Author: Hawaii Business Staff
Success Stories

For Starters: This Month’s Cover

Our cover was created by Matt Tapia, a nationally recognized illustrator and hand-lettering artist, born and raised in Hawaii. He’s done work for clients ranging from Nike to Zoo York. His approach is…
Business Trends

Only Half of Hawaii Got a Raise

Only Half of Hawaii Got a Raise QMark Research surveyed 400 people statewide for Hawaii Business and asked if they got a raise over the past two years. Here is what those who work outside the home told QMark: Raises…
Business Trends

Ask the Expert: Website Makeovers

Mary Fastenau Partner at Anthology Marketing Group and founder of its digital division AnthologyMarketing.com Question: What should I consider when revamping my business’s website? Answer: It’s time to redo your website, but where do you start? Everybody from Google to…
Small Business

Parting Shot: Eyeing the Needle

Wednesday, 10:35 A.m. Working Class Tattoo, Kaimuki Photo by Olivier Koning Owner Steven Lam meticulously inspects a sterilized needle through a magnifying loupe to ensure it is straight and sharp before it punctures flesh. Lam says that during the manufacturing…
Leadership

5 Steps to Becoming an Empathetic Leader

Empathetic leadership means human-centered mindfulness throughout an organization. Community developer Neenz Faleafine, who has studied and practiced design thinking and leadership development, says learning to become an empathetic leader can be condensed into a five-step ALIVE process if you are…
Best Places To Work

Best Places to Work 2015

BPTW QUICK LINKS LARGE COMPANIES  |  MEDIUM COMPANIES  |  SMALL COMPANIES SPECIAL AWARDS     BEST PLACES TO WORK: BENEFITS AT A GLANCE Company Name Offers profit sharing or stock option % of employee medical premium paid by employer Number…
Lifestyle

The Flavors of Wine

Thursday, 12:13 p.m. Oeno Winemaking, Kailua Co-owner Bryon Crowther draws wine for a taste test. Oeno makes more than 150 wines from a variety of international vineyards. The winemaking process takes four to…
20 for the Next 20

20 for the Next 20: 2015

Each year, Hawaii Business selects 20 emerging leaders who have already made major contributions to Hawaii and whom we expect to have an even greater impact over the next two decades. Let us introduce you to Hawaii’s People to Watch,…
Trends

For Starters

Pow! Wow! Hawaii 60 walls 100 artists (50 local, 50 national and international) 4,500 spray paint cans Corruption Ratings One of our favorite websites, fivethirtyeight.com, recently ranked the pervasiveness of corruption in each state, with first being worst and 50th…
Finance

Ask the Expert: Valuing Your Business

Herb Wheatman ASA, CPA/ABV, CBA VP and Manager, Business Interests & Valuation Bank of Hawaii boh.com Question: “I own a small business, which I’m thinking of selling. How do I find out how much it is worth? Answer: Your business…
Parting Shot

Parting Shot: Practice Makes Perfect

Saturday, 11 a.m. Honolulu’s Chinatown Photo by Rae Huo Students study lion dance movements at Gee Yung Chinese Martial Arts Dragon and Lion Dance Association. They are preparing for Lunar New Year festivities, in which performers ages 5 to 17…
Lifestyle

Ask the Expert: Leveraging the Cloud

Matthew Sirp Enterprise Architect Hawaiian Telcom hawaiiantel.com Question: I keep hearing that small businesses can benefit from cloud services. Can cloud solutions help my company increase productivity and save money? Answer: With cloud services, small businesses can access enterprise-level services…
Lifestyle

5 Steps to a Fitter You

If 2015 is like most years, fitness goals are at the top of most people’s resolutions list. Fitness instructor and author Tony Rodriguez Larkin offers this guide for you to succeed: 1. Take measurements Keep data on everything you want…
Lifestyle

Parting Shot: A Beautiful Job

Thursday, 10:46 a.m. Waialua Emily Richter, part of a team of eight agronomists, is covered in pollen as she works from dusk till dawn to inspect the characteristics of non-GMO sunflowers grown each…
Leadership

