SRC board of trustees names Kerrick as new chair

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CICERO — The SRC board of trustees has named long-time member Donald Kerrick as its new chairperson. Kerrick, a retired lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, succeeds M. Catherine Richardson in the chairperson’s role, Cicero–based SRC said in a news release. Richardson, the board’s former chairperson, is retiring from the SRC board. She served for […]

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New York to spend $30M on drone-testing corridor in Central New York

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Manufacturing & Engineering, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only, Technology

SYRACUSE — New York State believes in the “potential” of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry. “We think this is going to be a $1 trillion industry,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo. New York State plans to spend $30 million to develop a 50-mile, flight-traffic management system between Syracuse and Griffiss International Airport in Rome to

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SYRACUSE — New York State believes in the “potential” of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry.

“We think this is going to be a $1 trillion industry,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

New York State plans to spend $30 million to develop a 50-mile, flight-traffic management system between Syracuse and Griffiss International Airport in Rome to “advance the burgeoning” drone industry in Central New York.

Cuomo on Nov. 10 announced the funding during his appearance at the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) Convention at the Oncenter in Syracuse.

Within the 50-mile corridor, “strategic investments will accelerate industry growth by supporting emerging uses of [unmanned aircraft systems, or UASs] in key Central New York industries,” Cuomo’s office said in a news release.

Those industries include agriculture and forest management, transportation and logistics, media and film development, utilities and infrastructure, and public safety.

“It would then be, we believe, the most sophisticated testing area in the country and you wouldn’t have line of sight issues. All the clearances would be done. There’d be special landing strips. It would be designed specifically for this purpose. And we believe we can have it up and operational in 2018,” Cuomo said in his remarks.

Within this corridor, investments will target instrumentation, UTM software, and performance validation of drone-security systems for “critical” infrastructure.

The investments seek to “accelerate” the growth of the UAS industry by supporting “emerging UAS uses in essential sectors of the Upstate economy,” according to Cuomo.

Phase 2
New York will make the investment through a partnership between Empire State Development and the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) Alliance as part of Phase 2 of Project U-SAFE.

NUAIR Alliance is a private-sector alliance of 100 “public, private and academic partners working collaboratively to advance the safe integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace,” stated Cuomo’s release.

Project U-SAFE aims to accelerate the testing, certification, and safe integration of unmanned-aircraft systems into the airspace and “unlock a trillion-dollar global industry.”

For Phase 2, the state plans to implement NASA-founded concepts of UAS traffic-management systems and UAS standardized testing and rating.

Cuomo in August announced a $5 million investment for Phase 1, and the newly announced funding continues the state’s “strong commitment to growing” the UAS industry in upstate New York, he contends.

To date, New York State has provided $7 million in funding for the NUAIR Alliance to support the development of range instrumentation and a data-operations center at Griffiss International Airport.

The announcement complements “Central NY Rising,” the region’s economic-development plan.

The plan won one of the three $500 million prizes in Cuomo’s economic-development contest announced in Albany last December.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

State comptroller report spotlights signs of “rebound” in CNY economy

Insurance & Financial Services, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — A “wealth” of locally educated young adults, a “technically experienced” workforce, and a “relatively low” cost of living have the Central New York economy “starting to rebound” from the Great Recession. At the same time, poverty, unemployment rates above the statewide average, and the loss of some large employers still hamper “many communities.”

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At the same time, poverty, unemployment rates above the statewide average, and the loss of some large employers still hamper “many communities.”

Those are among the findings of a region profile that New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released Nov. 2 at Syracuse City Hall.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner joined the state comptroller as he issued the report.

The Central New York report is the second in a series that DiNapoli’s office is assembling for each of New York’s regions, DiNapoli said in his remarks at City Hall.

“My office has closely paid attention to the economic health of the regions around the state, certainly in the aftermath of the Great Recession. We do this because the economic health of our regions impacts … the revenue that comes to the state … a very important part of our planning when we talk about state budget … While downstate New York, especially New York City has recovered and added jobs since the depths of the Great Recession, we know that not all parts of the state have shared in those same economic gains. Central New York’s economy is continuing to recover from the Great Recession,” DiNapoli said.

