Small Business Saturday – Celebrating the backbone of our economy
The Great Recession – which officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009 – began with an 8 trillion dollar burst of the housing bubble and an unprecedented wealth lost to millions of Americans. The resulting loss of wealth led to sharp cutbacks in consumer spending, the loss of consumption combined with the financial market chaos by the housing industry, lead to a complete collapse of business investments which in return lead to dramatic job cuts in all sectors. Businesses of all sizes and industries suffered greatly from the great recession, but the biggest losers were the small businesses of the local communities.
By the summer of 2009, the economy stopped contracting and started what has to be the slowest recovery in modern American history, however, the businesses continued to suffer. The big box retailers survived the recession with minor setbacks due to their deep pockets and the cultural shift of spending in bad financial times. However small businesses took the biggest hit with over 200,000 storefronts going out of business.
The impact of the recession on small businesses became apparent, the backbone of the economy was bleeding badly. Initiatives led by the federal and state governments as well as major banks and venture capitalist became more vibrant in an effort to revive the small businesses of America. In 2009, with a push from American Express, Small Business Saturday was born. Similar to Black Friday but strictly for small businesses, Small Business Saturday follows Thanksgiving and kicks off the holiday shopping. Just one year after the launch of the program, local officials across the nations started to take notice and promote the movement. In 2011, with the backing of elite politicians including President Obama, the Senate voted to pass a resolution in support of Small Business Saturday. The day celebrates small businesses and their impact on the local communities, it also urges consumers to shop locally to empower these businesses. In 2016, small businesses reported 15.4 billion dollars in sales on Small Business Saturday. Small Business Day went from a cause to a day of celebrations. This year, 2017, Small Business Saturday will take place on the 25th of November.
The role small businesses play in the American economy is fundamental and undeniably important to the survival of our competitive markets. Small businesses are responsible for 64 percent of all new jobs generated since 1995 and have the ability to fast drive a recovery from any recession. Small Businesses revives competition, increases local hiring and embraces diversity and they must be celebrated and supported for doing so.
Sabre88 takes pride in the 843,989 small businesses in our home state of New Jersey and aspires to inspire entrepreneurs to elevate our state and nation. Sabre88 wishes all small businesses a busy Saturday and prosperous year.
Author: Faris Souman, Sabre88 LLC
Editor’s note:Â Original Sources
Based on data from the Office of Advocacy’s Small Business Profiles – https://www.sba.gov/advocacy/2017-small-business-profiles-states-and-territories
Small Business Saturday is on Nov 25. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/
Small Business Saturday | The U.S. Small Business Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-initiatives/small-business-saturday
Wireless Communications for Computer Motherboards
Every year, computer performance has increased exponentially due to a huge surge in new technological methods in order to enhance computers processing power. One of these methods consists of compacting transistors into a tighter space in Silicon microchips, which helps speed up communication across the motherboard. However, by compacting transistors into a smaller area has also resulted in “packing the wiring between the microprocessors tighter togetherâ€. This has caused a phenomenon is known as “signal leakage†to occur, which is causing some slowdown or ‘interconnect bottlenecking’ communication between the different parts of the computer chip. As technology continues to grow exponentially, transistors and wiring will continue to be compacted into an even smaller space; causing interconnect bottlenecking to be more of a predicament in the upcoming years of “high-speed computing systemsâ€.
Difficulties:
As of recent years, scientists have discovered that one of the easiest ways to transmit data is using light at different frequencies. This form of transmitting information can also be applied to silicon microchips, however, according to Pablo Jarillo-Herrero this is a very difficult task to accomplish due to the fact that Silicon does not emit light; in order to use this method scientists must use materials which are able to emit light.
In addition to Silicon’s poor light-emitting properties, it also one of the most selective semiconductors there is since not many semiconductors are compatible with Silicon. While many materials such as Gallium can enhance optoelectronics and optical communications on computer chips; they, however, “cannot be grown on Silicon very easily because they are incompatibleâ€.
Another difficulty that is presenting itself is that the majority of the materials that emit light, emit it in the visible spectrum. As previously stated Silicon does not emit light very well, the reason for this is because Silicon absorbs light in the visible spectrum. Therefore, placing a material which emits light on a Silicon microchip would result in no light to emit.
