Major corporations helping small business

I've often commented on the printing and imaging industry's growing interest in the Small and Medium Business (SMB) market. And this trend continues in 2008, along with a larger tech industry effort in the same direction.

Printing industry leader HP (NYSE HPQ) has just made available a free download of a new "ebook", "9 Steps To Outstanding Market Success". The new book looks very good -- and in the full disclosure department, I was at least a minor contributor to author Oliver Fritsch's "labor of love", as he refers to the project in his recent blog post.

Microsoft (NASDAQ MSFT) seems equally intrigued by the SMB market, and, for example, has an ebook of their own I've also just downloaded. Check out "Your Road Map to Success" in their Small Business Center.

And never one to be left behind, read about Google (NASDAQ GOOG) Apps, another topic I've covered often here, in a recent Jefferson Graham USAToday piece covering their relevance to small business. See "Google Apps can be a small firm's best friend". Probably won't find a link to this one at the MSFT site!