Free Tool From Systemation Helps Organizations Determine Performance Improvement Opportunities

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

How much money could be freed up if you made even small improvements in your project processes? You can now answer this question in five minutes with a free new online tool called the Project Performance ROI Calculator.

Systemation, one of the nation’s oldest performance improvement firms, created this tool as a community service, and it’s available to all businesses and project management professionals at no charge. You can access the calculator by visiting http://www.systemation.com/roi-calculator.

Many enterprises suffer from less-than-perfect project results. “Though slipped deadlines, blown budgets and feature creep damage the bottom line, organizations often are reluctant to mess with their project processes,” says Ben Snyder, Systemation’s CEO. Their rationale? “We are too busy getting work out the door to spend time on this” and “due to tight budgets, we need to live with what we’ve got.”

Companies keep re-using project methods that aren’t working well and repeatedly end up with stressful results.

The Systemation calculator will help you determine whether there’s a business case for change. You simply enter some rough information on:

The estimated number of projects your company completes in a year. The general complexity of those projects. The average percentage of deadline slip you experience. The amount of extra resources (overtime, etc.) you have to pour in to get your project results. The completeness of the work you deliver.

It then asks you to pick an increment of improvement. What if you improved your project processes by a meager five percent? (Your inner skeptic may be asking, “How in the world would I be able to measure that?” For the purpose of this tool, assume you can and just pick a number. Even a tiny number.)

Once you submit your information, you receive an immediate report—both on screen and via email—with an “Improvement Value.” This is the amount of money you would free up for other business activities. You could invest this money in new projects you’ve been postponing or purchase long-needed equipment.

You might even decide to spend a little on project management, business analysis, and agile development training as a way to unlock even more money for building your enterprise.

View the original article here

Turner Ranked Among America’s Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - Newswiretoday.com

This article was published free of charge. Only PREMIUM Articles are (Google AdSense?) 3rd party Ads-Free! Turner Ranked Among America?s Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities
NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Detroit, MI, United States, 02/29/2012 - Turner is honored to be named one of diversitybusiness.com?s Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - TurnerConstruction.com.

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This is Turner?s third year on the Div50; the list of American organizations that provide the most, and best, business opportunities for companies owned by women and minorities.

Hilton Smith, Senior Vice President, says,?I would like to offer my thanks to the more than one million diversity business owners who participated in the survey. Turner (turnerconstruction.com) is proud to be recognized for providing business and educational opportunities for diverse businesses. Providing opportunities for minority and woman-owned businesses enterprises is one of the cornerstones of our corporate culture at Turner. In fact, for each year of the past six years, we have awarded more than $1 billion dollars in contracts to minority and woman-owned subcontractors, many of whom have graduated from our Turner School of Construction Management program.?

The organizations that appear on the Div50 are selected through an online survey of more than 1,250, 000 woman and minority-owned businesses across many market sectors. The chosen companies and organizations distinguish themselves by establishing and maintaining the most mutually beneficial relationships with diversity suppliers and subcontractors.

Turner Construction Company (turnerconstruction.com) has been building innovative healthcare, higher education & commercial facilities in Michigan since 1913. Turner?s $4 Billion of completed projects in Michigan to date has created thousands of jobs for local residents

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B2B Social Media Webinar Helps Organizations More Effectively Capture Online Business Opportunities - msnbc.com

TORONTO — Social media participation is a given for most businesses today, but generating revenue and ROI continues to be a challenge -- particularly for large B2B organizations with multiple business units. On Wednesday, February 29 and Thursday, March 1 Jonathan Astor, social business lead for international digital agency Valtech, and Sheldon Levine, Sysomos community manager, present "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Value." In this complimentary, one-hour webinar attendees learn how to make the transformation to a social organization that captures and leverages untapped opportunities across the business spectrum.

What:
Free Webinar -- "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Wins"
Join us for this complimentary one-hour webinar and learn about a tactile, tangible approach that can transform social business in your organization:

Open your company's eyes to low-hanging fruit that social media offers in the B2B world Discover B2B opportunities across the sales funnel Develop a sustainable workflow so valuable conversations find the right internal skill sets Find opportunities for customer service, R&D and unmet market needs Drive positive word-of-mouth among influential B2B buyers

Who:

Jonathan Astor, Social Business Lead, Valtech
Jonathan Astor consults with leading B2B and B2C organizations to anchor social media across regional and global business units, building the business case for social media investment through organizational insight, strategy, implementation and analytics. His expertise includes business intelligence ("listening"); content strategy, planning and measurement, including KPI setting; social media engagement and outreach; channel strategy; web integration and traffic generation; social commerce; and center of excellence-creation training. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @ambientallstar
Sheldon Levine, Community Manager, Marketwire + Sysomos
Having emerged as a thought leader in the digital world, Sheldon Levine's engaging communication style helps organizations leverage social media to boost their business success. Through community outreach, new media marketing and public relations, Sheldon illustrates how social media monitoring and analytics lead to improved customer relationships and measurable ROI. With a Masters in Professional Communication, Sheldon has taken his traditional PR training to a new level by waking people up to all that social media can be. Follow Sheldon on Twitter @40deuce

When:

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 10 a.m. PST / 1 p.m. EST
OR Thursday, March 1, 2012, 10 a.m. EST / 3 p.m. GMT
Each session is one hour in length and will be archived for later viewing. All registrants receive access to the archived webinar.

