Spotlight Features

U.S. firms outsourcing software development and customer service work to firms overseas are largely doing so without regard to the environmental or labor records of those firms. This is a risky path for U.S. companies to follow, according to Trudy Heller of Executive Education for the Environment. "...

What does performance mean to your e-business? If you are like most e-business executives, you immediately think about high-level performance metrics such as revenue, costs and customer satisfaction, with varying degrees of emphasis depending on whether your e-business Web site is focused on serving...

Has this thought ever haunted you: "What if one of my big customers goes under?" And, have you ever felt out of control when having such worrisome thoughts? Well, you don't have to sit back and wait for something to happen. You can be proactive. There is a way by which you can protect yourself again...

It's time again for a medical check. As we approach 2005, it's best to know if your corporate identity image is healthy, slightly injured or on a life-support system. You have to know this, as only healthy images are fit to run the race, and potentially win. Injured corporate identities can surely s...

North American firms often take great pride in their environmental policies and performance, and justifiably so. Corporate demonstrations of environmental and social responsibility generate long-term marketing and branding advantages, which translate into competitive advantages. American consumers, ...

Have you ever dreamed about taking your company public -- the relative ease of raising capital, the ability to use your company's stock to buy other businesses, and the liquidity of your own shares so that you can "cash out" when you are ready? This all sounds good, and it is. But not every business...

Canadian call centers were recently estimated by U.S. law enforcement authorities to be doing US$100 million in illegal business annually in the U.S. In comparison, InternationalStaff.net estimates that South Asian call centers operating illegally are currently generating four to five times that amo...

Governments at both the state and federal level in the U.S. are getting serious about addressing the void in the legal framework for fighting "spyware." To begin with, we need to define the term "spyware," due to the fact that this term has been used to describe everything from keystroke loggers, to...

Now that the titans of e-commerce have been identified, search engines are leading the way for consumers online. At the same time, serious questions are emerging related to the efficacy of these search engines. If search engines are the principal devices for business access, then today's search resu...

Spyware and its intimate partner, adware, are among the fastest growing threats to computer users. Many Internet security experts now view spyware and adware as variations of the same thing -- intrusion. Industry analysts say spyware and adware together infect at least 90 percent of all Internet-con...

If someone were to ask you, "What are the most important financial controls for a small business?" what would your answer be? This article looks at the minimum monitors that must be in place in order to protect and preserve the assets of a business. What you should aim to achieve is to have a system...

The Internet has delivered dramatic productivity improvements. Executives now have a simple way to exchange electronic mail messages, large and small companies are able to market their products worldwide and corporations have replaced manual procedures with automated ones. Along with these advances ...

The Internet has brought dramatic changes to the way companies communicate and people conduct their business relationships. One of the hottest marketing trends for businesses across all industry lines involves using the power of the Internet to provide virtual meeting spaces. Web conferencing and We...

You may not have heard of the phrase "pump and dump." I would be surprised, however, if you haven't been personally solicited by a so-called investment advisory firm that was trying to sell you a penny stock. What's the connection? Pump and dump schemes, which are illegal, usually involve the heavy ...

If you use the latest antivirus packages and run a firewall, you don't have to worry about spyware intrusion, right? Wrong, say leading security experts. It is just this type of thinking that is allowing spyware intrusions to overtake computers in both the home and the workplace. Spyware is quickly ...