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BEHIND THE NEWS: Impending pain: Expect big cuts after sale of Irwin unit

No one wants to say it, but Fishersbased Irwin Mortgage Corp., one of the area’s biggest financial-services companies, is almost sure to lose hundreds of jobs, and may disappear. Parent company Irwin Financial Corp. last month put Irwin Mortgage on the selling block, a move that imperils many of the unit’s 450 local jobs. Hoosier bankers have been through enough sales to know that out-of-state buyers almost always trim jobs. But this could be something else entirely-a wholesale gutting of…

BULLS & BEARS: Indiana’s in biofuel game; now it should strive to win

Over the past few months, Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar has been vocal in touting the benefits of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. It would be wise for the state’s government and business leaders to heed his message. The renewable fuel industry is gathering momentum and has a high probability of growing into a substantial industry. The energy bill President Bush signed into law last summer mandates the use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol each year by 2012,…

Lessons from attorneys on the front lines in India: Be ready to grease palms, face cultural differences:

BANGALORE, India-Petty bureaucrats are more than a nuisance in India. Some like to line their pockets. And if minor officials don’t get what they want, they might shutter a U.S. company’s operations. Given enough time and money, disputes can be settled in India’s infamously slow courts. But V. Umakanth, a Bangalore partner with the Indian law firm Amarchand Mangaldas, counsels clients to simply make the small grease payments some administrators expect. “There is still corruption. Foreign businesses need to deal…

Emerging India: Opportunity or threat?: Indiana businesses brace for growing global competition

Opportunity or threat? Indiana businesses brace for growing global competition Next month, President Bush will make his first official visit to India. To most of the American media, it’ll be just one more round of global terrorism discussions with a distant foreign nation, perhaps worthy of a brief. The Indian press knows better. Six weeks ahead of Bush’s trip, banner headlines about it ran in every newspaper. Al Hubbard knows better, too. Friends with Bush since their days at Harvard…

Know where to look for funding:

Conventional bank loans Banks provide conventional financing, evaluating loan requests against the socalled “five Cs” of credit. They must feel comfortable that borrowers have: capacity to repay the loan; capital of their own invested in the business; collateral to offer as a secondary source of loan repayment; creditworthiness, based on personal and business borrowing history; and character worthy of the bank’s trust. It’s in banks’ best interest to minimize risk. Loans are made only where the likelihood of being repaid…

Cream, sugar, social awareness: Fair-trade coffee firm looks beyond profits

When one considers the new company pays about 40 percent more for its raw product than do its non-fairtrade competitors-and it gives roughly $1 from every bag it sells back to the farmers who produce the coffee beans-it might seem like the McLeans are destined for drinking macchiatos in the poorhouse. But the couple didn’t build Advance Interface Solutions into a successful business by accident. And Beans for Better Life, their foray into the cappuccino craze, is hardly reckless. Local…

SPORTS: Time for Mike Davis to look himself in the mirror

“Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?” – from the song “Charlie Brown,” by The Coasters I count myself among many, many Indiana University alumni, supporters and basketball fans in general who wanted to see Mike Davis succeed as the Hoosiers’ coach. I admired his demeanor, humility and honesty. I respected the incredibly difficult situation he inherited, first as the interim coach, then as the man designated to sustain IU’s tradition in the wake of Bob Knight’s firing. And certainly, no…

Tiny firm initiates ‘triple play’: Hancock Telecom first to bat with voice-data-video combo

Not so long ago, the heart of Hancock Telecom in the tiny town of Maxwell was a concrete bunker ticking with the solenoids of telephone switching equipment. But about a year ago, the devices were moved to a corner to make room for rack after rack of satellite receivers-fed by a 32-foot dish big enough to cap a corn silo. The product: 176 channels of network and local TV programming that leave headquarters in the form of pulsing light via…

Duke goes on buying spree to locate in key markets: Developer gets footholds in D.C., Savannah, Baltimore

Less than two months into the new year, Duke Realty Corp. has already made three major moves designed to fuel the company’s growth long beyond 2006. The Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust has announced or completed acquisitions in the Washington, D.C., area; Savannah, Ga.; and Baltimore worth more than $1 billion. In the case of Savannah and Baltimore, the deals give Duke prime positions near city ports-locations company officials believe will be key to the distribution business in coming years….

