Is there ANY business activity that receives more scrutiny than the venerable meeting? Its importance is enough to gain the attention of a Harvard Business professor, and business leaders are always ready to share their pearls of wisdom about the benefits and wastefulness of meetings. They are like coffee, the most studied “drug” (OK, caffeine) in the world.

The impact of the supply side in most firms is often far more pervasive and substantive than may first be apparent. In the simplest of terms, the supply side of the business works primarily to manage investment and minimize cost.

In one of my last letters, I discussed the need to attract talent to our industry. I solicited feedback from you, HARDI members and readers. Since then, I’ve had a few conversations with members who offered tips.

FT. WASHINGTON, Pa.—CMC Energy Services (CMC), a leader in the energy conservation industry since 1977, and a certified Women’s Business Enterprise, announced the acquisition of Yalesville, Conn.-based Competitive Resources Inc. (CRI).

BETHEL, Conn.—Duracell Professional, the business-to-business division of Duracell, today released the 2015 Battery Market Insights Report, designed to educate battery distributors about the evolving state of the U.S. away-from-home battery market.

ST. LOUIS—Coming off successful events in California and British Columbia this year, Emerson Climate Technologies Inc., a business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), announced it will host the third quarterly E360 Forum in support of its E360™ platform.

After reading HARDI President Bill Bergamini’s letter in this issue, l was struck by the truism of his observation that arguably, the distribution industry “seems” to lose out to more glamorous professions for attracting budding talent.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing average sales for HARDI distributor members declined by 3.3 percent in May 2015.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Mitsubishi Electric US Inc. Cooling & Heating Division (Mitsubishi Electric), announced the selection of Johnstone Supply - The Ware Group Florida (The Ware Group) as the South Business Unit (BU) Distributor of the Year.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Congressmen Dave Reichert and Ron Kind introduced the S Corporation Modernization Act (H.R. 2788) last month. This proposed bipartisan legislation would give tax relief to the many S corporations among HARDI’s membership by allowing them to have better access to capital and to more easily compete and hire new workers.