Business Resilience

Business resilience (sometimes also referred to as corporate resilience) is the ability of a business organization to quickly adapt to significant disruptions or other material adverse events while maintaining continuous business operations and safeguarding people, assets and overall brand value.  Resilient organizations do more than just survive disruptive events; they thrive in them, leveraging the challenges that arise in such events to demonstrate responsiveness, flexibility, and adaptability and to come out as stronger, more competitive performers.

Workforce Strategy: Part of the New Brunswick Advantage

Many of the world's most successful companies are taking advantage of the Canadian province of New Brunswick's nearshore value proposition. The provincial government has placed a strong focus on further developing its strengths in sectors like information technology, finance, cannabis, advanced manufacturing, contact centers, and shared services. New Brunswick’s location is naturally strategic, enabling companies to work with all of North America and Europe in the same business day. Combine that advantage with its low cost of doing business and everything is in place to make an expansion both easy and profitable.

Why NAFTA Matters

After four rounds of negotiations, important progress has been made in some areas, but there is now a lot of speculation about what might happen next.  As we head into the fifth round of negotiations this week, here’s what you need to know: NAFTA is a success story. For starters, let’s understand that NAFTA has been an engine of middle class job creation.  Close to 14 million jobs in the U.S. alone depend on NAFTA – 9 million are supported by trade and investment with Canada and another 5 million by trade and investment with Mexico.
 

 

Clearing the Northern Lights Haze - The Canadian Medical and Adults Use Cannabis Markets

As of June 30, 2017, there were 201,398 Canadians registered to purchase cannabis from licensed producers and 6,880 registered to grow for personal use in the federal regulations that support the Canadian medical cannabis market.1 Canadian licensed producers are large-scale indoor or greenhouse grows, some with hundreds of thousands of square feet of canopy. At market close on November 14, 2017, two publicly-traded companies that own licensed producers as primary assets had market capitalization values exceeding two billion dollars (CAD), and another two are between one and two billion. Each was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada’s senior stock exchange, each also holds international cannabis assets – chiefly in Germany and Australia. Cannabis is a big business in Canada and Canadian expertise is gaining global traction.

Welcome to the World Trade Center Los Angeles

The World Trade Center Los Angeles is dedicated to attracting foreign direct investment to the Los Angeles region and facilitating opportunities between Los Angeles and international companies. The WTCLA provides two major types of business assistance services:

  • Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Attraction Services - Assist international companies seeking to locate or expand their business operations in the Los Angeles region.

  • Export Facilitation Services - Assist local companies seeking to export products or services to international markets.

Westmark Tax

Westmark Tax is a tax firm focused on providing consulting and compliance services to individuals and companies that have cross-border tax needs.  In the complex world of international tax, the team at Westmark tax is able to simplify concepts for clients to provide practical solutions and guidance. 

The primary focus is to develop a tax strategy to optimize your global tax picture – ensuring that you are paying the least amount of tax globally and that all disclosure requirements are met.  The professional team at Westmark Tax has a real passion for cross-border tax issues with over 75 years of combined experience with offices located in the US and in Canada.

Teknion - Building Our Business One Relationship at a Time

Ultimately, business is about people - how we interact, create and innovate - and our products are designed to inspire and to facilitate this interaction. We view an investment in space planning as an investment in both your people and your future, and we take this responsibility seriously, whether it's through the design of forward-thinking products that address workplace trends, or through the establishment of support and service programs backed by a team that we're proud to say is the best in the business. We take tremendous pride in being a family-owned company that has helped organizations around the world work smarter by working better.

Sooner Rather Than Later - Timing for For Taking Your R&D Tax Credits

Recent legal advice issued by the IRS Associate Chief Counsel helps clarify some of the confusion around the new payroll tax credit for research and development (R&D) for qualified small businesses (QSBs).
 
In the guidance, the IRS concluded that an employer takes into account the R&D payroll tax credit for a quarter against liability for employer Social Security tax starting with the first payroll payment of the quarter that includes payments of wages subject to Social Security tax to its employees. The credit may be taken to the degree of employer Social Security tax on wages associated with the first payroll payment, and then to the extent of employer Social Security tax associated with succeeding payroll payments in the quarter until the credit is used.
 

