Yearly Archives: 2008

Corporations Do Not Exist Solely to Maximize the Bottom Line

Do corporations exist solely to maximize their bottom lines? We don’t think so., Forbes Magazine: When Bill Gates suggested recently that corporations should sacrifice profits to the public welfare, practicing what he called “creative capitalism,” he wasn’t the first robber … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Economics, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Car Powered Using Compressed Air

Jules Verne predicted cars would run on air. The Air Car is making that a reality. The car would be powered by compressed air. Certainly seem like an interesting idea. Air car ready for production: Refueling is simple and will … Continue reading

Posted in Fun, India, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Toyota Presses On

At Toyota, a Global Giant Reaches for Agility With plants in 27 countries, more new factories under construction and workers speaking languages that include Russian and Turkish, Toyota’s top executives are trying a difficult balancing act – replicating the company’s … Continue reading

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Losing Consumers’ Trust

Last week their was a recall of 143 million pounds of beef in the USA. Lets take a short systemic view at what is going on. The public has an interest in a safe food supply which is difficult to … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Management, Psychology, Science, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

User Happiness with Search Engines

Awhile back I wrote about why I didn’t think the American Customer Satisfaction Index claim that Yahoo beat Google for customer satisfaction was evidence of a broken indicator. Well here is another indicator, but this time it puts Google clearly … Continue reading

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What Motivates Programmers?

A fun read on What motivates programmers? I will start with a question, if you have a spare £400 in your development budget do you A) Reward your star programmer with a £400 bonus or B) Buy him a 24 … Continue reading

Posted in IT, Management, Psychology | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Severance Plans to Respect People

Yahoo’s Severance Plans a Defense Against Microsoft? Yahoo’s board of directors has created an expansive severance package for all full-time employees who are either terminated without “cause” or leave on their own with “good reason” following a “change in control … Continue reading

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Renting Toys

That kids get tired of many toys long before the toys are worn out is not a recent revelation Those frustrated by this waste surely number in the millions in the last few decades alone. Some attempts to reduce the … Continue reading

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USA Spent $2.1 Trillion on Health Care in 2006

The percent of GDP spent on health care in the USA increased again in 2006 – to 16%. Health care spending reached a total of $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per person in 2006, up from $6,649 per person in 2005. … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Popular Mechanics: Made in the USA

Five American Manufacturers Doing It Right America’s manufacturing sales stagnated at the $4 trillion mark in the late 1990s. But then something surprising happened. America started selling again—finding more customers for tractors, steel, plastics, knives and medicines than ever before. … Continue reading

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