Jazzercise: Jazzing Up Exercise for Business Success

Jazzercise is a company offering a dance-based fitness program of the same time, a 60-minute routine featuring resistance training, jazz dance, yoga, Pilates, kickboxing, and Latin-styled movements set to today’s most popular music. The company started out in 1969, established by Judi Sheppard Misset. Today, the company has 7,800 instructors teaching in over 32,000 classes in 50 states and more than 30 other countries every week. Many Jazzercise instructors are also franchise owners so sometimes class hours and prices may differ.

In 2009, MSNBC ranked the company as one of its picks for top five franchises proven to provide growth opportunity. In 2011, Jazzercise made it to Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list, bagging the top spot in fitness franchises and 17th place overall. In 2010/2011, the company had its most successful run after being in business for more than 40 years, posting system-wide sales amounting to $97 million.

Frontier Airlines: Soaring Above Change and Challenges

Frontier Airlines is based in Denver, Colorada, an ultra low-cost carrier operating as a subsidiary of Indigo Partners, LLC. It caters to more than 75 destinations, offering flights around the US and to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica. A Frontier Airlines hub is located at the Denver International Airport, serving focus cities like Cleveland, Ohio; Trenton, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware; and Washington, D.C. An agreement with the Great Lakes Airlines also allows the airline to connect passengers to the Rocky Mountain States.

Incorporated in 1994, the current Frontier Airlines was established by a group of executives from the previous Frontier Airlines company in response to the gap that Continental Airlines left when it shut down its Denver hub in 1993. Scheduled flights began on July 1994, a few months after incorporation, using Boeing 737 jets. Flying out of Denver, the airline’s slogan “The Spirit of the West” was apt.

In 2008, Frontier Airlines filed for bankruptcy when First Data, the airline’s credit card processor, said it would be withholding ticket sales starting May 1. While First Data’s actions terribly hampered operations for the airline, it was able to continue uninterrupted because its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy status protected its assets and allowed restructuring. It wasn’t until November of the same year that Frontier Airlines posted profit since it filed for bankruptcy.

Several bids to acquire the airline was placed but Frontier Airlines ended up with Republic Airways Holdings in August 2009. Republic consolidated administrative positions to accommodate the acquisition, moving airline executives to Indianapolis. Frontier Airlines kept its headquarters in Denver though for training, marketing, scheduling & planning, and customer reservations.

In October 2013, Indigo Partners acquired Frontier Airlines from Republic for $145 million, completing the transaction in December. As of June 2014, Frontier Airline’s fleet includes the Airbus A319-100, Airbus A319neo, Airbus A320-200, and the Airbus A320neo.

Taser International: World’s Most Common Electroshock Gun Manufacturer

The most common brand of electroshock gun is the Taser, which is produced by Taser International, Inc. This American company is based in Scottsdale, Arizona and is the developer, manufacturer and distributor of Taser.

Brothers Rick and Tom Smith started the business in 1991 as Air Taser, Inc. The idea behind the product came to them when two of their friends were murdered in a road rage. Collaborating with Jack Cover, they were able to come up with a non-lethal weapon which was patterned after the early version of Taser created by Cover. It was in 1994 that they were able to create a non-firearm version of the product which allowed them to bypass federal and state laws that only applies to firearms.

The name Taser was taken from a fictional weapon: Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. The initial of the words were taken to create the company and brand name.

Syntel: An IT Consulting and IT Services Provider

One of the certified minority-owned businesses (MBE) in the industry of IT services and IT consulting is Syntel. This multinational U.S. based company offers business and integrated technology services. It is in Troy, Michigan that the business keeps its corporate headquarters.

From a $2,000 investment, the business was able to grow into a multi-million dollar venture. Bharat Desai, together with his wife, Neerja Sethi founded the company in 1980. They named their venture Systems International and kicked off their operations by providing software staffing services to various local corporations. Among its big clients are General Motors and some government agencies. During their first year in the business, the company was able to earn more than $30,000.

There are 17 global development centers that the company owns and operates. Their development centers are mostly located in the United States and India, although they have one in Manila, Philippines. They also have a total of 30 facilities that are located in Australia, Canada, Germany, Philippines, UK and US. As a minority-owned business, the majority of its shares is owned by Bharat Desai. He now sits as the Chairman of the Board of the business. Common stocks of business are publicly traded on the NASDAQ (SYNT). During their 2013 fiscal year, the company was able to generate revenue of more than $824.8 million and employs more than 24,122 employees.

The IT and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) services that Syntel offers address the needs of various industries in the areas of Mobility, Enterprise Architecture Solutions, Business Intelligence/Data Warehousing, ERP and Enterprise Integration Services. Their clients are businesses that thrive in the industry of Healthcare, Life Sciences, Banking and Financial Services, Retail, Logistics, Insurance, Telecom and Manufacturing.

Syntel also received commendations for its contributions to the market. Several accolades were given to the business and the most recent were the “Fastest Growing Companies” (2013) from Crain’s Detroit Business, CRN’s “Solution Provider 500” (2013) and Gartner’s Top 10 India-Based IT Services Providers (2013).

Sonus Networks: A Global Provider of IP Solutions

Serving the communications industry worldwide, Sonus Networks was established in 1997. The business thrives in the market as a supplier of various Session Initiation Protocol-based communication equipment. These products include Unified Communications and VoIP videos through IP networks.

With more than a decade in the business, Sonus is now a trusted name in delivering reliable, secure and scalable next generation infrastructure. Their presence is visible in 50 countries which strongly trust their capabilities to transform networks to IP. Through their products and services, they are making customers patronize businesses and in turn generate significant incomes. Their product portfolio includes media and signalling gateways, policy/routing servers and border controllers.

For their innovation  and breakthroughs in the industry, they have been honored with several awards, including the Frost & Sullivan for their technology innovation. They were also named the most outstanding vendor by AT&T in 2007. In addition, Forbes has named the business as one of the most dynamic telecom and network company in 2001.

Skullcandy: America’s Best Selling Earbuds

As more people are drawn towards embracing music in their daily lives, the market for devices related to music also grows. Headphones and earphones are among the most marketable items for music lovers. One of the newest and the hippest companies that market these items is Skullcandy.

Skullcandy, compared to other brand names offer the most reliable, of the highest quality, but a more affordable market for earphones, headphones, audio backpacks, MP3 players, hands free devices and other related products. Founded in 2003, their products are sold online, through specialty outlets and independent retailers. Their items are mostly targeted at the general consumer market and the outdoor sports demographic like skateboarders and snowboarders. The first product they introduced to the market is their Skullcandy Portable Link which gives users hands-free technology to listen to music from their portable device while making and receiving phone calls from their mobile phones.

It was Rick Alden, who put up the business and introduced his innovation at the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first few items he created were sold to Milo Snow & Skate, an action sports shop in Utah. His LINK technology is now patented and is among the first technologies that integrates music players and mobile phones. With his technological breakthrough, he was, in 2008, named as one of vSpring Capital’s Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs. Fortune Magazine also named his product as “the world’s coolest ear bud” in December 2008. Today, the wide array of headphones they market has received a range of reviews. They made their products attractive by using catchy colors and graphics. 

Their entry level product is Ink’d 2 which today holds the label “#1 selling bud in America”. This product is also their most saleable item which sells around $10 to $20. Skullcandy currently trades on the NASDAQ and made its initial public offering on January 28, 2011.