Editorial. Future inside. International Cooperation

Transcription

1 Future-Based Consultancy & Solutions Business Magazine, issue 2 Project 3 Project 2 Project 1 A theatrical reference for a Flash Gordon style cover page Future Inside Language and cultural barriers in international cooperation L Internet du Futur Text viruses Metrics The generally accepted complexity level The synchronized management WEB2.0 (second part) Inside Magazine Short tips Big impacts Business opportunities Coming to you with class 2007 Gifts Biz-acromania : a world of Acronyms and Buzzwords and more to read! Issue 2 4th quarter 2006 Business Magazine

2 Future-Based Consultancy & Solutions Business Magazine, issue 2, table of content This magazine has been prepared with the collaboration of the FBC>s team, fully dedicated to the most defendable knowledge-based innovation methodologies, systems and thoughts. Our modern foreseeing corporate philosophy vision is extensively explained on our site : It does contain our services offers, numerous resources (articles, white pages, book summaries, etc), links, and others. You ll be warmly welcome on this site! Make it yours for your greatest convenience! Deux Awards pour cet excellent programme: comptabilité complète de l'encodage au bilan, et paramétrable à votre activité. Nous le recommandons et vendons dans le cadre de nos activités de support et conseils à l entreprise. N hésitez pas prendre contact avec nous (prévente hautement qualifiée) Editorial -Harpagon, a theatrical reference for a Flash Gordon style cover page by the Editor Future inside For a greater business continuity International Cooperation Language and cultural barriers in international cooperation. Researches by Corinna Flöck The Virtual Organization IST (Information Society Technology) L Internet du Futur by Daniel C. Renson Text Viruses by Nikolay Kryachkov METRICS by Daniel C. Renson The generally accepted complexity level by Daniel C. Renson The synchronized management by Daniel C. Renson WEB1.0, by Daniel C. Renson Inside Magazine High Level Short Tips and big impact! Business Opportunities Coming to you with Class Conferences, seminars, workshop and Taiji Dao Qi Gong New Year 2007 Gifts Biz - Acromania (bonus pages) Actuality, answers to questions and others This magazine will be published quarterly. Advertising : contact us via our site > contact page for receiving the demanded information. Come along and meet us on these blogs: EN : FR : FR : EN : Editor : Daniel C. Renson c/o FBC>s, 1210 Brussels 02

3 Future-Based Consultancy & Solutions Business Magazine, issue 2, Editorial Harpagon, a theatrical reference for a Flash Gordon style cover page Did we enter the «Fourth Wave»? (executive summary) In July 1970 a book called Future Shock appeared and In 1980, the author of Future Shock, Alvin Toffler, published the Third Wave a book even more analytical, and socially committed than Future Shock That s the way, South End Press, the editor did introduce Previews and Premises, an unconventional interviews-based book. The interviews were about what is still a problem and the cause of repeated disorders and troubles: our existing social institutions are dangerously inappropriate to the needs of our age and citizenry But what kinds of transformation are necessary or possible? Can our society survive on the basis of inequality and exploitation? The answer is in the move to more participation, social diversity management, empowered citizenship and professional position, and more we ll talk about now and in the coming issues. Futurism or prospectivism and related methodologies may not be forgotten: new types of contextualized information collections and organization are now under progress BUT do they produce something that could be integrated into new open dynamic intellectual structure for a change conduct global revision? As a matter of consequence, enterprises have now to commit themselves on a very adaptive innovation agenda. Waiting for a crisis to plan a change is no more good enough. The undecoded actuality is a mere preliminary instant before the inevitable surging reality severe sanction! On l a dit à suffisance, tout change en s accélérant au rythme de renouvellements technologiques incessants. Notre monde se reconfigure en vertu des lois de ceux qui possèdent ces nouveaux moyens et les exploitent à leur avantage. Conflits sociaux importants, fracture sociale et, maintenant, fracture digitale elle ne remplace pas l autre, elle s y superpose!- font partie de l événement et perturbent cette progression aux yeux de la «nouvelle» finance qui, tel Harpagon ayant parfait l économie de sa maison n a plus qu un seul serviteur pour assumer toutes les tâches domestiques, craint pour ses investissements! L analogie ne s arrête pas là quand on sait qu Harpagon est aussi prêt à accorder la main de sa fille à tout quiconque l épouserait sans dot C est ainsi que nombreux sont ceux qui voient la masse des travailleurs peu qualifiés être livrée au système industriel de plus en plus cyber - robotisé Face à la technique omniprésente et évolutive, l homme est toujours là, constitué de manière égale depuis des millénaires nonobstant quelques évolutions sensibles (longévité et taille, par exemple). Il est cependant doté de facultés d adaptation exceptionnelles mais qu on ne lui laisse pas souvent le temps de développer ni d en faire l état. Alors que, pourtant, si les entreprises veulent être en mesure d affronter les challenges des temps à venir, cela ne pourra se faire qu avec des équipes de gens motivés et proactifs que l on aura, au préalable, «invités» à s attabler en compagnie des puissants (disparition de la hiérarchie) pour engager la conquête des nouveaux marchés. En partenariat avec les fournisseurs, les clients et de plus en plus de concurrents (les réseaux et l Internet). Oui, tout change. Mais pour que cela se passe en bonne intelligence, il faut aussi susciter une participation effective : travail et rémunération, aboutissement d objectifs personnels (considérés comme prioritaires) et professionnels (pour valider les autres) qu il faut pouvoir associer. Ainsi, la fois dernière, avait-on parlé de congruence au cours de quelques pages. C est important parce qu elle accorde la permission de changer aux pilotes de l entreprise. Et que, sans cela, les lendemains ne seront pas ceux que l on espérait! 03

4 Cet éditorial N EST PAS un essai philosophique s opposant aux tendances exagérées constatées dans le monde des affaires, de la finance, de la politique contrairement à ce que pourraient laisser croire les lignes qui précèdent. Elle n étaient là que pour poser le décor et interpeller le lecteur à propos de l évidence d une situation qui ne soucie pas assez de décideurs, notamment au niveau politique, ni de managers confrontés aux crises issues de ce manque de visibilité quand on est «vissé» entre l actionnariat et les tableaux d indicateurs financiers. La stratégie du futur doit donc être définie par de nouveaux managers qui dépassent l optique technicofinancière. Notre approche opérationnelle et multi-conceptuelle, qui n isole pas l individualité de ses différents contextes en interactions permanentes, va dans le sens d une proposition qui explicite le détail de certaines pratiques en situations professionnelles pour justifier la structure des outils et faire comprendre comment ils garantissent la continuité de la démarche du changement -de l individu en situation de vie courante devenant l opérateur pilote de son processus à la coordination concertée et intentionnelle de l ensemble, une vie et l insertion de cette entité «motivationnellement» fragile dans la complexité entrepreneuriale -. Cette démarche est unique et sa continuité assure un alignement parfait, sans risques interposés, des collaborations obligées entre praticiens ignorants de la profession de l autre et, souvent, de la «sémantique culturelle» (sens étendu aux nombreux aspects en rapport) du lieu des prestations. Il y a des moyens fédérateurs, tels que les processus et les rôles que l on y assume, mais encore faut-il pouvoir les identifier et les enchaîner Nous allons vous aider en cela Nous saisirons ensemble les principes de gestion les plus modernes et indispensables à la poursuite sécurisée des activités dont vous avez la responsabilité. Nous vous remercions de l accueil et vous souhaitons une profitable lecture! Daniel C. Renson FBC>s founder Content of the coming issues : see the back cover page 04

