Posted by Elena del Valle on June 11, 2010
The Business Tree book cover
Does your company have a business plan? Do you know what it is? If the answer is no. You are not alone. Only 2 percent of the businesses of the world have functioning strategic plans. At the same time most businesses (82 percent) and almost all (98 percent) of new businesses are small and emerging businesses. So far so good for entrepreneurs. The discouraging news is that 70 percent of new businesses go under in the first five years and 90 percent do so within 10 years. Many business owners may already be familiar with these statistics.
What they may not know is that 83 percent of businesses in the United States employ 20 people or less and only a mere 7 percent employ 100 or more. Although Hispanics own 7 percent of businesses in the United States 98 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses have 50 employees or less*.
What causes so many entrepreneurs to remain small or to lose their way and fail? Hank Moore, who makes a living advising companies on ways for them to remain healthy and profitable in the future, is convinced a plan for growth is essential for companies who want to be around past the initial years.
Also, to be competitive companies have to have a strategic plan that outlines their long term future and the tools that allow them to adapt to changing market conditions. Often he finds the companies that get into trouble are those that failed to plan properly from the start. He estimates that it costs six times as much to make adjustments to a company midway compared to one that set out with a strategic plan from the onset.
In his recently published book, The Business Tree Growth Strategies and Tactics for Surviving and Thriving (The Career Press, $15.99) Moore shares some of the wisdom he has acquired during a career as a corporate strategist.
The 224-page paperback book is divided into 10 chapters. The tree part of the title refers to the organization itself while each branch represents a component or aspect of the company. According to his biography, Moore, who specializes in big picture issues, has advised 5,000 clients including 100 of the Fortune 500.
*See Hispanic Business magazine May 2010
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 4, 2010
Click on image to enlarge (Source: CDC, Chart: HispanicMPR)
The incidence of autism is increasing. In a December 2009 report by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the condition, the government researchers confirmed that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the United States is 1 percent of the population, or one in 110 of children 8 years of age in 2006.
This may alarm some people because autism has been a much misunderstood developmental condition. Autism sufferers are unable to interact normally within society. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) “is a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.”
Boys are four times more likely to suffer from autism than girls. The disorder occurs across ethnic, age and socioeconomic groups. Increases of autism among children including some minorities between 2002 and 2006, according to the CDC report, were significant: there was a 91 percent increase in Hispanic children (noteworthy was a 144 percent increase in Arizona); a 41 percent in black non-Hispanic; and a 55 percent increase in white non-Hispanic.
At the same time, it seems possible Hispanic children are diagnosed accurately with autism less frequently than other children. A Reuters Health article refers to a 2009 American Journal of Public Health article that in turn cites a study in Texas schoolchildren that may indicate Latino children in that state are under diagnosed because they are less likely to have health insurance or access to medical care. Is it possible this is the case in other states?
According to a recently published book, every 20 minutes a child is diagnosed with autism. Yet no one knows why cases of autism are increasing worldwide.
Author William Stillman
William Stillman, an adult sufferer of Aspeger’s Syndrome (a milder condition on the autism spectrum), has explored and written about the issue extensively. This year, he published The Autism Prophecies How and Evolution of Healers and Intuitives Is Influencing Our Spiritual Future (New Page Books, $14.99) with the goal of revealing what he believes to be the truth about autism and its purpose.
He is convinced mind control and speaking unknown languages could be among the abilities possessed by some people with autism; that it is possible for parents to distinguish between their child’s spiritual interactions and what some might consider hallucinations; and that autism sufferers posses wisdom that may help society prepare for future hardships, resulting in a rebirth of civility, respect, and compassion.
“Given the growing rates of autism worldwide, the face of business will be required to adapt in the coming decades so that individuals with autism can contribute as taxpaying citizens, not citizens that tax an already overburdened system,” said Stillman by email when asked about the impact of autism in the business community.
