Research

Videoconferencing has been touted as a practical, here-today technology that can save companies from having to fly employees all over. But despite its practicality, adoption of this technology has been minimal.

One of the most difficult tasks for a worker is negotiating with a boss.

Electric utilities are in the business of selling electrons. The more they sell, the more they earn. But today, a whirlwind of forces is sweeping electron sellers into counterintuitive activities such as promoting conservation and offering rate structures designed to cut peak consumption.

Coffee juggernaut Starbucks is facing new challenges in the American-style café business that it created around the globe. Competition is increasing; even McDonalds — where the ambience is not exactly Starbucks — is adding the job title "barista" to its stores.

Like ripples from a pebble pitched into a pond, the federal law passed to combat white-collar crime has resulted in booming demand for the specialists who can comb through financial records and follow a trail of evidence.

Consumers are worried, and that's a bad sign for the economy. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the economy; these days people appear reluctant to buy big-ticket items like cars and major appliances.

The heady rush of taking real estate investment trusts from public to private has evaporated in today's credit-market crunch. And so, it's time to face a new reality, says New York attorney Robin Panovka, a renowned expert on REIT mergers and acquisitions.

The daily headlines are alarming: homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments at an increasing rate; foreclosures are up steeply. Has the situation ever been this bad before? Well yes, said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Investors who enter the real estate sector in the midst of long up-cycles sometimes make the mistake of thinking that profitable times will last forever. When the inevitable tough times hit, those with no frame of reference become dismayed and confused.

Drive around the biggest cities in Arizona and you'll see an interesting contrast in land usage: packed-full swaths of retail, residential, business and industrial buildings bellied up to vast fields pockmarked with weeds and here and there, a house or two, or even a shiny new casino.