A recent Pollina study named the following most Pro Business in America:
- North Carolina
- Florida
- Virginia
- South Carolina
- Wyoming
The Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States study examines twenty-nine factors relative to states’ efforts to be pro-business, and is the most comprehensive examination of states to date. The study is limited to factors over which state government has control. The list reflects state leadership that truly understands the importance of producing the best job opportunities available for their constituents. The state governments at the top of the list understand that they must be very pro-active in the international battle to keep and attract jobs.
See Pollina’s website to get full details of the report. Last year, Pollina named Virginia as the most Pro Business state in the United States.
Today, The Washington Post reported, via the Associated Press, that Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection today in New York. It filed under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, which will allow it to hold off creditors and continue operations while it develops a reorganization plan.
According to JPMorgan analyst Christopher Horvers, “this isn’t a surprise.” Horvers goes on to say, “At the end of the day I think it’s really about an inventory position … If they can get inventory into the stores, I can think they’ll remain competitive.”
Obviously, Horvers has not recently gone into a Circuit City store. Circuit City’s failure has nothing to do with their inventory position. It’s their horrible customer service and dysfunctional store layout that is crippling their ability to compete. On top of that, it’s the recession and credit strapped consumers’ inability to buy anything on their maxed out credit cards that will prevent any plan of reorganization from succeeding.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a Wall Street financial analyst to figure this one out. All you have to do is visit a local Circuit City store and try to find and buy something. During times of recession, retailers need to bend over backwards and go out of their way to improve, faciliate, and expedite the shopping experience. This is where Circuit City has failed miserably. It for this primary reason that Circuit City will close its doors and re-emerge from bankruptcy under another name, likely Target, Walmart, or Best Buy.
President-elect Barack Obama wasted no time in launching www.Change.gov, a website devoted to the transition of a new dawn in American politics.
Some of the many features and benefits of the Obama-Biden transition team website include:
- Jobs for the President Obama administration
- Countdown to inauguration
- President Obama’s agenda
- Opportunity to share your story
- Directory of President Obama’s transition team
If you would like to change the way America works or learn more about the new dawn of America, visit www.Change.gov.
Much of the success of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign is due to his effective use of online marketing, direct e-mail, blogs, and social networking sites. So, it should be no surprize that an Obama Presidency will be nothing but good news for the internet industry.
Indeed, all future campaigns, national and local, here and abroad, will rely heavily on the web as part of that strategic execution. I believe that all of the dot gov sites out there will soon receive a face lift and department heads will have their own leadership blogs. I’m quite sure that President Obama and his staff will actively participate in a Whitehouse blog to communicate their message to the people.
One of President-elect Obama’s key campaign goals was to ensure that every household, every family, and every child has reliable and affordable (if not free) access to high-speed internet. I predict that the federal government, as well as local governments, will rely more and more on websites, the internet, and “online marketing” as a way to reduce costs, preserve energy, and become more effective.
As part of President Obama’s health care reform, he will likely opt for telemedicine to help serve rural communities where it is simply not cost-effective to have doctors in every rural village. The Veteran’s Administration is already successfully implementing several rual medicine (telemedicine or telemedical) clinics throughout the country.
Look out for more innovative uses of technology and the interent over the next 8 years. This president is very pro-science, pro-technology, and pro-internet. He will be a boon to the industry.
Back in August, I wrote an article (Is Circuit City going out of business?) about poor customer service at Circuit City and how I predicted that it would soon fold. Today, I noticed the stock trading at about 35 cents per share:
As you can see, it’s stock price can’t get any lower. Back in August, I recommended that you sell your Circuit City stock. But, if you haven’t sold it by now then it’s pointless. In fact, I might even make the opposite argument … BUY Circuit City stock now! Why?
Well, for one, it can’t get much lower. But for another, it will likely be bought by Best Buy or Target or Amazon or some other company before it completely goes out of business. Usually, a company’s stock price will spike up a bit at the announcement of a potential purchase. So, I would buy now, wait for the announcement and then decide to sell or hang on to it. Who knows, maybe somebody will read this article and do something about the customer service (and the economy) and it may magically rise to its high of $30/share.
But, having said that, I still think that Circuit City customer service sucks and it’s only a matter of time before a decision has to be made to merge, sell, or go under.
