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My Book on Strategic Decision Making

My Book on Strategic Decision Making
Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Monday, April 28, 2008

The Elegant Solution, Lean and TRIZ

/* initial thoughts on this work I will post here - may be it will become a paper to be published later */
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The Elegant Solution and TRIZ
Has the wine changed or only the bottle is new?

The number of books on Innovation has shown exponential increase in the first decade of new millennium. It is indeed a phenomenon unprecedented and shows how much Innovation has come to the center-stage of the world. There have been one and sundry writers washing their hands in the flowing river (an old Indian saying) of Innovation. One book however, brings to fore the formula of Innovation followed by the automotive giant, Toyota Motors. It is called The Elegant Solution by Mathew May. This book actually opens up to the world hitherto unknown aspects of Toyota Motors, which is known more because of TPS and to some extent the Toyota product development process. We look at the main features of the elegant solution and contrast it with TRIZ to see whether they have synergies with each other. Our initial hypothesis is that there is a substantial overlap.

The Elegant Solution

Sakichi Toyoda’s three principles for innovation are Ingenuity in craft, pursuit of perfection, and fitment with society. Business innovation is about satisfaction and value, not new gadgetry. Elegance as defined by May is “simplicity found on the other side of complexity”. May quotes definition of innovation as defined by JetBlue CEO, “Innovation is trying to figure out a way to do something better than it’s ever been done before”. Innovation is solving the problem of how to do something better than ever. How close TRIZ comes to this definition. It is indeed about solving problems!

Ten practices

Learning and Innovation go hand in hand
Making learning the job
Learning comes first – Learnership
How to think
True understanding of the process (The Ohno Circle)
Think deeply – think for yourself
Learnership – (1) questioning (2) solving (3) experimenting (4) reflection - the so called PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) – PDCA – OODA (Observe-Orient-Decide-Act), Scan-Analyze-Respond-Assess (SARA)
Learn to see
Design for today
Think in pictures
Capture the intangible
Leverage the limits
Master the tension
Run the numbers
Make Kaizen Mandatory
Keep it Lean

Consultant

CONSULTING - the word starts with



'CON'
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Friday, April 25, 2008

The Dying Captives

The Economic times article quotes a Forrester study that 15% of MNC's Captives are looking for an exit strategy.

I can only say, " I told you so". I can only say that MNC's need to realize that captives in India are not to be treated under cost+ model only (which is cost of salary, infrastructure and 10% more), it creates a system where the security of Jobs shifts the focus from value creation and excitement to maintaining the status-quo.

This is by far the main reason. MNCs need to create partnerships models with the captives and let captives create their own businesses.

Control freaks will not be able to maintain captives as captives in the long run!

Travelling to US - buy a brand new laptop

The ugly side of globalization is once again visible. By the proponent to openness and freedom the United States of America. If you are planning to go to US, please leave your laptop at home. Not only that, leave your palmtop, mobile phone with camera pictures at home, as US Fed Agencies have all the right to back-up our data as you land in US.

This is the depth of ridiculousness. You dont believe this. Well here are the gory details at this link.
Just give you the travel advisory anway :
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Travel advisory
Do not carry any confidential, personal information
In case the laptop also serves as your major home computer, get another one for travel

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Shelfari Authors Unbound - Co-creation Example

Following is the new example of co-creation for the attention economy. Shelfari is come out with this feature which I believe is the rightb step toward co-creation. It is like reader -writer co-creating the content!
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Hello friends,Spring is finally here and we've been busy making changes and adding features to Shelfari. Check out what's new:Authors Unbound

On Monday we launched Authors Unbound, a community-editable page for every author. Contribute what you know about your favorite authors, add YouTube videos and pictures, enhance what someone else has started, and post your favorite author quotes. Anyone can contribute.

