A Story Idea For A Chance To See Management Guru Jim Collins

Thanks for the opportunity to post a story idea. I would like to see an article on start-ups by people 60 and above, or 70 and above. If that doesn't appeal, then how about a story about women who have succeeded in business without the help of a husband, father or male mentor? By "succeeded", I mean created a company with revenues of at least $500,000 per year for at least 3 years. And if the woman is average-looking, so much the better. By the way, I'd be surprised if you found even one such person.

With the UAW taking a big ownership stake in Chrysler and GM, talk to some Pilots Union officials about how their ownership stake in UAL worked out. Did being at the boardroom table change their perspectives any? What did they learn? I would love to read that story.

BW.com Editor-in-Chief John A. Byrne: Brad, thanks for a great idea. Here's your story, as reported by BW's Atlanta bureau chief Dean Foust: "Autoworkers at the Top of Automakers: What's Next?"

On May 1st, the FTC will begin enforcement of amendments to the FACT Act called the "Red Flag Rules." This legislation is estimated to affect up to 11 million US businesses, yet the mainstream media has yet to talk about the changes that even the smallest businesses will have to make. The Red Flag Rules require businesses to have an answer to the question, "Are you sure your customers are who they say they are?" with a written employee policy that communicates internal procedures for handling common "red flags" associated with identity theft. Identity theft costs businesses and consumers billions each year, and in a recession, becomes an even greater problem, as individuals are desperate and more likely to fall for scams.

Social technology is changing the way people do their jobs. Getting advice and insights from trusted colleagues and co-workers has always been important in business, but social technologies are making it easier for people to do this and giving them a much deeper and wider pool to tap. This will have dramatic impacts on certain industries - like consulting - and will forever change the pace at which business decisions are made. From an internal perspective, these social technologies will stitch together disparate working groups and offices and give companies greater access to their collective intelligence, and will allow businesses to tap into external resources more easily and affordably. At the same time, all of the employees in a company will now be accessible to customers thru social profiles, presenting new challenges for businesses in terms of consistently managing their brands, messaging & communications, and customer service efforts.

I'd like to see a story about companies navigating the economy right. Companies that are trying to save jobs by cutting management perks and bonuses instead of worker; companies that are being innovative about sales; companies that are thinking long-term stability instead of short-term Wall Street.

I'd like to see reporting on how employees who also have an active volunteer "career" impact business. Is it worth looking for candidates who volunteer when hiring? If volunteers make better staff what are the best practices to support them? I find my career and my volunteer experience cross-pollinate all the time. I can't make the Collins event but I'd love to see the reporting. Looking forward to the excerpt. Thanks, Daren

Those are some very good ideas. Thanks much. I especially love Steve Patrizi's very smart story suggestion on how social technology is changing the way we work. And we've already assigned Brad Farris' idea to our Atlanta Bureau Chief Dean Foust. By the way, our Jim Collins event will be in New York City at 6 p.m. on May 14th. If Steve and Brad can make it, you're both welcome to come. I'll send invites to your email addresses shortly. Meantime, keep your ideas coming.

In line with Jim Collin's area of interest; a crystal ball idea. What is the nature of the new firm?

In a gross simplification Ronald Coase suggested in "The Nature of the Firm" that a firm grew to the size where the cost of dealing with the market was equal to doing it yourself. As long as internal costs were lest than external ones, the company grew in size. And if the cost of mistakes was low, it grew larger. As social networking, device connectivity, and digital information flow expands how will companies react structurally? What does 'growth' mean and how is it measured? Will growing the business without growing the company be the norm? Will companies embark on 'shrink strategies'? Thanx for the opportunity to share.

I suggest a story that tackles the biggest issue facing business today, namely who is responsible for restoring trust in business and what they are doing about it. What's the role of the board of directors, the CEO, the executive management team, and each functional area of the business? What qualifies them to be competent in optimizing stakeholder trust? Is more and improved risk management the solution? Or is it simply an issue of leadership style and personal ethics? If not, then how do we begin to address stakeholder trust considerations explicitly and systemically, as a valid business issue that warrants strategic planning, supported by a legitimate management competency?

Article idea: Alternatives to layoffs: How Correct Craft and other companies are using creativity to keep, train and inspire their employees during the downturn.

Having served IBM for 17 years (1981-1998) in one of the most significant transition phases from focusing on 'box' sales to 'services' and amid a paradigm shift from centralized to distributed (and web enabled) processing, I have witnessed what I may describe as the continuous shift of a hypothetical line that I call the "commodity vs premium value" line, and IBM's diligent efforts to say above this line.

The recent news are no surprise to me. It manifests the same drive to remain focused on 'premium value' topics above and away from commodity business.

Thinking along the same line, I found it necessary to formulate something that addresses top-priority 'pain and gain' issues that face business owners and executive management in public/provate sectors in general.

"O3 Excellence" emerged from this effort as the Overall Optimized Organization (O3) excellence aspects which go beyond, quality, value, and wisdom in trying to reach maximum results.

O3 Excellence deals with the OVERALL organization which includes business, technology and cultural aspects often found in key/strategic issues and/or large/complex projects. It also focuses on OPTIMIZATION as the ultimate status that goes beyond AUTOMATION and INTEGRATION. It is also worth mentioning that the word "ORGANIZATION" is an all inclusive term that includes everything and everyone within the boundaries of the client organization and its extensions that span the supply chain.

More details and discussions on O3 Excellence are available at this link

http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=1855151

I'd like to see BusinessWeek do a story with the theme about How the Mighty Fall and show how unions have declined in membership and power and have contributed to the decline and shuttering of businesses and industries. Their greed and featherbedding have rivaled the greed on Wall Street.

I would be interested to learn about some of the best ways in which the recession has directly spurred innovation. Not innovation by those capitalizing on peoples' unfortunate situations, such as scammers, but rather positive innovation that is beneficial for society (on a micro or macro level). It would be better to focus on truly innovative matters. For example, in my view, companies focusing on renewable energy are not innovative without introducing a new or superior manner of producing or allowing it. If a company figured out a low-cost method of transporting electricity, that would be truly innovative. Also, a company that developed cost-effective portable shelters to house a growing homeless population would be something I would like to hear about. True and positive innovation as a consequence of the recession is what I would be most interested to read about.

On another note, here is a brief idea that is also interesting: I would like to find out about successful companies that have been created to cater to the social networking world that would not have existed without the rise of social networking. Also, the new jobs that have been created as a result. This topic could also include how some companies/schools prepare/train/groom people for these positions.

Thanks,
@4rreeaall

It would be interesting to see an article that digs into a comparison of how history repeats itself in creating these financial crises. While it has been almost 90 years since the great market crash, we have a much more recent example in the S&L crisis which led to the failure of over 700 financial institutions. What are some of the mistakes that occurred at that time which contributed to the current crisis? Deregulation, influence peddling, imprudent real estate lending, fraud, corporate greed, etc.? Sound familiar? If I recall correctly the taxpayer funded bailout of the S&L crisis was supposed to cost the US 1 trillion dollars. Are we still paying the bills for that crisis? It is worth considering that once we are out of the current financial mess are we just leaving ourselves open for the next financial crisis 20 or 30 down the road?

Investigate those companies receiving TARP money and how many use contractors with H1-B visas. There are restrictions/limitations on how many employees they can have with visas, but many use contractors as a way to circumvent the law.

I would love to see a story on the national debt ...2 years later ...A look at how the Fed will unwind all their QE, and newly minted dollars ....Some "what if" scenarios of how this might play out... Shame on the media for not being all over this one already

http://twitter.com/A_F

I'd like to see some sort of comparison story to our situation in the U.S. and those countries who are in the earlier stages of democracy/capitalism - do they follow similar trends and can they prevent going through much of what we seem doomed to repeat? There's a sense of deja vu about this current crisis - like we should have known better, seen it coming, etc.

I think some of your younger readers (including me) would be interested in reading a story on how the current economy is changing the dreams and aspirations of Gen Y and Millenials. Are they fighting harder to make it or are they setting their sights lower? And how will that, in turn, affect the economy of the future?

You could tie this to examples from the depression and how the 20-somethings of the 1930s experienced successes and failures when the economy rebounded (understanding that the implications of war at that time make direct comparisons more difficult).

It would be interesting to tie all the work you do with MBAs and business schools into an "after-the-fact article". A 2, 5, 10, 20, 30 year look a the effect of an MBA on career success especially during this economy. Would be interesting to see by group who's had more success or benefitted more from their MBA (women, minorities, those from certain schools) as well as how the measure of success for MBAs has changed (no longer means C-level, success manifests itself in very different ways).

With all of the economic and job issues, there is a lot of hype about how much more likely you are to be successful if you have a high school diploma, college degree etc. I'd be interested to hear how families are coping that also have large amounts of student loan debt. They did what they were told and invested in their education and now can barely survive because of it.

I would like to see a story written about how decimalization, electronic trading, Reg FD and Global settlement has converged to make Wall Street research unprofitable. This has lead to massive sell-side analyst headcount reductions (16,200 analysts in 2000 down to ~2,300 today). Trading economics have forced the remaining sell-side analysts to focus coverage on fewer large cap and mega cap companies. Large cap stocks have too much research coverage and smaller cap stocks have no coverage. This is leading to less transparency and greater volatility in stock prices. I have lots of data to confirm these trends.

With the state of the newspaper industry on a perilous path - losing circulation and facing declining profits, coupled with tumbling stock prices, lost advertisers and readers – what does this mean for the nation’s communications and journalism programs?

The Boston Globe’s attempt to stay alive is just the latest in a string of newspapers affected by the recession and declining market value. The Internet is gaining momentum every day and is about to surpass newspapers as the leading source of political news for American readers. In fact, it has already done so for those under the age of 35 (2004 study, “Abandoning the News,” by the Carnegie Corporation noted 39% of respondents under3 5 expected to use the Internet in the future for news purposes; only 8% said that they would rely on a newspaper.)

Colleges and universities are not immune to the economic downturn and have lost access to loans and are facing declining enrollment numbers. What are colleges and universities doing to insulate themselves against the inevitable decline in interest to pursue traditional journalism careers? How are they changing curriculum, re-training tenured professors to stay abreast of the online platforms and addressing the intersection of traditional journalism with new media? How is declining enrollment affecting the success of individual programs and their subsequent impact on the individual universities? Are third and fourth year students shifting gears to pursue different careers?

As a media outlet leading the charge providing critical content to its online audience, I would be interested in an article that addressed the future of journalism … and inevitably, the long-term outlook for BusinessWeek’s own recruiting efforts in attracting college graduates.

Susan Jacobsen
@SusanEJacobsen

Americans should know that the 'criminal aliens' that are being prosecuted and incarcerated are mostly those whose crimes took away their citizenship many years ago, and their only crime at this time is simply being here. Private prison corporations are setting profit records at the cost to our country, per recent studies published, of approximately $90-$100/day/inmate. Sentences of incarceration for 'illegal reentry' range from 6mos to 20 years - with the average I believe in the area of 3 1/2 years!. This is an outrageous amount of money when you factor in the cost of prosecution, healthcare, and incarceration - an outrageous amount of money being wasted because these people are not commiting any crime other than being here!!!.
The great majority of the so called 'criminal aliens' served their time and their 'debt to society' that was imposed by the courts, and while still incarcerated, their legal immigration status was stripped from them without legal representation. After finishing their sentences they were then deported to countries which they hadn't seen since they were children - with no ties and no prospects or help from friend, family, or certainly government in starting a new life. Their entire lives are here, and many times sick or injured family members or families with young children.
Our government is using propaganda to waste a huge amount of money not going after the cartels, the smugglers of drugs or of humans, violent crimes, or any crimes at all - but tying up our federal justice system prosecuting people who were here legally at one time, but were stripped of their citizenship and prosecuted for crimes sometimes decades ago.
THIS INFORMATION NEEDS TO BE PUT OUT THERE SO AMERICA KNOWS HOW MUCH MONEY JANET NAPOLITANO AND HOMELAND SECURITY ARE WASTING INSTEAD OF USING OUR MONEY THE WAY WE WANT IT SPENT - ON CURRENT CRIMES AND CRIMINALS.

Are You On The Right Career Path? Today's failed economy and ever-shrinking job market has caused many job hunters to second guess themselves. Day after day, many jobless professionals are asking themselves, "where do I go from here?" Either they're looking for ways to revamp how they market themselves or they're questioning how and when they became so professionally side-tracked. Think back. What did you want to be when you grew up? Before sending out yet another resume, these self assesment techniques can lessen the anxiety and clarify whether the right career path. If an individual can step back, reflect on their professional aspirations and clarify their definition of success, they're better equipped to move forward with confidence.

How about an article, on how any American can make a difference in the business laws in America. Maybe by using the initiative/referendum options, that over 20 States have. What have previous attempts achieved? How do people go about organising petitions? What sort of process/teams/materials are helpful? For example, if people would like to fix some of the root causes of the housing bubble - mortgages 5 times earnings, no deposit needed - how could they go about organising ballots. Ballot 1: up to maxmimum 3 times 1 earnings for a home loan mortgage. Ballot 2: minimum 5% deposit needed to get a home loan. these sorts of ballots, passing in November elections, could lead to 20-50% falls in house prices/rents. As well as making living costs more affordable, people could pay off student loans quicker, car loans, and also more easily afford health insurance.

I'd like to see a story on how the current economic crisis is spurring innovative/different business models. Much like there has been discussion about how in a recession, there is an increase of entrepreneurial endeavors and then a leap forward in technology/innovation, I think there may be a large rethinking of how to run businesses as a whole. One example is the current banking crisis, and the rise of some new banks basing themselves on the Triple Bottom Line, rather than a single bottom line of profit. Are more businesses changing the focus to more long-term but slower yielding models because of collapses?

In keeping with the theme, “How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In,” how about a story on the publishing industry and how major publishers are shuttering big name magazines? All the while, small, niche publications are managing to thrive, such as mine, CityDog Magazine. What are these small, independent magazines doing differently to not only survive this recession, but also remain in print despite the internet? I think this carries over to all small businesses managing to thrive in this economy.

P.S. I really enjoyed "SEK's" comment above. Great!

Look at how Wal-Mart is becoming the new health care company of the 21st century. With initiatives to offer electronic medical record and pharmacy services to employers, inexpensive medications to consumers and instore/onsite clinical care to both companies and individuals, Wal-Mart is exploring a very new medical business model. It is one that relies not on selling health products and services as standalone things, but rather using them as essentially loss leaders to sell something else--groceries, toys, electronics, clothes etc. Just like Apple re-imagined what a song was to sell iPods and iPhones, Wal-Mart is re-imagining health products to sell consumer goods. And they have the distribution channel, market power and information technology to pull it off. Health providers, pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical companies should take note.

Meetings have been in the spotlight lately, with AIG, the threat of regulation, and increasing cancellations. More than ever, I have seen that meetings are top of mind for executives. I think that the time is right to revolutionize the ways meetings are perceived and executed. This “crisis” in the meetings industry is providing the industry with a real opportunity – a true tipping point – for completely rethinking the role of meetings in an information age (measuring the ROI, etc.) I would love to see a story on this.

What is the next investment asset class? Gold and real estate will dwindle and play tag for a decade pushed by commodities but is there a hidden asset class which is rising on the horizon?

Look at corporations hiding behind the WARN Act notice. Supposed 60-day notice prior to layoffs is being ignored and folded around severance. Unemployment not being paid during this period. What is highlighted to be protection to employees and families in the Act, is not producing the intended results, and is doing just the opposite, resulting in less benefits for employees. My situation, given 21 days advance notice as to layoff, not 60 days, claimed by my previous employer to be a WARN Act notice, and the State refuses to pay unemployment until the 60 day period is over. Yet other employees released at the same time without the "so called" Warn Act notice are getting paid unemployment with the same or better severance packages.

My story idea: Would it be possible to bring manufacturing home to America?

I would assign a reporter to visit deep south states such as Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana etc. to speak to the Governors, business leaders, union leaders and most importantly, local people to see if could be possible to create new "factory towns."

This could empower the "Made in America" ideal as well as significantly improve the lives of impoverished people in still depressed parts of the country.

I've always said if I won the lottery, I would go down south and build a factory to make something useful and enrich the lives of the people who worked there and lived in the surrounding town.

Is this even possible in this day and age, or are we too greedy? Would the unions muscle in? Would state government participate/assist? Would the local people be motivated to change from the way of life they've come to know?

Certainly has both business and economic angles, as well as a social aspect to satisfy those more "touchy-feely" among us.

Look forward to your feedback. I'd love to attend the event to meet Mr. Collins, but maybe even more so to meet John Byrne! Best/Geri R

Please consider reporting on the ways individuals, including job seekers, and companies can enhance their marketability locally and globally by becoming "culturally competent." We at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan have offered cultural competency training sessions on the Arab world and Arab Americans for several years and certainly other outfits must offer similar sessions. It's much more than knowing the local handshake - might make an interesting story. Thanks for your consideration.

Write about the reason big media and magazines are failing, even with established web presence online. My only surprise is that the magazine industry decline took this long to occur.

I was the Director Internet Product Development at Advertising Age for 5 years before launching my own start-up. At Ad Age in the mid-2000s revenue surged while we created new advertising programs and charged for archives via micro-payments. All the while, independent blogs and media outlets were gradually rising to poach big media readership. Few bloggers were funded and fewer could make money. But these disruptive journalists kept at it while new ad platforms rose to abed their efforts and capture serious advertisers.

Today, the sum of all the blogs and growing media publishers has interrupted enough of the big media revenue to make it dire for them. And of course, the trend continues. The serious journalists still have the opportunity to fare well by going independent or joining a smaller media outfit. But the old-skool, top-dog money earners in publishing will be pushed aside as the industry now becomes a loose organization of publishing and ad platform technology companies. And of course, the glue holding it all together: the Internet. Just look at the music industry to see what's coming.

The writing was on the wall in the late '90s, but in hindsight the inevitable always takes its time.

How are SMEs (and which are best) handling the current crisis? What REALLY works (versus "big" - .i.e. corporate - business). Give us the "nitty-gritty", down-to-earth, and PRACTICAL view. Maybe even compare worldwide (USA vs Europe vs EMEA vs ... you get the idea).

Boomers know it is never to late to reinvent or create another career. But I would like to see the scenario of what the New Wall Street & big business will look like and expectations now with the government involvement. It is important for both boomers and younger people facing career challenges.

Have you noticed that customer service is back? How about a story on one of the good things that came out of the recession - customer service! With all of the competition for sales these days, smart companies are focusing on solving customer problems and giving them the attention they deserve. It's refreshing to talk to human beings again who provide valuable information and honest help...fast. Need the names of some top, customer-service companies? Just let me know. I'd be glad to help. Thanks!

As a lifelong entrepreneur I love the opportunity to make a significant difference in the world after I work hard at a career I love. Please focus on how we can all do more good in the world - and for those who have so little, give back to them through our talents, our experience, our wealth. Greatness comes from learning and taking our collective wisdom to a higher level. Charity is only charity if we value it as something of an afterthought v. an ability to help people who when given the chance, can find their own greatness.

My story idea: look at why the economy will take longer than 1 year to drop to 6% unemployment again. Some stats: 15 Million people are without jobs (13 million without jobs were reported in latest BusinessWeek cover). In addition, about 2 million people took jobs beneath their pay level, which is a conservative estimate. These 2 million will come back into the job market when the economy improves). Thus we have 10+% real unemployment today. The economy has to grow by about 6% for employment to improve from 90% to 94% (or unemployment to drop from 10% to 6%). This is because of further productivity improvement including continued off-shoring of jobs.
Companies will not hire permanent employees until they are sure that growth is persisting. This adds a 1-2 quarters of lag. On average, US economy grew by 3% a year in recent years. Growing by 6% should take two years as a result. Government stimulus will help, but people need to be trained for the new jobs as BusinessWeek reported (13 million unemployed, with 3 million job postings). All of the above will mean that the economy will take much more than a year to improve. I'd love to see a more in-depth look at the outlook for jobs in America.

The Obama Stimulus Package dictates that $650,000,000 shall be to carry out evidence-based clinical and community-based prevention strategies... that deliver specific, measurable health outcomes that address chronic disease states.

The new book, Wellness Medicine Today: The Physician's Guide to Practical Wellness, by Clifford Todd, guides physicians to fuse wellness and medicine together in what he calls "wellness medicine". The five-phase implementation strategy outlined in the book is virtually a playbook for how a physician can go beyond just his or her own practice, and reach deep into the wellness demands of their entire communities.

The key to these physicians doing their individual parts to solve the nation's health care crises lies in their utilizing wellness-related strategies [diet, exercise, nutrition and lifestyle] with pre-symptomatic chronic disease patients ~ those patients who have begun the slide down into chronic disease, but whose disease progression has not as yet shown up with measurable symptoms. Again, the key is fusing wellness and medicine into wellness medicine.

Your Senior Editor of Science, Arlene Weintraub, received complimentary copies of this innovative work on Friday, May 1, during an Age Management Medicine Conference.

Thank you for considering these comments as part of your "What's Your Story Idea".

Clifford Todd

John,

A piece or series of pieces containing transferable leadership lessons from today's military would be interesting and insightful. For starters, pieces on Accountability, Courage, Decision Making, and Maintaining Esprit de Corps, with input from military leaders (all ranks) would be refreshing and no doubt beneficial to those of us who play for different, albeit less deadly stakes.

Get all the services & service academies involved, with a little friendly competition for bragging rights on who contributes "the right stuff."

