Hewlett-Packard Co. is considering cutting as many as 25,000 jobs, or 8 percent of its workforce, to reduce costs and help the company contend with ebbing demand for computers and services, people briefed on the plans said. The number to be cut includes 10,000 to 15,000 from Hewlett-Packard's enterprise services group, which sells a range of information-technology services and has been beset by declining profitability, said these people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren't final and may change. Meg Whitman, chief executive officer since September, is seeking to reverse...


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Us nice guys just can't catch a break. According to a study it seems that the old adage is true "Nice Guys Do Finish Last" or at least get paid less, literally. Andrew Hussey of the University of Memphis did a study on the "Effects of Ethics on Labor Markets Success" and determined that male professionals with higher ethical standards earn less According to the study, "although companies have focused greater attention on the need for ethical practices over the past few decades, male business professionals who self-report high ethical character earn, on average, 3.4% less than their peers who don't...


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Entrepreneurial Lessons from Jeff Gardner, CEO of Carousel Industries; an industry man who founded his own company and grew it into a multi-million dollar enterprise. Ramon Vela: How did you get started in the industry? Jeff Gardner: I majored in accounting so I actually began my business career in that field, holding a variety of related positions. However, I have always had the entrepreneurial bug so when an opportunity arose during Christmas of 1991, I seized it. My brother-in-law, Mike Vickers, and I met at my parents’ house. He told me that he had just been laid off as a project...


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In about 6 months, President Obama will either remain in office or we will have a new person running this great country of ours. Regardless of the outcome, whoever is in office will have a huge task on their hands with jobs and the economy. So we figured, whoever the president may be, they may appreciate the feedback of some of America’s best job creators: VAR and Solution Provider entrepreneurs. In this first of a series, here’s what Dave Babcock, CEO of Pittsburgh-based Compu-Fix had to say… TheStreetSmartVAR: From your vantage point do you see that the economy is picking up? Dave:...


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According to Chet Holmes, marketing and sales guru, 90 percent of all executives are "tactical executives," while 9 percent are what he calls "strategic executives."  Only 1 percent are both tactical and strategic or what Holmes refers to as “the most effective executive.”  These effective executives possess the rare combination of both tactical and strategic abilities. So which one are you and is one better than the other. 5 REASONS TO BE BOTH STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL At TheStreetSmartVAR, we believe that both traits are equally valuable, however, the fatal mistake made by many executive,...


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Today, our “Best of the Best Executive Series” at TheStreetSmartVAR.com focuses on Jeff Gardner, CEO of Carousel Industries, one of North America’s leading data, voice, and video systems integrators. TheStreetSmartVAR: Can you tell us about Carousel Industries and how it operates? JG: We are a systems integrator, although our main focus is voice. We are one of Avaya’s largest distributors in North America, as well as a very large data VAR and a video integrator. Data, voice, video, and managed services are a fast growing part of our business. Those equate to around 85% of our business,...


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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated that "North America could be become the Next Middle East for Energy". And along with it a variety of benefits including 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 million jobs and an increase in real GDP by between 2-3.3%. At TheStreetSmartVAR we believe that the forces coalescing around this "next revolution" are powerful and won't easily be stopped; regardless of who is in the White House. With that said, let's entertain the notion that in the 10-20-30 years we will be experiencing a mini-Industrial Revolution.  What role will you play in all this? The good news...


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Today, our “Best of the Best Executive Series” at TheStreetSmartVAR.com focuses on Dave Babcock, CEO of Compu-Fix (www.compu-fixinc.com) , who launched his company after dealing with the frustrations and headaches of IT support from the client side.   TheStreetSmartVAR: How did you get started, what is your background, how long have you been in the industry? Dave Babcock: Well I have been doing IT for over 40 years. I actually started programming when I was in high school so that is well over 40 years ago. I came to Pittsburgh from New Jersey to go to college at Carnegie Mellon...


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This is the third in a series of blog posts meant to apply Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis to the IT Managed Services Provider (MSP) industry. The post is meant to delve into Capital Requirements as a factor in creating Barriers to Entry for new firms to join the industry. According to Porter, below is a list of factors determining the Threat of Entry from new providers: Economies of scale Product Differentiation Capital Requirements Switching Costs Access to Distribution Channels Cost Disadvantages Independent of Scale Here is what Michael Porter has to say about Capital...


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This is the second in a series of blog posts meant to apply Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis to the IT Managed Services Provider (MSP) industry. The post is meant to delve into Product Differentiation as a factor in creating Barriers to Entry for new firms to join the industry. According to Porter, below is a list of factors contributing to a Threat of Entry: ·           Economies of scale ·           Product Differentiation ·           Capital Requirements ·           Switching Costs ·           Access to Distribution...


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