5th February 2012
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Queen Elizabeth II (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Arjun Ashar
Why the queen has to be seen to be believed Mike Krieger Explains Why It's The Leadership, Stupid (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Arjun Ashar It’s the first time we have power with people that don’t have courage. The people on top have power without courage. You cannot find any other society like it. Take the knights. The knights were people who of course, their trade was risking their lives. In theory, The President of the United States was supposed to be first in battle. Not someone pushing a button. The only way you can have a safe society is by moving these types of people (that risk nothing personally and take all the upside) out of their positions. Making them more accountable. China has no Intention to ‘Buy Europe’ (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Trying to assuage concerns over growing Chinese investment in debt-stricken eurozone economies, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, speaking at a German-China business forum on Friday in the southern province of Guangdong, said that China neither had the ability nor the intention to “buy Europe”. China is “willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis. Hayek, not Keynes, got it right (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The question posed by author Nicholas Wapshott in his recently published book, “Keynes Hayek: The Clash that Defined Modern Economics,” is: Who prevailed — the renowned English economist John Maynard Keynes, likely the most influential 20th century proponent of government intervention and regulation of economic affairs, or Frederick Hayek, the Austrian economist, who emerged among the leading 20th century critics of both. Ron Paul on Peace (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Mr. Speaker, today I rise with gratitude to Edmund Burke and paraphrase words he first spoke 224 years ago this week. It is presently true that to restore liberty and dignity to a nation so great and distracted as ours is indeed a significant undertaking. For, judging of what we are by what we ought to be, I have persuaded myself that this body might accept this reasonable proposition. An Unpriced Energy Constraint? (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh And throughout the living memory of every human on earth today, technology has continually developed to extract more and more raw material from the environment to power that growth. On borrowed time (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Britain will regret the current wave of library closures but that does not mean its network must stay the same A Crisis in Worthwhile Opinions of Capitalism (4th February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Each of the Davos-list celebrities to write on the subject basically ‘talks his own book.’ The politicians tell us that they can fix what is wrong with capitalism. The regulators want more regulations; do-gooders urge us to rely more on good works. The economists have their economic solutions. The entrepreneurs put their faith in can-do hustlers. Misrepresenting Inequality (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind. Is Greece Close to Leaving the Eurozone? (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh At this week’s European summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union (EU) should be able take over control of Greece’s budget decisions if needed. One Greek newspaper referred to the German proposal as “the document of shame.” Davos 2012: 'Joblessness and Its Discontents' (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Optimism was in short supply at the 2012 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which ended on Sunday. As Wharton management professor Michael Useem reports below, keynote speakers and panelists alike focused on a number of problems that are getting in the way of global prosperity. Chief among them is unemployment, followed by a shortage of highly trained workers needed to spur innovation and solve social challenges. On the bright side, Useem notes, is the rapid growth of emerging economies. Explaining the Universe vs. Explaining Its Rulers (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Science and religion largely rely on different cognitive foundations. Kenneth Rogoff - Coronary Capitalism (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh A systematic and broad failure of regulation is the elephant in the room when it comes to reforming today’s Western capitalism. Yes, much has been said about the unhealthy political-regulatory-financial dynamic that led to the global economy’s heart attack in 2008 (initiating what Carmen Reinhart and I call “The Second Great Contraction”). But is the problem unique to the financial industry, or does it exemplify a deeper flaw in Western capitalism? “Liars and Outliers” by Bruce Schneier (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Bruce Schneier's recent book Liars and Outliers is a philosophical exploration of the role of trust in society, and is likely to appeal more to policy makers and academics than to information security practitioners. He describes how theories regarding trust (and perhaps trust itself) have evolved over time and sets this within the context of today's global interconnected society. Sustainable Humanity (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Sustainable development means achieving economic growth that is widely shared and that protects the earth’s vital resources. Our current global economy, however, is not sustainable, with more than one billion people left behind by economic progress and the earth’s environment suffering terrible damage from human activity. Sustainable development requires mobilizing new technologies that are guided by shared social values. Poland Gives Green Light to Massive Fracking Efforts (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh There is perhaps no more controversial energy source after nuclear than “hydraulic fracturing,” or “fracking,” of subterranean shale deposits containing pockets of natural gas. Central Bankers in the Line of Fire (3rd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Central bankers should not only be above suspicion of wrongdoing, but also appear to be above it. So the decision in January by Philipp Hildebrand, Chairman of the Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), to resign over allegations relating to a suspicious currency trade made by his wife, is to be welcomed. But, while Hildebrand’s resignation should serve as a precedent to be followed by central bankers – indeed, all public officials – everywhere, the circumstances surrounding his departure smell much worse than what caused it. The Unholy Alliance of John Maynard Keynes (2nd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Perhaps the greatest modern champion of central economic planning was the 20th century English economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes, who was a political socialist and for a time a central banker, advocated the idea that the government should play a large, active role in the economy. Among the consequences of Keynes’ economic theories, whether intended or unintended, is the fact that Western economies today are characterized by large, central governments, central banks and massive debts. MIT faculty speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos (2nd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Talks explore the mind/machine interface and the science of predicting the economy, among other topics. The Great Divorce By DAVID BROOKS (2nd February 2012)
