Job candidates want employers to show them the love

FROM BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL

Indeed, oftentimes showing the love means bearing the company's heart -- its corporate culture. In the war for talent, Northeastern University's Lynn Sarikas is witnessing employers be proactive in helping candidates understand that culture before they take the job.

"Successful employers are showing employees that they have a vested interest in seeing the employee succeed," said Sarikas, director of the MBA career center at the Boston-based university.

"They are providing much more detailed plans up front about what training will be provided and when to ensure that the employee is prepared for success."

FROM FORTUNE MAGAZINE

Next, have an event strategy, advises Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA Career Center at Northeastern University.

"Don't start at the first table by the door and work your way around the room. You may spend too much time waiting in line and miss the recruiters you most need to see," says Sarikas. "Instead, prioritize which companies you care about most and concentrate on meeting those at the top of your list."

When you arrive, "quickly scope out the room to see if one of your top-priority companies has no line or a very short one and, if so, go there first," Sarikas suggests. "But do be willing to wait a little for those most important to you if you have to."

For anyone planning to attend a job fair, including your classmates who may have the luxury of spending a whole day there, Salikas offers these additional tips:

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Web Retailers Who Try to Improve the Performance of Their Sites

One way that online retailers are improving the functionality of their Web sites is to syndicate content from retail manufacturers, instead of embedding it into their own sites. Below I try to put this in context:

According to the executive director of Shop.org, Scott Silverman, “The idea that the growth of new online shoppers is slowing down is beginning to sink in and retailers are beginning to make adjustments. Primarily they are shifting their investment from customer acquisition to customer retention.”

In a joint study Shop.org conducted with Forrester Research, they found that

“… One of the most neglected yet critical elements of a customer web experience is the information and robust detail on product detail pages. Retailers rely on the accuracy of data in content management systems, which is often uploaded in bulk by merchandising teams or sometimes even by vendor partners. This leads to incomplete, inconsistent, and at times inaccurate information on key data points such as sizing charts, and has historically held sales back or created unnecessarily high return rates. To this end, retailers will focus on better managing this information by pulling data directly from manufacturers where possible, and incorporating more robust information such as images onto product detail pages. Retailers will also help customers save time by incorporating rich internet features like Flash to expose more information earlier in the shopping process without having to force cumbersome page refreshes.”

In this environment, providing rich educational content proved to be a critical differentiator for retailers, whose Web sites drive customers to their offline locations. For retailers, creating rich product marketing across hundreds of thousands of SKUs for each of their vendors is both costly and prohibitive. Manufacturers, on the other hand, have already invested large sums of money on developing product marketing content for their Web site. The challenge these manufacturers face: how to get this Web-based product marketing content into the hands of consumers researching products online. WebCollage is helping prominent retail manufacturers such as Casio, Kodak, Olympus, Palm, Sony and many others syndicate their rich online marketing content onto the Web sites of prominent retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City, EB Games, Office Depot, Ritz Camera, Macy's, Nordstrom's, Sears and many others. Using WebCollage, manufacturers syndicate their rich Web product marketing content (interactive demos, buying guides, educational content, etc.) directly onto a retailer's existing Web site.
Customers are more likely to stay and browse a retail site when comprehensive product information is readily available. That's why many online retailers are focusing on providing rich online educational content such as interactive videos, online demos and other informational tools, not focused on product specific information, but may be educational in a related area of customer interest (such as tips for taking better photos). Retailers want customers to visit their sites frequently and avoid going to their competitors for valuable information. The goal of showcase content, therefore, is to create a complete shopping and research experience.

The ultimate objective of WebCollage's solutions are to cause prospective buyers to associate valuable information with specific brands when researching retail web sites. As customers of WebCollage, manufacturers leverage the branded showcase design for its integration into online retail sites; they can thus be certain that their messaging is consistent across all outlets. WebCollage allows retailers to embed and customize manufacturer-developed content directly into the retailer's Website with only a single line of HTML code. This saves retailers significant time and money because they do not have to develop or maintain the content on their own. Utilizing expert Information Architecture advice, WebCollage now allows for greater per-retailer customization, including hyperlinks, spacing, and ad tiles.

Sound Governance Boosts Mutual Fund Performance

FROM MONEY MANAGEMENT EXECUTIVE

Preliminary research by Northeastern University researchers David P. Boyd and Mustafa Yilmaz in late 2006 also indicated stewardship grades are a statistically significant component in effecting stock fund returns. The Boyd and Yilmaz study looked at the correlation between stewardship grades and the performance of 1,124 mutual funds. The researchers examined 860 stock funds and 264 bond fund returns over three years ending in 2005, using a regression model. The results of their statistically significant analysis showed that a one-point increase in the stewardship rating of 1,164 stock and bond funds would result in an 80-basis-point increase in the annual average return of a fund.

The study also found that stewardship is a slightly greater contribution factor in the returns of growth and value stock funds compared with blended funds. Stewardship is not a significant variable in explaining the return on bond funds because equity funds exhibit greater variability in returns than bond funds.

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Smooth transitions

FROM BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL

In all these cases, though, owners need to consider a host of complicated legal and accounting issues, such as tax and estate laws and noncompete agreements. Moreover, he said, because many family businesses are small and the owners tend to be close to their employees, owners often put in place protections for their employees. They sometimes even opt to sell the companies directly to the employees through an employee stock ownership plan.

