Author: NH Business Review Staff

An auction to benefit Franklin Pierce Law Center’s Public Interest Coalition will be held March 25 at the Courtyard Marriott in Concord. Last year’s auction raised over $40,000 to fund the work of 13 law students in unpaid positions with…

It was a defining moment in my career. We had been asked by the vice president of manufacturing how late he could accept orders for shipment this quarter without any degradation in quality. This guy had 34 plants and over…

Now that the world’s worst-kept secret is out - New York attorney General Elliot Spitzer is running for governor of that state — regulators nationwide are starting to comb through reams of documents filed in response to their request for…

If you’re operating a business in today’s marketplace, you can feel like you’re walking through a minefield. Markets are splintering into niches, customers are foregoing brand loyalty and the Web is expanding traditional boundaries, making it easier than ever for…

Q. My firm, a distributor to small businesses of a wide range of industrial products, launched a comprehensive, well-designed — and expensive — Web site several years ago in the hopes that both customer service and sales would be improved.…

New Hampshire public policy forbids part-time workers from collecting unemployment unless they agree to seek full-time work. For those who need to work part-time, this policy is unbalanced and unfair. Ignoring the reality of part-time workers dates back to when…

Once more, a Base Realignment and Closure Commission round is before us. And, the employees of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Seacoast communities, the bipartisan New Hampshire-Maine-Massachusetts congressional delegation and other friends of the yard are again educating decision-makers at the…

Benjamin Franklin is reputed to have written, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” This perspective is largely absent from the debate over President Bush’s proposal to reform Social…

Revelation that the state budget deficit has grown by another $70 million should put businesses around the state on red alert. The additional $70 million - “discovered” late last month due to bungled bookkeeping in the Department of Health and…

The price of that doggy in the window — or at the kennel — may be going up this year. On Jan. 1, the annual licensing fee for retail pet shops went from $50 to $200. The same fee also…

Beginning with this issue, New Hampshire Business Review will present the New Hampshire Business Review/Chartworth Stock Index, the quarterly and trailing 12 months’ stock performance of New Hampshire-based publicly traded companies. The list of companies has been sorted on the…

A lot of things ramped up in January. There were obvious changes in Manchester, new leadership at the Business & Industry Association, a new governor with an apparent new work ethic, rumors of gambling and reminders of the importance of…

No one has told you this yet but you just don’t understand. Don’t worry. It’s perfectly natural. See, you’re not in Concord. I don’t understand either but I know the people who do. The informed people fall into two groups.…

The state of Vermont has decided not to bid on the 13 hydroelectric dams on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers being sold as part of the bankruptcy proceeding involving electric generating company U.S. Gen-New England. The decision would end more…

What was the involvement of Lakes Region Greyhound Park general partner Allan E. Hart in the gambling operation that federal authorities cited in their recent indictment of the track’s general manager and assistant general manager? And was the entire management…

The University of New Hampshire’s Advising and Career Center (UACC) is seeking employers to participate in a Feb. 22 career fair for students in engineering, technology and science programs. The career fair gives employers an opportunity to meet and interview…

There are 441 architects-in-training in New Hampshire’s 4th-grade classrooms, thanks to a program initiated by the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The Learning By Design Program in New Hampshire is an introductory architectural design program designed…

I had the opportunity to participate in a national telephone conference call hosted by economist Jeff Thredgold, who gave a presentation on his views of the U.S. economy for 2005 and 2006. What did Mr. Thredgold have to say? He…

Q. I have applied for a commercial loan at a bank in my town, and every time I call the loan officer to inquire about the loan approval status, she keeps asking me for more information. I still have not…

Lakes Region Greyhound Park general partner Allan E. Hart was deeply involved in establishing the gambling operation that federal authorities cited in their recent indictment of the track’s general manager and assistant general manager, according to testimony and documents filed…

It’s not another jaw-dropping Super Bowl halftime spectacle or the latest reality gimmick about another eccentric billionaire. But at a time when attention spans dwindle with each commercial break and businesses strain for creative ways to draw new customers, a…

Room to move Mount Sunapee Resort owners Tim and Diane Mueller didn’t exactly win praise recently for the way they run their Crested Butte resort in Colorado. According to a report issued by the Ski Area Citizens Coalition, Crested Butte…

Eight times a year the Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its district through reports from bank and branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts and other sources. The most recent…

Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen has released long-awaited financial estimates for his controversial plan to reform Medicaid. According to Stephen, during the next two years, his GraniteCare plan would save about $13 million in state money — 7…