Entrepreneurship the Indian way: A day with a Bangalore software-maker reveals business parallels

BANGALORE, India-HealthAsyst CEO Umesh Bajaj remembers when the only computers allowed in India were self-assembled. As recently as 20 years ago, the Indian government’s protectionist measures prohibited foreign companies from directly selling PCs. Instead, Indians imported microchips and built the computers themselves. In his first job as an electronics engineer for an Indian conglomerate, Bajaj crisscrossed the country marketing versions of mainframes and desktops made in India. Today Bajaj, a 55-year-old born in New Delhi, owns his own Bangalore-based health…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Obesity must be conquered

By now, everybody knows obesity is a huge health problem in our country. The Centers for Disease Control reports that obesity is linked to 112,000 deaths per year and leads to an extra $75 billion in direct medical costs annually. We Hoosiers can hold up a mirror. Depending on which study you look at, Indiana ranks either fourth or fifth as the most obese state in the nation. Our local daily newspaper just published a series of articles on how…

Marsh shares swoon as sale talks drag on: Value of CEO’s stake has been cut almost in half

The value of Don Marsh’s stake in the Indianapolis company that bears his family’s name has diminished more than $1 million a month since the company declared Nov. 29 that it was seeking a buyer. Don Marsh, the CEO, owns almost 750,000 shares of Marsh Supermarkets Inc.’s Class A and Class B stock, making him the company’s largest individual shareholder. The price of both stocks has plummeted since the announcement, making his stake worth less than $5 million. It was…

Irvington confronts development dilemma: District’s new historic guidelines receive first test

A proposed development that would bring a Starbucks and a Union Federal Bank branch to the east side of Irvington presents a conundrum for folks there thirsting to revitalize the historic but neglected neighborhood. Local developer Tharp Investments Inc. wants to demolish a NAPA auto-parts store and a vacant building on adjoining properties it owns on East Washington Street to make way for the coffee shop and bank. Residents welcome the investment as a first step in a broader plan…

Emerging India: Passage to Bangalore: Hoosiers seek outsourcing and investment opportunities

Passage to Bangalore Hoosiers seek outsourcing and investment opportunities BANGALORE, India-The deal was falling apart. Despite a week of flirtation and friendly negotiations, the two young Indian entrepreneurs rejected the offer from the group of Hoosier investors. Frustrated, the investors walked out of the hotel conference room. The chance to speculate on an Indian software startup called Picsquare.comhad fizzled. But none of the six Indiana business leaders was demoralized. After all, they’d crossed the globe to pursue business opportunities in…

Industry veteran at helm as ATA exits bankruptcy: After months of tumult, Karnik ready for ‘boring’ year

Subodh Karnik slowly backed up to his chair at ATA Airlines Inc. and slumped into it. His 46-year-old back was killing him. One of his elementary-age sons back home in Atlanta used him like a trampoline over the weekend. The injury got worse when Karnick ran through the airport, like O.J. Simpson in an old Hertz commercial, to catch a flight back to Indianapolis. “I was born a masochist,” said Karnik, a 6-foot-4-inch native of Mumbai, India, who sports a…

Airport’s 104-acre land sale may not take off: Runways, private owners could hamper development

As city and airport officials begin to develop a marketing strategy for 104 acres just north and east of the Indianapolis International Airport, they will likely focus on the land’s best attributes: access to the airport, Interstate 465 and a rail line. Buyers will need to examine the fine print to learn why the land isn’t likely to become a smaller version of the bustling Plainfield industrial and retail areas to the west. Chief among those less-than-desirable features: The land…

INVESTING: Gold, other commodities still glimmer, despite declines

Commodities have taken it on the chin lately, with the CRB Index (a measure of most of the major commodities) falling more than 6 percent in a week. Gold is down 7 percent. Even copper, a market that seemed to forget how to go down, is taking a hit. Let’s find out what it all means. A few weeks ago, I wrote that I was selling my energy stocks because they had become extremely overbought. I was not turning bearish…

NOTIONS: Of battles, musicals: Let kids think for themselves

My son Zach was in town two weeks ago. He came to take photographs for a school newspaper story written by his twin brother, Austin. My sons’ words and images, published Feb. 10, told the tale of two recent graduates of their high school (Fort Wayne Homestead) who were entering the Marine Corps via a military processing center in Indianapolis. After finishing their story, Austin and Zach talked a lot about their close-up view of the USMC’s front gate: How…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Those who put head in sand put next generation in peril

I have always been fascinated with one particular aspect of the life story of Al Smith. Here was a poor, unsophisticated, relatively uneducated kid from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who showed up at the New York Legislature in 1903 as a nobody, but in the space of 10 years became a major power broker, ultimately running for president. The secret to his success? Unlike his socializing, partying colleagues, Al Smith spent his evenings actually reading legislation. When it…

Standard stock sinks close to crucial mark: As shares hover around $1, company launches effort to raise $25 million

Standard Management Corp. shares are sliding into a dangerous price range as the Indianapolis-based company tries to raise $25 million to continue growing its health-services business. The stock price dipped briefly below $1 earlier this month in NASDAQ trading. It rebounded to close at $1.17 Feb. 10 before slipping back to $1 Feb. 15. NASDAQ imposes a $1 minimum bid price for shares to continue trading on its exchange. Market watchers say Standard is in no danger of suddenly being…