To register, please click on one of the following links:

Hashtag for this webinar: #B2BSM

About Marketwire
Marketwire advances the way the world communicates by electronically delivering news and information to traditional, new and social media audiences, including newspapers, magazines, databases, analyst terminals, online portals, blogs, and more. Marketwire maximizes the power of its clients' communications by leveraging the latest in search engine optimization, multimedia, social media, monitoring and new technologies. Sysomos, a Marketwire company, provides unparalleled business intelligence for social media through advanced monitoring and analytics. Serving more than 14,000 clients worldwide through 20 offices on four continents, Marketwire is a dominant distributor of company news releases and other communications. Marketwire is majority-owned by OMERS Private Equity, which manages the private equity activities of OMERS Administration Corporation and today has $5.5 billion of investments under management. The group's investment strategy includes the active ownership of businesses in North America and Europe. OMERS Private Equity is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices in New York and London. For further information visit: www.omerspe.com.

For more information, visit us online at www.marketwire.com and http://blog.marketwire.com, or on Twitter @marketwire.

Add to DiggBookmark with del.icio.usAdd to Newsvine

© Marketwire 2012

View the original article here

B2B Social Media Webinar Helps Organizations More Effectively Capture Online Business Opportunities - msnbc.com

TORONTO — Social media participation is a given for most businesses today, but generating revenue and ROI continues to be a challenge -- particularly for large B2B organizations with multiple business units. On Wednesday, February 29 and Thursday, March 1 Jonathan Astor, social business lead for international digital agency Valtech, and Sheldon Levine, Sysomos community manager, present "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Value." In this complimentary, one-hour webinar attendees learn how to make the transformation to a social organization that captures and leverages untapped opportunities across the business spectrum.

What:
Free Webinar -- "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Wins"
Join us for this complimentary one-hour webinar and learn about a tactile, tangible approach that can transform social business in your organization:

Open your company's eyes to low-hanging fruit that social media offers in the B2B world Discover B2B opportunities across the sales funnel Develop a sustainable workflow so valuable conversations find the right internal skill sets Find opportunities for customer service, R&D and unmet market needs Drive positive word-of-mouth among influential B2B buyers

Who:

Jonathan Astor, Social Business Lead, Valtech
Jonathan Astor consults with leading B2B and B2C organizations to anchor social media across regional and global business units, building the business case for social media investment through organizational insight, strategy, implementation and analytics. His expertise includes business intelligence ("listening"); content strategy, planning and measurement, including KPI setting; social media engagement and outreach; channel strategy; web integration and traffic generation; social commerce; and center of excellence-creation training. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @ambientallstar
Sheldon Levine, Community Manager, Marketwire + Sysomos
Having emerged as a thought leader in the digital world, Sheldon Levine's engaging communication style helps organizations leverage social media to boost their business success. Through community outreach, new media marketing and public relations, Sheldon illustrates how social media monitoring and analytics lead to improved customer relationships and measurable ROI. With a Masters in Professional Communication, Sheldon has taken his traditional PR training to a new level by waking people up to all that social media can be. Follow Sheldon on Twitter @40deuce

When:

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 10 a.m. PST / 1 p.m. EST
OR Thursday, March 1, 2012, 10 a.m. EST / 3 p.m. GMT
Each session is one hour in length and will be archived for later viewing. All registrants receive access to the archived webinar.

To register, please click on one of the following links:

Hashtag for this webinar: #B2BSM

About Marketwire
Marketwire advances the way the world communicates by electronically delivering news and information to traditional, new and social media audiences, including newspapers, magazines, databases, analyst terminals, online portals, blogs, and more. Marketwire maximizes the power of its clients' communications by leveraging the latest in search engine optimization, multimedia, social media, monitoring and new technologies. Sysomos, a Marketwire company, provides unparalleled business intelligence for social media through advanced monitoring and analytics. Serving more than 14,000 clients worldwide through 20 offices on four continents, Marketwire is a dominant distributor of company news releases and other communications. Marketwire is majority-owned by OMERS Private Equity, which manages the private equity activities of OMERS Administration Corporation and today has $5.5 billion of investments under management. The group's investment strategy includes the active ownership of businesses in North America and Europe. OMERS Private Equity is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices in New York and London. For further information visit: www.omerspe.com.

For more information, visit us online at www.marketwire.com and http://blog.marketwire.com, or on Twitter @marketwire.

Add to DiggBookmark with del.icio.usAdd to Newsvine

© Marketwire 2012

View the original article here

B2B Social Media Webinar Helps Organizations More Effectively Capture Online Business Opportunities

TORONTO--(Marketwire -02/27/12)- Social media participation is a given for most businesses today, but generating revenue and ROI continues to be a challenge -- particularly for large B2B organizations with multiple business units. On Wednesday, February 29 and Thursday, March 1 Jonathan Astor, social business lead for international digital agency Valtech, and Sheldon Levine, Sysomos community manager, present "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Value." In this complimentary, one-hour webinar attendees learn how to make the transformation to a social organization that captures and leverages untapped opportunities across the business spectrum.

