Hajoca is taking majority ownership of Gustave A. Larson and Applied Product Solutions through an agreement with the family that owns the distributors. The development comes seven months after Hajoca announced plans to launch an HVAC division, and a news release said the partnership enhances Hajoca's efforts to become a leading player in the HVAC space.

Performance Food Group is expanding its efforts to advance diversity, inclusion and belonging with the launch of the Black Inclusion Group, intended to help the company foster awareness and support for Black representation, enhance recruiting for a diverse workforce and build community. The initiative marks PFG's second associate resource group, and the company is planning to introduce six more.

The consumer price index decreased 0.1% in December from the level in November, indicating inflation continued to cool. The index increased 6.5% compared with December 2021, marking the lowest increase since October 2021. The core consumer price index rose 5.7% year over year and 0.3% month over month.

Working with multiple systems was identified as the biggest challenge for business payments, followed by security and fraud threats and data visibility, according to the Strategic Treasurer 2022 Global Payments Survey. "The linkage between these challenges suggests that the same solution can eliminate many of them," writes Corpay Payables' Sven Hinrichsen, who explains why payment automation and outsourcing payment services can offer a solution.

"The journey from A to B features numerous blind spots," and companies can get real-time information about location of their goods and materials by adopting electronic bills of lading and track-and-trace technology, writes Mike Bhaskaran of logistics company DP World. Global efforts, such as the World Logistics Passport, can help aid in international trade, Bhaskaran notes.

Podcasts are an effective way for business-to-business marketers to reach busy decision-makers who like listening to content while doing other tasks, and companies with branded podcasts experience higher awareness, consideration and purchase intent, Lesley Vos writes. Vos explains how to plan, record, edit, submit and promote B2B podcasts.

Managers may be inadvertently distracting employees and hurting their productivity with constant requests for updates or check-ins that don't account for workers' schedules. Tips to address this problem include ensuring meetings have an agenda and asking employees to share their calendars.

Companies can overcome budget and time excuses for upskilling workers by seeking training opportunities on the job through mentoring and job shadowing and by reinforcing that learning with coaching and feedback, Julie Winkle Giulioni writes. "These are all ways to build greater connection and a culture of learning within your team that are easy on the budget and once established require little time investment on the part of leaders," Winkle Giulioni writes.