Contributed by Arjun Ashar I’ll be shocked if there’s another book this year as important as Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart.” I’ll be shocked if there’s another book that so compellingly describes the most important trends in American society. Blaming Capitalism for Corporatism (2nd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The future of capitalism is again a question. Will it survive the ongoing crisis in its current form? If not, will it transform itself or will government take the lead? Neville Chamberlain was Right (2nd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Neville Chamberlain is remembered today as the British prime minister who, as an avatar of appeasement of Nazi Germany in the late 1930’s, helped to usher Europe into World War II. But, earlier in that fateful decade, relatively soon after the start of the Great Depression, the British economy was rapidly returning to its previous level of output, thanks to Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain’s reliance on fiscal stimulus to restore the price level to its pre-depression trajectory. Jonah Lehrer: The Persistence Of Memory (2nd February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The great mystery of memory is how it endures. The typical neural protein only lasts for a few weeks, the cortex in a constant state of reincarnation. How, then, do our memories persist? It’s as if our remembered past can outlast the brain itself. Survival Insights of an American Genius, by Wayne M. Thomas (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Arjun Ashar Many people remember the book Walden as the story of a hermit living in a hut who survived on twigs and berries in the Concord, Massachusetts woods. Its author, Henry David Thoreau, was no hermit, but a survivalist and philosopher who personified the best of American values of self-reliance, simplicity, love of the land, individualism and defense of personal liberty against governmental overreaching. Economics from the Ground Up (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh One of the unhappy casualties of World War I, it seems, was the old-fashioned treatise on economic "principles." Before World War I, the standard method, both of presenting and advancing economic thought, was to write a disquisition setting forth one's vision of the corpus of economic science. A work of this kind had many virtues wholly missing from the modern world. The Concept of a Perfect System of Government (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The "social engineer" is the reformer who is prepared to "liquidate" all those who do not fit into his plan for the arrangement of human affairs. Yet historians and sometimes even victims whom he puts to death are not averse to finding some extenuating circumstances for his massacres or planned massacres by pointing out that he was ultimately motivated by a noble ambition: he wanted to establish the perfect state of mankind. They assign to him a place in the long line of the designers of utopian schemes. U.S. Headed for Fourth Straight Year of $1 Trillion Plus Deficit (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, in a report released today said thatUnited Statesis set to record its fourth straight year of $1 trillion-plus budget deficit. The current year fiscal deficit, set back by weaker than expected corporate tax revenues, will stay above $1 trillion. The past two years saw the country post $1.3 trillion deficits, which was marginally lower than the $1.4 trillion deficit, recorded in Obama’s first year in office in fiscal 2009. Based on the assumption that Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, the CBO forecasts show the deficit falling to about $585 billion for fiscal 2013. Bill Gates: Building Better Bananas (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Our foundation’s work around the world gives me opportunities to meet really smart, visionary people who are doing pioneering work in fields that I might not get a chance to learn much about otherwise. For example, in December Melinda and I went to Cairns, Australia, where James Dale and his team from Queensland University of Technology are doing advanced research on bananas. As odd as that might sound, this research could make a big contribution to public health in a lot of Africa and Asia. Persistent Questions About the Future of the US Economy (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Can any government in the developed world survive? Will there be enough growth to keep them from going broke? Was the growth of the post-war period a fluke? Was the Industrial Era driven entirely by cheap energy…a ‘growth spurt’ that is now played out? Are the developed economies so burdened by zombie institutions that they can never hope to compete with the emerging markets? How do governments shuck off the zombies? What Adam Smith Forgot (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Adam Smith created one of the most famous ideas in economics. The brilliant Scottish economist called his idea The Invisible Hand and through its creation removed from our minds the fear of free markets theory, making people believe that the best way to regulation is self-regulation. Book Review: ‘What I Learned Before I Sold to Warren Buffett’ (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh With the large number of books related to Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, it is necessary to be selective when it comes to choosing books that are worthy of attention. Readers interested in Warren Buffett’s background and life experiences can select one or both of the comprehensive biographies that have appeared in recent years while those who are looking for insight into Mr. Buffett’s investment techniques can select from a constantly growing catalog of books (for a recent selection, we recommend Prem Jain’s Buffett Beyond Value). What's Wrong With the Teenage Mind? (1st February 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Children today reach puberty earlier and adulthood later. The result: A lot of teenage weirdness. Alison Gopnik on how we might readjust adolescence. The Concept of a Perfect System of Government (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The "social engineer" is the reformer who is prepared to "liquidate" all those who do not fit into his plan for the arrangement of human affairs. Yet historians and sometimes even victims whom he puts to death are not averse to finding some extenuating circumstances for his massacres or planned massacres by pointing out that he was ultimately motivated by a noble ambition: Why Economists Are Right: Rational Expectations and the Uncertainty Principle in Economics (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The essence of ultimate decision remains impenetrable to the observer -- often, indeed, to the decider himself. The Future Of Inequality (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Advantages do accrue to early adopters of new growth modes, but these gains seem to have gotten smaller with each new [transition]. … 1. The number of generations per growth doubling time has decreased. … 2. … As we get better at sharing info in other ways, the first insight-holders displace others less. 3. Independent competitors can more easily displace each another than interdependent ones. The History of Inequality (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh I recently posted on how cities and firms are like distributed as a Zipf power law, with a power of one, where above some threshold each scale holds roughly the same number of people, until the size where the world holds less than one. Turns out, this also holds for nations: RON PAUL’S FILTHY LUCRE (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh There is no longer any doubt—not that there ever truly was. Ron Paul, the libertarian hero, was aware of and, indeed, intimately involved in, the production of the newsletters that printed a number of racist, homophobic, and conspiratorial screeds under his name. Jonathan Haidt Decodes the Tribal Psychology of Politics (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Jonathan