ii) Escape


Po: - restaurants do not charge for food............Diners Club card, ie eat now, pay later. Frank McNamara, entrepreneur who started Diners, was "caught short" at a restaurant and had to phone his wife to get her to drive in with the cash as he had left his wallet at home

Po: - refrigeration to warm food.......selling refrigerators to Eskimos to warm-up their food

Po: - we sell products to our competitors...........change usual method of product distribution

Po: - cost comes after revenue...........travellers' cheques (pay money upfront before going on trip or holiday, thus allowing the issuer of the cheques to have use of your money)

.....Starbucks debit cards (within 60 days of its launch, some 2.3 million cards sold and the company had a $US32 million cash float. About $US1 billion has been loaded on to Starbucks cards in the US over the first 3 years)

.....to generate cash flow to start Virgin records, Richard Branson received cash from customers when they ordered; he had negotiated to pay the record companies and advertisers 1 month in arrears.

.....many entrepreneurs, such as Peter Holmes a Court, are using debt on their credit cards to finance their businesses.

.....telephone firms using pre-pay facilities on phones. Younger people and people in the developing world prefer this option.

Po: - take a contrary view of globalising........GE focussed on areas of the world that were either in transition or out of favour with investors, eg Europe and Mexico in the mid-1990s

Po: - forwards need to play like backs.......Australian Wallabies (rugby union team) achieved an 81% success rate with Rod Macqueen as a coach (1997-2001)

Po: - don't pay full price upfront.............use of instalment payments

Po: - no pure cattle breeds....mixed or composite herd (increased reproductive performance by around 25%). Some operators were so proud of their pure breeds and so against the idea of a composite breed that they refused to accept the evidence and left the organisation

Po: - use a criminal to catch a criminal......FBI pardoned a criminal (fraud) on the basis that he use his skills to catch others involved in fraud. The film "Catch Me If You Can" is based on this story

Po: - taxi drivers are nice to each other..initially a taxi driver allowed his competitors to "steal" his work. After 6 months of being laughed at by other taxi drivers, they started to push surplus business his way

Po: - to grow, don't go overseas...Wesfarmers has grown laterally inside Australia by broadening its base into new sectors, from retail to coal mining, rather than going overseas to invest in the same industry

....Amancio Ortega who operates the third largest fashion retailing empire in the world (Inditex), decided that manufacturing everything offshore was too time-consuming, and involved significant hassles with production, quality control and timeframes. Instead the company developed a home-grown system that, although 10 to 15% more expensive because around 2/3 of production done in Europe and only 1/3 done in Asia, has delivered great value to the company

Po: - banks have no branches.........banking done by telephone and Internet with large savings to banks, ie estimates suggest that Internet banking has reduced the cost of handling each transaction from over $US 1.00 to a couple of cents

Po: - airlines do not pay landing rights.......Ryanair (low cost airline) gets the local authorities to pay the landing rights at the local airport as Ryanair brings visitors (thus money) to local areas

Po: - a disease to control a disease........deal with life-threatening cancer in humans by using another disease to control it. Some examples,

i) the use of modified herpes virus to infect and destroy tumour cells in the brain

ii) use of bacterium (Wolbachia) to block the transmission of dengue virus from mosquito to humans. Further research has demonstrated that this bacterium reduces the ability of mosquitoes to transmit other human pathogens that cause malaria, chikungunya and yellow fever.

iii) use of a modified HIV virus to work on the immune system to destroy cancer, such as leukemia

Po: - hunters become conservationists................in Cambodia, the previous hunters of rare animals are now scouts for locating and recording details of these species

                                                              ...............Masai (African tribe) were lion hunters who are now guardians of the lions and track their movements using the latest electronic equipment as part of a conservation programme

Po: - planned obsolescence...............this has encouraged the throw-away customer culture or nondurable goods, ie goods with a limited life span. Some examples include

- Apple's phone batteries are only expected to last 18 months and are hard to replace as an incentive to buy a new phone

- IKEA's furniture is designed for quick assemble and not to last long

Po: - poisons treat diseases...............Thalidomide was used to alleviate morning sickness in pregnant ladies. It had an unfortunate side-effect as their babies were born with birth major defects like limblessness. Now it is used in the treatment of cancer and leprosy

                                            ...............mustard gas was used WW1 as a chemical weapon with devastating impact. As it works on the white blood cells, it has formed the basis for chemotherapy treatment of cancer, ie destroying of living cells

Po: - don't employ skilled people.....employ people on the criteria of work attitude, aptitude and cultural fit with the organisation, with on-the-job training to give them the necessary skills to handle the job. In one firm this has helped reduce absenteeism to near zero while the rest of the industry has up to 50%

Po: - plastic as conductors......development of plastic electronic products (semi-conductors), such as information displays for appliances and computers, electronic paper, radio-frequency identification tags, wearable electronics, chemical sensors and pressure-sensitive skin for robots

Po: - make your enemies into friends.........2 traditional adversaries (conservationists and farmers) became partners in the very successful Landcare movement in Australia

.............................succesful politicians, like Barak Obama, Nelson Mandela, etc appointed rivals into their inner circle; Obama had Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, Nelson Mandela appointed the main Zulu opposition chief into his cabinet

......................................................after around a 12 year absence Steve Jobs is invited back to Apple when the organisation is around 2 months away from bankruptcy. At the same time Microsoft is under pressure by the US regulators for its monopolistic position in the software industry and there is a possibility that Microsoft will be "broken up". As he and Bill Gates had disputes around IP, their relationship was not cordial.  Even though Apple had insignificant market share in the computer industry, Jobs was able to convince Bill Gates to invest US$ 150 m. into Apple, on the basis that would help his case with the US officials, ie Microsoft had some competition rather than none. This investment enabled Apple to reinvent itself and become a one of most successful firm in the world

Po: - the products aspirational.........................skin cream (ARgENTUM) has a cult following in an overcrowded market controlled by some big players.  It is a visionary brand that has qualities of uniqueness, delivered with a strong identity. Everything about the product is aspirational, ie made in Paris in small batches to maintain purity and efficacy; the finest colloidal silver is sourced from the USA; raw materials come from Europe & Africa; components are made in Czech Republic and Germany.  Each jar contains one of 12 cards (creator, sage, caregiver, magician, everyman, ruler, jester, innocent, rebel, explorer, hero & lover); each user is invited to draw imagery and symbolism from the card reflect their subconscious, ie
"...I want to address beauty within and beauty for me means balance and harmony...... and that led me to the idea that we need to find balance of archetypes, which are primordial images that reflect the contents of a collective unconscious..."
Joy Isaacs as quoted by Helen Hawkes, 2016a

Po: - waste not, want not..........................................traditionally in Australia "leftover good food" from stalls, markets, shops, meals from restaurants, etc is thrown out as it is illegal to give it away.  It is estimated that around A$8 b. worth of food is thrown away annually in Australia.  Jim and Simone Carson (2005) founded a group called SecondBite that changed the legislation in different states in Australia called the Good Samaritan legislation that now allows food to be given away. With the help of corporate Australia like ANZ, Coles, Pratt Foundation, Fortescue, ISPT, etc plus volunteer groups like Rotary, Sacred Heart Mission, etc, this charity rescues surplus fresh food from farmers, markets, supermarkets, etc for distribution to people in need and/or cannot afford it.  It has more than 800 volunteers working for it (early 2016).  Since its inception (2005) to early 2016 it has distributed 20 m. kg of food of which 75% is fruit and vegetables; provided 40+ m.  meals; backed 1,200 community food programs. Some comments from Coles  "...we were throwing away a lot of good food that could have gone to better use and thought that was the wrong thing to do. By partnering with SecondBite we can give them access to what is still high-quality food and produce meals that people who can't afford it..... The satisfaction that our team members on the ground get is just unbelievable. You get 100,000 team members fully supportive, of their own volition, supporting a local charity supporting local people who are really needy...... we call it win, win, win......we cut down our food waste bill, we give good-quality food to the community to help people in need and our team members feel they are giving something back......for example, 4 times a week Penny in Port Pirie goes and delivers the food in her lunch break because they don't have the resources to pick the food up. She volunteers to do this..."
John Durkan (Managing Director, Coles) as quoted by Patrick Durkin, 2016