5 Future-Based Consultancy & Solutions Brussels Future Inside for a greater business continuity Organizational communication, information integration, adaptive synchronization are what the enterprises have difficulties to deal with. All together, they are largely exceeding what we have defined as a new very critical management concept : the generally accepted complexity level In fact, is it linked to the knowledge maturity level (1) and we need to talk about complication, a sort of large compounded living dimension, made of different elements - not of the same nature with no or almost no direct relation in between them- and hence is difficult to analyze and understand. So, do we understand that it goes better when the participants can talk effectively to each other and start exchanging their ideas for transforming the business and pushing it on the right direction On the opposite side, try to lock the communication and guess about the consequences! Read again the complication definition! The FBC>s magazine and site are the sources for your ultimate practical instant knowledge and "how-to-and-why" information about the easy to access management essentials : the above mentioned SOA-based fundamental triad (1) Read more in the coming pages (as from page 13) and on our site 05

6 International Cooperation Language and cultural barriers in international cooperation Corinna Flöck Ecole Centrale de Paris Laboratoire Génie Industriel Grande Voie des Vignes Châtenay Malabry Cedex The internationalisation of markets forces, large organisations and Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to invest in new relationships which results in the need for collaboration. Unfortunately, especially in SMEs but also in large enterprises, the existing language skills are generally not on an advanced level and act as an obstacle in international environments. In an expanding Europe it no longer makes sense to treat problems from a single view or from a single culture if organisations want to be competitive. In addition, it is very rare that any organisation or country in the EU today can afford the costs and cover the know-how, capabilities and skills needed to master the complete range of a product development process or research topic. Partnering is essential to be able to compete and lead world wide. As this becomes more and more crucial, international cooperation is strongly needed and the language barrier problem has to be tackled to provide access to the knowledge society. But it is not only the language that causes problems but also the cultural barrier that has to be taken into account when we discuss existing obstacles. It can though be stated that language and cultural barriers can inhibit participation in international collaboration and access to new labour markets. Communication can be defined as interaction between at least two individuals that share as a basic need for collaboration the same objective or interest. Both of them have a certain set of characteristics that they bring into the interaction and which influence their behaviour. In order to communicate as effective as possible we know that a communication channel and a basic set of common concepts is needed. People that share the same culture, language norms and values, socialisation, political background etc are more likely to find a common understanding than people that don t share any of these concepts. It also makes a difference if a person speaks for himself or if he or she represents a group of people and has to address various interests. (Schulz von Thun 2001). In addition a set of factors that are not directly related to the person, but that are settled more on an interactive level and based on experiences have to be taken into account. These are: shared experiences (either positive or negative), physical distance, the hierarchical level between the correspondents, the expected return of investment and the size of the group. The picture below shows the whole framework and its interrelations. The European knowledge management community KnowledgeBoard gives a good example for international and intercultural cooperation. The virtual community consists of more than 12,000 members from all around the world, who discuss various knowledge management topics on research and business level. Therefore they can use different discussion forums or read and publish articles on knowledge management. As the common language spoken on KnowledgeBoard is English the community gives a good example for a place where people from different cultural backgrounds discuss and share knowledge and experience. Various researches and business cooperation have been born through KnowledgeBoard. With a high number of active members, KnowledgeBoard shows that language must not be a barrier and that intercultural cooperation opens new ways and possibilities. KnowledgeBoard is an open space for the knowledge management community. It has been drawn as a kernel to link together different forms of communities coming from different schools of thought. Since the beginning, it involves academia, consultants and industrials. The richness of the community is based on the contents provided by each of the community members and the interactions they develop. It strongly benefits of its diversity in terms of culture and professional experience and can be seen as a good reference for successful international collaboration. The platform offers the possibility to participate not only in Special Interest Groups (SIG) turning around a specific KM topic as for example around Communities of Practice or Project Management, but also in so called Zones either based on a certain language or a cultural zone and aim at providing the possibility of discussion with a limited number of participants. At the same time there is always a link to the community behind, which makes the Zones become a springboard for wider participation. 06

