Nucor Steel

North Carolina-based Nucor Steel is one of the world's most productive companies, according to a recent MRO Today study. Nucor has recorded over 130 consecutive quarters of revenue and dividend growth through its commitment to its customers, employees, and technology. Bucking most corporate policies, the first cost-cutting measures when business goes down is executive perks and bonuses.
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Rudy Giuliani

"There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader." - Rudy Giuliani
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Chapter 11

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a reorganization process available to any corporation as well as individuals within certain conditions. Chapter 11 makes sense when long-term revenue is higher than liquidation of assets. It is essentially a payment plan to creditors while the company continues normal operations and works toward making a fresh start after completing the Chapter 11 process.
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IPOs

The credit card company Visa set the record for the single largest U.S. initial public offering raising $17.9 billion in 2008. The ideal candidate for an IPO has a well-established track record of steadily growing sales and earnings, and operates in an industry that is currently on the way up. IPOs are the most expensive way to raise money in terms of cost.
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Proxy fights

In business, a proxy fight is a hostile takeover method where the acquiring company attempts to convince shareholders to vote for a new management team or board of directors that will approve a takeover. Proxy fights often start with unhappy shareholders or managers within the company itself. The proxy technique allows the acquiring company to avoid paying a premium for the target company.
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The American Business Awards

The American Business Awards have been awarded annually since 2002. The awards were created to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and business people worldwide in dozens of categories. Winners receive the distinctive American Business Award trophy called a "Stevie", which is derived from Greek meaning "crowned".
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Business Gateway

Business.gov, the official business link to the U.S. Government, is managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in partnership with 21 other federal agencies. This partnership, known as Business Gateway, is a Presidential E-government initiative that provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation's businesses with their operations.
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Global competitiveness

TIME Magazine partners with the WEF to annually rank the global competitiveness of national economies based on 113 factors, including venture capital availability, market-size, and infrastructure. The U.S. was first in the latest rankings, followed by Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and Finland. South Korea saw the biggest year-to-year jump in rank.
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National Business Women's Week

In 1928 President Herbert Hoover designated the third week of October as National Business Women's Week. This week celebrates the contributions of working women to the American society, economy and family. The objectives of the week are to promote full participation and equity for women in the workplace as well as publicize the achievements of professional women.
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The Big Three

General Motors sold one of every two cars in America in 1962 compared to about one in four vehicles today. Ford and Chrysler report similar market erosion. Auto industry experts lay blame on several factors: too many competing models, chronic downward spiral in demand, spiking employee and retiree health care costs, and thinning vehicle profit margins.
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Opportunity Cost

Investopedia.com defines Opportunity Cost as the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits not received by taking an alternative action. Opportunity cost can be calculated for any chosen alternative. For example, the forgone salary while getting a college degree is the opportunity cost of obtaining the degree.
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The Mechanism of Mind

Edward de Bono is a pioneer in the art of deliberately improving one's creative thinking processes. One of de Bono's creativity techniques is called "reverse thinking". When discussing a problem or scenario, participants pose opposites in size, time, meaning, etc. as a way of stimulating ideas and thought. The book "The Mechanism of Mind" offers several more of de Bono's creative thinking techniques.
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Black Monday

On October 19, 1987, the S&P 500 lost 20.5%, the Dow Jones lost 22.6% and the NASDAQ lost 11.3%, marking the largest one-day decline in stock market history. One of the major causes of the crash was the use of automated computer program trading. During the rapid decline, the markets were found to be controlled more by computers rather than by investor decisions.
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Innovation management

Innovation management is a key component of successful companies, suggest authors Morten Hansen and Julian Birkinshaw. Companies without a process to get good ideas to market put themselves at risk to unfocued initiatives and added stress to existing processes. Proctor & Gamble and Apple are cited as good innovation value chain examples.
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American labor