In her comments to local reporters, Miner said, “This report enumerates that there are certain members in our community that are making progress on a number of fronts, including steady population and growth in our downtown and our major economic-development drivers of health care and education. But this report also highlights the “pervasive and pernicious” poverty, which plagues so much of our community and the city, in particular.”

Report findings
Five counties make up the Central New York region, including Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Cortland, and Madison.

The report found that the annual regional unemployment rates have been improving in recent years, decreasing from 8.5 percent in 2012 to 5.5 percent in 2015. The figures compare to a statewide jobless rate of 5.3 percent in 2015.

Central New York’s estimated population was 787,240 in 2015, including 468,463 people living in Onondaga County. The region’s population has been “largely stable,” but it has had a “slight” decline, estimated at 0.6 percent, in the past five years, DiNapoli’s office said.

Median household income in each of the five counties is below the state median of $58,687. However, the “relatively low” cost of living offsets the lower-income levels.

That includes “lower-than-average” housing costs, making Central New York among the “more affordable” places to live.

For example, less than 30 percent of homeowners spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, compared with 39 percent statewide.

The percentage of people with bachelor’s degrees or higher is “relatively low,” but Syracuse University and the region’s public higher-education institutions award nearly 10,000 degrees annually. Local leaders are working to find ways to retain more of these graduates, according to DiNapoli’s.

In addition, Central New York’s public and private colleges and universities “are expected to help the professional, scientific and technical-services sector continue to grow.”

The manufacturing industry in the region has been “shrinking for decades,” with employment falling from 58,000 to 30,000 between 1990 and 2015.

However, certain segments of manufacturing are doing better and have either “recently grown or are poised to do so” in the next few years.

Electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing grew more than 46 percent between 2009 and 2014, and these jobs “tend to be well paid.”

Food-manufacturing operations that focus on milk, yogurt, cheese, fruit and vegetable products have also been locating or expanding in the region, and employment is projected to grow in this sector, DiNapoli’s office said.

The region is “well-positioned” for truck transportation, warehousing facilities, and distribution centers as the “geographic center” of the state, which includes the intersection of the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90) and Interstate 81.

Updating the area’s “extensive” infrastructure, which “served this economy well for many decades,” is part of the Central New York’s overall revitalization plan. Local and state officials have made upgrading the region’s highways and water systems “a major priority.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Syracuse University ranked top private school for veterans

Health Care, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The publication MilitaryTimes has ranked Syracuse University as the nation’s top private university for service members, military veterans, and their families. The magazine also ranked Syracuse as third among all the nation’s universities — public or private. The ranking is part of the publication’s “Best for Vets: Colleges 2017” list, which it released Nov. 1.

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SYRACUSE — The publication MilitaryTimes has ranked Syracuse University as the nation’s top private university for service members, military veterans, and their families.

The magazine also ranked Syracuse as third among all the nation’s universities — public or private.

The ranking is part of the publication’s “Best for Vets: Colleges 2017” list, which it released Nov. 1.

The Best for Vets: Colleges 2017 ranking is an “editorially independent news project” that evaluates the many factors that help make colleges and universities a good fit for service members, military veterans, and their families, according to a Syracuse University news release.

More than 500 colleges participated in this year’s survey, which asks colleges and universities to “meticulously” document services, special rules, accommodations and financial incentives offered to students with military ties, and to describe many aspects of veteran “culture” on campus.

The publication evaluated these institutions in “several” categories, with “university culture and academic outcomes bearing the most weight.”

During the past two years, Syracuse has “worked hard to create a class-leading campus community in support of the nation’s veterans and their families,” the school said.

In that time, the university says its veteran and military-connected enrollment has doubled. It has also raised more than $1.2 million for scholarships and other assistance for student veterans and ROTC cadets. In addition, Syracuse’s ROTC program has “grown to its highest enrollment levels in almost a decade.” ROTC is short for reserve officer training corps.

