Over the past two decades, James Martin, founder and managing partner with ACM Capital Partners in Miami, has helped about 45 businesses restructure. For example, Martin helped a $100 million aviation firm that began losing money after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Over the course of six years, Martin helped rework the firm’s debt and operations, setting it on a path for success. In fact, the company grew from 400 to 750 employees before it was sold to two public companies. Similarly, in 2008, Martin worked with a firm in the automotive industry to restructure its debt and close one of four plants in North America. “We got it right-sized for the turnaround in the industry,” he says.

Through his experience helping to secure $800-some million in both bank lending and alternative financing such as funding from private equity firms, equipment lenders and real estate investors, Martin has found that certain steps are critical to success. more

If you travel at all for business, you know state and local taxes can boost your final hotel bill by up to 25 percent. Some cities are suing online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia Inc., saying the services should be paying them a greater share of sales tax on the hotel rooms it books in their cities. One of the latest to join the fray is Duluth, Minn.

According to this story from the Associated Press, about 80 percent of the fees Expedia collects go to the hotels and are taxed. The other 20 percent goes to Expedia to cover its services. That part isn’t taxed—at least not yet. The city of Duluth says Expedia should pay the city’s 6.5 percent tax rate on the 20 percent it keeps.

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Cloud-based buying networks help procurement people gain better control over their organizations’ spend habit. At least, that’s one of the implications of Jason Busch of Spend Matters’ prediction that 2011 will see more cooperation between business buying and financial operations due, in part, to cloud. In March wiredFINANCE also addressed cloud-based procurement networks.

For example, when procuring print services via the cloud, buyers can collaborate with vendors to keep presses running by scheduling print jobs during slow periods. In that situation, a printer would be more inclined toward reduced pricing.

Although the economy is beginning to recover, spend reduction always remains in fashion and more saving can usually be achieved. If nothing else spend reductions free up cash to pursue business growth opportunities. Coupa, a cloud-based (SaaS) spend and procurement management company, is so sure it can reduce a company’s spend it guarantees that you will cut spending in six months by at least 1% in OPEX or you don’t pay. more

Earlier this month, the U.S. Small Business Administration proposed changing what is considered a “small” business for several different industries within the transportation and warehouse sectors, as outlined in this press release. The proposal is more than just bureaucratic busy work, as businesses that can call themselves “small” are eligible for federal assistance, such as SBA loans and other programs. Those that exceed the limit are left out. more

Get used to this headline.

As I’ve discussed before, the global skills gap is growing because of demographics and economics (specifically, the developed world’s evolution to a service/knowledge-based economy).

ManpowerGroup’s annual “Talent Shortage Survey,” released last week, indicates more than half (52 percent) of U.S. employers have trouble filling “mission-critical positions.” Last year, the same study found only 14 percent of U.S. companies experienced the same difficulty. more