Start with one of the authors on your shelf or by editing top authors such as Paulo Coelho, Elizabeth Gilbert or Dean Koontz.If you're the author, be sure to link your Shelfari profile with your Unbound page by following the link at the bottom of the author page. Share with us what inspires you to write and post some of your own pictures and videos. With Unbound authors and readers work together to describe what makes each author unique.Please send us feedback and ideas for improving this exciting new feature.New Home Page

As we kept adding features to Shelfari we also kept adding more and more to your home page; it was long overdue for some tidying up. Try it out and tell us what you think.When did I read that?Now when you add a book to your shelf you can note the date you read the book. Don't remember when exactly? You can estimate "about six years ago" and we'll do the math.Explore Members, Books & GroupsWe all love to peek at what other people are doing, and now the Explore page helps us do that even better. Instead of only showing the most popular books and members of all time, you can now see which books, members and groups are active today, this week and this month. It's a great way to find a new book or a new friend.

This is just the beginning for these sections; please send us your requests for different lists you would like to see and we'll add them to our queue.Win a Free Signed BookThis month's free book is signed copy of Finn: A Novel by Jon Clinch, which explores the life of Huckleberry Finn's father. Sign up for a chance to win your free copy.We've made a lot of other updates, so come on back and see what's new.

Add a few books to your shelf and find a great book to read. There's always a lot to do on Shelfari.Happy Reading!-- Josh & the Shelfari Team

N=1 R=G The Formula for Enterprises

C. K. Prahalad talks about N=1 and R=G in his new book called the New Age of Innovation. The interview here gives some snippets of the thoughts in the book.

Customizable products and services is an area which every Enterprise has talked before. Now it is self-configurable products and services through direct involvement of user and customer. Customer is the King - as the cliche goes, Now Customer wants to be the creator as well. The customer wants to be in the business of Self. This is the logical next stage of attention economy.

Prahalad says, "Now, it may have reached an inflection point. Ubiquitous connectivity (4 billion Indians will be connected by 2012 for the first time in history); digitisation, convergence of technology and industry boundaries (is your face cream an FMCG product or a pharma product?), and the emergence of social networks have collectively put a turbo charge on this transformation. The costs are dropping so dramatically that today the poorest people can afford digital communication."

Further he adds, " I am not interested in a “charismatic leader” approach to innovation. Companies need continuous changes — not just episodic breakthroughs. It’s like a marathon runner, with the difference that you divide the distance into 400 metres each.
This enables you to run at full speed but the breaks ensure you have the stamina to go the full course. Today’s Google, for instance, looks like a distant cousin to the Google two years ago. They have taken small steps very, very rapidly — that’s the key to success."

How many quick small steps and in how many different directions ou are taking simultaneously may be the key! It is not a linear world out there - Water falls but through a water-fall model or Gaussian curve. It expands in multiple directions in the New Age of Innovation

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Innovation Process, Patent Strategy - Organizational Framework

{In December 2002 I wrote a report on Patent strategy and Innovation process}

The contents are below. If you need the whole report for free send me and email at navneetbhushan@gmail.com



INNOVATION PROCESS AND PATENT STRATEGY – AN ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. INTRODUCTION

2. INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL OF AN ORGANIZATION

3. PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

4. SOFTWARE AND PATENTS

5. HOW OTHERS DO IT

6. THE SPOT APPROACH FOR GENERATING IP

7. PATENT STRATEGY

8. GENERATING PATENTS AND INNOVATION PROCESS

9. ORGANIZATION FOR CREATING PATENTS

10. CAN TECHNOLOGY HELP IN CREATING PATENTS

11. ACTION PLAN

REFERENCES



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The shift to Knowledge based economy requires a comprehensive, well-planned and well-established structure and process within the enterprise to mange the Intellectual Capital (IC) of the enterprise. Patents are an important form of Intellectual Capital of the enterprise.

With the grant of Software Patents and Business Method Patents by US PTO, the issue of software patents has assumed greater importance. Although there are controversies regarding whether software per se should be allowed to be patented, however, this can not be ignored by companies existing in a competitive world. The competitive advantage that can be obtained and protected can become the major factor in long-term sustainability of business.

