Noteable Articles

Here are a few articles that distracted me from the hordes on the subway this past couple of weeks:

Your Next TV -- American TV manufacturers think they have chance to take back the television market from the Asian manufacturers. Read this article to find out if they stand a chance ... and see what they'll be marketing to you in the coming years. Believe it or not, your next TV could have the Dell or HP brand slapped on it.

Major Hangups Over the iPOD Phone -- Motorola and Apple were slated to release the iPOD phone, but something went horribly wrong with their plans. The mobile carriers wanted no part in it, as there was nothing there for them. Motorola and Apple wanted to allow you to buy and upload your own music into your phone from your computer. The carriers wanted you to buy your songs from them, like you do with your ring-tones today. Both sides are greedy, and both sides want your money. Because they can't agree, you're not getting an iPOD phone.

Here Come the Wal-Mart Wannabes -- Indians are heading in droves to their new big box stores, and surprisingly, the banner over the stores don't say Wal-Mart or Carrefour -- instead, they carry the homegrown names of Big Bazaar, Westside, Shoppers Stop, Spencer's and others. Does the western giants stand a chance in these emerging markets?

Corporate America's New Achilles' Heel -- Financing is quickly becoming the profit generator for American companies, contributing to 30% of all profits as of the 3rd quarter last year. That's not just from banks and other financial institutions, but more and more from manufacturers and retailers. As these companies grow their dependency on financing for profits, the risk to the financial industry poses a greater risk to the economy as a whole.

The Sage of Mexico City -- Carlos Slim is the 4th richest man in the world, with an estimated value of US$23.8 billion. He owns bits of Altria Group, Global Crossing, Saks, MCI, CompUSA, American Movil, Telmex and more. He's also Mexican.

A Whiff of Terror in Bangalore -- thinking of outsourcing processes to India and other parts of Asia? Think of the potential risks to your business. How exposed is your business to acts of terrorism when it's so far offshore?

Golf, Sushi - And Cheap Engineers -- North American companies aren't the only ones exploiting the cheap and smart labour of Asia -- the Japanese are doing it too. Dalian, a city on the Chinese coast, could easily pass for a Japanese city.

The Immelt Revolution -- Jack Welch left GE with a culture that steeped in process and attention to the bottom-line. That culture is now in for a rough ride with new CEO, Jeffrey R. Immelt. To continue growing GE, Immelt is stressing risk-taking, marketing and innovation. He's even done the unthinkable -- he's brought outsiders into the highest ranks at GE -- and is now tying compensation to customer satisfaction and sales growth. Will GE survive the change?

The Digital Hospital -- what does the future of health care look like? Efficient and cost effective, thanks to the use of technology. Health care has been one industry that's been left behind the digital revolution, but catch-up is coming fast, though not soon enough. In the US today, health care accounts for 15% of the economy and hospital errors result in 98,000 deaths annually, while productivity has only been rising at about 2% annually since 2001. There's a lot of potential gains for health care in exploiting information technology.

Meet the Best and Brightest -- America continues to lag behind the world in science, math and technology education. American students, generally speaking, are dumb compared with those of the rest of the world. The students that competed in the Intel Science Talent Search however, will make you stop, take notice and give hope. If only the Bush Administration didn't cut education and research funding.

Why Logic Often Takes a Backseat -- Neuroeconomics is a new field in economics that is linking economic behaviour to brain activity. While economic models are mathematical and rational in nature, neuroeconomics tells us that we respond economically the same way we react to most things -- with emotions; and that lacking emotions in decision making may actually be a bad thing. Standard economic theory tells us that people are made happy by giving them more of what they want. Neuroeconomics says that after too much of a good thing, it takes something entirely different to make us happy again. It's a fascinating article.