                                         ............................................Four Pillars is gin distiller which leave nothing to waste, ie nose-to-tail gin where everything gets used, eg
- the used "botanicals" are used as pig feed that perfumes the meat
- steamed oranges are made into orange marmalade and breakfast spread as they remain sweet, tart & fresh; they do not lose their acid or sugar during distillation and pick out some of the herbal flavours
- as the first couple of litres of unstilled gin are not suitable, it is made into cleaning products, with a beautiful smell
- the leftover aromatic, tannic liquid is sent to beer brewers
Furthermore, the distillers are planning nose-to-tail gin dinners which will include botanically infused pork, a sweet featuring marmalade, cleansing ale or cocktails from their gin. (Paul Best, 2016)

Po: - specialising in one industry globally, not many industries in one country..............................the luxury conglomerate Kering is worth around US$ 21 b.. François -Henri Pinault is the current chairman and chief executive of Kering. His father created a conglomerate of disparate companies from retail to construction under PPR.  Pre-globalisation the best way to diversify was to do different types of business in a local area. However globalisation allowed for more specialisation in one industry and to find diversification through geography. Thus in 2007/08 François-Henri decided to focus the firm's interest and specialise in lifestyle, luxury and sports and changed the company's name to Kering.  Kering became a conglomerate to a group of luxury brands. More recently, Kerings is moving away from a group of luxury brands towards being a luxury group
"...our strategy and business model is based on development of brands we have built over the last 10 years.  These brands are completely complementary and based on a vision of the luxury market at different segmentations of that market.  We think it is not the most efficient approach to try to address all the important segments through one brand, which is an option taken by other groups - I'm not a believer in that. I believe in brands having very strong mission addressing one key segment of the market and being number one in that segment.  This is how we built a portfolio based on criteria of product category, price segmentation and style, and we apply this vision of the market when evaluating our acquisitions. We're not buying for the sake of buying and we don't need to buy to grow.  We need to buy to cover the market, which we did......we now have great potential for organic growth...... I can really change the size of the group I by just focusing on organic growth in each brand......now is the right time to make sure that we have the right team and the right setup and are ready to continue to grow in a sustainable manner......the influence of luxury brands is huge.  It's not just little segments of affluent people.  We are influencing the whole industry of ready-to-wear, and you need time to set the trends...... you need time to infuse those new trends with real creativity...... you need to create a desire, and you also need time to manufacture the product...... the mission statement of our group is we are here to improve the lives of people by giving them a way to express their personality and increase their self-confidence......it's not only about the product; it's all about creativity and values and the sincerity of it......creativity is not a steady flow that comes every season at the same pace, at the same quality.  It can go back and forth as its creative.  People are human, and they may be more creative and less creative.  So, we need to make sure we are bringing the best creativity all the time through our brands, and this is why sometimes it takes time to evolve......our business is really about taking creative risk..."
François-Henri Pinault as quoted by Katarina Kroslakova, 2016

Sustainability as a way to create value and marketing of luxury products is different from other marketing, ie they communicate massively to people who will never buy anything from them.  In doing so they are creating aspirations through people and creating a sense of privilege for the ones who are capable of accessing luxury brands.

Po: money back guarantee on yourself.................a jobseeker was desperate to get a job as the country was in the middle of a recession; with unemployment at 11+%. During an interview which was not going well, the interviewee stated that he would work free for the first 90 days, ie like a moneyback guarantee.  He got the job.

Po: use mobile phones to reduce junk food consumption............................................................an unexpected consequence of the rise of mobile phones is their impact upon convenience foods. In places like Pacific, Africa, etc sales of snack foods and "soft" drinks like Coca Cola has fallen.  The decline in these food purchases correlated with the roll-out of mobile phone networks by telecommunications organisations. Prepaid Sim cards and mobile phones are replacing the purchase of chips and soft drinks, ie
"...in areas where there are constrained budgets, people are choosing communication and technology over food......the desire to connect and communicate was so strong..."
Jason Pellegrino as quoted by Michael Smith 2016

Po: -  a watch on both wrists......................................the prime need for a wrist watch was to know the time of day.  In the connected era, we feel the need to be on top of messages, e-mails, notifications, etc which constitutes a level of stress. A good place to have this information available is on the wrist. So on one wrist you have the traditional timepiece and on the other wrist, a smart watch

organisational development change management

Po: - stricter environmental rules and regulation increases profitability.......the stricter environmental rules and regulations have encouraged innovation and development of more sustainable forms of energy, agriculture, construction, mobility, forestry, etc. The concept of eco-efficiency has already persuaded companies to make radical shifts and innovation. This has resulted in improved financial performance and reputation by easier hiring of the best talent, higher retention of top talent, higher employee productivity, reduced expenses in manufacturing, reduced expenses, increased revenue/marketshare, reduced risk, easier financing, improved company reputation and brand equity

Po: - competitiveness created by high wages and shortage of labour.... traditional competitiveness was created by "cheap and abundant labour" but Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries have succeeded for decades with high wages and shortages of labour. This has increased the incentive for innovation, etc

Po: - competitiveness comes from high interest rates, high government deficits and appreciating exchange rates................many nations have enjoyed rising living standards with budget deficits (Korea, Italy & Japan), appreciating currencies (Germany & Switzerland) and high interest rates (Italy & Korea) over the last 30 years. This is the reverse of what traditional economic practice recommends.

Po: - resource-poor nations out-perform resource-rich nations......from the 1970s to the 1990, the resource-poor nations like Singapore, Japan, Korea, Switzerland & Germany prospered; eg, Singapore achieved a rise in per capita GDP from 1980 to 1995 (15 years) that took resource-rich USA 50 years to accomplish.

Po: - fast food outlets don't need staff........using new technology (computers and Internet) and vending machines to replace staff in fast food outlets, such as "easy Internet" cafes in shared premises with the likes of McDonalds

Po: - the poor to help themselves......micro-enterprise development (micro-credit to assist rural entrepreneurs to start various self-employed businesses). It inverted one of the basic tenets of mainstream banking, by lending small amounts of money to fund activities conducted by poor women with no assets or collateral, ie the poorer are you are, the more attractive you are. In traditional banking, the richer you are, the more attractive you are to a bank. It embodies the marriage of self-interest with altruism, harnessing business know-how to social ends. Starting in Moslem-dominated, rural Bangladesh in 1970s, the Grameen Bank (whose founder, Muhammad Yunus, won the 2006 Nobel Peace prize for it) began lending small amounts of money to the landless poor. The concept was very successful, with over 90% repaying their loans. Most clients were women who formed groups of around 25 to receive small business loans and mentoring. They guaranteed each other's loan. Many international organisations are now following this model to help alleviate poverty as simply giving people hand-outs does not result in sustainable poverty alleviation; entrepreneurialism, rather than charity, is the solution. For example, this concept has been replicated in the Pacific, ie Somoa (2009), Tonga (2009), Fiji (2010), Solomon Islands (2012) by MicroDreams and South Pacific Business Development (SPBD).

This is now a $9 billion industry in micro-lending which is based on the belief that people do not need the threat of seized assets as an incentive to pay back loans.