Syracuse will “further its commitment” to veterans and their families with the construction of the National Veterans Resource Complex (NVRC), a multi-use facility dedicated to advancing academic research, programming, and “community-connected innovation” serving the social, economic, and wellness concerns of the nation’s veterans and families.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com

New York manufacturing index turns positive in November

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

The Empire State Manufacturing survey general business-conditions index rose 8 points to 1.5 in November as respondents reported seeing increases in new orders and shipments. It’s the benchmark index’s first positive reading since measuring 0.6 in July. The results of the November survey indicate that business activity “stabilized” for New York manufacturers, the Federal Reserve

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The Empire State Manufacturing survey general business-conditions index rose 8 points to 1.5 in November as respondents reported seeing increases in new orders and shipments.

It’s the benchmark index’s first positive reading since measuring 0.6 in July.

The results of the November survey indicate that business activity “stabilized” for New York manufacturers, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its survey report issued Nov. 15.

The responding firms said that business activity was “essentially flat” in November, the New York Fed said.

Still, the November reading of 1.5 was substantially better than the readings of -6.8 in October, a -2.0 in September, and a -4.2 in August.

A positive index level indicates expansion or growth in manufacturing activity, while a negative reading on the index points to a decline in the sector.

The survey found that 27 percent of New York manufacturing respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 25 percent reported that conditions had worsened.

It’s “good” to see the general business-conditions index rising into positive territory again, says Randy Wolken, president of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York.

“I especially liked the fact that new orders and shipments both rose, which are good indicators that business is strong when you’re getting new orders and you’re shipping,” says Wolken. He spoke with CNYBJ the day the report came out.

Inside the survey
The new-orders index climbed 9 points to 3.1, indicating that orders “edged higher,” and the shipments index also rose 9 points to 8.5, pointing to an “increase” in shipments, according to the New York Fed.

The unfilled-orders index inched down to -12.7, and at -5.5, the delivery-time index “signaled shorter” delivery times.

The inventories index fell 11 points to -23.6, a multiyear low, indicating that inventory levels declined “significantly.”

Both employment indexes remained negative in November.

The index for number of employees fell 6 points to -10.9, a sign that employment levels were “contracting,” and the average-workweek index, little changed at -10.9, pointed to a decline in hours worked.

The prices-paid index fell 7 points to 15.5, indicating that input price increases “slowed,” and the prices-received index edged down to 2.7, signaling that selling prices were “marginally higher.”

The inventories index fell 11 points to -23.6, pointing to a “marked decline” in inventory levels, the New York Fed said.

Future outlook
Indexes for the six-month outlook suggested that respondents were “somewhat less” optimistic about future conditions than they were last month.

The index for future business conditions retreated 6 points to 29.9.

Wolken says he’s happy manufacturers still have an optimistic six-month outlook, which he believes is “helpful,” figuring New York firms see the potential for growth opportunities in the future.

The index for future new orders and the index for future shipments fell to similar levels, the New York Fed said.

Indexes for future employment and the future average workweek, at 10.9 and 10.0, respectively, indicated that firms expected to expand employee rolls and hours worked in the months ahead.

Indexes for future prices suggested that firms anticipated an increase in both input prices and selling prices over the next six months.

The capital-expenditures and technology-spending indexes were “little changed,” and pointed to “modest” increases in spending for both categories.

The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen to open Armory Square store

Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen — a three-year-old, local, homemade baked-cookie business — will soon open its first-ever store in Syracuse’s Armory Square. Cathy Pemberton, founder and sole owner of Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen, tells CNYBJ she has leased an 826-square-foot space at 266 W. Jefferson St. — in the former location of the Blown Away

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SYRACUSE — Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen — a three-year-old, local, homemade baked-cookie business — will soon open its first-ever store in Syracuse’s Armory Square.

Cathy Pemberton, founder and sole owner of Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen, tells CNYBJ she has leased an 826-square-foot space at 266 W. Jefferson St. — in the former location of the Blown Away hair salon.

The store, which she expects to open to customers in the first week of December pending city permits, will give her business a storefront and a commercial kitchen in the back so she can attract new retail customers and increase her production volume.

Pemberton, a self-taught baker, started her business at her home in Camillus and most recently has been baking everything at the commissary (commercial kitchen) at Fairmount Community Church on West Genesee Street in the Fairmount section of Camillus.

