Ask SmallBiz: Selling a Business
Q. Our children have no interest in taking over our business, so my wife and I have decided to sell it. How should we proceed? A. Selling your business is one of the most important things you will ever do. Here…
Hawaii Business Magazine - November 2011
5 Steps to Creating a Mobile App
Just when you thought you had perfected your company’s website, many consumers are turning to mobile apps for information, interaction and convenience. Brian Dote, the founder of Tapiki, a mobile-app development firm, provides these tips to help create an app…
Ukulele Boom Generates Global Sales for Hawaii Companies
Four or five times a year, Mike Upton closes the door in Petaluma, Calif., and flies to China to check an operation that’s making several hundred-thousand Hawaii-inspired ukuleles a year. Originally based in Hawaii, Upton moved to California but maintains…
Parting Shot: Folding at United Laundry Service
10:38 am, Friday United Laundry Service Honolulu Photo: David Croxford >> At United Laundry Service, employees and machines work together to process 18,000 pounds of laundry every hour, including 12,000 sheets, according to president and CEO Vicky Cayetano. When…
Innovation: Oceanit’s FLASH Improves Battlefield Awareness
Problem: “Where did those shots come from?” Even on today’s high-tech battlefield, it’s often hard to tell. That’s why Honolulu-based Oceanit developed FLASH – Fast as Light Assessment of Snipers and Hostile Fire – which uses infrared sensors and high-speed processors.…
Nurturing the Next Generation of Local Leaders
What looks like can’t-miss, all-star potential often turns out a few years later to have been all potential and no actuality. But baseball scouts and managers have to keep looking because they need new players all the time to replace…
Talk Story with Bob Iger of the Walt Disney Co.
After nearly three years of construction, Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, opened in September at Ko Olina. In an exclusive interview with Hawaii Business at the resort, Disney’s chief executive talks about Aulani’s role in the global conglomerate, about planning…
Feedback - November 2011 issue
Solitude can pay off big Your September editorial was well-written and right on point (“Editor’s Note,” September 2011). In sympathy with your comment that “One problem with solitude is that it looks unproductive,” I submit the following anecdote: The CEO of…
The Cost of Cosmetic Surgery in Hawaii
Plastic surgery is a growing business in Hawaii, with thousands of local customers and others flying in from the mainland, Canada, Japan and South Korea for procedures, say two of Hawaii’s top specialists in the field. Dr. Robert Peterson, chief…
Unique Scholarships Give Second Chance at College
Jasmine “Tita” Kuhaulua never thought college was an option while she was in high school. After graduation, she had three children in quick succession and the possibility of college receded further. But, the Waialeale Project has changed everything for the 25-year-old, part-time…
6 Great Small Nonprofits and What Makes Them Succeed
Hanahauoli School The first rule of not-for-profits,” writes nonprofit consultant Peter Brinckerhoff, “is mission, mission, and more mission.” Mission, he points out, is a nonprofit organization’s legal reason for existence. It’s why the staff works long hours, often for a…
Hawaii’s Natural Energy Laboratory fuels innovation
Next to Kona International Airport, at Keahole Point, sits a potential gold mine that is home to some of the state’s biggest exporters and groundbreaking research being done nowhere else in the world. The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority…
Not Made in Hawaii
When was the last time you went to a luau and enjoyed deep-fried onion ring chips with your squid luau and lomi salmon? Never, that’s when. But Tim’s Cascade Snacks doesn’t care. The Washington-based manufacturer makes a lot of money…
Speak for Yourself
At this DBEDT for Business Toastmasters Club meeting, Cameron Black evaluates a speech given earlier by another club member. A Toastmaster of the Day chooses a theme for each meeting’s speeches. At this meeting, the TMOD was Mark Ambler and…
Easing the Stress of Leaving Home
Cynthia Arnold, second from left, sits between Nellie and Herbert Lum, who needed help moving out of the home they had lived in for 40 years. Arnold and Dan and Julie Ihara, at right, operate Senior Move Managers to help…
My Job: Helping Animals Fight Cancer
Name: Shoko Watanabe, VMD Job: Veterinarian, trained in oncology, at the VCA Family Animal Hospital in Pearl City. Years on the job: 3 Toughest part: It’s hard telling pet owners that their companions have cancer and that chemotherapy could cost…
Mary Flood: VP of Sales and Marketing, D.R. Horton - Schuler Division
Mary Flood has been in the real estate business for more than 30 years, and is a past president of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and the Honolulu Board of Realtors. Originally from the small town of Eden, Wis.,…
Spy on Your Own Company
Most business owners talk a good story when it comes to customer service, but, unless you are always there, you depend on employees to provide that service. Do you know how well they’re doing? A secret-shopper company can tell you.…
Flying, Old School
Snap roll. Hammer head. Cuban eight. The aerobatic maneuvers that pilot Bruce Clements teases from his vintage biplanes may sound gut wrenching, but this is one of the most pleasant thrill rides you’ll find. “You’re sitting in the open and…
Creating Life’s Soundtrack
“Without Bill Evans there would have been no Keith Jarrett, and Keith Jarrett is god,” says Maggie Herron. Well, then, without Keith Jarrett, there would be no Maggie Herron, the Big Island’s jazz goddess. Herron’s newest CD is “In the…
Pau Hana with Teri Orton
Teri Orton caught the triathlon “bug” about 15 years ago. Today, she’s accomplished something that few athletes around the world have: She is an Ironman. Orton, VP of condominium resort marketing for Outrigger Enterprises Group, completed the Ironman Canada on…
Subway Sandwich Franchise
Subway now has more outlets than any other restaurant chain in the country and, with more than 35,000 locations in 98 countries, it’s closing in on McDonald’s worldwide lead. That growth is only possible because thousands of people are drawn…