“In the same manner that industries presently serve our aging population, individuals with autism will be poised for success in partnership with businesses that will adjust to meet their needs as consumers, and will redefine business approaches that tap the unique skills and talents of those same consumers. Many people with autism will always require physical care and support but their cognitive ability to problem-solve, conceptualize, and apply a rare and alternative logic can be maximized to great advantage in the future.”
The Autism Prophecies book cover
The 205-page paperback book is divided into nine chapters within three parts: Healers, Mysterious Ways and Future Forecasts. In the book, he shares comments he has received from the parents of autistic children he has met through his work and as a result of prior books he has authored. He also shares examples of what he believes are autistic sufferer’s spiritual gifts and anecdotes about the possible sensitivities of people with autism.
Described in promotional materials as an autism spectrum self-advocate, consultant, and speaker Stillman authored The Soul of Autism and Autism and the God Connection prior to writing this book. The Pennsylvania resident also wrote The Autism Answer Book, Empowered Autism Parenting, and Demystifying the Autistic Experience. Stillman also writes columns for The Autism Perspective and Children of the New Earth magazines.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 14, 2010
Managing Hispanic and Latino Employees
Photo: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Louis E. V. Nevaer, author of several books and director of Hispanic Economics, wrote Managing Hispanic and Latino Employees A Guide to Hiring, Traing, Motivating, Supervising and Supporting the Fastest Growing Workforce Group (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, $24.95) a book, published January 2010 about managing Hispanic employees. Relying on estimates that 25 percent of the domestic workforce is of Latino heritage and researcher predictions that Hispanic workers will represent more than half of the country’s workforce by 2050, the writer promises practical advice and his conclusions, based on research data, of what he believes are unique cultural issues in hiring, motivating, training, supervising, developing, retaining, and managing Hispanic workers.
“American business is confronting a crisis of confidence in its ability to identify, cultivate and nurture Hispanic Talent. In 2005, Hispanics in comprised 14 percent of the nation’s population, but constituted 22 percent of workers today,” said Nevaer by email from Mexico when asked why he wrote the book. “That Hispanics are almost a decade younger than the population at large means that Hispanics, Latinos and Latin American immigrants, disproportionately, are of working age, either leaving college and entering the workforce, or well on their way to establishing their careers; and Hispanics in 2050 will represent 32 percent of the nation’s population, but will comprise 55 percent of workers.
As America’s Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers mature and retire, Hispanics and Latinos, native born and Latin American immigrants alike, will dominate the workforce. This book is blueprint for helping organizations throughout the U.S. deal adequately with the changing American workforce.”
The 269-page softcover book is divided into three parts, The Hispanic Employee and American Demographics, The Strategies and Skills for Supervising Nonexempt Hispanic Employees, and The Hispanic Employee and the Organization’s Future; and 10 chapters.
Author Louis E. V. Nevaer
The author opens the book with a quote from Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ famous novel One Hundred Years of Solitude and a Note on the Nomenclature in which he clarifies his use of the terms Latino, Hispanic and Latin in the book. He identifies Latinos as English dominant U.S.-born Hispanics; Hispanics as those of Latin American or Iberian ancestry fluent in Spanish; and Latins as those born in Latin America who migrated to the United States.
Nevaer is a contributor to Pacific News Service and New American Media. He is the author of over a dozen books, including HR and the New Hispanic Workforce and The Rise of the Hispanic Market in the United States.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 7, 2010
Emotional Branding
Photos: Allworth Press
In the updated and revised edition of Emotional Branding the new paradigm for connecting brands to people (Allworth Press, $19.95), a 325-page softcover book published in 2009, Marc Gobé discusses society’s migration from objective to subjective thought and rationality to desires and how it affects branding.
He examines the power of social media and the reasons he believes the way we do business is changing thanks to the Web. In the book he includes mentions of market segments such as Baby Boomers, generations X, Y and eXel, gays, and women. In Chapter 2 (pages 29 to 42), he discusses the American Melting Pot, specifically African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics.
