The Research Design Associates Blog

Credit card companies find merit in promoting small business with web sophistocation beyond most small business' reach. Five years ago, the Small Business Agency (SBA) partnered with American Express (AmEx) to highlight small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Coming on the heels of Black Friday, the single largest shopping day of the year, Small Business Saturday gives local merchants a way to be more visible as they launch the holiday shopping season.

AmEx, positioning itself as a friend of small business, devotes a substantial portion of its website to listing partners, including Bing, Yelp, EventBrite, and FedEx for 2014. AmEx returns a small rebate to its cardholders on purchases made on Small Business Saturday.

Make disaster planning part of your business process

So much changed during the recession–many small businesses closed and never re-opened. But some hung on and are coming back stronger than ever. Two examples show how perseverance and strong business acumen helped two fledgling enterprises to profitability. Both are niche service providers who would normally have the odds against them: a concierge service and a food delivery service.

Charitable giving in the United States has been a consistent 2 per cent of GDP for the last 20 years - in current dollars, that’s roughly $300 billion - a year. With the bulk of spending going to religious and educational organizations, charitable organizations working on the most critical needs are struggling