She says her customer demand has outgrown what she could produce through that arrangement.

“I couldn’t bake enough,” Pemberton says. “My growth was limited in Fairmount.”

At the church’s kitchen, Pemberton can bake 4 dozen cookies at a time. With the oven she has purchased and installed at her new Amory Square location, she will be able to bake 10 dozen cookies at a time and it will take half as long, she says.

“This store gives me the capability to meet that customer demand,” Pemberton says.

Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen currently generates 75 percent of its sales from wholesale accounts — selling her cookies at places like Liehs & Steigerwald on West Fayette Street, Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters in Destiny USA, and Green Planet Grocery in Camillus. The other 25 percent is direct to individuals. “I would expect that retail side to grow” with the store, Pemberton says.

Pemberton is currently her business’s only employee, and she handles the marketing, shopping, accounting, taxes, bookkeeping, cleaning, deliveries, and of course, baking. She will soon hire a part-time employee to help with baking and running the front counter at the store. She is also looking for an employee to help make deliveries.

Pemberton says she found her space by driving through Armory Square twice a day for six months.

“I kept looking for different places. There were lots of misses,” she says.

She spotted the vacant storefront at 266 W. Jefferson St. in September and called the real-estate agent Steve Case of Paramount Realty Group to lease it. Blown Away had closed its salon sometime this summer.

Pemberton says she started leasing the space on Oct. 1.

Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen’s annual sales have increased five-fold since Pemberton founded the business in June 2013. She declined to reveal sales totals. This year, her sales are up about 15 percent and would have grown much more if she had more production capacity, she contends.

With her new store and commercial kitchen, Pemberton says it’s possible she could more than triple her sales in 2017.

All the cookies Pemberton sells are her own recipes. She sells more than 20 cookie flavors like Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip and Rocky Road — 12 that can be made gluten-free. The cookies are sold at $3 for a pack of two; $15 per dozen; or $12 per dozen if buying 3 dozen or more.

When the new store opens, Pemberton plans to sell not only cookies, but also hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and the occasional cookie cake, which is a giant cookie. Pemberton wants to continue to sell to corporate and retail stores, and continue to take online and private orders.

Pemberton opened Cathy’s Cookie Kitchen while she worked as an assistant supervisor with the Syracuse City School District. She also taught cooking for a few years at several different city schools. Pemberton says she’d like to eventually offer baking classes to children at her new store.

Small-business resources that Pemberton tapped along the way to grow her business include: The U.S. Small Business Administration Syracuse District, SCORE, WISE Women’s Business Center, Downtown Committee, and Syracuse First. The help she received included assistance with her business plan and marketing plan, referral for accountants and financial professionals, referrals for lawyers, and tips on potential real-estate sites.

Pemberton helped finance her new location with a loan from a family member. She declined to disclose the amount. Up until now, she had funded the business with her own cash.

She says she bought about $25,000 worth of equipment for her new store/commercial kitchen for only $7,000 because it was used.

“I’m opening this business on a shoestring,” she quips.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com

Onondaga Small Business Development Center guides CNY entrepreneurs

Health Care, Small Business, Subscriber Only

ONONDAGA — The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College (OCC) serviced nearly 1,000 entrepreneur clients in its most-recent fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. “We helped them create or save 400 jobs in our six-county region,” says Joan Powers, director of the SBDC at OCC. The SBDC is located inside Mulroy Hall

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ONONDAGA — The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College (OCC) serviced nearly 1,000 entrepreneur clients in its most-recent fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

“We helped them create or save 400 jobs in our six-county region,” says Joan Powers, director of the SBDC at OCC.

The SBDC is located inside Mulroy Hall at 4926 Onondaga Road in the town of Onondaga, across from the OCC campus.

The SBDC also has satellite offices in all of the six counties it serves in Central New York, including Onondaga, southern Oswego, Cayuga, western Madison, Cortland, and Seneca, according to its marketing brochure.

“We provide free and confidential counseling for individuals looking to start a business or [for] existing businesses looking to grow,” says Powers.

The SBDC, which has operated at OCC for the past 30 years, has nine employees, including Powers.

