Rochester Business Journal Leading source of business news and information in Rochester, N.Y.

Here in Rochester, small businesses are doing all they can to stay afloat during the pandemic, changing their product offerings and taking out loans. Unfortunately, too many small businesses are still in the dark on the true cost of predatory ...

Fifty years ago, in September 1970, the prominent economist Milton Friedman famously argued that the social responsibility of business was to increase its profits. This was a remarkable statement because it suggested very plainly that corporate executives did not really ...

Do we really need to know how many calories there are in the bag of popcorn that we just purchased while proceeding to a movie theatre? Do we really benefit by knowing how much time Uncle Sam thinks it should ...

Kodak’s recent announcement about entering the pharmaceutical industry as a supplier for generic products has been met with mixed sentiments. While the initial reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with share prices tripling in the immediate aftermath, there have been skeptics who ...

Let us begin with four stylized facts. First, the portion of national income that goes to paying the wages of workers has been declining in the last four decades in most western nations. Second, even when we restrict attention to ...

Since its peak in April, New York’s number of new COVID-19 cases has declined significantly, the figure ticking downward throughout the month of June. However, our state’s fight against COVID-19 is far from over, and our long-term recovery demands renewed ...

“You only understand people if you feel them in yourself.” — John Steinbeck When faced with racism, a non-racist stays silent. Anti-racists, because they feel the inflicted inhumanity themselves, call people up (not out) to model mutual respect and human ...

Family vacations and restaurant date nights are among the many hospitality industry pastimes not likely to “return to normal” even as Upstate enters into phase 4 of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s planned reopening for the Finger Lakes Region. The economic impact ...

We have all watched the events of the last few weeks unfold with high emotion. It started with George Floyd being stopped for, allegedly, passing a counterfeit $20. We know what happened next. The horrifying nine-minute video speaks volumes about ...

Even though the United States likes to think of itself as an exceptional nation, several aspects of this exceptionalism are completely uninspiring. For instance, even though many Americans without a college degree die every year from drug addiction, this scourge ...

Do you wonder how the coronavirus pandemic is going to affect the economy and our businesses? Not how it will affect unemployment next week, or GDP this quarter, or even the stock market. Those effects are temporary and surprisingly unimportant. ...

As the story of COVID-19 unfolds and we see the impact on families and communities across the country, there is a closely woven thread connecting Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the effect on physical and emotional health outcomes. ACEs are ...

While President Trump and governors across the country may disagree on the timetable and best way to reopen our economy, areas where nearly everyone is in agreement are the need for widescale testing, the development of effective treatments and vaccines, ...

I’ve told my friends and family for the 20 years that I have been a college professor that my unqualified favorite day of the year is commencement. At the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School, the commencement ceremony is held ...

The impact of COVID-19 on business operations has been devastating, at the very least. With social distancing being the new norm, businesses need to find more creative ways to reach their customers and market their products and services. However, with ...