Furthermore, to handle the lack of access to other resources, such as technology and information, Grameen has established a cellular village telephone service in urban and rural areas. As a result, the businesses are performing better as they have improved communications (including access to information relevant to their business).

Yunus has now started a social business in a joint venture between Grameen and the French food giant Groupe Danone to supply low-cost nutrient-enriched yoghurt for Bangladeshi children.

Po: - don't sell through stores............Avon's initial success was by selling its affordable fragrances through a network of representatives, (ding dong! Avon calling!) rather than stores. Avon has around 4.4 million representatives in 143 countries

...........on-line selling via the internet is one of the faster growing retail sales area

Po: - everse accepted management practices........Revlon's Charles Revson, a malevolent dictator, who stated that as he had built his business by being a bastard, he would continue to run it by being a bastard: "I'll always be a bastard and do not try to change me"

Po: - sell products at cost..................HP makes little out of selling printers but makes "bucketloads" from selling the ink cartridges for the printers

Po: - give things away free......this has resulted in "collaborative innovation" whereby giving away anything free results in a "bigger pie" for everyone. This trend is evident in Blogs and the Wikipedia online encyclopedia. IBM has embraced the concept as well, giving away intellectual property and expertise to open source software groups, universities, customers, and other IT companies, etc. Furthermore, it has found that these "freebies" are a potent weapon in handling the likes of Microsoft who are selling expensive products, etc. For example, IBM has 600 programmers working on Linux; it is estimated that by working on an open system, IBM is getting a world-class operating system that satisfies customers' needs for a small fraction it would cost to develop it themselves. Furthermore, the freebies are helping open doors internationally, such as in China where a system based on Linux will be used to connect all libraries. Openness is a great strategy so long as you keep inventing products needed by the market.

Po: - sell both premier and private label products together...profits have increased with manufacturers advertising premium-priced brands while encouraging private-label versions. Big brands have maintained or improved their margins even as their private brands proliferate. The rationale for this is that there are 2 types of buyers: brand seekers (who only buy branded products) and private label seekers (who only buy private label products)

Po: - take the bank to the customer.......with the high transport costs in Fiji (it can be up to 10% of average weekly earnings), ANZ has taken the bank to the customers: with United Nations Development Plan's help, it has outfitted 6 mobile banks to visit 300 villages a month.

Po: - "welfare" nations out-perform "free-market" nations....traditional supply-side economists claim that the best way to achieve well-being for the poor is by rapid economic growth; while the higher taxes to fund social insurance will cripple prosperity. But despite higher taxes and social outlays, the social welfare nations in the Nordic area out-outperform the Anglo-Saxon "free marketer" nations on the economic indicators, such as poverty rates, national income per working-age population, greater budget surpluses as a share of GDP, etc. One of the reasons for this is the focus on R & D and higher education by the Nordic nations plus encouraging low-skilled people to work in the key quality-of-life areas such as child care, health and as carers for the elderly and disabled

Po: - work from home....call centres are finding it harder to recruit staff and staff are leaving at unsustainable rates. Also, many of the call centres have unacceptable management practices, such as timed toilet breaks and excessive pressure on the call times. Consequently, some operators are encouraging people to work from home; all they need is a suitable computer, a headset and access to broadband. Furthermore, the happiest and most stable call agents are likely to be women older than 40 years. Older people have more empathy when dealing with people who are experiencing problems with a service or product. An interesting example of this is an aged care facility being used as a backup call center.

..one organisation found that productivity increased by 25 percent when people work from home. Increasingly, more of the home-based workforce is highly qualified, very professional and committed.

.......a 14 person hedge fund found that its staff could work from home using the latest technology and did not need to be on Wall St

.......one of Australia's largest cattle companies operates its administrative office in "demountables" behind a public "dog hotel" in a coastal rural village that is 100s of kms away from any regional centre or capital city or cattle station. Modern technology, especially in communications, allows this to happen and allows staff to pursue their preferred life-style away from the city.

(NB In addition, this has resulted in significant cost savings, eg office rental, etc.)

Po: - treat customers like staff.....Microsoft used many thousands of its customers to help develop and test new products. Thus, for some products, Microsoft's customers pay more towards the development of products than the company itself.

.............Lego (started in 1932 making wooden toys). In 1947 they expanded into making plastic construction toys using interlocking toy bricks (automatic binding bricks). Since then it has developed into a global lego sub-culture (My Lego Network is a social networking site) that supports

- movies (including Batman, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc),
- films and television (including computer-animated films like Lego: the adventures of Clutch Powers, Lego movie, etc),
- books and magazines (series of illustrated hardback books looking at different aspects of the construction toy),
- games (video, board games, etc),
- competitions (Master Model Builders, etc),
- retail stores (130+ Lego stores),
- consultancy (Lego Serious Play that fosters creative thinking using Lego bricks),
- clothing (for boys and girls up till 12 years old)
- amusement parks (operates 7 Legoland amusement parks and 8 Legoland discovery centres).

By July 2015, 600 b. Lego parts had been produced. In July 2015 it became the world's most powerful brand.

Yet in the 1990s they were in financial trouble (SBS, 2017a). Until then they had only use in-house designers. Then they changed their approach and encouraged their customers to develop designs for them. This involved in-house designers making direct contact with the market, including some stationed in toy shops; interviewing children, organising and attending design competitions amongst Lego users like Master Model Builders, etc.

"...Lego Digital Designer is an official piece of Lego software for Mac OS X and Windows which allows users to create their own digital Lego designs. The program...... allowed customers to order their custom designs..."

Wikipedia, 2017

Customers whose designs were commercialised by Lego received a percentage of the revenue earned

Po: - say sorry later.....sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. For example, an ICT company in PNG went into broadband against the government regulations. It renegotiated a special deal with the government as this change in direction save the company from financial ruin

Po: - focus on staff first.................traditional firms focus on the customer first, while South West Airlines focused on staff first. If you have the right staff, they are customer-oriented anyway.

Po: - use alcohol to improve productivity and reduce health problems...........in Kenya beer is very popular and Kenyans like it cheap - this has encouraged illegal home brewing with no government taxes, no standards or inspections and with contamination from water supplies. Thus, alcohol has become a serious health problem causing blindness, problematic hangovers and related illnesses that routinely lowers productivity in Kenya's labour-intense industries. A multinational corporation (Diageo) that sells premium alcohol beverages saw an opportunity by focusing on the best outcomes for society. They started dialogue with the National Government on producing a low-cost, "healthy" beer that would be widely available and give the buyers of the illicit beer a reasonable alternative. The government agreed to reduce the surcharge on this beer as it realized it would collect greater revenue with more taxable beer being consumed. Furthermore, it would reduce the serious health problem that was lowering industrial productivity. The company selected responsible community leaders who would sell their beer and gave then the appropriate training and equipment - thus encouraging new small-businesses to flourish

Po: - customers determine the price they pay............in the music industry the business model has changed from selling LPs and CDs in large numbers in order to recover the manufacturing, printing, shipping and retail costs plus royalties. With digitisation and Internet, there is now no need for the expensive recording studios, etc as top-quality albums can be made on a decent laptop and the Internet is used to distribute the album. Consequently, the current cost of manufacturing and distributing is minimal. As a result, in 2007 an English band released an album entitled "In Rainbows" as a pay-what-you-like digital download. Many experienced operators in the music industry thought that they were mad. It was successful because

"... 40 percent of fans paid an average of 3 UK pounds each for the album, making the band nearly 1.5 million UK pounds......they had licensed the music and it went on sale as a CD too..."

