Kickstart: Parity in the corner office?

It's not exactly breaking news to note than the plastics industry is more dominated by men, although women have always played a part, and are continuing to move up the ladder in engineering, sales and executive positions. Witness the range of women who were honored in the Class of 2019 at Plastics News' annual Women Breaking the Mold forum in Nashville Nov. 11.

Now our sister publication, Crain's Cleveland Business has a report on a new survey by Key Bank of 250 women who own businesses. The 2019 Financial Confidence Survey Report found that 71 percent are "highly optimistic" they will achieve their business goals in the next 12 months, an increase of 5 percentage points from the 2018 survey. About nine in 10 respondents said they plan to expand their business in the next two years.

A majority of the women, 54 percent, said they believe the number of businesses owned by women and men will be on par in the next five years.

But at the same time, 21 percent said "gender bias" made it harder to access capital and 58 percent they experienced barriers to success due to their gender. How did they respond? Working harder (57 percent), joining local business organizations (49 percent), calling out bias (41 percent) and, at the top of the list, networking with other women in business (66 percent).

Vinyl may not get the same love as stainless steel appliances in your favorite home makeover shows, but if you listen closely, you will hear three sweet letters pop up more often these days: LVT.

Luxury vinyl tiles (or luxury vinyl plank, LVP) are being offered as a high end flooring option to traditional tile or hardwood. And as Ed Hudson, director of marketing research services at Home Innovation Research Labs said at the Society of Plastics Engineers' Vinyltec event in Akron, Ohio, last month, luxury vinyl is taking off.

LVT now claims about 7 percent of the flooring market share, and that's just five to six years after being introduced. Reporter Bill Bregar has more from Hudson on vinyl and housing.

OK, so maybe no toy company has come out with a hybrid of My Little Pony, Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and professional wrestling ... yet ... but the newest season of the Netflix series "The Toys That Made Us" is now available on the streaming service, and they feature those four blockbusters.

"The Toys That Made Us" episodes focus on creative and business decisions that led to the rise of not just toys but entire companies. The episode on Star Wars toys feature both the wise decisions that led Kenner to becoming a behemoth, and a not so wise choice made by Hasbro later on licensing.

And hey, if anyone out there really does want to make a toy line featuring crime fighting superpowered mutant ponies who moonlight as professional wrestlers, I'm listening.