7 For our research we have taken a closer look at 4 different communities on KnowledgeBoard, all with a different context and different levels of participation: 1- One zone with material and discussion in French, Dutch and English but with a focus on the KM community in a certain country. KM in Belgium 2- One geographical zone, dealing with specific cultural related KM topics. These interactions are either in English or in the language of a particular country of this zone. The participants, from different countries, do not share the same mother tongue; however they have a common language. KM in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) 3- One language zone, addressing a knowledge community speaking the same mother tongue and sharing the same cultural background while living in different countries. Zona de KM em Português (KM in Portugal) 4- One Special Interest Group, in English language. This community is turning around a certain topic and is open for everybody interested in the topic and being able to communicate in English. KM for Project Management We have analysed the different Zones in order to find out, how they can contribute to an enhanced collaborative climate. The following factors have been identified as crucial to overcome cultural and language barriers: Creation of trust One obstacle can be that people don t have enough confidence in their language skills. It can not be taken for granted that everybody is confident enough to communicate in another language, so this factor might inhibit them from making profit out of international collaborations. To enforce people to actively participate in discussions in an international environment they need to have trust in the team. The creation of trust is especially challenging in virtual environments as the team members mostly never meet face-to-face and stay quite anonymous. The facilitator of a virtual community can play an important role to create trust. If communication mainly takes place via a platform, he or she can control the comments that are made within the community and have an eye on the content of the discussions and the behaviour of the community members. KnowledgeBoard provides e.g. some general community rules and guidelines which help the members to share a common understanding on how to interact with each other. Knowledge about cultural backgrounds To understand people s point of view it is important to take their cultural background into consideration. Let s meet on KMiB / KM in Belgium : Knowledgeboard.com/open_groups/km_in_belgium/ KnowledgeBoard offers the simple but effective way of a members directory where each member can provide any personal information, that he or she wants. It is thus a vehicle to learn more about people s background which helps understanding the circumstances that lead to his/her specific behaviour. Personal contacts If two or more persons share a set of common understandings, experiences and interests this helps them to approach to each other and to overcome possible language and cultural barriers. A mixture of virtual and face-to-face contacts seems to be an advantage compared to pure virtual communication. It helps to overcome barriers in the way as face-to-face contacts allow getting access to a bigger set of characteristics of the conversation partners. Interpersonal relations can be strengthened through these meetings as a transmission of verbal and nonverbal signals is possible and the communicators get a more detailed impression of each other. As stated by Watzlawick, one of the basic abilities in successful communication is to determine, which is the true major message of a signal; combining verbal and non-verbal communication. (Watzlawick 1967) Taking this into consideration, the importance in intercultural collaboration is not only to speak the same language but also to understand and respect people s cultural background. This allows us to get a complete picture of the personality and the character of a person and understanding the signals in the correct way. Sharing the same language in international environments can of course help to avoid misunderstandings but as language always involves culture it is necessary to go one step further and learn as much as possible about the background of the conversational partners. For enterprises, the demand to get involved in international and joint cooperation and projects gets more and more important and we can assume that the language and cultural barrier can become a problem for these enterprises or even inhibit them from an investment in international partnerships. It is as a first step extremely important that organisations are aware of the existing barriers in order to define steps how to overcome them and achieve a solid ground for international cooperation. If we apply the results to a business perspective, we can conclude that the identified obstacles are very general in terms of applicable areas and though strategically important for enterprises when it comes to international cooperation. The proposed techniques can thus be adapted by enterprises to overcome language and cultural barriers. This means that during the cooperation process a maximum of common understanding between the involved parties should be achieved. It is not sufficient to understand each other on a linguistic level but also on the various other levels that we mention above. 07

8 This means that effort should be spent to learn more about cultural backgrounds and the influence of norms and values on the business process. It is crucial to be aware of language and cultural barriers to understand the origin of conflicts and misunderstandings and possibly avoid them. Whenever possible, face-to-face meetings should take place to offer the possibility of non-verbal conversation. Training on intercultural competencies should be part of the organisational culture, in order to make sure that most efficient results can be achieved. Personal face-to-face contacts are a powerful tool to support the learning process as they enable nonverbal communication and provide conversational partners with a set of signals that he wouldn t receive in a completely virtual work environment. On a business level this means that in international collaboration at least a minimum of personal contacts should be assured to give all partners the possibility of getting insights in the other s attitudes and customs in order to avoid misunderstandings and to support the team building process. We can thus summarise that the overcoming of language and cultural barriers can lead to a more effective and productive collaboration especially in virtual working environments. It demands sensitivity from the involved persons and openness towards different cultures. References [1] Baernholdt, M, Clarke, S: Internet research in an international context, Applied Nursing Research, Volume 19, Issue 1, 2006, P [2] Hall, E.G.: Beyond Culture, N-Y: Anchor Books, 1977 [3] Hofstede, G : Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 2001 [4] Le Moigne J.L. La modélisation des systèmes complexes, Paris : Dunod, 1990 [5] Schulz von Thun : Miteinander reden 1-3, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1981 [5] Taveras, E. and Flores, G., Why culture and language matter: the clinical consequences of providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services to children in the emergency department, Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine Volume 5, issue 2, 1994, P ( [6] Watzlawick, P., J. H. Beavin, and D. D. Jackson, Pragmatics of human communication; a study of interactional patterns, pathologies and paradoxes. New York, NY: Norton. 294 pp Corinna Floeck Corinna Flöck@ecp.fr Tel : Rendez-vous sur KMiB / KM in Belgium sur le site KnowledgeBoard : Knowledgeboard.com/open_groups/km_in_belgium/ THE VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION The virtual organization (VO) is a network of independent professionals and companies linked by the free flow of information. There is no hierarchy, no central office and no vertical integration : just the skills and resources needed to do the job. By setting up a new virtual organization to address each fresh opportunity, the mix of resources used is always ideal. Each participating company contributes what it is best at. Because these business are chosen for their leadership in one area only, opportunities will be created for organizations of all sizes, from one-man consultancies upwards. By carefully selecting each partner, it will be possible to create a best of everything enterprise. As projects develop, so the virtual organization or corporation will evolve, shedding and gaining partners as appropriate, always maintaining the optimum configuration. The key is the use of IT, the breakthrough is virtual network architecture (VNA) to be switched between participants for enabling world-wide operations. Information is mandatory as virtual organizations harness people s intellectual powers that is becoming the most valuable asset. Excerpts and ideas from The Virtual Winners Professor Roger Nagel, Pennsylvania and Dave Allen, VNA specialist, UK in International Management, June 1993 (!) Cadeaux / gifts go to page 22! IST Information Society Technology is a large framework for the European research : new take up and best practices are now compulsory for having rapid practical development views. The term Innovation is generally covering that problematic. But talks don t deliver the required practicalities to achieve profitable results as they are too much conceptual. Technologies transfers are parts of the concrete reality and the encounters and seminars we will organize in the coming weeks. For more details and information : > services > R&D 08

