Business
Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.
Well meaning and meaning well: Gifting with a bigger impact
Gifts have been exchanged, returned and donated. Sales racks scoured. But what happened to that resolution to be more eco-conscious and sustainable, it always seems to go sideways in the frenzy of holiday shopping or impulse purchases on Hallmark holidays (check the calendar: Valentine's Day is Read More...
Uber, Lyft and Airbnb soar in popularity with business travelers
For the first time, Uber passed car rentals as business travelers' top mode of choice for getting around town, according to a new report. Expense management company Certify analyzed more than 30 million transactions in 2015 and found that in the fourth quarter, 41% of rides taken by corporate Read More...
GM joins sharing economy with new car-sharing service
If you can't beat them, join them. That must have been the idea at General Motors, thinking about services like Uber and Lyft, when it decided to create a car-sharing service called Maven. It is now launched in the United States and Germany, joining at least two other automakers testing the market Read More...
5 reasons you should join the sharing economy revolution
The sharing economy connects individuals who need a particular product or service with other individuals who have or can Read More...
What Trader Joe's can teach us about treating workers well
Trader Joe’s made its name by offering delicious hipster-yuppie snacks like wild salmon jerky and sea-salt almonds, as well as $2-dollar wines and organic milk that won’t put your kids’ college savings at risk. But there’s another thing the privately held grocery store chain Read More...
How Airbnb unites the world: An in-depth analysis
By now, we all know the numbers about Airbnb's impact—roughly, at least. The company has more than 2 million listings, dwarfing the number of rooms offered by the largest hotel chain, Marriot International. The pioneer of the sharing economy is valued at over $25 billion. Founder Brian Chesky is Read More...
Pizza boxes recycled from Staten Island trash let you eat out of the garbage
It’s no secret that New Yorkers have a deep and passionate love affair with pizza, but all of those pizza boxes do take a toll on the environment. Pratt Industries, which specializes in recycled paper and packaging, thinks their pizza boxes made using 100-percent post-consumer paper from Read More...
Google and Lenovo are teaming up to build a smartphone with serious superpowers
Google and Lenovo just announced they're partnering up to build an Android-powered, sub-$500 smartphone powered by Google's extremely nifty Project Tango technology. Project Tango, first announced in 2014, is a project originated from Google ATAP, one of the search giant's coolest and most Read More...
In 2016, Intel's entire supply chain will be conflict-free
Buying electronics used to help fund war in Africa. Now big tech companies like Intel are working to make sure their money isn't used for destruction. Seven years ago, if you bought a new iPhone or a laptop, you were probably also inadvertently supporting warlords and mass rapists in the Democratic Read More...
As Africa's sharing economy grows, Airbnb takes tourists in new directions
Travelers are gaining access to places and experiences across Africa once closed off or just unknown to them. JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Nearly two years ago, Mengesha Tesfaye was scrambling to make ends meet shining shoes in Lalibela, a picturesque Ethiopian town known for its medieval-era Read More...