Business Identity theft. A company in India stole my husband’s company's Web site, all of its copywritten information and is siphoning off Web site traffic. They even have the audacity to use the same company name and answer their phones with our business’ legal name. I’ve never encountered this before but can’t imagine it is the first case of business identity theft, but haven’t seen this type of story reported in the past. It would be interesting to know what this costs the business world each year, what a company should do when someone in another country copies and steals your intellectual property and what are the repercussions for doing nothing at all? We are working with the hosting site of this plagiarizing, thieving company, but it may take just as long to repair this business identity theft as it would to repair personal identity theft – and at a significant cost of time and resources.

Added note to earlier comment submitted a few hours ago:

The book about how to market wellness medicine came off the press and was first delivered to me April 30. On Friday May 1 [the day your person Arlene Weintraub interviewed me], I gave away complimentary copies at a doctor's educational venue. At 8:30 AM, May 2, the first doctor signed an agreement with me to coach/consult his implementing the program described in the book.

Your choosing me as one of your "winners" will assure Business Week's being the first publication to run a story on how grass roots physicians implementing wellness medicine at the microeconomic level, when aggregated over thousands of physicians, will go a long way towards making a difference in the macroeconomic crises of medical care in our country.

Thank you again for your consideration.

I recommend a story about micro-monopolies in highly competitive markets, where firms can create monopoly pricing power through optimal marketing efforts, even in highly commoditized markets. Monopoly pricing has typically been thought to occur when a single or a limited set of competitors uniquely offer a specific product or service, yet Sentrana has discovered monopoly pricing-like effects do occur with multiple competitors offering undifferentiated products, and these effects can be actively managed by deliberative actions taken by a given organization.

I see micro-monopoly pricing having a tremendous impact in industries characterized by complex, diffuse supply chains and fragmented competitive structures, from Health Care to Retail to Foodservice (both Manufacturers and Distributors) to Software to… hell, even Finance (e.g. boosting Private Equity portfolio holdings w/ micro-monopoly pricing). Even in markets characterized by heavy commoditization, Sentrana has identified the existence of many micro-monopolies, where multiple firms can profitably coexist with undifferentiated products offered at different prices.

Mainstream economic theory is rotten to its core. Economics is fundamentally about human behavior but those new "rogue economists" who are studying human behavior and whose models are based on verifiable research (often in the area of game theory) are scorned and shunned by the majority of "mainstream" economists today. Economists like the late Minsky have theories based on human behavior that are clear, intuitive, and logical and which ordinary people can compare to their own behavior for validation. Mainstream economic theory, based on so called "rational" behavior of maximizing individual gain and ideological beliefs in "free markets", has a miserable track record that justifiably, has created widespread scorn for the profession. A news story that delves into the academic schism would be timely an help inform the current debate over reform and regulation. Please bring it to us.

Would love to have some focus on how micro companies (1-10 employees) create or ignore intentionally developing an organizational culture, aligned with their values, mission and vision. In my experience, many if not most small businesses neglect to do this, while the ones that do are much more successful. Thanks!

John, Thanks for the opportunity. I would like to see an article about how Boomers and Seniors are using social media and contributing content at same rate as Millennials. Using the latest Web 2.0 tools and being digitally literate is not a "Millennial" thing but is fast becoming a requirement to stay employed.

Although traditionally under the radar, nonprofits provide immense support and services to very wide cross-section of society ... particularly in today's financial crisis period. An interesting piece might include a look at the major Foundations, and how they are navigating and weathering the financial storm, and subsequently, how their portfolio of grantees are being affected.

I'd like to see a series about the ways people have learned to "surf the change".

How did they learn to read the changing currents of business and develop techniques that keep them ahead of the next wave rather than being crushed as it swamps them?

What do they see as their best sources of information for decision making?

Who do they look to as leaders and role models?

How many consider looking outside of their industry/discipline for ideas and new ways of doing business?

With the recent concerns of a potential pandemic, financial meltdowns, and terrorism, what are companies doing to maintain and distribute their disaster recovery and business continuity plans?

With today’s harsh economic environment, small businesses are looking for any edge they can find in order to remain competitive. In doing so, they are finding that the old adage about there being “safety in numbers” is as valid today as it was the moment it became a cliché. Small business associations like America’s Best Companies, NFIB and others offer their members the kind of leverage that bigger companies enjoy as well as a host of resources geared toward keeping these firms in business and above water.

I propose that you do a story covering the effect of these organizations on the small business community, specifically in how they are helping small businesses remain in business and even flourish during these hard economic times.

Jon Fine: How do you think US News and World Report is doing with its weekly web magazine/monthly paper magazine combination? I didn't expect to like it, but I do.

I'd like to see a story on how people are reinventing themselves/their careers/their businesses from the bottom up. It's one thing to handle economic challenges when the 401K goes from 750,000 to 500,000...it's something else when all the reserves are gone, and a person is starting from scratch.

I saw a story yesterday about middle class people living in "tent cities" - how scary. Who is helping them get back on their feet and how is it working?

My concern at the moment is to look at the problems of indebtedness facing American families. What does it mean for the labour market? How will the recovery, whenever it should arrive, be affected in terms of projected growth in the future? What impact will protracted periods of indebtedness and unemployment have on consumer spending habits and patterns, how will savings institutions be affected? In the longer term what will this do to American competitiveness in the global economy?

Not all CEO's are jerks.

How about a story that shows how the vast majority of CEO's are ethical, thoughtful, and don't get ridiculous comp packages? They also don't lavishly decorate their offices or commit ponzi schemes?

Too many stories show the seedy side of CEO's and it's tarnishing them all. And in turn, tarnishing business itself. Which is too bad!

CEO's manage little league teams, donate money, give their time, juggle, teach boy and girl scouts, run marathons, needlepoint, help the underprivileged, etc etc..

Help show CEO's in a better light, and capitalism has a much better chance against today's bent towards socialism.

Your readers might be interested in a heated closed-end fund proxy battle which may involve potential voting irregularities.

Not all CEOs are jerks. How about a story that shows how the vast majority of CEOs are ethical, thoughtful, and don't get ridiculous comp packages? They also don't lavishly decorate their offices or commit ponzi schemes?

Too many stories show the seedy side of CEOs and it's tarnishing them all. And in turn, tarnishing business itself. Which is too bad!

CEOs manage little league teams, donate money, give their time, juggle, teach boy and girl scouts, run marathons, needlepoint, help the underprivileged, etc etc.

Help show CEO's in a better light, and capitalism has a much better chance against today's bent towards socialism.

Individual FICO ratings are affected by credit card company's self-serving maneuvers. For example, I had nearly $170,000 aggregate credit available on several credit cards. I charge several thousand dollars every month, but never carry a balance from month to month, never had a late payment on anything, and I had a FICO well over 700. Recently a total of more than $70,000 of my credit was arbitrarily cut off by 3 credit cards. No logical reason was given. That lowered my FICO. I'm considering refinancing my mortgage just to take advantage of the current interest rates, but with a lower FICO I'm less likely to qualify for the lowest interest rates. The questions are not just why the card companies are allowed to do this, but why it is allowed to alter FICO scores, which then affects mortgage rates. Something is wrong with this picture.

John, Most would agree that how (not if) we go about fixing our ailing health care delivery system is a big dot deal.

I'd like to see BW sponsor (and cover) an honest debate featuring health care practitioners, insurance execs, business owners (small & large), consumers, economists, and maybe one honest politician if there are any left.

You would be a great co-moderator, along with Harvard's Regina Herzlinger. Do it at the 92nd Street Y, film/broadcast it, and put it in the magazine.

Thanks so much for these very strong story ideas. I have to say that since we've been asking our readers to suggest ideas, this batch is among the very best we have ever received. We've already picked a dozen of you to receive invites to the Jim Collins event next week. Undoubtedly, though, some might not be able to make it. So we have set aside a good number of other readers who will immediately get invites once we hear. The event is next Thursday evening (May 14th) in New York at 6 p.m. Thanks again for all these wonderful ideas.

There is a chance of default of credit card and other personal loans, as during the financial crunch, a large number of companies terminated jobs of individuals. I think it would impact the financial circle of people and the defaults would increase.

A single mathematical formula brought ruin to the global financial markets, which is the gist of a recent article in the 3.17 edition of Wired magazine entitled “Recipe for Disaster: The Formula that Killed Wall Street” by Felix Salmon. The formula, known as a Gaussian copula function, purported to solve the mother of all securitization problems: establishing default correlation factors between the many constituents of the pools of mortgages and other credit obligations whose cash flows served as the underpinning for the complex derivative securities known as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Awareness of the potential in this arcane formula helped power the CDO market to some $4.7 trillion in volume over the course of the housing bubble years of this decade. As the Wired article explains, the explosive commercial viability of this formula can be explained by its use of a simple sleight of hand. Rather than modeling out the default correlation implications of pools of thousands upon thousands of individual mortgage obligations – an extremely complex undertaking requiring powerful algorithms and massively robust computational processing technology – the CDO market’s Wall Street practitioners used a shortcut that appeared elegant but proved deadly: using the market price of credit default swaps (CDSs) as a proxy for the actual historical data.

What happened was not a failure of quantitative methods per se but rather a lesson in the perils of ignoring real-world complexities in favor of deceptively elegant shortcuts. In essence the CDO market ran up against one of the most challenging of quantitative modeling problems: the dimensionality curse. This refers to what happens in complex environments where numerous variables interact with each other and all of the resulting combinatorial possibilities influence the economic value. The addition of an incremental variable to the pool exerts an exponential effect on the number of possible outcomes.

You can’t simply punt away the dimensionality curse – you have to embrace it and try to achieve mastery over it using all the knowledge and technology tools at your disposal. Modeling these environments is not for the faint-hearted: but the problems are not impossible. The computational technology does exist, as does the modeling science. The critical ingredient is the will and determination of those who practice quantitative methods in business to forego the easy outs and stay focused on solving the real problems, however daunting. In summary, economic models don’t cause trouble, but the people who oversimplify these models and misuse them do.

Great idea to tap into the collective wisdom.

Here's my story idea. I recently wrote a blog post on swine flu as a symptom of our insatiable desire for low prices. I think a story like this would get us thinking about what we're doing to ourselves in the long term when we seek unreasonable discounts in the short term.

Swine Flu: Supplier Backlash?
Everyone wants a deal in the short term. Hence, the rise of corporations like Wal-Mart and Costco, and the business model that squeezes suppliers in order to increase profitability. Eventually, squeezing suppliers comes back to bite us. We are currently facing the threat of a pandemic with the swine flu. Many of us are caught off guard and surprised. Yet, looking back, it was just a matter of time.

Poor facilities management in Mexican pig farms appears to be the cause of the H1N1 virus passing from pigs to humans. If we are unwilling to pay our supply chain properly, then they are going to take short cuts. The real price of cheap food is unsafe food and unsafe processes. Businesses that have to reduce prices in order to win contracts, turn around and hire cheaper labour and employ less rigourous and less expensive processes. We get cheap food in the short run but health risks in the long term.

Winds of Change

In a recent set of buyer interviews I did for one of my clients, I spoke to a senior executive of a crown corporation. He reports directly to the CEO and was hired to lead Strategic Sourcing for the specific purpose of changing this crown corporation’s practice of issuing RFPs and selecting the lowest bidder. He is reducing the number of suppliers his organization does business with. He is ensuring his suppliers are partners and that these partners make a substantial profit on his projects. Through painful experience, this organization has learned that when they nickel and dime their suppliers, their suppliers are not as committed to their projects. By ensuring their suppliers are actually making money, they are getting partners who are committed to their success. Finally, real leadership in the public sector!

We’ve built an economy based on taking advantage of others. Buyers try to take advantage of sellers; they seek the lowest price with no regard for the seller’s economics. On the other hand, sellers try to take advantage of buyers; they focus on developing “perceived value” rather than delivering real value. It’s every man for himself!

The Way Forward

In the end, what goes around comes around. We need to stop the insanity. Let’s stop living in the space between supplier backlash and buyer’s revenge.

What to Do

As buyers:

* Let’s not look for the lowest price. Let’s look for the best solution.
* Let’s look for partners who can deliver real value and let’s allow them to be profitable.
* Let’s think long term rather than short term.
* Let’s think of mutual gain rather than our own gain exclusively.
* Let’s allow our suppliers to make money when working with us.
* Remember the old adage, “one good turn deserves another”. Let’s make it clear to our suppliers that we’ll honour their prices but we expect them to honour our expectations.

As sellers:

* Let’s focus on delivering real value to our customers who put their trust in us and let’s commit to helping them achieve their desired outcomes not just delivering a product or service.
* Let’s see our buyers as aspirants not just people who buy our stuff.
* Let’s ensure we understand the outcomes they are in search of.
* Let’s commit to helping them achieve their desired outcomes and let’s stay with them until they do.

This is the only way we will build a sustainable economy and a world that we’ll enjoy living in.

Adrian Davis
www.whetstoneinc.ca/blog

The big risk in alternative investments is liquidity. If a natural or man made catastrophe occurs investors will not be able to get their money back,perhaps for many years. Hedge funds, private equity, and managed futures would just shut down redemptions possibly for many years. Why not run a story about how managers in the above asset classes recently shut down redemptions? Harvard and Yale Endowments have recently suffered big losses because of many investments in illiquid assets. People who invest in these assets should be required to sign a form that they understand managers have the right to suspend redemptions for years and be willing to loose every dime of their investments.

Tough times put businesses large and small to the test. What factors determine who will survive? Perhaps one of the most overlooked attributes is the mindset of business leaders and employees. I'd like to suggest a story about businesses - particularly smaller ones - that have the necessary resistance to adversity to survive and thrive.

(Full disclosure: the company I work for was founded in the aftermath of the Internet bubble in 2002, grew from the economic wreckage of that time and is still going strong - despite numerous setbacks - over seven years later. A large part of the reason, we believe, is the attitude of our employees in times of adversity.)

I was very surprised by the article in the 5/18/2009 issue "Paying for Viewers who Pay Attention," and it deserves a serious follow-up article telling about missed advertising opportunities from counting just viewers by age. It also explains a lot of why we watch TV dramatically less than twenty years ago.

Engagement as a criteria should have been used from the beginning of TV. An obvious missed advertising opportunity was the original Star Trek series which was so forward thinking. It should have been obvious to advertisers and TV executives that it would attract the market segment most receptive to paying for new technology, rather than just plain vanilla products. Instead the show finally died because production cuts were made that made for some lame stories with not even a hint of futurism. We continued to watch reruns of Star Trek for at least two decades after the series cancellation and of course have seen all episodes several times over the years. During all those years and persisting to today we have favored more technologically advanced consumer products than average consumers. We also strongly favor science fiction programming, except for the alien horror sort that we rarely watch. We even stayed so loyal to Star Gate SG-1 series that we bought a satellite TV service when the program was picked up for continued new episodes by a cable network and continue to watch it until its conclusion with both Star Gate SG-1 and Star Gate Atlantis ending. Yet by and large advertisers have not targeted our audience segment which is no different today than it was when we first got married over three decades ago. Today half of the TV series we watch are on the chopping block to be considered for cancellation, and we watch TV a fraction of the hours a week we did two decades ago.

My wife and I both hate how fickle advertiser support is for any TV series today. We also deplore the number of 'me too' TV shows that reveal a lack of imagination among today's entertainment directors. As a result advertisers have 14 hours less a week to make an impression on us than twenty years ago, even though we are both now retired and have much more time we could spend watching TV. We both watched Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie for their entire series run, but nowadays a lot of shows are even canceled before we get around to watching the first episode and they don't stay on the air long enough to developed viewer loyalty.

This past audit season found individual investors of private equity and fund of funds and hedge funds requesting background information on the fund's auditors. Questions raised focused on the size of the firm, its industry experience and depth of resources. It would be interesting to see what sort of "rating" methodologies are out there and, in the wake of Madoff, Stanford, etc, - what sort of documentation quells the fears of these private investors.

The idea of Business Week to open up their magazine to suggestions to the community is the true sign of capitalism, entrepreneurship, and creativity at work.

I am in the industry of software myself and love the idea of a mixture between business week and wired magazine combined. I love wired magazine, but the ideas are so far out of reach for most that it's impossible to wrap your brain around them. I love business week because it's current and grasping, but yet nothing that pushes the boundary as to what is "next" but rather past.

I would like to see an article on what the future holds for our internet, web 2.0, online shopping, ecommerce, software and vendors catering to this new era, whether dotcom is dead, or revamping, or how phones and gadgets fit into our new experience. What will online shopping look like in the next 10 years? phone based? flash or flex based? credit cards? no credit cards? 3D?

I would like a story by some of the industries greatest minds in these areas, hopefully spurring on that entrepreneurial mind in all of us, small businesses can sink their teeth into... Not what the elite are doing, but what are the next small business moves going to be?

Call me Don Quixote-- my suggestion is a story to explore if Media promises too much.

Media appears to promise that they have the goods that people want to read or hear, but does it promise too much?

Just like the automotive bubble, and maybe longer, Media is about to blow up because there is constantly decreasing value.

I believe that one of the problems that Media faces is the understanding of scarcity. Corporations want to control eyeballs and eardrums and tend to create a 'false' scarcity by influencing supply, either by owing the source or contractually.

While a great deal has been made of the internet I believe you will see that all of the other channels provide significant Media choices which render the direct investment and contractual models useless.

Advertising agencies are perpetuating the myth and in the old days the larger spend would control the Media. Today the smallest customer gets the same rate and Media agencies attempt to add value with 'creative', this is also a commodity.

Going a little deeper it is easy to see that BIG MEDIA promises to reach everybody for an agency's client, but how many times to you have to see or hear the same thing? Especially if you are constantly looking to address different objectives.

Cheers,
Nick
www.neuropersona.com

As the retired Portfolio Manager of the Davis Appreciation & Income Fund (ticker: DCSYX), I know that facts, by definition, only relate to the past. Yet investing is an activity whose benefits occur in the future. What this means is that decisions that are seemingly "fact based" are not, but instead, are emotionally based. As it is our emotional choice to trust that past facts will repeat themselves going forward. In particular, investment (and business) decisions rely upon the creative, intuitive, right brain ultimately. So my story suggestion is to write about:

1. This fact - i.e. that decisions are ultimately made emotionally

2. That creativity and intuition are the ground for making effective right brain decisions

3. How to cultivate creativity and intuition

This is a topic which was the basis of my career success relative to the NASDAQ (bested by 77.0%), S&P 500 (bested by 49.1%) and the DJIA (bested by 35.9%) and I am happy to discuss further with a reporter. Having interviewed with your fine publication previously, I respect your professionalism and would welcome another chance to interview with you again!

With smiles!

Jason Voss

http://jasonapollovoss.blogspot.com/

Suggest Story on New Economic Indicators

These indicators are not representative.

Dow is not an indicator of how companies are doing but an indicator of day trading. Companies began putting too much value on "Wall Street" estimates of their earnings in the 1980's & 90's, versus their products and services. Thereby adjusting to meet expectations.

If a company does not meet "Wall Street" expectations then "Wall Street" analysts were off, not a company's performance.

People buy and sell stocks based on today's news, not long term performance.

Always remember brokers make money on whatever you do, commission, a % of your trade gain or loss. They want you to trade. Limits and restrictions make this Dow different from Depression Dow.

Most traders agree the Dow was unrealistically high over the last decades. Comparing to those values is unrealistic. We enjoyed, or took advantage, of those times.

We cannot go back. We must reevaluate. Where are we? Most of us go back to basics when confused, or something is not working.
So, let's go back to basics!

Larrywm

Oil is business, so I thought there might be an angle for BW. Leslye Wood is a colleague who has poured her heart and soul into the creation of a film, Sweet Crude, a documentary about the oil in the Niger Delta and the effect its extraction has had on the environment and the people who live there.

She’s asked that this email be shared and urges people to speak out to the Nigerian government. I’m not really sure how to do this, so thought of contacting you.

* * *

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Oporoza, the village where much of Sweet Crude was filmed, is under attack by the Joint Task Force of the Nigerian military. To learn more, please continue reading below.

As heavy as our hearts are, we find hope in the possibility that parties in a position of influence – the media, U.S. government officials, international diplomats – will finally understand the gravity of the Niger Delta crisis and take action quickly to help end the violence. (Please read the report filed on April 30th by the International Crisis Group: http://tiny.cc/ICGReport

We ask that if you know such people, please tell them what’s happening and how critical it is to speak out and hold the Nigerian government accountable – right now. Please also forward this email widely so that as many people as possible understand what’s going on – so that Oporoza is not just a faceless village in Africa, but the place where real people, many of them our friends, may be dying. And finally, please hold these men, women and kids in your thoughts and prayers.

More information
There are conflicting reports, but we do know from a friend who called from the bush, where village residents have fled, that the military has opened fire and there are casualties.

We received this text message from one of the film’s main characters:

“The situation is getting worse every minute. Their plan is to wipe Oporoza out of the surface of Earth tomorrow morning. Pls let the international community intervene before we witness a genocide.”

We have also heard that a specific target is the home of Tompolo, one of the top leaders of MEND. This is a very dangerous development.

It is uncertain whether President Yar’Adua ordered or acceded to this attack – perhaps to test the waters for a larger engagement – or whether the JTF is operating outside the Federal government. Both scenarios are of critical concern in their implications about the Nigerian government, the likelihood of escalation and the collapse of any peace initiatives. Particularly alarming is the decision to target Tompolo, a MEND leader who is said to have been active recently in talks with the Federal government and who is seen as a political leader of the movement. The Nigerian Vice President, who is from the Niger Delta, is out of the country.

We hope the U.S. government will address the situation immediately, ask directly for an explanation of the attack and the chain of command that authorized it, and call for a cease fire.

