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I am struggling Q: with a major organizational change. I believe it will be beneficial in the long run, but implementing this change will cause considerable turmoil. How do I know if this is the right step for my company? The only way A:to know for sure is to make the change and then assess the result. A good business-planning process that forecasts how the changes will affect the company should be done beforehand, but no matter how good the…
On an Ambassadair trip to Athens, Greece, in 1987, one of the tour members suddenly got up from the breakfast table, saying he had to hurry to a class he was teaching that morning. After he left, his wife explained to the puzzled group that he had Alzheimer’s disease, which was diagnosed the year before his retirement in 1986. She said wistfully that they had saved their money so that they could travel after he retired from his job as…
Investors who purchase individual securities in taxable accounts have a great deal of control over their tax situation-taxes are due only when the investment is sold and gains are realized. Those who wish to monitor their potential tax liability could maintain an “unrealized tax liability account” on their investment ledger that tracks the tax due if the investment were sold. Anyone who has held securities for decades is aware of the power of delaying the tax man. A single investment,…
With the pending arrival of two new lead anchors, WRTV-TV Channel 6 is preparing to embark on a big marketing campaign that station management hopes will lift it out of third place in the local ratings. The campaign, which is set to begin next month to promote changes within WRTV’s news division, will be marked by a flurry of billboard, radio, newspaper and, of course, television advertising, said WRTV General Manager Don Lundy. But the centerpiece of the campaign takes…
“Things that can’t go on forever don’t.” If those famous words of the otherwise obscure Nixon-era economic adviser Herbert Stein apply to anything, it is health care spending. Most of us recognize that health care is expensive, breaking the budgets of many households, pressuring businesses and even challenging the spending capacity of giant federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid. What is less clear is why this is so, and what can, or should, be done about it. We spent more…
As we gear up for another presidential election, we once again see many of the candidates matching their leadership on issues to the public opinion polls. Some believe that is necessary to get elected to the nation’s highest office (and John McCain’s early show ing in the race might be proof of this). But it’s no way to run a business. Leading a business is not a popularity contest. Many important decisions are very unpopular. The leader who tempers decisions…
Hhgregg Inc. has been around for 52 years. Forget about all that. To Wall Street, the company is an upstart that’s yet to prove itself. Such is the reality for the Indianapolis-based retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, which staged its initial public offering July 19. It raised $48 million by selling shares at $13 apiece. Three institutional investors collected another $74 million by scaling back their holdings. Now, Hhgregg’s considerable accomplishments-including more than $1 billion in annual sales and…
Al Smith of Chase Bank doesn’t know Patricia Wells, but he is glad he was able to help the Indianapolis mother of five, if only indirectly. Wells closed on the purchase of a house on East Washington Street three months ago, thanks in no small part to two programs of the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, a two-decade-old not-for-profit that has helped hundreds of families realize the American Dream of homeownership. “I’m a single mother with five kids and I didn’t…
Jeff Stoops’ big-rig truck and trailer inventory is worth tens of millions of dollars–a number that might leave the city’s
cult-of-personaltiy car dealers speechless, or questioning their manhood.
The guitar player slumping over White River State Park and the atfirst-fun-but-now-getting-annoying electronic pedestrians downtown will both be leaving Indy Sept. 1, ending the run of the “Julian Opie: Signs” exhibition. What will be the lingering effects of such a high-profile show? Perhaps one effect will be an increased likelihood that we will notice the public art that is already here, permanently. To that end, I’d like to point you to publicartindianapolis.com, a new Web site that will, in turn,…
As a female neurologist and financial advisor, I’ve learned that women have just the right mix of caution, willingness to learn, intuition and appreciation of their overall life goals to invest money well. The puzzling thing is, that in spite of these innate abilities, women often feel uncomfortable about investing their hard-earned cash themselves. So, they delegate others, usually men, to the task. Then, they live with the results. The outcome is not always pretty, especially in a case of…
The S&P 500 on June 1 set a rally high of 1,540. Now, it sits at 1,507. That’s the longest stretch of no forward progress since last summer. So, does that mean anything? There is no shortage of professionals telling us the next bear market is upon us. And with more than a few industries not participating for a while, it might seem the bears have a valid point. Before you pull out the lifeboats, though, there are a few…
A Denver restaurant chain named for the pickles that come on every plate wants to open 10 locations in central Indiana. The 31-restaurant chain plans to begin construction on its first location…
Indianapolis-based Allison Transmission said today it has ended a decade-long agreement with Aisin Seiki Co. of Japan, which sold Allison transmissions and parts in Japan, according to Bloomberg. Allison parent General Motors Corp. announced June 28 that it had sold Allison to The Carlyle Group and Onex Corp. for $5.6 billion. The deal is expected […]
Indianapolis-based Royce Motors Inc., which operates three buy-here/pay-here car lots in its hometown, has been acquired by subsidiaries of Dallas-based Manchester Inc. for $5.3 million. Lot employees and executives will be retained, Manchester said. A recorded message at Royce said its home office is closed and operations would be transferred to a new facility. Earlier […]
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. announced today that the company’s board has approved a buyback plan for up to $1 billion in common stock. The company said it may purchase the stock over the next two years on the open market or in negotiated transactions. Shares were up slightly on the news, to $87.87.
Beilouny Luxury Properties has lined up Tantrum, a new local clothing boutique, for its 757 Mass Ave building. The company also has been talking with several restaurants about taking an…
A 321,627-square-foot industrial building in Plainfield Business Center at Airwest is one of nine buildings bought by California-based KBS Real Estate Investment Trust. The total portfolio sold for $124.5 million. The seller was Opus Corp., based in Minneapolis.
Emotions in the Seattle area are still raw months after Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. bought full ownership of Icos Corp. and promptly announced that it would wipe out most of Icos’ 700 jobs. Lilly acquired the Bothel, Wash., maker of the Cialis erectile dysfunction drug for $2.3 billion in December. The massive job loss […]
Marsh Supermarkets Inc. has sold its Butterfield Foods LLC central kitchen to Violi Foods LLC for an undisclosed price. Butterfield President Frank Violi is president and CEO of Violi Foods, which was incorporated in May and operates from Butterfield’s current location in Noblesville. Butterfield prepares salads and other deli foods sold in the grocers’ delicatessens, […]
