Paul Reed Smith

Co-founder and Managing General Partner

Paul Reed Smith guitars

www.prsguitars.com

Paul Reed Smith is an internationally known guitar maker, business owner and guitar player. Paul set out to live his life doing what he loved and in the process, helped build a guitar brand considered by many to be the highest quality and most well-made in the world.

Laura A. Schoppe is president of Fuentek, LLC, a consulting firm that provides intellectual property and technology management services with a specialization in technology commercialization.

James S.B. Chew is automotive consultant and auto journalist. He currently writes for the Antelope Valley Press (CA), AV News Today, Whispering Bomb, der Bayerschein, and “Roundel” the magazine for the BMW Car Club of America.

Checking in on past spotlight and self-tending mushroom award winners gives you the chance to see where they are now. So, after almost going under in 2009, did General Motors (GM) find a cure for the automotive blues and improve sales? Also, did Barnes & Noble book stores embrace the digital revolution and reap any rewards? And on the positive side, did spotlight award winners, Fuentek and PRS guitars continue to outrun the economic downturn? Read on for an update. After a disastrous 2009 where GM sold a paltry 10.4 million cars, the company saw sales climb 11.1 percent in 2010 to 11.6 million cars according to a report in USA Today, but then went on to boast a 22 percent US sales gain by February this year. Despite rising auto sales, in-house and consumer doubts still exist. According to a report on cnbc.com, “The auto industry has benefited from a broad economic recovery after suffering greatly during the recession. But GM's increase may not be the norm.” In November 2010, Barnes & Noble launched NOOkcolor in an attempt to keep up with the digital giants and boost sales for 2011. A press release noted that the NOOKcolor received widespread critical acclaim from many technology publications. CEO, William Lynch said, “Selling digital content is becoming (such) a big business for us that we expect to grow at exciting rates.” Barnes and Noble also received a $204 million investment from Liberty Media who backed out of a complete buyout earlier this year claiming its main interest was in the e-reader device. Fuentek on the other hand seems to have all the right ideas when it comes to marketing success and has repeatedly been awarded contracts from NASA. President, Laura Schoppe, attributes the company’s continued success to the flexibility of having all employees working from home combined with the loyalty from a happy workforce. Telecommuting may not be for everybody, but it seems appropriate for the temporary nature of today’s workforce. Business owner, Paul Reed Smith of PRS Guitars is known for his loyalty toward his customers as well as his heartfelt dedication to his craft. Having captured 40 percent of the high end guitar market, Smith has earned a star quality of his own resulting in continued demand for his products. So where are they now? STeMie winner GM is showing tentative improvement. STeMie winner Barnes and Noble may be sabotaging a turnaround. Spotlight winner Fuentek is maintaining their virtual advantage. And spotlight winner PRS guitars is still out-innovating the competition. The lesson from each of these is that maintaining momentum from an advantage is key.