Dealing with Resistance to Change

The Faith of Leadership: Insights from Hawaii’s Leaders Watermark Publishing www.bookshawaii.net Excerpt from the Book’s Introduction This is not a cookbook on leadership; there really is no such thing. There are no proven recipes that will tell you what specific…
Lifestyle

Mixing Love and Business

I grew up in a home where mom and dad successfully owned and worked together in a business for over 25 years. As a child, I helped in the business over the summers and learned some of the most enduring…
Trends

For Starters

Bipolar Workforce or Just Poor Polling? Hawaii’s numbers have seesawed in the workplace satisfaction rankings conducted annually for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Hawaii’s overall ranking was tops in the nation for four straight years, before falling to eighth last year.…
Leadership

Ask the Expert: Training First-Time Workers

Jerry Pupillo General Manager Wet‘n’Wild Hawaii wetnwildhawaii.com Question: My business has many entry-level positions, so I’m regularly hiring and training first-time workers. What’s the best way to do that? Answer: First-time workers can be a huge asset if your training…
Lifestyle

5 Steps to Position Yourself for Promotion

A new year is a good time for reflection and renewal, including on your professional self. High emotional intelligence helps differentiate between average performers and stars, so executive coach Alison Zecha explains how to improve your EI and position yourself…
BizX: Advice from Experts

Reinventing Annual Conferences

Question: Each year, we organize and host a conference. How can we keep reinventing our event so people continue to attend? Answer: Keeping an annual conference fresh and relevant can be challenging, but it is worth the effort. Here are tips to help.…
Small Business

5 Steps to Getting a Sponsor

Mentors and coaches can help your career, but sponsors play a different role. Executive coach and business consultant R. Scott Simon explains that role and how to get the right sponsor to help fast track your career.   1. UNDERSTAND…
Health & Wellness

Deadly “Superbug” arrives in Hawaii

If patients and their families worry about acquiring an infection in the hospital, they’re probably thinking about the drug-resistant staph infection called MRSA. But hospital administrators and health officials say MRSA is no longer a major risk, with more patients…
Marketing

Kelley family and Outrigger Timeline

1947 Roy and Estelle Kelley build their first hotel: the five-story, 50-room Islander Hotel on Seaside Avenue, the first in Waikiki to cater to middle-income travelers and families. Four more hotels follow over 12 years. The…
Real Estate

Hawaii Business Top 100 Realtors 2014

We rank individual Realtors and real estate companies by the dollar value of total sales during 2013 and by the number of transactions. One Realtor led both lists; turn the page to find out who. Methodology How We Compiled the…
Leadership

How to Lead

To learn about leadership in Hawaii, Hawaii Business senior writer Dennis Hollier interviewed seven of the state’s most powerful and effective leaders, past and present. Among the questions he asked: What are the key attributes of great leaders? How do…
Best Places To Work

Best Places to Work in Hawaii 2014

The list is based on a confidential survey of employees and an extensive questionnaire about benefits and working conditions.   Large Companies (250 or More Hawaii Employees) No. 1 HawaiiUSA FCU U.S. Headquarters: Honolulu www.hawaiiusafcu.com Employees: 322 (Hawaii) This credit union…
20 for the Next 20

20 for the Next 20: People to Watch 2014

Welcome to the Class of 2014. Kamana Beamer Assistant Professor of Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa Age: 37 Kamana Beamer says there were two defining moments in his life. The first was his parents’ divorce when he was…
Sustainability

Letters to the Editor: Geothermal and Waikiki

Geothermal (November 2013 issue) Your report on geothermal energy failed to make some very important points about why geothermal would improve the quality of life for all of us in Hawaii. • Geothermal is used worldwide and can be applied…
Parting Shot

Parting Shot: Icing on Top

Friday, 11:45 a.m. Cake Couture, Aina Haina Photo by Rae Huo Carmen Emerson-Bass, baker/owner of Cake Couture, applies the finishing touches to a batch of red velvet cupcakes, the bakery’s most popular flavor. The company specializes in cupcakes, but also makes…
Small Business