Richard Branson, 2008

Po: - put passenger, not cabin crew, in control.........................traditionally, services on airplanes, such as meals, movies, etc were free and only available at specific times during the flight. This has resulted in low quality food, limited choice and customers having low expectations. On the other hand, for a fee some air lines, like Virgin America, started to offer movies, food, etc when passengers wanted them. This area of non-ticket items has expanded to now include banking (Air New Zealand) where frequent flyer club members become financial service clients with a debit card which stores cash, airline miles and foreign currency. The airline collects a small percentage each time the card is used and charges a monthly fee if the card is not used. Another example is the selling of options on ticket prices where would-be travellers agree on a ticket price in advance for a small fee that is charged irrespective of whether the ticket is used, ie fare lock (Continental airlines). This reverses the traditional role and puts the passengers in control, rather than the cabin crew and other airline staff. In fact, revenue from non-ticket items is becoming critical to airlines' profitability, especially with continuing fuel price increases. Ryanair has 19% of its operating revenue from non-ticket items. In 2011, revenues from non-ticket items rose by 44% to an estimated $A30 billion worldwide. Thus airlines are transforming themselves from airline companies into "e-tailers".

Po: - back to the future.........................a successful Australian management consultancy group had to re-think its strategies owing to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (starting late 2008). The GFC resulted in Australian clients cancelling assignments worth $100,000s. As this consultancy had started business outside Australia in 1970s, it renewed its focus on international work and as a result it re-vitalised its business.

Po: - employees first, customers second............................traditionally, organisations focus on customers first. On the other hand, some very successful companies, such as Southwest Airlines, HCL Technologies Ltd (an Indian ID services company), focus on hiring, training and retaining top-quality staff. They treat their staff like customers to increase their desire to stay with the firm, and find that the positive staff attitude automatically filters on to the customers.

Po: - no budgeting...............for a wealth management group, rather than comparing the performance of the bank's client advisers with a budget number, they were evaluated monthly on the other criteria, such as revenues, new net money, cost/income ratio, return on investment, etc against their own previous year's results and against their peers. The results were published as performance league tables. Net profits increased by 50% in 2 years.

Po: - no link between IQ and achievement...........................a high IQ does not guarantee success. There are many people with a high IQ who are less successful than those with a lower IQ. Other factors are involved in achieving success, such as EQ, personality, timing, creativity, etc.

Po: - people are prisoners of their past............................if you want to understand how a cultural or ethnic group will react to particular situation, you need to understand how they have handled this in the past, ie cultural legacies or social inheritance. For example, in some groups, a "culture of honour" goes back generations and does not disappear when these people migrate to new geographical areas, eg Mafia from Italy to USA.

Po: - sustainability drives better investment returns................................sustainability issues around environment, social, governance, long-term economic challenges, etc are not necessarily line items on the balance sheet. On the other hand, they are fundamental to how a business operates as they can reflect and determine the corporate culture that drives business strategies, etc. The non-traditional or more-difficult-to-quantify factors, such as sustainability, are just as important as traditional factors in analysing the performance of the business and/or management team. Sustainability issues include how to attract and retain staff, integrity, the culture of the organisation, how you operate in your community, how you think about operating in the environment, governance, ethics, etc. Over 4 years, the London-based "Generation" (an investment management group which has incorporated sustainability as a core investment criterion) has significantly outperformed the traditional investment management groups. The key people behind "Generation" are Al Gore (climate change advocate and ex-Vice President of USA) and David Blood (investment banker). This focus on sustainability in investment criteria probably is regarded as having a greater potential to engender a shift to a low carbon economy than all government policy.

Po: - labour flexibility and high taxes result in a win-win situation.............."flexicurity" policy as practised by Denmark combines flexibility of the labour market by allowing easy hiring and firing, providing security for "out of work" people through generous social security payments alongside significant spending on training to help people get back to work, plus high taxes to pay for the policy. This has allowed Denmark to change from a declining economy to one of the top 5 nations in the world re the gross national product per capita. Furthermore, the Danish workforce has one of the world's highest work force participation rates for females and for people in the age group 55 to 64 years. Keeping the elderly in work delays their retirement and reduces the public cost of supporting them through pensions, etc

Po: - recruit teams, not individuals.................................................to overcome the fear of young Indian women worried about working nights in call centres in Bangalore and getting robbed or attacked when travelling home at night, a firm (24/7 Customer) invited individual recruits to assemble a group of friends and apply as a team. These teams had some authority over scheduling. This method attracted better quality staff than traditional recruitment, reduced staff turnover and increased productivity by 10%.

Po: - emotion, not knowledge, is the catalyst for change............................most organisations focus on rational and factual findings like statistics, data, information, etc to try to convince people to change. On the other hand, getting the emotional buy-in is more powerful. For example, in US hospitals, there is a need for doctors to hand-wash more frequently to prevent patient infection. In the US it is estimated that thousands of patients die every year from preventable bacterial infections. Even though most doctors realise this, many do not adequately wash their hands to prevent disease spreading. To get the message across, after lunch a group of doctors in a hospital was asked to press their hands on agar in sterile petrie dishes containing a growth medium. The agar plates were cultivated and photographed. The photos were made public and revealed what wasn't visible to the naked eye, ie the doctors' hands were covered in blobs of bacteria that could be passed onto patients. The impact was impressive. As a result, hand hygiene compliance jumped from around 80% to 100%.

Po: - imports are necessary to create exports and economic growth ...........trade in intermediate products accounted for almost 2/3 of global goods traded (2004). Intermediate goods refers to products imported for inclusion into making more complex products that are then on-sold and exported. This means that products are assembled from the lowest cost components and delivered across a seamless supply chain. This involves outsourcing/offshoring that is expected to continue to grow as it allows the global supply/production networks to be exploited by firms using the comparative advantages of economies/countries/regions. Factors in determining competitive advantage are based around quality and cheapness; they include currency exchange rates, labour (its cost, its skills level, etc), cost of non-labour inputs (like energy, etc), closeness to consumer, economies of scale, market forces (like regional networks, economic integration, etc), government regulation, etc.

NB Owning the design is the key factor in financial success in this system.

Po: - ration rather than increase price...............rather than chasing short term profit by increasing prices when basic commodities like food are in short supply, a successful Pacific conglomerate (70+ years old) has always rationed these basic commodities. The local Pacific political leaders like this firm and its approach as it reduces the possibility of popular unrest when basic commodities are in short supply and their prices rise; as people are unable to afford any price increases.

Po: - don't have others' baggage........................................a successful Fijian Indian businessman decided to go into the insurance industry after a major national disaster caused considerable damage. The current firms in the industry were all going to increase their premiums to cover their recent losses from the disaster. This new player convinced his bankers to support him as he did not suffer the losses of the incumbents and could thus charge the lower, "old" premium.

Po: - use junk food to reduce health issues...................................."unhealthy", processed, take-aways, fast-food (sometimes called junk food) is commonly claimed to be one of the major factors or problems causing health issues like obesity and diabetes. It is now claimed (ABC TV news, October 2013) that more people are dying from obesity than starvation. These health issues are due to high levels of "unhealthy" ingredients (like salt, sugar and fat) in convenience foods. On the other hand, its popularity or mass appeal is based on its being tasty, people's desire for variety, convenience and cheapness. Given its mass appeal, it has been suggested that small, beneficial changes in processed food will have a greater impact on people's eating habits, and reduce the health risks more readily than demanding wholesale changes to alternative "wholesome" foodstuffs like farm fresh, unprocessed, local, seasonal, "real", etc. Various attempts to radically change eating habits and foster widespread acceptance of more wholesome food ingredients have been unsuccessful; strategies such as public education, subsidising wholesome food, regulations, taxes on some foodstuffs, banning, McDonalds trying products like McLean Deluxe, McPaste, McHotdog, McAfrica, etc, have all failed to significantly modify eating trends. Some reasons for these failures include high cost, lack of plentiful and/or regular supply, lack of pleasant taste and texture (doesn't taste or look good), inconvenient, (longer preparation time, shorter shelf-life. etc), poor advertising/promotions, etc.

