SmallBusinessNewz

Well, this is an interesting one. You finally see some positive news about the outlook for small business at B to B Online but hold on a sec!

It appears as if the source of the good news, Opinion Research Corp. who is an infoGROUP company has the unfortunate honor of sharing the same page of the news announcing its Chairman has been ousted for some improprieties. Oh, and although it’s not in the screen shot below they advertise with B to B Magazine. Jackpot!

“After the completion of an independent review, the board of infoGROUP has removed Vin Gupta as chairman of the database giant, citing excessive expense reimbursements and corporate spending. Gupta, who remains CEO, has orally agreed to pay the company a settlement of $9 million.”

Take a look for yourself…….

Now I know that there is good chance that the two of these have no relation at all but it still seems odd that a company that is seeking opinions (opinions which could turn into cash if they “look good”) had a Chairman who just got ousted for his apparent lack of stewardship of company funds. Usually the company is shaped from the top down isn’t it? If this is the culture of infGROUP companies then do we trust the data from any of their business units like Sales Genie etc.? I give credit to B to B for not holding back the news on a company that is a paying advertiser. That’s one of the reasons why I like the pub so much.

Honestly, I would love to trust this report. We need good news on the economic front especially for the small to medium (SMB) market. I am just a bit of a cynic on this stuff and I have to at least be suspect of anything that comes from an organization that has its Chairman pay the company to get fired.

Comment Fodder: How does it look for you as a business person right now? Do you share the optimism of the report? Do you think that it’s nonsense? I would love to hear from anyone who is on the street level that may shed some real light on this subject.

SMB Takeaway: At least there seems to be some optimism out there in the marketplace. Should you trust everything you read though?

Thanks and have a great day!

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