Parting Shot: Surf Photographer Zak Noyle

Swell Shot Wednesday, 5 P.M. North Shore, Oʻahu Photo by Nate Lawrence Zak Noyle positions himself as he prepares to photograph surfers at Pipeline. Noyle has been shooting surfers for eight years, the past six professionally. The time he spends in…
Tourism

13 Great Things About Waikiki (Plus 13 Awful Things)

A Hawaii Business team of four reporters, four photographers and four interpreters (two Chinese, one Japanese and one Korean) invaded Waikiki. We asked tourists, workers and business owners what they liked and didn’t like about the tourist mecca, and here are the…
Tourism

Waikiki Present and Future – Extended Version

Panelists: W. David P. Carey III: President and CEO, Outrigger Enterprises Group Rick Egged: President, Waikiki Improvement Association Eric Gill: Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Unite Here Local 5 Hawaii Ernest “Ernie” K. Nishizaki: Executive VP, Kyo-Ya Co. LLC George D. Szigeti: President…
Tourism

International Market Place Closes

The old International Market Place is dead. For more than 50 years, tourists flocked there, drawn to the warren of cheap jewelry stores, kiosks selling kitschy bric-a-brac and the romance of the original Don the Beachcomber restaurant, which opened there…
Parting Shot

Parting Shot: Beach Cleanup

Beach Cleanup Friday, 11:50 P.M. Kuhio Beach, Waikiki Photo by David Croxford A tractor from Mat Hawaii Inc. clears trash and sifts and filters the sand each night in Waikiki. Valuable items, such as rings and watches, are sent to…
Marketing

Ask the Expert: Online Videos for Marketing

Question: I feel like my business is far behind the new media and social media marketing trends. What can I do to keep up?   Answer: The best thing to do is start. New media is constantly evolving, so there’s…
Construction

Parting Shot: Digging Rocks

Thursday, 11:57 A.M. Makakilo Quarry, Oahu Photo by Bob Hayes >> Chris Hermosura, Grace Pacific’s quarry plant superintendent, left, and bulldozer operator Patrick Valmoja scope areas for basalt limestone aggregate. Each year, the company produces more than a million tons…
BOSS Survey

Hawaii Business BOSS Survey – December 2013

12 Insights from the BOSS survey of 402 local business leaders 402 local business leaders explain what’s happening on the front lines of the local economy and what’s ahead. Click here to download a copy of the entire survey. 1. Strong…
Small Business

5 Steps to Creating a Risk-Management Plan

You have a business idea and are mapping out your business plan. Heather Moir-Dangler, chartered life underwriter and chartered financial consultant with Moir Financial & Insurance Services, suggests these five steps to ensure that appropriate risk management is included in…
BizX: Advice from Experts

Independent Investigations

Question: An employee may have stolen a lot of money from our company, but we’re not sure. What should we do? Answer: This kind of nightmare can come in many forms: An employee may or may not have stolen from you or a…
Biz Expert Advice

5 Steps to Creating a Clear Sense of Purpose

When properly done, mission statements inspire people by giving their work meaning and proclaiming the organization’s purpose. However, there are fundamental flaws in most mission statements: Too many words. Too many concepts. Addressing only the mind and not the heart.…
Finance

Ask the Expert: Managing Delinquent Accounts

Question: Delinquent accounts are hurting my business. What can I do to get this problem under control? Answer: Delinquent accounts are an unfortunate part of any business that extends credit. Effective collection efforts can help reduce your losses, but the…
Biz Expert Advice

5 Steps to Negotiating Conflict

Conflict negotiation arises in many contexts, both business and personal, but successful negotiation does not just happen. Sharon V. Lovejoy, litigation attorney with Starn O’Toole Marcus & Fisher, offers these tips to help you negotiate a successful resolution. 1. Improve your…
Construction

Parting Shot: Laying the Foundation

  Tuesday, 11:50 AM Coulter Construction, Manoa Valley Photographer Twain Newhart >> A crew from Coulter Construction lays down the concrete foundation for a custom-built home in Manoa. Pouring the concrete takes a week, but site preparation starts weeks in advance. The…

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