Haidt is occupying Wall Street. Sort of. It's a damp and bone-chilling January night in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. The 48-year-old psychologist, tall and youthful-looking despite his silvered hair, is lecturing the occupiers about how conservatives would view their ideas. THE CAGING OF AMERICA (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Why do we lock up so many people? Moats : The Competitive Advantages of Buffett and Munger Businesses (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh This is the best business book that describes enduring competitive advantages of profitable businesses. MOATS: The Competitive Advantages of Buffett and Munger Businesses explains the competitive nature of 70 selected businesses purchased by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger for Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated. This is a very useful resource for investors, managers, students of business around the world. It also looks at the sustainability of these competitive advantages in each of the 70 chapters. The moat is the protective barrier around each business' economic castle. Some of these businesses have double and triple moats of protection. The Rise of the New Groupthink (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh SOLITUDE is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place. Most of us now work in teams, in offices without walls, for managers who prize people skills above all. Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in. The real way to build a social network (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh If there is a guru of networking, it is Reid Hoffman. Here he explains how to do it right -- and wrong -- in an excerpt from his new book with Ben Casnocha, The Start-Up of You. Private Inequity by James Surowiecki (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh At this point, the people who run America’s private-equity funds must be ruing the day Mitt Romney decided to run for President. His fellow Republican candidates, of all people, have painted a vivid picture of private-equity firms—including Bain Capital, where he worked for fifteen years—as job-destroying vultures, who scavenge the meat from American companies and leave their carcasses by the side of the road. Not since the days of “Wall Street” and “Barbarians at the Gate” have the masters of leveraged buyouts looked quite so bad The Twilight of the Leisure Class (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Conspicuous leisure, conspicuous waste, conspicuous consumption. Veblen coins these terms in Theory of the Leisure Class to describe the strategies the noble and priestly classes employ to assert their status. Veblen observes that a life of leisure is the readiest evidence of the superior class, while anything having to do with the work-a-day world of earning a living is the occupation of the inferior class. Failed Fed Policies Prolong the Agony (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The Federal Reserve's interest rate price-setting board, the FOMC, met last week. They will continue to set the federal funds rate at well below 1%, and plan to keep it low until the end of 2014. That's a year and half longer than they planned when they met just last month. Chairman Bernanke says they are keeping interest rates so low for so long because the economic outlook warrants it. Peak Attention and the Colonization of Subcultures (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The question of how such coded language emerges, spreads and evolves is a big one. I am interested in a very specific question: how do members of an emerging subculture recognize each other in public, especially on the Internet, using more specialized coded language? The Imagined Ideological Divide (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Republicans and Democrats are less divided in their attitudes than popularly believed, according to new research. It is exactly those perceptions of polarization, however, that help drive political engagement, researchers say. The Substitution Principle (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh All things considered, this heuristic probably works pretty well most of the time. The easier questions are not meaningless: while not completely accurate, their answers are still generally correlated with the correct answer. And a lot of the time, that's good enough. Physical Clutter Negatively Affects Your Ability To Focus & Process Information (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Multiple stimuli present in the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout visual cortex, providing a neural correlate for the limited processing capacity of the visual system. The folly of the right: Choosing Newt (31st January 2012)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Some would say that the conservative base’s loudest voices — right-wing blogs, those nostalgic about the Contract with America, talk show hosts and pols deemed not fit for national office (Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Herman Cain) — made a fundamental error. They put their money on an unstable and untrustworthy figure whose infatuation with big government is the mirror image (perhaps even a more extreme version) of President Obama’s. Tim Carney writes:
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Bill Gates answers questions from KIPP class (16th October 2010)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh
The KIPP Academy Middle School in New York City’s South Bronx has 268 students in grades five through eight. Bill answered videotaped questions from students in Ms. Maria Soto’s eighth grade Writing class. Firing new shots (20th April 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Using lasers to trigger fusion could prove cheaper than other techniques Two Technology Executives, Two Views of the Virtues/Perils of Connectivity (12th April 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh When Robert Carter looks over the connected world of online communities that many experts call Web 2.0, it is hard for Carter -- the chief information officer and executive vice president of global shipping giant FedEx Corp. -- to curb his enthusiasm. Al Nugent, the chief technology officer for computer giant CA, surveys the same universe and sees similar promise but worries more about the increased risk of an operational meltdown and the rise of new security concerns. Both men spoke at the recent Wharton Technology Conference 2007. India’s Edge Goes Beyond Outsourcing (4th April 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Outsourcing is breaking out of the back office. Out of the dusty labs (3rd March 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Technology firms have left the big corporate R&D laboratory behind, shifting the emphasis from research to development. Does it matter? Netcore CEO Rajesh Jain: 'In India, the Future of the Internet Will Be Built around the Mobile Phone' (20th October 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Seven years ago, Rajesh Jain ignited a dot-com storm in India when his portal, IndiaWorld, was sold to Sify, an Internet service provider, for $115 million. Today, he is CEO of Netcore, a Linux-based messaging software firm, and also maintains an active blog, emergic.org. Jain met with Knowledge@Wharton at his offices in Mumbai to discuss how mobile phones could hold the key to the Internet's evolution in India and other emerging economies. Language barriers (21st August 2004)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Can a concept exist without words to describe it? Nanotech Gets Down to Business If the excitement at New York's NanoBusiness Conference is any guide, future historians will declare early 2003 to be nanotechnology's tipping point, the pivot on which the industry slid from "not quite ready" to "raring to go."
