Megastar Media

IBM Demos New Nanotech

Posted by admin on January 27th, 2012
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IBM demos new nanotech

Behind an expat’s wine startup success

Posted by admin on January 26th, 2012
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FORTUNE — Language and cultural differences make it hard to be an expat entrepreneur under any circumstances. It’s doubly hard if the main market for your product plunges into a wrenching economic crisis. And it’s even more difficult if your costs are in a country that suffers incredibly high inflation. That’s the position in which Michael Evans has found himself during the last few years. The Mendoza, Argentina-company he co-founded, Vines of Mendoza, was selling turn-key “vineyard estates” largely to Americans, whose disposable income evaporated following the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers and financial crisis. Even worse, as Evans’ buyers were disappearing, his costs were rising; Argentina’s already high inflation shot past 20% in 2010 and stayed there. Evans knew something would have to be done fast. “I’ve been through something like this before in 2000, when I was at a dot-com. When something like that happens, you don’t know exactly what’s going to pass, but you know things will get worse before they get better,” says Evans, 46. Faced with tumbling income and soaring inflation, as 2008 moved into 2009, the company cuts costs by 40% by laying off 30% of its staff (”By far, the worst day of my life,” says Evans).

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Chinese New Year makes U.S. biz uneasy

Posted by admin on January 26th, 2012
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As China celebrates the New Year by ushering in the Year of the Dragon, U.S. small companies with exposure to the country are doing more hand-wringing than rejoicing.

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Furniture maker lands coveted spot at State of the Union

Posted by admin on January 25th, 2012
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Bruce Cochrane relaunched his family’s furniture company in Lincolnton, N.C., last year, because he wanted to create jobs for Americans instead of setting up shop in China to take advantage of the cheaper labor.

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