The situation has been reported by several international media outlets. Here’s an article from the Wall Street Journal: http://tiny.cc/WSJ

And if you haven’t seen it, there is a 15-minute video on our web site (sweetcrudemovie.com/videoGallery) that captures the beauty and tragedy of the Niger Delta. As the opening shot depicts the serene Oporoza jetty, imagine it today, surrounded by gunboats, soldiers, helicopters and a terrifying rain of bullets. This is the human cost of the dire Niger Delta situation. Please join us in calling for an end to the crisis.

For three years we have been asking “What if the world paid attention before it was too late?”. Tonight we are flattened to know that for some people in the Delta it is already too late. But now more than ever, our attention might avert a new unspeakable level of violence. For more, visit:
www.sweetcrudemovie.com

With the present crisis in the American car business, it's time for someone to think differently. Beyond general design, today's cars are of a quality that enables owners to keep them for longer periods of time, and they are doing just that. Owners of Ford, Chrysler and GM products have been going to dealerships for maintenance because special equipment, and trained mechanics are needed to maintain these products properly. Most small maintenance shops can't and won't cut it. While new car dealerships are going out of businesses, the need for maintenance is increasing, the mechanics and equipment are there, without established company backup. A story investigating the prospects of Ford, Chrysler and GM sponsored maintenance shops, where each manufacturer would accept all of their brands would make an intriguing story, and would offer a controlled revenue source, now, without the expense of grand new cars, years away.

HOW CAR EXECUTIVES COMPARE TO NON-CAR EXECUTIVES. I have seen enough of these "don't count them out yet" stories. (I guess if you are based in Detroit, it plays good locally; I get it). But, what would be vastly more interesting is the perspective of someone who has spent time interviewing and discussing issues with Internet executives, Tech executives, Transportation executives, etc. ... to see how they approach issues and competition vs. Car executives. Clearly, at the heart of Detroit car company shortcomings are the executives who run key parts of these companies. Don't tell me how "difficult" the car industry is, particularly if you've been building cars over 100 years! Tell me how executive development, culture, history, organization, systems, etc. conspires against better performance, and how lessons might be learned from executives outside of the car industry.

Michael Vick’s prison release has been all over the news this week but somehow the prison release Monday of Scott Sullivan, WorldCom’s former CFO has been totally overlooked in the news. Now that Sullivan has been released and is out of the Federal Justice system I’d be interested in reading a really candid and open interview with him. I have a feeling a lot would come out regarding the WorldCom story that hasn’t been heard before. I know at the time of the trial it came out that Sullivan had a critically ill wife and a 4 year old child at home and that Federal Prosecutors were threatening him with 24 – 30 years in jail if he didn’t “give them Bernie Ebbers”, as they didn’t have a case without testimony from Sullivan. I guess everyone has a breaking point and now that other Bush Administration federal prosecutors are under investigation for other high profile prosecutions, I wonder what Sullivan’s experience was. From a human interest standpoint, I wonder what the prison experience is like for someone who goes from Board Room to a cell.

Two Total Strangers Start A Business Thanks to Twitter

It all started as a tweet. Bradford Shimp and Neal Rohrbach are avid users of Twitter, the popular micro-blogging web site. Each day, a growing army of Twitter users are sending countless tweets. Each tweet is a short update of no more than 140 characters.

This one particular tweet wasn't that unique, but it spurred an idea, which has grown into an interesting business project. On a whim, Bradford Shimp sent out a tweet that said, "I feel like I am an idea wrangler." When Neal Rohrbach read this tweet, something about it resonated in his mind. It wasn't long before he sent a reply tweet to Bradford, saying that he had registered a new web site. The name had morphed into Idea Anglers, and Neal had registered www.ideaanglers.com.
Registering web addresses isn't new territory for Neal or Bradford. Both own several domain names, and both have websites. Neal has a design business at dixiedesign.us and Bradford has a business blog at allbizanswers.com and a business book review site at booksunwound.com.

Both Bradford and Neal are idea people. Talk to them about ideas and they could spout off dozens of interesting business ideas and concepts. But, because both are busy with current projects, many of these ideas just lay dormant.

Idea Anglers probably would have had the same fate, had it not been for Twitter.

A few months ago, Bradford and Neal did not even know each other. They met via Twitter, where both are active participants in a small business Twitter chat hosted by SBBuzz.biz. They got to know each other by following each other's Twitter posts.

It was out of this active conversation via Twitter that Idea Anglers was born. Through a series of tweets, it went from a germ of an idea, to a domain name being registered, to an ongoing collaboration and a business being formed.

Neal and Bradford have moved some of the conversation to other web services, such as LinkedIn, Basecamp and Skype, but much of the development has taken place on Twitter.
Building Idea Anglers has been a truly collaborative effort. One will work on some part of the project and then tweet about it to the other. Through this instant collaboration, Idea Anglers has taken shape.

Bradford and Neal are developing Idea Anglers to be a place for collaborative business idea development. They are looking for members who either have a business idea, but are not sure what to do with it, or who are business owners who need specific expertise for certain areas of their business. Idea Anglers will bring together a network of experts who will provide resources and work in a collaborative fashion on new ideas and projects.

In many ways, Idea Anglers will be modeled after the success that Neal and Bradford have had working as a collaborative team. A process that was made possible through instant communication of ideas via Twitter.

Idea Anglers is presently in pre-launch phase. Interested parties are encouraged to sign up for a newsletter and take part in a survey at IdeaAnglers.com. Neal and Bradford are also actively looking for experts to join Idea Anglers.

As they promote their new project, Bradford and Neal have turned to an obvious resource. They have set up a Twitter account at twitter.com/ideaanglers and are actively building interest through their Twitter network. This is only fitting for a business that would never have happened if it weren't for Twitter.

For more information on Idea Anglers contact ideas@ideaanglers.com

On March 6 BW published an article entitled, "Did Obama Cause the Stock Slide?" Considering that the market immediately started to climb at that point, it might be interesting (not to mention 'fair and balanced') to explore the flip side: "Did Obama Cause the Stock Rally?"

Given the current economic circumstances, I think it is important to inform readers in despair they are not alone. With unemployment in many states hovering at seven to ten percent, there are a lot of people out there who are nervous, scared, and frustrated.

Even unemployment is becoming a hassle trying to obtain benefits. With so many federal extensions in play it is somewhat confusing to the unemployed as to whether or not they obtain benefits. In Wisconsin alone it normally takes twenty-one days or more from the time an unemployment claim is filed to the time a recipient receives their first check.

These delays, along with job shortages and the call for increased educational credentials has many people in a panic.

Employers are looking to obtain more for their payroll buck. I believe we will see more companies demanding more employees with advanced degrees and skills. What does this mean? I wouldn't be surprised if the next fry cook at your local burger joint will need a Masters Degree to keep his job. OK, maybe it's not that bad...or is it?

Great idea. There were really a lot of economic and job issues nowadays, and this book really offers some vital headstart for ways how to best offer solutions for major problems. Thanks for sharing.

Hi, I'm thinking about starting a Twitter magazine. I have a few people interested on Twitter and I would like to get a response from a real magazine. So what do you think? I want to be the founder of this idea. Thanks, please tell your colleagues and e-mail me back.

Ask Ed Wallace to perform in depth research and write an article based upon the link below.

http://www.gizmag.com/ebdi-ethanol-engines-surpass-gasoline-engine-efficiency/10929/

In recent months, there have been a number of articles written about high-achieving women who have lost their jobs and are happy that they now have the chance to stay home with their children. I'd like to see a story written about these career women that lost their jobs in the recession but want to rejoin the workforce. As a high-achieving Wharton MBA, I can tell you that I definitely don't view my job loss as a blessing in disguise. Since I've been unemployed, I've felt like a big part of my life is missing. And, I'm hard at work trying to find a new meaningful position.

What is the definition of a free market and free speech and what are its limits? With Craigslist being sued and harassed by Attorneys General all over the country, can we as citizens sue the cities because we find prostitutes on the streets? Isn't Craigslist a market place...online? If they are liable, shouldn't the cities be liable too? Arguments about considering Craigslist to be acting more like a pimp doesn't hold ground because they are not making any money from either parties involved. Where do we draw the line for our increasingly virtual boundary-less world?

We assume that U.S. automakers have to make cars in the U.S.... and that is what all of the talk about "saving" GM is about, namely how many U.S. auto-worker (presumably UAW) jobs can be saved.

Now consider for a minute the iPod, a quintessentially American product where most of the "profit" is being made by Apple, but most of the actual manufacturing is being done in low-wage China.

There exists an amazingly miniscule "Chevy" produced by GM in China and sold here in Haiti... just off the Florida coast... but never even mentioned in the U.S.

So, although this may not play well with the UAW, the Obama-ites, and large swathes of the American public, might the real future for GM be an even more rapid transitioning of production from the USA to low-cost places like China, India, and (yes) even Haiti?

My guess is that there are probably folks within GM who have taken a global look at their industry and come to the same conclusion. Politically, however, this is dangerous territory and understandably suppressed!

The upside for GM (and for the long-term health of the U.S. economy) would be that by shedding those high cost production jobs in the U.S. and saving big dollars in the process, they would have far more to invest in next generation people-moving technologies.

We don't hear much about this option for saving GM, but it would make for an interesting article.

Why doesn't someone do a story on the people that did the right thing during the real estate boom? Those people that didn't jump on the bandwagon, didn't get caught up in the hype, and saved their money. Those are the financially responsible people are the ones who are going to lead us out of this whole economic mess and teach everyone how not to spend beyond their means. These are the people that aren't asking for a bailout, but now are shopping for real estate they can actually afford.

It is easy to make an honest case that auto retirees’ healthcare benefits are being collectively stolen from them, when they need them the most. The insulated duplicitous governmental politicians, who have been using their political pulpits to crush the auto retirees’ healthcare benefits, were the same politicians campaigning for healthcare for all Americans in the elections just a few short months ago. None of those clamoring to steal the auto retirees’ healthcare were exposed to the difficult assembly lines or toxic hazards that these retirees were exposed to, and none of their retirement benefits are on the line.It really is class warfare as the corporations, top union officials and politicians falsely and immorally cover up the legitimate needs and rights of these blue-collar and white-collar auto retirees. The retirees didn’t make the poor business decisions that the top executives did, but rather spent a lifetime working on difficult jobs, being exposed to dangerous toxic chemicals producing the vehicles and earning their benefits. The assault against auto retirees by the very powers that should be protecting them is a betrayal and a cultural tragedy.

BETRAYED AUTO RETIREES
http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id125.html

AUTO WORKER TOXIC EXPOSURE
http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=11254&pageid=24&pagename=Society

RON GETTELFINGER DESTRUCTION OG UAW PRESIDENT WALTER REUTHERS UNION
http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id121.html

UAW OFFICIAL ANALYSIS
http://unionreview.com/insights-analysis-uaw-betrays-autoworkers

… http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id50.html
… http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/index.html
… http://www.umflint.edu/library/archives/westfall.htm
… http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/node/3880

Thought you might be interested in knowing that Ralph Janvey used to be my attorney in a similar type case. I was accused of running a Ponzi by the same attorneys at the SEC now accusing Stanford. I have no idea if Stanford is guilty or not, but I do know those who are watching the piggy bank are crooks to the highest level. Ralph Janvey represented me personally against the State of Texas. When Texas couldn't touch me, they brought in the Feds to fabricate a case against me and my oil companies. At that point, Ralph said he was sick and I should deal with his law partner Ben Krage. I had never met Krage, but he came to my offices and the first thing we did was prove to him we were not a ponzi, that the SEC Accountant and other witnesses had lied to help the SEC get the freeze on our assets. At the time, we owned over 160 oil wells, an oil well service company with nearly a million dollars invested in equipment, a public company whose stock was trading at over $12 per share with audits and earnings, and more.

At the initial hearing, Krage showed up to represent us and gave the court reporter a different law firm's name trying to keep Janvey's name out of it. See, Janvey was working for the SEC at the same time, but never told us and that amounts to denial of due process for a fair trial. Krage had me agree to a "verbal" court order. I had never done anything verbally in business, but Krage urged that 'these are SEC attorneys and they will do the right thing. You can trust them." Then he told me to liquidate the assets in my family trust, pay the money to Krage and Janvey in money orders so the receiver and court don't find out. 'It's going to take a lot of money to defend this suit," he said. I sold the assets and purchased the money orders and paid him nearly 3 weeks after the initial court order freezing my assets was entered. It was one of the accusations the FBI used to get Contempt of Court charge so they coule kidnap me, which they did and threaten my life and my family's lives. He then told me to go to Mexico and complete a contract we had there with one of our companies for nearly $20 million, pay off the investors and all this goes away. In Mexico City I was speaking with my other attorneys in Denver and learned that the court order entered by the SEC forbid me leaving the country. So Krage had set me up and made it appear I was running.

When the court docket came out, it showed Ralph Janvey as my counsel. I didn't learn until nearly a year later that Janvey was working for the SEC while representing me against them. When I brought this fact before the Dallas court, it was ignored. In fact, it appeared the judges were covering for the SEC the way things were ruled on. Even in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals my new attorney was speachless when they backdated a denial to silence me in the courts.

Well, I wouldn't be silenced. I went to Congress to get the Judicial Committee to look into things as I had nearly 1000 investors across the nation who NEVER RECEIVED A DIME FROM THE CASE. Even after the SEC and receiver turned away 3 offers of over $10 million each. Senator Bill Nelson from FL landed me a meeting in February 2008 with the new Inspector General of the SEC, David Kotz. Mr. Kotz met me and my counsel and we presented him with a notebook of evidence proving the SEC had lied to obtain the TRO, that perjury was used by the receiver's counsel to obtain their judgments, and that my counsel, Ralph Janvey and Ben Krage were in fact woking for the SEC in 2 other cases while representing me against the same people who got them their appointements as receivers.

As recently as January 2009 I received a letter from the IG stating that Janvey and Krage were still under investigation. In fact, in December 2008 the SEC IG sent me a letter stating that as a result of their investigation into my case, policy changes had been implemented regarding conflicts of interest.

So here's the question: If Krage and Janvey willingly had me violate a court order to pad their pockets with a few thousand dollars, how far will he go now that he is in charge of Billions?

I still have the copies of the money orders paid to Krage and Janvey, the letters from Senator Bill Nelson's office, letters from the Inspector General's office, and the court documents showing the asset freeze and that Janvey was my counsel. I also have the article from Texas Lawyer Magazine stating Janvey worked for the SEC which is how I learned of it. If you want to do a story, call me at 863-287-5979 in the USA.

Sincerely,

Brent A. Wagman

There hasn't been one strike over 1,000 workers since last October 2008. That's eight months with no major labor strikes. One reason is the recession and what else? Perhaps there are other psychological reasons at work. I would like to see an article addressing the labor management issues. Thanks for allowing me to submit this idea to your editors. Sincerely, Elizabeth A. Ashack, Economist, Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2 Mass Ave, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20212

June is National Basketball & Hip-Hop Culture Month. I would like Business Week to do a featured article on the economic impact of the fusion of hoops and hip-hop in America. There is a recession all over the country but not in the world of hoops and hip-hop culture. Visit www.NBHHCM.org to see the site National Basketball & Hip-Hop Culture Month.

I would like to see an article AdventureLink, which is a small, fast growing L.A. based adventure travel technology company. In May, they hired Yahoo! senior executive Jeff Dossett to be their CEO. This follows a buy out in April of their major competitor Adventure Central. As you may be aware, this small technology company has had some major capital infusions in the past months also. It might be worth finding out why this company is receiving major investments during a time when other technology companies are folding.

BW reporting is great up to a point when it comes to cover the stock market and investing, the most important things for most readers, as everybody wants to make a profit in the end and the biggest value lies in your market coverage. I don't care about you quoting mega stars in finance and big names, the result is that the most investors lost about 50% and will lose much more, before you will not stop going mainstream but cherry picking. But this is very hard and you will never achieve it, you will only write about big names, guru analysts and superstars who don't have any proven record to save investors ass before the crash. Instead of writing ton of garbage and quoting those mega stars, find a few investors who will advise on such investing almost like passive SP 500 but when things will be about to turn south, they will warn us: HEY, FOLKS! EVERYBODY OFF THE TRAIN FOR NOW. STAY IN CASH FOR AS LONG AS THE MARKET WILL NOT REACH THE BOTTOM! Such analysts even if they will be only one in a million you write about, will be worth the more than all the rest as they will give the value in real value of money, not words.

How about a story about how Wal-Mart treats their disability people. Wal-Mart promoted me to assistant manager. One day into a 2-month training program Wal-Mart removed me from the program because of a learning disability. That was a direct comment from the manager who let me go. I have earned a master's degree and was well qualified for the program. There was not one black mark on my record, not one coaching offense. Not one Wal-Mart manager returned over a dozen phone calls from me regarding their open door policy. I bet most of Wal-Mart's disability people are greeters and not in higher management because of Wal-Mart's discrimination.

I really appreciate Michael Mandel's attention to the important subject of innovation. I think that the U.S. has offered little that was truly innovative and of great value to the economy since Motorola invented the cell phone. It would be really interesting to hear the story from some of the original Motorola people. I know that they initially endured a mean internal joke: "How do you create a small fortune? Take a large fortune, and invest it in cellular." Maybe even Motorola would benefit from hearing how it really happened, from the top.

Recently, you released an article titled, "How Not to Get Laid Off". All 10 suggestions are valid and well-founded; this go-getter attitude is something I had to pick up on my own throughout my first year in the workforce after graduating in 2008 with a BA in Economics. So far the focus has been on the recent MBA graduate or a mid-career job loss/competition. But what can you say about recent graduates with BA/BS degrees? I'm sure many are thinking that it may be best to return to school immediately for a graduate degree. The problem is that it would dig many students deeper into debt. Although there are certain industries such as mine, economic consulting, that remain fairly stable during a downturn. It would be interesting to put together some scenarios, relevant suggestions, or themes for the conflicted undergraduates out there. Some companies must admit that we are the cheapest skilled-labor money can buy.

Thailand has just launched new higher energy prices for renewable energy sources: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/03/10/business/business_30097542.php

This is further catalyzing an already hot market in renewable energy technologies. Thailand is the leader in renewable energy policy in Asia and could soon become a regional head for bioenergy research utilizing its ample agricultural waste streams. While solar and wind tend to get the most attention from the media - the biomass and biogas industries are the true proven technologies that are spreading throughout the region.

There's so much talk these days about health care reform, reducing costs, strengthening care, improving access and managing chronic care better. Why not look at what average folks are doing to inspire change and make a difference? There's a lady in Florida who invented a new respiratory care device for trach patients because her husband needed it. It's called the Wright Mask. Another person recently started a health networking web site so people can share their stories face to face, learn from each other and support each other. It's humanizing health care. Real people are making an effort to improve health care. Let's hear their stories.

Denmark intensifies comms prior to UN climate conf in CPH http://en.cop15.dk with the launch today 11 am CPH-time of new web community http://bit.ly/pRXoo. Interesting case on the use of social media in line with BusinessWeek's strong coverage on these issues.
I am impressed by John A. Byrne's dialogue with readers via Twitter.
Best,
@kimschaumann

Are your Project Managers working too hard to be successful for you?

'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)

The latest Standish Group report shows more project failing and less successful projects.

‘This year's results show a marked decrease in project success rates, with 32% of all projects succeeding which are delivered on time, on budget, with required features and functions’ says Jim Johnson, chairman of The Standish Group, ‘44% were challenged which are late, over budget, and/or with less than the required features and functions and 24% failed which are cancelled prior to completion or delivered and never used.’
So what is going wrong out there? Why are your projects being challenged in this way?

Are your Project Managers perhaps working too hard to be successful for you?

Challenge

The whole world is challenged that is for sure!

On one hand we face the Global Recession, with all the impact that this is having on people and business, and on the other hand we are a dynamic, resourceful and ever evolving world that demands change as part of its survival. And change demands projects and projects demand project managers.

On one hand we have a history littered with significant project failure, although there have been spectacular successes as well The Standish Report 2009 clearly shows that history may well be repeated in many cases.
Now is the time that is even more critical to succeed, and succeed with a higher level of certainty than seen before since those projects that will be commissioned in the future, as well as the ones that are allowed to continue in the current climate, will be expected to deliver higher business impact, be under closer scrutiny from senior management and be under far more pressure.

And guess what, who will be the one that is under the most pressure, you, as represented by your delegates - the project managers in your organisations.
So surely now is the time that you both want the best project managers you can have and for these project managers to work in the most effective way possible.

Many companies are having to take high school graduates and paying for their technical training. With education systems receiving budget cuts and educational administrators pushing academics over technical training we are seeing a rise in skill based industries not having a workforce to draw from. I would like to see a story about innovative companies working toward the future of skills training covering a broad range of skill sets.

I would encourage you to write a 10-year anniversary piece on Office Space. This 1999 movie dramatized the absurdities of corporate life, with critics ranking it among the top comedies of our era. It may now be time to re-visit Initech. In particular, you could speak to thought and business leaders regarding how this movie impacted their policies, training and management styles. And don't forget to interview a few of those still trapped in the cubicles too. Since the film was based in Austin, TX, consider interviewing some tech firms down there to see what (if anything) has changed in ten years. And don't forget to use a red stapler or TPS report as your picture.

John - two ideas for you:

1) The state of Enterprise 2.0 (I can help with this one!)

2) Can brands bounce back? - How brands have bounced back from devastating blows. What can GM, Citi, Satyam learn from Tylenol, Exxon, Accenture...

News story:

Write an article about the impact of study abroad programs and school rankings. Also, perhaps an article about the true value of such programs, not just their intrinsic value to the participates, but to recruiters, graduate schools and others that may help the person in their future career. I wonder if the value of these programs is overlooked or overvalued, and if their value is less than just a long period of travel.

Thanks.