(NB Whenever our energy intake exceeds our body's needs by 5%, the result is the energy accumulates as fat. Additionally, while exercise is beneficial and improves health by reducing the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, etc, it has little impact on obesity)

Some suggested changes to processed food to handle burgeoning health issues while maintaining its mass appeal include

· Reducing

i) portion sizes (research has shown that a meal can be trimmed by 30% without eaters noticing it)

ii) some ingredients (cheap bulking agents like fats, selected sugars, salt, etc)
iii) reduce consumption of prepared food that includes fructose and/or "corn syrup"
iv) eat more fibre & less fat/carbohydrates

. Do things in moderation

· Change cooking methods (less or no fat, butter, etc; increase grilling)

· Increasing wholesome ingredients (fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, complex carbohydrates, fibre, cereals, lean meat, fish and water) in the meals

These changes need to be done while maintaining taste and texture, ie

"...trimming unwanted ingredients while preserving the sensations they deliver..."

David Freedman, 2013

Some ways to maintain taste include

· Use of

i) "phantom aromas", ie create the sensation of certain tastes even though those taste sources are not present in the food (eg the smell of vanilla can essentially mask reductions in sugar by up to 25%)

ii) fat "cushions" (the release of various flavours on the tongue gradually and allowing them to linger)

iii) temporal profile (any edible compound derived from plants slows the release of flavour molecules)

iv) replacing flavours with similarly flavoured compounds that come on and leave more slowly

NB There are around 5,000 chemical compounds approved by US Food and Drug Administration which represent the base components of all known flavours

· Find ways to deliver the eating experience that fats, sugar and "problem carbs" provide, while having less of these ingredients in the food

· Don't promote the food as good for you, as people have an expectation that "healthy" food has a less pleasant taste and texture.

Re: texture: there are around 20 different ways that gums can assist (gums = edible ingredients mostly found in tree sap, seeds and other plant materials), eg gums can give the full textured body that sugared drinks offer c.f. the hollowness of sugar free beverages, etc

Recent neuroscience, nanotechnology, etc research into processing and eating is demonstrating ways to help, eg

· As the first and last bites determine our lasting impression, make them taste pleasant by placing healthier ingredients in the middle of food, leaving most of the fat and sugar on the outsides and ends, like in chocolate bars

· Using gimmicks, like adding weight to food containers as that gives the impression that it contains more calories

· Using food ingredients to boost satiety, eg a starch derived from tapioca gives dishes a "refined-carb" taste and mouthful that acts more like fibre in the body; this stops the appetite from "spiking" later

· There is a perception that processing food leads to quicker digestion but can use processing to slow down digestion

· Understanding food at the molecular level


"...The difference between losing weight and not losing weight is a few hundred calories a day..."

Robert Kushner as quoted by David Freedman, 2013

This is a critical threshold for long-term weight loss as bigger reductions will risk leaving people too hungry to stick to a weight-loss program!!!!!!!!

Po: - no artificial climate in buildings (green building)...........city high rise/high density & skyscrapers, etc of glass, steel & concrete are reliant on air conditioning & other mechanical means, like glazing, to make them liveable. A more natural approach involving natural cross ventilation, shaded indoor/outdoor rooms, lushly vegetated exteriors & gardens (including "sky gardens", "vertical gardens", etc) are gaining popularity. Benefits include the psychological advantages of being near living things, the role that plants play in cooling down rooms, plants performing air cleaning functions that otherwise were done by mechanical means, their filtering out glare & dust, and blocking traffic noise. On the negative side, plants require regular maintenance to remain healthy, especially in dry climates, high altitude, etc

Po: - compete with itself...........to forestall organisations becoming victims of their own success and size, they need to reinvent themselves. With increasing size and success, organisations tend to become more concerned with maintaining their successful products/services, etc rather than innovating and challenging the status quo. To handle this there is a need for developing a small independent or autonomous group away from the mainstream organisation whose members are allowed to pursue innovation and not be bothered or interfered with by the rest of the organisation

Po: - mobiles can kill..........the use of mobile phones has revolutionised communications. On the other hand, they are dangerous, ie some research has indicated that holding mobile phones near the ear/head has increased the risk of brain cancer, and they are used in political violence, eg

- used by terrorists to remotely detonate bombs, etc

- areas in Africa like Algeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe that have mobile phone coverage are 50% more likely to have experienced incidents of armed conflict than those without mobile phone coverage

- improved communications between, and within, rebel groups, ie by using mobile phones, villagers can relay information about military movements to other villages

Po: - ethical fashions........... the fashion industry has not been known for its ethics: consider the wearing of skins and furs from (rare) animals, drug use & abuse, abusive & inappropriate behaviour such as insensitivity to WW2's Auschwitz survivors, glamorising anorexia, sexualising teenagers, portraying violence towards women, using cheap labour, etc. The fashion industry has been described as "ephemeral, dangerous and unfair". Recent attempts to manufacture in Africa are being encouraged as Africa has artisans who make beautiful things by hand, as opposed to mass production elsewhere.

"...The competitive advantage of Africa is an incredible capacity for manual work, artisans who have incredible skills which are very beautiful and very suitable for producing luxurious products..."

Simone Cipriani as quoted by Matthew Drummond, 2013

Profit margins for up-market labels are large enough so that proper wages can be paid and help the poor in developing countries of Africa. This will help them to lift themselves out of poverty and ensure sustainable development. This is different from a world of mass-market, just-in-time, rapid response clothing brands that are produced in "slave-labour" type of conditions in developing Asian countries like Bangladesh (where a recent building collapse killed 1,127 garment workers). Despite manufacturing in Asia being more convenient and the product range being greater, African products are seen as "artisan" or "traditional". Furthermore, these artisans use recycled material like key rings that are made from hand-beaten, recycled car parts; hand woven cotton to make couture dresses; they use African traditions of body adornment (beading, jewellery, headdresses, masks) that defines a person's place in the local community as a basis for what top tier fashion brands currently offer their customers.

Po: - media provides research assistant ...............a management consultancy firm uses a newspaper whose journalists write in-depth articles on topics around management/business /government, etc as a great source of information/inspiration for its consultancy. This has proved cost-effective re the time and money required to otherwise conduct the research.

Po: - no upfront cost or site visit for solar electricity installation.......consumers want low-cost electricity. A viable source is solar but the initial capital investment can be high. A possible solution is leasing, ie no upfront capital investment. Using third-party financiers (like GE, Lowe, etc), Sungevity is providing solar power with no money upfront as customers are paying a monthly flat fee which is less than what they currently pay for electricity. In the USA, this resulted in leasing in 2013 accounting for 75% of solar installations, compared with 45% in March 2011. Projections indicate this trend will triple, ie the US residential solar market value jumped from $US 1.3 in 2006 to 5.7 billion by 2013. Third-party investors are willing to provide funds to cover the upfront capital cost in return for a steady income stream over the asset's life. Investors get a good return on their capital while households receive lower electricity prices. Integral to this is the use of Google Earth to scope the solar-generating capacity of a home rather than via physical site visits to take measurements, etc. for installation. Furthermore, the cost of solar panels is falling. As power demand is simultaneously declining, the traditional fossil fuel suppliers of power are under increasing pressure from cheaper, cleaner alternatives like solar and natural gas.

