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

The smoke from Amazon’s tires as it peeled out of New York had barely cleared when Albany’s next bad-for-business measure started to pick up steam: expanding prevailing wage. Prevailing wage is a requirement in state labor law that dictates how ...

Family businesses are the economic engine of America and can range from a two-person “Mom and Pop” operation to a billion-dollar company that employs thousands. According to family business thought leader, Joseph Astrachan, 89 percent of businesses in the United ...

This Saturday (Feb. 16), a Rochester home will serve as the centerpiece of the public television show “Home Diagnosis,” which airs locally on WXXI at 6:30 p.m. The show is a cross between “CSI” and “This Old House.” Experts diagnose ...

I’m no Cassandra.  I’m a realist who started his career in the mid-1980s and has experienced many economic cycles.  The recent divergence between the economy’s performance and markets around the world reminded me of a column I wrote for the ...

  In the current climate in which federal budget deficits are the rule rather than the exception, the question as to whether we should retain or eliminate the mortgage interest tax deduction keeps coming up. Proponents and opponents of the ...

It’s a great time to be in the software space in Rochester.  The “help wanted” signs are cluttering the digital storefront.  Experienced developers are company hopping and folks with business development experience as product managers, marketing pros and salespeople are ...

Virtually everything most people on earth do these days involves, either directly or indirectly, the combustion of oil, gas and coal. Burning these fossil fuels is generating carbon emissions, which accumulate in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Since climate change ...

Sears did more than pioneer the mail-order catalog over a century ago. The iconic retailer helped make America a more inclusive place at a time when Jim Crow was rampant and women couldn’t even vote. The news that Sears had filed ...

  In 1920, George Eastman was a busy man. After creating one of the greatest technology companies, he directed his talent and energy to making Rochester into a world class city. This was the period when he relocated the University ...

Lean Start Up is the widely accepted methodology for launching entrepreneurial endeavors. It relies on a process known as “customer discovery” to determine what potential clients want, how they make decisions and what they are willing to do to obtain ...

Americans who follow stories in the media rightly believe that income inequality within the United States has been rising in the past few decades. It is also true that during this same time, economic globalization—which involves the free movement of ...

Awareness is rising worldwide about the scourge of ocean plastic pollution, from Earth Day 2018 events to the cover of National Geographic magazine. But few people realize that similar concentrations of plastic pollution are accumulating in lakes and rivers. One ...

  As a lifelong Republican and a Republican County Committee member for over 50 years, I am alarmed by our president’s actions on foreign trade. His threats and statements about a trade war clearly indicate that he does not understand ...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent visit to the Great Meadow Correctional Facility highlights the need to crack down on prison contraband and improve safety. According to media reports, the governor has indicated he will release a prison reform plan in January. ...

I moved to Rochester in 1995, making me a “transplant.” The pride for my beloved, adopted home comes from the same wellspring I see present in other transplants. We are experiencing a new phenomenon with younger adults returning to our ...