Let’s talk about the National Broadband Plan, and its 100 Squared initiative. The goal is to get 100 million households on 100 mpbs by 2020. All well and good. The problem is the remaining 5.5 million households, almost assuredly rural. They are not included in the plan, and there is no “phase 2” or second…
This is the second of several reports from the Making Place Matter in Northwest Oklahoma Rural Community Economic Development Summit held in Alva on June 3, 2010. A session on community building covered a wide range of topics, from the Main Street approach, to supporting local businesses, rural tourism, rural grocery stores, the participation of young people,…
What industries make up the Oklahoma economy? Where are most of the jobs? @Stargardener asked, and @DeidreDMyers of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce came to the rescue. 2008 Gross Domestic Product for Oklahoma Mining 14% (Oil and Gas included) Manufacturing 11% Real estate 8% Health Care and Social Asst 6.8% Retail trade 6.7% 2009 Jobs…
[We’ve been known to rant about broadband access, so I was more than happy to bring you this guest post from the Broadband for America Coalition. -Becky] By the Broadband for America Coalition Not so long ago, broadband access to the Internet was reserved for the largest corporations, the most expensive colleges and universities, and…
Another great source for business intelligence: the Retail Owners Institute offers industry benchmark data on six key financial ratios. In a section called Store Benchmarks, they break down industry averages into 51 different retail lines. They give five years of data for these six financial ratios: Current Ratio Gross Margin Percentage Return on Assets Percentage…
Your library is hiding some surprising business intelligence, or at least, I was surprised. At the Michigan Small Town Conference, I sat in on the session on economic gardening. The librarians presenting the session talked about all the cool databases of information they have access to, that the general public does not. And how useful…
“Business intelligence” means gathering the right information that can help you improve your business, or move up to a new level. If you have internet access today, you can gather a ton of amazing research, if you know the right sources to tap. So we’re starting a series on great sources for business intelligence for…
[Another guest post by our great friend Denise McGill ] By Denise McGill To say the least, small business owners must be savvy in many areas of business. It often means you are the decision maker, bookkeeper, salesperson, office administrator and marketing manager. However…with having to wear so many hats, how does one person keep…
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