Dish Network boasts an impressive clientele of more than nine million monthly subscribers. Significantly, though they are only second largest distributor of satellite television service, they have been voted #1 in customer service by J.D. Power and Associates. While every business has, by necessity, a different business plan, a careful look at some of things Dish Network has done to be successful will yield a few principles that will help your small business to succeed.

Echo-Star owns Dish Network, and they are currently in negotiation with one of their channel providers because provider is demanding a higher per-package, per-user fee each month. The demand, though an increase of only a few pennies per user, represents millions of dollars in short and long term for Dish. I present conflict here to demonstrate Dish's commitment to minimizing costs. Rather than just rolling over and accepting fee increase, Dish Network is demonstrating to their customers their commitment to providing their services at lowest cost possible. For any business to be successful, and I assume that is goal for your home business, it must bring in more revenue than it shells out. Being diligent in fighting to minimize your own costs will go a long way towards that end.

Analysts estimate that retail industry loses US $50B a year to theft and up to ten times that much to counterfeiting. High-end products such as cosmetics, fragrances and pharmaceuticals are most likely to be stolen or counterfeited. Many retailers and manufacturers believe that this big problem may have a tiny solution – RFID smart tags.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is an automatic data capture technology that offers unparalleled accuracy in inventory control and supply chain management. Although RFID is a relative newcomer to media spotlight, technology has been quietly working its way into our culture and into our lives since it was drafted by military 60 years ago.

The US Department of Defense first used RFID to track military aircraft during World War II. Since then, this compelling technology has been used extensively in highway toll collection, building security, library circulation, parcel delivery and airport luggage transportation.

What exactly is RFID and how does it affect future of packaging?

RFID functions as a network of microchip “smart tags” and receivers. Each smart tag is embedded with a unique electronic product code (EPC) and a micro-antenna. Once assigned, EPC becomes a DNA-like marker for item, identifying it from every other item in world. When a tagged item passes within range of a reader, reader retrieves EPC via radio waves, identifies item and its exact location, and relays this real-time information to a central computer. Taken together, series of transactions comprise a comprehensive record of tagged item’s movement from point of origin to point of sale.

The greatest promise of RFID lies in its application versatility. Smart tags can be affixed to either individual products or to pallets containing multiple units, and can be “read” through most materials. RFID readers can scan multiple items at one time, making them functionally superior to traditional, uni-task bar code scanners.