From good ideas to actual businesses

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Our colleague, Walter Derzko gives some interesting insights into why good ideas don't get results - see his blog at - http://smarteconomy.typepad.com/smart_economy/2007/02/why_good_ideas_.html

With respect to innovation, one study suggests that you need 3,000 ideas to get one commercial launch - see this article: Stevens, G.A., J. Burley. 1997. 3000 raw ideas - 11 commercial success! Research Technology Management 40(3) 16-27.

In a recent study my colleague Thomas Keil and I have just finished, we found that very different management processes are needed to make sure that outcomes other than launch result in good ideas getting circulated in a company. Tweet This!

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Desperate shortage of the college educated

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I heard a fascinating statistic the other day that really should give all of us pause. It seems that 2/3 of all jobs in America require a college education, yet only 1/3 of the potentially eligible population goes to college in this country. Either we are going to have to drastically ramp up our numbers enrolled, or we will face an even more serious skills crunch than we already have for employees with sufficient skills to work in our new economy. That was really interesting.

Another issue that I don't think we have grappled with very well is the fact that as the economic basis of our businesses change, the skills we need to deploy change as well -- and yet we make few provisions for upgrading skills throughout the life of an employee, consistently and on a planned basis. Tweet This!

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XM and Sirius to merge - Why are we not surprised?

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So XM and Sirius satellite radio have announced that they are finally going to merge. We called that one years ago! What the two have been doing is engaging in a competitive war of attrition that is guaranteed to end with one killing the other off, or in a desperate bid to avoid the ultimate game of competitive chicken, a merger such as the one proposed.

What is fascinating is how companies get themselves into these situations over and over again. Almost the exact same scenario played out years ago with British Satellite Broadcasting and Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV satellite network. The two went head-to-head with incompatible systems, losing millions of pounds each month, until a merger deal was finally forged, combining the two into B Sky B.

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Book recommendation - The Halo Effect

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Our good friend Phil Rosenzweig has just published a terrific book, called The Halo Effect. It's main thesis is that we come to a lot of erroneous conclusions because knowing the outcomes biases our reasoning. It's a fascinating read.

For more on Phil and the book, check out his website -

http://www.the-halo-effect.com Tweet This!

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What Americans spend on pets

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I ran across the following mind-blowing numbers - and came to the conclusion that there are vast sums of money out there if one is creative enough to capitalize on what people are willing to buy!

$38 Billion - Amount Americans spent on pet food and care in 2006, nearly double that spent 10 years ago

$2,000 - cost of a doggie nose job in Los Angeles

$395 - cost of a Burberry dog bed

$50 - price of an oatmeal body wrap for big dogs at LA Dogworks, a doggie spa

47% of dog owners say they buy holiday or birthday gifts for their pets. Tweet This!

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