Carrying out a survey of various processes and structures existing in various companies, it is evident that a Central IP and Patent Generation Cell should be created in the enterprise. The responsibility of this cell includes

Articulating and aligning Patent Strategy with Business Strategy

Articulating and rolling out the innovation process

Creating a Search Wing for existing patents in major technology areas

Providing assistance and resources to flesh out initial ideas

Creating collaboration channels with academic institutes and universities

Conducting Idea Generation Workshops and Brain Storming Sessions for creating innovation

Evaluating and deploying technological solutions and systems to create org wide innovation generating infrastructure

Conducting Workshops for innovation hunters in the Practice Units

The results expected from this initiative are summarized as

Creation of IP in the form of Business Method Patents and Software Patents

Protection of these Patents

Branding The Enterprise as an IP Leader in the Consultancy & Services Industry

Leveraging The Enterprise Patents to generate revenues for the company.

The immediate Action Plan proposed is

Detailed Patent Strategy Document to be prepared

Organization steps towards creating a Patent Cell and creating Innovation Hunters

Articulation of process of innovation

Our Innovation Potential in Technology Areas where we operate

Search for existing Patents in those areas

Choice and fleshing out the initial innovation

IP generating Technology Adoption strategy and framework to be developed

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Revolution in Business Affairs - Down memory lane

{This is the abstract on an article I was writing in 2002} The article I could not write. I found this in my old computer! May be I should write the article now!


What CIO’s can learn from Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA)

Abstract

As many war strategists have pointed out that technology has created a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), which has the potential to change the very nature of warfare. The components of RMA do not include any radical changes in military hardware, but it is their integration with each other and information gathering and processing systems that have revolutionized warfare. The key features of this revolution are a fertile ground for CIOs of large enterprises to learn lessons to be replicated in the grand IT strategy to achieve marked improvements in their Return on Investments (ROI). In this paper we have analyzed the components and features of RMA from the perspective of CIOs. For example, the EAI trend that is developing now is nothing but an offshoot of RMA. The RMA’s heart lies in integration of key war making components. The EAI coupled with advances taking place in Business Intelligence and Networking technologies are the key components of Revolution in Business Affairs (RBA) that is bound to grow from the RMA.

Revolutions by definition refer to fundamental discontinuities – a radical change from the existing status quo. The RBA proposed from the lessons learnt from the RMA analysis will help create these fundamental changes. The results of this analysis points out important lessons for business organizations as their fundamental processes can be readily mapped to the military organizations – be that the policy, strategy, operations, market assessment, technological requirements or knowledge management. The lessons learnt from this analysis can help CIOs to create a major role for themselves at the strategic level at par with COO and CEO.

Social Inclusion - The way Toyota makes cars

Every now and then one or another article appears which I can not fail to mention - on Toyota.

The article here by a person with physical disability yet a successful businessman talking about National social initiatives and contrasting it to Toyota Production system is one such article.

It explains how and why the end to end approach of Toyota makes more sense to implement such initiatives at country level.

Every human system is a social system including Business - you have shark eating smaller fishes, evolution, you have social networks, conflicts, political groups, pressure groups, influence groups, word of mouth etc.

All that we know from sociology and psychology is applicable in business and human systems.

Management needs to really wake up! quickly!

Lorenz - chaos theory pioneer

Tribute is due to Edward Lorenz whose death marks the end of Chaos theory 1.0. He started the Butterfly Effect story that has become a folklore now.

Small variation in the initial conditions can create entirely different results in any system if same process is followed. This is the essence of Lorenz curves on weather forecasting.

This is really so simple, yet our Six Sigma friends, especially those who are trying to make Software development six sigma compliant really cant understand.

It will be interesting to see how much predictability can be there in software development processes. I have a lurking intuition it is dynamical and chaotic .

Bye bye Lorenz! May God Bless your Soul!

down memory lane - DSM 2005



My presentation at Boeing in Seattle 2005 on DSM conference on Robust Inventive System Design (RISD) integrating TRIZ, DSM and AHP!

Monday, April 14, 2008

TRIZCON 2008 - Going On

I am at Kent State University, Ohio, attending the 10th International TRIZ Conference TRIZCON 2008.