What:
Free Webinar -- "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Wins"
Join us for this complimentary one-hour webinar and learn about a tactile, tangible approach that can transform social business in your organization:

Open your company's eyes to low-hanging fruit that social media offers in the B2B world Discover B2B opportunities across the sales funnel Develop a sustainable workflow so valuable conversations find the right internal skill sets Find opportunities for customer service, R&D and unmet market needs Drive positive word-of-mouth among influential B2B buyers

Who:

Jonathan Astor, Social Business Lead, Valtech
Jonathan Astor consults with leading B2B and B2C organizations to anchor social media across regional and global business units, building the business case for social media investment through organizational insight, strategy, implementation and analytics. His expertise includes business intelligence ("listening"); content strategy, planning and measurement, including KPI setting; social media engagement and outreach; channel strategy; web integration and traffic generation; social commerce; and center of excellence-creation training. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @ambientallstar
Sheldon Levine, Community Manager, Marketwire + Sysomos
Having emerged as a thought leader in the digital world, Sheldon Levine's engaging communication style helps organizations leverage social media to boost their business success. Through community outreach, new media marketing and public relations, Sheldon illustrates how social media monitoring and analytics lead to improved customer relationships and measurable ROI. With a Masters in Professional Communication, Sheldon has taken his traditional PR training to a new level by waking people up to all that social media can be. Follow Sheldon on Twitter @40deuce

When:

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 10 a.m. PST / 1 p.m. EST
OR Thursday, March 1, 2012, 10 a.m. EST / 3 p.m. GMT
Each session is one hour in length and will be archived for later viewing. All registrants receive access to the archived webinar.

To register, please click on one of the following links:

Hashtag for this webinar: #B2BSM

About Marketwire
Marketwire advances the way the world communicates by electronically delivering news and information to traditional, new and social media audiences, including newspapers, magazines, databases, analyst terminals, online portals, blogs, and more. Marketwire maximizes the power of its clients' communications by leveraging the latest in search engine optimization, multimedia, social media, monitoring and new technologies. Sysomos, a Marketwire company, provides unparalleled business intelligence for social media through advanced monitoring and analytics. Serving more than 14,000 clients worldwide through 20 offices on four continents, Marketwire is a dominant distributor of company news releases and other communications. Marketwire is majority-owned by OMERS Private Equity, which manages the private equity activities of OMERS Administration Corporation and today has $5.5 billion of investments under management. The group's investment strategy includes the active ownership of businesses in North America and Europe. OMERS Private Equity is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices in New York and London. For further information visit: www.omerspe.com.

For more information, visit us online at www.marketwire.com and http://blog.marketwire.com, or on Twitter @marketwire.

View the original article here

B2B Social Media Webinar Helps Organizations More Effectively Capture Online Business Opportunities - Market Wire

SOURCE: Marketwire + Sysomos

February 29 and March 1: Presenters Jonathan Astor and Sheldon Levine Show Attendees How to Identify Untapped Social Media Leads and Turn Them Into Concrete Business Value

TORONTO--(Marketwire - Feb 27, 2012) - Social media participation is a given for most businesses today, but generating revenue and ROI continues to be a challenge -- particularly for large B2B organizations with multiple business units. On Wednesday, February 29 and Thursday, March 1 Jonathan Astor, social business lead for international digital agency Valtech, and Sheldon Levine, Sysomos community manager, present "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Value." In this complimentary, one-hour webinar attendees learn how to make the transformation to a social organization that captures and leverages untapped opportunities across the business spectrum.

What:
Free Webinar -- "B2B Social Media: Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Wins"
Join us for this complimentary one-hour webinar and learn about a tactile, tangible approach that can transform social business in your organization:

Open your company's eyes to low-hanging fruit that social media offers in the B2B world Discover B2B opportunities across the sales funnel Develop a sustainable workflow so valuable conversations find the right internal skill sets Find opportunities for customer service, R&D and unmet market needs Drive positive word-of-mouth among influential B2B buyers

Who:

Jonathan Astor, Social Business Lead, Valtech
Jonathan Astor consults with leading B2B and B2C organizations to anchor social media across regional and global business units, building the business case for social media investment through organizational insight, strategy, implementation and analytics. His expertise includes business intelligence ("listening"); content strategy, planning and measurement, including KPI setting; social media engagement and outreach; channel strategy; web integration and traffic generation; social commerce; and center of excellence-creation training. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @ambientallstar
Sheldon Levine, Community Manager, Marketwire + Sysomos
Having emerged as a thought leader in the digital world, Sheldon Levine's engaging communication style helps organizations leverage social media to boost their business success. Through community outreach, new media marketing and public relations, Sheldon illustrates how social media monitoring and analytics lead to improved customer relationships and measurable ROI. With a Masters in Professional Communication, Sheldon has taken his traditional PR training to a new level by waking people up to all that social media can be. Follow Sheldon on Twitter @40deuce

When:

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 10 a.m. PST / 1 p.m. EST
OR Thursday, March 1, 2012, 10 a.m. EST / 3 p.m. GMT
Each session is one hour in length and will be archived for later viewing. All registrants receive access to the archived webinar.