9 L Internet du Futur Daniel C. Renson «Dans les affaires humaines -politiques, sociales et économiques-, il est inutile d essayer de prédire le futur, ni même de tenter de voir 75 ans dans l avenir. Mais il est possible -et fructueuxd identifier les événements majeurs qui ont déjà eu lieu, irrévocablement, et auront des effets prévisibles au cours d une décennie ou deux. En d autres termes, il est possible d identifier et de se préparer pour un futur qui est déjà arrivé» Peter Drucker sur la prédiction du futur et cité par Jean Lanoix (1) Alors que se pose toujours la cruciale question de la fracture digitale, qui se superpose à celle du social, le WEB2.0 vient imposer sa loi des nouvelles convenances collaboratives et Jean Lanoix (1) enchaine en nous décrivant l «Internet 2025» (2)! «L importance d imaginer le futur», c est bien de cela qu il s agit quand on constate la vertigineuse croissance multiple de l Internet et des modèles de relations privées et professionnelles qui émergent dans une réalité continuellement à réinventer pour se la faire sienne de la manière la plus pratique possible! Une croissance multiple paradoxalement faite de convergences sociales et techniques à l intérieur de laquelle on constate l abandon de réseaux au profit d autres -la fusion des Internet, Intranet et Extranet-, l expulsion de structures traditionnelles par les organisations virtuelles, etc. Alors, les entreprises n ont-elles pas d autres choix que de réviser leurs stratégies ou, mieux, d écrire des scénarios résolument plus futuristes. Cela change très vite, très fort dans tous les domaines absolument. Pour être plus proche encore du lecteur dont il souhaite plus l information empathique que le stress, Jean Lanoix raconte simplement le mode de vie de cette époque 2025, tout compte fait fort peu lointaine, en mettant 10 caractéristiques en évidence. Ne faites cependant pas, de ce résumé, une saisie superficielle qui laisserait croire à une simple description de ce dont les connaisseurs avisés feraient déjà un usage courant : 1- si penser à satisfaire le client a toujours fait partie des bons principes du commerce ainsi que de ceux du marketing, depuis l avènement du WEB2.0 l Internet force les entrepreneurs à s identifier à l utilisateur pour comprendre comment se trouver au bon endroit, au bon moment et se comporter durablement avec lui. Simple à dire et beaucoup plus dur à appliquer car l avènement du WEB2.0 signifie, sur le plan technique, que l Internet devient la plateforme OS (Operating System) tandis que, sur le plan «business», l ancienne bulle Internet que l on se représente encore comme un vague nuage connecté au monde réel nous a bel et bien enveloppé. Le virtuel est réel de chez réel et nous accompagne de plus en plus partout! 2- l Internet devient le media tout puissant qui intègre tous les autres: photo, cinéma, téléphone, radio, TV, ordinateur ; (1) Jean Lanoix, conseiller en stratégie Internet auprès d organisations privées et publiques. (2) «Internet L importance d imaginer le futur», 2003, collection Les Affaires, Les Éditions Transcontinental Inc., 169 pages. 3- l Internet deviendra accessible d à peu près tous les endroits et dispositifs électroniques utilisés ; 4- les moteurs de recherches s amélioreront encore pour être plus pratiques et délivrer des informations d un niveau de pertinence élevé: le profil utilisateur incorporé recherchera et délivrera des contenus pouvant aussi être conversationnels. 5- les analyses dynamique des liens entre bases de données vont se multiplier et en allant dans le sens de la convenance utile et sécuritaire. Un exemple fort dans un grand magasin où le portable lira le code barre d un paquet de biscuits contenant la composition de l aliment, pour conclure, après consultation du dossier médical, que cet achat n est pas conseillé vu l état de santé du possesseur de l appareil! ; 6- la contextualisation interactive universelle continuée des données et de l information, signifie que tout usager aura en permanence la possibilité d apporter des compléments améliorant sans interruption le niveau de services mis à disposition ; 7- les transactions en ligne vont être dominantes. Notamment, micro-paiements et micro-investissements qui, non aboutis actuellement, libéreront des projets plus ambitieux ; 8- la customisation encore s affiner grâce à une meilleure collecte des données et l évolution des techniques de traitement. Segmentation et typologie continuent leurs progrès, on décèle presqu immédiatement les nouveaux besoins et comportements par l analyse des chat rooms, blogs, vlogs, avatars de Second Life, etc. 9- l accélération universelle des «communications privées en masse» vont constituer un nouveau type de bouche à oreille digital ; 10- l abondance des informations et la convenance exceptionnelle des moyens d échanges va augmenter la flexibilité des acteurs travaillant, à la fois, en équipe et en virtuel. L analyse du comportement des jeunes nés à l époque du virtuel ambiant est assez révélateur de ce qui se passe et va s amplifier dans les temps à venir! Jean Lanoix pousse ses pensées encore plus loin en parlant de projets. Il en est un, parmi ceux-là, qui interpelle le communicateur et le sociologue : le citoyen global! Il considère que ce devrait être le rêve absolu du journaliste puisque, tout étant mise en commun dans une vaste communauté, l information disponible y serait d un niveau de qualité élevé et toujours en évolution vers des sommets inconnus. Tandis que l Internet, à considérer comme un gigantesque portail de la connaissance délivrerait ce que l on veut, quand on veut et toujours actuel suite en page 24 09

10 Text viruses An introduction to text viruses - the human made infection that leads to mismanagement. Nikolay Kryachkov Founder, owner, author at KnowledgePerson.com and Laboratory of text viruses, Russia Who The concept of text viruses was created by me during the consulting works in the mid of 1990th and its first public representation had started in 2000 a few articles in Russian printed scientific journals and on the Web. What Text viruses are the meanings of wording of action, which lead people to different understanding of action and to its different implementations. From what A source of differences in understanding of actions is the meanings (more than one) that many words of our language have. Wording of action is not yet precisely defined and is being elaborated. When we think, read, write, speak, move, even sleep, etc. - we act. But why all this is represented in sentences when we use language, not in wording of actions? This misbalance between natural actions and their representations in human language hides our possible knowledge of what our messages, texts, commands, instructions, requests, etc. can do, what network is being constructed when we pass all this to other people. Answering these questions: who(?); what(?); from what(?); why(?); how(?); where(?); when(?); by what(?); and how much(?) is the first step to represent and consider wording of action and to know the variants of possible actions. Name it discovering and constructing the future. Why Any goods and services have two parts information part (descriptions, manuals, adver-tisements, etc.) and physical part (goods and services themselves). Information part is the very "thing" in which people come into contact with first of all. After that people decide to buy or not, to use or not, etc. Your goods and services can be perfect, but if their information part is not understood as you need (has variants of understanding) people may go to your competitors. It means that so-called networks are not only about who connect whom as a static picture. Any human message (information part of something) in any time creates the set of human connections (networks or managerial structures) and who knows which of them is active in this time. How I can suggest you two ways to eliminate text virus impact. One is to find problematic content that causes an improper curve of your competitiveness (the money results of your organization do not grow, but its outflow grows) and normalize it by usual means (many specialists and consultants can assist you). There is no need to restructure every document you use in wordings of actions. If this does not help, you should restructure the problematic content you found in wording of actions to see the variants of understanding and reduce their quantity. It is another and direct way. By what A need of common understanding may require maintaining a public vocabulary for your organization in order to avoid misunderstanding and unexpected actions. George Orwell wrote in his novel "1984": "Who controls the vocabulary, controls the knowledge". There is no need to fear ONE understanding. It is only a prerequisite for free people to decide whether to use it or not. It is about managing knowledge, if you agree that knowledge equals understanding. And since you can see in wording of actions the variants and some of them are not yet used you can innovate by experimenting with new understandings of actions. Let s call it "text experiment" that can be not expensive. Where Modern organizations become more globally dispersed and if you use social software, vocabularies and specify content by maintaining dialogues, you can prevent text virus impact everywhere. When every time. 10

