Businesses

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

RECIFE, Brazil — The Brazilian state of Pernambuco was once known for its vast plains of parched dirt and roving bandits called cangacos, who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. For later generations, escaping the widespread poverty of the northeast customarily meant moving to livelier southeastern cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, though many migrants still ended up living in favelas , or slums. Today, an economic boom has given locals good reasons to stay put, and large numbers of Brazilians are even making their way north in search of a better life.

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

There are things that Slash just doesn't want to talk about. And the timing was definitely not right a few weeks ago as the guitarist was preparing for a trip to Cleveland for his induction with Guns N' Roses into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "I don't even want to talk about that. I don't want to touch it," Slash said in April, his usual friendly demeanor turning cool at the mere mention of GNR. It was during a week of drama and uncertainty about the ceremony, which had peaked days earlier with the arrival of a confrontational open letter to the Hall of Fame from singer Axl Rose.

As warehouses go, there are few like Skechers USA Inc.'s new 1.82-million-square-foot distribution center. This warehouse is so big that it takes half a minute to drive from one end to the other at 60 miles per hour. The setup is so advanced that human hands will hardly touch the cargo as it is unpacked, categorized, stacked and prepared for delivery. The building is so green that it uses prevailing winds for ventilation instead of air conditioning. For its new North American operations warehouse, the nation's No. 2 footwear company chose the Inland Empire's Moreno Valley.

The Olympics movement has passed over Chicago, but it has left a lasting and unpleasant mark on George Tsoukas' business. He has owned a butcher shop here for about 40 years. But a year or two ago, Olympic Meat Packers Inc. had to be renamed Olympia Meat Packers Inc. because federal law gives the U.S. Olympic Committee a trademark on the word "Olympic." Tsoukas, whose family is Greek, says he sometimes forgets and answers the phone with the old name. "My customers, they hang up on me and they think it's a different business," he says.

The most archetypal American small town in Los Angeles County may be El Segundo, with its neighborly mid-century vibe. Visitors arriving on Main Street pass stately brick-and-stone El Segundo High School, a popular filming location, before encountering a large wooden directory erected by the Kiwanis Club that lists the city's 11 churches. Around the corner at Wendy's Place Cafe, there are framed jigsaw puzzles of Saturday Evening Post covers drawn by Norman Rockwell hanging on the paneled wall above the milkshake machine.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration ordered tariffs of 31% and higher on solar panels imported from China, escalating a simmering trade dispute with China over a case that has sharply divided American interests in the growing clean-energy industry. The Commerce Department announced the stiff duties Thursday after making a preliminary finding that Chinese solar panel manufacturers "dumped" their goods - that is, sold them at below fair-market value. The widely anticipated ruling, if affirmed by U.S. trade officials this fall, is expected to have significant implications for both the global production of solar cells, now largely in China, and the growth of the solar energy industry in the U.S., which employs about 100,000 people in manufacturing, installation and services.

Gov. Jerry Brown has found a new pot of money to help him fill a $9-billion hole in his proposed budget: $1 billion from auctioning credits to allow California companies to emit greenhouse gases. But business groups are already denouncing Brown's plan as a back-door tax increase that they intend to challenge in court if the proposal is approved as part of the state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. "At a time when the public is concerned about jobs and the economy, the budget proposes a new tax on California businesses for climate change activities," said Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn.

Reporting from Sacramento A dozen companies committed to maximizing social good while turning a profit have filed papers with the state to become California's first "benefit corporations. " Chief executives, led by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia Inc., a maker and seller of outdoor apparel and equipment, marched into the secretary of state's office in Sacramento shortly after it opened Tuesday morning. It was the first business day they could register under a recently approved state law that gives companies a way to legally structure their businesses to consider social and environmental efforts as part of their missions.

Clayton Christensen achieves the difficult feat of being at once imposing and humble. When I visited him last autumn at Harvard Business School, he laid out with quiet authority his latest thoughts on disruptive technology, the concept that justly made him famous in the mid-1990s. But he also took time to chat about his son's college basketball team, a poster of which hangs on one wall of an office full of family photos and memorabilia. Although he places great value on his family and faith — he is a devout Mormon — his research and teaching have dominated his public story.

