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Southwest won’t land big ATA stake, after all: But low-fare airlines plan to broaden partnership allowing passengers on 1 carrier to transfer to other

ATA Holdings Corp.’s new business plan includes “an extended and more robust” code-share agreement with Southwest Airlines. But Dallas-based Southwest doesn’t intend to take an ownership stake in the bankrupt Indianapolis carrier, backing off its year-old plan to acquire 27.5 percent of the company when it exits bankruptcy. Those details are contained in recently filed court documents that provide a partial picture of ATA’s reorganization plan. The airline sought Chapter 11 protection in October 2004. The investment group proposing to…

Fine-tuning a business strategy: Local violinmaker finds success by raising prices

F ine-tuning a business strategy Local violinmaker finds success by raising prices John Welch made a counterintuitive business decision two years ago. The violin business was in decline. Asian manufacturers were turning out high-quality stringed instruments for a fraction of the price of their American competitors. Welch decided to swim against the current. He raised prices. “We realized the only way to compete with the Chinese was to improve our quality,” said Welch, CEO of Indianapolis-based Sofia Violins. “We realized…

BEHIND THE NEWS: If sales fall short, retailers will have explanations aplenty

Here’s the good news for Indianabased retailers: Even if the crucial holiday shopping season doesn’t go well, they’ll have plenty of excuses for the lackluster performance. High gas prices kept shoppers at home. High heating prices ate up their disposable income. And any extremes on the weather front could prove handy, too. Who wants to buy sweaters when it’s 60 degrees outside, or venture to the mall on ice-slickened roads? Indeed, it’s not all spin. Take the Indianapolis-based electronics and…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: State economy looks good, but clouds are on horizon

It’s the time of year to get out our crystal balls and ask this deceptively simple question: What kind of year will 2006 be for the Indiana economy? This year, like any other, finds us making lists of what’s going right, and what’s going wrong, in our economic environment. Let’s start with the good news. It may surprise some of you to know there is plenty to choose from. Topping the list has to be the surprisingly robust health of…

Cable firms call foe a phony: Group touting itself as consumer group funded by biz giants

At first glance, Consumers for Cable Choice appears to be one of those grass-roots organizations likely to have a framed picture of Ralph Nader on its wall. You know, the kind of activist group whose religion is social justice, whose bible is Mother Jones, and to whom eternal damnation would be to accept a penny from greedy and manipulative Big Business. Not so with Consumers for Cable Choice. The Indianapolis group that advocates more competition in cable and relaxed regulation…

Merry Realty Inc.: Big plans for small firm Real estate agency tries to win business by teaching buyers rules of the game

Real estate agency tries to win business by teaching buyers rules of the game Large agencies may dominate the residential real estate game, but Indianapolis-based Merry Realty is trying to prove a small player still can make a big name for itself. For years, Merry Realty has focused its efforts on properties in Indianapolis, but it is rapidly expanding into a more diverse market, targeting booming areas like Hamilton County while staying loyal to its inner-city roots. Real estate broker…

INVESTING: To do well in market, study sectors’ relative strengths

You’re cool. You wear hip clothes. You get invited to the best parties. You drive the most popular car. Most of the time, you measure how cool you are by looking around and seeing what other people are doing. You don’t want to be the only person at the restaurant or the only one at the game. The same concept is true in the stock market. Investors want to own the hot stocks. A stock gets hot because it is…

VIEWPOINT Valerie Eickmeier: Business needs to harness power of arts

VIEWPOINT Valerie Eickmeier Business needs to harness power of arts Indiana will more fully reach its potential in economic development for the 21st century when its common goal is to build a community where commerce and creativity can thrive. The world is entering an era some business leaders and economists are calling the “Conceptual Age.” They trace the economic growth of our country from agriculture to industrial manufacturing, technology and the Information Age. Today, our country’s primary economic growth and…

Marketing firm nabs big East Coast client: MillerWhite uses unusual approach to beat Massachusetts incumbent

MillerWhite LLC, a 21-person advertising and marketing agency with offices in Indianapolis and Terre Haute, is the new agency of record for Boston-based Ameresco Inc. Ameresco, which helps clients in almost 40 U.S. and Canadian markets reduce energy costs by modernizing infrastructure and managing power supply, is listed on Inc. magazine’s fastestgrowing private firms list. The company, which generates annual revenue of almost $250 million, is poised for explosive growth, industry observers believe. Though financial terms of the deal were…

Rallying around charity: Local event teaches next generation the value of giving

Woodard’s two eldest children, Taylor and T.J., check in new arrivals as other family members slap vinyl decals on the cars lining up along Bearcat Alley for this year’s Van Riper Woodard Family Foundation charity road rally. Finally, at precisely 8:56 a.m., Woodard waves the green flag for the team from public broadcaster WFYI, which drew the pole position. The other teams depart one by one, every 60 seconds. For the next eight hours, the competitors will make their way…