The Future of Nanotechnology: Molecular Manufacturing The future generations of nanotechnology will rely on being able to effectively arrange atoms. Molecular manufacturing, and the use of molecular assemblers to hold and position molecules, will be key to the future, controlling how molecules react and allowing scientists to build complex structures with atomically precise control. In this essay, Dr. Drexler discusses the benefits and challenges of future molecular manufacturing.
The Telecosm Party. "The story of Qualcomm's CDMA written by George Gilder".
Tech futurist George Gilder talks stocks. "Gilder's theory hinges on a broad and quirky worldview. In an era of material abundance, he says, there are two scarcities that will drive the development of technology. One is a physical limit--the speed of light--and the other is a biological limit--the human lifespan." In Search of Innovation In an era of unrelenting competition, innovation has become a priority for corporations, institutions and nations. Heightened interest is spurring widespread efforts to analyze what underlies the process and assess how firms and countries are doing, because good measurement is central to effective management. Meet the researchers bent on prying the lid off innovation's black box.
Being Wireless. Nicholas Negroponte explains why Wi-Fi "lily pads and frogs" will transform the future of telecom. Surviving the Fibre - Optic Fire Sale. In once-booming telecom country, bankruptcies are up, and assets are up for grabs. Level 3's Jim Crowe surveys the wreckage. Nicholas Negroponte: The Innovation "Void" MIT s Media Lab founder
laments a growing lack of creativity, as seen in bad design and hard-to-use
devices Why the future doesn't need us Contributed by Bill Joy Our most powerful 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species. A must read for everybody interested in knowing more about where we're headed. Miss it at your own peril. And for all you guys at Dalal Street trading paper, the Capital Markets may just not exist in a few years! It's a nineteen-page article, and we'd recommend that you read every word of it. It may take a few seconds for the page to download, but its well worth the wait. Take our word for it… From one of the most respected technology gurus An Excellent Article An excellent article about the so called tech downturn. The author feels this is merely a pause-to-catch-breath phase and there is lots more to be done. Sure, dotcom valuations have fallen, with even frontrunners like Yahoo! Losing 76 % of its value. Sure, venture capitalists are tightening their purse strings. Sure HTML has reached the limits of it can do, but is giving way to another language XML. But, concludes the article, there's no turning back Physician, Wire Thyself. "The article visualises the impact of handheld devices on health care industry." Stumbling Onto The Future. "Quite an interesting description of important inventions in the last two centuries." No, This Man Invented The Internet. "The story of the inventor of the internet." Impatient Pendulum. "When the author was a child, the pendulum swung even slower. It was longer then, too. It was shortened (and therefore quickened) in one of those paradoxical compromises of museum management: People stood mesmerized for so long that they blocked the flow of traffic. This speedup of an icon of slowness is symbolically fitting. The tempo of life has quickened." 5 Patents to Watch.
A handful of hot
new patents that may
change the way business and technology get
done. Distributed Computing.
The future of big
computing may lie in
distributing the work. Edible Vaccines.
Vaccines you eat
will make immunization
less painful and more accessible
worldwide. Raman Amplification.
New Raman
amplifiers are key to
building an all-optical Internet. Tissue Engineering.
Tissue engineering
promises to repair
and even replace damaged body parts. Nanowire Chip.
Replacing silicon
with organic molecules could
mean tiny supercomputers. The TR Patent Scorecard 2001.
The site ranked
companies
in key industries according to the quality and quantity of their
patents. Here are 150 of the worlds top firms. Mapping new route to drug discovery...
Ultimately,
history will judge this period of great change in the pharmaceutical industry.
Its hard to imagine genomics and its impact on
drug discovery not looking large
in that view. Private Pharmaceutical company
profiles... Public pharmaceutical compay
profiles... Transforming Big pharma...
The
Millennium Clock. Great piece on the speed of change. Power to the People.
Fuel cells and
microturbines
could turn everybody into a power producer, easing blackouts,
lowering prices and bringing electricity to the powerless. Technologies You Need To Know. They are not just
out
of the lab. They are not untested. These emerging technologies are already
paying for themselves by helping companies work smarter and more
efficiently. The Perfect Book Machine In St. Louis
of all places a
former automotive engineer invents a technology that could drastically alter the publishing industry. Digital Renaissance : Good News, Bad News.