Re "Business ties to City Hall wane," May 12 The article missed the mark. Business is an aggressive advocate at City Hall and actively engaged in city elections. On Jan. 17, Joe Buscaino trounced the candidate backed by the County Federation of Labor in the race for City Council District 15. The L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce's JOBS PAC vigorously backed Buscaino, providing $82,000 to support him. In 2011, in the much closer reelection of Councilman Bernard C. Parks, the JOBS PAC provided critical independent expenditure funding for mailers and phone calls.

She's a 26-year-old former party girl with social anxiety issues, a motorcycle-riding iconoclast who dropped out of USC and attends meetings in Led Zeppelin T-shirts. Megan Ellison is also the most powerful new producer in Hollywood, running a burgeoning movie company from her $33-million compound in the hills above the Sunset Strip - and giving a critical boost to the kinds of adult dramas the major studios have all but abandoned. Hollywood has long attracted wealthy, star-struck investors who don't appreciate the difficulty (or "complexity")

British Airways thinks 1952 was a very good year -- and a very good price for an airfare sale. Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne that year and celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this year. The airline has a special offer for those who want in on the celebrations: Fly in style in business class round-trip from L.A. to London or Manchester for $1,952. The deal: Last-minute partiers may carve out time to fly across the pond and cash in on this deal. The big Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London are slated June 2-5, though there are on-going events on other dates around the country.

Joining a growing number of municipalities, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday adopted a "responsible banking" ordinance that will require banks doing business with the city to disclose detailed data on loans and foreclosure activity by community. Much of the information is already reported under federal law but can be hard to find in voluminous federal banking reports, said Miguel Santana, city administrative officer. The new law would bring the information together on a city website that the public could search by census tract, he said.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Africa's rapid economic growth has helped change the stereotype of a hopeless continent of starving people waiting to be rescued, but it has also created an intense need for strong managers, according to a report released Tuesday. Poor management is hurting the effectiveness of global multinational corporations, major local companies, governments and charitable foundations in many African countries, says the report by the African Management Initiative, a nonprofit organization focused on training managers to help business development on the continent.

David Joyce marched his way to the front of the U.S. immigration line using his pocketbook, sinking half a million dollars into a Vermont ski resort. The British citizen had spent years in a futile effort to secure green cards for himself, his wife and their 9-year-old son so they could relocate to sunny Florida. Then, a fellow emigre tipped him off to a little-known federal program that helps foreigners gain permanent U.S. residency by investing in American businesses. Graphic: Number of investors' visas to U.S. "In six months, we had our green cards," said Joyce, 51. "Considering everything we've been through, this was easy.

The Obama administration is unveiling a slate of regulatory changes it says will cut government red tape and save businesses more than $10 billion over the next five years — and, the White House hopes, bolster its effort to promote job and economic growth. The plan includes about 500 changes aimed at saving businesses money in a variety of ways, such as consolidating their IRS paperwork, simplifying hazard warnings they must post for workers, and expediting payment to government contractors.

KHARTOUM, Sudan - It has come to this: The Sudanese government is sending out text messages to the population begging for donations to help the cash-strapped military. "Please help support the army," the messages plead. "If you want to contribute 10 Sudanese pounds, send number 10, and if you want to contribute 50 pounds, send the number 50. " This would not appear to an optimum moment to get into a war with its newest neighbor, South Sudan. But pride on both sides of their disputed border is undermining hope of peace, analysts warn, with neither side willing to reach a deal on the oil both depend on. South Sudan independence in July has cost Sudan three-quarters of its oil revenue, paralyzing the nation's economy.

LegalZoom.com Inc., an online provider of legal services for consumers and small businesses, has filed to raise as much as $120 million in an initial public offering. The Glendale company was founded in 1999 and offers self-help legal documents such as divorce and bankruptcy forms, real estate leases, prenuptial agreements and wills. The company has been credited with helping shake up the legal industry by making it simple for people to bypass lawyers. LegalZoom has served about 2 million customers during the last decade, it said in its filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.