Negocios Latino Business

Sprint Nextel USHCC Corporation of the Year,

The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), the largest and most influential advocate for Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, is pleased to announce Sprint Nextel will receive the President’s Award as the 2006 USHCC “Corporation of the Year,” the highest corporate award bestowed to any company by the USHCC. The President’s Award will be presented to the Sprint Nextel President and CEO, Gary Forsee, at a special awards gala during its 27th Annual National Convention and Business Expo on Sept. 23, 2006 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

A Real Estate Business Niches

In a slow market, finding the right niche can spell the difference between success and failure in the real estate business. In many areas, there's enough opportunity for a real estate pro to carve out a specialty that is narrow enough to demand expertise yet broad enough to offer plenty of business opportunity.

Some provide services and selling homes, find contractors, landscapers, art and whatever the buyers needs.

]]> Other real estate specialties include helping immigrants become home owners.

The Brand DNA Identity

Before the Brand: Creating the Unique DNA of an Enduring Brand Identity (Paperback) Amazon

How to create a relevant, distinctive brand identity

Before you start building a brand through advertising, marketing, and public relations, you had better know the difference between identity and image in order to establish an effective, enduring brand identity—a verbal, visual, and experiential formula that bestows credibility and attracts attention. Before the Brand is a crash course in brand identity basics that describes successful long-term strategies for creating and refocusing brand identities for all types of companies, products, services, and technologies.

Knowing one’s true identity makes it easier to speak the right message to intended audiences and allows for a strong, consistent, relevant, and differentiated brand. This persuasive primer is packed with case studies that glance into the identities of such premier brands as Nutrasweet, Intel, Gatorade, FedEx, and many more. It introduces the controllable elements of brand identity—positioning strategy, brand name, nomenclature, tag line, logo, and more—and shows marketers how to:

* Develop simple, flexible positioning strategies
* Create a brand name that hits home with your market
* Create a dynamic, visual brand personality
* Reinforce the brand identity through messaging
* Leverage identity opportunities through cobranding and other formulas

Ron Estrada USHCC Marketing VP

HISPANIC PR - The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), the largest and most influential advocate for the two million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, is pleased to announce the addition of Ron Estrada to its national office as the Vice President of Marketing.

]]> Estrada joins the USHCC after serving for more than 12 years as a senior member of Estrada Communications Group, a leading marketing communications firm with offices in California and Texas. During his tenure, Estrada successfully managed campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and helped the USHCC with the promotion of some of its most successful conventions in recent history.

“Ron’s expertise will be a valuable addition to the USHCC, and we’re honored to have him as a part of our team,” said USHCC President and CEO Michael L. Barrera. “Ron has an accomplished and reputable track record, and I have no doubt he will make an immediate, valuable contribution to our national and international marketing and branding objectives.”

Estrada brings a broad and comprehensive roster of marketing and communications achievements that spans more than 16 years. Along with his professional success, Estrada also holds various positions with both corporate and private organizations and foundations. He co-founded the Aguila Awards Foundation and serves on the President’s Advisory Council for the Southwest Key Program, among others.

“I have enjoyed so many blessings in my life, and I know a lot of that comes from hard work and focusing on the task at hand,” Estrada said. “I look forward to building and maximizing on the opportunities the USHCC provides for Hispanic businesses in the United States and elsewhere.”

The USHCC represents the interests of more than 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico, which earn more than $350 billion annually. It serves as the umbrella organization for more than 200 local Hispanic chambers nationwide, and it actively promotes the economic growth and development of Hispanic entrepreneurs.

Empleo para Profesionales Hispanos

Phoenix/EFE — El aumento de la población hispana en Arizona, como en el resto de los Estados Unidos, ha incrementado el interés de las empresas en reclutar a profesionales hispanos que entiendan ambas culturas.

]]> “Hay una verdadera lucha por obtener personal capacitado, especialmente hispanos con una licenciatura, maestría o doctorado”, dijo David Bruno, uno de los dueños de la compañía DHR Internacional, con sede en Scottsdale, Arizona.