Will like to post my view of proceedings. TRIZ has reached Intel in a big way is one great story that is developing now. Thats a big News for TRIZniks across. But the message by Ameer Roggel of Intel - To Modernize and make it simple for all is the key. To modernize TRIZ we need to look at new sciences - Biology, information and physics. I think thats an important message. In fact a very important message to those who want to stick to old TRIZ ways only.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Innovation in IT in India

I was introduced to Charu Bahri by Balaji.
Charu writes in various magazines etc on many subjects, For an article she is writing she asked me very interesting questions: I am reproducing the questions and my responses verbatim below. Thanks Charu for asking these questions and Balaji for introducing me to Charu.

The top three challenges to (IT) innovation in India today?

1. Indian IT companies past success is the biggest challenge. This success> has created a set of managers whose mindset is to continue the old ways> which led to explosive growth that Indian IT companies has seen. These> managers do not allow a new initiative or change by new engineers. There> also is an element of insecurity which may have its genesis in the problem> of being stuck in old technology, old ways, old methods or even old mindset.> Anything different is considered a threat and systematically snubbed.>>>>

2. Companies used to triple and double digit growth are now finding new> ways to keep the growth going by various means. For example, employing> non-engineers to carry out the work carried so far by engineers. This> strategy is based on a belief that the work that the companies get or will> get will continue to be low-end and hence the cost of employing an engineer> is unnecessary. Further problem is that employees who join these programmes> are continuously reminded of their status (as non-engineers) and thus they> can not focus on thinking beyond the confines of what is told to them.>>>>

3. IT Services companies are so used to USD-INR conversion business model> that they do not have any inclination for investing in anything that does> not comes within the confines of this model. Hence even if there many> instances of ideas that can become products – the IT companies subdue it> under the motherhood statement of we are a services company. Many of the> ideas thus are stillborn. However, recently there is a streak of> entrepreneurship emerging in Indian IT scenario – which should be encouraged> and in fact is a welcome change.

Problems existing enterprises are facing in launching innovative> initiatives.>>>> ·

The problem lies in the mindset of "Launching Innovation> Initiative". This is considered something beyond and above the regular work> that employees are engaged in. Since employees don't get any understanding> of how these initiatives will be connected to their regular work, they don't> contribute and the so called initiative fails. Some companies which realize> that Innovation as much of our work is actually a social phenomenon whereas> invention can be an individual mind's work, are able to create structures> and processes that create opportunities for innovation in the social> interactions. These are coming up as possible ways to innovate in the> enterprises.>>>> ·

There is a psychology of fear of failure syndrome that is very> acute in old-timers in the enterprises. These cliques are so powerful that> the scuttle the innovation initiatives politically.>>>> ·

Too much of process orientation and forcing people to follow the so> called processes have created what I call "Process Junkies" out of IT> engineers. It is difficult to imagine how systematically the processes keep> on killing innovation under the tutelage of Quality, delivery repeatability> and delivering predictable, repeatable and regulated processes.>

What are the external/internal environmental factors that deter a tech> start-up firm? How may these be overcome?>>>> ·

The biggest issue is the irregular cash flow. The VC-Model and the> Angel Investor models are already there, but I think, if the start-up can> get a potential customer to pay for the product cost with a possible value> in the product profits, it will be fantastic.>>>> ·

Second is the lure of external opportunities for key members of the> team when suddenly one of the key members leave for green pastures offered> outside. Despite the friendship basis that tech start-ups start, it will be> pragmatic to keep in writing as an agreement how long the team should be> committed (say two years or for the sale of first product).>>>> ·

Third problem is not protecting the IP. This is where the ignorance> of the start-up comes as a major constraint. It makes sense in getting IP> advice upfront from a well-established IP firm.>>>> ·

Passion, belief, vision and a sense of doing something together in> the team has to happen in the order. If any of these is missing potentially> the long-term viability may be questionable.

The Management of Innovation, not the invention/techie part, is> actually a social phenomenon. People adapt in social engineering need to be> brought in to propel the tech start-up.>>>> ·

Cash flow management is typical weakness of start-ups. There has to> be clear cash-flow management strategy and execution team should be there to> focus on cash flow.>

Who makes a good founder of a tech start-up?>>>>

Anyone who is passionate about the technology, ready to invest deep effort> and long hours is developing his technology and who believes that what he is> doing is actually relevant for the world at large.