11 the human made infection that leads to mismanagement. (continuation) How much If some estimation of 66% information losses during written communication is correct, you probably waste 66% of investments in documenting the activity (manuals, advertisements, law, etc.) and probably get 34% of result when you influence others with the use of texts. Yes, it is the average values and can be different in the particular situation. METRICS Think about non statistical data only two variants of understanding of wording of action result in: - 50% risk of misunderstanding; - as minimum two networks or managerial structures (one - according to the first meaning and the second one - according to the second meaning) and one of them can be hidden; - effect as if people demonstrate a lack of skills, but in fact they may have different understanding. Conclusion Culture is not mystic. Every human action is being done within vocabulary. Invisible human made language structures - text viruses can be visible and their impact can be limited because only we humans are responsible for our language and actions. Nikolay Kryachkov nkryachkov@gmail.com Saint Petersburg, Russia Rosamund Zander talking about the book she wrote with Benjamin Zander The Art of Possibility The art of possibility relies on all the arts to develop a framework for transforming the way we define ourselves, our connections to others, and the environment we live and work in. For business leaders, it offers refreshing insights into many of the challenges people routinely face in organizations in the area of leadership, management, motivation, teamwork, creativity, and personal and professional fulfillment. Success in today s business environment relies almost completely on an organization's ability to invent and innovate. Metric (Webster s Encyclopedic Dictionary and more) A nonnegative real-valued function having properties analogous to those of the distance between points on a real line, as the distance between 2 points being independent of the order of the points, the distance between 2 points being zero if, and only if, the 2 points coincide, and the distance between 2 points being less than or equal to the sum of the distances from each point to an arbitrary third point. Generally speaking, metric is pertaining to measuring. Going further, a domain that could be defined in terms of a given understandable metric What do we do when no points are noticeable? 11

12 A short simplified history For a long time, metrics were relegated to some places engineers and technicians only lived in. Metrics were essential for them They went after to finances and assembly lines for checking the individuals performances an indication for fine-tuning the recruitment or the beginning of something that is showing up. But not exactly the way it should! In front of the expanding global economy and the rapidly evolving virtual world! Effective global business development require effective measurement in the communication, integration and synchronization (for verifying the reality of a dynamic evolving integration see Future Inside on page 5) to support the performance of the main managerial functions 1- analyzing and comparing 2- forecasting 3- planning all what is needed to support the collegially defined future-based strategy 4- organizing with borderless metrics and along the extended schedule 5- cross-departmentally coordinating, partnering 6- motivating, supporting, sponsoring, maintaining the emotional intelligence 7- animating, coaching, helping 8- controlling / tracking with complying indicators 9- adjusting, reacting, counter-acting, improving, mobilizing corrective efforts, 10- conducting the global change Beyond the introductory definition to link strategy, budget and operations! Metrics are able to move along the above mentioned demand for a solid support to managers Metrics can contribute to the characterization of an activity, a behavior, a phenomenon, a product, a process, a natural event. It may be about individuals, groups, associations, companies, markets, nations Metrics are immediately observable or derived from a preceding set or associated in case of compatibility. Correlation could be of some help for going further. Indicators add guidelines for the tracking along the work process and its progresses. In fact, we have all what we need to check about the global performance management but only a limited number of companies do play with a cross departmental initiative in spite of the ERP implementation extension. Does the size of the large ones matter? Most of the time, yes! As it is much more difficult for them to set and maintain open and dynamic communication schemes. Consequences are very damageable: low data circulation and suspicion about the accuracy because of the non-access to a friendly validation process. To make it more complicate again, participation for some kind of corrective actions won t show up Back to the indicators As already mentioned previously, indicators are providing supplementary insight on what is ongoing. It will facilitate useful assessments about the evolution, behaviors trends versus plans and schedules. Charts could be practical for starting a list of metrics and supporting the discussion in between the managers. Take the categories (human, educational, material, technical, quality, financial, marketing, sales, ), consider the various management insight (skills, proactivity, information level and expectation, life-cycle concern and productivity, change, ), and the indicators that could be set for checking the progresses (date, cost, scraps, volume, gaps -time, cost, rejects, standards, - added value, ) About business complexity, Peter Drucker has said : If you can t measure it, you can t manage it At first, will it be easy to get agreements on the basic indicators. However, going further will rapidly evidence the lack of maturity about many aspects : insufficient strategy definition, lack of consensus, unclear view on the resources (human : who is going to back the strategy up?), immature technology knowledge that doesn t foresee how to marry the individuals and machines, limited support to large projects along the strategy, etc. Sharing rationality Let s consider a homogeneous waterfall effect to be set as from the matured department contributions and in association with all inside and outside participants; Including staff and partners. Consequently, will we obtain collaboratively set metrics and they will be rational. Rationality is the only solid thing people are ready to agree on. And it comes, as already said, from a simple triad for tying everything together: communication, integration, synchronization! Daniel C. Renson 12

13 The generally accepted complexity level 1- Complexity. Complex refers to that which is made up of many elaborately interrelated of interconnected parts, so that much study or knowledge is needed to understand or operate it (Compton Home Library, 1998). - number and skills of the actors - constraints (in general, human, technical, ) - targeted performances (individuals, machines, together) - certifications (local, international) - time, schedule - size of the project - number of the involved domains - measures, standards, agreements, - geographical aspects (distance, climate ) - technological changes - dependencies, interactions in between these above factors. Etc. 2- Complication. Complicated is applied to that which is highly complex, has no inside structure (made of very different elements not of the same nature- with no or almost no direct relation in between them) and hence is very difficult to analyze, solve or understand (Compton Home Lib, 1998 and FBC>s Master Class). 3- Complexity and complication : what for the difference? Organizational communication, information integration, continuous transformation, adaptive synchronization of the evocated elements at the beginning, are what the organizations have difficulties to deal with : all together, they are largely exceeding the generally accepted complexity level, something compounded up to what the majority do agree to work on without too much resistance In the reality, considering the rapidly expanding global economy and its new constraining parameters, do we have to talk about a sound complication : it counts a long list of elements of various natures with no or almost no direct relation in between them and -hencebeing difficult to analyze and understand. So, are experts coming from the related various domains but they can t easily talk together : metrics are hard to define (page 10) and reports don t come rapidly after their encounters, opinions diverge 4- What is difficult? What s making the life being though for some persons will be a piece of cake for others! We are talking about carefully recruited individuals for their skills, 13