Po: - money over the table, not under the table.......in a developing country, corruption was rife in the department providing vehicle registrations and driving licences, eg vehicle owners would bribe to get their vehicles to falsely pass inspection for road worthiness, etc. A new CEO introduced the concept of a flying squad to check vehicles that had just completed registration inspections. If the vehicles still had faults, then staff members who had passed the vehicle incorrectly had their files marked for poor performance; too many poor performance comments ultimately resulted in employment termination. On the other hand, if the vehicle was correctly passed, then the staff member's file was indicated "good performance"; bonuses and promotions were given to those with regular "good performance" comments.

Po: - flip the classroom..........this means students watched lectures at home and then completed their homework in class. Initially it was expected that free online video university courses (MOOC) would replace the traditional tertiary lecture-based approach. This on-line concept has offended many educators' core values as they prefer face-to-face contact, plus it threatens their jobs. Additionally, a higher percentage of students are failing online courses. A different approach is now looking at how online lectures can complement the traditional higher educational experience, rather than replace it. This has resulted in SPOCs (small private online classes) as opposed to the massive open ones; this is called "blended learning". The basic idea is to use MOOC-style video lectures and other online features as course material in actual, normal sized college classes. The lectures are assigned as homework with the instructors using the actual class period to answer students' questions, work with them on projects and assignments, etc. This allows educators to tailor the curriculum, pace and grading system to their particular students' requirements, etc. Initial results show a higher percentage pass, eg at San Jose State University, 91% passed using blended learning compared with a 65% average pass rate using only traditional course elements, such as textbooks, lecture theatres, etc.

Po: - make department retail stores into tourist destinations .......................................with declining market retail share for geographically-sited department stores owing to decades of competition from specialty shops and, more recently, online retail, department stores are now using celebrities, fashion parades, art shows, introducing new services (manicures, eyebrow waxes, personalised shopping, etc); reinventing themselves as hip, brand houses and stores within stores, etc to keep and attract customers

Po: - make natural batteries, ie virus-based.......................................using genetically modified viruses as batteries by coating them with the necessary materials required for the anode and cathode in a small button size lithium-ion cells. These lithium-air batteries oxidise lithium at the anode and reduce oxygen at the cathode to induce a current flow. As the oxygen comes from the air, there is less need for heavy internal materials normally used in batteries; this should greatly increase energy density (the amount of power that can be stored in a given weight of battery). The cathode is usually harder to produce than the anode because it needs to be highly conductive. Viruses are used to capture molecules from magnesium oxide in a solution of water. The material is a ray of magnesium-oxide nano-wires with rough, spiky surfaces. The spikes increase the surface area available for electrochemical reactions (for charging & discharging) in the battery. Some palladium is added to boost connectivity. A bacteriophage is used with the virus (like biosynthesis). The process works at room temperature using water-based solutions while traditional methods are energy intense, involve high temperatures and hazardous chemicals. The aim is to produce a lithium-air battery with an energy density more than twice that of the best lithium-ion cells. This is a great advance over the typical lithium-ion, the earlier nickel-cadmium battery and the lead acid battery.

Po: - a wine glass with no stem.............................................................an 11th generation member of an Austrian glassware family (Riedel) developed a wine glass without a stem. This challenged the company's concept of its traditional, successful, elegantly simple wineglasses and received negative comments from some members of the family. Luckily, others saw its value and it has become the company's famed O series; 10 years later it is the most successful collection of varietal-specific glasses in the firm's 300 year history and the most copied set of wineglass designs. Recently, Riedel has realigned its brand to identify with the wine industry rather than with tableware, as the latter was stagnating as people shun traditional silverware and porcelain.

Po: - paint over mistakes........................................................when using electrical typewriters like IBM (1950s), correcting typing mistakes caused problems, ie using the standard typewriter erasers to remove ink from typed pages, it would leave a smear mark on the page. Bette McMurray, an executive secretary (USA), noticed that artists painting signboards never corrected by erasing; they always painted over their errors. By experimenting with paint and other substances, she developed a quick drying white fluid to correct typing mistakes; it was called it "liquid paper". In 1979 Gillette Corporation bought Liquid Paper for $US 47.5 m..

Po: - insects as food........................................................with the food (especially protein) shortages in many developing countries, the eating of insects is seen as a way to combat food shortages, ie a cheap supplement for meat protein. Entomophagy ntomophagy (consumption of insects) is a regular part of the diets of more than 2 b. people. Studies have shown that insects are full of health benefits with studies showing their bones are high in protein, calcium, zinc, iron and vitamin A; they are easier to farm than livestock, use less water and emit fewer greenhouse gases. Thus eating bugs would help fight world hunger and reduce pollution. But there is a mental/emotional barrier, eg the feeling of disgust, to getting insects onto Westerners' plates. With the help of anthropologist, psychologists, and cognitive neuroscientists and start-up companies like Exo, Six Foods & Bitty Foods, etc, are working to bring edible insects to Western cuisine. This involves understanding the emotion of disgust by finding ways to package and market the products so that people don't think about what they are eating.
(NB Eating has a strong social learning components)

Also, they are seen as an anti-obesity strategy for the developed world, ie a cheap, healthy source of protein and food with little fat.

Po: - use sushi to encourage eating raw fish........................................................Californian rolls (sushi) were invented in Los Angeles in the 1970s to ease Westerners into eating raw fish. Chefs combined king crab meat with avocado, which has the texture of raw fish, and wrapped it in the layers of rice and seaweed. This has led to sushi becoming a successful stand-alone dining product.
(NB Eating has a strong social learning components)

Po: - use a bear to sell lavender.......................................................a small gift shop in North West Tasmania used a fluffy bear called Robbie Bear (a purple teddy bear stuffed with lavender and wheat) as a way to encourage people to buy lavender. This tapped into the psyche of 30-year-old Chinese women and took the Chinese market by storm. This phenomena made the front-page of the Wall Street Journal

Po: - clients come to me..................................a senior consultant close to retiring was trying to work out a way to reduce travel time to his clients but still provide the same service. Normally, he would go to his clients, which included international travel. By developing an app, he found a way clients could solve their challenges and he still receive payment for providing effective solutions
..................................a successful lawyer, whose office was in business end of the CBD, used to regularly visit an upmarket coffee shop that most of his clients frequented or walked past. He kept in regular contact with most of his clients via the coffee shop

Po: - fight fire with fire..................................bushfires are a major problem during Australian summer months when the vegetation is dry. One way to manage a large bushfire is to start another fire in front of the main fire front as a way to starve it of dry vegetation to burn. This is called back-burning.

Po: - farming replacing hunting..................................with 90% of the world's natural fisheries deemed either depleted or over-exploited, especially for species like the endangered bluefin tuna (sushi staple), farming fish is a way of conserving wild stock while coping with increasing consumption. This involves focus on farming growing supply, ie use the sea as a farm, rather than hunting concept, ie
"...plant the sea and herd its animal using the sea as farmers instead of hunters..."
Jacques Cousteau as quoted by James Greiff, 2015

Some examples around 90% of all shrimp eaten in the USA are farmed; similarly, for European sea bass; for salmon, around 70% come from farms in Canada, Norway, Britain and the US.

On the other hand, farming is not the natural environment for fish. Farming involves packing thousands or even millions of fish in close quarters that can favour transmission of infections from bacteria and parasites plus a source of pollution from animal waste, etc. There is some hope that genetically modified salmon that grow twice as fast as wild salmon, are a way forward but environmentalists and consumer groups are actively against selling the modified fish

NB Fish are more efficient at converting feed into protein than cattle. It takes up to 1.4 kg of feed to produce 0.5 g of salmon; whereas up to 5.5 kg of feed is required to yield 0.5 kg of beef.

