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Strategies

    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 8, 2008
Coal is the goal

Vic Patrick and Walter Industries want to take advantage of thedemand for coal in steelmaking to meet a soaring international demand.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 8, 2008
Corporate Report

3M Health Care, Greystoneforge second agreement Chico's June sales down 5%,comparables also lowerGeoPharma distribution dealexpanded to Southeast AsiaBrown & Brown subsidiarymakes two company purchasesBeall's picks Dallas firm forcredit card, other servicesWalter Industries to open mine,doubles quarterly dividend

  • Industries
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
The New Checkers

With value pricing, new menu items and new restaurant designs, Rick Silvais trying to make Checkers the top choice in quick-serve restaurants.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Public Benefit

Construction companies on the Gulf Coast are rushing into publicwork, but one construction company is already there in a big way.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
The Meter's Running

Fred Munn Sr. built a thriving business out of measuringwater, air and electricity levels for others. The going has been so good that he's now guarding against growing too fast.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
e-savings Evolves

The founders of Sarasota-based eCouponsFlorida.com began meeting about their other business interests, but quickly realized they wanted to be partners and formed a new kind of online coupon company.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Transformers

Entrepreneurs Frank Clemente and Lynn McGhee create memories for companies, organizations and other customers by taking meeting rooms and turning them into a blaze of color, texture and sound.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Employee Strength

Employee ownership gives some companies a laserfocus on growth. One Fort Myers-based constructionsubcontractor is finding just how well in tough times.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Banking on the Future

Newer banks that aren't weigheddown by bad loans have an opportunityto make better loans. Now theeconomy needs to cooperate.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Transition Time

Tony Leung made Sanwa Growers a successful agricultural business and now believes a transition to food distribution makes sense.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Positive Pouches

An innovative machinery company with a small niche in the packagingindustry has set its sights on some big targets: Beer and water.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Calendar of Events

View Events from around the Gulf Coast for free.

  • Strategies
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Gulf Coast Week

New high-tech firmCambridge, Mass.-based Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. will be establishing a BioMEMS R&D Center at the University of South Florida in Tampa and a Multi Chip Module Center in St. Petersburg.Smith files bankruptcySmith Family Homes, an upscale homebuilder along the Gulf Coast, has filed Chapter 7 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Under Chapter 7, a court-appointed official liquidates the company's assets to pay creditors.udge upholds gun lawA Federal judge in Florida upheld a law allowing employees to keep concealed weapons inside their locked vehicles in their employer-owned parking lot.More arena delaysThe foreclosure of a unfinished hockey arena in Lakewood Ranch has been delayed again. German company relocatesOrbeco-Hellige Inc., a Long Island, N.Y.-based manufacturing company that specializes in building instruments for testing water and wastewater treatments, has moved its business to Manatee County. Enterprise opens Aug. 1Fort Myers city officials plan to dedicate the new Southwest Florida Enterprise Center on Aug. 1.News-Press layoffsThe Fort Myers News-Press, a daily newspaper owned by Gannett, told its readers recently it plans to lay off 36 employees and will not fill another 10 job openings.

  • Finance
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • August 1, 2008
Fanning the Flames

Fannie Mae's unsold $5 billion worth of homes tugs down the market and brings peril to shareholders.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • July 25, 2008
Logical position

Why should air-traffic controllers have all the fun? One Gulf Coast-based company has developed software to track almost any global-positioning device anywhere.

  • Entrepreneurs
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