Industry Focus

Small-business lending is re-bounding, albeit at a cautious pace, after the big squeeze of 2008 and 2009 at the height of the economic recession. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, commercial banks in 2010 began to ease the tight lending conditions they had imposed on small businesses when the economy began its downward slide early in 2007. Loans under $1 million, the ceiling of a typical small-business loan, totaled $695 billion in fiscal year 2009, ending Sept. 30, 2009, up from $687 billion in FY2007.

The Obama administration will award up to $1 billion to innovative projects that test creative ways to deliver high-quality medical care and save money. Launched on Nov. 14, by the Department of Health and Human Services and funded by the Affordable Care Act, the Health Care Innovation Challenge

With the Jan. 1, 2013, “readiness review” deadline approaching for state-based health insurance exchanges mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, local officials face a quagmire of legal and federal red tape to bring the exchanges to life.

The adage “A day late and a dollar short” may soon ring true for millions of New York metro-area small businesses and their employees if local legislators continue to drag their feet on implementing a key component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Executive Leadership Council, which helps to develop and groom African-American corporate leaders, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. On the heels of the organization’s Black Women Manager’s Symposium in July, and as it prepares for its Annual Recognition Gala on Oct. 20, The Network Journal spoke with its president and CEO, Arnold W. Donald, about The ELC’s efforts to see a fair number of Blacks in the corporate executive pipeline.

 Globalization, the “Great Recession” and increases in the cost of health care are among the most popular topics dominating U.S. headlines. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that these very issues also have a huge impact on the American workplace and the human resource professional.

So you want to start an electronics business in supercompetitive New York City. First order of business? Check your sanity. Second task? Find a niche. And it doesn’t hurt if you can find some truly interesting products.

 As 2011 reaches the midway point, reality has set in on many of the enthusiastic promises made by gadget and gizmo makers in the euphoria of New Year’s Day celebrations. While many of the products and technologies unveiled at January’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas are now dazzling users worldwide, others may never make it past the prototypes made for the show. Some products, like 3D HDTVs, have received lukewarm public acceptance, but others, like Apple’s iPad 2 tablet, have become standard-bearers.

Sports vacation specialists can book you with a fully escorted sporting event tour or plan an experience for you at an event such as the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals or Daytona 500, as one sports vacation Web site boasts. Like other travel planners, these specialists take care of all of your arrangements, down to providing you with tickets to the games.