La competencia entre las grandes empresas por contratar a ejecutivos bilingües y biculturales hace que más y más industrias recurran a los servicios de compañías reclutadoras como la de Bruno.

“Muchas veces recibimos llamadas de compañías que nos dicen ‘queremos a los mejores, pero también queremos candidatos hispanos’”, dijo Bruno.

De 250 candidatos para un determinado puesto, quizás solo 20 sean de origen hispano, señaló.

“Buscamos personas que cuenten con capacidad profesional para el empleo, pero si alguien es de origen hispano, eso es mucho mejor”, dijo el ejecutivo.

Indicó que el enorme crecimiento de la población hispana en todo el país ha llevado a las empresas a percatarse de que ya no es suficiente tomar un anuncio comercial y simplemente traducirlo al español.

“Se requiere un verdadero entendimiento de la cultura y del idioma para poder llegar al mercado hispano”, aclaró Bruno.

Según un informe de la oficina del censo de EE.UU. dado a conocer a principios de esa semana, por primera vez los grupos minoritarios son mayoría en ciudades como Phoenix y Tucson, en Arizona, y el grupo hispano es el de mayor crecimiento.

“Estos números incrementarán el interés de las grandes empresas en contratar a profesionales hispanos”, dijo.

Se calcula que los hispanos en los Estados Unidos tienen un poder adquisitivo de más de 700,000 millones de dólares al año, poder que sigue creciendo.

El empresario indicó que desafortunadamente no hay suficientes hispanos con estudios de postgrado, por lo que la oferta no satisface la demanda.

Agregó que otro problema es que para muchos hispanos su cultura se convierte en un obstáculo, ya que difícilmente aceptan cambiar de ciudad.

“Para los hispanos primero es la familia, segundo es la familia y tercero es la familia. Después viene el trabajo”, dijo Bruno.

“He conocido muchos profesionales hispanos para quienes es más importante el título de “papá” o “mamá” que el de “presidente”, aseguró el ejecutivo.

Por esa razón, muchas compañías han comenzado a cambiar su forma de operar y se adaptan más a las necesidades de sus empleados.

“Creo que se acabaron los tiempos en que a los empleados los capacitaban en ciudades como Phoenix para después enviarlos a las grandes urbes, como Los Angeles o Miami, para ocupar importantes puestos ejecutivos”, dijo Bruno, quien aseguró que personalmente prefiere vivir en Phoenix y no en Nueva York, debido a las grandes oportunidades que hay en esta región.

Indicó que si es difícil reclutar a profesionales hispanos, lo es mucho más contratar a mujeres de origen hispano con maestrías o estudios más avanzados.

Según la Oficina del Censo, los hispanos representan 15% de la población del país. Pero de acuerdo con una lista preparada por la Asociación Hispana de Responsabilidad Corporativa, con base en Washington, y publicada en la prestigiosa revista Fortune, en las 1,000 compañías mas importantes de los EE.UU., solamente 1% de los cargos ejecutivos son ocupados por hispanos.

“Del uno al diez, donde diez significa la mayor demanda, creo que la demanda de profesionales hispanos llega actualmente a un siete o un ocho”, finalizó Bruno.

Starting a Franchise Business

Leading the pack, the number of fast-food franchise businesses jumped 67 percent from 2003 to 2005, the International Franchise Association (IFA) and franchising research firm FRANdata said in a joint report.

]]> Service businesses, real estate and building and construction franchises were among the fastest growing. Only the travel industry suffered a decline.

Entrepreneurs are also creating new franchises with increasing frequency, the study found.

Over the past three years, around 900 businesses started franchising. In 2005, there were over 500 new franchise businesses, that is up from 220 in 2004 and 207 in 2003.

There are 767,483 franchise businesses in the U.S., according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers based on data from 2001, the latest figures available.