Technology proposals get business focus: IEDC requests new 21st Century Fund applications

It’s been 18 months since state government requested new technology proposals from startups or academics. The days of waiting are now finished. “We’re in business,” said the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s new director of entrepreneurship, Bruce Kidd. “The open sign is in the window. We want to start accepting applications again.” On Nov. 16, the IEDC issued a request for applications to its $75 million 21st Century Research and Technology Fund. Much has changed since March 2004, when the state…

Cumberland hoping to close its gap: Town seeks to unify its sides with new zoning guidelines for historic U.S. 40 corridor

Marion County’s sea of urban sprawl laps up to the town’s western border; subdivisions and cornfields snooze peacefully to the east, in Hancock County. “It’s basically like a tale of two towns in one town,” said Cumberland’s planning and development administrator, Cory Wilson. But Wilson and other community leaders are on the cusp of launching a plan to unify the town of 6,000 under a common, historic development theme for U.S. 40. The new guidelines will apply to a corridor…

BULLS & BEARS: Private equity boom to spur purchases of big companies

Investors can expect to see some large transactions involving big companies going private soon. While the $25 billion leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco accomplished by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in 1989 still ranks as the largest LBO in history, that could soon change. Today, several multibillion-dollar private equity funds are actively competing for deals. Groups such as Warburg Pincus, Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group and Apollo Management each have raised funds of $8 billion to $10 billion. In addition, several…

SPORTS Bill Benner: Still haunted by the video clip that won’t go away

It was a year ago on a mid-November Friday night when we had settled into our easy chairs, watching on television as the Indiana Pacers were wrapping up an impressive and statementsending early-season victory over the Detroit Pistons in Auburn Hills, Mich. Then, of course, all hell broke loose and the franchise we had grown up with-indeed, all of the NBA-took a hit harder than any administered in the stands. In today’s mega-media world, few events in sports history have…

Indy’s Wright of passage?: Conrad’s renowned chef could beef up city’s culinary reputation

“It gives [Indianapolis] a big-league chef,” said John Mariani, food and travel correspondent for Esquire magazine, when asked about Wright’s arrival. “It’s about time a city like Indianapolis has a restaurant of this caliber.” Wright left the kitchen at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He and his wife, Delia, an executive with a restaurantproducts distributor, chose Indianapolis partly because she has business contacts here. Jonathan is accustomed to pleasing an eclectic range of diners. He…

Standard Life sale leads to lawsuit over price: Kentucky buyer claims $652,000 refund is owed

Standard Management Corp. last week disclosed a new round of financial challenges and was hit with a lawsuit by a Kentucky company that bought its Standard Life Insurance subsidiary earlier this year. Louisville-based Capital Assurance Corp. accuses Standard Management of breaching terms of the contract to sell Standard Life and seeks a $652,126 refund, according to the lawsuit filed Nov. 14 in federal court in Indianapolis. Standard claims it owes only $43,000 in what it deems a “purchase-price adjustment dispute,”…

Lawrence, Crane build on base realignment: Economic developers hope to increase job count

Now that Indiana has survived the latest round of military base closings relatively unscathed, state leaders are turning to their next task: spurring economic development around the state’s two largest remaining military assets. After two years of review, the military’s Base Realignment and Closure process concluded Nov. 9 when Congress allowed the BRAC commission’s recommendations to become law. When the commission unveiled its recommendations this spring, state officials were relieved the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center in southwest Indiana would…

At Purdue, student feedback is click away: Professors use radio response devices in class to see if they are getting through

It’s a rare college student who will raise a hand in the classroom and say to the instructor, “Could you please repeat that? I don’t understand.” More common are groups of students who, when asked if they understand material just covered, sit and stare back, neither nodding nor shaking their heads. Faculty members tend to take no response as an affirmative, pass out tests, then find out who actually understood the material only after scoring the tests. And with some…

EYE ON THE PIE: Should we save ailing manufacturers?

Today, Delphi in Kokomo is the leading economic issue in Indiana. The resolution of its difficulties may foreshadow where we go as a state. Delphi is a major manufacturer of electronics for automobiles. As a former component of General Motors Corp., Delphi still depends on that struggling company for a large portion of its revenue. In addition, Delphi has pension and health care costs inherited from GM’s relationship with the United Auto Workers. Despite the fact that Delphi has been…

Incentives no help if hard to use, developers say: Program used on northwest side can be too much of a good thing

A year and a half ago, Indianapolis officials announced an incentive program designed to lure businesses to the vacancy-plagued commercial area surrounding Lafayette Square Mall on the northwest side. To date, just one developer has taken advantage of the community revitalization and enhancement district, or CRED, and its project was in the works before the program began. The developer built a movie theater and grocery store in a former Cub Foods near 38th Street and Lafayette Road. Smaller developers may…