Po: - fruit ripens in kitchen............with native possums' preference for nearly ripe fruit, homeowners with fruit trees need to pick the fruit before it ripens enough for possums to eat. Thus a strategy of picking the fruit just before it ripens enough for the possums to eat and allowing the final ripening of the fruit in the kitchen

Po: - slow food movement............as a counter to the fast, convenient, "junk" food culture, the Slow Food movement was founded in the mid-1980s by Carlo Petrini, a left wing political activist turned professional gourmet. When a branch of McDonald's was about to open in Rome's Piazza di Spagna (ie a hamburger joint next door to a national treasure!), Carlo regarded it as an affront to Rome's way of life and a threat to its culinary heritage. Choosing a snail as a symbol, Slow Food began promoting "the right to pleasure, conviviality, and slow living". One of the issues facing them was the whittling away of biodiversity caused by environmental decline and shortsighted policies. As the available range/variety of fruit and vegetables, domestic animal breeds and processed foods, such as cheese and confectionery, specific local dishes and flavours, etc was rapidly diminishing, the movement's members were keen to save the local fauna and flora. Thus, they launched an "Ark of Taste" (a catalogue of endangered food products requiring rescuing). They wanted to save endangered foods of proven "territoriality, traditionalism and gastronomic excellence" and support the small-scale producers involved. There was great pressure on these smaller scale producers to produce less demanding, more lucrative personal herbs, like basil for the pesto industry and/or sell out to property developers as the area's (Riviera) demand for holiday homes was high. The movement helps with funding and supply chain management to infrastructure and the creation of sales networks, like the association of asparagus growers to help promote their produce to regional markets, restaurants, large quality food superstores, etc. Professional groups like butchers, bakers, cheese makers, wine producers, shepherds, livestock breeders, fishermen, confectioners, etc have been involved. In 2009, they joined forces to form the "Alliance between Cooks and the Slow Food Presida"; this brings together 325 Italian eateries committed to supporting the project by including the products on their menus. There are more than 400 presidia worldwide; with over 50% in Italy.

A similar phenomenon has occurred with reading: with the digital age encouraging a new way of reading, ie skimming through the torrent of information online or fast reading, in contrast to traditional deep reading circuitry developed over several millennia, ie slow reading. There is now a slow reading movement to counter the fast reading move.

Po: - stop the clock............in the World Cricket Series (starting in the 1970s) there was a one day (day/night), cricket game between Australia and the West Indies being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (Australia). The Sydney Council that owns the cricket ground would only allow the overhead flood lights, used to illuminate the playing field, to be on for a couple of hours in the night. The game was reaching an exciting finale but time was running out, ie with the lights due to be manually turned off before the game would finish. The official whose responsibility it was to turn off the lights was following the time from the main clock tower that was mechanically operated. Kerry Packer, who financed the World Cricket Series, suggested his staff stop the mechanical clock. A wooden pole was placed in the mechanical clock's system and stopped it around 10 minutes prior to its reaching the allotted time. Thus, the exciting game finished and then the clock was restarted and lights turned off.

Po: - buy locally, not overseas............Jack Ma (ex-English teacher who has no background in computing and claims not to understand technology) is a dot-com billionaire who founded the Alibaba group in late 1990s. This group is China's largest online retailer (2014); with global merchandise volumes similar to Wal Mart. Alibaba's 2 main websites (Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com) account for 60% of the packages shipped through the Chinese postal system. He is a serial disruptor who thinks differently and is willing to take risks. He is an outsider who creates new markets by reimagining old industries, such as retail, mobile phone communications, banking and finance; he is currently exploring possibilities in the department store business and film production. For example, he started Yu'e Bao (a high interest money market product); by February 2014, 81 million people signed up for the product which has US$ 40 billion in assets under management.

Starting in the mid 1990s he realised the Chinese were unable to order locally on the Internet, ie they could order from countries outside China but not from within China. Initially Ma's proposals were rejected by the Chinese authorities. Thus he went out on his own and linked himself with professionals, like Goldman Sachs as investors, and prides himself as being a motivator. He started an online business-to-business marketplace connecting Chinese exporters with overseas buyers; this was followed by Taobao (consumer-to-consumer platform) that successfully competed with eBay in China; in fact, eBay has since exited the Chinese market

Po: - never too old............there is an emerging worldwide trend of "senior-preneurship" or "grey" entrepreneurship, ie people over 50 starting high-growth, risky ventures. In the past decade the greatest entrepreneurial activity in the western world has been in the 55 - 64 age bracket, (Tony Featherstone, 2014). These people are drawing on their lifetime of work experience and learning. As people are living longer and healthier lives, they are willing to take more risks. In addition, retrenchment of older, costly workers in full-time jobs is driving this trend. As the pension and their savings (including superannuation) are becoming inadequate to support their desired lifestyle, older people need to earn extra income. Some ways senior-preneurs do this is by launching a small business to supplement their income; others have launched a lifestyle business, perhaps working part-time to stay active; some have launched fast-growth ventures that employ others and help the economy. It is claimed that older people should take less risk than younger people as they have a lower capacity to recover from financial setbacks, less understanding of technology and are less able (physically and mentally) to handle extreme workloads and the stress of a fast growth venture. Yet research shows otherwise, ie they are more capable of starting and managing a business than their younger peers as they have higher capital, greater work and life experience, wider and deeper personal networks, and better skills in controlling risk. On the other hand, the longer the older people stay out of the workforce, the more their professional skills, personal networks and risk-taking capacity weakens

Po: - the key to success is failure............there is the spaghetti/marshmallow design challenge that involves a project with 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, a metre of tape, a marshmallow and the ball of string. The aim is to create the tallest freestanding structure to support the marshmallow in 18 minutes. The group that outperforms business people, students, technicians, professionals such as engineers, architects, etc is kindergarten students. They are not limited by assumptions or rules, (eg they asked for more spaghetti!); they don't get into power games; they don't plan, etc. They use continual experimentation, ie keep trying different things, creating and discarding if it doesn't work. In other words, they're not afraid of failure. By trying and failing, they learnt what didn't work, which is important in figuring out what will work. Multiple iterations is the key to learning, rather than single-minded focus around single idea. Also, how you react to failure is important: it should be treated as a learning experience. Remember: talent is not a fixed thing; it can be developed, eg challenges are seen as an opportunity to develop their current and new talents. The greater the challenge, the more talent will be developed.

Po: - experience at a low price............in the past people paid for fine dining if they wanted an experience. People aren't prepared to pay these prices any more but still want an experience. The novelty of lining up for an "in" brand, ie offering an authentic version of the much loved dessert, is Messina's  formula for success. Buying a scoop of high-end ice cream was a way to enjoy a night out for a couple of bucks rather than spending $100+ for a meal. Furthermore, commercial landlords are keen to sign on Messina, as it is a crowd puller and develops a cult-like following, plus it is a savvy user of social media

Po: - work on people's strengths...................to improve staff performance we usually give training that focuses on improving their weaknesses. Yet people like to work on their strengths and perform best this way. In fact many successful organisations work on people's strengths and match staff up who have complementary skills, ie one person's strengths are matched or paired with another's weaknesses, etc. Furthermore, some powerful techniques, like Appreciative Inquiry, Positive Psychology, etc, focus on the strengths of an organisation/individual rather than on areas that are seen as negatives.