"One thing I tell family businesses all the time is that there are only three things down the end of the road: They're going to sell the business, they're going to have a succession plan or they're going to shut down," said Ted Clark, the executive director of the Northeastern University Center for Family Business.

Clark said owners should evaluate their options from a business perspective that isn't overly clouded by familial issues.

"What we try to help family businesses do is to not think about themselves as a family business but as a business family, so you put the business first, because that helps the family," he said.
He also said he tells families to get professional advisors and counselors experienced in family business dynamics to help keep professional decisions from being unduly influenced by family politics.

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Five Immediate Opportunities for E-Commerce Improvements

Earlier this year, Internet.com provided a synopsis of a report issued by Sucharita Mulpuru, e-commerce analyst from Forrester Research ( Ice Your Competition with a Cool Return Policy ). In her report, entitled “Five Immediate Opportunities for E-Commerce Improvements,” one of the biggest areas e-tailers must improve in to increase customer satisfaction is multichannel delivery.

“All companies that sell products online should develop checklists for these pages, ensuring that copywriters and vendors/manufacturers fill out all key attributes,” Internet.com reports. “Content directly from manufacturer Web sites, enabled by companies like WebCollage , provide another useful source of product information," she says in the report. "Additionally, customer feedback, either aggregated as ratings or explicitly shared as reviews, is valuable for disclosing the strengths as well as the shortcomings of products — information that retailers or manufacturers rarely provide.”

Up until recently, it was cost-prohibitive for online retails sites to customize rich media content for thousands of products offered by their retail manufacturing partners. For retailers, creating rich product marketing across hundreds of thousands of SKUs for each of their vendors is both costly and prohibitive. Manufacturers, on the other hand, have already invested large sums of money on developing product marketing content for their Web site. The challenge these manufacturers face: how to get this Web-based product marketing content into the hands of consumers researching products online. Through patent-pending technology, WebCollage is helping prominent retail manufacturers syndicate their rich online marketing content onto the Web sites of prominent retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City, EB Games, Office Depot, Ritz Camera, Macy's, Nordstrom's, Sears and many others. Using WebCollage, manufacturers syndicate their rich Web product marketing content (interactive demos, buying guides, educational content, etc.) directly onto a retailer's existing Web site – seamlessly and easily, with almost no programming.

“Another challenge outlined in the study involves the Web's inherent disadvantage in conveying product attributes, such as density and durability, and the fact that online shoppers simply cannot physically inspect items prior to purchase.” Internet.com denotes. “Improvements such as the use of zoom and color swatching are becoming more standard, used by 48 percent and 37 percent of e-tailers, respectively, but Mulpuru emphasizes that detailed product pages must be a priority.”

Customers are more likely to stay and browse a retail site when comprehensive product information is readily available. That's why many online retailers are focusing on providing rich online educational content such as interactive videos, online demos and other informational tools, not focused on product specific information, but may be educational in a related area of customer interest (such as tips for taking better photos). Retailers want customers to visit their sites frequently and avoid going to their competitors for valuable information. The goal of showcase content, therefore, is to create a complete shopping and research experience.

Video is becoming a critical component of online retail as well, as more and more people go to the Web sites of major retailers to research products before they buy them. According to the 9th Annual Mystery Shopping study by E-Tailing Group, rich media lead a broad range of customer-focused improvements on retail web sites, reported by Internet Retailer. During Q4, the study found that 41 percent of the retail web sites surveyed now offer online audio files, while 38 percent offer streaming video. WebCollage also has data proving that add-to-carts increase between 6 and 15 percent when shoppers are given the option to view rich marketing content about products they are looking for.

Key Energy Seeks Closure On Acctg Woes

FROM DOW JONES NEWS SERVICE

Publicly traded service companies have seen their shares skyrocket as a result of high commodity prices and drilling activity that has hit a 20-year high in North America. Key's stock has nearly doubled since March 2004, but Alario acknowledges the company missed opportunities while it was restructuring its front office and tracking down phantom rigs. North American activity has stabilized and may be on the decline, meaning a scandal-free Key must now court investors in a post-boom environment.

"Would you want your daughter to marry a reformed convicted murderer? I think the answer to that would be no," said Harlan Platt, a professor of finance at Northeastern University. "But this is more like the situation of Dr. Frankenstein putting a new brain into an old body. You'd be more likely to let your daughter date the new (man)."

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Travel Accessories for the iPod and iPhone

FROM PC WORLD

An Apple iPod or iPhone is an essential travel accessory in its own right. Not only can you listen to music and watch videos, but you can also store your business contacts on either device or use your iPod to back up files.
But as feature-packed as Apple's devices are, you'll probably still want to accessorize them. Here's a look at some cool add-ons for the airplane, car, hotel room--or anywhere you travel.

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Despite AS5, Liability Fears Still Loom Large

As public companies and audit firms prepare for a new approach to auditing internal controls over financial reporting, a certain trepidation hangs over the process. Regulators have called for a more relaxed audit, but how will the plaintiff lawyers react?
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board codified their call for a more reasoned approach to internal control reporting and auditing earlier this year, publishing guidance for management on how to do a risk-based assessment of internal controls and steering auditors through Auditing Standard No. 5 to focus on high-risk areas.

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