The French pharma is speeding its promising vaccine into production. That's good news for global health, but maybe not for the company's profits.

Despite a disaster-relief package that may eventually exceed $200 billion and a presidential pledge to "take the side of entrepreneurs as they lead the economic revival of the gulf region," what little federal help that exists for small business comes in a tar pit of bureaucracy.

Microsoft Corp. said late Thursday it had reached a settlement with rival Google Inc. and former employee Kai-Fu Lee, ending a legal battle that had exposed behind-the-scenes rancor between the companies.

Internet auctioneer eBay has canceled plans to allow live pets to be sold on its Web site after receiving thousands of angry letters from users. The company has long banned the sale of live animals except fish and snails, and officials said Monday they were scrapping plans to create a separate classifieds category that would feature free ads from animal shelters and paid ads from breeders.

Companies are using threats and incentives to motivate workers. Scotts Miracle-Gro is taking its campaign to stamp out smoking among its workers to an unusual length. It’s threatening to fire smokers beginning next fall. The threat represents the latest attempt by an employer to try to reduce health care costs by targeting smokers. In January, four employees at Weyco, a small medical-benefits administrator in Okemos, Mich., lost their jobs after they refused to be tested for tobacco use. Scotts, which has 5,300 U.S. workers, is one of the largest companies to have put an outright ban on smoking even off the job.

The French government's attempt to rush a bill on copyright in the digital age into law is running into trouble. The bill, "Authors' rights and related rights in an information society," is intended to transpose a European Union directive on copyright into national legislation. It was the subject of a late-night debate in the National Assembly on Wednesday, as part of a fast-track process that allows the government to dispense with the usual third and fourth readings by senators and deputies.

The entrepreneurial mind abhors a vacuum. Market failures, unmet demand, even the maddening lure of a blank napkin--all beckon as explicit invitations to invent. What defines an entrepreneur (as well as an entrepreneurial organization) is that relentless problem-solving approach, not the specifics of the problem itself. We typically associate such ingenuity with the transformation of problems into lucrative, shareholder-enriching companies. But the entrepreneurs you'll meet in this story are responding to a different sort of void.

We asked 49 business visionaries, collectively worth over $70 billion, what single philosophy they swear by more than any other -- in business, life, or both. Here are the secrets of their success.