14 experiences, motivation and sense of communication. 5- An enterprise is a living organism So has it to be interpreted the way it is. Models are convenient, simulation are much more practical as they force the operators to search for what could reproduce the thing the formal organization and / or the system have not taken into a full consideration! Most of the time, the full cooperation of the stakeholders and collaborators is the best way to get out of a complicate maze! It does explain the increasing success of the CoPs or Communities of Practices all over the world and in the most progressive companies. Even on a large scale : communities could count up to 200 and more participants in several countries, thanks to the intensive and clever use of the collaborative tools. Of course, that can t be set so easily. Critical conditions do apply. 6- Knowledge is the key and what will be defined as complex or complicate is only depending on the diagnostic of the motivated knowledgeable-who is in charge in the best collaborative working environment: an active sponsor, a well set dedicated workplace, a dynamic social network (contributing collaborators), a multi-featured material, a system that is handling properly the recurrent tasks, a real-time performing information system, And, of course, the ultimate corporate culture is behind the whole thing Don t anticipate any remarkable success without it! 7- However Knowledge is often inconsistently available in too many enterprises. Information Systems are gaining the interest but people aren t coached nor supported properly. Complexity will always be a complication for them. Resistance to the change will also be extremely difficult to manage because the situation they are facing with exceeds the acceptable complexity level. On the counterpart, Knowledge is maturing in some other organizations. They aren t waiting for you and people in them are pro-actively looking at what they could add a touch of their expertise for accelerating the development. They are searching for assistance and participating with the feeding of all exchanges systems facilitators. 8- Conclusion It was only a shortly developed viewpoint about the quest for the ultimate performances achievement. Models are what most of the interviewees are demanding for when they talk about the difficulties they are facing with. Models are convenient for summarizing extended problems. Brain maps are much more practical because they force the managers and stakeholders to look at all the connections, causalities, dependencies / interdependencies, relations, etc Enterprises are fundamentally depending on the motivated knowledge of their participants. All of them, from the bottom to the top. Knowledge is a natural phenomenon (FBC>s Business Magazine n 1: KM, not for the SME? ) and formal models aren t flexible enough to seize the essential living dimension. A new mental structure is what responsible people, stakeholders, managers need to build for embracing the fast & fabulous living reality. Maybe is it reminiscing the Fast & Furious movie? It s definitely pressurizing the operators Tomorrow did pass away already We need some stress from time to time (see below)! Daniel C. Renson Le stress positivé L'action professionnelle est une situation vitale (1). D'ailleurs, ne dit on pas "vie professionnelle" quand on en parle ou que l'on interroge quelqu'un à ce propos? D'un autre côté, l'importance et l'urgence sont des variables dont il faut tenir compte quand on analyse cette part substantielle de la vie -en général- d'un individu qui, comme bien d'autres, se voit confronté, en sus, à l'organisation de sa famille, elle-même ayant ses composantes d'interpellation. Alors, les alternances entre l'objectivité et la subjectivité (le "job" vu à partir de la maison, les objectifs de la société à partir du poste occupé, etc.) sans oublier le temps qui se raréfie pour pouvoir participer à tout ce qui fait l'entourage sollicitant -si l'on peut "suivre"- ou oppressant -quand il déborde- appliquent une pression quasi continue sur la personnalité qui n'y restera pas insensible. Cette pression n'a cependant pas le même effet, d'un sujet à l'autre et dans un contexte déterminé : cela variera de l'indifférence à l'angoisse, en passant par l'effet stimulant voire même motivant! Ce dernier cas est évidemment remarquable, puisque lorsqu'on parle de motivation, il y a une structuration en cours à exploiter, canaliser, développer selon le cas considéré. Redécouvrir les moteurs de vie en tant que processeurs de changement et d'expression comportementale positive est donc primordial. L'évolution de l'humanité lui en est redevable et, à condition de s'y prendre de manière résolument constructive, la connaissance de ses mécanismes intimes peut aider au rétablissement d'une trame de vie sociale humaine plus équilibrée, ainsi qu'à une insertion professionnelle volontaire et productive! Daniel C. Renson, in "Virage", publication de l'institut de la Pédagogie Générale du Changement, PGC (1) Les nombreux aspects induits par cette proposition ne sont pas discutés ici : aspects matériels (le revenu), l'insertion sociale (la structuration comportementale), l'apprentissage (valorisation intellectuelle), etc. 14

15 The synchronized management the FBC>s flexible integrating transversal concept and offer! A quick view on our lasting well-understood profession dedication! (more will be added in the 4th issue of June 2007) The essence? People and communication! Nice! But, making people meeting, talking and working together isn t that so easy! And you know it for sure, because Time is also of the essence It is one of the very serious elements to take into consideration for meeting : being on the right time To say it shortly and simply Geography? Oh yes! Where? We need to be on the right place Mental map is part of the concern for letting the whole coinciding : the right person who is reuniting what he or she needs to get for behaving into the right way. Yes, what you know does conduct you! It will facilitate your assimilation of more to achieve your positioning and arrange events for coexistence to be interpreted as a large positive complicity. However, all what s behind it s impossible to remind. Long practices and experience are definitely mandatory to detect and behave properly. The very simplified background The figure on the top right is describing the main elements an enterprise and its executives have to detect and fully understand to manage all the existing relations in between them : it s a real space-time universe or 4D geometry of activities in which they have to find their best way through! Mechanically or digitally speaking interfacing the parts is enough to make the system work and produce. However, it isn t fully automated. It hasn t been conceived nor developed by robots. The (very simplified) background of the socio-technological life Daniel C. Renson & FBC>s Interfacing is the result of meetings (right place, right time and right person / profile ) in between the participants and the collaborators searching for the best solution to satisfy the final customers. Complication So, do we have to speak about complication because of the delicate elements the human nature is made of. They contribute to the invisible part of the enterprise experts are busy with for a very long time. Synchronization is the final trick Real-time has become unavoidable in most of the organizations. The IT-supported principle helps largely the enterprises but it has difficulties to make the invisible part entering the system. Moreover, the structure doesn t usually show the required flexibility. Synchronization is part of our first triad. Synchronization means with the time and some of our advisers are apt to let the client collaborators comprehend what it signifies to them. New skills do emerge and performances follow there after. More about that management principle could be obtained during a professional interview ( > contact). 15