Monday, April 07, 2008

100th Post of the year - Revisiting Customer Value

This is the 100th Post of 2008

I thought it may be appropriate to look at the responses of my question on Customer Value on LinkedIn (This is the second question asked and I have interesting responses - just reproducing public answers, There defintely were personal responses to me which I will selectively post)

The question Asked:
What are the ways in which one can understand Customer Value? I would like to know your practical experiences. This is a continuation of my first question on customer value.
About a month back I asked the following question "what is customer value?". I thank all the experts who answered the question. I have collected all the answers and posted on my blog as well at http://innovationcrafting.blogspot.com/2008/03/customer-value-responses-to-my-question.html
Would like to know how you are able to understand customer value - which typically is highly opaque? Does any tools, techniques, methods, systems help? It would be great to understand the tools that have worked?

The answers

Tarun Mishra
Independent Think Tanks Professional

What are the ways in which one can understand the Customer value? Good question. Let me answer it differently. First of all, customer value can be understtod only by living the life of your customer. Living the life of customer means by exploring their life, their challenges, their needs and their desire. You may argue that we do it always. But reality is that when you do it you try to apply logic and justify the customer's psyche. We evaluate their need. We try to rationalize customer's point of view and draw our point of view. This is not equal to living life of customer. So living customer life is take customer's like as it is and work a solution from there. As soon as you do it you will find you and your customer becomes one. customer's interset becomes your interest. Customer's pain becomes your pain. The solution thus discovered becomes a value based solution and the relatiobship with customer becomes value relationship and not just vendor-customer relationship. I hope this helps.


Sanket Dantara
Student at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

There is a term called Lifetime Customer Value, it tries to put into money terms the value the customer generates for your business through his/her life. Maybe you can read up on that and see if it helps
Clarification added 20 days ago:
"by through his life" i mean "throughout his life"


Bhanu Potta
Program Manager - Knowledge Management Program at Perot Systems

Navneet, Good question. Customer Value has been a buzz word for a decade now. Evolving from meaning “Meeting Customer Requirements” to “Customer Satisfaction” to ”Customer Delight”, the term Customer Value has now matured to exactly & directly mean CUSTOMER SUCCESS. Today’s challenge is no longer to meet requirements or satisfy or delight our customers, but to Create Success for our Customers in their business leveraging on the services we provide them. Now and going ahead, the Litmus Test for things we wonder if they are of Value to Customer is to verify their direct influence or capability to create Customer Success. Good Luck. Bhanu Potta

Sunil Raghunathan
IT Transition, Transformation & Change Management Expert

As mentioned in my previous response, understanding customer value is often impaired by the context, semantics and experiences. One of the ways (methods/tools/techniques) of understanding customer value could be through use a well-defined, and widely accepted frameworks & performance indicators. In this context, Balanced Scorecard comes to my mind right away. Not to mean that it best encapsulates the definition of value from different facets, but just that it busts some of the impairment of value definition due to context, semantics and experiences. Ofcourse, one can then slice the Balanced scorecard into hierarchies and dimensions based on business drivers. But more than the method/tool/technique/framework one can only benefit, if it is definied and praticed with correctly, objectively, and consistently across the board.

