Galvanizing Philanthropy (journal article)
By Susan Wolf Ditkoff and Susan J Colby
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11, Nov 2009, pp. 108-115
"Philanthropic organizations, exempt from the accountability imposed on business by markets or on government by voters, are free to experiment and take risks. But they have little experience in objectively evaluating their own performance or figuring out how to improve it. Regardless of the economic climate, the authors say, developing a philanthropic strategy is an iterative process -- one they've labeled "getting clear, getting real, and getting better." Getting clear means selecting a few strategic anchors -- people, problems, or philosophies the institution truly cares about -- and using them to guide decisions about programs and grantees. In addition, hard evidence should be examined in light of values and beliefs. Getting real means pragmatically assessing the resources and time required to bring about desired change and soliciting candid feedback from the field. Getting better means regularly reviewing the organization's entire funding strategy in light of both outside perspectives and nonfinancial assets. Ditkoff and Colby outline the traps that funding institutions must avoid if they are to optimize their resources and organizational outcomes, and they offer stories from the James Irvine, Bill & Melinda Gates, Annie E. Casey, David and Lucile Packard, and Edna McConnell Clark foundations as examples of success. The pursuit of excellence, they say, can be imposed only by philanthropic investors themselves."
Friday, 30 October 2009
WHAT WOULD PETER SAY? (journal article)
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11 Nov 2009, pp. 64-70
"Heeding the wisdom of Peter Drucker might have helped us avoid -- and will help us solve -- numerous challenges, from restoring trust in business to tackling climate change. He issued early warnings about excessive executive pay, the auto industry's failure to adapt and innovate, competitive threats from emerging markets, and the perils of neglecting nonprofit organizations and other agents of societal reform. If he were still here, a century after his birth, what would he say about the path forward? The essential Drucker can be summarized in three themes: First, management should be a profession, and executives and managers should remember that their primary job is to look out for the long-term health of their organizations. That means taking responsibility for social well-being, not just wealth. Second, knowledge workers cannot be controlled; they must be motivated. Such employees must see a purpose more meaningful than personal profit. And third, nonprofits are necessary ingredients for producing a good society, one in which businesses can thrive. It is critical to invest in them. Drucker was not a revolutionary. He merely asked that we constantly challenge our assumptions. He preached steadiness and vision, recognizing that leading in turbulent times requires foresight about where things are heading as well as judgment about what not to change."
How to Jump-Start the Clean Tech Economy (journal article)
By Mark W Johnson and Josh Suskewicz
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11 Nov 2009, pp. 52-60
"Billions of dollars worldwide are pumped into the search for clean technology and renewable energy. So far, however, most investment has been in companies that are using conventional business models to fit new technologies into existing systems. A far better approach, say Johnson and Suskewicz, is to create whole new systems. The authors propose a framework for thinking about clean tech that consists of four interdependent components: an enabling technology, an innovative business model, a careful market-adoption strategy, and a favorable government policy. Two recent experiments show how this framework can be applied: Better Place, founded by the software executive Shai Agassi, has a network of battery-recharging and -switching stations to support its electric cars and a business model based on selling electricity (miles) rather than vehicles. It has a foothold market in Israel, where gas- powered cars are taxed far higher than electric ones. Masdar City, now under construction in Abu Dhabi, will be a carbon-neutral incubator of clean technologies, supported by the investment, manufacturing, strategy, and academic units of a government initiative. The city is itself a foothold market and will benefit from government subsidies, "free zone" status, and favorable regulations. Both enterprises provide hope for supplanting the oil-based economy."
TEN PRINCIPLES FOR TAX REFORM (journal article)
By Robert Carling
from Policy Vol. 25 Issue 3 Spring 2009, pp. 9-15
"Australia's tax system needs principles that go beyond efficiency, equity and simplicity. The author discusses ten principles for tax reform."
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Author: Robert M. Fried
"Designed to provide tools that employees can use to handle their workplace stress in a constructive manner and also functions as a resource for employees on stress management programs that are very effective at reducing stress, reducing turnover, improving employee loyalty, increasing worker satisfaction and happiness." - page iv. Suggestions include: massage, self-hypnosis, meditation, nerolinguistic programming, exercise and diaphragmatic breathing.