The Big Picture
"Faster, cheaper,
better, smarter -- and
maybe a little tougher. The technology-driven
transformation of business, work, and life is just getting started."
Engine of Progress
"Future Tense:
Hybrid Gasoline-Electric
Engines."> If the Gene Fits
"Future Tense:
Personalized Genetic
Testing." Whats Next for the Net?
"Future Tense: X
Internet." Code of Conduct
"Future Tense:
Extreme
Programming." The Coming Hydrogen Economy.
"Fuel cells powered
by hydrogen are about to hit the market. In time, they willlet us kiss the
sheikhs goodbye. Why High-Tech Firms cant Afford to Ignore Patents
(Free Registration Required)
In many industries,
firms eager to capture
gains from their innovations are filing patent
applications at an unprecedented rate. At the same time they are struggling to
keep up with accelerating
development cycles, shrinking lead times and changing
legal interpretations. A recent Wharton conference on "Managing Knowledge
Assets:
Changing Rules and Emerging Strategies," addressed some of these issues
and asked the key question: What are firms doing to protect their
knowledge
assets? How Computers recognise faces
Terrorist may use
plastic
explosives to bomb places but they wont be able to use plastic surgery
to disguise themselves. New technology enables computers to recognise, and
match, facial features and identify persons no matter how they alter their
appearances. Speech Recognitions; various links on Economist
Techonology
Speech recognition
and iris
recognition technologies can be used both in war time, to fight
terrorism or in peace time, for a multiple of uses. Voice recognition, once
perfected,
may make computer keyboards redundant for example. It could be used
for thousands of applications for hand held devices, which would boost the
prospects for chip makers, amongst others. A whole host of interesting links
available on the Economists Technology Quarterly page. "Hydrogen Bomb" Forbes Mar 4, 02
The US Government
has spent some $ 1.5 b. on funding research into hydrogen economy in preparation
for a time when the world runs out of fossil fuels, and also in a
bid to reduce
dependance on Saudi oil, especially after Sep 11. The author opines that the
money is going not into the hands of those who build
autos, and would therefore
use it more effectively, but into the hands of academics who wont come out with
a hydrogen alternative. He is sceptical
of the taxpayers money spent. "Why your cellphone will work in US" (Economic Times April
4, 02)
Hardware
manufacturers like a single standard, so that they can produce in large
quantities. Mobile service providers,
however, detest standards as they make
differentiation more difficult. This is why numerous wireless standards have
come up such as
CDMA, TDMA and GSM and which make it difficult for a device
owner to use the device elsewhere. Bangalore based Sasken Communications Ltd
(whose CEO has been
interviewed on our site) is one of the players which is a member of the SDR
Forum, a body that is doing work in SDR i.e.
software defined radio. With SDR,
non restrictive wireless roaming can happen! Abe Lincoln and the internet pirates Whos afraid of ultra wideband? by Dan Brody , Red Herring
June 18, 2002
Ultra Wideband
(UWB) is a disruptive technology that has implications on the
future of both
cellular and existing wireless
players.It has been used by the US military for
decades to communicate wirelessly and is "just now getting noticed for its wider
commercial
potential." However, lots of objections are being raised by
incumbents who feel threatened. The 802.11 community is in danger, for it
transmits data
at 11 Mbps as against 500 Mbps by UWB. In countries like China
and India it could become a viable competitor to existing cellular networks.
Will
opposition succeed in preventing the commercialisation of improved
technology?
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Churchill and Drucker: Perfect Together (23rd October 2010)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh
Ties between the two men go way back. In May 1939, Churchill reviewed Drucker's first major book, The End of Economic Man, for The Times Literary Supplement, praising him as "one of those writers to whom almost anything can be forgiven because he not only has a mind of his own, but has a gift of starting other minds along a stimulating line of thought." Excerpt: The Drucker Lectures (25th September 2010)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Most people know Peter Drucker through his books and articles. But Drucker was also a great speaker, especially in the classroom, where his students would sit rapt, listening as he pulled facts from his encyclopedic mind and shared insights on countless subjects. This side of the "father of modern management" is captured in The Drucker Lectures, (McGraw-Hill, 2010). Edited by Rick Wartzman, executive director of the Drucker Institute and a columnist for Bloomberg Businessweek, The Drucker Lectures features 33 of his most important talks. The earliest was delivered in 1943. The latest were given at Claremont Graduate University in 2003, two years before Drucker died. The excerpt below, on "The Future of the Corporation," comes from one of those final lectures. Activists get help from SEC (25th August 2010)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh It's a good time to be a corporate gadfly. Why Corporate Governance Matters to Everyone (18th August 2010)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh So many of the problems we face today result from poor decision-making by private corporations. Prominent examples include the Gulf oil spill and the seriously weakened financial sector, which is imperiling the rest of our economy. However, so many who describe themselves as liberals or progressives seek to address such problems with more government regulation and programs instead of by preventing the bad decisions at the source, which is likely to be more efficient from a resource utilization perspective. Relational Letter to Occidental Petroleum (10th August 2010)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh This letter to Occidental Petroleum’s board of directors from Ralph Whitworth of Relational Investors (VII, September 30, 2009) and Anne Sheehan of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System outlines why the activist investors are seeking to replace at least four board members: “[T]he board, as currently composed, suffers from entrenchment and ossification, which renders each of its members incapable of functioning as vigorous and independent shareholder representatives.” How to Make an American Job Before It's Too Late: Andy Grove (6th July 2010)
