. But if sustained success came easy, then all family businesses would have a 1,428-year run.
Posted in Business/Finance, World Culture/Travel . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Free Land in Alaska!
cn | 16 March, 2007 17:26
Just like in the olden-days when the government gave away land to the homesteaders to encourage America to move west, a town in Alaska is giving away 26 lots of 1,3 acres each on a first-come, first-serve basis. What do you have to do to obtain one of the lots? Says CNN.com:
The 1.3-acre lots will be awarded to the first people who apply for them and submit $500 refundable deposits beginning at 9 a.m. Monday. Each winning applicant must build a house measuring at least 1,000 square feet within two years. Power and phone hookups are now available.
And what's Anderson, AK like?
...no gas station, no grocery store and no traffic lights, but it does have plenty of woodsy land
...
Among the other advantages of Anderson: no property taxes, state income taxes or sales tax, virtually no crime, and no traffic. There are magnificent summers with temperatures as high as 90 degrees and plenty of wide-open space.
But it sure is smack dab in the middle of nowhere. But check out the town's website here to see details of the land giveaway! I'm thinking I might just have to apply...
Posted in General, Business/Finance, Politics . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Today in Headlines...
cn | 09 March, 2007 11:51
I would assume most people believe CNN to be a reliable source of news. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. I can't confirm that one way or the other. However, I can comment on what they run as headlines on the US section of CNN.com. Today there's the lead story - Audit Show FBI Snooping Underreported - which seems to be newsworthy, along with three of the five secondary lead stories. But the final two secondary leads are N.J. Town Rejects Sopranos Filming and Idol Down to its Final 12.
Now, is it just me or do these things seem like entertainment rather than news? Of course, news is entertainment - for most of us at least - but I think there's a certain responsibility the media overlooks so often today - the responsibility to bring the mass public data, as objectively as possible, about issues that affect our lives. My belief is that Idol and Sopranos, though entertaining, do not qualify as issues that are affecting my life to a point of me benefiting in any way of knowing the details outlined in the 'news' stories on CNN.
Posted in Business/Finance . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Fact of the Day! February 14th
cn | 14 February, 2007 12:37
Microsoft made $16,005 in revenue in its first year of operation.
source: http://hookedonfacts.com
Posted in Business/Finance, Facts, Quotes, and Whatnot . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Magazine Industry Efficiency...or not...
cn | 19 January, 2007 13:58
Jeff Jarvis, at Buzz Machine, has an insightful post about how magazines (specifically news magazines) produce their final product. And he ain't a fan...
The first day, I was given 30 pages of correspondents’ notes and wrote a 400-word story in the morning. Piece of cake... I asked for the next story. They had nothing. For five days straight, it was the same tale. At the end of the week, they offered me the job. But one of the old hands from Time Inc. pulled me aside and growled, “Don’t ever do that again.” I couldn’t figure out what he was telling me until I arrived and sat in a meeting of writers with then-Managing Editor Pat Ryan as she told them, “Listen, people we really need to improve productivity; I expect you all to get up to writing one story a week.”
So I wonder what everyone there is doing with their time? And are these...um...lower productivity workers...getting the same pay as our friend Jeff Jarvis? Probably. In fact, probably more...Anyway, Jarvis goes on:
Mind you, once reported by a cadre of correspondents and written by a staff writer in New York, it was edited (read: rewritten) by a senior editor and edited (yes, rewritten), by an assistant managing editor, and then edited (and, with surprising freqency, rewritten) by the managing editor. And then the research came along to try to correct all the errors this process inserted in the story. (This is how People famous declared Abe Vigoda dead; he was next see in an ad in Variety holding up a copy of that magazine while sitting up in a coffin.) And alongside all this, there were photo researchers and editors and layout artists and production people galore — all to perfect that 400-word tome about some small moment in life. Oh, and to make sure they had the very best 400-word celebrity haiku, they “slashed” two to four stories for every slot in the magazine — that is, they went through this entire process for at least twice as many stories as would actually be printed.
Imagine that this is how business-at-large works, because it probably is, and imagine if we could use the resources wasted in the fashion described by Jarvis for more productive means, what kind of world we might live in?
NOOO!!! is the cry from the workers, from the employees - all fearing the loss of their comfortable jobs - and rightfully so. If they do not produce, is it the obligation of the company to pay them?
Perhaps not, which brings us to the goals of the company. Let's assume the company's eclipsing goal is profits. Profits now. Then we can assume layoffs are in order because efficiency is God and we want to make the bucks now. But now let's assume that the company's goal is to produce the best damn magazine out there, the effect of which will be a profitable enterprise, then those workers who are currently redundant may well be able to shift their responsibilities and open up new opportunities for themselves and the company...IF the company first wants to produce a good product rather than first wanting to return a good immediate profit. This also assumes that the worker - the staff editors and writers in this case - actually want to work...which might be a stretch.
Posted in Business/Finance . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Today's Fact - January 8th
ben | 08 January, 2007 20:05
The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, cruise ships, recorded music, theme parks, and spectator sports combined.
source: http://hookedonfacts.com
Posted in Business/Finance, Facts, Quotes, and Whatnot . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Free Entrepreneurship eBook
ben | 23 February, 2006 00:11
At lifehacker.com today they had a post about Bruce Judson's book "Go It Alone", which is all about starting your own business...
...an important message of this book is that over the past few years, changes in the way businesses work and in supporting technology mean that there has never been a better time to start your own business. This book details how to conceptualize your business and how to focus your energy and efforts so that you can successfully go it alone.
I scanned some of it and though some of it I think is a bit rigid and formulaic, it does include some very good info.
You can download it here.
Posted in Business/Finance . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink