New York

"Applications are what will help tailor the tablet to your use and make it relevant," said David Krajicek, managing director of market research firm GfK Technology. "If we're going to have tablet mania, Apple can use Safari and Google will try to convince everyone else to use Chrome."

Ron Wince is also not reacting the way the White House likely hoped. Wince is the president and CEO of Guidon Performance Solutions, a management consulting firm that works with banks to improve operational efficiency.

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The State of Health Reform
1/27/2010

Client: Guidon

Hospital consultant Ron Wince, of Guidon Performance Solutions in Phoenix, says President Obama should rally around the least controversial, core parts of the bill and force a vote...

We'll see what comes out of the State of the Union but hopefully health reform is not dead. It's just altered.

David Krajicek of GfK Custom Research North America observes tech trends for the year coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, and the Times reporter Jenna Wortham discusses apps for simple cellphones.

Ralph Braun, chief executive of Braun Corp. in Winamac, Ind., said a tax credit is meaningless for a producer like him. "If you're just going out to hire someone just for a tax credit, what kind of job will you put them in that has any longevity to it?" said Mr. Braun, whose 730-employee company produces wheelchair lifts and other equipment.

Consumers, says Lew Paine of GFK Group, a market-research firm, may have trolled the Black Friday bargains, but are waiting to make a purchase.

Ralph Braun, founder of BraunAbility, has spent his life thumbing his nose at spinal muscular atrophy, the disease that put him in a wheelchair. A born gearhead, Braun got moving again by building a battery-powered scooter and, later, a wheelchair lift for his van. Slowly, he turned these innovations into a business with $200 million in annual sales.

The global survey, conducted by GFK Roper Public Affairs & Media, involved 20,000 people in 20 rich and developing countries around the globe. They were asked to rate 50 nations in categories such as culture, governance, people, exports, tourism, landscape and education.

by: Ralph Braun is CEO of BraunAbility in Winamac, Ind.

As a business owner and employer who uses a wheelchair, I know firsthand that having a physical disability shouldn't exclude someone from becoming a fully productive member of the U.S. workforce. But it's alarming to learn of how many employers do not share this attitude. The Labor Dept.'s 2008 Survey of Employer Perspectives on the Employment of People with Disabilities found that companies fear that hiring people with disabilities will lead to higher employment costs and lower profit margins. In the same survey, company executives also expressed concern that workers with disabilities lack the job skills and experience necessary to perform as well as their non-disabled counterparts.

Investing in Ireland
09/03/09

Client: IDA Ireland

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When Gen X Runs the Show
05/25/09

Client: Global Lead LLC

By 2019, Generation X — that relatively small cohort born from 1965 to 1978 — will have spent nearly two decades bumping up against a gray ceiling of boomers in senior decision-making jobs. But that will end. Janet Reid, managing partner at Global Lead LLC, a consulting firm that advises companies like PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble, says, "In 2019, Gen X will finally be in charge. And they will make some big changes."

Mentoring profiles: How having an advisor changed the course of three careers
04/13/09

Client: Global Lead LLC

"Look for somebody that you can connect with," and who you can help too, said Kim Post, vice president at management consulting firm Global Lead LLC, who has been helping companies develop and retain employees for 20 years. "You can't expect a mentor to own your life or career....Their job can be to advise you, advocate for you, help you meet the right people."