http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com The Regional Business Authority Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:52:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Four ways we keep you on the cutting edge Southwest Florida Business Today is Florida’s only award-winning business newspaper ... a biweekly, business-to-busines publication serving Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties. Here on this Web site you’ll find ... 1. Recent features covering emerging trends, current issues and companies that are succeeding in this economy (and we ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/12/21/welcome-to-sw-florida-business-today/ Prominent area architect Bruce T. Gora passed away Dec. 16, 2008. He opened a firm as a sole practitioner in 1981. The firm became Gora/McGahey Associates in Architecture in 1986. As a principal of the firm, he was responsible for project and firm management, with an emphasis on planning and design. ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/12/20/in-memoriam-bruce-t-gora/ Fort Myers River District progress helps businesses breathe easier By SARA FITZPATRICK Associate Editor Accuse Don Paight of being an idealist, and he'll probably laugh in agreement. But for the executive director of the Fort Myers Redevelopment Agency, it's an asset, not a liability. “I'm the eternal optimist,” he said. “I've been at this for ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/youve-got-to-admit-downtowns-getting-better/ SW Fla on the verge of creating regional identity By ANNIE LINDSTROM Business Writer We’re not the Space Coast. We’re not the Research Coast. We’re not the Heartland Region or the Tampa Bay Partnership. Southwest Florida may be the only major region in the state without a readily recognizable identity. But that’s about to change ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/whats-in-a-name/ In tough economy, "gently loved" gains greater appeal By SARA FITZPATRICK Associate Editor Storefronts plastered with “out of business” signs compose an increasingly familiar ghost town landscape of Southwest Florida's retail districts.  Among the tumbleweeds, though, is an oasis. It's not a mirage; one retail sector really is booming: Consignment shops, secondhand stores and ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/secondhand-gets-the-upper-hand/ In print or online, we are the ‘business authority’ Specific words and phrases should come to mind when you think about Southwest Florida Business Today. Award-winning. Comprehensive. Timely. Local. Business news. SWFBT cut, carved and created its niche, market and image over the past year. “We’re all business” is our tagline – and we prove it. Every ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/from-the-publisher/ What we refuse to learn from bailouts, bankruptcies and buffoonery By VINCE CREW “There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity.” -- Gen. Douglas MacArthur America is the land of opportunity. The opportunity to succeed, be whatever you want to be – or not. In other words, failure is ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/beyond-the-bottom-line-8/   Florida Gulf Coast University contributed $389 million in expenditures to Southwest Florida’s economy last year, according to an analysis by Gary Jackson, director of the Regional Economic Research Institute in the Lutgert College of Business. The study determined that the overall economic impact in the five-county service area (Charlotte, Collier, Lee, ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/fgcu-adds-389-million-in-economic-impact/ STAFF REPORT Business ownership is not for the faint of heart. The Southwest Florida Blue Chip Community Business Award program exists to recognize that fact. Every year, sponsor Oswald Trippe and Company Inc. celebrates local unsung heroes – the entrepreneurs who persevered because their dreams were stronger than the adversity they ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/blue-chip-award-business-as-usual-is-often-not/ Strategies for beating office gossip  By Jessica Hehir In the face of a bleak economy, many employees may find themselves huddled in groups trying to anticipate their boss’s next move. The uncertainty over job security is leading more people to be prone to gossip. A new national survey suggests the consequences of the ... http://www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com/2008/11/21/loose-lips-sink-careers/