Hawaii Business Magazine - January 2016

"I Didn't Know" Doesn't Cut It

Q: What steps should I take to preserve my company’s electronically stored files in the event of a lawsuit?  A Lawsuit or Investigation– never a pleasant process – can become even longer and costlier if you’re required to produce files…

Nonprofit Corner: Giving Life to Hawaiians

The kupuna who founded Hoola Lahui in 1986 gave the Kauai nonprofit its name, which means “to give life or health to the nation of Hawaii.” “They picked the name because they thought it would reflect what was needed, which…

Parting Shot: Life Savers

Monday, 3:11 pm Blood Bank of Hawaii Dillingham Boulevard Photo By Odeelo Dayondon Noelle Andrews and Cody Stoll place red blood cells, which have undergone 13 tests, into inventory at the Blood Bank of Hawaii. The Blood Bank is the sole…

Privatizing Building Permits

It’s no secret that Hawaii is a bit, shall we say, constipated when it comes to building permits. Permits can take six months or more. A 2013 study conducted by the National Association of Home Builders found the median time…

5 Steps to Break Into the C-suite

With the new year, many middle managers are setting their sights on the C-suite. The stable economy and low unemployment make for the right external conditions, but will you be up for the challenge? Executive recruiter Judy Bishop, founder of…

Batteries: The Other Half of Hawaii’s Energy Future

Batteries are old. In a sense, the last major development in battery technology was the invention of the lead-acid battery in 1859 by the French physicist Gaston Plante. Earlier batteries had short lives, quickly losing their charge as their electrodes…

Spot a Different Kind of Visitor

It’s not just tourists who  flock to Hawaii in the winter: Humpback whales also come in droves and are especially visible from December through March. The Pailolo Channel between Maui and Molokai is the most popular place to view them, but you…

Armchair Travel, Hawaiian Style

A young Japanese couple experiences a dream Hawaii vacation. They start the day riding horses along a dusty mountain trail at Kualoa Ranch. Then they cruise down Kalakaua Avenue in a convertible, lounge on Waikiki Beach and end the day parasailing.…

Trees As Living Art

Don’t tell his wife, but Wayne Hu is in love with trees. “For me, to be able to trim trees is like Michael Jordan being able to play basketball. I just looove tree trimming. “Trees are supposed to be three…

The Business of Ahhh

For an hour each month for the past four years, Shelley Umeda has put her face in the hands of aesthetician Susan Snyder, who steams and massages it, plucks out impurities and skims off a layer of dead cells to…

What's it Worth: Bringing Ikea to Hawaii

Jane Murao says she was frustrated with the process of delivering Ikea products to Hawaii, so she launched Haul2hi. The company specializes in bringing Ikea’s furniture and other products to the Islands. Her customers shop for products in Ikea’s physical…

Where to Find an Illinois Winter? Try Manoa

Name: Timmy Chinn Job: Location Manager, Eye Productions/”Hawaii Five-0” Responsibilities: When you film a TV program in Hawaii, mainland winter scenes can be a challenge. Recently, Chinn and his crew had to find a house for a scene set in suburban…

The Careerist: Healthier, On Your Terms

My company has launched a wellness program, which leaves me with mixed feelings. I appreciate that the company cares about my health and I love the yoga class at lunchtime on Wednesdays, but there are also two other yoga classes,…

Talk Story with Perry Martin

Martin uses a baseball analogy to warn educators everywhere: If a pitcher makes the same pitch to every batter all the time, he will eventually lose. Martin’s goal is to disrupt archaic methods so educators can nurture students to navigate…

Lodgers and Tax Dodgers

It was dark and raining when my plane touched down in Honolulu for my mini-vacation, so I used my GPS to guide me to where I would spend the next two nights. But, instead of taking me to Waikiki’s well-lit,…

Manage Your Borrowing Costs

Interest rates are going up. What can I do to keep my cost of borrowing affordable? Interest rates have been low for so long that many borrowers take them for granted. Savvy business owners, however, are closely watching interest rates…

Fashion Forward

Savvy business experts offer advice to emerging designers on going global Talk about a left-brain, right-brain challenge. Local fashion entrepreneurs need to be innovative and continually create new looks that attract people’s attention. But, if their skills end there, they…

Luxury Street

Retail rents on Oahu have climbed more than 50 percent in the past decade, while in Waikiki, the increase has been 65 percent. And the biggest increases have come in the primest of Hawaii’s prime real estate: a half-mile of…

Love, Honor and Collaborate

Personal relationships seem more complicated today because of social media, 24/7 work lifestyles and high divorce rates, but what happens if an additional complication is added, such as starting a business with your spouse? “Being married and working together takes…

Change Agents

It’s not clear how Native Hawaiian self-governance will affect Hawaii’s economy, but there is no shortage of ideas. Different Hawaiian leaders talk about changing taxes, control of land, lease rents, business incentives, ownership restrictions, import rules and much more. More…

Think and Act Globally, Attend and Learn Locally

Innovators and investors from around the world are gathering in Honolulu this January for the second annual East Meets West Conference. “Local entrepreneurs will be able to learn from technology companies that have conquered global markets,” says Chenoa Farnsworth, managing…