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Small Footwear Maker Finds Right Fit In Larger Corporation
Ahnu Footwear was recently acquired by Deckers Outdoor, the makers of Uggs and Teva shoes. What has changed since the buyout? Correspondent Sumi Das ...
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Artisan Distilling: Selling Luxury Spirits Amidst A Recession
Renowned distillers Ansley Coale and Jorg Rupf started making Hangar One Vodka in 2002 with a goal to make their spirits with the freshest ...
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Beyond Child's Play: Acquiring A Small Toy Store Chain In A Recession
Gerald Johnson's professional career began in the oil industry. But when his employer asked him to move one too many times, Johnson decided to ...
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Storing Health Records Online
Dr. John Selle is a primary care physician with a private practice in San Francisco. Dr. Selle believes technology is a healthy addition to ...
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Geo-Mapping Technologies Help Target Sales Prospects
Children's clothing wholesaler The Tea Collection was started in 2002 by Emily Meyer and Leigh Rawdon. Today, the company is profitable, growing at more ...
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Optimizing Flower Delivery In A Small Business
A typical day at Hoogasian Flowers starts early in the morning with as many as fifty calls and Internet requests coming in at one ...
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Chocolate Business Grows with the Help of IT
Coco-Luxe Confections is a wholesale chocolate maker with a new retail store in San Francisco. The small business is run by Stepanie Marcon a ...
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Modernizing Inventory Management
The original Cole Hardware was founded in 1959 by Dave Karp. Today, his son, Rick Karp has four stores throughout the city of San ...
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Bay Area Bakery Sweetens Operations with New Technologies
Bay area based Sugar Bowl Bakery sells and ships its baked donuts, brownies and pastries to retailers Starbucks, Costco and Safeway every day. The ...
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Artisan Distilling: Selling Luxury Spirits Amidst A Recession
Renowned distillers Ansley Coale and Jorg Rupf started making Hangar One Vodka in 2002 with a goal to make their spirits with the freshest ingredients. To do this, they use old-fashioned pot stills. The technique is less efficient and more expensive than conventional methods, but they believe their approach makes their beverages taste better. Correspondent Sumi Das takes a tour of their distilling factory and finds out how their hands-on production process and unique marketing approach help them compete with larger spirits makers.
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Small Footwear Maker Finds Right Fit In Larger Corporation
Ahnu Footwear was recently acquired by Deckers Outdoor, the makers of Uggs and Teva shoes. What has changed since the buyout? Correspondent Sumi Das talks to the companys president, Jim Van Dine, about the challenges of maintaining a small business culture inside a larger organization. Van Dine also talks about his unique hiring philosophy, which is based on the childrens classic "Winnie the Pooh."
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Geo-Mapping Technologies Help Target Sales Prospects
Children's clothing wholesaler The Tea Collection was started in 2002 by Emily Meyer and Leigh Rawdon. Today, the company is profitable, growing at more than 50 percent a year. Meyer and Rawdon believe business technology is the perfect fit. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to the entrepreneurs about how their small business is using IT to help design its clothing line and target new retail opportunities.
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Storing Health Records Online
Dr. John Selle is a primary care physician with a private practice in San Francisco. Dr. Selle believes technology is a healthy addition to his small business. Correspondent Sumi Das looks at the doctors tablet computer which he uses to record patient information and send electronic prescriptions to the pharmacy. Dr. Selle has also setup email and a web site for better communication with his patients.
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Chocolate Business Grows with the Help of IT
Coco-Luxe Confections is a wholesale chocolate maker with a new retail store in San Francisco. The small business is run by Stepanie Marcon a culinary entrepreneur who has gradually implemented IT to help manage inventory and grow operations. Correspondent Sumi Das takes a tour of her kitchen and candy shop and talks to Marcon about the challenges of running IT inside a small business. Marcon also demos graphics software that aids her in product development and a new e-commerce web site that she created to help sell her candy treats throughout the U.S.
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Beyond Child's Play: Acquiring A Small Toy Store Chain In A Recession
Gerald Johnson's professional career began in the oil industry. But when his employer asked him to move one too many times, Johnson decided to trade big business for small. A two year search led Johnson to The Ark Toy Company, which he bought despite the economic downturn. Ark Toys sells unique toys at three stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. Correspondent Sumi Das visited Johnson to find out how IT is helping streamline the back office and realize his ambitions for the business without compromising the store's whimsical charm.
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Modernizing Inventory Management
The original Cole Hardware was founded in 1959 by Dave Karp. Today, his son, Rick Karp has four stores throughout the city of San Francisco. Technology is at the heart of operations for this small business. Karp currently spends 50,000 to 100,000 dollars annually on IT to help optimize and grow the SMB. Correspondent Sumi Das visits the store on a busy day and talks to Karp and his IT manager Robin Miller about how he uses inventory management software and scanners to help catalogue more than 40,000 items, and how theyre using analytics solutions to track revenues.
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Bay Area Bakery Sweetens Operations with New Technologies
Bay area based Sugar Bowl Bakery sells and ships its baked donuts, brownies and pastries to retailers Starbucks, Costco and Safeway every day. The small business averages yearly sales of more than 40 million dollars and recently spent 400,000 dollars on an IT makeover to help streamline operations. Correspondent Sumi Das interviews Sugar Bowl Bakery president Andrew Ly and general manager Michael Ly about the various technologies the SMB is using to manage its operations, from deploying inventory management software to building new cooking systems that help the bakery produce their products in mass volume.
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Optimizing Flower Delivery In A Small Business
A typical day at Hoogasian Flowers starts early in the morning with as many as fifty calls and Internet requests coming in at one time. Correspondent Sumi Das meets up with the store's owner Harold Hoogasian, right before Valentine's Day and talks to the small business entrepreneur about how he's using IT to help him coordinate production and optimize the fulfillment process during the peak periods.
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Taking the Pulse
In this series we take a behind-the-scenes look at how SMBs are using technology in their business. Through a series of case studies shot on location we'll identify the biggest challenges small and medium enterprises face and how they're employing technologies to optimize and grow.