News story:

Write an article about the impact of study abroad programs and school rankings. Also, perhaps an article about the true value of such programs, not just their intrinsic value to the participates, but to recruiters, graduate schools and others that may help the person in their future career. I wonder if the value of these programs is overlooked or overvalued, and if their value is less than just a long period of travel.

Thanks.

Financial corporation computer models have a secret life few folks know bout. If you open a new credit card, your homeowner insurance premium goes up.In planning a European trip I opened a Capital One credit card because unlike my other cards,CapOne doesn’t charge fees to convert euros to dollars. My next homeowner’s insurance renewal bore a fine print notice that my premium went up due to my credit report. I never carry a month-to-month balance, never had a late payment for anything, my mortgage is my only outstanding loan. My credit report showed zero negative. Allstate finally admitted I must pay higher premiums for two years because I opened a new credit card. No way to undo the “damage” to my credit. Many insurance corps. do this using a computer model. Somehow the mere act of opening a new credit card makes people more likely to damage their homes? Perhaps companies should have to state “anyone who accepts an
offer of a new credit card must pay increased homeowner premiums for two years.”

I will like to see a story on " How Robber Baron culture in Corporate Board Rooms has thwarted innovations in American Industry". This will have a long term affect on our capability to compete in global market.
In my experience, the innovative ideas are filed away, instead of implementation, due to lack of interest and incentive for capital investments. It's easy to import foreign goods and make quick profit, instead of long term national benifits in local innovative development.

In my professional live I see every day companies operating in more then one country to struggle with the request to adequately protect their personal data. They don't understand that in most privacy legislation 'sensitive data' and 'personal data' have specific and different meanings and that there is an obligation to protect personal data even when it is not sensitive personal data. On my blog http://ITRiskSpace.com we will, with the great support of several international privacy experts, report on that with three articles. The first will be published Thursday June 18th. There is a big need for a story on that and I'm more then happy to deliver this.

-Andreas

A hot topic affecting millions and still remaining unsolved is caring for the elderly as legions move into ill health and dementia as they live longer. what business models have creatively addressed this? How are businesses dealing with employees who lose so much productivity caring for a parent or a spouse? what are the economics? How the middle class needs a solution that's safe and affordable? ALF's seem outdated in many ways and doing only a so-so job. Expense hammering the caregivers nationwide in these tough times.

I was having an argument with a friend about MBA applications. His impression was that the admissions committees put a very heavy weight on the GMAT score while I was arguing that the GMAT is a small portion of the admissions process.

I would like to see a story about students who got accepted to the best business school with a relatively low GMAT score (far below the class average). What stood out about their applications?

My idea- Top Undergraduate Summer Internships of 2009. I'm an intern at McGraw-Hill so I'd love to help out with this idea.

Re Medco Health Solutions purchase of Express Scripts -- While looking for other information on Friday 06/12/09 I ran across an FTC document (at FTC site) that said that the FTC saw no problems regarding competition if Medco Health Solutions purchases Express Scripts. I did not print a copy at the time. When I returned to the site on Saturday to print a copy, the document was gone. I have seen nothing else on the net that would indicate tha Medco plans to buy Express Scripts.

"Catastrophic Fall in 2009 Global Food Production" This article has been widely published and distributed on the web, and outlines with clear logic using specific detail why such a catastrophic event ought to be expected.

Since the US government declared that destabilization of foreign governments was our biggest national security risk (replacing WMD), such an unprecedented drop in global food production will be the biggest story of the New Year.

"Food riots terrify the elites much more than energy riots. Marie Antoinette was beheaded because bread, not wood or20coal, was so scarce for the poor. The Roman Emperors provided free bread to a third of the population of Rome, not free wood, because they were very fearful of the hungry and jobless mob. For an increasing number of third world nations civil unrest, including violence, as a result of food deprivation is now the most significant threat to regime continuity." --Vinod K. Dar, Right Side News, 18 June 2008

By the way, 2008 global food production rose about 2%, and still there were food riots around the world due to a dramatic increase in staple food prices. The poor spend almost all of their money on food, so any dramatic rise in food prices results in starvation and predictable social unrest/government instability.

We see and hear a lot about MBA graduates in US and Europe. I have been enrolled in part time MBA in Australia and close to graduating. From what I have seen there is very little awareness and opportunities for an MBA in Australian Market. However, I would like to confirm if this is a myth or true from other visitors to the site.

Everyone is looking for a silver lining in the recession. I know there are a number of inns and B&Bs that are creating programs to help the unemployed, inspire donations to non-profits suffering from decreased donations, honoring local heroes and more. I'd love to see a story about these recession heroes coming from the hospitality industry.

Curious as to why in the rising tide of conversation about health care reform, consumer-driven plans are getting such short shrift? Granted, they're not a solution for 100% of the problem, but they go a long way toward both driving down the business cost of providing employee benefits, and they also connect people directly with what their medical care costs. It seems like everyone's stuck on either change nothing (bad idea), or shift everything to the federal govt (REALLY bad idea). Consumer-driven plans seem like a great solution for the majority, with some safety-net options for low-income folks. And don't get me started on the whole medical-benefits-tied-to-your-job model. Everyone should have their own coverage, and if their employer chooses to help them pay for it, great - fund an HSA!

Here's another one. Do a piece on how employees are leveling the playing field with their employers in cyberspace. In particular, you could expand upon Rob Hof's blog post last summer on glassdoor.com, which enables employees to rate their company, compare salaries, outline the pros and cons of working at a particular organization (and offer advice to senior management). You could hit angles like how such free-wheeling vehicles can damage an organization's carefully-honed brand-building efforts and give competitors a bird's eye view of trade secrets, internal squabbles and operational disadvantages (why do you think I was on the site). Such a piece would be a great opportunity to contrast an individual's right to free expression with an organization's desire to maintain a modicum of privacy. Aside from the legalities, you could even explore whether the commentary on such sites -- which is packed with self-serving bias -- can actually benefit an organization, no different than the proverbial exit interview.

Idea - Effect of lack of available capital for projects on innovation in US.

- Rob Bartlett, COO of Baetel Corporation (@rob_bartlett)

What about algae? Continental just announced its flight results: it's 60-80% cleaner than traditional fuel. www.originoil.com

Look at entrepreneurship networks worldwide. :) Or our new healthcare package: http://is.gd/15o7j

The United National Gridiron League On The Edge Of Financial Collapse

The UNGL is designed to create professional development opportunities for collegiate football players. Similar to the minor league farm systems existing for other professional sports, e.g., MLB, NBA, NHL.; the UNGL will fill provide a truly competitive landscape to evaluate talent, enhance the player selection process and enable professional football teams to provide the highest quality product to their loyal fan base.

In 2008, Ken Valdiserri arranged for a meeting with National Football League officials in their NYC headquarters involving UNGL Commissioner Joe Cribbs, CEO Marvin Tomlin and CFO Ben Eison. The NFL will provide game officials to the league for its' games scheduled to begin play in the spring of 2009. It is the hope of the UNGL, the NFL will support not only the 'development' of referees but provide assistance in other areas and ultimately be a springboard for aspiring young men to fulfill their dreams of playing or working in the NFL.

Andrew Maisonneuve, Chicago based sports writer, reports that the UNGL is not likely to kick off in 2010. "The league is in a organizational melt down. I question the leadership of Commissioner Joe Cribbs, CEO Marvin Tomlin and CFO Ben Eison because their combined efforts have failed to secure funding to support the unfavorable financial position of the league." It was reported to Biringham News that The Feb. 8 start date could be delayed because "investors were still finalizing their deals with banks" according to UNGL Commissioner Joe Cribbs. UNGL President Ben Eison told the paper "there is still progress being made and a solution may come." Well guess what? It did not.

Here is the bottom line: Commissioner Joe Cribbs, CEO Marvin Tomlin and CFO Ben Eison failed to have necessary means to find the funding necessary to fulfill the league's minimum operating capital. They failed to secure bank financing because resources required for the purpose were basically unfounded. They have shown they lack the ability to capture the funding on any level, private or public.

General Manager Ken Valdiserri is the only that has proved the ability do get something down. The league will not likely play next year.Unfortunately if you are an athlete counting on this league to excel your quest to the NFL, your relying on a league that has no financing nor the wherewithal to capture the funding needed to kick off next year. The likelihood of this league getting off the ground is slim at best, with out a complete management restructure.

This is an idea for late February / early March of 2010. Write a special report on the 10-year anniversary of the dotcom bubble burst. You could hit the following angles:

* What were the lessons learned?
* What lessons weren't learned and eventually repeated?
* Do a then-and-now piece where leading (and smaller) players outline what happened to their companies when the market tanked, along with a follow up on what they're doing now.
* Do a "rise-and-fall" profile of one of those companies.
* What were the ripple effects on business schools, the political landscape and internationally? You could also take it from a human interest standpoint and examine the impact on a particular family or community too.
* Who were the big winners and losers -- and how did the bubble burst lay the foundation for today's leading dotcom companies?
* Place this economic event in the larger context: how did it compare with the stock market dive of 1987 or the Asian crisis of the 1990s? Also, how did it foreshadow the economic collapse of 2008?
* Do a short write up on the 5-10 most spectacular failures: Break each into three quick bits: What was the unique selling proposition that attracted investors; what was the flaw in the business plan; and how much money was lost? (Don't forget to include company logos too).

Of course, you'll want to include a short synposis of what actually happened. You could also include a 1999-2002 timeline, similar to what Newsweek does at the top of their main features lately.

Story Idea: - I find it interesting how independent consultants, especially women, are demonstrating resilience during times of sustained economic uncertainty and corporate belt-tightening. Are corporate layoffs driving more seasoned workers to try their hand at their own businesses? And if so, how are they able to be so successful given the down economy? Is social networking playing a major role?

A recent survey conducted by Women in Consulting in the San Francisco Bay Area reveals that 35% of consultants report that they are cautiously optimistic and expect revenues to increase within the next 12 months. Maybe even more interesting, ALL respondents reported that social networking is a key marketing resource for maintaining relationships, collaborating, and sowing the seeds for their business pipeline

The survey represents individuals from various sectors (81% are in high-tech), years of consulting experience (42% have more than 10 years experience), and from businesses across the market spectrum, including small-to-medium-sized businesses, large companies, nonprofits, startups, and sole proprietorships.

http://www.womeninconsulting.org/2009compsurvey

Hi,
I'd like to know how recession affects startups wanting to take the IPO route.
And second, what sectors in the economy have led the "ride" out of recession and what can we expect to get us out of the one we are currently in.

thanks
G Narasimhan

Dear BusinessWeek,

I would like you to consider a story on the development of what we feel will be a socially and economically-beneficial group serving one of the most impoverished regions of the United States.

The Mississippi Delta region has for years ranked as one of the most economically depressed regions of the United States to the point that, in 1985, activist and politician Jesse Jackson referred to Tunica County (in the Delta) as, “America’s Ethiopia”. Despite these economic challenges the region has given birth to its own musical genre (the Blues), and a myriad of artists, writers and other creative talents, as well as many others who have left the region to find success. Sadly, while many well-intentioned individuals and government programs have channeled resources to the region in the years since Dr. Jackson’s visit, little has changed to elevate the economic status and living situations of the people there.

I am a Marketing Professor at The University of Mississippi (aka, “Ole Miss”) and have been working with several people in the Delta region on ways to facilitate new small business growth in the region (taking a “teach a man/woman to fish…” approach). Working with some prominent people in the region and others who are just concerned citizens, my co-founder and I have launched a group we’re calling The GrowDelta Initiative (www.growdelta.com). The goal is to help people who have a basic nugget of a business idea but need help in getting over the hump to make that a reality. Through the help of many others we are offering the first event from our group on July 11, titled, “Building a Business Success in the Mississippi Delta” (see site for details). While there are other groups working hard to support business development in the Delta, there are several things that, I believe, really make this a new and potentially successful approach (and an interesting story for you). To keep it brief, these include the use of nationally prominent consultant/speakers, an amazing breadth of involvement from across the community, and the purely philanthropic / apolitical nature of this group.

I am really excited about the potential for this group and am thrilled to see us on track to have 50+ potential new business owners in our first event next month. While this is a small figure for a news outlet like yours, I do believe there is a bigger story here in the new and creative attempts to revitalize a region that has not just been down on its luck for the past year, but for several decades. It may be a cautionary tale, or perhaps an uplifting one – we’ll have to see how things develop in the years ahead.

It would really help this worthy cause if we could earn some press in your publication. Please touch base with me if you would like to discuss this further or have any questions about the organization and the event. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Charles Noble, PhD
Co-founder, The GrowDelta Initiative

How can I life somewhere safe? I'm an American, 32 yrs old, no latin descent, I don't speak Spanish, & I'm not independently wealthy. I met my husband in the USA (he had lived there for 18 yrs) he was 10 when brought to the US. At 16 his father went to the US gov't for help to become legal, instead they were forced to sign docs saying they would leave. My husband's family never left, at 16 would you return to Colombia by yourself? AFTER GOING TO THE GOV'T & SIGNING THE DOCUEMNTS MY HUSBAND COULD NEVER BECOME LEGAL IN THE USA. HE PAID TAXES, HAD MEDICAL COVERAGE, SPEAKS PERFECT ENGLISH - WORKED IN PHYSICAL THERAPY. Now I'm forced to choose my country, my safety, & my family if I want to see my husband. Now even though we are married the process to return to the USA is $10,000, 3yrs long, & low success rate. We tried to migrate to Canada as a skilled worker under my husband, however Canada refused to validate my husband's education since he earned it while he wasn't legal. I know the US has to protect the country, but no one thinks about the immigrants that had no choices, no opportunities to become legal & was a model citizen. Paid into SSN, paid taxes, graduated college...what about my rights? I'm an American female forced to walk the streets of Bogota, Colombia #8 according to Businessweek for dangerous cities. No one will visit me & if I want to have children I have to go to the US without my husband & raise them??? where in US alone? in Colombia? I also have US Student Loan debt, do you think Pesos will help me pay my bills? Please help.........

$30 billion dollars has been allocated by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act to help create a nationwide electronic medical records (EMRs) infrastructure - long over due and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reinvent the delivery of healthcare through information technology. This week HHS issued important language that will define what the criteria will be for the technology and opened it up for an abbreviated 10-day public comment period. Almost no one is aware of this and it will define the future of healthcare. EMRs can do more than just record transactions, but it won't unless the public demands it.

I'm interested in the effect of small business startups on the economic recovery - even if it is a theory-based article. I believe that our economic turnaround depends upon the diversification of employment opportunities and the creation of healthy competition.

Unlike some, I don't see capitalism as a failed experiment. However, monopolies have always been problematic. We may be able to trace part of the downturn to the huge market share controlled by a few large companies. The mass layoffs certainly have had a negative effect on public perception of our economic health, and perception is critical! Small business creation may hold the key to our economic health and rebound.

I would like to see a story on why online advertising is failing on the internet and why many sites in particular social networks are not able to effectively monetize their traffic and generate revenue. It seems apparent that many users on some of these sites do not want to see ads and are certainly ignoring them. There must be a solution for these sites to effectively monetize their traffic without having to depend on the current internet advertising models (clicks, impressions, and banners). I personally think the right solution is one that empowers the consumer as opposed to the current solutions which at times try to distract and interrupt the consumer.

Advanta has been raising interest rates for their small business card holders before they stopped lending on May 30 for many many months. A class action lawsuit has been filed against them in San Jose County Superior Court in San Jose, CA last Wednesday and they would have been served last Thursday, June 18 by Attorney Arthur Levy and also the Sturdevant law firm. Hopefully at least CA residents will see some justice and relief since Advanta has raised rates to as high as 44%.

Regards,

Doug Carpenter

In response to: McDonald's CEO says momentum continuing in 2009 Published May 27, 2009

If the sales of harmful commodities like alcohol and cigarettes are restricted to adults, shouldn’t McDonald’s food also come with a Surgeon General’s Warning and perhaps even be restricted to adults? Harmful goods cannot be marketed to children because children do not have the experience to make subjective decisions concerning their own well- being. The harmful effects of fast- food are considered by the majority of Americans to be the leading cause of obesity and other related diseases, and yet we continue to allow fast-food restaurants to aggressively market their food to our children. I recently read an article that discussed the McDonald’s Happy Meal giveaways that occur in many schools across North- America- an example of aggressive fast-food marketing.

Making matters worst, McDonald’s continues to site their restaurants within close proximity to schools, making fast food that much more accessible to children. A recent study has demonstrated that schools located within 0.5 miles of McDonald’s are likely to have a 5% increase in the rate of obesity amongst their students. This is a clear sign that we need to start pushing our government to create fast-food free zones around our schools as a form of curbing our dependency of fast-food.

While McDonald’s may have the right to sell harmful products, they do not have the right to dangerously influence the eating and living habits of our children. A short-term increase in fast-food market shares paints a long-term picture of an overwhelmed health care system.

re "Wal-Mart Medical Clinics Stumble" & "Immigration: More Foreign Nurses Needed?" With all the talk about health care reform, is BW going to do an article about 'health tourism'? Savings can be 50-80%. If you Google: health tourism usa savings, there are lots of comparisons. Any Governor can offer tax rebates for flights to other countries, to ease any shortages. For any profession to attract people it needs to offer good working conditions and also pay that attracts - or lower the cost of living so the pay goes further, i.e. drop house prices/rents. As for importing more people, what is the point of passing carbon lowering legislation, and then increasing the population?! America needs to set an example, and have no net increase in population, same as all countries, population stability, as well. Then fix the training plans for all kinds of skills, from own populations. Some countries, obviously do a better job of this than America.

I am 56 years old female with legal background working in the healthcare industry for a period of over 17 years .
During this time I have seen extreme abuse of Medicaid and other related agencies merely because nobody ever tries solve the problem from the root cause. I have seen years after years, Medicaid help go to people who probably have never contributed a single penny into our system and most of them are young people ( especially young women ages 16-28) who are single mothers and have never learnt basic values or importance of family ,nurturing or life of dignity . Most of these people have probably never contributed anything towrds taxes or otherwise given much to the system .
People who have been dependent on state welfare and aid indefinitely should be issued deadline and ultimatums for getting jobs, childcare help should be provided at low cost to young mothers who are willing to work .
Encouraging circumstances should be created for work and not for handouts.
Our system needs a complete overhauling and people who genuinely need and deserve aid should be given priorities .
One way to help the economy is to give more (tax break) or various other incentives for the companies that are capable and willing to hire more people.
Making more people independent and self sufficient is the way to flourish .
Taxing rich and giving to poor will only create more poor people.
Poor will have no incentive to work as they won't get free money and rich won't want to work extra as their hard earned money will go towards taxes.
Hence ,better work environment , education , vocational schools , life of dignity , values and benefits of success should be instilled in young people.

I would like to see a story about how the negativity of the liberal media, when they are trying to oust a Republican president, affects the economy. Before Bill Clinton was elected, every day for months there were stories about the homeless on the news. After his inauguration, those stories CEASED, but the homeless people were still there. Prior to Obama's inauguration, the same unending stories of all of the woes of the economy bombarded us daily. Many people are "sheep" who believed this negative viewpoint of our country. And, yes, the situation has been exacerbated by the shady dealings on Wallstreet -- there should be better regulation to protect investors. I am not an economist by any means, but I think this is an issue which should be researched.

I'd like to see a story on reference-checking services that contact your previous employers to document what they are saying about you. Such input would better allow a job candidate to manage their references, including possible damage-control (or even legal action) where such references are negative. While there are companies that provide such reference-checking services, most Americans are totally unaware of their existence.

How about a story focusing on the "business of cancer" and how a realistic look at what our nation's huge investment in cancer research has and has not yielded.

I am a 5 year prostate cancer survivor and have spent a good portion of that time looking into how to prevent recurrence as well as the basic disease.

I just finished watching "healing Cancer" by Mike Anderson. While I am not a physician, I am a cancer survivor and a great deal of what he says really resonates with me. Anderson is a bit like Michael Moore in taking a really hard look at the AMA, and the ACS and NCI. His advice is to look more closely at naturopathic medicine which, according to him, can cure cancer, but which cannot be patented and, thus works counter to the interests of the business of medicine.

It think it would be very interesting to have a third party look at the cost and cure rates of the two schools of medicine. It we're wasting our scare funds, perhaps we should shift those resources into becoming a world leader in environmental sciences.

Best regards,

Robert Hess
Founder
Prostate Cancer Awareness Project
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
www.prostatecancerawarenessproject.org

What is happening to all the families who are losing their homes to foreclosure? Are they renting smaller homes? Moving into apartments? Moving in with family or friends? What is the aggregate economic impact of these alternate housing choices? For example, is there upward pressure on apartment rentals?

I read that 90% of the Fortune 500 companies got started in the wake of the Great Depression. Picking investments would be easier if we could predict which companies would become that successful during challenge. I would like to see a story about what qualities predict which companies will emerge out of the recession stronger. Is it more than financial resources or collective IQ? I am a Harvard researcher who consults Fortune 500 companies on how to gain positive traction in the new economy. It would be interesting to identify common threads within companies that are resilient against turmoil and excel during challenge.

In other words, what predicts whether a company will become a positive outlier in a recession?

Shawn Achor, www.shawnachor.com

I am a futures trader, and as the term reads, futures contracts tend to predict the value of a commodity in the future. Hence, if Sept crude futures are trading at $70 today, then that implies that the likely price of a barrel of brent crude in Sept will be $70. Given that, gas prices at the pump should not reflect this future price. If anything, gas prices should reflect the JUL Brent futures contract.
I suspect that the key thing driving prices at the pump so high is some shady maneuverings amongst the refiners and gas providers. I would like Business Week to do an investigation and determine exactly why the price of gas is at $3+, less than $1 off the peaks of last year when crude was at twice the price it is today. If you apply simple logic, then when crude was at $147 and gas was at $4, the implication is that crude priced at $70 (more than half of $147) should reflect a price at the pump of no more than $2. Something fishy is going on. Please, do us all a favor and get to the bottom of this.