Alastair Campbell
Independent management consultant and trainer
There are a lot of good tools to help. Some that I have used and found valuable are described below, but for a good overview I suggest reading the definitive textbook Marketing Management by Kotler.
1. A framework for thinking about customer value - there are several but the one I have used most is Parasuraman / Ziman model which suggests dimensions of customer value (for a non-aspirational product / service) of Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy and Assurance. - you can also obviously do primary research with your customers to come up with a framework but every time I've done this we've ended up with similar lists of attributes - the more valuable thing is how the product / service can contribute to these dimensions of value for the customers and how much they value different levels of performance, incoluding the current performance. 2. A segmentation model which will allow you to identify peer groups of customers with roughly similar needs and values. The only sensible basis for segmentation is NEED and forcing yourself through understanding whether different customer groups needs are homogeneous or not is a hugely valuable part of the process of thinking about value. 3. A value innovation toolkit. I have used an awful lot of tools to generate new value propositions or to incrementally enhance existing propositions. Mapping customers activities or following customers around or identifying 'lead' customers to understand how they use the produce can be useful to provide start points, but if you're trying to create new value you'll need some stimulus to innovation. Contact me separately ac@camc.co.uk if you want more on this. 4. A customer testing / feedback method Whether you're trying to diagnose the current importance to the customer segements of different product / service attributes and assessing current customer perception of performance, or just trying to maximise value from a new proposition, you'll need a method to engage customers. Typically this needs to be a qualitative phase followed by a quantitative phase and you will need someone with good market research experience on the team to help you design it. You can get a great added bonus out of the qualitative phase by getting stakeholders (e.g. your top mgt) sitting behind a mirror wall listening to the customer focus groups talking about what they really value, and the real problems they want fixing. That has been the single most valuable intervention I have seen in creating urgency for improvement in customer value in top management - they are much less swayed by the data than by the personal experience. Finally you need some kind of tool to compare the relative customer value of different investments in product or service attributes - to ensure you get the best 'bang for the buck'. Some use pairwise ranking research questions with customers for this, but I have also used a direct 'customer value points' tool that allows you to say for instance what is the value of improving phone response times compared to making the call a free call. A big area and my general advice would be start by keeping things simple to get an initial round of rough conclusions from some qualitative customer research before then working out where you can justify the time and money on achieving the real rigour.
Happy to exchange more ideas ac@camc.co.uk

Ellen Domb
TRIZ Consultant, Editor of the TRIZ Journal

I have been working this year with Tony Ulwick (author of the book "What Customers Want") and his colleagues at Strategy (www.strategyn.com). I am very impressed with how fast and how useful their results are--and I speak as a former QFD practioner who has been very negative on many other methods. In brief, they do a detailed analysis of the "jobs" that the customer needs to perform, and the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the way those jobs are performed, then do extensive analysis of the results to find opportunities. The methods of asking the questions are very disciplined, which makes it possible to analyze the data very reproducibly--understanding what customers want becomes much more of a science than an art. Links:
http://www.strategyn.com/

Richard Zultner
President at ZULTNER & COMPANY

Customer Value is a core concept of Modern QFD. The subset of methods in QFD for discovering what 'value' is for the customers you are targeting is Voice of Customer analysis. This involves not just analyzing what the customer "says" but also what they "do" -- the tasks or "jobs" customers are trying to accomplish. QFD has an entire subsystem of methods and tools for this purpose. As Ellen Domb mentions, Tony Ulwick has developed a nice proprietary approach for concept innovation (based on his experience with traditional QFD in the early 1990's).


Dr Rajiv Narvekar
Research Evangelist at Infosys

Hi Navneet I would like to add another dimension to what others have replied to. The principle that firms will develop products and services and offer them to customers for consumption has been challenged. Customers are no longer passive recipients of what firms offer (however customer oriented the firm be). Customers want to play an active role in the creation and the consumption of the product. They want to be involved right from the design stage. They want to get peer feedback when they suggest designs. They want to engage with a community of other customers and improve their experience with the product / service. Firms therefore need to create a platform where communities of customers interact with the firm. This platform has to be supported by a set of nodal firms that offer complimentary services. The starting point to unlock value is to focus on the interaction elements between the firm and its community of customers. Some companies that are doing this are Progressive Insurance, Nike, Medtronics etc. Let me also assure you that this is applicable in B2B and B2C markets as well.


Tom Mathew
dam at wipro

Easiest way to understand is to reverse the role. Assume I am a land lord and I want to understand how my tenants behave. I would live as a tenant to gain experience of the customer mind. All customer are suppliers as well in most of the instances. Individual empolyees in organanizations may not have this experience as their role is compartmentalized and have not access to the paradigm of the other side In summary the easiest way to understand the customer value is to have customer experience. Organization that does compartmentalization need to realized this fact and devise mechanism to provide customer experience to the supply side staff.
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Ellen Domb Suggested that I should write a paper after studying all the responses on Customer Value. I hope to do that.

