Posts By Lindsay Young

It seems like eroded confidence in the economy is seeping into our northern neighbor’s boardrooms. According to the second-quarter CICA/RBC Business Monitor report, only 6% of executives are more confident in the Canadian economy than they were a year ago.
 
The survey says that 23% of respondents are very optimistic about the economy, compared with 67% a year ago. Just under half of respondents said they had been negatively affected by the U.S. economy.
 
Respondents in Alberta and Manitoba/Saskatchewan were most optimistic about prospects in their provinces; those in Ontario responded with the least amount of optimism about their province. The province is facing manufacturing losses and impacts from the weak U.S. dollar.
 
The culprit, at least …

I sat in on a conference call with economist Alan Beaulieu on Friday, where he was discussing his latest industry association collaboration to put together a regular economic trends update for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI). In addition to that announcement, he also took the time to address the current state of the U.S. economy and answered my question on the Canadian economy.
 
Beaulieu speaks at many distribution association events and his firm, the Institute for Trend Research, does analysis and regular reports for its clients on economic conditions.
 
He told those on the call Friday that he sees a …

In my regular reading of the Wall Street Journal, I came across an interesting comment on a  column focused on helping parents help their children find a career path “that will lead to financial security.” The reader’s comment in response to a request for advice: “Do not pursue dying industries, such as journalism (no offense), the law (unless you can gain admittance to a top 10 school) or (most) industrial jobs.”
 
The comment didn’t fit with what I hear at various distribution association conferences, where industrial distributors and manufacturers often bemoan a lack of skilled workers with management potential. Industrial distribution and manufacturing are …

The Wall Street Journal had an article similar to one I mentioned in a blog last week saying that manufacturing in some areas of the U.S. is coming back. Many factories have been revived, in part by upping the ante on the products made, according to the WSJ. The article focuses on one city as a case study: Manitowoc, WI. There, factories have started producing energy-efficient light fixtures and steel towers for wind turbines, along with ice-cream machines and bomb parts.
 
An old plastics company, Kaysun Corp., is moving into products it believes are insulated from overseas competition, such as plastic …