By Dr. Joe Webb on June 9th, 2013 - Comment
Last Friday’s employment report showed that the unemployment rate went up to 7.6% but the change was so minor that it was basically the same we’ve been seeing for a few months. The there are many trends buried in the tables that are more interesting than the unemployment rate. On a net basis with revisions…
By Dr. Joe Webb on June 6th, 2013 - 6 Comments
Printing shipments for April were up by $49 million (+0.7%) compared to 2011, but down by -$22 million after adjusting for inflation. Shipments were $6.773 billion in current dollars. March printing shipments, already revised in the benchmark five-year revision just released about two weeks ago, were revised down by -$67 million. This made March shipments…
By Dr. Joe Webb on June 6th, 2013 - Comment
This month’s recovery indicators show an economy that stumbled a bit. Last month it was a mixed bag, this month the bag leaks. The NASDAQ is up since last month, but in the last few days has taken a beating with other parts of the stock market. The ISM non-manufacturing new orders increased, but imports…
By Dr. Joe Webb on May 30th, 2013 - Comment
For many years, experts have told printers to focus on particular niches in their sales and marketing. The purpose is that each niche has unique characteristics that once understood give the printer a competitive advantage in understanding the unique needs and wants that companies in that niche have. This assumes of course that the pursuit…
By Dr. Joe Webb on May 23rd, 2013 - Comment
The US Commerce Department issued its annual update of manufacturing shipments data last Friday. The bottom line is that they increased each of the last two years by about $1 billion, but the increases were not enough to increase annual shipments after inflation. The revision process is constant. Every year, five historical years are revised,…
By Dr. Joe Webb on May 15th, 2013 - 4 Comments
The Commerce Department recently released the latest edition of County Business Patterns data about the number of US business establishments in 2011. Those data indicated that commercial printing establishments declined -4.1% compared to 2010. The biggest percentage declines were in establishments with 500 to 999 employees (between about $90 million to $200 million in sales),…
By Dr. Joe Webb on May 3rd, 2013 - Comment
US commercial printing shipments for the first quarter were down -$42 million compared to 2012 (-0.22%), at $19.3 billion. Q1 shipments may have been distorted by a strong January, likely caused by delayed buying by small businesses as they delayed purchases in tax planning efforts in December 2012. March 2013 shipments were $6.771 billion, down…
By Dr. Joe Webb on May 3rd, 2013 - Comment
This month’s recovery indicators had just a minor stumble, as the ISM Non-manufacturing new orders tripped over a pebble; otherwise, all of the indicators are higher than last month. (click chart to enlarge) The new orders index is still above its level at the start of the recession and indicates moderate growth. The same is…
By Dr. Joe Webb on April 29th, 2013 - 12 Comments
Neil Richards, retired market research executive (and legend) of Kodak, spread the word about the end of Terry Nagi’s battle with brain cancer the other day after getting the news by phone from Terry’s wife, Barbara. I’ve known Neil for more than thirty years, and it was Neil who introduced me to Terry. At the…
By Dr. Joe Webb on April 29th, 2013 - Comment
Last Friday’s GDP report for Q1-2013 came in lower than expectations at +2.5%. That is an annual growth rate compared to Q4-2012. That looked like a pickup in activity compared to Q4-2012 which was +0.4%. Because of the changes in tax rates, there were distortions in the Q4 data as companies reduced spending, slowing real…
"Getting Business" extends the concepts from "Disrupting the Future" to plain-speaking advice for using the latest communications media by print businesses and as offerings to their clients.
Strategies and Action Items for Success
A contrarian look at the printing industry and the new rules and strategies needed to succeed.