Nevertheless thanks a lot to all for wonderful inputs.

Innovation for Global Peace

The 2008 World Summit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WSIE) – the most inspiring gathering of its kind currently under way in Dubai, calls for Innovation for Arab world.

There is a call for Innovation to make Africa take the rightful place in the Globe. Talking about the need of innovative social movement for global peace, Neil Turok, Chairman of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, said it is necessary that Africa should find its place of pride in the global innovation milieu. “I want to see Africa make leading contribution to science, which will lead to a spin-off in creating innovative ventures across the region,” he said.

Yesterday I met a Prof. from Africa who teaches in Denmark and South Africa. Today Just like that I saw the article above. Is Africa Calling? I seriously believe Africa needs to connect with the rest of the world. It is best interest of all of us.

As I was about to close this post, I saw the report on Rediff that is amazing coincidence -

Now I know Africa is Calling!

Competitive Advantage




CONTINUOUS INNOVATION IS THE ONLY COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE!

Sunday, April 06, 2008

web 2.0 articles on First Monday

Searched First Monday Web 2.0 - there are about 78 articles - (May be of interest to the readers of Innovation Crafting)


Search Results

Volume 13, Number 3 - 3 March 2008
Preface: Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0
Abstract HTML
Michael Zimmer

Volume 1, Number 3 - 2 September 1996
Captioning video clips on the World Wide Web
Abstract HTML PDF
Geoff Freed

Volume 13, Number 3 - 3 March 2008
Web 2.0: An argument against convergence
Abstract HTML
Matthew Allen

Volume 13, Number 3 - 3 March 2008
Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2.0
Abstract HTML
Trebor Scholz

Volume 13, Number 2 - 4 February 2008
Text in social networking Web sites: A word frequency analysis of Live Spaces
Abstract HTML
Mike Thelwall

Volume 12 Number 11 - 5 November 2007
Hub and terminal: Developing a method for textual analysis on the World Wide Web
Abstract HTML
Christopher Paul

Special Issue #6: Commercial applications of the Internet
Reflections on: Trust management on the World Wide Web
Abstract HTML
Rohit Khare, Adam Rifkin

Volume 3, Number 4 - 6 April 1998
TAZ servers and the rewebber network: Enabling anonymous publishing on the world wide web
Abstract HTML
Ian Goldberg, David Wagner

Volume 10, Number 11 - 7 November 2005
Re–imagining Web analysis as circulation
Abstract HTML
Christopher Paul

Volume 9, Number 1 - 5 January 2004
On the economy of Web links: Simulating the exchange process
Abstract HTML
Boris Galitsky, Mark Levene

Volume 7, Number 7 - 1 July 2002
After the Dot-Bomb: Getting Web Information Retrieval Right This Time
Abstract HTML
Marcia Bates

Volume 5, Number 5 - 1 May 2000
Helpmate: A multimedia Web teaching framework
Abstract HTML
Kevin Curran, Barry Devine

Special Issue #6: Commercial applications of the Internet
Business models of news Web sites: A survey of empirical trends and expert opinion (originally published in June 2003)
Abstract HTML
Fred Schiff

Volume 13, Number 3 - 3 March 2008
The Externalities of Search 2.0: The Emerging Privacy Threats when the Drive for the Perfect Search Engine meets Web 2.0
Abstract HTML
Michael Zimmer

Volume 10, Number 10 - 3 October 2005
Evaluation of Web access to historical sheet music collections and music–related iconography
Abstract HTML
Maurice Wheeler, Mary Venetis

Volume 8, Number 10 - 6 October 2003
Studying special collections and the Web: An analysis of practice
Abstract HTML
Lorraine Normore

Volume 7, Number 5 - 6 May 2002
Voices: Bringing Multimedia Museum Exhibits to the World Wide Web
Abstract HTML
Matthew Nickerson

Volume 5, Number 5 - 1 May 2000
Reflective collaborative learning on the Web: Drawing on the master class
Abstract HTML
Karen Ruhleder, Michael Twidale

Special Issue #6: Commercial applications of the Internet
Trust Management on the World Wide Web (originally published in June 1998)
Abstract HTML
Rohit Khare, Adam Rifkin