Contributed by Abhay Bhagat Recently an acquaintance at the next table in a Palo Alto, California, restaurant introduced me to his companions: three young venture capitalists from China. They explained, with visible excitement, that they were touring promising companies in Silicon Valley. I’ve lived in the Valley a long time, and usually when I see how the region has become such a draw for global investments, I feel a little proud. The new pluralism (22nd March 2010)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Power in modern society is progressively being diffused, moving away from central government to interest groups, even to single individuals. Society and the body politic in democratic societies are becoming pluralist in new ways. This phenomenon was analysed by management guru and social science professor Peter Drucker in his book The New Age. A clear understanding of this development would help political and social leaders to cope with changing electoral aspirations. The Drucker School of Management Honored as an 'Excellent Business School' by Eduniversal (24th April 2009)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management was recognized as an “Excellent Business School” by EDUNIVERSAL, an organization that helps students choose the best business schools worldwide. The Drucker school was honored to be among the 1,000 selected business schools in the world because of its strength in the US and international influence. Peter Senge (21st November 2008)
Contributed by Rohan M. Shah Peter Senge (born 1947) studied aerospace engineering at Stanford University before moving into the field of organisational behaviour and becoming director of the Centre for Organisational Learning at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He is credited with developing the idea of the learning organisation, based on his study of social systems and the relationship of the whole to its constituent parts. A learning organisation, he once said, “is continually expanding its capacity to create its future”. Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure (3rd October 2008)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh We live in a world of euphemism. Undertakers have become "morticians," press agents are now "public relations counsellors" and janitors have all been transformed into "superintendents." In every walk of life, plain facts have been wrapped in cloudy camouflage. Peter Drucker's "Unfinished Chapter:" (6th August 2007)
Contributed by Abhay Bhagat The influence the CEO has on people--individually and collectively. Management: A movie guide (6th July 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh I've read about shamrock organisations, horizontal organisations and federal organisations. I've read about intelligent enterprises and spider-web organisations. The most-quoted management guru Peter Drucker said that managing an information-based organisation is more like conducting a symphony orchestra than running a business on traditional lines. Others have compared it to running a jazz combo, and then there are those who say it's like running a sports team. Q&A with management guru Jim Collins (18th June 2007)
Contributed by Abhay Bhagat The bestselling author answers our readers' questions about business, leadership - and mountain climbing. Beware the 'Walking Dead': Analyzing Customer Data from a Multi-Service Firm (14th June 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Think of them as the "walking dead," a type of customer who currently maintains service with a particular company, but whose next action will most likely be to discontinue that relationship, according to a new study that examines how the customers of a telecommunications firm acquire and discard services over time. The paper -- "Modeling the Evolution of Customers' Service Portfolios," by Wharton marketing professors Peter Fader and Eric Bradlow and a former Wharton PhD student -- focuses in part on whether it is possible to predict future purchasing patterns by looking at past buying behavior.
At 3M, A Struggle Between Efficiency And Creativity (4th June 2007)
Contributed by Abhay Bhagat How CEO George Buckley is managing the yin and yang of discipline and imagination Here Today, Discounted Tomorrow: Strategic Shoppers Know When to Buy, and at What Price (1st June 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Some shoppers just can't help themselves and buy mostly on impulse without regard to price. Others are die-hard bargain hunters, who only open their wallets for a discount. Then there are the strategic consumers, who are willing to buy full-price sometimes, but at other times they will wait for a bargain. According to new research by Gérard P. Cachon, professor of operations and information management at Wharton, and doctoral student Robert Swinney, it's these customers that retailers need to focus on in order to reap the full benefits of lean retail inventory management and variable pricing. Marketers For Charity: Peter Drucker (1st June 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Few have had as great an impact on the business world as Peter Drucker. So, it is more than fitting to have his work amplified on Branding Strategy Insider during this years Marketers For Charity effort.
The best business books of all time? Here are the choices of our panel of CEOs and experts (25th May 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Robert Bruner still remembers the first book he read as a manager. It was 1988, and Bruner, now the dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, was an up-and-coming professor, respected for his work in finance. But he'd never managed people before. And when he was charged with overseeing the first year of the school's M.B.A. program, Bruner began to struggle.Under fire, Bruner scrambled for guidance. He found it in Peter Drucker'sThe Effective Executive. In the book, published two decades earlier, the dean of management thinkers—known for his study of GM under Alfred Sloan—offered advice to managers burdened with exactly Bruner's problems. Strategies: Pray for a public buyer (21st May 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh If you own stock in a company that is ripe for takeover, you should hope the company is not acquired by a private equity firm. A New Take on Corporate Governance and Anti-Corruption Crusades (18th May 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Most people assume that good corporate governance benefits shareholders, and that corruption in a banking system should be rooted out. But just how much benefit does a company really get when it improves its accounting and puts a few outsiders on its board of directors? And when does an anti-corruption crusade start to backfire, causing a chilling effect that denies loans to credit-worthy borrowers? India offers a chance to study both questions, which were the subject of papers presented at a global conference on India's Financial System held in April at Wharton. The conference was organized by Wharton's Financial Institutions Center with the Centre for Analytical Finance at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad and the Stockholm-based Swedish Institute for Financial Research.