16 By Daniel C. Renson WEB2.0, the new public open platform. WEB2.0 represents a fantastic challenge for the enterprises! The choice is theirs : - getting overwhelmed or - reading the continuously changing 4D multiple roads map for being part of the new communication era! The space-time universe is more actual than ever! The Big Bang is under progress on the Net! We may not delay any more the regrouping of our best resources : real-time brains and techniques. So, is Knowledge definitely what managers need to proceed in a masterly fashion! More in the following lines and in our interactive pages for sharing analysis, comments, experiences, ideas, suggestions. EN : FR : From PC applications to Internet applications On December 10, 2006, Tim O Reilly (*) made a WEB2.0 new definition attempt : WEB2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them (this is what I ve elsewhere called harnessing collective intelligence ). He has got some interesting comments on his site (*). However, I d like to share additional ideas with you because it s still hard to get the whole after that. I m talking about the definition and comments And maybe will it be impossible to make it clearer than what we know and continuously discover in the infinite space that s all around us Everyday, do we find new elements in the immensity and, in the meantime, is the immensity still moving on. So, do we continuously discover new niches in the Cyber-Space after the recontextualization of already existing applications. And, again, in the meantime, is the Cyber-Space still moving on Back to Knowledge Definitely is it the solution for the enterprise willing to move in that living and expanding dimension! WEB 1.0? 2 nd part ? Someone has said that Knowledge is the only raw material getting additional value when it s utilized. Internet applications have a solid evolving embedded knowledge as they are highly used and re-used for facilitating encounters and arranging efficient / reliable relations in between a growing number of persons, groups, communities and enterprises. More networks and more nodes. Towards the network of the networks! Robert Metcalfe, has said that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the nodes number. So, as a network grows, the value of being connected to it grows exponentially. At the same time the cost per user remains unchanged or reduce That theory, in fact a real reality, gives an idea of the attraction force of the WEB2.0 as the becoming network of all of others in which the applications value grow with the number of the users. Users are what they buy, what they use WEB2.0 is customer-application-centered However, individuals don t use all of what is available on the Net. They are interested by a few of these numerous applications: only what s meeting their curiosity and / or satisfying their actual needs. And the coming new ones So will the WEB2.0 be continuously evolving and, most probably, never well understood by the main part of the population. On the counterpart, enterprises have to know exactly what it s all about. Example : before were they communicating through a limited number of medias to inform their customers and prospects. Now, the customer is a very frequent (perpetual from time to time) Net wanderer and it s hard to track him in there. New technologies are showing up for delivering the highly demanded data. Another possibility consists in the development of a permanent activity on the Net for multiplying the encounters. It has started with the cookies and it continues with the get in touch with, solicit opinions and demand for participation and, in fact, is it exactly what the customers were expecting. They want to be an actor to define precisely what they would be offered within the shortest delay! (*) 16

17 WEB2.0 Toward the applications-less PC? When large Net actors like Google and some others started to offer on-line applications and light OS, the WEB(1.0?) definitely took off and announced the WEB2.0! At the same time, users started to work on the Internet-based applications improvement and for their owners-providers! For free! Is it fair? Anybody s complaining? Analogy in between an enterprise IS and the WEB2.0? Up to the best of my knowledge and according the best authors, both of them are contributing to the same objectives and meeting identical demands : - Proximity (accessibility) - Usability (easiness, intuitive operability) - Exchange (knowledge contribution) - Immediacy (real-time) - Gratuity or inexpensive operation. However, all what is happening on the WEB does change our relationship with all kinds of information! Many users consider blogs and similar exchanges opportunities as trustworthy as traditional media! Blogging in the Far-East 25,000 MSN portal visitors have been surveyed across 7 Asian markets - Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand: 41% of the online persons in Asia have a blog and are blogging for more than 3 hours a week. More than 40% have less than 10 visitors per week. Young people and women dominate (except India where it is predominantly a male domain, and Korea where blogging is a part of the day-to-day life for all) Asian bloggers are mainly driven by the need to express themselves and share their lives with family and friends (it represents 74% of the identified users). More on The Asia Tech / The future is here: Advertising / Marketing trends As seen in a December 22 article of the Financial Time ( the main UK advertising agencies predict that Internet could be the major medium by 2016! It will force the enterprises to comply with new communicational dimensions controlled by the users themselves! Many communication agencies are already prepared to move on while numerous enterprises will have to revise their marketing policy WEB3 les acteurs du Net à Paris les 11 & 12 décembre derniers! Au programme de ces journées internationales : - Le futur d'internet - Les impacts de la génération de contenu par les utilisateurs - Les défis à relever pour des démarrages européens - Réussir à l international à partir de l Europe - L importance des communautés et du viral généré - Les nouvelles générations 2.0 : TV, Radio, Mobile - Quand la vie virtuelle prend le pas sur la vie réelle... Le virtuel impacte le réel! Un peu avant l événement, on estimait à près de 60 millions le nombre de blogs dans le monde. Il s en créerait approximativement 3 millions par mois! Alexis Helcmanocki, directeur du pôle Télécoms et Information d Ipsos, rapporte que, selon une étude faite auprès de 2200 internautes en Allemagne, France, Angleterre, Espagne, Italie, 61% connaissent les blogs. Ce dernier devient ainsi un média reconnu et que les surfeurs admettent, dans plus de 52% des cas, comme ayant une eu une influence sur leur comportement d acheteur. Ce qui le positionne, en bonne place, après les sites reconnus et les articles des quotidiens traditionnels. La raison? Ainsi que le relève Dave Sifry, CEO de Technorati, le surfeur, sur le Net, y est à la fois producteur et consommateur. Ce qui revient à participer, tout naturellement, à ses propres décisions ainsi qu à celles des co-surfeurs qui, parfois, sont aussi des membres de sa famille et des voisins. Il va donc falloir accélérer les «aspects virtuels» de l organisation des entreprises : décentralisation, mobilité et autonomisation 17

18 Inside Magazine VISTA or not VISTA? That s the question? Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Is your actual XP-Based PC ready to get and run the new Windows Vista? To make it sure, download, install and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. It will scan your computer, deliver a detailed report and propose eventual recommendations. Download: upgradeadvisor/default.mspx Additional information Be informed that the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor has been made for the 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. It doesn t work with Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. FREE Vista Migration ebook Altiris offers The Definitive Guide to Vista Migration. It s available for download as from this address : Book.aspx Lego my LaCie The LaCie brick 250 Giga memory block. It could be stacked up like Lego pieces! Let s play with them! Solio Featuring a fan-blade design, Solio achieves maximum solar area when in use. Just spread out the blades, expose them to direct sunlight either out of doors or affixed to a window for charging its internal battery or your phone, ipod, Blackberry VISTA ou pas VISTA? Pour savoir si votre PC «XP» pourra utiliser le nouveau Windows Vista, il existe un petit programme qui permet de le vérifier rapidement.. Cliquez sur le lien ci-après : upgradeadvisor/default.mspx Soldius Soldius B.V. of Apeldoorn Holland, develops, manufactures and distributes solar charging products. Download WPF/E WPF/E is the codename of a cross-platform presentation technology for delivering rich interactive experiences including animation, graphics, audio, and video for the Web and beyond. Broadly available for customers in the first half of 2007, WPF/E experiences will require a lightweight browser plug-in made freely available by Microsoft. Download and install the Community Technology Preview release of the WPF/E SDK : Virtual Meal Technology-interfaced family dinner! Dadong Wan, Researcher at Accenture Technology Labs is passionate about ubiquitous commerce and computer-assisted human intelligence for facilitating the gap in between the physical and virtual world. He explains that the Virtual Family Dinner will allow families to meet and interact virtually as often as they like. The needed material will have to be installed in the kitchen of both parties : camera, microphone and a large flat screen TV for allowing the friends and or parents to see each other and converse during the meal preparation and dinner. Thanks to the technological progresses, will it be possible to record and (re) broadcast the event in the house. Scientists and physicians see a fantastic future for elderly persons as the system will open a sort of window in their life or add a fantastic interacting surrounding. Maybe will it also prevent or postpone the hospitalization or placement in nursing institution. Digital network means are likely to be added in there and the Big Brother syndrome shows up again: ners.html?.v=6 18