The SBDC is part of a nationwide network and is one of 24 such centers in New York that typically operate on community-college campuses, says Powers.

The State University of New York administers the SBDC, while the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the State of New York, and host campuses fund the centers, according to the website of the New York SBDC.

The SBA annually provides “the funding for most of our programs,” including salaries and operations, says Powers, declining to disclose the amount of funding the federal agency provides.

SBDC resources and services
The SBDC is a resource partner for the SBA. Other such SBA resource partners include SCORE, an organization of retired business executives, and the WISE Women’s Business Center.

The SBDC offers free, one-on-one, confidential counseling with one of its business advisors. The counseling includes advice on securing an employer-identification number and analyzing an entrepreneur’s business idea and determining if it is “feasible,” says Powers.

The SBDC works with people who want to start their own business, to determine if moving forward is in their best interest. The organization will help the clients determine a financial projection and figure out how much revenue they’ll need to generate annually to pay their bills.

“We give them … a road map of what they need to get done to get to where they want to be, so we help them with all those steps, and then some of them do it and some of them don’t … We don’t push them,” she adds.

Powers also noted that an entrepreneur’s effort to secure operating capital isn’t “so easy.”

The organization will help the client assemble a business plan, determine financial projections, and find the proper funding mechanism for operating capital, which “might not be a bank.”

“It might be a special program or a private investor,” she adds.

The SBDC also offers classes that are available at OCC, including a three-day class called, “Fast Track to Business Start-Up.” Class participants get to hear from speakers that include an attorney, accountant, insurance agent, and speakers who focus on social media and website design.

Other classes for advanced entrepreneurs focus on the QuickBooks accounting software and using social media and websites, Powers says.

The SBDC’s clients include people attempting to launch a business, those who want to supplement their income, and people who are building a part-time business in the hope they can eventually leave their full-time job to focus on their business idea full time.

Some clients have been in business for several years and are looking to launch a new product, recreate their marketing plan, or prepare to hire an employee.

“We have no limit on how long we can meet with a client, so some of them we meet with on and off for three years … and then maybe at that point, they might be ready to start their business,” says Powers.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Cuomo announces new on-the-job agricultural training program for veterans

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Health Care, Manufacturing & Engineering, Small Business, Subscriber Only

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Veterans Day announced the launch of an on-the-job training program for military veterans interested in careers in the agricultural industry. This training opportunity expands the New York State Division of Veterans’ Affairs’ (DVA) On-the-Job Training initiative to allow veterans to use their military benefits while obtaining “useful job

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New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Veterans Day announced the launch of an on-the-job training program for military veterans interested in careers in the agricultural industry.

This training opportunity expands the New York State Division of Veterans’ Affairs’ (DVA) On-the-Job Training initiative to allow veterans to use their military benefits while obtaining “useful job skills on the farm,” the governor’s office said in a news release.

With assistance from the Cornell Small Farms Program (smallfarms.cornell.edu), Kreher’s Farm in Clarence in Western New York, has been approved as the first farm in the state to offer this program to veterans. Kreher’s Farm is a “leading” egg operation and the largest organic grain producer in the state, according to the governor’s office.

The state is encouraging additional farms across the state to apply to participate in the program.

“This program will open new doors and not only offer on-the-farm training for veterans, it will support increased agricultural production to provide local food to communities across the state. I congratulate Kreher’s Farm for participating in the program and encourage other farms across the state to join,” Cuomo said.

The New York State Beginning Farmers Workgroup, established by Cuomo in 2014, identified the need for an on-the-job training program for veterans who want to pursue careers in farming and agriculture. The workgroup’s discussions lead the Farm Ops initiative of the Cornell Small Farms program to work with the DVA to expand its existing On-the-Job Training (OJT) program to include New York farms. Before this, OJT was utilized almost exclusively by electricians, plumbers, and other skilled trades. The program offers veterans “rewarding career opportunities as they transition out of military service, while also providing employers with qualified workers,” the release stated. During their training, veterans are paid wages and also receive their military housing allowance through their GI Bill benefits, which helps offset the cost of living.

