More on "How Will a Strong Canadian Dollar Affect Small Business"?

My Nov.5/07 post was on how a strong Canadian dollar might affect small business. The loonie continues to sit at or near parity with the American greenback. Here's a sampling of some more interesting articles and reports for you to browse:

Rising Canadian Dollar = Grief for Small Business?

From The Globe and Mail online - Click here for “The Buck Stops Here: Renegotiating the Dollar”, an article by Rasha Mourtada from Jan.21/08 that discusses how and why you might consider renegotiating existing business deals.

This article (click here) is a media release from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. In the article, The Chamber discusses how businesses are resisting “suggesting that governments interfere with market forces”.

This article (click here) appeared in the Financial Post on Dec.31/07; it examines various challenges that small businesses face, including sensitivity to a fluctuating dollar.

This CBC article from Jan.29/08 is headlined “Manufacturers Expect Tough 2008: Report" - click here to see it.

Click here for a Frost & Sullivan research report on the Canadian Automotive Industry which appeared in Businessworld.

If you’re interested in the IT sector, click here for an article from the Nov.5/07 issue of ComputerWorld Canada called “IT Sector Explores Impact of Canadian Dollar’s Rise".

Follow this link for an article entitled “High Dollar is Causing Widening Grief” which appeared in businessexaminer.net, a part of BClocalnews.com.

While many of the articles above are doom and gloom, this article (click here) called “Silver Lining to Expected Slowdown” on financialpost.com, presents some reasons for optimism.

U.S. Economic Census: Get the Facts on Doing Business in the U.S.

Do you do business with the U.S.? Do you want to set up a business in the U.S.? If you answered yes to either of these questions, consider looking at the U.S. Economic Census data.

The U.S. Economic Census takes place every five years in years ending in 2 and 7. Recently, 4,700,000 census forms were mailed out. The Economic Census profiles American business from the national to the local level.

Click here to see an interesting "Facts for Features" collection of U.S. statistics relating to various types of businesses. For example, find out what the average per capita spending is at drinking establishments and what services landscapers typically offer. To see more economic census releases with data from the last census (2002), click here.

The main U.S. Census Bureau page is located at this address: http://www.census.gov/. It includes population and state/community facts and figures as well as economic indicators and statistics (i.e. housing starts, total business sales) too. Click here for links to business and industry data.