Solution/Benefits:
In a recent paper written by Ya-Qing Bie, who has joined up Jarillo-Herrero states that they have been able to create a device which both emits and detects light that “can be integrated into Silicon CMOS chipsâ€. This device was created from a new semi-conductor called Molybdenum, is an “ultrathin†almost 2-D material which unlike other semiconductors this material is compatible with silicon, and “it can be stacked on top of silicon wafers†according to Jarillo-Herrero.
In addition to the compatibility, this material emits light, but unlike other semiconductors this material emits light in the infrared spectrum, which can’t be absorbed by Silicon. This will then result in higher communication speed, and reduce slowdown since all information is being transmitted using different light frequencies.
Author: Angel Veloz, Sabre88 LLC
Editor’s note:Â Original Sources
http://news.mit.edu/2017/ultrathin-films-semiconductor-optical-communication-silicon-chips-1023
A day for the heroes
Years ago today our enemies laid down their arms in accordance with an armistice which renders them impotent to renew hostilities, and gave to the world an assured opportunity to reconstruct its shattered order, the victory of arms foretells the enduring conquests which can be made in peace when nations act justly and in furtherance of the common interests of men. To us in America the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service, and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations. A message from President Woodrow Wilson in which he expressed the willpower of a nation on the first anniversary of the peace signing and the surrender of the Central Powers of Europe that ended World War I.
The speech of president Wilson marked the first organized form of celebrating the nation’s war heroes in modern times. A tradition that grew deeper and larger with every passing year and every recorded victory by our armed forces. On the 13th of May, 1938, the Congress passed the (52 Stat. 351; 5U.S. Code, 87a) Act that dedicated the 11th of every November as a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as the Armistice Day. In 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. Great Britain, France, Australia and Canada also commemorate the veterans of World War I and World War II on or near November 11th, it is also common to notice two minutes of silence in Great Britain and the Commonwealth nations at 11 am.
The military men and women who serve and protect the U.S. come from every walk of life; they are parents, children, grandparents, friends, neighbors, and Sabre88 employees. At sabre88 we hold the values of freedom and service dearest to our hearts and embed patriotic pride throughout our corporate structure. We not only strive to provide our government agencies and armed forces with state of the art services, we also take pride in doing so. Determined to serve the common purpose of this nation and committed to value those who embody the spirit of service and sacrifice, Sabre88 is proud to be led by veterans at the highest levels of our corporate ladder. In the spotlight of this year’s Sabre88 Veterans Day celebrations, would like to honor a person who is our very own Business Development Manager,James Hansel. A veteran of the Navy who embodies the most American of ideas liberty, freedom and unity. We take pride in veterans like Ron Oliver, Brian Schweikert, Sherrod Curry,Robert Lightfoot and Bruce Conte who risked their lives to protect our ideals and spent their youth anchoring our enemies and now elevating our company’s performance every day. We thank our Sabre88 veterans and all the men and women that served in our armed forces. America is better off because of your service.
Author: Faris Souman, Sabre88 LLC
Editor’s note:Original Sources
Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. (2007, January 26). Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. Retrieved November 01, 2017, from https://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/
History.com Staff. Veterans Day Facts.History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/holidays/veterans-day-facts.
Infinite Storage Using Magnetic Particles
The computer age marked one of the most important technological revolutions that the world has ever seen. Starting in the late 40’s when the first computer was invented, the computer industry has had a massive surge in demand for new hardware and software were created to make computers more and more accessible to everyday people. As of 2017, computers have become the norm in everyone’s day to day life; compared to back when they were first created where computers took up literarily walls of space to have a couple bytes of storage to now holding millions of bytes in something that is smaller than a fingernail.
This rapid advancement can be attributed to, not only new ways that materials such as silicon can be created but also the concept of Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law in layman’s terms states that roughly every year the processing power/storage of computers doubles. This, however, may soon come to an end due to a possible new discovery that may enhance computer storage far beyond the current known process. This discovery instead of reading data a bit at a time as the current system does will take advantage of the orientation of magnetized particles in order to store data.
As of 2016, an MIT research team under the direction of associate professor Geoffrey Beach, have found the existence of these particles called Skyrmions. When they were first discovered, the team found that the location of the particles was completely random. However, as of recently Beach and his team have found a way to create Skyrmions, place them in any location, and control their orientation using an electric field.