I have two ideas to share, in light of the Steve McNair tragedy:

1) You could do a piece on how some executives struggle to adjust after retiring or being forced out. In particular, how do they channel their energies when they have left something they spent a lifetime to build? Similar, how do they adapt when they no longer have the deference of hundreds of people -- or even challenges and crises on which to thrive? In short, you could outline the unexpected feelings and situations they grappled with, such as feeling suddenly alone, useless or out of touch, along with how they coped.

2) The alleged perpetrator worked at Dave & Buster's. That brings up an interesting question: How can a company protect its brand image in situations where employees engage in embarrassing or criminal behavior outside the confines of work, particularly those that reach national attention? This is particular true of YouTube videos of employee misconduct, such as bathing in sinks.

P.S. BusinessWeek's "What's Your News Story Idea" is near impossible to find with the website re-design. Considering that you've only had three stories pitched since the re-design -- and you were previously averaging 2-4 pitches a day -- you may want to look at how to place this in a more prominent position.

RE: "Why the SBA's New Loan Program Stinks" -- I have been in SBA lending over 20 years and there have been some very good advancements this past year. Unfortunately, the ARC program was not one of them. I believe the monies needed to fund this program should be used to continue the moratorium on the elimination of the guaranty fee that is passed along to the borrower.

A few weeks ago, Newsweek published an interesting piece, "50 Books for Our Times." I wonder if BusinessWeek could produce a similar series, since your "Summer Reading Series" appears to have appealed to your readership. In particular, you could compile the most influential (good or bad) business books in a variety of channels (managing, marketing, investing, economic theory, etc.). You could take a "back to basics" approach, highlighting work from leaders like Peter Drucker and Stephen Covey (or Adam Smith and Ayn Rand, for that matter) and outline why they're more relevant than ever. You could also look back at popular works from the likes of Zig Ziglar and Donald Trump to see if they hold up over time.

Unemployment is at record levels and shows no signs of dissipating anytime soon. People are desperate and doing everything they can in the hopes of finding work, yet the vast majority are unaware that all their efforts are likely in vain.

I work at a company called ProRezOnline. We see and hear the difficulties faced by job applicants every day. While we offer what I feel are great alternative solutions, the reality is that most employers don’t stop to consider there is a real person behind every resume submitted. These days, most positions require their own proprietary web form be filled out for any given position. This is a timely and often useless process. Generally, all the data simply goes into a database only to be exhaustively screened by a magnitude of very specific computer filters set up for each job opening. Unless the job applicant has been fortunate enough to use the exact words and descriptions set up to match the computer parameters for the job, that resume will fall into the abyss with so many others. Even the most qualified individual may be easily overlooked. The process is heartless and usually worthless, but to most, is the only option available. In fact, most job application submissions don’t even generate an acknowledgment to the individual applying.

A story spotlighting the realities of job boards and the job application process would go a long way to helping people find jobs. After all, there ARE alternatives. Like the old adage says, ‘to change the output, you must first change the input’. A story such as this would help many navigate the apathetic conventions to at least give them a fighting chance.

James Gregware
ProRezOnline.com
407-568-3168

With all the debate about the failure of the Obama stimulus after just six month, can we find out the status of job creation from these Bush economic stimulus tax cut bills, with all the tax cuts still in effect? With most of the Job Creation tax cuts in effect for five years, where is the accountability for those Republican bills?
-Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001
-Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002
-Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003
-Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005
-Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 -Tax Extenders and Alternative
-Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008
Why isn't anyone asking when the jobs those Republican Job Creating and Economic Stimulus tax cuts will appear? How long must we wait for Republican stimulus to work?

Story Idea: Where is everyone living?

All of the housing headlines read like this:
-Foreclosures are up
-Housing starts are down (or barely up)
-House prices are falling, so are mortgage rates, home sales, etc.
-But at the same time, rents are falling, vacancies are up, and tenants are negotiating with their landlords.

Free market economics (a dubious way to describe America's housing market these days, I know) would suggest that all of these shouldn't happen simultaneously...if there are so many foreclosures, then there should be a higher demand for rent.

Where is everyone living if not in homes they are purchasing or renting? On the street? In their cars? With their parents?

I would like to see an article about the real value of employees as an Asset on the Balance Sheet of the corporations where they work. I believe that so many companies don't know: "What to Hold." When you let your assets go, what value are you placing and adding to the balance sheets of your competitors?? What are you employees really worth to your company? Find out before you let them go. -Thank-you.Lori Wilk, Host of Successipes with Recipes for Success in Business and Living http://www.blogtalkradio.com/successipes

I'd like to see a story written from the perspective of the family business owner. Ninety-nine years ago my husband's grandfather began by selling fruits and vegetables off the back of a cart. He managed to grow and build the business,move into a building,bring three sons into the business with him and keep things growing. Now the third generation, with help from the fourth, is running the business, but where are they headed? Will the economy cause so many difficulties to small family businesses that they are forced to close?

All businesses pay property taxes on their inventory, whether or not they make a profit, so why do mineral owners not pay property tax on minerals (until they produce)? Minerals are bought & sold as an asset! In Texas if you own a restaurant you pay tax on all properties (building, plates, forks,etc.) However; if you own 10,000 acres of minerals you pay NO Tax! The non-tax paying mineral owners' rights do, however, superseded the rights of the tax-paying surface owner!!

I propose a story on the most optimistic and futuristic view of social media and its impact on the corporate structure. Will social media begin to duplicate many of the functions now held within corporations? Will the corporate structure be replaced by communities organized by social media? Will a social contract become legally binding? Will a knowledge inventory of society be created. Will innovation become predictable? Will innovation bonds replace all other securitized assets? Is knowledge tangible? What is the social media definition of Innovation? Will a new currency form that is backed by productivity instead of debt? Who is the over reaching authority in social media? Is the value lost in the legacy economy being transferred to a new economy where social media is the "operating system"? Will the ROI model be scrapped in favor of "social options" valuation? Will communities organize around the "last mile of social media"? What exactly is the next paradigm of economic development? This is a far reaching synthesis of ideas that will take an extraordinary journalist to articulate. Thanks for asking!!!

Our economy is tough and we need people to step up, innovate, invent and make something happen! This entrepreneurial spirit that made our country great is part of the answer to our current economic dilemmas…

I suggest inventors stories and the HOW TO's on bringing a product to market from start ot finish would serve as a great motivation for others to invent and make something happen for themselves… and our economy. Business Week can show them how!!!

Advertiser support for such a story would not be hard to find. Companies like Legalzoom.com or other patent related law firms… The SBA, countless others. Proactive approach to the economy – Pro–Small business Etc.

I imagine that this show idea may have been discussed before, if so I urge you to again consider it. I believe the local impact would be great! It would provide more than just human interest stories – it could provide local companies (such as ours) the much needed press to put their product on the map! And Evening Mag could boast the success of these companies for years to come!

Of course, being inventors ourselves my wife and I would love to be your first guests! Actually… I’ve pretty much already lined up your 1st show of local inventors!

Roam Products (Seattle)
Bellacure.com (Seattle)
Dave’s Killer Bread.com (Puyallup)
And several others…

"Going Green" is in the news everyday! As awareness regarding the benefits of green practices increase, sustainability and "The Green Movement" become more entrenched into our lives (both business and personal.

Current research indicates that Americans prefer to work for and do business with companies that promote green practices, and create green products/services.

With all this "talk" about becoming greener, I would like to see an article that defines in specific details:

1) What exactly are "Green practices".
2) What are the proposed new EPA standards (to be required by 2015)
3) What steps can the US government and local companies take to become greener.
4) How can sustainable products and practices save companies dollars.

An article that covers current and up to date information, regarding these new standards, would be very interesting and useful. Most industries could benefit with specific benchmarks and guidelines as well as tips and examples of what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for this opportunity!

I'm thrilled to get this opportunity to share my suggestion. I think an article about how the federal government has been awarding "small business" contracts to multimillion dollar (even billion dollar) companies, making it harder for actual small business to compete for government contracts, would be interesting to share with readers -- especially small business readers. What does the current administration plans to do about this trend, and how will these potential changes impact small business in years to come? Thanks.

Manufacturing- Becoming Center Stage?
For those of us with a lot of passion around "making things," it is interesting to see the rethinking going on around manufacturing. I would do a story around this rethinking, and the implications to our standard of living. To make my point, three data points from the past couple of weeks:

•Jeff Immelt – speaking at the Detroit Economic Club: Notice how industrial "renewal" this is, as well as the message about the role of manufacturing in a strong economy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gldr-YtYojc

•Harvard Business Review Editors blog and the “Restoring American Competitiveness” feature in this month’s HBR: It is noteworthy that Jeff’s comments were picked up by the Harvard Business Review’s (HBR) Editor’s blog, and that MFG competitiveness is the focus of the July/August issue.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/hbreditors/2009/06/finally_a_ceo_speaks_up_on_how.html

•Manufacturing Our Future – UK based publication: I highlight this piece because I think it is useful to see how other countries are rethinking the industrial issue. Notice the similar themes, challenges, and the clear call for innovation.

http://www.eef.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C6F5457C-C495-4DC7-8F3E-9609FBEC40FC/15431/ManufacturingOurFuture1.pdf

Point is... it is interesting and refreshing to see the dialogue getting closer to how do we restore and maintain a strong industrial base, in comparison to a almost non priority / services oriented view I think we have seen over the past decade. The implication of this on our standard of living would make an excellent story.

Next February, Oliver Stone will be releasing "Money Never Sleeps," the sequel to my all-time favorite movie, "Wall Street." While the initial plot, which is set during the 2008 market meltdown, seems contrived and melodramatic, the storyline brings up three potential story ideas for an issue next February:

1) Do a profile of a recognized white collar criminal after time served. You could cover a variety of areas:

* What coping mechanisms have they developed to live with the daily shame? What is their current lifestyle like? What are their biggest concerns now (image rehabilitation, health, children and grandchildren, etc.)?
* How did the legal proceedings, bad press and incarceration they publicly experienced change their views on proper business practices?
* How did their experiences impact their relationships with their family? What have they done to make peace with their former co-workers, business partners and customers?
* What are their views on current perpetrators, such as Bernie Madoff?

2) As part of this article, you could include a sidebar on famous white collar criminals (Michael Milken, etc.) and list their crime, punishment and what they're doing now.

3) Since Gordon Gekko will inevitably turn face in this flick, you may want to do a faux interview with the newly-rehabilitated Mr. Gekko on the current state of Wall Street and American Capitalism -- or provide a list of "Gekko's New Rules for Wall Street" (in his distinct voice, of course).

I've been researching the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) for days, and I have yet to find any thorough articles on the impact of the program on a borrower's credit score, and other unintended side effects of applying for a loan modification under the program.

I find that I qualify, due to reduced income, even though my interest rate was low (5.625, fixed) and I put more than 50% equity into my condo when I purchased it four years ago. But now the once-affordable monthly payment is more than 45% of my income. I've never paid late, and I have a sterling credit rating, but the economic outlook for my earnings is bleak.

I'm hesitating to proceed, because my biggest fear is that simply by applying, or when accepted into a modification program by my lender, the bank will report it as a negative event to the credit agencies, even if I never miss a payment.

I'm also wondering what the most common workouts are -- what is the average reduction in payment, by how much are interest rates reduced and how many loans are simply extended to 40-year terms, etc. I also fear that with so much equity in my home, the bank will simply wait me out, hoping to foreclose, as they can surely sell it for more than I owe.

I'll bet there are a lot of homeowners worrying about the same issue, and that could be one reason the government's modification/refi program isn't getting the traction they anticipated (that, and the banks' reluctance/inexperience with mortgage mods).

Would appreciate a solid BusinessWeek investigation into this subject. Thanks.

Are your Project Managers working too hard to be successful for you?

'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)

The latest Standish Group report shows more project failing and less successful projects.

‘This year's results show a marked decrease in project success rates, with 32% of all projects succeeding which are delivered on time, on budget, with required features and functions’ says Jim Johnson, chairman of The Standish Group, ‘44% were challenged which are late, over budget, and/or with less than the required features and functions and 24% failed which are cancelled prior to completion or delivered and never used.’

So what is going wrong out there? Why are your projects being challenged in this way?

Are your Project Managers perhaps working too hard to be successful for you?

Challenge

The whole world is challenged that is for sure!

On one hand we face the Global Recession, with all the impact that this is having on people and business, and on the other hand we are a dynamic, resourceful and ever evolving world that demands change as part of its survival. And change demands projects and projects demand project managers.
On one hand we have a history littered with significant project failure, although there have been spectacular successes as well The Standish Report 2009 clearly shows that history may well be repeated in many cases.
Now is the time that is even more critical to succeed, and succeed with a higher level of certainty than seen before since those projects that will be commissioned in the future, as well as the ones that are allowed to continue in the current climate, will be expected to deliver higher business impact, be under closer scrutiny from senior management and be under far more pressure.

And guess what, who will be the one that is under the most pressure, you, as represented by your delegates - the project managers in your organisations.
So surely now is the time that you both want the best project managers you can have and for these project managers to work in the most effective way possible.

Enter the world of ‘productive laziness’
So how can you ensure that your project managers deliver in the most effective way and deliver successful projects?

We all know about the 80/20 rule, let’s start there.

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) states that for many phenomena 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. The idea has rule-of-thumb application in many places, but it's also commonly misused, for example, it is a misuse to state that a solution to a problem ‘fits the 80-20 rule’ just because it fits 80% of the cases; it must be implied that this solution requires only 20% of the resources needed to solve all cases.

The principle was in fact suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran and it was named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of property in Italy was owned by 20% of the Italian population. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes.

So ‘20% of clients may be responsible for 80% of sales volume’. This can be evaluated and is likely to be roughly right, and can be helpful in future decision making. The Pareto Principle also applies to a variety of more mundane matters: one might guess approximately that we wear our 20% most favoured clothes about 80% of the time, perhaps we spend 80% of the time with 20% of our acquaintances and so on.
The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule can and should be used by every smart but lazy person in their daily life. The value of the Pareto Principle for a project manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters.

Woody Allen once said ‘80% of success is showing up’, I’m not so sure about that, I have seen projects where there was a physical project manager around but you would never have believed that looking at the project progress, or lack of progress.

No, better to appreciate that of the things people do during their working day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of the results.

So, you should get your project managers to both identify and focus on those things during their working day and drop the other 80%. This is the first step to becoming even more effective – less is definitely more - make them in to ‘Lazy’ Project Managers, avoiding working long hours on tasks that they don’t need to work on but doing a more productive job on those that do matter.

Science behind the laziness

It’s no good just being lazy; you have to be better than lazy, you have to be lazy in a very smart way.

Productive Laziness is not just about being lazy, it requires something more and that is a powerful and magical combination of laziness and intelligence. Smart lazy people have a real edge over others in society and are most suited to leadership roles in organizations.

This theory has existed for many years and applied in a number of interesting ways. One of the most famous of these was in the Prussian Army.

Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (1800 – 1891) was a German Generalfeldmarschall. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is widely regarded as one of the great strategists of the latter half of the 1800s, and the creator of a new, more modern method, of directing armies in the field.

In 1857 Helmuth Moltke was given the position Chief of the Prussian Großer Generalstab (military staff), a position he held for the next 30 years. As soon as he gained the position he went to work making changes to the strategic and tactical methods of the Prussian army; changes in armament and in means of communication; changes in the training of staff officers; and changes to the method for the mobilization of the army. He also instituted a formal study of European politics in connection with the plans for campaigns which might become necessary. In short, he rapidly put into place the features of a modern General Staff.

Moltke had a particular insight to and approach to categorising his officer corps, something which lives on to this day within many armed forces, and something which can apply to all forms of leadership.

If you consider the two ranges of individual characteristics, those that go from diligent through to lazy, and those that go from non-smart through to smart (yes I am being politically correct here) then you end up with the four character types in the diagram above.

General von Moltke divided his officer corps into these four distinct types, depending on their mental and physical characteristics. He ended up with (and he never had to be politically correct being born in the 19th century and being chief of the Prussian army) type A: mentally dull and physically lazy, type B: mentally bright and physically energetic, type C: mentally dull and physically energetic, and type D: mentally bright and physically lazy.

Type ‘A’ officers, who were mentally dull and physically lazy, were given simple, repetitive, and unchallenging tasks to perform. They had reached their career peak in the army. That said, if you left them alone then they might just come up with a good idea one day, if not then they won’t cause you any problems either.

Type ‘B’ officers who were mentally bright and physically energetic were considered to be obsessed with micromanagement and would, as a result, be poor leaders. Promotion was possible over a period of time but not to the status of commanding officer of the German General Staff. These officers were best at making sure orders were carried out and thoughtfully addressing all the detail.

Type ‘C’ officers who were mentally dull but physically energetic were considered to be somewhat dangerous. To Moltke, they were officers who would require constant supervision, which was an unacceptable overhead and distraction, and because they would potentially create problems faster than could be managed, these officers were considered too much trouble and were dismissed. No career there then!

Which brings us to type ‘D’ officers; these were the mentally bright and yet physically lazy officers who Moltke felt could and should take the highest levels of command. This type of officer was both smart enough to see what needed to be done but was also motivated by inherent laziness to find the easiest, simplest way to achieve what was required. Put in a more positive way they would know how to be successful through the most efficient deployment of effort.

So, smart lazy people have a real edge over others and are most suited to leadership roles in organizations.

Being a ‘Lazy’ Project Manager is all about applying these principles in the delivery and management of projects. It is assumed that your project managers are not stupid, what you now need to do is hone their lazy skills in order to rise to the top right hand side of the diagram. Do this and not only will your projects be more successful, you and your project managers will also be seen as successful and a safe pair of hands for future leadership roles.

‘Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.’ - Walter Chrysler

Crowdsourcing, bizaro twitter, ... there could be many ways to discover the magic of this new survey tool...

If Huff can take it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-rose/the-poll-is-dead-long-liv_b_233918.html

where would biz wk take it?

enjoy. thanks.
robert

I think you should write a story about the value of web based invoicing in helping companies cut operational costs and meet compliance in these economic times. Additionally web invoicing is innovative and an emerging technology.It also compliments your story on the need for business intelligence.

I would like to read a report/article on Australia, preferably on the following topics

1. The future of Australian economy

2. The focus of Australian Business Schools.

3. The present and future contributions of Australian business schools

I was shot three times in the chest at 18 years old. My 2 friends rushed me to St. John's Hospital just before i bleed to death. I was told my dream to play football was over, but it was football that made my dreams come true. I’d like to share my motivational story.

Dedication, discipline, self-worth, the will not to give up, and to overcome adversity are a few of the life-lessons that enabled me to survive the shooting and fight way back onto the football field as a starter (red shirt freshman) just one year later. I am 33 years-old and PTSD and an emergency surgury 4 years ago took hit me really hard.

I returned to high school sports as a coach 4 years ago determined to spend my life giving back to high school sports and the life IT saved ten years ago and the life it has given me back today.

I just spent the last year in a half working with coaches and web site programmers building the most in depth and robust high school sports recruiting and recruiting management tool online. I built 2 sites that network profiles between each other. CheckMySkills.com is for student-athletes and MyRecruitingOffice.com is for college recruiters and their staffs. I would like to hear your thoughts. It is all about helping the kids out which keeps my life..

Vincent Gandino - Founder & President, Web Based Sports Solutions, Inc.
http://www.checkmyskills.com/vincent-gandino/
http://myrecruitingoffice.com

With football season nearing (Thank God), you might want to look at writing a piece on the UFL (United Football League), an upstart competitor to the NFL that is slated to start playing this fall. Their teams have already hired well-known NFL coaches, such as Dennis Green and Jim Fassel, along with former NFL retreads, such as former Buffalo Quarterback J.P. Losman. In your article, you could address issues like the following:
* What have been the challenges in launching a start-up operation to compete with one of the most recognized and cherished brands in the world? How will they address thorny issues like escalating salaries, protecting player health and collective bargaining / player unionization?
* What is their plan for grabbing attention, differentiating themselves and potentially building their brand into a viable alternative to the NFL? How will they compensate for their severe disadvantages in areas like broadcast revenue, merchandising and team tradition? In addition to the NFL, how will they stand out from college football, which arguably rivals the NFL for fan loyalty and dollars?
* Why will this league be superior to niches like the Canadian or Arena Football Leagues? What have they learned from the failures of leagues like the USFL and NFL Europe?

I would like to see a reality check on the issues of America. After eight years of no progress and monies being spent on whatever in the government How much is left for real programs for the people? I would like to see a story with a reality check concerning the economy. Everyone believes persons are going to go out and purchase vehicles when they can not pay their mortgages. Persons would like to believe this will get better before it will get worse. It has no choice but to get worse before it gets better simply because it was a scam of appraisers and credit unions and credit card companies to make everyone a millionaire on paper. The paper isn't worth much so many are finding out. The population is over 50, the baby boomers who worked and created this mega-economy are now ill and retired. This country has not educated all the persons they needed as to carry the torch. Jobs are being eliminated because young persons have no monies or skills and certainly can not purchase a house at the rate they are selling. The minimum wage surely is not supporting very many families. If you are fortunate enough to hang on to be a second generation boomers child where will you work? Overqualified to take a pay cut and so many school loans anyway. I guess mama and papa need to keep you at home. They will until the health care issues take it. So who is zooming who?