When it comes to New Hampshire’s retailers, perhaps the biggest issue coming up in the 2005 New Hampshire Legislature is the strong possibility of an increased cigarette tax, endorsed by the new governor. But there are several minor issues that…

As a mechanical engineer and a consultant, Andre Caron has traveled the country in his career of more than 30 years in the telecommunications industry. He has worked in New Zealand, Bermuda and in various parts of Europe and Africa.…

More than two years after Tyco International Ltd. agreed to pay $5 million to fund an investor education and corporate governance program to settle claims related to one of the biggest corporate scandals in history, it has been finally decided…

When Terry Vital founded Vital & Ryze Advertising in 1990, the World Wide Web was not so wide, cell phones weighed pounds and digital media were pretty much still in the realm of science fiction. As technology has progressed, so…

W. Douglas Scamman Jr., the newly re-elected speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, comes from a long line of farmers and politicians. The son of a former House speaker, Scamman himself served two terms as speaker during his…

New Hampshire ski areas are in full swing, or ski, as the case may be. There are all sorts of discount passes and mid-week deals at the resorts, so if you haven’t hit the slopes yet, there’s no better time…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has run full-page advertisements in newspapers all across the country - including New Hampshire - warning farmers about an avian disease that has not hit almost all of America in 30 years. And they would…

Only Nixon could go to China, the saying went. In February 1972, President Richard Nixon made history by visiting mainland China in the middle of the Cold War — the first time a U.S. president had set foot in that…

Recognizing that relationships are the key to building and retaining business, the New Hampshire Business Resource Center, in cooperation with the state Department of Transportation, has been working with New Frontier Industries Inc. of Milton to research and develop soundwall…

Coos County timber cuts cause concern Concerns that the North Country’s logging industry is growing too quickly and eventually could cripple itself have prompted calls from some lawmakers for tighter restrictions. This year’s logging plans call for sharp increases, threatening…

When you hear the word “LAN,” do you think of: • Corporate IT headaches? If so, you’re a geek, and a boring one. • “sakes”? If so, you’ve watched too many movies with fake Southern dialogue. (Nobody pronounces “land” without…

Anne Jamieson, vice president of operations at Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, Mass., has been named the new chief executive officer of Parkland Medical Center in Derry. William Schuler, president and CEO of Portsmouth Regional Hospital, has been serving as…

The New Hampshire Technical Institute has been awarded a $500,000 federal grant to help the school build a new wing for its nursing program. NHTI began a $3 million capital campaign for the project in 2004 and has so far…

Q. I’m reading more and more about the importance of having a good “business model.” I’m in the process of adding a new product line, and I’m not sure what “model” I should be shooting for. How can I determine…

The Legislature is back in town, and already the New Hampshire High Technology Council and the business community at large is taking an extremely close look at the projected $300 million state budget deficit and its implications for business taxes…

It’s a sad commentary on our time that the subject of workers’ rights has receded so far from public view. In the last election cycle, both locally and nationally, the rights of workers were a non-issue. The implicit message: Workers…

Anyone see a pattern here? Consider the following: • The state’s one-term Gov. Craig Benson is ejected from office for consistent and arrogant disregard for the notion of ethics, after an unprecedented and sickening tsunami of cash that got him…

To the editor: Thomas Thomson’s guest editorial touts the “positive partnership” with private landowners that makes New Hampshire’s $1.2 billion snowmobile industry possible (“Private landowners a key link in N.H.’s economy,” Jan. 7-20 New Hampshire Business Review). Private landowners allow…

Much has happened in the 37 years since Kenwood Jones Sr. opened the doors to Ken Jones Ski Shop, then on Amherst Street in Nashua. But through the change of hands, name changes and relocations there have been some constants…

John Lynch was sworn in as governor on a snowy Thursday, Jan. 6. Taking the oath before a full House chamber and an audience on television, he set a positive and cooperative tone, emphasizing the need to solve the state’s…

Keene: Whatman PLC, the London-based owner of biotechnology firm Schleicher & Schuell, is closing the Keene company’s doors, eliminating or moving its 76 high-tech jobs after 52 years in Keene. Whatman, which bought Schleicher & Schuell Dec. 1, said it…

‘Six Feet’ close-up You wouldn’t think that a headstone company would need marketing brochures - they are guaranteed customers - but Rock of Ages has great ones. So good in fact, the producers of the Emmy award-winning HBO series “Six…