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Wal-Mart’s omnichannel approach is winning — for now
Shawn Smajstrla RetailWhen Wal-Mart announced first-quarter earnings Thursday, the highlight was a surge in online sales. E-commerce for the retail giant rose 63 percent. Its stock subsequently rose more than 3 percent on the day and set a new high-water mark for its 52-week range.
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Negotiating commercial leases: Ask the right questions
Dale Willerton and Jeff Grandfield RetailFor many commercial tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While an entrepreneur focuses on marketing and managing, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized salespeople. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.
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Stop doing that: How to take job duties away from an employee
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementWhich is more difficult: taking work away from an employee or giving her additional work? For any manager who has tried to reallocate responsibilities among staff, it is clear that taking away work can be just as difficult as adding it. Here are three reasons employees may want to keep their responsibilities and when and how to take them away.
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Metals Thoughts: Eye on the vol
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesWith French elections out of the way (for now) and basically all economic data continuing its trend of low growth, strong labor and retail demise, there isn't a lot on the calendar to cause a paradigm shift. At the end of the day, our view is that time and politics mostly don't change markets — rates do.
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The furious fight for supermarket shelf space
Bambi Majumdar Food & BeverageNot long ago, reading food packaging labels and making a wise choice was the "in" thing to do. Today, shoppers look beyond the labels — they find it hard to trust them. Consumers today demand healthy and fresh food. Supermarkets are aware of this growing awareness and choice for healthier meals and slow-but-steady move away from packaged goods. In the process, opting for organic foods and freshly prepared meals seems like an easy and quick option for both sides. Perhaps the best example of this shift is the shelf-space war in grocery chains across the nation.
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White-collar exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act
D. Albert Brannen Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementExecutives, administrative employees, professionals and outside salespeople are generally referred to in the wage and hour world as white-collar employees. Employees in these categories, who meet certain criteria, can be treated as being exempt from the minimum-wage, overtime and timekeeping provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
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Negotiating commercial leases: Don’t telegraph your plans
Dale Willerton and Jeff Grandfield RetailFor many commercial tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While an entrepreneur focuses on marketing and managing, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized salespeople. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.
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How grocery marketing has evolved in the digital age
Bambi Majumdar Food & BeverageMidwestern supermarket chain Hy-Vee recently announced their expansion plans, which include a shift beyond traditional grocery. What is interesting to note is the increased emphasis and budget for the IT department, an area that hadn't been high on retailer lists until recently.
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How to handle jerks at work
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementYelling, swearing, tantrums. It is amazing and surprising sometimes the types of behavior adults exhibit at work. As managers and leaders, we may be experienced at helping employees work through such situations, but what do we do when it happens to us?
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Amazon breaks records by breaking rules
Danielle Manley RetailAmazon must have channeled the famous inventor because the company threw the rules out the window years ago. They ventured into uncharted territories without looking back and challenged the standard way of doing business in the retail industry. Has it been successful? Amazon released their 2017 first-quarter report Friday, beating goals and expectations. While analysts predicted earnings of $1.08 per share on $35.3 billion in revenue, true Amazon earnings were $1.48 per share on $35.7 billion in revenue.
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