Get to Know Purolator

Each day almost $1.5 billion worth of goods cross the U.S./Canadian border, with roughly six percent of those shipments coming directly from California businesses. As a leading provider of cross border logistics services, Purolator International is proud of our role in helping California businesses expand their reach to the Canadian market by offering fast, innovative, and guaranteed service.

Opportunities NB - New Brunswick's Lead Business Development Corporation

Opportunities NB (ONB) is New Brunswick’s lead business development corporation working with companies inside and outside that Canadian province to drive economic growth and job creation. ONB believes strongly in the future of New Brunswick and since its inception has successfully been the catalyst for competitive and innovative economic growth and job creation.


Helping Early-Stage Canadian Technology Companies Reach the U.S. Market

In 2011, York Bridge Capital’s founders recognized the opportunity to assist early stage Canadian technology companies reach the US market.  Since that beginning, York Bridge Capital has expanded: geographically (to Korea); to different industry sectors (including a real estate affiliate, Elevation Bridge Realty, focused on cross-border commercial real estate investment); and to working directly with governments in facilitating foreign direct investment.   

Good News from Air Canada

We have a lot of good news to share of benefit to both frequent flyers and the occasional traveler. Effective May 17, 2017, Air Canada moved to Terminal 6 (T6) from Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport. T6 will allow Air Canada customers the benefit of walking between terminals airside allowing for smoother connections. Customers will also benefit from an expanded security processing area, including TSA Pre-Check and Priority Security, as well as a new state of the art Air Canada Maple Leaf™ Lounge.

Welcome to Edwards Global Services

Edwards Global Services, Inc. (EGS) was founded in 2001 to help U.S. franchise companies take their business into other countries profitably through licensing. EGS is known worldwide for focusing U.S. Clients on entering the countries that have the highest potential ROI for their specific brand.  EGS uses a proven, trademarked, stepped process that assesses the global potential for each franchise, develops a business plan to go global, and then implements the plan using their experienced U.S.-based executive team and in-country associate network in 32 countries. Edwards Global Services (EGS) offers a unique combination of experience, processes, network, tools and brand representation that makes taking a U.S. franchise global easier and more successful, start to finish.

Welcome to Cardinal Point Wealth Management

Canada and the U.S. have a strong and multifaceted relationship. The close ties and proximity has resulted in significant movement of people and assets. How will a cross-border move to Canada or the U.S. affect my financial goals? The short answer is that temporary and permanent cross-border movement enhances the complexity of investment management and financial planning. The primary cause for this situation is that investment accounts, real estate and other financial and physical assets have accumulated in both Canada and the U.S.


 

Could You Be Undermining Your Customers?

Could You Be Undermining Your Customers? No one deliberately sets out to do it but it happens all too often. And the opportunity cost can be significant. Imagine a company with a successful product or service that markets to businesses. The company has a great website, they work hard to nurture a great brand, and they are diligent about following up on new business leads. The team is smart and motivated and the company’s product or service is effective at fulfilling its promise. The company is growing.
 

 

Welcome to Axellium

Will your business stand the test of growth? Lasting businesses invest in continuous improvement and solid project execution to enable their growth. Keep improving you as you grow. Whether through organic growth, acquisition, capital infusion or diversification, businesses grow through stages, and what made a business successful in one stage may not carry it into the next. As your business grows, the alignment you had with your founding team may not hold together in the same way. Processes, systems, team capabilities, and the careful management of culture become critical for alignment and productivity.


Welcome to Knobbe Martens

Knobbe Martens Intellectual Property Law has had several significant events happen over the last year and we’d love to share them with you!Last December, Founding Partner, Don Martens received the Orange County Intellectual Property Law Association’s (OCIPLA) Lifetime Achievement Award.  He was recognized for his significant impact on intellectual property law, through innovation and noteworthy contributions.