Although he indicates that almost all industries should target U.S. Latinos he highlights eight areas where Hispanics tend to outspend non Hispanics: Food consumed at home, apparel, telephone services, rental housing, TV/radio equipment, personal care products, public transportation and cleaning supplies. He points out that brand managers need to understand what issues are most important and influential among Latinos to target their aspirational interests.
The book is divided into three sections and 15 chapters. The sections are Relationship – customer, customer, customer; and Sensorial experiences – the unchartered territory of branding; Imagination – innovation is a brand’s best friend.
Author Marc Gobé
Gobé is president of Emotional Branding, LLC, a New York think tank and consulting firm dedicated to creating “content for online experiences.” He co-founded and is former chief executive officer of Brandimage (formerly Desgrippes Gobé). The designer, photographer, filmmaker, and public speaker who dedicates his time to connecting brands emotionally with people in a positive way also authored Brandjam and Citizen Brand.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on April 30, 2010
Immigrant, Inc. Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy
Photos: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Myriad uber famous companies were founded by immigrants to the United States. Examples include Google, Intel, Yahoo, Hotmail, YouTube, Sun Microsystems and ebay. In 2010, immigrants in the United States are almost twice as likely as non immigrants to establish a business. Immigrants are behind more than half the new high tech businesses in Silicon Valle; and they are more likely to earn an advanced degree, receive a patent or create an invention, according to the authors of a newly published book.
Richard T. Herman and Robert L. Smith point out that amidst all the controversy over undocumented immigrants many people overlook the critical contributions of legal immigrants to America’s business environment and economy. The immigration and business law attorney and journalist specializing in immigration issues, both Ohio residents, authored Immigrant, Inc. Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy (and how they will save the American worker) (Wiley, $29.95), a 226-page hardcover book about the importance and accomplishments of immigrants published in 2010.
They believe some immigrants arrive primed with ambition, education, thrifty attitudes, and family loyalty to launch their entrepreneurial dreams and find success. In turn they create businesses and jobs that fuel our economy and help our country thrive at a noteworthy rate.
The authors dedicated 10 chapters to the topic, exploring the motivations and qualifications of immigrants and examining individual immigrant’s stories. The chapters are: A Mighty New Idea; The Mounting Evidence; A Land of Opportunity, Still; Restless Dreamers; Earth’s Best and Brightest; Cowboys of a New Frontier; Desperate Achievers: Prequel to Google; Importing Solutions; The Stimulus We Need; and Thinking Like an Immigrant.
Co-author Richard T. Herman
Co-author Robert L. Smith
Herman is the founder of Richard T. Herman and Associates, an immigration and business law firm in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also the co-founder of a chapter of TiE, a global network of entrepreneurs. Smith writes about international culture and immigration for The Plain Dealer, one of the largest newspapers in Ohio.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on April 23, 2010
PR Therapy book cover
Photos: Quill Driver Books
In PR Therapy: Ignite Your Passion for Promoting Your Products, Services, and Even Yourself! Robin Blakely, a New York City public relations consultant, dedicates 180 pages to help readers build a public relations platform for their businesses. She focuses on print, broadcast and live media options.
In the book, she examines basic issues like the need to make changes in existing patterns of behavior, identifying assets and liabilities of the person or brand to be promoted, options available, and narrowing the target audience for starters. She shares suggestions, based on her experiences and that of colleagues, readers may want to consider to address the challenges they face along the way to promoting their business and brand.
The softcover book, published last year, is divided into six section she calls phases: Your Big Couch Trip, The RX to Analyze Your Audience, Picking and Approaching the Media, Your PR Empowerment Tools, The Media and Doing What It Takes, and Building on Your Success. These in turn are divided into what she calls sessions.
Blakely promises readers will have the tools to visualize and build a promotional base that allows them to connect with the most important areas of their market, select varied media venues to target, design the right tools for their business, understand what they need to know before beginning their promotional efforts in earnest.
