Sunday, May 30, 1999
SMALL-BUSINESS DIARY
Seminar will reveal hidden Y2K quirks
Small-business people looking for a few more reasons to lose sleep might find a bunch at a free seminar on hidden Y2K problems 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. June 8 at the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Sciences, 1111 Edison Drive .
The impact of the Y2K problem or millennium bug might hit systems that include telephone, security access, elevators and heating and air conditioning, according to Greg Hume, IAMS project manager and seminar presenter.
The seminar is sponsored by the Small Business Development Center at the University of Cincinnati, the Clermont County Chamber of Commerce, the Hamilton County Development Center Inc. and the institute.
The free event will offer participants a Conversion 2000:Y2K Jumpstart Kit developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce that includes a self-assessment checklist, upgraded software and other information. The software will help small manufacturers and other small businesses conduct an inventory of equipment, including hardware, software and embedded system.
The year 2000 problem, or Y2K bug, stems from the failure of a computer program or system because the “00” year designation might be misinterpreted for 1900.
For more information on the seminar and kit, contact the institute at 948-2017.
Small-business profits increase
The optimism is not exactly unbridled — the labor shortage is still troubling — but small-business owners were happier about their prospects than at any other time this year. “The small-business earnings picture is about as rosy as we've seen in 25 years of surveying,” said William C. Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business.
The federation's education foundation arm found that “voracious consumer spending” is the major force lifting small-firm sales and profits.
But small-business job growth was flat in April as “hard-to-fill” job openings rose 1 percentage point to 33 percent, a record for the survey of 1,548 small-business owners throughout the nation. Although 19 percent of the firms raised prices, another 12 percent cut prices. Strong first-quarter earnings helped trigger expectations that business conditions are likely to improve.
Business bookshelf
From Selling Dreams: How to Make any Product Irresistible by Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni (Simon & Schuster; $26): “To achieve long-term growth, companies must tame their traditional cost-cutting and hyperefficiency methods with a more artistic approach to business. Only by striking customers' dreams can companies really magnify their profits and maximize their brand equity.”
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