With all the gloom in the global economy, I got to wondering whether there is anything else going on in the world of business. I'm looking for growth because I think that's what will ultimately bring the economy out of the doldrums. Not surprisingly, that growth is coming from technology companies. In Growth Matters, I look at consumer technology companies that point the way to growth trends -- and in the process introduce services and products you may want to explore.
I was surprised to learn that the world's second largest e-commerce company, behind Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), is Germany's Otto Group. I interviewed Thomas Voigt, Vice President Corporate Communications for the Otto Group, who said, "The Otto Group companies focused on multichannel sales at an early stage and added E-Commerce to their traditional mail-order operations, in order to plan for the future."
Cramer on BloggingStocks: The Fed's push for TARP payback 
Hewlett-Packard reports growth in profit and operating margin in Q4
Before the bell: Stocks futures steady ahead of GDP, housing data
