Businesses that have survived the pandemic are spending. On themselves.
If a small business has survived the pandemic economy so far, there’s a good chance it’s sitting on a fair amount of cash right now. Many businesses’ expenses fell during the pandemic, and the...
View ArticleSurvey finds an uptick in business spending on equipment
A new survey of business economists from the National Association for Business Economics found that 32% of respondents say their businesses are spending more on equipment, technology and other capital...
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Pledges vs. action: A consultant on the future of corporate social engagement
As more people are vaccinated and the economy begins to reopen, Marketplace is launching the reporting series “Back to Business: What is the future of America’s small businesses?” “Marketplace Morning...
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Many businesses may keep the cash-free model they started in the pandemic
Like many eating establishments during the pandemic, the restaurant Dune in Los Angeles’ Atwater Village neighborhood made a lot of changes. Customers can’t enter the building, must order over an...
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An errand business delivers for its owner, despite the pandemic
Some big corporations — think Amazon or Walmart — have done just fine in the pandemic, even if it meant adjusting their business plans. But some smaller businesses have had to be similarly nimble with...
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Meet the business reclaiming the narrative around Native art
When the pandemic hit Seattle last year, Eighth Generation, a Native-owned arts and lifestyle brand that works exclusively with Native artists, was gearing up for a big year. A few months earlier,...
View ArticleRestaurants find tech adopted during the pandemic serves them well
COVID-19 forced the restaurant industry to embrace technology that helped limit contact between staff and patrons, and people in the industry say much of that technology is here to stay. Take the QR...
View ArticleFor many Black employees, working from home can provide relief from...
By CDC numbers, almost two-thirds of adults in the U.S. have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and businesses are making plans to reopen offices. Many of their employees would prefer to...
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Drive-thru exhibits could be more than a pandemic trend
The company Imagine Exhibitions had life-sized robot dinosaurs in zoos and museums across the country when everything shut down last year because of COVID-19, so no one could go see them or hear them...
View ArticleCanada’s agricultural worker program is under scrutiny amid the pandemic
For the first five months of the pandemic, Enrique, a temporary farmworker from Guatemala working in Ontario, Canada, said he and the 20 other farm workers with whom he shared a bunkhouse lived with...
View ArticleThe economic models of the past didn’t figure on a pandemic
The Federal Reserve is trying to figure out a way forward in setting monetary policy based on consumers’ hopes and anxieties about the economy as the pandemic wanes. The Fed committee that sets...
View ArticleWhy business owners are stocking up on inventory
In business, there’s a common strategy known as just-in-time inventory management. The idea is to keep just enough product on the shelves in the warehouse or back room just in time for customers to...
View ArticleCleaning and sanitizing as COVID theater
Back when the pandemic began and little was known about how the virus spreads, workplaces started to clean … everything. Now, we know much more, including that COVID spreads mostly through airborne...
View ArticleSouthern car plants are humming, but worker vaccinations have stalled
The local health department twice sent a team to vaccinate workers at General Motors’ sprawling plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Hundreds of workers are still unvaccinated, however, and the plant...
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Corporate America has a supplier diversity problem
There’s been some renewed discussion around increasing diversity in spaces beyond just the common office, like in company boardrooms, among recruiters and even within corporate incentive structures....
View ArticleBonuses may be key to enticing people back to the workforce
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently surveyed unemployed Americans who are not actively seeking work, asking them what would “increase [their] urgency to return to full-time employment.” Thirty-nine...
View ArticleHow Nebraska’s largest Black-owned business is approaching the post-pandemic era
As the pandemic swept the country last March, Carmen Tapio knew things would change for North End Teleservices, the outsourced customer service company she founded nearly five years prior. As her...
View ArticleTheme parks likely to keep mobile tech put to the test by the pandemic
Many U.S. theme parks, including Disney, Universal Studios and SeaWorld are once again open to eager patrons. During the pandemic, operators made changes to follow public health rules, including the...
View ArticleBusinesses are re-opening at a frenetic pace, Yelp finds — especially where...
This economy is rebounding from the COVID-19 downturn at a really solid clip now. Consumers are flush with cash and spending it up, and more people are fully vaccinated every day. That’s especially...
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How the pandemic altered the art and science of “menu engineering”
If you’ve been to a restaurant in person lately, chances are you’ve scanned a QR code on your phone rather than ordering off a traditional, printed menu. Though COVID-19 is unlikely to spread via...
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