Small to Medium Sized Business Advertising

A survey of small- to medium-sized business (SMB) customers conducted by DirectoryM, the premier local online advertising network specializing in helping businesses find local customers through targeted online advertising, reveals that more than 52 percent of SMBs' total advertising budgets are now being allocated to online advertising, with 37 percent of SMBs planning to increase their online advertising spending in 2006.

]]> The survey results also indicate that an SMB's website is becoming a critical element of the SMB marketing mix, with 62 percent of SMBs currently attempting to optimize their websites for search engines. In addition, almost half of the respondents stated that they plan on adding Cost-Per-Click advertising to their marketing mix.

Even with these planned increases in advertising budgets and initiatives, 95 percent of SMBs still manage their own online advertising campaigns independently. While small business owners are eager to try new online marketing methods, they are also conscious of how much time they spend on managing their online campaigns.

"Because SMBs are busy running their daily operations, they are often time-strapped and may be unfamiliar with the challenges of optimizing a website, monitoring the site traffic and effectively selecting online advertising venues to deliver the highest ROI," said Blair Heavey, DirectoryM's chief executive officer. "DirectoryM serves as a trusted online advisor to SMBs to help them simplify their local advertising needs and improve their search engine optimization in the form of page one results for most local business service requests."

"Small businesses want visibility, credibility and performance from their advertising dollar," confirmed Dave McKeon, managing partner of Game On LLC and a DirectoryM advertiser. "There are a lot of advertising vehicles out there and it's important to have a partner like DirectoryM to help me sort through what works and what doesn't work."

When asked how they measured the success of their online advertising, 78.6 percent of DirectoryM customers indicated that their key measure of success is the number of leads they received while 52.4 percent cited customer acquisition or dollar amount of business closed as a measure of success.

"Our research shows that consumers are increasingly using the Internet to find local businesses, representing a significant opportunity for SMB advertisers that embrace new media," according to Matt Booth, vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media at The Kelsey Group. "Online advertising solution providers, like DirectoryM, that understand the unique needs of small businesses, are important intermediaries for SMBs looking to connect with online consumers."

About the Survey

Primary research conducted using a sample group of 128 of small and medium-sized businesses located in the United States and United Kingdom. All survey respondents advertise on the DirectoryM network.

About DirectoryM

DirectoryM is the premier local advertising network specialized in helping businesses find local customers through targeted online advertising. DirectoryM provides small and medium-sized businesses with an exclusive advertising channel targeting the readers of business and technology publications such as The Wall Street Journal Online, BusinessWeek Online, Financial Times, ZDNet and the 42 regional Business Journals published by American City Business Journals. To learn more about DirectoryM and its offerings, visit http://www.directorym.com/.
Website: http://www.directorym.com/

Mortgages en Espanol

Hipotecas para Comprar una casa en California Nueva Jersey Hipotecas Nueva York Connecticut Bienes Raices Comprar Casas Refinanciar Tipos de Hipotecas Home Mortgage Refinancing Latino Real Estate Hipoteca Prestamos

Spanish Mortgage Web Sites

ATT eliminara 10,000 empleos

AT&T Inc. eliminará unos 10.000 empleos, la mayoría por desgaste, si concreta sus planes de adquirir BellSouth Corp. en 67.000 millones de dólares, dijo el lunes el jefe de los servicios financieros de la empresa.

]]> La reducción de la fuerza laboral se llevaría a cabo en un lapso de tres años, dijo Rick Lindner, alto ejecutivo de AT&T en una teleconferencia. Se espera que la adquisición se concrete en el 2007.

Antes de los cortes, la empresa fusionada tendría unos 317.000 empleados, incluidos los de Cingular Wireless LLC, que es ahora una empresa conjunta de AT&T-BellSouth.

El corte de 10.000 empleos planificado se suma a otro recorte de 26.000 empleos que ya ha anunciado AT&T. De ellos, 13.000 fueron resultado de la adquisición de SBC por parte de AT&T Corp., que se concretó en noviembre. Otros 13.000 puestos de trabajo serán eliminados debido a "iniciativas de operación". La fusión de SBC-AT&T asumió el nombre de AT&T Inc.