To register, please click on one of the following links:

Hashtag for this webinar: #B2BSM

About Marketwire
Marketwire advances the way the world communicates by electronically delivering news and information to traditional, new and social media audiences, including newspapers, magazines, databases, analyst terminals, online portals, blogs, and more. Marketwire maximizes the power of its clients' communications by leveraging the latest in search engine optimization, multimedia, social media, monitoring and new technologies. Sysomos, a Marketwire company, provides unparalleled business intelligence for social media through advanced monitoring and analytics. Serving more than 14,000 clients worldwide through 20 offices on four continents, Marketwire is a dominant distributor of company news releases and other communications. Marketwire is majority-owned by OMERS Private Equity, which manages the private equity activities of OMERS Administration Corporation and today has $5.5 billion of investments under management. The group's investment strategy includes the active ownership of businesses in North America and Europe. OMERS Private Equity is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices in New York and London. For further information visit: www.omerspe.com.

For more information, visit us online at www.marketwire.com and http://blog.marketwire.com, or on Twitter @marketwire.

View the original article here

Office Depot Named One of the Top Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - Calgary Herald

Office Depot (NYSE:ODP), celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, today announced that it has been recognized by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural business-to-business website, as one of the “Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities” for the 12th year in a row. Office Depot was ranked 4th on the list, a move up of two spots from last year.

The annual list, dubbed the Div50, recognizes companies for the volume, consistency, and quality of business opportunities granted to women and minority-owned companies. The Div50 has become a highly-valued metric of corporate excellence in the diversity space.

“We are proud to be named one of the top organizations for multicultural business opportunities for the 12th consecutive year,” said Steve Calkins, Senior Vice President of Office Depot’s Business Solutions Division. “Office Depot is committed to supplier diversity, and our ranking on the BusinessDiversity.com Div50 list further shows our dedication to supporting women and minority-owned businesses.”

Office Depot's comprehensive Supply Chain Diversity program gives Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) ample opportunities to grow and prosper. The Company actively seeks out promising HUBs that are certified minority-, women-, disabled-, and veteran-owned to ensure equal opportunity in the supplier selection process. Office Depot also produces an annual HUB catalog that features an assortment of more than 1,600 items from select HUB suppliers.

In addition, the Company has affiliations with national organizations such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the Small Business Administration (SBA), and other organizations that share Office Depot’s goal of making a positive impact on economic development through supplier diversity.

For more information on Office Depot’s diversity initiatives, please visit www.officedepot.com/diversity.

About DiversityBusiness.com

Launched in 1999, DiversityBusiness, with over 250,000 members, is the largest organization of diversity owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, and colleges and universities. DiversityBusiness provides research and data collection services for diversity including the "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities", "Top 500 Diversity Owned Companies in America", and others. Its research has been recognized and published by Forbes Magazine, Business Week and thousands of other print and internet publications. The site has gained national recognition and has won numerous awards for its content and design.

About Office Depot

Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides supplies and services to its customers through 1,656 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about 40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 58 countries.

Office Depot’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.

Contacts

Office Depot
Rebecca Rakitin, 561-438-1450
Rebecca.Rakitin@officedepot.com
or
Don Mears, 561-438-7054
Donald.Mears@officedepot.com

View the original article here

Kroger Ranks Among the Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - Investors Business Daily

CINCINNATI, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Kroger Co. (KR) today was honored to be named one of the "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities" by DiversityBusiness.com.

Kroger was selected by more than 1.2 million women and minority-owned business owners who voted in an online election to name the Div50 - a listing of the top 50 corporate and organizational buyers of diversity products and services throughout the U.S. This is the third consecutive year that Kroger has received this recognition.

"Kroger is honored to be selected as one of the top 50 companies for creating multicultural business opportunities," said Reuben Shaffer, Kroger's chief diversity officer. "We are inspired daily to foster a diverse, respectful and inclusive business by the nearly 1,000 minority and women-owned businesses we work with. What makes this recognition so important to us is that the Div50 is directly selected by diversity business owners in the U.S."

Kroger has been a leader in supplier diversity in all aspects of its business for more than 30 years. Kroger currently spends more than $1 billion annually with diversity businesses.

The full list of the Div50 can be found here: http://www.diversitybusiness.com/Resources/DivLists/2012/DivTop50/2012Div50C.htm.

Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer, employs more than 338,000 associates who serve customers in 2,439 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's. The company also operates 796 convenience stores, 363 fine jewelry stores, 1,067 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S. Kroger was recognized by Forbes as the most generous company in the U.S. The company focuses its charitable efforts on supporting hunger relief, breast cancer awareness, the military and their families, and more than 30,000 schools and grassroots organizations in the communities it serves. Kroger contributes food and funds equal to 125 million meals a year through its partnership with more than 80 Feeding America food banks. For more information about Kroger, please visit www.kroger.com.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Avg. Rating:      (0)Your Rating: Supervalu cuts outlook again

The operator of Albertsons, Shaw's and Shop 'n Save grocery stores tumbled 12.5% to 7.34 on weaker-than-expected Q3 revenue and lowered sales guidance. Supervalu's (SVU) Q3 EPS was flat at 24 cents, but a penny shy of views. Sales slid 4% to $8.33 bil, below forecasts of $8.42 bil. Supervalu also ...