Po: - need natural light to buy................... a study of 108 US retail stores in one firm found that people spent 40% more in shops with skylights than those lit only by electricity (Rosie Blau, 2014)

Po: - taking cash from the mattress to the mobile phone................... in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 75% of the adult population have no bank account (2011). In Kenya, there is 1 ATM for every 18,000 persons, while in the USA there is 1 for every 740 persons. Thus most Kenyans are not part of the formal banking system as they have no bank accounts (like cheque &, savings), no credit cards, etc. To transfer money is a problem for millions of informal-sector workers in Kenya. To handle this, a grey economy has developed and is historically operated by using a blend of ad hoc and do-it-yourself financing processes, with cash and IOUs dominating. On the other hand, they have mobile phones. Hence a mobile-money service launched by Safaricom (major Kenyan telecommunications firm with around 70% of the Kenyan market) called "M-Pesa" (Swahili for money) where money is stored on mobile phones. Then for a small fee it can be transferred to another phone number on the network to pay bills, send money to relatives, etc. It is called "mobile money". M-Pesa is not an electronic currency as such; rather it is a substitute for debit cards and mobile banking apps. It has 80,000 agents throughout the country to function as tellers as a massive virtual bank. Thus payment and debt collection do not require face-to-face interaction. It is

- convenient (don't have to wait in long, all-day queues to pay bills),

- cheaper (less commission than alternatives),

- reliable (money gets to destination),

- safe (no need to physically send money as cash)

- a chance to build assets.

It has grown rapidly

"...by 2012, 86% of Kenyan mobile loan subscribers used mobile money and by 2013, M-Pesa's transactions amounted to some $35 million daily. Annualised, that's more than a quarter of Kenya's GDP..."

Dayo Olopade, 2014

Technology-wise Africa has leapfrogged the Western world where in the latter smart phones are guiding changes in the way we learn, work and socialise but not in the realms of finance, like mobile money. In Europe and America around 5% of the adult population have used mobile money; while sub Sahara Africa, it is around 16%.

In other African countries, organisations are establishing mobile-payment systems like Paga, EcoCash, Splash Mobile Money, Tigo Cash, Airtel Money, Organge Money, etc. Recently Rwanda Revenue Authority has allowed citizens to declare and pay taxes via their mobile phones, and new ventures are using mobile money as a platform to facilitate other services such as insurance, analytics, consumer credit, e-commerce, etc. Increasingly mobile payments are being used as a platform for more complex products, such as EcoCash to move interest earned on savings accounts (Safaricom is partnering with the commercial bank of Africa on a similar service); in East Africa, farmers pay agricultural insurance premiums and receive reimbursements using mobile-money platforms; Orange Mali has joined with MFS Africa to launch an insurance program for pregnant women; an electronic financial footprint provides data that helps merchants understand the purchasing habits of the rising consumer class (this could lead to a rudimentary credit-reporting system).

M-Pesa has tens of millions of users in Africa, while in China, more than 90% of people in urban centres use the 2 dominant mobile payment wallets, ie Alipay and WeChat; each has around 1 billion users (James Eyres 2019). Both Africa and China are ideal markets for this mobile money owing to the small number of credit cards and lack of payments infrastructure.

Po: - food with no food...............molecular gastronomy is changing the way we look at cooking and eating by deconstructing cooking into chemical and physical properties. Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthai is a well-known identity in this field. It is a way to reduce the cost and waste in processing and transporting food and preparing meals. For example, making a wine sauce with phenols rather than using wine. Grapes use resources and cost money to turn into wine, and then fuel is needed to transport what is mostly water which is then poured into a hot saucepan which results in boiling off the alcohol and water!!! Why not just extract the phenols from the grape juice at the farm by membrane and sell the powder!!!!!

Po: - investing ethically, not under-performance..................................................................the general consensus in the investment community is that the more you care and invest in issues about social good like sustainability, etc, the less money you make. This myth is being busted.

"...financial institutions like Deutsche Bank and NAB - as well as private unlisted equity funds are investing in companies striving to improve health care, education, environmental sustainability, gender equality, etc. These investors are not sacrificing wealth for impact..."

Danny Almagor (Medivac) as quoted by Patrick Durkin, 2016c

Most impact investors are expecting to make a market rate of return. It is not about sacrificing profits. It is estimated that there are several trillion dollars invested in this area

NB Vice Fund (traditional sin stocks are gambling, smoking, alcohol, aerospace and defence (Jonathan Porter 2019). Stocks in these areas of activities are shunned by investors interested in sustainable, ESG, shared value and/or green concepts.

This dispels the belief that you cannot invest ethically without compromising returns, ie a fund's performance tends to fall as it begins to exclude companies. For example, most ethical funds do not invest in the mining industry owing to their exposure to fossil fuels like coal, coal seam gas, etc; other industries that could be excluded are alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons, fast food, soft drinks, nuclear energy, etc. Research has shown (Royal Bank of Canada, 2012) that socially responsible investing did not result in lower investment returns

Po: - do the opposite (contrarian)..................some organisations like GE (conglomerate) and Farfetch (technical platform for backroom activities of the fashion industry) focus on markets that appear to be out of favour. Farfetch is focusing on economically sluggish Japan ($US 20 b market) with no local players in luxury e-commerce; Brazil's economy is in a mess but with a population of 200 m. people it is a large market but a logistical nightmare - which will inhibit competitors entering

Po: - the good beer movement.................................in the beer market there are 2 types of brews, ie one is the traditional mass-produced, highly processed (uses preservatives), has homogeneous taste and marketed at the macho-man image. The other is boutique brews produced in small quantities and uniquely crafted. The main differences between the types of beers are the quantity produced and the ingredients, ie "...craft brewers shy away from using raw sugars in the fermentation process while the big brewing companies tend to add them liberally to speed up the alcoholisation process..."

Bryce Corbett 2017

Craft beer is made with pure ingredients and no preservatives; it is not homogenised.

In Australia, there is a consumer shift to craft beers that is influenced by rising household discretionary incomes and fairly homogeneous nature of traditional beers.

"...The regional origin and the story behind a beer plays an important role in craft beer purchasing decisions. Craft beer brewers have found spaces in a market full of niches......Seeing a lot of people matching food with their craft beers. And women are increasingly taking to them..."

Bryce Corbett 2017


- the craft brewers have a focus on environmental sustainability, eg recycling of waste water, spent grain is sold as livestock feed, other organic waste is composted and given away as fertiliser, use solar power, etc

- corporate governance that stresses a happy, local workforce

- restricted market access, ie give preference to areas nearby brewery as need to control the growth and the beer-making process, ie never rushed the beer-making process for sales. Quality is more important than quantity.

this- stresses convivial drinking with friends, not binge drinking

Po: - challenge conventional rules...............Friends has been the dominant TV sitcom for 20+ years since it started in the 1994.Yet based on a pilot run and market research, it was suggested that Friends would not be a successful TV show as it did not obey the conventional rules of comedy. Yet

"...between 1994 and its finale in 2004, Friends attracted audiences of between 20 and 29 m. in the USA. After its second season, it never left the Nielsen ratings top five. Later in its runs, when the world around it grew more threatening, Friends' appeal as a safe haven - a virtual Central Park - was so strong that it ratings increased 17% after September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City......the final episode of friends drew nearly 52.5 m. viewers in the US, beaten only by the holy trinity of Seinfeld, Cheers and M*A*S*H as the most watched finale in American TV history..."

Andrew Harrison, 2014

Po: moving billboard...............despite attempts to popularise Indigenous Australian art with corporate firms like Budget car rentals dressing their staff in Indigenous designs, Sheridan making a bed linen range using indigenous art, designers (George Gross & Prue Acton) using Indigenous designs, etc, indigenous art was not very visual and popular before the 1990s. The idea of moving billboard by Ross Moriarty resulted in Qantas (Australia-based airline) painting Indigenous art on the outside of its jumbo jets. This celebration of Australia's Indigenous identity has resulted in a successful business and raised awareness around the Indigenous issues of dispossession, dislocation, diversity, etc


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