Saturday, 24 October 2009
It pays to be socially aware. (journal article)
By Matt Parsons
From Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland; 9/4/2009, Issue 2879, p10-11, 2p
"Information about topics discussed at a Travel Trade Group (TTG) roundtable discussion in Great Britain is presented. Topics include the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool with several range of uses including in training, marketing, and brand management. It notes the different opinions of executives from different travel companies regarding the issue. A list of the participants during the discussion is also provided. "
Creative solution, California tourism (journal article)
From Campaign (UK); 9/5/2009 Supplement, p12-13, 2p
"The article provides information on the move of California Tourism to promote the state. It cites that California chose The Times and The Sunday Times to develop a media partnership through Feather Brooksbank Ltd., its media agency. Sara Lamb, team leader of the News International Campaign Team, aimed to use the whole lay out of the two newspapers in print and online in educating the readers about the broader appeal of visiting California. "
Can a brand identity for a nation be successfully created? (journal article)
From B&T Magazine; 9/18/2009, Vol. 59 Issue 2701, p11-11, 1p, 3 color
"The article offers the opinion of Mike Staniford of Landor, Kate Messenger of Yello and Tim Riches of Futurebrand, regarding the 20 million-Australian dollar brand campaign for Australia. According to Staniford, identity is essential to countries as it is significant to sector such as business investment and tourism. Messenger stated that the identity to be created by the campaign should be credible. Riches asserted that the country is capable of employing such campaign."
Lists & Rankings: America’s 200 Best Small Companies Of 2009
Source: Forbes
"Our list of the 200 Best Small Companies in America begins with a search for companies that show both sales and earnings growth. Candidates must have annual revenue between $5 million and $750 million, be publicly traded for at least a year and have a stock price no lower than $5. Rankings are based on earnings growth, sales growth and return on equity in the past 12 months and over five years; we dropped companies with fuzzy accounting or looming legal troubles. We also compared the stock performance of each company with that of its peers. Shares of last year's list members outpaced the Russell by 10 percentage points. "
Friday, 23 October 2009
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
"Regulatory impact analysis (RIA) is a systemic approach to critically assessing the positive and negative effects of proposed and existing regulations and non-regulatory alternatives. This publication brings together recent OECD research and analysis concerning methodological issues and country experiences with RIA." - abstract.
Monday, 19 October 2009
The Determinants of Population and EmploymentGrowth in Small Queensland Regions (journal article)
by Bernard Trendle
from Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol 39 No 2 September 2009
"This paper investigates the determination of population and employment changes for the 125 Local Government Areas of Queensland over the 1996–06 period. The intention is to determine the flow of causality from employment to population growth and/or vice versa. Unlike previous similar studies, the role of geographic location is formally investigated using techniques from the field of spatial data analysis. Overall, results of previous research are confirmed, in that there is some evidence of bi-directional causality. However, spatial effects are found to be important in the process of regional growth, with regional economic performance in part, determined by the outcomes experienced in neighbouring regions."
Business Cycle Dynamics (journal article)
by Sebastian Wende
from Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol 39 No 2 September 2009
"This paper attempts to simulate endogenous cyclical behaviour through variations on the standard real business models. This paper relaxes the perfect foresight assumption implied by the rational agent hypothesis. It is replaced by imperfect adaptive expectations. The model is extended with a delay between investment and capital accumulation. This paper also simulates a non-equilibrium timedifferential wage adjustment in a model economy. The models show that the boom produced by a single positive technology shock can be followed by the equivalent of a recession. The models are solved using numerical methods for differential equations, which allow for non-linear dynamics, as opposed to the usual log linearisation."
Sunday, 18 October 2009
China's Top Ten Companies (journal article)
from Fortune, October 2009
Energy, power and banking lead the list of the nation's - and some of the world's - biggest companies.
Services, ICTs and the Changing Nature of Economic Development Processes in the KBE Era (journal article)
by Tom Mandeville and Hadi Kardoyo
in Prometheus, Volume 27, Issue 1 March 2009 , pages 17 - 25
"We present a concise, exploratory, discussion paper that provides some promising hypotheses concerning how economic development processes may be evolving in the KBE era. Emerging roles for ICTs and services in the economy are driving these changes. Developing countries may be able to leapfrog stages of growth, or structural change, that presently developed nations historically went through. Case studies of India and Indonesia are utilized. "
