EthnicMajority

(Eureka Alert press release) It has been well-documented that minorities are subject to discrimination in product pricing and customer service. What is startling is the result of a new study professors at the USC Marshall School of business in conjunction with University of San Diego's School of Business Administration, that shows that sometimes ill-treatment can make African-American consumers voluntarily pay more for goods and services than they would normally, as well as pay more than their Caucasian counterparts.

Aarti S. Ivanic, assistant professor of marketing at the University of San Diego's School of Business Administration; and Jennifer R. Overbeck, assistant professor of management and organization along with Joseph C. Nunes, associate professor of marketing at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, set out to understand inequities in transactions. In their study, "Status, Race and Money: The Impact of Racial Hierarchy on Willingness-to-Pay," forthcoming in Psychological Science, the researchers found that African-Americans who felt their status was threatened by poor service because of their race were willing to pay more for products and services to assert their social standing.

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(Huffington Post) As Congress weighs the Obama administration's jobs package, RLJ Companies CEO Robert Johnson is pushing a proposal that he says marshals the capacity of the nation's biggest companies to significantly reduce black unemployment.

Johnson has dubbed his idea the "RLJ Rule." It calls on Fortune 1000 companies to voluntarily consider a more diverse pool of qualified candidates when filling senior level job openings and hiring contractors. Johnson has described it as the business version of the National Football League's Rooney Rule, a 2003 mandate that required teams to consider diverse candidate pools when filling senior positions.

Johnson, the United States' first black billionaire, has been critical of the way that the Obama administration and Congress have tried to address the nation's stubborn unemployment problem. He believes businesses can create solutions to social problems.

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(Seattle Times) Alabama's strict new immigration law may be backfiring. Intended to force illegal workers out of jobs, it is also driving away many construction workers, roofers and field hands here legally who do backbreaking jobs that Americans generally won't.

The vacancies have created a void that will surely deal a blow to the state's economy and could slow the rebuilding of Tuscaloosa and other tornado-damaged cities.

Employers believe they can carry on because of the dismal economy, but when things do turn around, they worry there won't be anyone around to hire.

Many legal Hispanic workers are fleeing the state because their family and friends don't have the proper papers and they fear they will be jailed.

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(USAToday) We're in the middle of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and I've got a confession to make: Although my books have been translated into more than 30 languages worldwide, I've never had them translated into Spanish for the American Hispanic market.

That may make some readers of my column glad.

"Let 'em learn English," I can imagine you shouting.

The truth is, as a businessperson, I owe it to myself to take a realistic look at the opportunities in the large, vibrant American Hispanic market.

No matter how you feel about the hot-button issue of immigration, as a small-business owner you should not ignore the fact that Hispanics in the United States represent a huge marketing opportunity.

Like me, you need to consider reaching that market. And, like me, you don't necessarily need to learn Spanish or translate your marketing materials into Spanish.

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(Sampan) The first of November will signify the end of a long journey and the beginning of a new one for Vienne Cheung. Exactly one year to the day, Cheung left her position as Executive Director of ASPIRE to embark on the daunting, yet exciting quest to fulfill her passion for fashion. Hence, the birth of VienneMilano – the first luxury hosiery brand and online boutique in the USA devoted exclusively to thigh high stockings that are made in Italy – which officially launches on November 1.

Born in Hong Kong and having immigrated to Brookline, Massachusetts at the age of six, Cheung originally wanted to become a teacher. However, her parents persuaded her to study art at college instead, leading her into a position as the Creative Director for Furniture Fan right out of school. But Cheung wanted to do more and subsequently enrolled in business school.

“No matter where you are in the creative world,” Cheung said, “You need to business know-how in order to succeed.”

After completing business school, her newly-acquired business savvy ignited an affinity toward project management. “I like [the whole process] from marketing to seeing the product out there,” Cheung said.

