Vintage Filings Business Blog

By Benjamin Blascoe

Adult reading is down – way down. While there are still copious amounts of adults nestled in their favorite chairs cozying up with a good book, the overall population does not read at the level they once enjoyed. And this startling statistic is very evident to companies like Barnes & Nobles or other major retailers. However, even though readership is down in the elder population there is one guaranteed source of income for booksellers – college book stores.

I remember watching all my summer savings get neatly divided in half as I unwillingly would purchase $400 to $600 in books every semester on top of tuition. It all seemed fine considering I wouldn’t be able to pass courses without them but it did feel a bit like a monopoly.

And that is why Barnes & Nobles has finally merged its two book-glomerates into on undeniable bookselling machine. Barnes & Nobles and Barnes & Nobles College Booksellers have finally merged into one for the first time since 1984.

But here is the catch….

Barnes & Nobles Chairmen Leonard Riggio is the one selling Barnes & Nobles College Booksellers to Barnes & Nobles. When the company split, Riggio still had the rights to use the name, advertising rights and be publicly traded with Barnes & Nobles without actually being a public company. But now that the Fortune 500 Company has finally re-merged and should lead to some nice profit wields in the next quarter considering college is rising day-by-day. While it seems like a devastatingly excruciating conflict of interest, it is finally amending this cumbersome relationship that has been going on for 20+ years.

So we may see some interesting things at our local-chain Barnes & Nobles in the following months – potentially an influx of college literature and scientific texts. As a recent college graduate, I think this is a good move for Barnes & Nobles. Even though I have an issue with conglomerates and monopolies, this company is far from it and it will be nice to have access to a college bookstore anywhere in the country (where there is a B & N).

What are your thoughts? Was this a greedy maneuver for one man’s legacy or a move for simplicity? Or both….

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By Benjamin Blascoe

Marc Andreessen, web guru of Netscape and other profitable i-ventures, has announced that he and his partner Ben Horowitz are to launch another venture into the thriving technology industry. Andreessen and Horowitz have been partners for quite some time now and judging by their past precedence, this new venture is sure to be lucrative.

The company, cleverly dubbed Andreessen Horowitz, will be an investment firm centered on the best new entrepreneurs, products and companies in the technology industry. Taken from Andreessen’s Blog “…between the two of us, Ben and I have started three companies directly, created many new products and services, run operating businesses at high levels of scale, angel invested in 45 tech startups in the last five years, and served on a broad cross-section of company boards with some of the best entrepreneurs and investors in the industry.”

But the organization will not be as effortless as it seems with these two geniuses behind the wheel. The technology and products Andreessen Horowitz is concerned with all focus on human progress on a worldwide scale – meaning if “it” improves standard of living, improves human potential or even unlocks new technology to a broader range of human beings, Andreessen and Horowitz are interested.

Should make for an interesting firm that will most likely be at the forefront of tomorrow’s technology. Read more at Marc Andreessen’s Blog.

The year 2008 may be gone, but it is definitely not forgotten. Every American is feeling the impact of the country’s economic battle and is making substantial changes to their everyday lives and shopping habits to stay afloat. Because changes have been broad and deep, the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry must stay on their collective toes and respond to continually changing rituals with a new level of deftness, according to the latest IRI Times & Trends Report. The report explores CPG industry performance during the past year and provides insights on what to expect in 2009.

IRI has studied this economic transformation since the beginning and has divided 2008 into two stages. Stage I, “Shocking the System,” took place in Q108-Q308 and was characterized by an unprecedented rise in energy and food prices.

“Consumers reacted with sharp cutbacks to purchases overall and began a re-evaluation of what, why, where and when they buy food and center store items,” says IRI Consulting and Innovation President Thom Blischok. “Shoppers took a new look at old spending habits and started to make significant changes.”

Stage II, named “A Refocus on Impact,” began in Q408. During this quarter, commodity prices moderated and energy prices plunged, but consumers continued to cut back. Surprised and concerned by the severity of price increases and the credit crunch earlier in the year, shoppers did not re-open their wallets as prices moderated.

January 2009 began Stage III, “The Lasting Reality.” With the continuing rise in unemployment, ongoing weakness in the banking system and credit structure, and a belief that energy prices will increase again in the near future, consumers remain extremely skeptical. Among consumers earning more than $100,000, there are few signs that shoppers are backing away from their most extreme cost-cutting behaviors; but among all other income groups, the wallet remains closed.

