Ann Arbor’s Main Street is one of Travel + Leasure’s Greatest Main Streets in America. Wayne Curtis reviewed the “most vibrant, distinctive downtowns” in America and chose Ann Arbor as one of top on the list.  Great environments can support great ideas and excellent work. Ann Arbor has much to offer.

According to Travel + Leasure:

“University of Michigan students make up more than a third of the population of 113,000, which ensures a downtown full of activity. South Main Street—which has been a commercial hub since the city was laid out in 1824—was designed with pedestrian needs in mind, and offers enough brewpubs, art galleries, and delis to feed mind, body, and soul. Look up to admire the arched windows on upper floors above local retail shops.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-greatest-main-streets/10

David Dayton is CEO of Silk Road International (www.silkroadintl.net). This webinar is a very good introduction to issues you will face as you seek to partner with Chinese firms. Whether you are seeking supplies, looking for export opportunities, or launching a new China office, this webinar will get you started in preparing for your China experience.

Chris Zook and Jimmy Allen lead Bain’s Global Strategy practice. On this site, they explore the theme of simplicity from their recent book. As the world grows in complexity and volatility, organizations should value simplicity. Don’t chase radical innovation, say the authors. Instead, build a “repeatable business model” that “produces continuous improvement and allows [you] to rapidly adapt to change without succumbing to complexity.”

Strategy is still king, even in a fast-paced world. A.T. Kearney consultants Maurice Violani, Charles Perrard, and Jochen Kaempfer remind us to look ahead. According to the authors, “Short-term thinking has become the strategy of choice for many executives as they fixate on today’s breakneck speed of change. While short-term strategies can deliver an immediate impact, in the race to stay on top in uncertain times, the undisputed champions are those who take the long view.”

Booz & Company has developed their Capabilities-Driven Strategy framework for developing strategy. According to Booz, a company must develop its “right to win” by looking at external markets and internal capabilities and creating a “coherent strategy that aligns these factors at every level.” Here are some tools they offer to help you do this.

Leonard A. Schlesinger is President of Babson College, and Charles Kiefer is President of Innovation Associates, a firm he founded with Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline.

The authors argue that as we face a world of greater uncertainty, we should alter our methods for making decisions.  We need to take “smart steps,” they say, because when the future is uncertain, “how we traditionally reason is extremely limited in predicting what will happen.  You need a different approach.”  This is a good book for sparking a new approach to your business strategy.

In a world of uncertainty, consumers have the control.  They have information, choices, and buying power.  IBM’s answer to handling this chaos:  predictive analytics.  “To earn and retain loyal customers,” says IBMer Jill Puleri, “retailers are looking for hidden connections to transform how they do business.”

Article written for www.annarborbusinessmagazine.com

“If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.” – Benjamin Franklin

Whether you’re a start-up looking to get your business off the ground, or you’re a going concern looking to expand, the move can be difficult to make without an infusion of capital. This capital infusion can come in many forms (angel investors, venture capital, lines of credit, government grants, etc.). But for small businesses in the Ann Arbor area, banks loans are the most common. Read more…

A better outlook, more jobs, and a healthier state are ideals around which we can all rally. With this in mind, Business Leaders for Michigan is taking the initiative to boost Michigan’s economy. CEO Doug Rothwell Board Chair James B. Nicholson recently drafted the 2012 Michigan Turnaround Plan that lays out “a foundation to build a new Michigan.” Essential to this plan is a cohesive collaborative strategy. According to the authors, “This will require a shared vision for the future, one that allows us to effectively allocate resources, evaluate plans, and maintain a coherent approach beyond election cycles.”

For four straight years, the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) and Baker Strategy Group (BSG) have partnered to conduct the annual Michigan Manufacturers Outlook Survey. This instrument has become a valuable tool for measuring year-over-year trends in the manufacturing industry and to gauge the collective outlook for manufacturers in Michigan.

This year we received feedback from 400 respondents. The majority (59%) of the respondents are executives at their companies, but we also received solid representation from plant management, sales and marketing, human resources, operations, regulatory compliance, government relations, and accounting/finance.

In conducting our analysis, we focus primarily on respondents representing companies who manufacture in Michigan. Some salient statistics on these companies include: 61% are family-owned businesses, 56% have 100 or fewer employees, 60% have only one facility in Michigan, 37% manufacture automotive products, 92% 6manufacture non-automotive products, and 80% have a non-unionized workforce.

With four years of data, we are able to look back and see progress and changes over time. What follows are 8 Key Findings we observed in the data, along with some quotes from one-on-one interviews conducted by MMA staff.