A ten-year veteran in her field, Blakely is the founder of Livingston Communications, Inc. and a founding partner of Get There Media, a New York City company. She has secured promotional placements for clients at print, broadcast and live venues with HGTV, Book TV, ABC World News, and Vanity Fair among others.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on April 16, 2010
Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand
Did you know that on average Asian households in America spend more than non Hispanic white households? And that black and Hispanic households spend less? At the same time, there are wide variations in some spending habits by ethnic groups. For example, Asian households spend very little on pets while blacks and Hispanics spend significantly more than other groups for children’s clothes.
Marketers wanting to prepare for trends such as the Baby Boomer generation and the rise of ethnic emerging markets like the Asian, black and Hispanic segments, which are estimated to account for one of every five dollars of purchases in America, may be interested in the detailed information about the products and services consumers bought in past years outlined in Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand (New Strategist Publications, $89.95).
The 775-page softcover book breaks down purchases and spending patterns by the demographic characteristics of households based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2007 Consumer Expenditure Survey. The source of the previously unpublished data is surveys of household spending. The time lag between the data collection and the publication of the book, 2009, is about two years.
The book is divided into 21 chapters (in alphabetical order): Alcohol, Apparel, Computers, Education, Entertainment, Financial Products and Services, Furnishings and Equipment, Gifts for People in Other Households, Groceries, Health Care, Reading Material, Restaurants and Carry-Outs, Shelter, Telephone, Tobacco Products, Transportation, Travel and Utilities; and four appendices: About the Consumer Expenditure Survey; Percent Reporting Expenditure and Amount Spent, Average Quarter 2007; Spending by Product and Service, Ranked by Amount Spent, 2007; and Annual Average Household Spending, 2000 and 2007.
The information in the book was originally gathered by the Census Bureau to allow the federal government to track prices. Two groups of 7,000 households (technically called consumer units) each in 91 areas of the country provide the data through two different surveys which are thought to cover 95 percent of expenditures. It is not clear if undocumented residents are included in the survey. Other sources of similar data collection indicate the Consumer Report Survey data is lower than actual except for: rent, fuel, telephone service, furniture, transportation and personal care services.
New Strategist Publications publishes other demographic data titles about consumers (see Book outlines spending by race, ethnic group and New York publisher shares household spending summary) and Hispanics (see Data rich book outlines Hispanic market profile).
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Posted by Elena del Valle on April 9, 2010
Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis
In the past couple of years, traffic of undocumented immigrants across the Mexico United States border has declined (see Fewer Mexican immigrants arriving, similar number returning home). Thirty-five researchers participating in the Mexican Migration Field Research and Training Program (MMFRP) based in the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and in partnership with Mexican institutions, contributed a summary of their findings on recent migration from Mexico to the United States. Their work, edited by Wayne A. Cornelius, David Fitzgerald, Pedro Lewin Fischer and Leah Muse-Orlinoff, was published this year as a book titled Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis A Transnational Perspective (Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, $29.50).
The researchers set out to better understand how economic shocks affect populations movements, specifically those across the Mexico to United States border. They were curious to know how people were managing in places that provided or received immigrants; how individuals were making decision about migrating, staying at home or staying in the United States; and the importance of U.S. immigration enforcement at the border and within the United States in discouraging immigration and encouraging the settling of immigrants in the United States.
The 269-page softcover book is divided into 10 chapters: Introduction; Coping with La Crisis; Double Jeopardy: How U.S. Enforcement Policies Shape Tunkaseño Migration; Economic Crisis vs. Border Enforcement: What Matters Most to Prospective Migrants?; Inhabiting Two Worlds: Tunkaseños in the Transnational Labor Market; Leaving to Learn or Learning to Leave: Education in Tunkás; Values in Conflict: Youth in A Culture of Migration; The Family Dynamics of Tunkaseño Migration; Sweet Dreams and Bitter Realities: Nutrition and Health Care in Tunkás and the United States; and Reshaping Community Participation: Tunkaseños in a Binational Context.