01/11/2012 06:45 PM ET Supervalu Falls As Sales Miss; Safeway, Kroger Down

The operator of Albertsons, Shaw's and Shop 'n Save grocery stores tumbled 12% to 7.38 at 1:15 ET after it posted third-quarter revenue below expectations and guided sales down for the current quarter. Supervalu (SVU) said earnings per share remained flat at 24 cents, in line with views, but its ...

01/11/2012 01:37 PM ET Kroger

Kroger (KR), a grocery store chain, ratified a new 3-year contract with workers in Mich. In Nov., workers had gone on strike after rejecting the first contract offer. Shares dipped.

12/21/2011 06:39 PM ET Kroger

Kroger (KR) said 4 of the pension funds it contributes to will merge into a new fund. It will make an up-front pension contribution of about $650 mil and take a 73-cent- a-share charge in Q4. It rose 1%.

12/15/2011 06:30 PM ET Whole Foods' Sales Miss Trumps Dividend Hike

Whole Foods Market's (WFM) bigger dividend and new share buyback failed to ease disappointment with fourth-quarter sales missing analysts' estimates. The upscale grocer's same-store sales also fell short of expectations, rising 8.4% vs. Wall Street forecasts for 9.1%. The company maintained a weak ...

11/02/2011 05:52 PM ET

View the original article here

Office Depot Named One of the Top Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - Business Wire

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Office Depot (NYSE:ODP), celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, today announced that it has been recognized by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural business-to-business website, as one of the “Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities” for the 12th year in a row. Office Depot was ranked 4th on the list, a move up of two spots from last year.

“Office Depot is committed to supplier diversity, and our ranking on the BusinessDiversity.com Div50 list further shows our dedication to supporting women and minority-owned businesses.”

The annual list, dubbed the Div50, recognizes companies for the volume, consistency, and quality of business opportunities granted to women and minority-owned companies. The Div50 has become a highly-valued metric of corporate excellence in the diversity space.

“We are proud to be named one of the top organizations for multicultural business opportunities for the 12th consecutive year,” said Steve Calkins, Senior Vice President of Office Depot’s Business Solutions Division. “Office Depot is committed to supplier diversity, and our ranking on the BusinessDiversity.com Div50 list further shows our dedication to supporting women and minority-owned businesses.”

Office Depot's comprehensive Supply Chain Diversity program gives Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) ample opportunities to grow and prosper. The Company actively seeks out promising HUBs that are certified minority-, women-, disabled-, and veteran-owned to ensure equal opportunity in the supplier selection process. Office Depot also produces an annual HUB catalog that features an assortment of more than 1,600 items from select HUB suppliers.

In addition, the Company has affiliations with national organizations such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the Small Business Administration (SBA), and other organizations that share Office Depot’s goal of making a positive impact on economic development through supplier diversity.

For more information on Office Depot’s diversity initiatives, please visit www.officedepot.com/diversity.

About DiversityBusiness.com

Launched in 1999, DiversityBusiness, with over 250,000 members, is the largest organization of diversity owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, and colleges and universities. DiversityBusiness provides research and data collection services for diversity including the "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities", "Top 500 Diversity Owned Companies in America", and others. Its research has been recognized and published by Forbes Magazine, Business Week and thousands of other print and internet publications. The site has gained national recognition and has won numerous awards for its content and design.

About Office Depot

Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides supplies and services to its customers through 1,656 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about 40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 58 countries.

Office Depot’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.

View the original article here

Office Depot Named One of the Top Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - Yahoo Finance

Wed, Jan 25, 2012, 8:02 AM EST - U.S. Markets open in 1 hr 28 mins

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Kroger Ranks Among the Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - Investors Business Daily

CINCINNATI, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Kroger Co. (KR) today was honored to be named one of the "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities" by DiversityBusiness.com.

Kroger was selected by more than 1.2 million women and minority-owned business owners who voted in an online election to name the Div50 - a listing of the top 50 corporate and organizational buyers of diversity products and services throughout the U.S. This is the third consecutive year that Kroger has received this recognition.

"Kroger is honored to be selected as one of the top 50 companies for creating multicultural business opportunities," said Reuben Shaffer, Kroger's chief diversity officer. "We are inspired daily to foster a diverse, respectful and inclusive business by the nearly 1,000 minority and women-owned businesses we work with. What makes this recognition so important to us is that the Div50 is directly selected by diversity business owners in the U.S."

Kroger has been a leader in supplier diversity in all aspects of its business for more than 30 years. Kroger currently spends more than $1 billion annually with diversity businesses.

The full list of the Div50 can be found here: http://www.diversitybusiness.com/Resources/DivLists/2012/DivTop50/2012Div50C.htm.

Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer, employs more than 338,000 associates who serve customers in 2,439 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's. The company also operates 796 convenience stores, 363 fine jewelry stores, 1,067 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S. Kroger was recognized by Forbes as the most generous company in the U.S. The company focuses its charitable efforts on supporting hunger relief, breast cancer awareness, the military and their families, and more than 30,000 schools and grassroots organizations in the communities it serves. Kroger contributes food and funds equal to 125 million meals a year through its partnership with more than 80 Feeding America food banks. For more information about Kroger, please visit www.kroger.com.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Avg. Rating:      (0)Your Rating: Supervalu cuts outlook again

The operator of Albertsons, Shaw's and Shop 'n Save grocery stores tumbled 12.5% to 7.34 on weaker-than-expected Q3 revenue and lowered sales guidance. Supervalu's (SVU) Q3 EPS was flat at 24 cents, but a penny shy of views. Sales slid 4% to $8.33 bil, below forecasts of $8.42 bil. Supervalu also ...

01/11/2012 06:45 PM ET Supervalu Falls As Sales Miss; Safeway, Kroger Down

The operator of Albertsons, Shaw's and Shop 'n Save grocery stores tumbled 12% to 7.38 at 1:15 ET after it posted third-quarter revenue below expectations and guided sales down for the current quarter. Supervalu (SVU) said earnings per share remained flat at 24 cents, in line with views, but its ...

01/11/2012 01:37 PM ET Kroger

Kroger (KR), a grocery store chain, ratified a new 3-year contract with workers in Mich. In Nov., workers had gone on strike after rejecting the first contract offer. Shares dipped.

12/21/2011 06:39 PM ET Kroger

Kroger (KR) said 4 of the pension funds it contributes to will merge into a new fund. It will make an up-front pension contribution of about $650 mil and take a 73-cent- a-share charge in Q4. It rose 1%.

12/15/2011 06:30 PM ET Whole Foods' Sales Miss Trumps Dividend Hike

Whole Foods Market's (WFM) bigger dividend and new share buyback failed to ease disappointment with fourth-quarter sales missing analysts' estimates. The upscale grocer's same-store sales also fell short of expectations, rising 8.4% vs. Wall Street forecasts for 9.1%. The company maintained a weak ...

11/02/2011 05:52 PM ET

View the original article here

Kroger Ranks Among the Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities

CINCINNATI, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR - News) today was honored to be named one of the "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities" by DiversityBusiness.com.

Kroger was selected by more than 1.2 million women and minority-owned business owners who voted in an online election to name the Div50 – a listing of the top 50 corporate and organizational buyers of diversity products and services throughout the U.S. This is the third consecutive year that Kroger has received this recognition.

"Kroger is honored to be selected as one of the top 50 companies for creating multicultural business opportunities," said Reuben Shaffer, Kroger's chief diversity officer. "We are inspired daily to foster a diverse, respectful and inclusive business by the nearly 1,000 minority and women-owned businesses we work with. What makes this recognition so important to us is that the Div50 is directly selected by diversity business owners in the U.S."

Kroger has been a leader in supplier diversity in all aspects of its business for more than 30 years. Kroger currently spends more than $1 billion annually with diversity businesses.

The full list of the Div50 can be found here: http://www.diversitybusiness.com/Resources/DivLists/2012/DivTop50/2012Div50C.htm.

Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer, employs more than 338,000 associates who serve customers in 2,439 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's. The company also operates 796 convenience stores, 363 fine jewelry stores, 1,067 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S. Kroger was recognized by Forbes as the most generous company in the U.S. The company focuses its charitable efforts on supporting hunger relief, breast cancer awareness, the military and their families, and more than 30,000 schools and grassroots organizations in the communities it serves. Kroger contributes food and funds equal to 125 million meals a year through its partnership with more than 80 Feeding America food banks. For more information about Kroger, please visit www.kroger.com.

View the original article here

Kroger Ranks Among the Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities - Investors Business Daily

CINCINNATI, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Kroger Co. (KR) today was honored to be named one of the "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities" by DiversityBusiness.com.

Kroger was selected by more than 1.2 million women and minority-owned business owners who voted in an online election to name the Div50 - a listing of the top 50 corporate and organizational buyers of diversity products and services throughout the U.S. This is the third consecutive year that Kroger has received this recognition.

"Kroger is honored to be selected as one of the top 50 companies for creating multicultural business opportunities," said Reuben Shaffer, Kroger's chief diversity officer. "We are inspired daily to foster a diverse, respectful and inclusive business by the nearly 1,000 minority and women-owned businesses we work with. What makes this recognition so important to us is that the Div50 is directly selected by diversity business owners in the U.S."

Kroger has been a leader in supplier diversity in all aspects of its business for more than 30 years. Kroger currently spends more than $1 billion annually with diversity businesses.

The full list of the Div50 can be found here: http://www.diversitybusiness.com/Resources/DivLists/2012/DivTop50/2012Div50C.htm.

Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer, employs more than 338,000 associates who serve customers in 2,439 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's. The company also operates 796 convenience stores, 363 fine jewelry stores, 1,067 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S. Kroger was recognized by Forbes as the most generous company in the U.S. The company focuses its charitable efforts on supporting hunger relief, breast cancer awareness, the military and their families, and more than 30,000 schools and grassroots organizations in the communities it serves. Kroger contributes food and funds equal to 125 million meals a year through its partnership with more than 80 Feeding America food banks. For more information about Kroger, please visit www.kroger.com.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Avg. Rating:      (0)Your Rating: Supervalu cuts outlook again

The operator of Albertsons, Shaw's and Shop 'n Save grocery stores tumbled 12.5% to 7.34 on weaker-than-expected Q3 revenue and lowered sales guidance. Supervalu's (SVU) Q3 EPS was flat at 24 cents, but a penny shy of views. Sales slid 4% to $8.33 bil, below forecasts of $8.42 bil. Supervalu also ...

01/11/2012 06:45 PM ET Supervalu Falls As Sales Miss; Safeway, Kroger Down

The operator of Albertsons, Shaw's and Shop 'n Save grocery stores tumbled 12% to 7.38 at 1:15 ET after it posted third-quarter revenue below expectations and guided sales down for the current quarter. Supervalu (SVU) said earnings per share remained flat at 24 cents, in line with views, but its ...

01/11/2012 01:37 PM ET Kroger

Kroger (KR), a grocery store chain, ratified a new 3-year contract with workers in Mich. In Nov., workers had gone on strike after rejecting the first contract offer. Shares dipped.

12/21/2011 06:39 PM ET Kroger

Kroger (KR) said 4 of the pension funds it contributes to will merge into a new fund. It will make an up-front pension contribution of about $650 mil and take a 73-cent- a-share charge in Q4. It rose 1%.

12/15/2011 06:30 PM ET Whole Foods' Sales Miss Trumps Dividend Hike

Whole Foods Market's (WFM) bigger dividend and new share buyback failed to ease disappointment with fourth-quarter sales missing analysts' estimates. The upscale grocer's same-store sales also fell short of expectations, rising 8.4% vs. Wall Street forecasts for 9.1%. The company maintained a weak ...

11/02/2011 05:52 PM ET

View the original article here

IBM Expands Social Business Initiative To Help Organizations Develop Skills and Seize New Market Opportunity - Yahoo Finance

ARMONK, N.Y. , Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) is introducing new programs, services and partnerships to help organizations develop and deepen skills to accelerate business opportunities being driven by the rapid adoption of social networking in the enterprise. According to Forrester Research, the market opportunity for social enterprise apps is expected to grow at a rate of 61 percent through 2016, reaching $6.4 billion , compared with $600 million last year.*

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

With today's news, IBM is investing in its clients and business partners to develop the skills, technical support and industry resources that will allow them to effectively adopt social networking capabilities to transform their business operations.

This includes introducing new technical workshops designed to improve skills and consulting offerings to help develop a business culture that fosters open collaboration and sharing among employees, clients, and business partners. Through the use of interactive online courses, live support and one-on-one guidance with IBM Social Business experts, IBM is working with organizations across the globe to educate them on the benefits of applying social networking technology to their organizations, while at the same time helping to assess the barriers of social business for faster adoption.

As the industry leader in social business, among the first to embrace social internally and to develop social computing policy and guidelines, IBM is poised to help organizations exploit the transformation into a social business, helping them to build stronger relationships among their employees, customers and business partners and make better decisions, faster. A successful social business must combine the use of social technologies with a business culture that promotes transparency, trust and information sharing among the workforce. Quite often, organizations need guidance around developing social policy, governance, the skills needed for compliance and connecting social technologies to business processes.

Through the new social business initiatives, IBM is delivering the right set of skills, technical support, development resources, and industry expertise that will allow clients and business partners to expand their social business capabilities effectively and accelerate adoption. This includes:

Strategic consulting from IBM Global Business Services to help organizations better understand their current adoption of social business tools for both internal and external purposes and helps to articulate how social business accelerates and alleviates business challenges. Global educational and mentorship programs for clients and business partners on how to become effective community managers, the fastest growing job in social, while increasing employee engagement over top, line-of-business communities on the social software platform. Technical certification programs that help customers and business partners validate and demonstrate their skills through assessment exams and training resources so that they can plan for and perform the installation, configuration and day-to-day tasks associated with ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of social software solutions. Social Business Agenda workshops on IBM PartnerWorld providing immediate access to discussions forums focused on the benefits of becoming a social business, providing clients and business partners with case study examples of successful social businesses, and helping them to develop an agenda for driving social adoption.

IBM is also announcing a partnership with The Dachis Group, the world's leader in powering the design, development, management, and measurement of Social Business performance, to help organizations quickly drive adoption success through a social business adoption quickstart workshop. The workshop combines IBM services for the implementation of Social Business solutions for enterprises with additional services from The Dachis Group and focuses on the use of social business technology while fostering cultural skills and engagement.

IBM is also collaborating with Group Business System, an IBM Business Partner, to help IBM clients convert IBM Lotus Notes applications into applications accessible on the Web or via mobile devices. The new IBM services offering using Group Business System's Transformer product will help clients retain the value of their significant investments made over the years in the Lotus Notes and Domino platform while enabling them to take full advantage of the latest web technology to support their business.