“Recessions expose the health of CPG manufacturers and retailers,” continues Blischok. “Innovative companies thrive, while weaker companies struggle and fail. To be a success in this recessionary environment, you must anticipate and respond to change before it happens. This is instrumental in establishing long-term shopper loyalty even after the economy gets back on track.”

So what steps do businesses need to take?  IRI recommends the following action steps that retailers and manufacturers can take to improve market share, shopper loyalty and financial position in today’s economy:

• Planning: Shoppers are making most decisions before they enter the store. Manufacturers and retailers should shift merchandising and promotion strategies into people’s homes via traditional media and online social media.
• Purpose: Consumers have changed their rituals and are cooking more at home with fresh ingredients and are bringing snacks and lunches from home to work. Manufacturers should make fresh ingredients more available and rewire their snack strategy. Retailers must make it easy for shoppers to find these ingredients and supporting products in their stores.
• Price: Shoppers demand good prices and quality in what they buy. Manufacturers and retailers should redouble their collaboration strategies to offer consumers the best value possible.
• Product: Shoppers are buying familiar products, so new product experimentation is at an all time low. Manufacturers should consider an enhanced brand-extension strategy. Retailers can increase shelf space of existing brands at the expense of new products.
• Promotion: Shopper direct marketing has arrived and will become a strategic differentiator. Manufacturers and retailers should develop new media strategies which will ensure consumers’ maximum exposure to marketing messages.
• Place: Shoppers are looking for the best deals wherever they can find them. Loyalty to a channel/banner is only as good as “what have you done for me lately?” Manufacturers and retailers must review and update the value proposition of products and stores.
• Permanence: Shoppers are deeply worried about the future, and many changes they are currently making will last. Manufacturers must update their management structure in a way that facilitates an ongoing ability to offer new shopping experiences that address evolving consumer needs.

Just in case you thought that US companies were the only ones needing a government bailout, think again.  Canada’s biotechnology CEOs are calling for an economic stimulus package that includes targeted measures designed to protect $1.7 billion of annual spending and preserve high-value “21^st century” jobs in Canada in the face of a severe economic times. These measures include a one-time cash refund on tax losses, an exemption from capital gains tax on the next two years’ of investment, and changes to the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) credit program to support the sector during the economic downturn.

“We are asking for immediate targeted measures in order to protect Canadian world class technologies from competitors in the US, the UK and other countries, where governments are making significant commitments to protect their biotechnology industries in recognition of their social and economic value,” said Rainer Engelhardt, Chair of the Board of Directors of BIOTECanada and CEO of Eulytica Biologics Inc., Ottawa. “Ultimately, our goal is to get through this downturn and have the high value jobs inherent to this industry stay in Canada.”

BIOTECanada’s proposed economic stimulus package includes three key measures. A one-time redemption for unused tax losses would be available to SMEs with revenues less than R&D expenses and be limited to the lesser of $20 million or twice a company’s annual R&D expenditure. An exemption from capital gains tax is proposed for investors making new direct investments in 2009 and 2010. Both measures require companies to reinvest in Canada. Changes to the SR&ED program to process refunds quarterly rather yearly and an expansion of program eligibility to all firms engaged in research and development in Canada will create a competitive stimulus to support more domestic jobs and investment.

“With limited sources of financing available for the industry, many Canadian biotech companies are wondering where their next six months of operating cash are going to come from and need the Canadian government to take immediate action,” said Andy Sheldon, President and CEO of Medicago Inc., Québec City. “For the industry to survive, we need a commitment from our government to facilitate investment and provide short term relief.”

Without an immediate cash infusion and tax support, $1.7 billion in annual R and D spending, thousands of Canadian jobs and even Canada’s long term economic prosperity are at risk according to Canada’s national biotechnology trade association, BIOTECanada.

“Canadian governments have done the right thing in supporting major investments in post-secondary education and basic research because that research ultimately saves lives. As Canadians and as entrepreneurs we want to see that investment bear fruit,” said Gordon McCauley, President and CEO of Allon Therapeutics Inc., Vancouver. “Our recommendations are targeted measures aimed at protecting these investments, in order to spur Canada’s economic recovery, and get these advances in the hands of physicians and patients.”