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(Huffington Post) As the sun rises on tilled soil on the outskirts of Fresno, Calif., Mori Vance bends to pick black eyed peas, then disappears among towering okra bushes. Vance, who is African-American, is harvesting her first crop with several other novice black farmers, all hoping to make it their life's work.

The African American Farmers of California started the 15-acre demonstration farm to teach about growing and eating healthy food and to get African-American kids interested in agriculture.

The project is part of a nationwide effort to revive the pride of black farmers and reverse the decline of black-owned farms. In Milwaukee, Atlanta and Chicago, black-run nonprofit organizations are providing African-Americans with land to farm, conducting workshops in agriculture and training youth in gardening.

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(News Blaze) Fifty-one million strong and with households that spend more than any other population segment on laundry and household cleaning supplies, Latinos have an especially significant impact on the market for household products, according to "The Latino Household Products Shopper" by market research publisher Packaged Facts.

"Latinos, as part of the big spender segment in grocery stores, represent prime targets for marketers of household products, both in the store and before the store," says David Sprinkle, publisher of Packaged Facts.

The report identifies a high correlation between overall spending by U.S. households on groceries and spending on household products. Experian Simmons data reveals that 68% of Latino households spend an average of $80 or more per week on groceries, while 42% of Latino households spend an average of $125 or more. Packaged Facts' proprietary survey data show that grocery shoppers who spent at least $80 on their last grocery shopping trip are 41% more likely than shoppers on average to buy household products such as laundry and household cleaners, paper products and plastic products.

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(Washington Post) A kid walks into a Verizon phone store wearing a belt bristling with the latest tech gadgets.

The kid shows off his back-to-school hardware: “E-reader for textbooks . . . GPS . . . video camera for lectures . . . game pad.”

“Have you considered this?” responds the salesman, pulling out a smartphone. “It’s got all that and more than 200,000 apps.”

The kid’s smirk vanishes. He’s stunned into silence by the all-in-one convenience.

The most striking aspect of this new TV commercial may not be the product or the semi-humorous portrayal of gizmo love. It’s the casting. The kid is played by a young Caucasian actor; the salesman is Asian American.

The two roles fit a well-worn pattern, one noted by academic researchers for almost two dec­ades. When Asian Americans appear in advertising, they typically are presented as the technological experts — knowledgeable, savvy, perhaps mathematically adept or intellectually gifted. They’re most often shown in ads for business-oriented or technical products — smartphones, computers, pharmaceuticals, electronic gear of all kinds.

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(New York Times) For decades, a patch of casinos on the western edge of Nevada has relied on geography to lure California gamblers reluctant to drive the extra 45 miles for the glamour and glitz of Las Vegas.

But as the economy took a dive, this desert spot suffered the same economic woes as its larger, flashier neighbor. And the troubles were exacerbated by the proliferation of Indian casinos in California, which offered much of the same attractions as any town in Nevada. The company that ran the trio of casinos here declared bankruptcy in 2009.

Now Primm Valley Casino Resorts is betting that aggressively courting Latinos in Southern California will help lead to success.

They have blackjack games with bilingual dealers and rules printed in Spanish on the tables, the first casinos in the state to do so. Last year, they began a series of concerts featuring popular Spanish-speaking musicians, which fill the arena to capacity nearly every time. On those weekends, the casino floor of Buffalo Bill’s buzzes with an energy that executives say rivals New Year’s Eve.

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(Christian Science Monitor) Hispanic Americans believe business ownership is the key to harnessing the much- sought-after "American Dream."

More than any other segment of the population, Hispanic Americans view entrepreneurship as a way to pursue the American Dream, take control of their lives and support their families.

That's the finding of new research that reveals about two-thirds of Hispanic business owners (versus only 36 percent of the general business-owning population) said they started their businesses to pursue the dream of bettering their lives and providing for their families.

And these business owners are planning on keeping it in the family. While 54 percent of the general population of business owners plans to pass their businesses on to their children, 70 percent of Hispanic business owners plan to do so.

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