Business

1. Long before he was CEO of Office Depot, Bruce Nelson was a young kid who had to work to earn his keep.

The Great Recession is behind us, and business is booming: new business especially. After a major slump, entrepreneurs are opening shop every month, from mom-and-pop stores to high-growth tech firms. But not all aspiring business owners are able to create the companies they would like to. 

New research from the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation found that companies across the state are interested in making their businesses more family friendly. That includes policies from offering health insurance and family medical leave to paid time off, job-sharing and flexible work hours.

Jim Goodmon was immersed in the world of broadcasting as a young kid, watching his grandfather build Capitol Broadcasting Company from the ground up. He spent his teen years driving around eastern North Carolina giving away free TV antennas to encourage people to start tuning into WRAL.

Michelle Miller’s life has taken her from her hometown of Asheville to the depths of two important economic engines in America – Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

She studied business at Stanford, got a job at financial giant JP Morgan, and then gave it all up to become an author. She wrote a 12-part online serial last year, drawing on her experiences from the financial and tech worlds.

In many workplaces, "the boss" is a board or group of investors.

But in a growing number of businesses, employees are taking ownership. Some use an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, and others use a cooperative structure.

 For companies like Southwest and Publix Super Markets, employee engagement is critical because employees are the bosses. The structure can also offer tax incentives.

  Elected officials in Greensboro are working to create a security ordinance for entertainment venues.

Calls for new regulations came after several violent incidents at nightclubs in recent months.  Late last year, a man was stabbed in the neck at a lounge near UNC-Greensboro. Another person was killed when shots were exchanged outside of a downtown nightclub.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline eliminated 900 jobs yesterday.

North Carolina lawmakers are taking their first look at how to regulate networks of individuals who buy and sell services between each other, a billion-dollar global industry that already operates in dozens of cities across the state.

One of the peer-to-peer economy’s biggest exponents, Airbnb, accounts for about 2,700 residential rental listings across North Carolina, and drivers who pick up passengers with their personal cars using the application Uber operate in ten cities here.

As the demand for local food and farm-to-table restaurants rises, the American agriculture and food production industries are expanding. 

Forming partnerships and working in a collaborative setting can be difficult. 

Wake Forest University’s business school is ending its traditional full-time MBA program.

Controversial?  Practical?  Charles Iacovou is Dean of the Wake Forest Business School.

“It was about time and it was the right time," said Iacovou.

  The Asheville nonprofit Just Economics has been pushing for local businesses to pay a living wage. 

Former stockbroker Bernie Madoff and former New York Times journalist Jayson Blair share infamy for their unethical business decisions.

A new report considers the psychology behind these transgressions and shows that misdeeds tend to escalate into larger scandals over time.

Life's difficult choices rarely present themselves in one dramatic question or one big decision. Instead, our most important choices in life, including ethical ones, present themselves in small baby steps.

-Jayson Blair  

North Carolina could see fewer hits like Iron Man 3 or Homeland filmed in the state. That’s because tax incentives that encourage the film industry to make movies here are set to expire in January. Some lawmakers are trying to pass a measure that would give grants to the film industry to keep production companies here. But while budget negotiations are underway, time is running out to pass legislation.

The business-to-business matchmaking continues today at the Raleigh Convention Center where the leaders from southern states and regions of Canada will try to make deals.

It’s the first time the Southeastern U-S Canadian Provinces Alliance or, "SEUS CP," has met in North Carolina.  

The kick-off to the conference had fingers snapping and heads rocking as musicians jazzed up the meeting room, welcoming dignitaries to the conference.