Could there be another way for leaders to deal with the effects of this economy other than managing stress? How about effectively managing personal energy? We all know that when you fail to put oil or gas in a cars it stresses the engine, stopping any forward progress. The same hold true for stress in the body. When you fail to effectively manage mental, emotional and interactional energy it stresses the body. Managing personal energy can create new enthusiasm for work, avoid the path that leads to burnout and turn poor choices and self-criticism into positive learning experiences. The more effectively you manage personal energy the less stress you experience.

1) I know Henry Paulson is writing a book on the financial meltdown, which will be released in October by Grand Central Publishing. You could always do a print interview with Paulson for an October cover story, similar to Stephen Adler's live interview with him back in December. You could even apply a "One Year Later" theme.

2) Speaking of Wall Street, maybe you could contact Eliot Spitzer to do a guest column. I hear he is searching high-and-low for any opportunity to rebuild his reputation -- and he has been writing op-eds. Your readers might loathe him, but he'd definitely fetch you some publicity.

3) With the increased involvement of Federal government into business -- and a new administration in charge -- you might want to devote a cover story to the emerging power players in Washington. By that, I don't mean Congressmen and department heads. Instead, I would focus on the "generation next" of the public sector -- the behind-the-scenes public servants emerging from obscurity who will eventually be the power players and shape policy decisions over the next quarter century. For example, I did some lobbying in Washington in 2001. I was stunned at how influential a representative's staffers, particularly the Chief of Staff, are in the process. I also used to talk to an investigator at the FTC. Since she -- and the team below her -- determined which complaints would be investigated (and why), I felt she was far more important than any of the five commissioners. It is these people who eventually move up the ladder; These are the people that your readers should know about. They may fast trackers in the following areas:

* Regulators (FTC, Reserve Board, etc.)
* Political Aides to Influential Senators and Congressmen
* Department Personnel (FDA, Labor, Treasury, etc.)
* Presidential Advisors (Heck, BW could profile a Czar a week at this point)
* Analysts
* Academics
* Economists
* Media
* Lobbyists
* Think Tanks
* Fixers
* Leadership teams in government-owned enterprises (i.e. General Motors)

Since you have a Washington bureau (I thought you closed it), you have the resources to start compiling these people (and providing 3-4 sentences on each). Eventually, you could consider applying this concept to Wall Street, banks and Fortune 500 companies. You could also do a special sidebar on those emerging leaders in the 28-35 year old set too.

4) Beginning in 2010, you could create a futurist-themed special report that tackles how current challenges will evolve in the next 10 years. Let's just call it "2020 Vision." Basically, your writers would profer "what if" scenarios or take existing trends to their natural conclusion in 10 years. For example, you could examine what would happen if the world adopted a global currency in place of the dollar or the impact of a national healthcare program -- as currently being debated -- would impact American business on a variety of fronts (Overhead, Turnover, Innovation, etc.).

5) We always hear about the Fortune 500 or Fortune 1000. Have you ever done a special report / profile on 1001-2000, placing special emphasis on those organizations poised to move into the big leagues within the next 5 years?

1) I know Henry Paulson is writing a book on the financial meltdown, which will be released in October by Grand Central Publishing. You could always do a print interview with Paulson for an October cover story, similar to Stephen Adler's live interview with him back in December. You could even apply a "One Year Later" theme.

2) Speaking of Wall Street, maybe you could contact Eliot Spitzer to do a guest column. I hear he is searching high-and-low for any opportunity to rebuild his reputation -- and he has been writing op-eds. Your readers might loathe him, but he'd definitely fetch you some publicity.

3) With the increased involvement of Federal government into business -- and a new administration in charge -- you might want to devote a cover story to the emerging power players in Washington. By that, I don't mean Congressmen and department heads. Instead, I would focus on the "generation next" of the public sector -- the behind-the-scenes public servants emerging from obscurity who will eventually be the power players and shape policy decisions over the next quarter century. For example, I did some lobbying in Washington in 2001. I was stunned at how influential a representative's staffers, particularly the Chief of Staff, are in the process. I also used to talk to an investigator at the FTC. Since she -- and the team below her -- determined which complaints would be investigated (and why), I felt she was far more important than any of the five commissioners. It is these people who eventually move up the ladder; These are the people that your readers should know about. They may fast trackers in the following areas:

* Regulators (FTC, Reserve Board, etc.)
* Political Aides to Influential Senators and Congressmen
* Department Personnel (FDA, Labor, Treasury, etc.)
* Presidential Advisors (Heck, BW could profile a Czar a week at this point)
* Analysts
* Academics
* Economists
* Media
* Lobbyists
* Think Tanks
* Fixers
* Leadership teams in government-owned enterprises (i.e. General Motors)

Since you have a Washington bureau (I thought you closed it), you have the resources to start compiling these people (and providing 3-4 sentences on each). Eventually, you could consider applying this concept to Wall Street, banks and Fortune 500 companies. You could also do a special sidebar on those emerging leaders in the 28-35 year old set too.

4) Beginning in 2010, you could create a futurist-themed special report that tackles how current challenges will evolve in the next 10 years. Let's just call it "2020 Vision." Basically, your writers would profer "what if" scenarios or take existing trends to their natural conclusion in 10 years. For example, you could examine what would happen if the world adopted a global currency in place of the dollar or the impact of a national healthcare program -- as currently being debated -- would impact American business on a variety of fronts (Overhead, Turnover, Innovation, etc.).

5) We always hear about the Fortune 500 or Fortune 1000. Have you ever done a special report / profile on 1001-2000, placing special emphasis on those organizations poised to move into the big leagues within the next 5 years?

Here are a few more ideas:

1) Since we're likely starting on a recovery, this might be a time to run a story on potential bubbles in the future. In particular, you could examine markets, regulatory loopholes, financial tools and practices -- both domestic and international -- that reprsent the greatest systemic risk.

2)There are also some topics that lend themselves to some interesting slideshows. They include:

* Survey leading executives, with each listing something they have done to help weather the recession, such as cutting costs, better targeting customers or measuring ROI, or focusing on core business operations.

* Survey leading economists and academics, with each listing a key element of long-term economic recovery, such as updating transportation infrastructure, reforming health care, decreasing foreign energy dependance, cutting the deficit and tort reform.

* List various projects funded by the economic stimulus package. In each slide, you could include a one or two sentence description, the amount spent, the number of jobs created (or saved) and the long-term benefit to the region (or nation).

With the increasing cost of pharmaceutical drugs and the current economic climate, I would invite you to cover a story of vital international importance, and that is to do a story on generic drugs. One generic drug which has received a lot of international acclaim, is Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).
It is non toxic, it boosts endorphins several times over, which in turn boosts the immune system and the cells in the body that effect repair. In brief, the main reason we are healthy when we are young and fit is because we have adequate endorphin levels. When these fall, we become prone to many serious diseases such as Cancer, MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohns disease and Ulcerative Colitis, Infertility in women, in fact the whole range of auto-immune conditions and conditions caused by these diseases. It also helps with HIV/AIDS because it boosts the immune system so much.
Unfortunately it is a generic drug and these uses were only found a few years (1979) before the patent expired (1985), so they have never been properly exposed and trialled. Saying that, some of the drugs being prescribed for MS have not been trialled either, but they are expensive drugs that earn money for the drug companies so they use them – at a huge cost to the Govt.
There is a lot of clinical evidence that LDN has transformed around 100,000 peoples lives with devastating diseases worldwide. I do believe a story on generic drugs would create a lot of interest to your readership.

Further to Jayne's suggestion, re: BusinessWeek's recent story about the high cost of drug treatments for chronic diseases, specifically for diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Jayne sent me the BW link on the story about the high cost of MS drugs. Jayne lives in the UK and I live in the US. We both have MS and we both take LDN and we have both seen dramatic results with the drug. She and I have no financial interest in LDN other than to help see other people become more aware of it, and this is not a PR pitch. Just go to www.lowdosenaltrexone.org and spend some time learning about it. Someday you may encounter someone with MS or an autoimmune disease and this information could really help them.

What if you knew that there was a low cost FDA-approved generic drug that if used off-label halted MS? A generic drug that thousands of MS patients are using safely today under their doctor's supervision? What if you next discovered that the National Multiple Sclerosis Society showed little interest in this drug? What if you found out that the four leading pharmaceutical manufacturers of MS drugs, comprising an $11 billion dollar annual marketplace, financially support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society? Do you think this story just might be another example of what's wrong with our healthcare system today?

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) may well be the most important therapeutic breakthrough in over fifty years. It provides a new, safe and inexpensive method of medical treatment by mobilizing the natural defenses of one's own immune system. LDN substantially reduces health care costs and improves treatment of a wide array of diseases. Unfortunately, because naltrexone has been without patent protection for many years, no pharmaceutical company will bear the expense of the large clinical trials necessary for FDA approval of LDN’s new special uses.

The story is simply this: LDN apparently halts MS, but it is being suppressed because it is a cheap generic. Think about that a moment, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is ignoring a drug that halts MS in favor of the large pharmas which fund it's operations. If a clinical trial was ever conducted on the efficacy of LDN versus the established drugs, and LDN was found to be superior, an $11 billion dollar marketplace would be at risk. The thing is, tens of thousands of people are taking LDN with success and abandoning the high cost, often very toxic treatments. LDN could go a long way to controlling our skyrocketing chronic disease healthcare costs, but unfortunately there is no money in it for private industry. LDN is, in fact, a threat to the status quo.

Please investigate Low Dose Naltrexone.

You need to do more "man on the street" opinions on the state of the U.S. health care industry. From my point of view it's a massive mess. Ugh.

While the M2 money supply is growing, banks are putting the money into their excess reserves. This excess reserve fund, which collects interest from the Federal Reserve, is growing. There are over 800 billion dollars in this reserve as of the writing of this post. This is why banks are not lending, they are keeping these reserves in case of further meltdowns of toxic assets.

The measure of excess reserves compared to lending is called the M2 Money Multiplier, which is dropping. As M2 grows this multiplier tells the real story. We have strong deflationary forces at work. Yet higher interest rates will damage real estate and our relationship with the Chinese, who want bonds that are worth something.

The fed is in between a rock and a hard place, and cannot cause inflation while fighting deflation.
http://rid-of-debt.com/deflation.html

Two more ideas...

1) In the wake of the recession, many professionals, jarred by layoffs, are considering changing professions to enhance their job security. BW might want to look at developing a slideshow on how to transition to a new field. You could cover topics like discovering your passions, developing a plan, cultivating a mentor and identifying opportunities to build your skills in a particular field (volunteering, etc.).

2) As we near the end of the decade, you may want to develop a special report outlining the seminal business events and trends of the past decade (Tech Bubble Burst, Enron, Economic Meltdown, Social Media, etc.). You could also have your top columnists examine the impact of these areas on our economy, social mores and politics, along with making predictions for the next decade.

How about a follow up story on statins? Your cover story from Jan 17th 2008 was the best I've seen about cholesterol and statins. Perhaps a focus on side effects other than rhabdo such as nerve effects and memory loss. No statins to be prescribed to anyone over say 65 or 70

Here are more ideas:

1) Over the past year, countless articles have been devoted to Generation Y. However, Gen-X's progeny -Generation Z - are starting to filter into high school, which means they will soon be joining the workforce. While it is still early to formulate a definitive snapshot of a generation, you may want to survey social scientists and educators to get an early look at this next generation. This story may include:
* What are some characteristics you're noticing about Generation Z?
* How have they been impacting educational theory and delivery?
* What have employers noticed about Generation Z workers (i.e. 14 year olds can get permits to work in areas such as busing tables and detasseling corn)?
* How has Generation Z reacted to their parents' Gen-X values? In particular, do they tend to be more cynical and independent or are they rebelling and moving towards a more baby boomer mentality?

2) With the amplified role of government in business affairs, I would suggest developing a couple slideshows in the areas of graft and waste. For example, the New York Times reported last year on a survey of the most and least corrupt states (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/weekinreview/14marsh.html). You could create a slide per state, outlining where the state ranks in certain key benchmarks, along with a humorous anecdote on a particularly brazen breach of public trust. Similarly, you could do slideshows on the worst examples of graft in the past 10 years, with the requisite who, what, where, when, how and why (and the inevitable punishment). Otherwise, you could do a "How to Save $10 Billion Dollars" type slideshow, providing examples of the worst pork projects, with special emphasis on how much is spent, who actually benefits and who the biggest legislative proponents of these programs are.

Seems that with the health debate in full swing, that it might be timely to have John Cary do a follow up on his award winning article about Statin efficacy. If in fact thses drugs are targeted incorrectly and costing billions of dollars a year, then an update as to the new science and testing of statins is in order.

Thanks
Mike

Looming Liability nightmare for Statin Drug Manufacturers

The Net Therapeutic Value of this class of drugs is negetive.

My mother had 2 heart attacks after taking Liptor, and is on a pacemaker as a result, although cardiologists could find absolutely nothing wrong with her cardovascular systems or heart, even after numerous tests. Lipitor is known to cause heart arrythmias, yet the docs did not consider this.

In 2008 you did a cover story explaining that although Statin drugs clearly do lower cholesterol, this does not translate into signicant health benefits. Even by the most optimistic measures, more than 100 men need to be treated to prevent a single heart attack, and for women there is no statistical evidence of health benefits at all.

More and more info is coming out about the damaging effects of statin drugs. On muscle biopsy, more than 50 percent of users have tissue damage, dementia is a common side effect, and other reactions to the drugs include congestive heart failure, as well as damage to nearly every body system.

Within the next couple of years it will become clear that the Net Therapeutic Value of this class of drugs is negative. Exponentially more people are being harmed or killed by these drugs than are helped. The scope of the looming liability nightmare is massive.

Take an even closer look at the rural broadband situation. A recent article mentioned Hill CountryTel in Texas - you should look at the customers of that telco and describe just how rural they are - how far apart do they live, what do they do for a living, what would having HIGH SPEED internet service do for them that either dial-up internet service or lower bandwidth service cant do? No need to focus on the most extreme examples, but rather you should attempt to describe just what rural means in the context of the broadband availability debate. All stories I read about rural broadband use a broad-brush approach to describing the situation. I think it would be more informative to understand some particulars.

Managed care organizations are not Insurers!!! Please stop referring to them as insurers.

Managed care organizations are insurance brokers, soliciting business from employers and sending the insurance risks to their cooperating insurers using capitation contracting with insurance risk assuming health care providers who are very tiny insurers.

Problem: Tiny insurers are terribly inefficient, have much higher probabilities of: missing profitability goals, failing to break even, and insolvency than larger, real insurers.

The rationale for managed care and capitation - the much touted answer to the health care finance problem - is flawed because it ignores the fact that risk-disaggregation is itself, far more inefficient than all the abuses in the indemnity system.

For some reason everyone insists on confusing managed care organizations and insurers. I don't know why - they are like oil and water, oranges and camels, vinegar and sugar...

So, unless you loved writing about the stock market crash of 2008, credit default swaps, and sub-prime mortgages ex-post-facto, pursue this story line with me before someone else wakes up and gets the Pulitzer for it...

I have a little personal website where I describe "Professional Caregiver Insurance Risk" in far more detail...

http://drtcbear.servebbs.net:81/~PCIR/

Background wise: I am a mathematician, statistician, registered nurse, and more to the point, I spent about a decade doing insurance and reinsurance rate making and reserving. So I actually understand what the flaw is and why it is so appealing.

How about Hypocrisy among the elite! From your own story CEOs Rate Obama's Performance... Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of Dreamworks says "On tax hikes: Unfortunately, that's not been a level playing field and there has been an unhealthy concentration of wealth in this country. Those days are over." Anyone have an idea how much Katzenburg makes in a year? If he's so upset at the concentration of wealth, why doesn't he just donate his excessive (and undocumented) income to the Government and lead by example! I say undocumented, because nowhere on the required 10-K SEC filing or through varous internet searches could I find his repoted income. Interesting hypocrisy there. Expects government to help spread the "unhealthy concentration of wealth" but doesn't report his own and what stopping him from voluntarily giving his own enormous portion of the "unhealthy concerntration" away if he feels so strongly as to expect others to give up their share. I wonder how many other obscenely wealthy feel the same misguided sense of noblesse-oblige, yet they themselves do nothing to set an example for what they expouse and expect from others.

How about "What the Top-100 wealthiest earn, pay in taxes, donate to charity and what policies they support in government" for an article?

A story about big-bank bailout money against the "little guy".

I worked for a major wire-house brokerage before being hired away to a large multinational bank to work in their brokerage division.

After two years of broken promises and disorganization I left that firm to go independent. The Bank came after me legally for leaving.

We went to Arbitration and after two years I lost my fight. OK, I lost, so I proposed to pay $90k over a couple of years. The bank refuses and has submitted to the governing body of our industry to pull my licenses because of my failure to pay. If I cannot pay, then the bank writes off the $90k.

My concern is that this bank is in the top ten of bailout money from the American taxpayer, but will write off $90k in the blink of an eye - not to mention ruin my 18 years of financial advice to hard working Americans without a smudge on my record. We live in CRAZY times.

Given the extent of unemployment, I suggest that your revise and reissue the articles on "Background Checks" in the following two articles.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_23/b4087054129334.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_23/b4087054986699.htm

I say revise as you inaccurately refer to USIS when the correct company is HireRight
http://www.hireright.com/Consumers-Applicants.aspx

Also I suspect your reference to Kroll Background Screening is also inaccurate.

The article should include the specific URL's to obtain annual reports for individuals.

Kevin, I forwarded your comment to my colleague Chad Terhune, who points out that "USIS acquired HireRight after the story published and more recently changed its name. Kroll is accurate. Updating corporate names would be an endless exercise and wouldn’t reflect the correct name anyway for when specific events happened in a story during reporting." Thanks for taking time to check in!

Shirley Brady
BW Community Editor

How about a story to follow up the FDA's negligent announcement made on July 22, 2009 regarding electronic cigarettes, and their unwarranted warnings for smokers not to use electronic cigarettes over tobacco cigarettes. My story suggestion was a little long so i posted it on a blog.

http://ecigfdapropaganda.blogspot.com/

With the recent translation spat in a town hall in Africa (and the Russian Reset button translation few months back), I think a story on language translation would be informative, enlightening and will be a good opportunity for your readers to understand this industry better. Some thoughts:

-This industry,and the many players in it, so far have been recession-proof.
-How does technology play a role in this century in bridging the linguistic gap (The advent of machine translation - and why most corporations out there are still hesitant to embrace it, and why they should keep their fear at bay and start to see it with a positive light)
- I have a case study to share on this too, involving the use of Machine Translation (MT) in a recent translation 'activity' in a huge M&A in Japan.

I'll be happy to provide industry-focused, unbiased opinion and input on this, if you think the story is worth covering.

Cheers,
Calvin Lee

I think that the shift to social media and blogging is fascinating. I think that it's interesting at which lengths companies are going to to get an edge. The below story is one example.

Defense Daily reporter Geoff Fein and editor John Robinson co-bylined this story

Boeing Launches Internal Probe After Company Flack Poses As Blogger

Boeing [BA] is conducting an internal investigation into a nascent social media effort after a company spokesman posed as an independent blogger and sat in on several briefings of archrival Northrop Grumman [NOC] at a trade show last week.

Doug Cantwell, a company spokesman who works out of one of Boeing's Washington state facilities, preregistered for last week's Association for Unmanned Vehicles System International (AUVSI) symposium as an "independent blogger" working for Defensedialogue.com, according to a spokeswoman for AUVSI.

Cash for Clunkers ends 24Aug09 and by then > 500,000 old cars will be replaced by new ones (457,476 were by late on the 19th). In the long run this is "anti-green" as will slow US conversion to "green-fuel" cars (alcohol from Brazil or electric hybrids.) Do a study to see if that is not true. I.e. the net effect of this program will be to INCREASE the release of CO2, etc.

I would like to see an article on marketing management for companies in an economic downturn. Also, to tie in with that, I would like to propose an article that discusses the importance of value for businesses or the importance of companies providing/maintaining value for consumers. Both of these are pertinent ideas for today's businessperson.
Sincerely,
Tricia Fox

Volatile economic conditions around the world are producing hundreds of forecasts for the direction of global economy. No matter how many glimmers of hope we receive from the US and other leading economies, it has taught one lesson - not to depend too much on the external sources of growth and US can not take too much of a good and cheap stuff, unless developing countries keep ploughing their surpluses back into US economy. This shift in mind of the leaders for leading global economies (BRIC + others), may move towards the positive end of spectrum. For a while largest US creditors seem calm, and it is smart, because sell-off could lead to further panic and loss of value in assets. That would be too much for already sick (improvingly sick) global economy to take in. So it would be very beneficial if one the journalists starts a blog or opens up a chapter at BW which would look close into facts where the businesses are moving (trends and etc) and investment opportunities, by analyzing the leading business news headlines, newspapers and magazines for the facts. I am already tracking business trends via google news alert on the issue.

Stockmarket valuation is all-time headache for economists, do you think it would be possible to make necessary amendments to stock equity laws to list only profitmaking companies, and set up a separate stock exchange for venture and news companies?

How do you get a philanthropist to care about your cause in these very stressful economic times?

That is the question I keep pondering over and over! When the donations are drying up, and parents are losing their jobs, and agencies budgets are being cut! What can you do?

Then it came back to me the simple principles my grandma, who was not a economist but a student of life and hard times taught me by example.

She grew up during the depression, and knew how to make something out of nothing. If she had old mashed potatoes she made potato pancakes, old rice became rice pudding, brown gravy made a good stew. Sour milk made the best homemade biscuits you ever tasted.

In other words, I learned as a child that the simplest thing around you can become a tool to make something greater.

In the Bible it says, "you have not because you ask not."