Adobe's Shantanu Narayen: India and Other Emerging Markets Are Going to Drive Trends in Software Evolution (18th May 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh While a number of Indian IT companies are expanding globally, several major U.S. IT firms are increasing their presence in India. Among them is Adobe Systems, which views India as an important development center and a growing market for its products. In the second of a two-part interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Adobe president and chief operating officer Shantanu Narayen discusses the company's strategy regarding India and global expansion. In the first part of the interview, published in Knowledge@Wharton, he talks about Adobe's product strategy for the emerging trend of rich Internet applications.
Shantanu Narayen on Adobe's Future Direction: Product Strategy for the Next Generation of the Web (17th May 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh A key element of what has been called "web 2.0" -- along with ideas such as user-generated content and social networks -- is the concept of "rich Internet applications," which use the web as a platform for innovative types of online experiences. A new generation of Internet-connected applications is beginning to emerge led by such companies as Adobe Systems. Knowledge@Wharton recently interviewed Adobe president and COO Shantanu Narayen about the company's latest product introductions. In the second part of this interview, published in India Knowledge@Wharton, Narayen talks about the key role that India will play in the company's global growth strategy.
Fresh takes on Peter Drucker (12th May 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh IN the past business in China has been predominantly driven by the all-pervasive guanxi or relationships - be it family ties, friendship, or a set of official favors and reciprocation that keep the wheels turning.
Life, not seminars, molds leaders (8th April 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Here comes a truly worthwhile look at leadership, "True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership," by Bill George with Peter Sims.
Big Winners: Hitting That 'Sweet Spot' of Success Year After Year (2nd March 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Alfred A. Marcus, a professor at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, reviewed detailed performance metrics for the 1,000 largest U.S. corporations, identifiying the 3.2% that have consistently outperformed their industries for a full decade. In his book, Big Winners and Big Losers: The 4 Secrets of Long-term Business Success and Failure (Wharton School Publishing), Marcus explains the strategies these companies followed, how they found opportunities in markets that others didn't see, and how they managed the tension between agility and discipline. Below is an excerpt from Chaper Seven, titled "Focus." How Corporate America Came to Recognize Diversity, One Pepsi at a Time (2nd March 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh In 1949, an African-American marketing executive for the Pepsi-Cola company named Edward F. Boyd attended a performance of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. By his own account, Boyd was moved to tears by the play and its echo of his own experiences and disappointments as a salesman in mid-20th century America. Yet Boyd's role in Pepsi's pioneering venture to tap the African-American market by employing African-American sales personnel is a story of triumph, as related in a new book titled, The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business, by Stephanie Capparell. Corporate Governance in India: Is an Independent Director a Guardian or a Burden? (9th February 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Many Indian companies -- with a few exceptions -- are owned or controlled by business families. This poses a special challenge for corporate governance. According to Wharton management professors Jitendra Singh and Michael Useem, a crucial issue is the approach that the family member who heads the company takes towards independent directors. In well-managed companies, independent directors are viewed as partners of management and as outside guardians whose job is to make sure that management stays focused on delivering shareholder value. Other companies, however, might consider independent directors to be a burden that has to be borne mainly to satisfy regulatory rules for compliance. In this second half of a two-part discussion on corporate governance in India, Singh and Useem discuss these issues and more with India Knowledge@Wharton.
Management guru Ram Charan on leadership (1st February 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Business author and consultant Ram Charan lists the qualities successful leaders possess in Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform From Those Who Don't. Here is an excerpt. How G. R. Gopinath Got Air Deccan to Fly (27th January 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Air Deccan's story ... is the story of the new India, the India of possibilities," according to G.R. Gopinath, the founder of India's first low-fare airline. After India liberalized its economy in the early 1990s, Gopinath met a former Army colleague, a pilot who was out of work -- one of hundreds of pilots who needed jobs. The meeting gave him the idea to launch a helicopter company, "because I felt the ecology was right." Starting with one helicopter, Gopinath went on to build Air Deccan, India's second largest airline with 40 aircraft that fly to 60 destinations around the country. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Gopinath discussed the beginnings of his entrepreneurial journey.