La adquisición de BellSouth, con sede en Atlanta, dará a AT&T el control total de Cingular, la principal empresa de telefonía celular de Estados Unidos, y de una red telefónica de BellSouth, que abarca nueve estados.

La compañía que surja de la fusión tendría 70 millones de clientes locales de telefonía fija, 54,1 millones de suscriptores de comunicación inalámbrica y casi 10 millones de clientes de banda ancha en los 22 estados donde operan AT&T Inc. y BellSouth Corp.

La operación resulta en principio la más grande en el mercado de las telecomunicaciones en Estados Unidos. El plan de MCI Worldcom Inc. para comprar Sprint Corp. en 1999 por 115.000 millones de dólares fue rechazado por las autoridades.

Latino Entrepreneurs Hispanic Study

(CNN/Money) - Entrepreneurship in the U.S. has remained relatively constant over the past 10 years and is highest among immigrants and Latinos, according to a study published Thursday. Study: 550,000 businesses created per month; entrepreneurship highest among immigrants, Latinos.

The study, sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, showed that the number of small businesses in the U.S. grew by 550,000 per month from 1996 to 2004, despite swings in the economy.

Robert W. Fairlie of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who drew on Census data and Bureau of Labor Statistics for the study, also reported that Latinos have a higher rate of entrepreneurship than white, non-Latinos.

The study also found that the average rate of entrepreneurship was higher for immigrants than native U.S. residents. Approximately 0.46 percent of immigrants were considered entrepreneurs while only 0.35 percent of native-born went into business for themselves.

A Brands First Impression

How much do you depend on the Internet? Sales, Lead Generation, Readers or Visitors. As I enter fiscal 2006, I'm reflecting on our 2005 progress. To answer the question above, I guess we all use the internet for all the reasons listed above and MUCHO MAS! Small Business Advertising

Deciding on Reserach and Development

eVentrures - Few companies now operate big in-house R&D facilities like the famous Bell Labs or Xerox PARC. Instead, they rely on start-ups to drive a lot of innovation. When a start-up develops a critical product or technology, large firms seek to acquire it. Innovation through Acquisitions

About Holiday Internet Shoppers

Gavin O'Malley - MORE THAN EIGHT OUT OF 10 holiday shoppers--83 percent--said they would shop for holiday gifts online, and a similar number, 80 percent, said they are likely to purchase gifts online from small businesses, said a survey commissioned by Yahoo! Small Business and conducted by Harris Interactive. Nearly a third--30 percent--of holiday shoppers polled said they will do at least half of their holiday shopping online. In addition, nearly two-thirds of holiday shoppers--63 percent--said online specialty or 'niche' retailers are the "best places" to shop for unusual or hard-to-find gifts. The nationwide survey of 1,813 U.S. online adults who plan to do holiday gift shopping was conducted in late October.

Contactos de Camaras de Comercio Hispanas

José A. Aguerri, President - Federacion de Camaras de Comercio de Centro America - FECAMCO
Edgardo Wagner Durán, President - Camara de Comercio de Guatemala
Carlos Federspiel Pinto, Presidente - Camara de Comercio de Costa Rica
Elena Maria Alfaro, Presidenta - Camara de Comercio de El Salvador
Carmen Cordova, Gerente General - Camara de Comercio de Nicaragua.
José Ramón Varela C. Director Ejecutivo - Camara de Comercio de of Panamá
Arturo Vasquez, President - Camara de Comercio de Belize
Andres Lopez Valderrama, Executive Vice President - Camara de Comercio de Bogota-Colombia
Milagros J. Puello, Executive Director - Camara de Comercio de Sto Domingo, DR
Amilcar Bulnes, President - Camara de Comercio de Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Host Chamber - Los Angeles Metropolitan Hispanic Chambers of Commerce