Now I am saying and I quote "you have not because you didn't ask the right question of the right person at the right time.

The easiest way I found to get people to help with your cause, is to get those people in front of you who already have a passion for that cause.

In summary I would like to say if your heart is into helping at-risk youth stay out of gangs, in school, and out of the jail house, then please direct your heart to contact me at info@star-foundation.org and let's get something started.

"We measure our success one child at a time, how about you?

I'm not a finance expert, so I called an investment banking friend with deep capital structure expertise to help me understand Pepsi's bottler acquisition moves. I needed a private forum to ask what I was sure was a stupid question.

"Why, I asked, would it ever make sense for a company that sustains an ROIC over 25% to acquire its legally bound, exclusive, highly efficient, national scale distribution partners with 4% ROIC asset-heavy businesses"?

The long pause on the other end of cell connection was deafening.

"We were as puzzled as you are. After all, it wasn't that long ago that Pepsi publicly distanced itself from what they viewed as asset-intensive, credit-hog operations. I'm sure if I dug around I could find the analysts' reports that summarize the creative pro formas used to sell the deal. But it's my understanding that it was all done to regain control over their declining carbonated business."

Wow, that was sure unfulfilling to hear.

Let's put this in perspective for others of you who don't live and breathe the arcane vernacular of creative capital structuring at large companies. Pepsi, in effect, paid a premium of over $2 billion - that's right, a premium (the total deal almost reached $8 billion) - in order to regain control of a massive set of low-performing assets; its two largest carbonated business distributors. What Pepsi is saying, is that no amount of collaboration or joint planning with these fully-scaled, national, exclusive distribution powerhouses could convince their strategic planning counterparts at the bottlers to pursue certain courses of action and certian investments for exciting new growth.

That's a pretty expensive way to get your PowerPoint strategy agreed to, isn't it? If this was a personal matter, we might even call it OCD.

For more: http://360degreeview.blogspot.com/2009/08/pepsi-rolls-dice-on-integration.html

There is a lot of talk that competition policy, particularly antitrust agencies coming out weaker after the crisis, or even their activities limited, even suspended so that not to intervene into the process of allocating state aids to certain companies (which may put other companies to competitive disadvantage) and allow price collusions between companies, which hurt competition for years. This some say has even deepened and prolonged recession, because weak companies got the aids, consumers overpaid due to price collusions, and large companies profited even though they made wrong business decisions and in the end taxpayers got the bill.
Even now we see the government activities, which would not happen during normal times, especially in the banking sector. British competition authority warned the British government of keeping the balance on RBS case, but it continued the deal anyway. European completion commission is doing a lot work, but national governments either ignore or just push aside the competition law enforcement. The big question, were competition policies really suspended during the Depression, and how exactly was it accomplished (partly suspended, or just in some cases and etc.), is there any evidence that this led to widespread price collusions, did government ending up supporting companies that were already on their of going down. If so, it will definitely lead to some serious conclusions and should make governments all around the world to pay attention at what trustbusters need to say.

Who is killing Healthcare Reform? There are huge benefits to reducing the cost of healthcare in the U.S.- for businesses as well as taxpayers. Significant improvements could be acheived even without the public option and pay to play schemes. The far Right, the far Left, and various special interest groups seem to be conspiring to assure nothing is accomplished. Who is killing Healthcare Reform- and why?

What about the conservative backlash against avowed left wing radical Stephen Colbert? Not only did the Georgia Herald Banner and the New York Times come out with critical pieces on him this month, two great articles appeared here:

Strangers With Colbert: Secret Past of News Host Raises Questions
http://christwire.org/2009/08/strangers-with-colbert-secret-past-of-news-host-raises-questions-2/

It's a followup to this piece:
http://christwire.org/2009/08/do-you-really-think-you’re-that-funny-stephen-colbert/

Trying to create a blog on leading business trends, companies and investment opportunities. Volatile economic conditions around the world are producing hundreds of forecasts for the direction of global economy. No matter how many glimmers of hope we receive from the US economy, it has taught the economies one lesson - not to depend too much on the external sources of growth and US can not take too much of a good and cheap stuff, unless developing countries keep ploughing their surplusess back into US economy. This shift in mind of the leaders for leading global economies (BRIC + others), may move towards the positive end of spectrum. For a while largest US creditors seem calm, and it is smart, because selloff could lead to further panic and loss of value in assets. That would be too much for already sick global economy to take in. But the topic of my blog is not about forecasting the direction of the global economy, rather it is to look close into facts where the businesses are moving (trends and etc) and investment opportunities, by analyzing the leading newspapers and magazines for the facts. Do you think this will work?

Regards,
Golib Kholjigitov

Looking for a great place to invest in these bad economic times??? Then try Australia?
Australia recently signed a $50 billion gas deal with China,has one of the least effected property investment records in the world, in fact currently has a high demand with property shortage and excellent returns (I know because I own quite a few), still has a very bouyant economy even after the global meltdown.
With numerous natural resources in demand worldwide, health care for every person regardless of income, a grant given of up to $21 000 for your first home, $5000 for every baby you have and a tax rebate thereafter until the child/children is/are 13. Why wouldn't you want to invest if not move to Australia?

I would like to read more about the potential of eMarketing entering into the realm of broadcasting to produce a powerful interactive television experience. Imagine the capabilities of the end-user being able to interact online while watching television simultaneously all from the same device. E-tail would become interactive on shows, commercials would become stronger through direct link-ability online and news channels would be able to provide even more live information.

To read more about my thoughts on this idea:
http://blog.chrishoffer.com/?p=10

The Federal Stimulus Act provides approximately $80 Billion to help states balance budgets this year and next. Yet,most states are already projecting deficits next year even with the stimulus money. Is the economy entirely to blame for the shortfall? I don't think so. For the last ten years states have shifted corporate income tax away from property (franchise) base and towards income base (with weighted allocation towards receipt factor). Moreover, many states have frozen property taxes and/or replaced prop taxes with higher sales tax. Consequently, state finances are far more vulnerable to economic downturn than they once were. This is not esoteric question- if states are unwilling to tax themselves with reliable revenue streams, then why should the federal government bail them out? In general, why are corporations being asked to reform behavior as a condition for receiving bailout money, but not the states?

Potential action by the European Commission to require companies that have received bailout funds to defer dividends on preferred shares has received little media attention. Fitch, for example, has lowered its rating on Royal Bank of Scotland preferreds in response to possible action by the EC under a "burden sharing" policy.

CONGRESS MANDATES FHA TO BAN 25,000 APPRAISERS AND DEVASTATES THOUSANDS OF SMALL BUSINESSES.
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 mandates FHA to BAN all appraisers that fall under the “Licensed Residential” category by October 1st 2009. There is no “grandfather” clause for the thousands of seasoned FHA appraisers that have built their business around their ability to competently perform FHA appraisals.
The three “categories” for appraisers, Licensed Residential, Certified Residential, and Certified General, are simply categories for different applications and in no way imply competency or ethics in the appraisal profession. A Certified General appraiser, which justifiably requires the most education, is for appraisers that want to perform residential or commercial appraisals. However, a Certified General appraiser that has been doing strictly commercial appraisals for 15 years is not considered “competent” to perform a residential appraisal because they do not have the experience in that market. Furthermore, common sense should tell us that the type of appraisal license or the amount of education has absolutely no impact on whether or not an appraiser chooses to be ethical.
This story demonstrates the epitome of what is wrong with our government. How they do not fully understand the ramifications of the laws they pass, how they were lobbied by special interest groups of “Certified Appraisers” to pass this legislation and how the end result will have a negative effect for all taxpayers. The loss of these seasoned professionals is adding unnecessary and substantial risk to the FHA program. In many instances, management companies will be forced to use appraisers from distant locations with less experience and training to perform FHA appraisals.

You might want to think about an article on the subject of TAX earmarks. We talk about earmarks for expenditures, some congressperson getting a street lamp, but the real treasure and the height of lobbying activity is very very targeted tax earmarks...tax cuts meant just for a few companies and individuals. This is something that deserves exposure. Tax earmarks are a gift that keeps on giving.

I was forwarded information from a B-School classmate about a really innovative firm that connects military veterans enrolled at the top-ranked MBA programs in the country with leading employers like P&G, Pepsi, GE, etc. In addition to running their second conference this fall it looks like they are launching a social networking platform that is exclusive to this demographic. What I love about this idea is that they are helping veterans get access to top employers in a horrible job market and are also helping employers cut through the fat in the MBA marketplace right now. It seems counter-intuitive to be setting up a service like this when everyday you check your local news on the internet and a story pops up about another corporation hemorrhaging positions, but who knows they might be on to something. Either way, it's a pretty cool site http://mbaveterans.com Someone should check into it and do a story on these guys. I'd be curious to learn what their motivations are.

Folks,
Can someone delve into this crazy "swine flu" problem? I do not understand how a very mild flu bug compared to what the USA has experienced during the last 20 years where "flu" is blamed on many thousands of deaths each year can be such a big problem. I believe that many of the pundits that say it is a big problem are just trying to justify their paycheck. If there is no problem then they probably will not receive as much money as when they convince the dollar people that they have discovered a very big problem. One must overlook last years normal vaccine that completely missed the strain of flu that developed. I say it is all whoeeee and I have not and will not take their magic vaccine. I have not had the flu for at least 25 years but every year I see friends that take the flu shot and they get the flu big time. What a country.
Regards

Dear Gatekeepers,
Why do you not post the latest comment at the top instead of at the bottom?
Regards

Microsoft Service: God forbid you need it! Have you ever tried to contact Microsoft for service? Did you ever respond to a pop up suggesting you "Contact Micrsoft" to resolve a problem?
Recently I signed up to post my website on Microsoft Free Office Live site. It chewed up my emails and have been advised it will take 137 (?!?) days to restore them. After calling for help, I got bounced from task force to task force: a couple of weeks later still no fix.
Latest message is from my friend "Rajeev Vohra" from somewhere deep within the bowels of India, advising me to be patient. His email address is, I kid you not: "OLSMB.SBPD.00.00.EN.TPU.GUR.UA.T03.ESC.00.EM@css.one.microsoft.com"!

I got alarmed, worrying that Rajeev was not a real person. Was he an avatar? Oh, mighty Microsoft, please have mercy on me. Let me connect with a real human being. The only face I know is Steve Ballmer. Can I have Steve's email?

I stand in awe,
Rom Mattesich
Punta Gorda, Florida

Among the stories of looing the manufacturing base, a good investigation on how we are driven to such abandon by 3 forces:
1. “Excessive stress on the short term financials” - the push of turning a quick buck by investors, venture capital - which shortens the life cycle of a product through offshore development, design, manufacturing, but catering to the American consumer.
2. “International pressures” - as most markets are protecting their turf and interests, we leave the doors wide open to competition and foreign made products. We are attacked through WTO (if not other organizations) whenever we raise a tariff (remember the steel war, Indian staffing firms capturing 75% of IT staffing and H1 visas "market", now we'll have the Chinese tires, etc...).
3. “No long term accountability” - the short memory and the lack of long term planning. We often forget, our politicians are chasing headlines, not long term results.

There is so much emphasis on Six Sigma and defect reduction or cost cutting but very little, if any, on the use of Six Sigma to grow market share. Six Sigma Marketing offers firms with an investment in Six Sigma to extend the utility of their investment by focusing on growing top line revenues and market share. Six Sigma Marketing is a fact-based, disciplined approach to growing market share in targeted product/markets by providing superior value. It has often been called Gen III Six Sigma and offers a bridge from the internally focused SS to one that is focused on markets and market performance. As the recession subsides, firms will begin to shift their attention from cost cutting to growing market share. Six Sigma Marketing provides the vehicle.

I enjoy your b-schools coverage. I am an older person going back to school to try and complement my skills. Do you have any ideas for the older people in school and MBA programs who are competing to stay in the business industry? Thank you.

I have been screaming from the top of a mountain since the recession started and finally banks, the press and investors are taking notice. But nobody is talking about the past, present and future of life settlements as they become the new Wallstreet Sweetheart investments, or Exotic alternative investments. Our company has been operating for 20 years, and it has never been more important then now to express the facts regarding life settlements, securitization, portfolio aggregation and transparency.

The transactions are simple, but complex. They are being compared to the securitization of mortgages. The biggest difference is the fact that purchase life insurance from seniors - like your parents, at a discounted rate. As morbid as it sounds, there are only some certain things that are guarenteed, one of them is death. The SEC is creating an investigative team as of August. Banks like Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank have been in this game for years now.

My company president is one of the most respected and knowledgeable pioneers in the industry - interviewed by The Economist, Scott Page helped pave the way for the recent feature story in the New York Times and Wallstreet. The topic is the hot topic of the investment world, even though we have been working in our field for years helping educate and promote our industry to others.

Someone should do an exposé on American tire manufacturers that are raising their prices because of the tariff being imposed on imported tires. If the prices on American and import tires rise together, what is the incentive for people to buy American?...import tires will still be less expensive. Consumers will suffer while tire companies acquire more wealth.

WASTING FOOD AND PLASTICS ON AIRLINES

Vacations are over. Many of us have been travelling by air to distant places. Have you ever noticed how much food is wasted? On the flights that are not low cost and that last more than an hour, a meal and a snack are served on trays in various plastic containers wrapped with plastic film. Nearly nobody refuses them. Some might not be hungry or have no intention to eat them, nonetheless they accept them hoping to find something to their taste or because it is included in the ticket fare. A lot of people open the wrapping, smell the food or taste just a little bit of it, others eat something, only a few of them eat everything. On long distance flights almost two complete meals are served, one just after taking off and the other before landing.

Is all this food really necessary? In the low cost flights the food is paid apart from the travel fare and few people buy it, yet these companies are successful. We might then wonder why the other airline companies don't give the opportunity to choose between a fare with meals and one without, and with a lower price? Doing so the exaggerated use of plastic containers and wrapping would be reduced, the cost of the airline tickets would also be reduced and, above all, the waste of enormous quantities of food would thus be avoided.

Let's consider two calculations. On an intercontinental flight with 300 people 600 meals are served and, if they were to be paid, one can consider that at least 400 meals and 80 kg of plastic would be saved. In Europe only, around 800 million passengers fly every year; supposing that only one meal every 10 travellers could be saved, it would sum up to the enormous figure of 80 million wasted meals. This would be enough to feed over 200.000 inhabitants of the poorer countries for a year and this figure would become millions if we extended this calculation to the whole world.

Considering that the aeroplane remains the most polluting transport means, indeed a trip between Europe and America of two people contributes, as far as gas and electricity consumption is concerned, to the same consumption as an average family in one whole year, thus let's avoid wasting if we really cannot avoid flying..

10 September 2009
Ruggero Da Ros
Vittorio Veneto - Italy
ruggerodr@libero.it

I would love to see a story on short sales - specifically, how banks treat buyers in short sales. My husband and I recently discovered that banks are seriously understaffed in this area. It took 4 months for us to get acceptance of our offer on a house, and for 2 of those months, our offer wasn't even assigned to a negotiator! They treated us like we weren't important business partners, even though if they had foreclosed they would never have gotten the offer we gave. I would love to see an expose on how banks treat buyers in short sales, and if our experience is typical (as I have been assured it is). We never would have gone through a short sale if we had known this ahead of time.

Thanks to Olga Kharif for writing a great overview of the confusion that publishers now face about eBooks and other opportunities. What few journalist have uncovered is a much, much larger problem -- one that has a simple solution. US publishers are wasting BILLIONS by selling books to retailers on a "returnable" basis; this leads to 40% (or more) overprinting. See www.bookindustrybailout.ca for an analysis.
Ebook sales are about 2% of the industry's gross revenues; a broken business model wastes about 20%. What will it take for publishers to wake up to what should be obvious?

I really enjoyed your article & chart on April 16 [http://is.gd/3DFJv] of the expected ARM resets that we are now cycling through. While the ARM's have been characterized as ticking time bombs, it occurs to me that it's possible for at least some of the mortgage rates to actually be BETTER than when the homeowners first qualified for the loans.

If today's rates are at 5.5%, for example, and their 5/1 rate was 6.875%, it's actually better that they have a chance to reset. Granted, there is most likely no opportunity to refi due to LTV's being upside down, and then there's the issue of interest rate risk.

But from the perspective of a story, it would be awesome to see the average mortgage rate those resetting ARM's are at now, compared to current offering rates. I don't even know how much work it would take, but what an awesome story/chart.

Thanks for letting me suggest an idea.

Dave

My name is Jennifer and my story suggestion has to do with your B-School section. I would like to see more admissions interviews and stories about part-time programs, especially those you've ranked on your part-time program list. How do these students balance b-school and their lives (families, jobs)? Are they able to apply what they learn immediately to their work? When they graduated, did they stay w/ their company or move on?

I am applying to b-school for an MBA, but I can't take time off of work to do it. Thus, I am limited to part-time programs near where I live. It has been hard to find articles/journal entries in your archive relating to these programs.

Thanks!

I would like to read a story about software or other technologies developed in China, its availability and influence on USA market. We all feel that more than half or even more of tangible items in Walmart are made in China and many times people do not even know that what they purchased was made there. There are many strong software companies in China (e.g. Kingsoft, Foxit etc..) which started to offer their software in English for USA customers. Is the next “Microsoft” in China and will we be all using software designed somewhere else? What are current import/export statistics for software and future trends? Can import foreign technologies boost our economy or opposite?

Desperate times call for desperate ideas. The economic crisis is a chaotic environment where companies change course, increase bets and make sometimes desperate moves to change negative trajectories as consumers and clients reduce spending and trade down. Starbucks VIA is one of my favorite examples. It's betting its brand value and strong culture on a high risk endeavor.

Unemployment Drives Boom in Ecommerce: People are turning to online sales as a way to replace lost or reduced income. Ecommerce developers report an upwelling of newcomers and think it's due to layoffs and income loss. Top quality ecommerce employees are finding new careers in agencies serving small clients after being laid off from the bigs.

We keep reading about credit card fraud and identity theft but the companies that I work with have as big a problem in B2B Credit Fraud (i.e. Net30) and the typical range for losses is 10-25% of overall bad debt in a lot of industries. Why is no one talking about this. These rings just keep doing this over and over again - buying shell companies (for the older incorporation date), renting an office (to pass address verification check), have a nice bank balance, etc and then start contributing trade references on each other to the business credit bureaus (along with self-reported financials) and within a month or two the credit bureau is recommending a credit line of $40-60K or more(saw one bust-out in last month where major credit bureau was recommending $250K on a bust-out that had absolutuley no operations - just this "appearance infrastructure").

These guys have reverse engineered the business credit process and companies are just sitting ducks. The rings have also been buying more small companies (seen purchases prices between $50K & $250K) just to use history and good credit rating to send out 100's of credit applications to businesses and walk away with $2-4mil on average of laptops, MP3's, cameras, jewelry, fasion items - whatever sells. I've written many stories within the credit industry and was featured on the cover of a major computer industry publication - see "Beware the Bust-out" CRN & CRN.com - (http://www.crn.com/it-channel/202101978;jsessionid=M14EPTOSTAFXBQE1GHPCKHWATMY32JVN?queryText=beware+the+bust-out ) but why is no one talking about this at a national business level. It gets swept under the carpet. No one in credit wnats upper mgmt to know they get burned so they write is off as ordinary bad debt. One bust-out group that we have stopped 5 times over a 6 year period burned one major computer distributer for $3mil and I bet no one outside of credit (or CFO) was aware of this.

Credit card fraud is a big problem for big online companies but B2B Bust-outs affect almost all companies with resellable goods and its amounting to $1-2mil a year in losses for public companies in the main high risk industries (average) but I've never seen a wsj or national business publication mention B2B fraud. We did a bad-debt analysis for one of the largest computer companies which showed 20% of bad dabt was to the same groups that we had stopped for other clients and they came back and said "you're right, about 20% of our bad debt is B2B credit fraud and we had no idea" (increased sophistication meant they didn't see it as fraud when it came in nor when they wrote it off.) Amazing. When companies are tripping over themselves to cut costs down to the pennies, they are losing 6-7 figures a year and nobody blinks an eye because bad debt levels are within historical norms so they are not getting pressure there - just on operational costs..... Business Week is a pioneer in a lot of areas. How about bringing this problem to light.

Based in Singapore since last 10 years, I work for a European MNC. Like many others, my lifestyle has changed in a dramatic way - travel restrictions, cost cutting - yet business must go on. So while the day starts with an office routine, the nights are on conference calls that start when the US wakes up...and so also the US colleagues work late into our mornings. Everyone's trying to shortcut family responsibilities while trying to justify & secure their professional value add. I think thousands of workers are going through similar routines. Impact on the family starting to show up....and on social relationships - most of which have become e-connects from real ones. What will our future look like for this mid 30's generation that still has another 30 years of work life ahead - implications on health, family, habits, corporate expectations as well as our desire to still professionally succeed in a equal opportunity world - whatever it takes....Thoughts?

I applied for a job on job.com, filled out a application and resume for a job title: Sporting Event Liaison. After filling out my personal information thinking it was going to that job, and submitting it, the next page that came up was: "Unfortunately we were unable to find any jobs that matched your specific criteria." Well, I wasn't "searching", I was "applying" for the posted position. At least I thought I was. so, after that page came up about not matching my criteria, I receive a phone call to my personal home phone from The Academic Advisory Center. Telling me I had just applied to go back to school. I said no, I had just applied for a JOB-Sporting Event Liaison, and how did she get my phone number, but she had already hung up.
SO! I noticed that you have articles promoting job.com, NES Staffing, and I wanted to let you know that it is not a legitimate job search website. I applied for a job and what I got was uncalled for telephone calls, spam emails from the Academic Advisory Center and NO JOB! I have been without a job since Nov. 2008, I am searching desperately to find a job, and companies like this take advantage of people who are desperate and waste their time. Time that could have been used looking for a job on a legitimate website. Not one that posts fake jobs. It was incredibly mean what they did, I was so excited that I found a job to apply for that I was qualified for, they even listed the wage amount they were offering. I was so upset and mad over this you can't even believe it. Its taking advantage of desperate people. I live in Michigan, and the jobs are dismal to say the least. I just thought you should know and maybe warn others.