The 20th Century saw a dramatic change in the way Americans work. Over 80% of all U.S. workers where categorized as self-employed in the early 1900s. By 1980, over 90% of workers in the U.S. were considered as employees. Federal labor laws, New Deal legislation and the growth of large corporations factored heavily in this complete turnaround of American labor.
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Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard concept is a management metric system that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. The goal of the balanced scorecard is to tie business performance to organizational strategy by measuring results in four areas: financial performance, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
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Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke succeeded Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in February 2006. Bernanke, from South Carolina, holds a B.A. degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT. He taught at Princeton, Stanford, NYU and MIT, and has authored many articles and books. Bernanke's 14-year Federal Reserve Board term ends in January 2020.
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Henry Luce

Henry Luce was one of America's most influential publishers and is considered the Father of the modern magazine. Henry Luce and partner Briton Hadden published the first edition of Time Magazine in 1923. The success of Time was followed up by Fortune in 1930, Life in 1936, and Sports Illustrated in 1954. Life magazine was notable for introducing photojournalism to American mass media.
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The 80/80 designer’s rule of thumb

The 80/80 designer’s rule of thumb. To keep things within scope and budget, always design for the rule and not the exception. The 80/80 design rule of thumb says design for what 80% percent of people want to do 80% of the time.
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McDonalds

Ray Kroc was the first businessman to apply the principles of mass production to restaurants when he introduced Americans to McDonalds. Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers of California to sell their small chain to him in 1961, which he turned into one of the biggest franchise bonanzas in history of business. Billions of hamburgers have been sold from thousands of McDonalds.
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Children's Digital Library

Children were a key staffing element in the design of the International Children's Digital Library at the University of Baltimore, as reported in the Baltimore Daily Record. Growing up in a world permeated by interactive media, the children were seen as unique partners in discovery and as native guides in creating and constructing their virtual worlds for the project.
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Jack Welch

"If change is happening on the outside faster than on the inside the end is in sight." -- Jack Welch.
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Alka Seltzer

There is a marketing legend about how Alka Seltzer doubled its sales. The heartburn and indigestion product had seen sales decline into the 1960s and was in need of a jump start. Their ad agency at the time came up with the idea of telling its customers to take a double-dose of the tablets. The campaign was a huge success as Alka Seltzer sales and profits doubled.
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Enterprise 2.0

The phrase "Enterprise 2.0" was coined to describe the business use of web-based services once thought only as online novelties. Products such as blogs, wikis, social networks, and mashups are making their way into corporate computer networks. Factors fueling this growth include more empowerment among employees and customers, faster application development cycles, and more effective communication.
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Mashups

"Mashups" are the latest breed of software emerging on the web. Mashups are applications developed from a variety of disparate programs, such as web applications, map software, databases and images. The first mashups combined real estate search databases with maps. Software venders are now providing interfaces to their digital assets with the intent of fostering more mashups on the web.
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Cough and colds

Cough and colds are most common during the winter months. Cold germs are contained and spread more easily during indoor months. Use the following tips to avoid cough and cold: wash your hands often; avoid putting your hands near your eyes, nose and mouth; make sure shared items are cleaned frequently; get enough rest; drink more water; limit alcohol consumption; and eat healthy.
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ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo.com is a summarization search engine that delivers comprehensive information on over thirty million business professionals and two million companies across many industries. ZoomInfo finds and extracts information from Web sites, press releases, electronic news services and SEC filings, and summarizes the information into a comprehensive, searchable format.
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Succession planning

Succession planning establishes a process to recruit employees, develop their skills, and prepare them for advancement, all while retaining them to ensure a return on the organization's training investment. Succession planning involves understanding the organization's long-term goals and objectives, identifying employee development needs, and determining trends.
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Moonlighters

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about seven to eight million workers are holding multiple jobs. After several years of decline, the numbers of "moonlighters" has increased in the U.S. The top reasons cited for holding multiple jobs are: to earn extra money, to pay off debt, gratitude or enjoyment, to meet people, and to gain new experience.
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Wonderlic Personnel Test

All National Football League draft picks take the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT) as part of the annual pre-draft combine. The Dallas Cowboys were the first NFL team to use the WPT in the early 1970s. Originally developed in 1937, the WPT test is popular because it provides quick, easy and accurate information about a job candidate's intelligence.
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