Advantages:
Due to the fact that Skyrmions are particles, their size will only range from just a couple of atoms in length. This provides the advantage of having several thousand or eventually perhaps even millions of Skyrmions on a metallic sheet, each one being able to store massive amounts of data. Compared to the conventional magnetic storage that currently exists where data is stored in individual magnetic poles, using the new system the same amount of data could be stored in a very small area. This will make it much more efficient, than the conventional hard drive, or even the use of Random Access Memory.
Disadvantages:
While this system has recently overcome the huge hurdle of being able to create Skyrmions, placing them in the desired location, and controlling their orientation by using an electric field; there are still some problems which have slowed down the commercialization of this technology.
While the system has been tested and can store data very effectively, it still has problems with reading out the data once it’s already stored. While not impossible, the current method the team is using is not commercial friendly and too expensive. The team currently is using X-Ray Spectroscopy to read the data once it is stored, however, this is very expensive costing $40 thousand to $50 thousand.
Further Research
Even these limitations are prominent the team is currently finding new more efficient methods of extracting data without using X-Ray spectroscopy. The team theorizes that by adding an additional layer to the other metallic layers and making specific textures on this added layer they might be able to detect the presence of a Skyrmion if it’s present or not.
Source: http://news.mit.edu/2017/fast-moving-magnetic-particles-new-form-data-storage-1002
The Shifting World of Marketing
Marketing, the art of promoting and the science of outselling your competition. The term “marketing†was born at the University of Pennsylvania when they offered the first course in the matter, “The marketing of Products†back in 1904. Although there was no term assigned to the act, marketing existed ever since people had things to sell. Even the successful gladiators in ancient Rome were getting paid to wear and advertise products.
Throughout the years and as the products changed and competition grew in virtually all industries, marketing became a critical part of any business and the backbone of every success story. Marketing has gone an evolution so great and rapid that only a few sectors of the industry went through. In the turn of the 20th century, the early days of the automobile industry, marketing efforts focused mainly on delivering the cars to everyone since products sold themselves at that stage. Henry Ford’s quote “They can have any color they want… as long as it’s black†simply sums up the spirit of marketing at that time. As the years progressed and the global markets became more and more interlocking, the competition between businesses grew dramatically, it was a survival game and those with the best marketing makes it out alive. Starting in the 30s with radios, then the 50s with tv, to the 70s when the first form of synergy marketing took shape through McDonald’s happy meal toys and Disney parks characters attractions.
However, the first major revolution in the marketing industry happened in the early 80s, when the experts of the field agreed that marketing should be about building a personal relationship with the customer instead of the traditional one-time interaction. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) became a powerful tool for businesses and suddenly companies were forced to develop and nurture a relationship with all their customers and even the cold leads. In the 90s, with the introduction of the internet, marketing took a turn for the best[1]. Marketing became accessible to everyone, new websites delivered special traffic to businesses. The specialized search engines filtered the ads to only the people who will be interested in such products.
Today, as social media takes over our lives, and the internet became more personalize-able than ever before marketing is so much more specialized and targets only the potential customers. Social media allows users to personalize their internet footprints which in return allows businesses to target specific people that show interest in their product or service[2]. Inbound marketing of today is more powerful than ever and businesses are in a rat race to be in the lead on the next big thing.
[1] Jeaney Yip, Susan Ainsworth, “Whatever Worksâ€, Journal of Macromarketing, 2016, 36, 4, 443
[2] Castronovo, Cristina; Huang, Lei. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness; West Palm Beach Vol.        6, Iss. 1, (Feb 2012): 117-134.
The Festival of Illumination
Oct 18, 2017
The date of the festival is calculated according to the position of the moon and the Hindu Lunar calendar and is usually in October or November. This year the main date will be held on Thursday, October 19th. Deepawali or Diwali is the largest, and the brightest of all Hindu festivals officially celebrated in India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The festival is marked for five days of celebration, whereas each day is distinguished by a different tradition.
Why is Diwali celebrated?
This five-day festival, which coincides with the Hindu New Year, is seen to be one of the most significant in the Indian culture. Many people celebrate the legend of Hindu God Rama and his wife Sita’s return to their kingdom in northern India after being exiled following the defeat of demon king Ravanna.
The word ‘Diwali’ itself means “series of lights†and during the festival houses and shops are decorated with lights or lanterns. This is meant to signify light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, hope over despair, and the Hindu belief that good will always triumph over evil. For many Indians, Diwali honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.
