Delroy Alexander

Mergers and acquisitions ground to a halt late last year because of the terrorist attacks and a softening economy, but many small- and medium-size firms again are looking to consolidate....

Female- and minority-owned firms have grown nearly three to four times as fast as U.S. businesses overall, according to the latest data from the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The 33...

Some small-business owners spend up to 25 percent of their time handling employee-related paperwork, according to the Small Business Administration. Much of that time is spent dealing with tax, payroll,...

As most small firms begin to think about filing this year's tax returns, it seems the bureaucrats at the Internal Revenue Service have loosened up a little for Christmas. The...

High-profile bankruptcies at local firms such as MarchFirst and Comdisco Inc. may grab the headlines, but the majority of filings in Illinois are made by small firms and individuals. So...

After almost 15 years as a sole practitioner working on labor arbitration cases, Jeanne Vonhof was fed up with seeing letters, magazines and clippings pile up in her Chicago office....

HOLIDAY READINGS Looking for a lift As retailers watch closely for signs of how the crucial holiday shopping season will shape up, all eyes remain fixed on the mood of...

For Chicago-based marketing specialists Yvette and Kofi Moyo, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have presented a special challenge. The pair had planned to use a section of the now-destroyed New...

While the U.S. remains an entrepreneurial powerhouse, it appears to be slipping. In the past 12 months, the number of business start-ups in the U.S. has fallen dramatically, venture capital...

Commercial bank lending to small- and medium-size firms isn't likely to improve, even as the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates in its attempt to boost the economy, according to a...