According to a 2011 AIIM survey, over 50 percent of user organisations now consider becoming a Social Business to be imperative or significant to their business goals. However, many organizations use social technologies only to find them fall flat. This is often the case because of a failure to align their Social Business strategy to their unique, organizational culture. According to the 2011 State of Community Management Report from The Community Roundtable, culture is the hardest thing to change in an organization. According to a survey from the report, 28 percent of respondents said that their organizational culture was either resistant to sharing, controlling, or paranoid.

"The opportunity to transform into a social business can be stunted without a focus on engagement, culture change, and policy," said Alistair Rennie , General Manager, Social Business, IBM. "Social technologies, when combined with the right skills and culture, can truly unlock the potential of people within the organization to collaborate, innovate, make smarter business decisions and ultimately drive their bottom line."

For more information about IBM's social business initiative, please visit http://www.ibm.com/press/socialbusiness or follow #IBMSocialBiz on Twitter.

*"Social Enterprise Apps Redefine Collaboration," Forrester Research, Inc., November 30, 2011 .

Media Contact: Dana Carr
dcarr@us.ibm.com
617-693-5881

View the original article here

IBM Expands Social Business Initiative To Help Organizations Develop Skills and Seize New Market Opportunity

ARMONK, N.Y. , Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) is introducing new programs, services and partnerships to help organizations develop and deepen skills to accelerate business opportunities being driven by the rapid adoption of social networking in the enterprise. According to Forrester Research, the market opportunity for social enterprise apps is expected to grow at a rate of 61 percent through 2016, reaching $6.4 billion , compared with $600 million last year.*

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

With today's news, IBM is investing in its clients and business partners to develop the skills, technical support and industry resources that will allow them to effectively adopt social networking capabilities to transform their business operations.

This includes introducing new technical workshops designed to improve skills and consulting offerings to help develop a business culture that fosters open collaboration and sharing among employees, clients, and business partners. Through the use of interactive online courses, live support and one-on-one guidance with IBM Social Business experts, IBM is working with organizations across the globe to educate them on the benefits of applying social networking technology to their organizations, while at the same time helping to assess the barriers of social business for faster adoption.

As the industry leader in social business, among the first to embrace social internally and to develop social computing policy and guidelines, IBM is poised to help organizations exploit the transformation into a social business, helping them to build stronger relationships among their employees, customers and business partners and make better decisions, faster. A successful social business must combine the use of social technologies with a business culture that promotes transparency, trust and information sharing among the workforce. Quite often, organizations need guidance around developing social policy, governance, the skills needed for compliance and connecting social technologies to business processes.

Through the new social business initiatives, IBM is delivering the right set of skills, technical support, development resources, and industry expertise that will allow clients and business partners to expand their social business capabilities effectively and accelerate adoption. This includes:

Strategic consulting from IBM Global Business Services to help organizations better understand their current adoption of social business tools for both internal and external purposes and helps to articulate how social business accelerates and alleviates business challenges. Global educational and mentorship programs for clients and business partners on how to become effective community managers, the fastest growing job in social, while increasing employee engagement over top, line-of-business communities on the social software platform. Technical certification programs that help customers and business partners validate and demonstrate their skills through assessment exams and training resources so that they can plan for and perform the installation, configuration and day-to-day tasks associated with ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of social software solutions. Social Business Agenda workshops on IBM PartnerWorld providing immediate access to discussions forums focused on the benefits of becoming a social business, providing clients and business partners with case study examples of successful social businesses, and helping them to develop an agenda for driving social adoption.

IBM is also announcing a partnership with The Dachis Group, the world's leader in powering the design, development, management, and measurement of Social Business performance, to help organizations quickly drive adoption success through a social business adoption quickstart workshop. The workshop combines IBM services for the implementation of Social Business solutions for enterprises with additional services from The Dachis Group and focuses on the use of social business technology while fostering cultural skills and engagement.

IBM is also collaborating with Group Business System, an IBM Business Partner, to help IBM clients convert IBM Lotus Notes applications into applications accessible on the Web or via mobile devices. The new IBM services offering using Group Business System's Transformer product will help clients retain the value of their significant investments made over the years in the Lotus Notes and Domino platform while enabling them to take full advantage of the latest web technology to support their business.

According to a 2011 AIIM survey, over 50 percent of user organisations now consider becoming a Social Business to be imperative or significant to their business goals. However, many organizations use social technologies only to find them fall flat. This is often the case because of a failure to align their Social Business strategy to their unique, organizational culture. According to the 2011 State of Community Management Report from The Community Roundtable, culture is the hardest thing to change in an organization. According to a survey from the report, 28 percent of respondents said that their organizational culture was either resistant to sharing, controlling, or paranoid.

"The opportunity to transform into a social business can be stunted without a focus on engagement, culture change, and policy," said Alistair Rennie , General Manager, Social Business, IBM. "Social technologies, when combined with the right skills and culture, can truly unlock the potential of people within the organization to collaborate, innovate, make smarter business decisions and ultimately drive their bottom line."

For more information about IBM's social business initiative, please visit http://www.ibm.com/press/socialbusiness or follow #IBMSocialBiz on Twitter.

*"Social Enterprise Apps Redefine Collaboration," Forrester Research, Inc., November 30, 2011 .

Media Contact: Dana Carr
dcarr@us.ibm.com
617-693-5881

View the original article here