
Business Round Table is about the personal insights and philosophies on life and business in the own words of the company executive.
Below are the last 10 Business Round Table columns

By Sean Mullen
Chief Technical Officer of Sunetric Capital and President of Sunetric
My wife Beth-Ann and I started Sunetric - now Hawaii’s largest locally owned and operated solar energy company - five years ago. We started it with a mission for people to embrace renewable energy and to be cognizant of living a “green” lifestyle.
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By Allison Wong
Interim Executive Director of The Contemporary Museum
On three and a half acres in Makiki Heights sits a jewel in the center of Honolulu. The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu (TCM) is the only museum in Hawaii devoted exclusively to contemporary art. TCM provides an accessible public forum for challenging, provocative forms of visual art and expression in a unique, lush natural environment.
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By Mark Hollander
President & CEO of Crazy Shirts
It’s hard to believe that Crazy Shirts turned 45 this year. We’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings, Rick Ralston selling airbrushed designed shirts to tourists from a little grass shack in Waikiki. Today, we’ve got 22 stores on all major Hawaiian Islands and 14 across the Mainland, as well as a growing mail-order catalog and Web site.
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Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, “I want to buy a timeshare.” It is an unsought product. Every day thousands of hardworking Hawaii residents show people a different way of vacationing hase an interest - traditionally one week annually, but sometimes more or less - in a resort accommodation to use for a set number of years, or often, as in fee simple real estate, in perpetuity.
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By Adolph Helm
President of Hawaii Crop Improvement Association
Hawaii’s seed industry is striving to become the gateway for worldwide agriculture. Considering that almost every line of commercially distributed seed corn spends some time being developed in this state, we undoubtedly play a major role in agricultural systems worldwide. Seed companies have operated here in Hawaii for more than 40 years
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“It is truly a blessing to be able to work and live in a place that reinforces and rewards a value-based life and business. It’s a definition of ‘paradise’ that most visitors and newcomers don’t associate with Hawaii, but one that I think may be the most important reason to call Hawaii home.” I wrote that for this column four years ago, and find it to be truer now. The past two years especially, as I have had the opportunity to be connected with a small, value-based, locally owned and operated company, Mid Pac Petroleum.
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By Alex Choi
Owner/Hawaii Master Franchiser for Red Mango Hawaii
People often ask me, “With all the other frozen yogurt franchises, why Red Mango?” The answer is simple. I believe in the product and the lifestyle behind it. The frozen yogurt concept is fascinating to me. Once the craze hit the Mainland, it took off and “fro-yo” shops were opening everywhere. Being the entrepreneur that I am, I soon realized that this was something that I had to be a part of and bring to Hawaii.
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By Matt Delaney
President & CEO of Hawaii Human Resources
Businesses are in survival mode, laying off employees and streamlining operations. Conventional wisdom would suggest it’s a good time to take cover and apply a more conservative approach during this current economic “perfect storm” we are experiencing, right? Well, yes and no. At Hawaii Human Resources (HiHR), we’ve found there are opportunities for companies willing to not only provide the expected
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Sometimes to succeed in business you have to break the mold. Island Pacific Academy (IPA) exists as the 13th largest independent, nonprofit school in a state replete with independent schools, occupying more than 70,000 square feet of modern, air-conditioned classroom space because three people.
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By Taro Yoshida
Director of WDI International-Hawaii
WDI International may not be a household name in Hawaii, but many of you have patronized our affiliated businesses , such as Tony Roma’s (California, Hawaii, Guam), Taormina Sicilian Cuisine and Wolfgang’s Steakhouse by Wolfgang Zwiener in Hawaii; and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. (Japan, Indonesia), California Pizza Kitchen (Japan), Capricciosa (Japan, Guam, Saipan, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan), Hard Rock Café (Japan), Inakaya (New York) and numerous other restaurants in the U.S., Japan and around the globe.
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