Volume 10, Number 8 - 1 August 2005
Characteristics, uniqueness and overlap of information sources linked from North American public library Web sites
Abstract HTML
Chandra Prabha, Raymond Irwin

Volume 8, Number 10 - 6 October 2003
Where am I and who are 'we'?: Self-representation and the intersection of gender and ethnicity on the Web
Abstract HTML
Linda Leung

Volume 7 Number 3 - 4 March 2002
A Mythic Perspective of Commodification on the World Wide Web
Abstract HTML
Glendal Robinson

Volume 5, Number 3 - 6 March 2000
Using the World Wide Web to enhance classroom instruction
Abstract HTML
Norman Mathew, Maryanne Dohery-Poirier

Volume 11, Number 9 — 4 September 2006
False Web memories: A case study on finding information about Andrei Broder
Abstract HTML
Judit Bar-Ilan

Volume 2, Number 10 - 6 October 1997
Mining the Web: Techniques for Bridging the Gap between Content Producers and Consumers
Abstract HTML
Kris Hirst

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Web is Social

First Monday has a special issue on web 2.0. An interesting collection of articles from both sides of web 2.0 debate.

Michael Zimmer writes in the introductory article, "But Web 2.0 also embodies a set of unintended consequences, including the increased flow of personal information across networks, the diffusion of one’s identity across fractured spaces, the emergence of powerful tools for peer surveillance, the exploitation of free labor for commercial gain, and the fear of increased corporatization of online social and collaborative spaces and outputs."

I am reading the essays in the issue (Just reproducing the contents below)

Volume 13, Number 3 - 3 March 2008
Table of Contents

Preface: Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0 HTML
Michael Zimmer
Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2.0 Abstract HTML
Trebor Scholz
Web 2.0: An argument against convergence Abstract HTML
Matthew Allen
Interactivity is Evil! A critical investigation of Web 2.0 Abstract HTML
Kylie Jarrett
Loser Generated Content: From Participation to Exploitation Abstract HTML
Søren Mørk Petersen
The Externalities of Search 2.0: The Emerging Privacy Threats when the Drive for the Perfect Search Engine meets Web 2.0 Abstract HTML
Michael Zimmer
Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance Abstract HTML
Anders Albrechtslund
History, Hype, and Hope: An Afterward HTML
David Silver

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Knowledge Worker Productivity - Enhancement

Drucker in Practice - Drucker In Practice is designed to create a global conversation sharing evidence on critical issues related to the management of organizations. The project was conceived and developed with the Drucker Society of Japan.

This quarter it is running a discussion on how Knowledge Worker Productivity can be enhanced - one can participate in the discussion at the project site

Will keep an eye on this project for next quarter as I intuitively feel - this may be interesting discussion.


Mutation is not so random afterall

Mutation it seems is not so random. There seems to be an evidence of well-coordinated effort to make possible the emergence of complex organs. The article here talks about a research report.

It talks about a term called pleiotropy defined as, "The phenomenon wherein mutation in a single gene can have effects on multiple traits is known as pleiotropy."

A conclusion of sorts from the author believes pleitropy is not random - it is well-coordinated. "Similarly, it appears that tuning up a complex trait in a living organism is well coordinated and the effects of pleiotropy are more focused than we thought."

If mutations are not so random - but coordinated, who and how they get coordinated.

I really need to understand - is there a possibility of uncaused emergence?

Smoking Pot - A view from Teenager's Mind

I really am very proud to share the following article by Brinda Gupta at Young DC. In a news item titled RESEARCHERS Say smoking POT harms gums, lungs, She details a research report on the effects of smoking cannabis.

It is important to understand the article has been written by a teen for teens. I hope this will go a long way in making teens aware. However, the way it has been written, it definitely will be useful for all to be aware of the effects.

Best impact of anything happens if someone from the same community, age group or class finds out a new way and proliferates to others. This I think has more impact than anyone from outside. Hence Brinda's article for teens is a lesson for all of us - to look at our eco-system and let us voice our point through the channels and medium that we get.

Why should I be proud - well she happens to be my cousin sister :)

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