Sweet Succession
Jelly Belly CEO Lisa Brasher represents the 5th generation of her family to run the candy bean empire. So just what does it take to keep a company in the family for 146 years?
We sat down recently with CEO Lisa Rowland Basher, the fifth generation of her family to run the company, to learn a little bit about the Jelly Belly philosophy of sustaining a family business.
Go Slow to Go Fast
Winging it won’t work in today’s business landscape
Have you ever walked into a semi-dried lake bed? You start out on firm sand, and little by little the ground gets softer and stickier and deeper until finally the mud pulls your boots straight off your feet. That’s the position of many companies battling today’s marketplace, particularly small-business owners set in their ways and family businesses unable to overcome Dad’s unwavering march into the ground.
Sponsored
Dream, Then Do
Financial advisors Hanson McClain have created success for more than just their clients
Scott Hanson and Pat McClain started their careers as employees of an insurance giant that simply sold proprietary investment products. Immediately dismayed by this short-view approach to business, they both dreamt of creating something new.
Minimum Wage Increase: Bad Medicine for a Recovering Economy
Increases in large metropolitan cities are not comparable to the regional economy that is growing in Sacramento
Trends in politics take hold as quickly as those in fashion, and minimum wage increases are definitely “in” this political season. But unlike in the past when Capitol Hill and state legislatures served as battlegrounds for minimum wage debates, cities are now the epicenter. Buoyed by increases enacted in a handful of megacities, American municipalities of all sizes have started asking whether they should follow suit, and if so, to what degree.
Five Clues That Profit Sharing May Work for You
As wages rise, profit-sharing plans could help small businesses compete for workers.
Competing with big-league firms for employees is tough — average pay at small businesses runs about two-thirds that offered at other companies. Not keeping up with pay hikes elsewhere can create staff turnover, eating into morale and creating operational problems. Enter profit-sharing plans.
Over Tipping
Why I’m finished with added service fees
Magpie Café killed tipping in Sacramento. It won’t be a sudden death, nor was it intentional. But when we look back in five years, we’ll remember Magpie as patient zero.
To Tip or Not To Tip?
Will an increased hourly wage decrease tips?
The Business of Charity
Unwise antiquated thinking is handicapping the nonprofit sector
Over 20 years ago, Peter Drucker, the American management consultant whose writings contributed to the foundations of the modern business corporation, said it was time America changed the way it addresses our ever-increasing social problems. Unfortunately, little has changed since then.
Better Pay for Better Profits
How increased wages and operational improvements can help your bottom line
Among the counterintuitive gems economists have excavated in recent years is this curious insight: When the economy is humming along and unemployment is low, the U.S. death rate rises. Many in the field have tried to fathom why. And now, UC Davis Graduate School of Management interim dean Ann Huff Stevens and three of her colleagues think they know.