Corporate Governance in India: Has Clause 49 Made a Difference? (27th January 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, took a major step toward improving standards of corporate governance a year ago when it asked Indian firms above a certain size to implement Clause 49 -- a regulation that strengthens the role of independent directors serving on corporate boards. Have these steps made a difference to corporate governance in Indian firms? In the first of a two-part interview, India Knowledge@Wharton spoke about these issues with professors Jitendra Singh and Mike Useem of Wharton's Management Department, who, with their colleague Harbir Singh, are putting together an Executive Education program in Mumbai on Corporate Governance in India. Griswold to receive Drucker Award (3rd January 2007)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Once a year the Brown County Chamber of Commerce and Fifth Third Bank recognize an exceptional local business or individual with the Peter Drucker Award of Distinction. Fifth Third Banks of Southern Ohio sponsors the Drucker Award, an honor given only to those individuals with a clear record of outstanding leadership, quality management skills and, above all, a successful vision for ever-changing communities. The management dilemma (20th December 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh "So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work." - Peter Drucker, Business Thinker (1909-2005) United Through Reading Wins 2006 Drucker Award (1st November 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Military parents stationed overseas are able to communicate with their children in novel and important ways through the San Diego-based Family Literacy Foundation's United Through Reading program, which has won the $25,000 Peter F. Drucker Award for Non-profit Innovation for 2006. Vigorous Information Management – The Future of IT Industry (30th October 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Since its foundation, the focus of the information and technology (IT) evolution has not been on information, but on the technology. But this is going to change: according to Peter Drucker and Allen Brown, the next step in the evolution will ask about the meaning of information and its purpose. A Dragon In R&D (28th October 2006)
Contributed by Nihar Dalal China's labs may soon rival its powerhouse factories—and multinationals are flocking in for tech innovation 'Smart Growth': Innovating to Meet the Needs of the Market without Feeding the Beast of Complexity (27th October 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh As companies struggle to innovate in today's competitive environment, they need to continually guard against adding to their "clutter" -- the creeping impact of complexity on efficiency and cost-competitiveness. In this three-part special report, experts from Wharton and George Group Consulting discuss how management can approach this problem by thinking "ambidextrously" -- that is, focusing on innovation and broad exploration while minimizing the impact of clutter on operational processes and costs. Also, in the accompanying podcast (with transcript), Mike McCallister, CEO of Humana, discusses balancing innovation and complexity in the health care industry.
Part I: Innovation vs. Proliferation: Getting to the Heart of the Customer (27th October 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh How can companies innovate without falling into the trap of needless proliferation in their products or services? The key, according to Wharton faculty and experts from George Group Consulting, is understanding unmet and unarticulated consumer needs while aligning innovation processes to those insights.
Are today's CEOs batting a thousand? (21st October 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Earnings can be misleading, and stock prices are too hyperactive. So what's the best way to measure executive performance? What CEOs Need to Know and Do About Marketing (3rd October 2006)
Contributed by Abhay Bhagat Philip Kotler and John C. Westman In Brazil, Roberto Civita Applauds New and Old Media, a Free Press and the Coming Tide of Investors (7th September 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Roberto Civita is chairman and CEO of The Abril Group, one of Latin America's largest and most influential communications companies. Based in Sao Paulo, Abril publishes nearly 100 magazines, including its flagship Veja, launched by Civita in 1968 and now the world's fourth largest news weekly. The publication, well-known for exposing political corruption in Brazil, has been instrumental during the past year in bringing about the resignation of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's inner circle. At the recent Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Rio, Civita spoke on "The Role of the Press in an Emerging Economy." In an interview last week with Knowledge@Wharton, he talked about corruption in Brazil, old media vs. new media, the U.S.'s obsession with quarterly earnings, the importance of education, and the coming tide of investors, among other topics. GOOD MANAGEMENT (3rd August 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Even the greatest company can be brought down by poor management. No one can anticipate every contingency, and even the most far sighted can take a false step. Peter Drucker On Marketing (5th July 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Long ago Peter Drucker, the father of business consulting, made a very profound observation that has been lost in the sands of time: A Window into Corporate Governance (19th May 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Once again, proxy season has revealed some eye-popping numbers in executive compensation packages, generating heat from shareholders, labor organizations and some analysts who contend that the links between CEO pay and performance are frayed. Other experts, however, suggest that most executives do earn their pay, without indulging in mega-option packages or in salaries that keep increasing even as share value declines. At the same time, these experts also suggest ways to improve compensation packages to more closely align them with shareholder interests. More companies are splitting top board and executive jobs (17th March 2006)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Disney did it. So did Fannie Mae, Hewlett Packard and Dell. Most of the companies in Britain do it. And now, a lot more American companies are doing it, too. When 'bad' means 'really bad' (13th August 2005)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh How irresponsible does an outside director have to be before he or she faces legal responsibility for nonperformance of duties? Do options breed fraud at the top? (6th August 2005)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Question for shareholders: If your company's board gives lots of options to the chief executive, should you be happy or nervous? On board and keeping a balance (16th May 2005)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh The era of the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil corporate directors has come to a close, a development that warms investors' hearts and sends chills through the increasing ranks of those who might be tapped one day to be board members. Bossing the bosses (9th April 2005)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Despite promising recent boardroom action, bosses are still insufficiently accountable to owners Where credit's due (31st December 2004)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Further exchanges in the Parmalat affair Good News For Corporate Crooks (23rd December 2004)
Contributed by Chetan Parikh Two years after President George W. Bush established by executive order the Corporate Fraud Task Force to, as he put it, "use the full weight of the law to expose and root out corruption," the Federal Bureau of Investigation is launching fewer white-collar inquiries than before Sept. 11, 2001. A new Government Accountability Office report examining the effects of the FBI's shift to counter-terrorism finds it began 32% fewer new white-collar investigations in fiscal 2003 than in fiscal 2001. (The report does not count new whistleblower cases in its analysis.)
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