Category Archives: Economics

Creating Customers For Life

Posted on December 18, 2008 by John Hunter

Shopping at Trader Joe’s is odd. The workers actually seem like they like that they have customers. Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management Articles, Popular, Respect | Tagged customer service, Psychology | Comments Off

Big Failed Three, Meet the Successful Eight

Posted on December 15, 2008 by John Hunter

Big Three, Meet the “Little Eight” The 1,300-acre plant, in which Toyota has invested $5.3 billion, produces a car roughly every minute. Georgetown’s population has doubled. In fields where farmers once grew tobacco and raised cattle, McMansions, apartment complexes, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged cars, commentary, Economics, Manufacturing, Respect, Toyota | 1 Comment

Thanksgiving: Micro-financing Entrepreneurs

Posted on November 28, 2008 by John Hunter

This is a post from my Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog. For me, giving back to others is part of my personal financial plan. As I have said most people that are actually able to read this are financially … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Respect | Tagged charity, Economics, respect for people | 3 Comments

Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay 2008

Posted on November 10, 2008 by John Hunter

I continue to tilt at the robber barron CEO pay packages (2007 post on CEO pay abuses). 2007 pay rank Company CEO Pay 5 Year Pay CEO % of 2007 Earnings 1 Apple Steve Jobs $646,600,000 $650,170,000 18.5% 2 Occidental … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged commentary, curiouscat, Economics, executive pay, overpaid executives, quote, respect for people, stakeholders | 5 Comments

Easiest Countries for Doing Business 2008

Posted on November 8, 2008 by John Hunter

Singapore is again ranked first for Ease of Doing Business by the World Bank. For some reason they call the report issued in any given year as the report for the next year (which makes no sense to me). The … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Economics, Management | Tagged Data, Economics, entrepreneur, global, Japan, UK, USA | Comments Off

Global Manufacturing Data 2007

Posted on October 30, 2008 by John Hunter

The updated data from the United Nations on manufacturing output by country clearly shows the USA remains by far the largest manufacturer in the world. UN Data, in billions of current US dollars: Country 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, India, Manufacturing, quote | Tagged Asia, China, curiouscat, economic data, Europe, Germany, India, Japan, Manufacturing, UK, USA | 1 Comment

Restaurant Eliminates Tipping to Improve System Performance

Posted on October 13, 2008 by John Hunter

Why Tip? by Paul Wachter When he opened the Linkery [the broken link was removed], Porter said, he hoped his employees would become as emotionally invested in the venture as he was, sharing a sense of purpose and joy in … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Economics, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged bonus, commissions, extrinsic motivation, Joy in Work, Psychology | 1 Comment

Financial Market Meltdown

Posted on October 10, 2008 by John Hunter

The financial market meltdown has grown to the point where it has profound ramifications for everyone. The common wisdom for financial market variation, for most of us, is just to focus on the long term and don’t worry about short … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged curiouscat, economy, John Hunter, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 9 Comments

Wind Power Provided Over 1% of Global Electricity in 2007

Posted on October 3, 2008 by John Hunter

Data from World Wind Energy Association, for installed Mega Watts of global wind power capacity in 2007. 19,696 MW of capacity were added in 2007, bringing the total to 93,849 MW. Europe accounts for 61% of installed capacity, Germany accounts … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Innovation | Tagged Economics, Innovation | Comments Off

Our Failed Health-care System

Posted on September 10, 2008 by John Hunter

The bad idea behind our failed health-care system by Malcolm Gladwell One of the great mysteries of political life in the United States is why Americans are so devoted to their health-care system. … Americans spend $5,267 per capita on … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged commentary, economy, health care system, USA | 1 Comment