Regarding the young adult unemployment rate: some percentage of that rate is due to poor job search techniques. A story on how those who have gotten jobs got them and showing examples of job search techniques that work would be helpful.

Rather than covering the inconveniences faced by H-1B / L-1 visa workers and their employers, why not cover how these corrupt programs are eradicating middle class America. Thanks to this egregious program, I and thousands of other people just like me, got laid off and replaced by corporate visa guest workers. Today's H-1B and L-1 visa laws, designed for and by Microsoft and other greedy corporations, allow employers to bypass American citizens and exclusively hire offshore talent for US jobs in the US. Crafty Indian companies detect US IP addresses and prevent US jobseekers from finding 1000+ H-1B only job postings. The L-1 program is even more egregious. Here in Seattle, one third of Microsoft's workforce are foreign visa workers. Laid off Microsoft, Boeing and other high tech professionals and engineers wait for hours at the local Worksource office to search for new jobs and resolve unemployment questions. In the meantime, their H-1B replacements and their spouses push baby strollers will trying on jewelry at local retailers. Thanks to corrupt H-1B and L-1 visa laws, well educated, successfully, and formerly gainfully employed workers have lost their jobs, homes, life savings, and healthcare. Please cover this story before laid off and homeless tech workers in NJ living in their car need to spend a cold winter in parking lots. Help the laid off marketing executive in Seattle find a warm home and move out of the parking lot of the Mormon Church. I wish I could tell you that these stories are not true, but sadly, they are. I hope Business Week does the right thing and presents the other side of the story. Thank you

Residential Fire Sprinklers - A Mandate for Waste

The residential building was modified in a controversial vote to require all new one- and two- family homes have fire sprinkler systems. Building Code officials across the nation are discussing this issue today (the rule affects all new construction starting in 2011)

This change will affect millions of new home buyers, have little impact on fire deaths, waste billions of dollars and decrease home affordability – which negatively impacts our children and grandchildren. All because of the power of special interest groups, bad science and greed.

The subject is easily researched but here are some basics.

1. The fire sprinkler industry bused in 900 people to assure passage of the residential fire sprinkler provision.

2. The sprinkler industry believes it has created a once in a “once in a life-time” business opportunity by mandating fire sprinklers. They believe it will take their $300 million industry to $3 billion per year – on the backs of homeowners

3. Voluntary adoption of fire sprinklers has been less than 2% nationwide even though the product has been available for 30 years. Homeowners have consistently rejected fire sprinklers

4. Fire deaths have fallen 65% over the last 30 years (now down to about 2,500 per year) as a result of inexpensive smoke alarms and a decline in smoking.

5. Installing fire sprinklers in new homes adds about $10,000 to the cost. Financed via a typical mortgage, sprinkler systems add about $22,000 to the homeowners’ payments.

6. You are at least 6 times more likely to die from poisoning or a fall then in a residential fire. You are even more likely to drown. Given the benefits of hardwired smoke alarms and new construction techniques, the owner of a new home is 30 times more likely to die in a fall.

7. Your lifetime chance of dying in an accident is about 5%, your lifetime chance of dying in a residential fire is somewhere around 1/10 of 1%. If you don't smoke in bed, the chance is extremely small.

8. If we could protect every home in America, it would cost about $2 TRILLION and potentially save 500 lives per year. Today we are arguing in Congress about universal healthcare that would cost $900 billion and reportedly save 40,000 lives each year.

9. Four states have already banned implementation for code. Powerful unions and misguided special interest groups are blocking similar legislation in other states.

There are a lot of interesting aspects to this story. It certainly shows how special interest groups can push through ideas that are not in the public's best interest. It shows how easy it is for bad science to be codified and passed on unknowingly to consumers.

I’m not connected with the home building industry in anyway. I’m just tired of special interest groups taking advantage of us and endangering the futures of our children and grandchildren.

This story could become the centerpiece of community discussions nationwide.

Hope to hear from you

Unavoidable rise in Health Care costs:
Whether we continue with the current health care system or adopt anew one (public or private), health care costs will continue to rise. This is due to (and I'm not faulting them), pharmaceutical companys' continual quest to develop more and better treatments for diseases. What happens as they develop cures for cancer, diabetes, arthritis? Each one of the cures will then add to the cost of providing that cure to all those that are in a health plan. The public won't want a health plan that doesn't cover the new cures. Health care costs will continue to spiral upwards naturally. Where will this eventually lead us? What are our options?

Hi John, this may be a story idea or an idea for another opinion in Business Week. How about a 'Family Index'? What sort of economic environment is best for raising a family and which areas in America are best? Some people are questioning relentless increases in income, consumption and debt, how about also the quality side and balance? Maybe there is already something. A suggestion:

- start with 100%
- Housing: 30% weighting, if a city or state has house prices less than 3 times earnings, then it keeps 30%, if it is 3.5 times earnings, it loses 5%, and so on
- Commuting: 25% weighting, if the average commute is 0.5 hour, it keeps 20%, for every half hour it loses 5%, and so on
- Organic food: 25% weighting, if organic food is the same price as chemical, it keeps 25%, for every 5% more , it loses 5%
- Other ideas: 20%

This could give an idea how easy it could be to have a family with one bread winner, time to be back from work for a family dinner, and eat healthy food, and anything else.
All the best to the BW team.

HELLO CHAD TERHUNE…WHERE ARE YOU?

CONGRESS IS BREEDING INCOMPETENCE INTO THE FHA LOAN PROCESS!

HEADLINES:
CONGRESS MANDATES FHA TO REMOVE 18,808 APPRAISERS AND DEVASTATES THOUSANDS OF SMALL BUSINESSES.

Well it has happened! October 1st, 2009, HUD removed 18,808 “Licensed Residential” appraisers from their FHA “approved appraiser roster”. That’s almost 30% of the total number of appraisers qualified to perform FHA appraisals. Many of these appraisers, like myself, have been doing FHA appraisals for over 10 years and are very competent and ethical appraisers. With FHA [taxpayers] now insuring 35% of the mortgages in the United States [up from 3% just 2 years ago], there is no doubt that these appraisers and their small businesses are doomed for failure.

WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 mandated FHA to ban all appraisers that fall under the “Licensed Residential” category by October 1st 2009. There is no “grandfather” clause for the thousands of seasoned FHA appraisers that have built their business around their ability to competently perform FHA appraisals. I have been a “Licensed” real estate appraiser for 18 years, FHA approved for 12 years, and have a solid reputation for being ethical and accurate. Seventy-five percent of my business is FHA and this legislation has wiped me out. There are literally thousands of appraisers in the same boat. I encourage you to go to this web site, http://www.orep.org/wordpress-2.7/wordpress/, and read the “Recent Comments” post.
This is all happening at the same time we have to listen to President Obama talking about the millions of Americans that have worked hard all their lives to build their businesses and have been put out of a job through no fault of their own. And, how promoting SMALL BUSINESS is at the top of their priority list.
This story demonstrates the epitome of what is wrong with our government. How they do not fully understand the ramifications of the laws they pass, how they were lobbied by special interest groups of “Certified Appraisers” to pass this legislation and how the end result will have a negative effect for all taxpayers. The loss of these seasoned professionals is adding unnecessary and substantial risk to the FHA program. In many instances, management companies will be forced to use appraisers from distant locations with less experience and training to perform FHA appraisals. That is why I say…Congress is breeding incompetence into our [taxpayers] FHA loan process.

Thank You
Chuck Fullenkamp

Have we lost the "Free" in Free Enterprise?

For decades, millions of immigrants made there way to America in search of a dream. The source of that dream was to be part of a free enterprise system. And only America had it. Our country made it easy to start a business, operate it with little interference and, most importantly, to prosper based on ideas, products, innovations and competition.

Does free enterprise still exist in America? Does America's current level of free enterprise differentiate us from other countries and allow us to create, produce, innovate and compete? Or is the free market system now stronger in other countries?

The primary stumbling block to a free market system is government interference. This can take many forms and appear at all levels of government. On the local level stringent zoning regulations, ordinances and permitting processes interfere with the free market system. On the state and federal level there are all sorts of regulations, some having to do with our health and safety, others to protect the environment, and many more simply in an effort to license and control our activities.

Some will argue that we need even more regulation. And they might be right in some respects, the requirements of regulation are always changing. But have we gone to far? Are we unknowingly stifling free enterprise?

India story idea: Investors and corporates never tire about the abundance of opportunity here. But what they'd most like to get is an insight into rural Indians. Their mindsets, their challenges, their hopes and dreams. This knowledge can help businesses create value for the rural audience as well as for themselves. Would be of tremendous use to many.

Years ago, people would have chuckled condescendingly if you’d said you were approaching a billion dollar corporation for a sponsorship. You may have even been laughed you out of the room. But these days, that idea isn’t far-fetched at all. That's because corporations and companies need individuals just like you and me who can help get their name out into the community and they'll sign hefty checks with your name on it if you can produce results. I would like to see a story that demonstrates exactly how this is done. Readers would greatly benefit from it.

Story idea: Can a Web application security SaaS be relied upon to keep hackers from getting in through your Web applications? Based on the idea that a service provider can handle the cost and details regarding updating their own WAFs and other hardware/ software tools, supply a strong infrastructure and keep costs lowered. Would businesses still feel comfortable turning over this level of security to a SaaS versus keeping everything in house? What factors would need to be involved for companies to utilize such a SaaS?

A Travesty in the works-Google/On2 Tech.

A perfect example of how gross manipulation of the stock market can, and does, lead to destruction of long term investors by the predatory forces of greed and self-aggrandizement. This case gives the lie to any argument that our government supports a "fair, open and honest" market for the benefit of investors and up and coming, innovative companies.
Please read below.

First, let me urge you, in the most urgent way, to take up the cudgel for stock market reform. Secondly, let me suggest to you a target for investigation and development of a case study which would demonstrate, dramatically and convincingly, the potential destructive effects of what I call "the triple threat" or "the perfect storm" as related to the stock market-- #1---High Frequency Computerized Trading #2-- Short selling ( both borrowed and not borrowed shares), and #3-- the repeal of the old Uptick Rule.
I have been monitoring the daily trading activity in the stock of On2 Technology, symbol--ONT-- on Level II, Ameritrade-- for over two years, since well before July 7th, 2007, when the change in the Uptick rule went into effect. During the SEC deliberations regarding this change, from May to the final implementation in July--the daily trading volume in ONT went from 3- 5 million shares to 15 million shares, and continued at between 13-15 million per day for many months while driving the stock price relentlessly down.
The dramatic increase in daily trading in this stock, accompanied by relentless selling at the BID accompanied by relentless driving down of the ASK was clear evidence, in my opinion, that the professionals who promoted this change had every intention of exploiting this newfound freedom to manipulate the stock market now that no one could stop the downdraft in stock price that they could create due to the use of #1 and #2 noted above, greatly facilitated by #3.
The ability to make trades at a continuously lower price without requiring an uptick to interrupt the sequential action was an overpowering tool in the hands of comoputerized traders, who were able to use it, in conjunction with unbridled freedom to short, and resulted in professional control of the price of any stock they chose to manipulate for profit. Although never investigated by the brokerages or the SEC who turned a deaf ear to message board readers who complained of the rampant bashing by apparent paid bashers, those of us who read these boards could see obvious connections between the timing and intensity of short attacks on our stock and virulent bashing of our stock on the Yahoo Message Board for On2 Technology.
The "unbridled freedom" mentioned above was due to a combination of special trading privileges to a select group of traders, including marketmakers and specialists, and others who could trade short and free--i.e., they did not need to own any shares of the stock and did not need to pay any trading fees.This alone distinguishes them from ordinary investors. Furthermore, many of the "borrowed" shares of this company, sold by short sellers to buyers, who believed they were getting a share of the stock simultaneous with their payment for it, were not delivered to the buyers in the prescribed time period, resulting in the stock of this company being on the REG SHO FTD list for 113 consecutive weeks, with no regulatory action by anyone responsible for doing so. .
The other half of the "combination" that enabled them to ride roughshod over investors was the total failure of the regulatory system to monitor and enforce the existing rules and regulations which make manipulation of stock prices illegal---.As time went on, I noticed that episodes of rapid descents in the stock price below the prevailing trading range, lasting less than one minute, would occur several times a day, especially, when any upward tendencies became evident in the Ask. I began to suspect that computers were being used to operate trading programs with the specific purpose of driving and holding the price of this stock down as low as possible. As new investors entered the stock, following positive news releases, this activity became almost frantic, persistent, and successful in scaring them out of the stock at a loss, since they thought investors were selling. Neither they, nor any other ordinary investor has any way of knowing whether the sellers of any stock are investors or short sellers or whether the share of stock being bought is a real one or a "borrowed " one that may never be delivered. Big disadvantage to investors, Big advantage to shortsellers.
Who wouldn't see a tantalizing opportunity to make a lot of money, with little risk, by engaging in some illegal bashing(since noone was doing anything about it) and some computerized-programmed price manipulation, while controlling the bid and the ask with a spread between them of as little as $ .0001.? They could, as they did, let the price go up at the open and then "kill" the upward momentum at midmorning with rapid forays into the nether regions, establishing a low target for the day and repeating occasional "downdrafts" several times during the day, capped off with a "painted-tape" close that would give any ordinary investor without access to Level II the false impression of true supply and demand for the stock. All of this could be done without actually owning one single share of stock.
I sent hundreds of emails to the SEC, to Peter Pizzano, who was designated to receive my complaints (by Enforcement) to Enforcement itself; to Chris Cox; to the Chairman to Mary Schapiro, and finally to OIG@SEC, each time, calling out specific instances of this trading activity, which I later found out had a name, "HFCT". I pleaded with the recipients of my messages, to go to Level II to see the blatant manipulation of the market for this stock AS IT WAS HAPPENING. I have since found out that the SEC does not do this sort of thing----they do not actually monitor the market to see violations of rules and regulations as they are occuring. I was shocked; I was even more shocked, when I learned that these complaints were not even forwarded up the ladder to supervisory levels for any action. I was further shocked to find that some of my emails were not even read before they were erased or deleted. I became increasingly discouraged at each turn, of any chance of corrective action by our government.
Many months have passed since a new President appointed a new Chairwoman of the SEC----the Uptick rule is still repealed, High Frequency Computerized Trading is still rampant in our stock, the stockprice is still controlled and manipulated by unknown entities, apparently with the SEC"s blessing. Paid bashers still swarm over the Yahoo Message Board for ONT. Ordinary investors, I would bet my bottom dollar, are doing as I have done, stopped looking at the daily trading, as it is all sham, reflecting nothing that could be construed as investor supply and demand. It is a penny ante game engaged in only by those empowered to gamble in what has become nothing but a casino for high rollers who, alone, have the wherewithal and resources to play this game, so destructive to the false idea that the market is, in a quote, from a published document from the Director of the Boston Office of the SEC---"fair, open and honest"
On2 Technology was the recent subject of a proposed sale to Google for a pittance, as a result of basing the sale on a review of the average stock price for a period of months, during which the stock had been mercilessly driven down to a long term low. We stockholders are protesting this sale for many reasons, but one of the most crtical ones is how the value of the company was arrived at.
Everyone involved in the stock market is aware of the manipulation of stock prices by short sellers, HFCT, and exploitation of the changed uptick rule as well as the failure of the SEC and other regulatory agencies to do their jobs. The legislators are guilty, too, of failing to do their job.
I am now turning to you as the next HOPE for someone to connect this experience, that we shareholders in this company are suffering, to the larger problem of the whole corruption of the stock market spreading its venom and poisoning the whole financial system. If you have the necessary resources and the necessary political will and leverage to access the hidden information, ( which we ordinary investors cannot get), that would reveal the WHO, WHEN, WHERE and WHY, behind the obvious and blatant manipulation of this company's stock price, for lo, these many months, and resulting in a disastrous proposal by a few self-serving individuals to sell the company at a severely "doctored" price from under its shareholders, I beg you to do so. I can assure you that access to a cadre of well informed, resourceful, articulate, and determined shareholders can be easily facilitated on any request from your office for further information to help your effort.

CO² CAPTURE
It worth BW developing the story idea based on the recent descovery depicted in the article below.
Regards,

Angelo Clarizia
"BRAZILIAN TECHNOLOGY IN CAPTURING CO² PLEDGES REVOLUTION
Technologies for the capture of CO² are promises for the reduction of the greenhouse gases. The partnership between AMATECH (AMA Technological Solutions Ltd.) and UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) propose an economically feasible and recyclable alternative for the reduction of CO² emissions.

Belo Horizonte-Brazil, October of 2009 - AMATECH (AMA Technological Solutions Ltd.), company that stimulate, foster and develop scientific projects, in partnership with Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) stay ahead with a proposal for the capture of CO².
Both institutions are developing a technical-scientific cooperation project acting directly in the reduction of CO² emissions through its capture and later transformation industry raw materials.
World pioneer the research will place Brazil ahead in the reduction of the greenhouse gases.
The outcome of the project is an economically feasible product, efficient and recyclable. Among its possible forms, ceramic spheres of an absorbing material will act as a filter, therefore permitting the capture of the CO² coming out from thermal power plants, cement plants, steel mills, etc, before going to the atmosphere.
The process of recycling of the ceramic material consists in transferring and/or transforming the absorbed CO² into raw materials to be used by the market with the consequent regeneration of the ceramic.
The ceramic material, already patented, is on its final development step at the labs of the Chemistry Department of UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais). The ceramic material can be reused for ten times before being discarded.
The research coordinators, Doctor Researcher Prof. Geraldo Lima and Doctor Researcher Prof. Jadson Belchior, both from the Chemistry Department stress that some strategies have been proposed to solve the current CO² capture problem: cave storage, submarine deposits, depleted oil wells or chemical transformation into heaps of products without immediate applications. The cost of implementation of the aforementioned solutions is very high. And with doubtful efficiency that may result into unforeseen environmental impacts. It is possible that some of the current solutions may cause a lot more accelerated and catastrophic environmental impact then the global worming itself. Just to mention one impact: decreasing of sea water PH caused by minimum increases of CO² concentration as a result of underground leakage coming from the gas stored in depleted oil wells. This fact alone may cause quickly the extinction of animal and vegetal species. Even with the gas duly stored, we’ll be transferring to future generations the possibility that the gas be in contact with deep water tables returning then to the surface.
It is crystal clear that the solutions are none of the current technologies offered so far, but most probably the assembly of all of them envisaging a common goal: the decreasing of the anthropogenic CO² emissions. It is with this vision that this new technology is being proposed.
The highlight of this invention is a process where CO² is captured and being transformed, by means of chemical process, into raw materials.
Rev 09/19/2009"

John... I would like to see a story about all the new techpreneurs' companies that were acquired by bigger corporations. After the dot com boom, many new business started to grow value due to their unique service, amount of registered users or for their potentially ideas.
You could compare stats, check what they had in common in order to be bought, analyze the tenure of each organization, etc. Also, why not, an additional story about those companies that were so successful that never were sold even though they had a very attractive pitch.
I believe this story not only will be informational and attractive but also inspirational for those entrepreneurs in the early stages of their business plan. Thanks a lot.

I would like to see a story on all-encompassing enterprise business solutions. Businesses spend a LOT of money squeezing their products, processes, and information into a one size fits all solution, but do they? Are we shoveling money needlessly into a solution that only enslaves the purchaser to the company who converts all our info? Let's get rid of the sales pitch and ask actual users of these IT "solutions" if this is/was really a good idea?

John, thanks for the opportunity to post up our story suggestions. I'm looking for a possible story on why corporations aren't locating the appropriate amount of resources towards lowering assessment values of their real and personal property taxes. We all know values have dropped and a majority if not all assessments are not reflecting the true values of properties. They are still paying tax based on values from the golden days. I’m sure that in this economy, corporations would more than jump at the opportunity to save on their property taxes. My challenge to readers would be to quickly search corporate property tax bill reduction efforts and their results, it’s pretty astounding!

Hi John,

A number of popular business books have been written recently about the power of analytics to improve business performance. These books are very good primers on the topic, easy-to-read, chock full of case examples, and, in the end, make a compelling argument.

In the field of marketing with which I am most familiar, I would guess that much fewer than half the companies you'd survey would say they are high on the "Analytic Competitor" scale.

In my view, the problem isn’t with the analytics, but with the lack of a rigorous structure in these companies to make “evidence-based” decisions.

Consequently, you could say that to compete on analytics a company has to not only invest in analytics, but also invest in a structured, evidence-based decision making process. These are the necessary and sufficient conditions for true analytic competitors.

There are four critical components to institutionalizing an evidence-based decision making process, and a lot more can be said about this topic, and how you could engage your readers.

If you'd like to discuss more about this, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks very much,

Don Ryan
iKnowtion

Non profit New York out of recession and keep it bustling!

Would like to see a story on opportunities that NGOs provide for professionals (especially the young or unemployed) to stay relevant to the business world and local communities instead of receiving unemployment benefits or flipping burgers. At the same time this NGOs provide valuable contributions to local communities.

Our NGO for example (European Union Association in the US www.euusa.org) with very limited resources organizes a high level event on the Euro that is a hot topic and will deliver valuable insights to the New York business community. However we need funding to keep on and also involve the numerous young professionals that turn to us.