What is the festival of light all about?
Diwali is marked by grand firework displays, which are supposed to reflect the celebrations of Lord Rama’s return. Traditional earthen Diyas or candles are lit, and houses are decorated with colorful Rangoli artworks – patterns created on the floor using colored rice or powder. During the festival, families and friends share sweets and gifts and there is also a strong belief in giving to those in need. It is also a traditional for one’s house to be cleaned or renovated and new clothes to be worn. Indian sweets, snacks and dry-fruits which come in a range of colors and flavors are also relished during these celebrations.
Author: Mitali Kulkarni, Sabre88 LLC
Editor’s note: Original Sources
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4221379/diwali-2017-date-hindu-festival-when-how/
American Manufacturing: Past and Future
New proposals to revive the American manufacturing seems to appear every day from politicians, industry leaders, and engineers. Many of these ideas and suggestions have merit, however, they fail to recognize that manufacturing has been declining for long decades and cannot be simply resolved by tax cuts or trade policy. The United States was primarily an agricultural economy through the 19th century. The industrial revolution then, late 19th century, swept the landscape and transformed America once and forever. America than standing as the industrial powerhouse of the world by the 1950s produced more goods than any other nation in the world. Manufacturing stayed strong until the late-1970s and 1980s, when the US first lost its edge to the Japanese, then to the Chinese, and have now become a service economy that doesn’t produce stuff.
Although America has always been a service-based economy, where the number of employed Americans has been greater in the service sector than in manufacturing since the turn of the 20th century. It is noteworthy that the manufacturing efforts in the US have declined dramatically in the past few decades. Industrial powerhouse cities like Detroit and Tennessee fell victims to the migration of American manufacturing. The loss of manufacturing in America manifested itself most Cleary in job losses, according to the Economist, for the first time since the Industrial Revelation fewer than 10 percent of American workers are employed in manufacturing.
However, in the most recent years, we’ve seen a comeback from some American manufacturers, even Japanese. The proposed 1.6 billion dollars manufacturing planet from Toyota and Mazda has left the states in a bidding war. The planet that is still in the solicitation processes of finding a home state is estimated to employ 4 thousand employers and tag along with a few thousand indirect jobs. This planet will be a major boost for the American economy and its manufacturing sector.
Author: Faris Souman, Sabre88 LLC
Editor’s note:Â Original Sources
http://www.fidelitymfg.com/about-us/#mission
http://www.fidelitymfg.com/about-us/#mission
http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/04/news/economy/mazda-toyota-jobs-factory-trump/index.html
Newark’s Sabre88 wins ICIC and Fortune’s Inner City 100 award for four consecutive years
October 4, 2017
Newark’s Sabre88 Among the Fastest Growing Businesses In America
Boston, MA – The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Fortune announced yesterday that Sabre88 has made the 2017 Inner City 100 list. The list, which was revealed at the 19th Annual Awards and Conference in Boston on October 3rd, ranks the fastest-growing inner city businesses in America by revenue growth. Sabre88 ranked 24th on the list of 100 this year as the only New Jersey-based company and reported 2016 revenues of $3.35 Million and a five-year growth rate of 312% from 2012-2016. Sabre88’s feature and the full list is available on Fortune’s website.
ICIC’s Inner City 100 list seeks to celebrate and enable urban entrepreneurship. Over the course of nearly 20 years, ICIC has awarded 928 companies whose success illuminates the innovation and business growth happening in our inner cities. Inner City 100 companies are forces of economic opportunity, optimism, and transformation in their communities. Providing a platform for recognition, networking, and learning, the Inner City 100 program continues to open doors for other budding urban entrepreneurs and stimulate inner-city business development and job creation.
“We are extraordinarily proud of these pioneering entrepreneurs who lead the way in innovation, job creation and the economic revitalization of America’s inner cities,†said Steve Grossman, CEO of ICIC. “In addition to excellence in business, they have also demonstrated a deep commitment to and passion for their communities, which plays a huge role in the wellbeing of their local economies,†he said.
In addition to being published in Fortune, CEOs from the winning companies were invited to the Inner City 100 Conference and Awards, a full-day event featuring robust networking opportunities and educational sessions led by executives and academics from top-tier universities, including Harvard Business School and New York University. Past winners have reported connecting with multi-million dollar investors as a result of appearing on the Inner City 100 list and attending the Conference.