Finding job applicants can be a very long and tiring process.  Meeting with job seekers takes time and money, not to mention it forces you to always maintain a sizable human resources division simply for sorting through potential employees.  One company is looking to streamline this service while also helping to protect the environment. “Companies have been trying to get online videoconferencing to really work for people for quite a while now. We think this is both the technology and the application to make it happen,” said Greg Rokos, president of FutureResume.com. Rokos was announcing the addition of GreenJobInterview.com to the arsenal of video-based capabilities available to job seekers and hiring companies on the new online job board, FutureResume.com. GreenJobInterview.com is literally a “point-and-click” online videoconferencing solution with no software required, and no up-front costs, allowing anyone to access browser-based GreenJobInterview.com and conduct a videoconference. Only a webcam is required. GreenJobInterview.com will supply a webcam to client companies at no charge if needed and if their chosen candidate is without a webcam, it’s a simple request to GreenJobInterview.com that one be sent out.

GreenJobInterview.com appears as a button on the FutureResume.com site where job seekers post their resumes as well as one-minute video resume introductions that allow them to put their personality and professionalism on display and stand out from the crowd. When a hiring company is interested in a job seeker (whom they have seen in a one-minute video resume introduction on the site), they simply click the button to schedule a GreenJobInterview videoconference with the seeker at a convenient time. No traveling or significant expense is required.

“We believe companies will give more candidates the opportunity for an interview,” stated Greg Rokos, “when it doesn’t require hours or days of travel and all the personnel time associated with it. A GreenJobInterview takes moments to set up and costs as little as $49.95 for a half hour. It’s a win/win for both job seekers and hiring companies — and for the environment, too.”

According to Theo Rokos, co-founder and board member of FutureResume.com, “FutureResume.com is literally a new hiring process. Hiring managers get to see and interact with job seekers from day one in their video resume introductions and then in a GreenJobInterview. Seekers get to see the hiring company in its video profile on FutureResume.com. This process shortens the time to hire, improves the quality of hiring and significantly reduces costs and impact on the environment.”

Working for a publicly traded company forces you to focus on constantly increasing revenues, and one of the best methods for accomplishing this is to have a strong foundational knowledge of your consumer.  So I was very intrigued when I discovered that BzzAgent, a word-of-mouth (WOM) media network, and Attensity, a company that provides text analytics software for First Person Intelligence, partnered to create an alliance designed to provide marketers with insights into the conversations consumers are having about their brands. BzzAgent is integrating Attensity’s “Voice of the Customer” (VoC) software into its WOM platform. This will enable BzzAgent to analyze the millions of real-world, word-of-mouth dialogues submitted by its network of 450,000 volunteer “Agents,” and supply clients with actionable information related to behavioral and conversational patterns.

According to BzzAgent Founder and CEO, Dave Balter,

“Our relationship with Attensity promises to prove the correlation between words and wallets, empowering our clients to harness the power of word of mouth for much more than product awareness and trial. We’ve been sitting on a proverbial gold mine filled with more than a million reported conversations. Attensity’s solution will allow our clients to reap the fullest benefits of marketing’s most precious resource: consumer opinions.”

Added Craig Norris, Attensity’s CEO,

“We’re very happy to be working with BzzAgent in an effort to increase the value of their already successful WOM initiatives. In many ways, this is the perfect relationship to create unmatched marketing intelligence for ambitious companies looking to connect with end consumers in a way that their competitors cannot. BzzAgent is at the crest of the word-of-mouth wave, while Attensity has the leading analytics technology to mine the resulting unstructured feedback in a way that presents the facts necessary for meeting end-consumer needs and desires.”

Attensity’s text analytics technology will analyze unstructured data contained in the nearly 100,000 WOM reports submitted by BzzAgent’s volunteers each month, as well as the millions of reports received over the past five years. The software will mine and analyze Agent-authored narratives, allowing the company to provide real-time performance updates and offer strategic recommendations rooted in consumer attitudes, opinions and recommendations. For example, the Attensity-powered system will be able to inform BzzAgent’s clients about which words correlate positively — and negatively — to product trial and purchase intent.

Attensity’s Voice of the Customer solution employs the company’s patented Exhaustive Extraction technology to automatically identify facts, sentiment, opinions, requests, trends, and trouble spots from the unstructured text in survey responses, email messages, website forums, blog entries and other consumer communications. Unlike programs that require manual tagging, sorting, classifying or other upfront effort, Attensity automatically extracts valuable data from written feedback to provide deeper insights into consumer satisfaction, sentiment, and loyalty. Attensity can also reveal specific product and service issues, reactions to marketing and selling efforts, and even buying signals.