National City®

Feature
Emotional Intelligence
As a corporate executive or manager, you might skim right over a term like "emotional intelligence," thinking it has no relevance. Think again. The concept has been used by organizations of all sizes to strengthen leadership and improve performance.

DeKaser's Financial Market Outlook
The Beginning of the End?
The word "bubble" still doesn't do justice to all the U.S. housing market, but the description has become increasingly apt as time has passed. The cause of overvaluation is simple: Price increases have run rampant, far outstripping income gains in most markets.

Association for Financial Professional (AFP) Annual Conference
October 9 - 12 in San Antonio, TX
More than 6,000 of your colleagues will gather to share best practices and see the latest innovations in finance. National City continues as an exhibitor at the AFP Annual Conference, just another way we bring value-added resources directly to you. Visit us at booth #136.

Business Planning & Strategy
The Debate Over Doing Good 
Companies have long paid lots of money -- and lip service -- to philanthropy and public service. Managers from all parts of American business are increasingly seeing social responsibility as a strategic imperative. What's behind this realization? At the very minimum, it's clear that companies recognize it takes a robust, sharp public relations strategy to navigate through the mines of today's operating environment. 

Young companies demanding investors accept the cost

Legislation & Regulatory
Your Escheating Heart
Within the past year, a number of states have implemented a new tool to monitor compliance with unclaimed property laws. With ACES, a software program by Boston-based Unclaimed Property Clearing House, states can view company reporting histories and identify non-reporting companies. In the process of escheatment, ownership reverts to the state for safeguarding until the rightful owner--the person to whom the money is owed--claims it. When the ownership rights are extinguished after 20 years or more (depending on the laws of the particular state), the property is permanently handed over to the state.

Bringing unclaimed property to the front burner  

Human Resources & Benefits
HR Professionals Move Into Leadership Roles
Leadership is now about being proactive and having a "clear, succinct vision," Howard Putnam, the former CEO of Southwest Airlines stated. Part of this role is making sure that other executives understand the key HR issues now, including worker shortages, the high demand for college graduates, and the crucial importance of retention. HR can demonstrate its help with cost controls and efficiencies through the quick and less expensive training and information delivery options that are now available.

HR Professionals are moving on up

Finance & Treasury
On the Run
Cantor Fitzgerald LP Chairman Howard W. Lutnick led his financial services firm through the aftermath of September 11, when Cantor, a privately held business of brokering trades of U.S. Treasury paper, lost 658 people, three-fifths of its total workforce. But while Lutnick was winning an international reputation as a crisis manager, he was neglecting big turmoil at home. Within two years, Lutnick introduced a new tool ironically called "price improvement" and frittered away all that goodwill. It gave buyers a chance to jump in front of other bidders on a given block of bonds--not by bidding higher but by paying up to three extra fees on a trade.

Personal Investing
Savvy Hedge Funds Can Forecast Regulatory Clouds
More so than mutual funds, hedge funds spend a lot of time doing detective work - looking for information about a company's operations or business practices that isn't understood by the markets and isn't priced into a stock. This detective work heats up, by both long and short investors, when it comes to companies with regulatory clouds threatening on the horizon.

Hedge funds: Uncovering gigantic crimes 

Economics
Productivity is the Issue of the Hour for the Fed
Productivity growth shot up to 4 percent a year from 2001 through 2004. Employers shaken by the recession of 2001 and then uncertainties tied to terrorism and war sought and found ways to increase production without hiring workers. And because many companies overspent on technology in the 1990's, they were able to generate new efficiencies without additional investment in the years that followed.

Superheated productivity appears to be ending

Sales & Marketing
No-Haggle Pricing Climbs Higher
The propensity to haggle appears more related to factors other than just men vs. women. The no-haggle approach of Circuit City spin-off CarMax appeals most to younger, better-educated consumers with above-average incomes. That's not surprising. Consumers below age 35 are least likely to negotiate; older consumers, with families, more budget constraints and more experience buying cars, are more likely to haggle.

International & Trade
U.S. Banks Putting More Capital to Work in Emerging Markets
It's a common problem: companies seeking to expand their borders and delve deep into emerging markets are often held back by weaker banking structures abroad. Turkey, one of the most promising emerging markets this decade, has historically been a prime example of this problem.

Creating new opportunities for Midwest customers

Trends & Technology
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back?
Current applications taking advantage of the unique properties of nanoscale materials are widely dispersed throughout the U.S. economy. There are continued efforts by U.S.-based leaders, such as Motorola and IBM, and increased public funding for initial-stage nanotechnology research. But an overall shrinking of private-sector R&D dollars could put U.S. manufacturers behind their overseas competitors when it comes to converting nanotechnology into profits.

What is nanotechnology?

Small Business
Financing Growth: More Than a Matter of Money
As an entrepreneur guiding your company to the next level, you're seeking more than just financing: You need an engine that will best enable the business to achieve its primary business goals. Frequently, that engine is financial, such as the bank's credit line or the venture capitalist's cash. But it isn't always. Sometimes, the right engine isn't monetary at all, but rather, for example, the individual with the expertise you lack and your company desperately needs.

Your mind on your money and your money on your mind

Women Business Owners
MightyPen Solutions
In 2001, Laurey Banker started MightyPen Solutions from my home. MightyPen Solutions provide quality marketing communications and planning, especially for smaller companies that don't have a marketing department or can't afford a large advertising agency.

August Women Business Owner of the Month

Find Women Business Advocates in Your Area