An Expert's Guide to Discounting
from Business Week
Think before you slash. That's the advice John Quelch, a professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, gives to business owners tempted to cut prices. "You don't want to give away your profit margin to customers who still would have paid full price," he says. Whether they're following Quelch's advice or acting impulsively, nearly 30 percent of small business owners say they have lowered their prices, according to a February survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. More

Five Unique Ways Entrepreneurs Are Raising Money
from SmartMoney's Small Biz
The credit crunch has undoubtedly put the squeeze on small businesses. Bankruptcies within this group hit 7,514 in May, up 40 percent from a year ago, according to Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, an Oklahoma City bankruptcy data and management company. Despite those numbers, there are plenty of entrepreneurs who refuse to throw in the towel. Instead they're coming up with creative ways to keep their companies afloat. More

See and Feel the Relationship Between You and Your Customer
from DMS Retail
What is at the foundation of Retail Store Design and Visual Merchandising? If it could be boiled down to two principles that guide everything, it would be these. Don’t think; feel. Stop looking at your store through your eyes, and start seeing it through your customer’s eyes. More

The Paperless Office
from Inc.
In this month's edition of Inc.'s Paperless Office, new ways to send faxes without paper. Have you considered using your phone as a scanner? How about sending faxes online – for free? More

Tainted Pet Food Supplier Accused of Causing 2007 Recall to Plead Guilty
from All Headline News
A couple who owns a company indicted for supplying melamine-tainted pet food in 2007 has agreed to plead guilty to 26 charges and one felony conspiracy count. Ingredients from ChemNutra had caused thousands of cats and dogs to fall ill or die and manufacturers to subsequently order a pet food recall. Sally Qing Miller and Stephen Miller, respectively the controlling owner and president, and owner and chief executive officer of ChemNutra, were indicted last year on 13 misdemeanor charges of delivering adulterated food into interstate commerce, another 13 misdemeanors for introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. More

California Spay/Neuter Bill Fails in Senate
from Pet Product News
The California Senate on June 1 rejected Senate Bill 250, a measure that would require sterilization of most of the state’s cats and dogs. The vote was 16-15, with 21 votes needed for passage. The bill has been amended to authorize local governments to use existing procedures to issue intact dog licenses or to charge a fee for procedures related to the issuance, denial or revocation of unaltered dog licenses. In addition, unaltered dogs used in legal hunting activities would be exempt from being cited. More

FDA Approves First Cancer Drug for Dogs
from Zoo Too
The Food and Drug Administration approved today the nation's first drug developed specifically for the treatment of canine cancer. Manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health Inc., based in New York City, the drug marketed as Palladia, or chemically known as toceranib phosphate, will hit the markets in early 2010. "This cancer drug approval for dogs is an important step forward for veterinary medicine," Bernadette Dunham, D.V.M., Ph.D., director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a released statement. More