Dashboard
A daily roundup of small-business developments.
What’s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners today.
The Economy
• Jobless claims rise unexpectedly.
• Wal-Mart Stores reports that comparable sales at its American stores rose for the first time in seven quarters.
Start-Up
• A company raises investment money for a feedback tool to help businesses act before a poor Yelp review gets posted.
• Did this “cereal milk” start-up ami at the wrong market?
• Here is the “ultimate list” of start-up competitions, hackathons, business-plan contests and more.
• Coca-Cola is investing $1 million in its start-up incubator.
Health Care
• Should small businesses have to offer health insurance to part-time workers?
Online
• Google Fiber is introduced for small businesses.
• Chinese hackers breach American national weather websites.
• Amazon Web Services says it has a million active customers.
• Americans say they want privacy, but they act as if they don’t.
• AT&T says it is halting improvements until the Federal Communications Commission decides on net neutrality.
Opportunities
• Low-cost loans are fueling a healthy market for the buying and selling of restaurant companies.
• Lyft’s co-founder imagines a future where strangers share driverless cars.
• But the sharing economy is hurting a lot of small businesses.
• Some politicians are eager to subsidize craft brewers.
• There are opportunities and risks in the $10 billion gluten-free food trend.
• General Electric expects infrastructure demand in developing markets to be a “huge engine” of growth.
Employees
• Some 18,000 nurses in Northern California walk out over contract talks.
• These seven charts explain why so many workers are still part-time.
• An on-demand “handyman” and house-cleaning start-up is facing a class-action lawsuit for violating labor laws.
Retail
• Macy’s and J.C. Penney both unveil same-day delivery services.
• Here’s how giving workers off on Thanksgiving became a retailing promotional scheme.
• RadioShack decides to modify its holiday hours.
• A Black Friday line is already forming outside a California Best Buy.
• Verizon is offering pre-Black Friday freebies.
Management
• The makers of caffeinated underwear are fined $1.5 million.
• Here are 11 signs a company is in a “bad mood” — and what to do about it.
• Bad press (and Harry Potter) are contributing to SeaWorld’s epic bellyflop.
• Twitter’s early backers want the company’s chief executive to clarify his plan.
• Hotel Chocolat truffles were treated as explosives by the Food and Drug Administration.
Around the Country
• Michigan business owners talk about their expectations and challenges for 2015.
• A California pony ride owner is suing a group of animal rights activists for defamation.
• A bill passed in Ohio is intended to make state government more responsive to small businesses.
Around the World
• The United Nations issues a statement criticizing the latest threat to world peace: American states legalizing marijuana.
• Australian retailers are not expecting happy holidays.
Business Travel
• Here is how to be a gracious mooch on your pal’s business trip.
Marketing
• Here is how Google lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in an hour and a half.
• HubSpot announces 51-percent revenue growth for the third quarter.
Social Media
• Here are 10 things you should never share on your company’s social media accounts.
• Microsoft joins Instagram and hires a photographer to travel the world.
Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.