Keynote speakers at this year’s event included former CEO of Constant Contact, Gail Goodman; award winner and CEO of the Menkiti Group, Bo Menkiti; and Harvard Business School Professor and ICIC Founder and Chairman Michael E. Porter. Other speakers included Tom Lewand, CEO of Shinola, David Segura, CEO of VisionIT, Lynda Applegate of Harvard Business School, and David Whitford, Editor-at-Large at Inc. Magazine. ICIC also celebrated 17 businesses as members of the Inner City 100 “Hall of Fame,†which recognizes companies that have achieved making the list at least five times.
Boasting an average five-year growth rate of 320% between 2012 and 2016, the 2017 Inner City 100 companies represent a wide range of geography, hailing from 27 states. Collectively, the winners employed 9,402 people in 2016, and on average 42% of their employees live in the same neighborhood as the company.
Highlights of the 2017 Inner City 100 include:
- Employed 9,402 individuals in 2016.
- Created 5,724 new jobs in the last five years.
- On average, 42% of employees live in the same neighborhood as the company.
- Average company age is 16 years.
- Average 2016 revenue is $13.1 million.
- 32% are women-owned.
- 45% are minority-led.
- 29 industries represented in the top 100.
# # #
Inner City 100 Methodology: The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) defines inner cities as core urban areas with higher unemployment and poverty rates and lower median incomes than their surrounding metropolitan statistical areas. Every year, ICIC identifies, ranks, and awards the 100 fastest-growing businesses located in America’s inner cities. In 2017, companies were ranked by revenue growth over the five-year period between 2012 and 2016. This list was audited by the independent accounting firm Rucci, Bardaro, and Falzone, PC.
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)
ICIC is a national nonprofit founded by Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter. ICIC’s mission is to promote economic prosperity in America’s inner cities through private sector investment that leads to jobs, income and wealth creation for local residents. Through its research on inner city economies, ICIC provides businesses, governments, and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities. The organization supports urban businesses through the Inner City 100, Inner City Capital Connections and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programs. Learn more at www.icic.org or @icicorg.
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Media contacts:
Sabre88, LLC
973-321-4886
info@sabre88.com
Hannah Roccki, Senior Communications Associate, ICIC
(617) 238-3010
Nanomaterials: The Future for Computing Hardware
As of the turn of the century, the demand for new innovative forms of technology has skyrocketed, giving everyone the desire to want the next generation of several products. This, however, comes at a price since more, and more devices have to be made more precious metals are slowly becoming very scarce, and difficult to find.
Due to this scarcity of precious metals such as tin, silver, and gold researchers have been trying to find other/cheaper alternatives as a substitute for these precious metals to be used in electronics. A new finding by Rickard Arvidsson and Björn Sandén at the Chalmers University of Technology shows the application of using carbon nanomaterials- mainly graphene- as the best substitute for the future of internal electronic hardware.
The research shows, that these Graphene nanomaterials have similar properties such as “conductivity and strengthâ€, and will be able to “replace up to fourteen different metals†found in electronics. Such metals that are being looked at to be replaced are:
- Indium
- Gallium
- Beryllium
- Silver
Which are widely used in “capacitors, cables, thin-screens, etc.â€
Impact on the environment:
By replacing rare earth metals with nanomaterials, the impact on the environment will also be greatly reduced. Even though nanomaterials are very new, and there is little research done on their effects on the environment; the use nanomaterials look to have less of an impact on the environment, since the method of extracting rare earth metals would be eliminated to a certain degree.
Impact on the Market:
Carbon is one of the most commonly available materials to find on earth. By replacing metals such as gold and silver to carbon the price of creating devices such as capacitors, and cables would begin to decline. As demand for these types of hardware continues to increase because the materials are more readily available the cost will begin drop at an incredible pace. This will result in future technologies to cost a fraction of what they currently cost.
The more nanomaterials are researched, the more possibility of them replacing every aspect of technology that we currently have becomes reality. This new frontier, regarding the substitute of precious metals, will undoubtedly become a boon to the future of every society on earth by satisfying both the market and environment.
Author: Angel Veloz, Sabre88 LLC
Editor’s note:Â Original Sources
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170919091029.htm