Interested farms must submit an application and training outline to the DVA. The outline should include skills that will be learned and duties the veteran will complete during training, according to the release. The training period will be between six months and two years, and farms should be in a position to hire the veteran full time at the end of their training. Staff with the Cornell Small Farms program will help farmers in applying for the program. Once an application is approved, Cornell Small Farms will also help match those farms with interested veterans.

Those interested in learning more about the program and how to participate can visit: www.nebeginningfarmers.org/projects/farmer-veterans/on-the-job-training. Farmers who are interested in offering on-the-job training are encouraged to contact Cornell education-support specialist Dean Koyanagi at drk5@cornell.edu or (607) 255-9911.

Funding for this program is provided by the New York State Legislature through the work of State Senator Pattie Ritchie, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York State Farm Viability Institute, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com

CrossFit Exagora formally opens near Oriskany

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ORISKANY — A new specialty fitness gym, called CrossFit Exagora, has formally opened near Oriskany. CrossFit Exagora held a ribbon-cutting event with the Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Nov. 18 at the firm’s site at 5994 Judd Road in the town of Whitestown, according to a chamber announcement. The business also hosted a

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How Businesses Can Make the Most of their Stakeholder World

Business Mentors, Small Business, Subscriber Only

Businesses often consider it a top goal to provide value to their shareholders, but these days it may be just as important to concentrate on producing value for “stakeholders.” Companies have a plethora of stakeholders, such as customers, employees, suppliers, and local communities, among others; the sum total of which represents a business’s stakeholder world.

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Businesses often consider it a top goal to provide value to their shareholders, but these days it may be just as important to concentrate on producing value for “stakeholders.”

Companies have a plethora of stakeholders, such as customers, employees, suppliers, and local communities, among others; the sum total of which represents a business’s stakeholder world.

How companies make use of those stakeholders — enlisting their aid in achieving the company’s goals — is a significant factor in determining whether the business will be a success.

Every company experiences bumps in the road. Companies that consistently overcome these challenges usually have some help along the way. Maybe it’s a banker who believes in the business. Maybe it’s key customers who support the business even when there are other easier options, or employees who are willing to make sacrifices for the company.

But it’s difficult if not impossible to get people to rally to a company’s cause when its goals are vague and its purpose less than inspiring.

The challenge is to have a purpose that’s meaningful and important to your stakeholder world. What I’ve found is that many businesses start out with a meaningful purpose — they want to make a difference in the world as well as make money — but over time that initial purpose becomes a distant memory and business decisions get focused more on such things as profits and shareholder value.

If a business can identify what its purpose is and frame it in a way that is meaningful and important to its stakeholders, that company can unlock the power and resources of its stakeholder world and amazing things can happen.

Companies with a purpose are on a mission. It can almost feel like a crusade.

And if the stakeholders believe in and share that purpose, they can more easily be enlisted in that crusade.

Business leaders can harness the power and resources of their stakeholder world by:

Utilizing all of the capacities of your workforce. Businesses need to get the most out of their employees. If employees are inspired by purpose, they will be more engaged in their work and be far more productive.
Working with suppliers who look out for you. If your suppliers believe in your purpose and join your crusade, they will always be looking out for your best interests. Businesses need suppliers who understand the business and are committed to something more than making money off your relationship.
Serving customers who are eager to help you deliver a better product or service. Your purpose is an important part of your brand value. Customers who share a similar commitment will be loyal and will promote your efforts.
Operating in communities where the difference you are making resonates with its leaders and they support your growth. When a business espouses a purpose that a community finds meaningful, the people within that community are more likely to embrace your organization.
Having partners and alliances that anticipate your needs. One way to do this is to look beyond your current stakeholder world and notice which organizations are pursuing similar purposes. Examine how their efforts can support yours and develop relationships that will support your business model and be a win-win for all.

Every business has the opportunity to discover a purpose that is meaningful and important to its stakeholder world. If you’re selling a product or service that is in demand, then you are making a difference for people. You just need to discover why the difference you make for your customers can be meaningful and important to others as well.

Paul Ratoff is president of Strategy Development Group, Inc. and author of “Thriving in a Stakeholder World: Purpose as the New Competitive Advantage.” Contact him at www.ratoffconsulting.com or strategydevelopmentgroup.com

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