Wayne A. Cornelius, director emeritus, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS)
Cornelius is director emeritus, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS), University of California-San Diego as well as Distinguished Professor of Political Science. Fitzgerald, associated director, CCIS is author of A Nation of Emigrants: How Mexico Manages Its Migration. Lewin Fischer is senior researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia’s Centro Yucatán. Leah Muse-Orlinoff is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of California, San Diego.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on April 2, 2010
The Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (North American Academy of the Spanish Language) wants Spanish speakers in North America to maintain good Spanish language standards. Toward that goal the New York based nonprofit organization published, Hablando bien se entiende la gente consejos idiomáticos de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (Santillana USA Publishing Company, $14.99), a 188-page softcover book with Spanish language tips and advice.
“Hablando bien se entiende la gente has been very well received. I think that a plus of the book is its tone. We tried to avoid a professorial, academic tone, in favor of a lighter approach,” said Gerardo Piña-Rosales, president of ANLE, by email. “ANLE does not condemn any variety of Spanish spoken in the U.S.; we merely wish to remind people that, like any other language, Spanish has its own rules, and they should be followed. An additional problem is the influence of English on Spanish.”
The book, published in Spanish this year, was edited by Piña-Rosales, Jorge I. Covarrubias, Joaquín Segura who are members of the organization’s board of directors; and Daniel Fernández. It includes 45 illustrations by Héctor Cuenca. Eight men: Joaquín Badajoz, Emilio Bernal Labrada, Antonio Culebras, Fernando A. Navarro, Antonio Pamies, Luis Pérez Botero, Luis Ríos, and Mordecai Rubín; and one woman, Vanessa Lago Barros are listed as contributors.
The book is divided into the following six sections: Las apariencias engañan, Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso, A nadie le viene mal aprender a conjugar verbos como el verbo amar, ¡Aplique bien las reglas de la gramática!, ¡Escríbalo y pronunciélo bien!, y ¡Conozca su idioma!
Gerardo Piña-Rosales, president, ANLE
“Our goal is not to police language usage but to help language users use Spanish so that it can be understood by all our Spanish-speakers,” said Piña-Rosales in a press release. “We hope that these ‘language capsules’ will help people who have doubts and want to use Spanish correctly. No one can dictate how people speak, but we can help those who write or work in communications fields use Spanish in ways that reflect universal usage.”
Founded in 1973, the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE) is the youngest of 22 national academies that make up the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, an association of Spanish language academies across international borders.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on March 26, 2010
How to Sell Your Privately Owned Company A Basic Guide for Independent Business Owners
Photos: ERV Productions, Inc.
In How to Sell Your Privately Owned Company A Basic Guide for Independent Business Owners (ERV Productions, ) Eric R. Voth and six other businessmen share how-to ideas for business owners who want to sell their companies. Voth became involved as a business transaction consultant when he sold his own business in 1993. The authors first look at the types of issues a company owner should take into account before deciding to sell his or her business.
They also examine the steps to take to ensure the business is ready to sell, finding help selling the business, determining a sales prices, preparing a plan to sell the company, finding a buyer, making a good sale, and finalizing the sale and moving on.
Author Eric R. Voth
In addition to Voth, the book lists profiles for two of the contributing authors: Andrew Robertson, CBI, a certified business intermediary based in California; and George Siercho, an accredited business coach based in New Jersey. The other four contributing authors are Kerney Laday, Doug Ortega and David Mahmood of Dallas, Texas; and Scott D. Mashuda of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
The 196-page softcover book is divided into eleven chapters: Making the Decision to Sell Your Business, Getting the Right Help, Putting a Price Tag on Your Business, Finding the Right Buyer for Your Business, Making the Right Deal, Successfully Closing the Sale – and the Door, In Conclusion, Glossary of Terminology, Internet Resources and Words of Caution, and Profiles of Contributing Writers.
According to promotional materials, Voth is a serial entrepreneur and investor who also provides matchmaking services to business sellers to merger and acquisition middlemen, investment bankers and business brokers. He is co-author with Ron Myers of The New Owner: Making the Transition from Employee to Employer.
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