19 Another gender gap according the numbers delivered by Gartner (Stamford, Connecticut) Women and IT! Women control 80% of the consumers spending decisions and 90% of IT products and services are designed by men That could lead to the emergence of a female full of rejuvenate ideas technology workforce with superior communication and listening skills : a workforce "innately better suited than men" to face the challenges of the new expanding economy. That could also lead to the worsening of the IT crisis and kick some actors out of the business! 2006 has been a great year for VoIP and TechTarget wants you to be sure that you didn't miss anything of what showed up during the past months. So are they are inviting you to read about 1) Echo and VoIP: FAQ 2) VoIP echo elimination: Leaks, loudness and delay 3) VoIP: Obtaining toll quality in a LAN or WAN environment 4) Encryption VoIP traffic: How and why 5) VoIP services overview: Understanding vocabulary, Clarifies implementation, ROI 6) VoIP careers: Switching from old-school telephony 7) Asterisk in the enterprise: Benefits and best practices for business deployment 8) Why you need to learn VoIP for your Cisco certification 9) Carrier MPLS support for VoIP 10) TFTP servers for testing IP phones. The complete file is available on their site : Découvert Le site Descripteur dédié aux thésaurus et autres vocabulaires contrôlés pour l'accès à l'information et l inventaire des normes et standards relatifs aux documents numériques. Réalisé par Sylvie Dalbin. Adresse: Dossier : FT-normedocnum-ATD2006.pdf High Level Short Tips Big Impact Vous posez-vous encore des questions sur l'internet? Enregistrez-vous vite à l adresse précitée en titre et vous obtiendrez réponse. Créé à l initiative de DNS.be, ou Association Belge pour l enregistrement des noms de domaine Internet, ce site a pour ambition de vous faciliter l accès à l Internet. Il a été constaté, en effet, un bien trop petit nombre de possesseurs de sites dans le royaume! A vous de jouer, vous serez aidés! Salaire ministériel en baisse! Au Japon, Shinzo Abe, premier ministre vient d annoncer qu il s infligerait une peine de 3 mois sans salaire pour avoir été secrétaire général du gouvernement lors de prestations publiques organisées par son prédécesseur: le gouvernement a, en effet, admis avoir payé les participants pour poser des questions non gênantes. Shinzo Abe avait déjà réduit son salaire lors de son entrée en fonction pour engager plus de monde à partager la politique d austérité destinée à relever l économie du pays! Quand donc fera-t-on de même dans certaines autres «économies»? Plus sur fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/shinzo_abe 8 Exabytes Amount of digital data that have been generated globally in 2005 according to figures from the University of California at Berkeley. An Exabyte is 1 million billion bytes or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. Source: 26 percent According to an audit made by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and AT&T Corp., security is the main concern of the encountered executives : 26% of them are worrying about the risks attached to the IP networks convergence. Next position, 23% of them care about the costs. Source: 19

20 Business Opportunities Near- or Off shoring? Off shoring, a hot strategic topic we ll talk more about within the coming weeks, has a challenger : the near shoring! And that isn t the only one Near means neighboring or proximate. The point is instead of going far away, why don t you look at a (much) closer place to locate some of your activities in the future? Considering the structure, business environment, people skills and availability as solid motivating attractive elements, A. T. Kearney has recently listed the best offshore locations (1). India comes first, China follows, Malaysia has the third position, Czech Republic shows up at the fourth place and that isn t far away from our European enterprises. Czech Republic financial structure has been moderately appreciated but it has one of the best environment (economic and political aspects, main infrastructures, culture, flexibility, security) as stated by A. T. Kearney, a well known global strategic management consulting firm. The future of technology Zogby International and Internet Attitude have realized quick surveys in USA: people believe that the next high-tech big chief will come from China (26,7%) or Japan (22,4%), USA (21%), India (13%). More on -the-next-great-tech-leader-will-come-from-asia/ You only live twice! Second Life is a 3-D virtual digital continent owned by its residents. They abound with other persons, entertainment, experiences and find a parcel of land to build their house or business plant for trading with others. The market place supports millions of Linden dollars in transactions. That money can be converted to US Dollars in the real life for an actual living! Wow! However, off shoring isn t that simple and may not be implemented too quickly. We recommend a very serious audit of the core activity before any move into that direction. Distance is one of the aspects but that isn t the main point. Remote communication tools provide efficient solutions but don t translate the collaborating parties cultural points of views. Just to say a little Other questions : - do you produce large quantities of low featured articles that do not require any assistance? OK.. But pay attention to the quality, the reliability, the parts availability, the abandoned knowledge and expertise, etc. - do you conduct a customer-centered enterprise delivering high-tech products to some sensitive niches? Reconsider your first attitude and make the choice of an eventual other partnership that could support AND secure your development strategy. Why not looking at the onshore? Let some offshore countries people coming on the market and work at your clients office or assembly line Many alternative solutions do exist. Start auditing your business and get advices (1) Information provided in The changing face of China, A. T. Kearney, Emotional economics Emotional economics affects financial economics. In a poorly managed emotional risk economy, employees experience significant distracting risks that have nothing to do with furthering the interest of the business. At the same time, employees often experience little risk for many behaviors which undermine profitability and growth. The result is that people are motivated to think first about their position in the company. Thinking about the needs of the business is secondary, and may not occur at all. Even for a moderately successful business, the cost in lost opportunities is astounding. Worse, a badly managed emotional risk economy is always in danger of overheating. The resulting business meltdown happens often enough that you ve probably watched or lived through one. Emotional Economics, a white paper of Carl B. Frankel and Rebecca D. Ray from OME, Organizational Measurement & Engineering ( 20