The survey of purchasing managers attributed the slight fall to a drop in the amount of new business firms were picking up.
That social marketing hubbub is exciting, but it drowns out the quieter but much larger impact private online communities can have on business-to-business firms and their customers.
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In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace.
It becomes a little more clear as to what the magnitude of the effects might be, and I think a lot of business firms are now taking all that into account and recognizing that this is probably a long-term problem that is going to be dealt with in a regulatory fashion, and it's prudent to prepare themselves for that regulatory structure.
The founder and chairman of the Wadhwani Foundation, Wadhwani made his fortune creating business software firms.
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Then, charges of self-dealing never officially admitted dogged the executive in the past year: allegations he gave out business to firms that made personal loans to him and ran a hedge fund that traded the same commodities Chesapeake manufactured.
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While I was, in some cases, astounded by how much money some of the least credible consultants earned from the divergent lines of business their firms exploited, more often I was disappointed by the compensation levels of the more ethical, disciplined consultants.
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Consumers are quite happy with the way these firms do business, which is both why the firms are so successful and why competitors are so upset.
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"We've lost work to larger firms and like any small business, small architectural firms need a boost these days, " says Mr. Davidson, whose 15-year-old firm receives up to 70 federal contracts every year, mostly for renovations to U.S. Postal Service buildings.
The Mid-Year Economic Report by the National Small Business Association, an advocacy group for small business in which members skew toward established firms, found that small business owners are much less optimistic about both the economy and the fate of their own firms than when the last survey was released six months ago.
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If that squirming is drumming up business for security firms, they may be enjoying it, too.
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Another variation is when consulting, especially systems integration activities, require business alliances with firms.
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In any business, inefficient firms will eventually fold, giving way to those that can earn higher profits.
The professional and business-services firms share some of the City's worries about being based in and around London.
Oracle and Salesforce.com, two business-software firms, are also supporting the new standards.
Meanwhile, American components and satellites are suffering because of the cost and delays in doing business with the firms that make them.
At this point in the business cycle, firms hire when they need workers to fill orders, not to get a relatively small tax break.
Always with an eye to investment banking business for their firms, you will notice there are very few sell recommendations, even now in a punk economy.
He and his colleagues at the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum are in business to help firms run their supply chains more efficiently and effectively.
In short, the Public Disclosure Program actually misleads investors into believing the risks related to doing business with brokerage firms are far less than they really are.
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Under Chavismo, oil specialists were sacked and replaced by party loyalists, foreign oil contracts were radically altered or canceled, making investment in Venezuela risky business for international firms.
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This reluctance seems surprising, since companies with high hurdle-rates will tend to lose out in bidding for business assets or firms as, according to Mr Hodge, Shell has often done.
Less crime and special tax breaks for business have stopped firms leaving the city and given a sharp boost to tourism, which is up by over 10% since 1994.
By pumping more equity into investments and renegotiating terms with creditors something that Blackstone is reportedly trying to do with its Hilton Hotels business firms hope to manage their debt burden downward.
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The rules still afford the locals some help: regulations governing financial markets are still opaque, which favours domestic players, and many Japanese companies still prefer to do business with domestic firms.
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Disclosure statements for so-called business-opportunity firms vary among states.
America's superior performance owes a lot to structural reforms in the late 1970s and 1980s that created a more favourable climate for business, allowing firms to reap the benefits of new technology.
This is reminiscent of the stock analyst scandal of the year-2000 tech bubble where Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and others gave high ratings to companies that did investment banking business with their firms.
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