Formulating a Strategy to Capitalize on Nanotechnology

“Whether your company is like traditional manufacturer Air Products and Chemicals or 20-year old Nanofilm Ltd., the first step in formulating a strategy for capitalizing on nanotechnology is understanding parameters…

The keys to successful nano projects are alliances and partnerships in the spirit of open innovation…

“What’s confusing,” she [Martha Collins, technology director, Air Products] says, “is that the nano knowledge explosion is a growing disruptive force through all kinds of diverse scientific disciplines. Thus while nano implications are running rampant through all the domains of science, corporate product developers are simply overwhelmed. They’re confronting an epochal technology challenge their R&D strategies were never designed or equipped to handle.

The solution? First, science has the conceptual challenge of organizing and compartmentalizing nano knowledge. Second, yesterday’s R&D strategies need revisions if they are to handle the reality of the nano knowledge explosion.

The rewards, says Collins, will be the emergence of products and processes that exploit the nano dimension in ways unthought of today.

Every sector of the economy will be affected…”

Read more in this IndustryWeek article.

Open Source Startups Cautioned on Enterprise Application Market

“A series of social and technological forces are converging to permanently change the way software is developed, delivered and managed. These changes are tearing down the barriers that existed between the commercial software industry and end users and fostering an era of participation, while empowering these businesses through greater access to information.”

Jeff Nolan comments on the foregoing statement quoted from an article on Sandhill.com:

“I think it’s fair to say that the reason you don’t see a lot of open source enterprise application companies getting funded is that the bigger problem with enterpise software is not the manufacturing but the sales and distribution, and open source does nothing to fix this. Large enterprise IT just won’t adopt open source application products, broadly, if a supporting organization is not behind it…

There is gold in them hills but the simple fact of the matter is that open source and subscription licensing, two completely separate trends that often get lumped together, are not silver bullets for emerging companies. Furthermore, each of these trends imposes risks on buyers that are emerging as the market evolves, and in the case of open source there is no turning back. Proceed with caution would be my advice to startups considering either option for building an enterprise software company on, and don’t lose sight of the fundamentals of building and delivering great software to customers.”

A Primer on Emotional Intelligence

This article by Patricia Wheeler, Ph.D. provides an excellent summary of the construct of emotional intelligence. While focused on CFOs, the lessons are applicable to any executive or leader and to us just plain folks.

What is emotional intelligence? Ms. Wheeler describes it “a small constellation of key competencies which make the difference between highly performing, creative CFO’s and solid, but average performers…

The core skills as defined here that make up Emotional Intelligence are:

* Conscious self-knowledge – the ability to recognize thoughts and emotions, strengths and weaknesses as they occur.
* Maintaining appropriate control – the ability to deal with situations without over- or under-reacting.
* Maintaining motivation – the ability to keep a healthy and realistic perspective.
* Recognizing others’ interests – the ability to recognize the needs and perspectives of others.
* Communicating with flexibility – the ability to vary your influence style based on the needs of your audience.

These skills, which may seem “soft” on the surface, actually translate into improved performance and a better bottom line. While we tend to think of such skills as intangible qualities that one is either born with or not, our experience demonstrates that executives can develop greater competency in these skills if they know what to look for…”

Nominate a Small Business Hero

From this PRA Post post:

“Recognize that outstanding entrepreneur or the person who tirelessly gives to small businesses by nominating him or her for the U.S. Small Business Administration Small Business Awards. The SBA Pittsburgh District Office, in conjunction with the Western Pennsylvania Small Business Network, will honor the winners at a luncheon on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at the Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh. This annual event attracts in excess of 500 attendees. The link http://www.sba.gov/nominationsguideline.html will take you directly to all the information you need to complete a nomination.”

Small Business Hiring Tips

From this post from The Entrepreneurial Mind comes the following tips for hiring in a competitive labor market:

“1. Keep Staffing Forecasts Current…
2. Base Staffing Plans on Milestones, not on Time. Never tie your staffing plans to the calendar…
3. Measure Your Employment Triggers…
4. Never Just Hire Warm Bodies. Hiring someone just for the sake of hiring rarely works…
5. Keep Current on Wages and Salaries…
6. Don’t Forget to “Close the Back Door”. The single best staffing tool you have is retaining the good employees you have right now…”

Due Dilgence Examinations of Non-U.S. Companies

Check out an information-packed powerpoint presentation on Due Diligence on Non-U.S. Companies by Valerie Ford Jacob of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

An Executive Summary of “The Art of the Start”

“In The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki writes that his goal is to help you use your knowledge, love and determination to create something great without getting bogged down in theory and unnecessary details. At Apple in the 1980s, Kawasaki turned ordinary consumers into evangelists. As founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, he has field-tested his ideas with dozens of newly hatched companies. In The Art of the Start, Kawasaki takes you through every phase of creating a business, from the very basics of raising money and designing a business model through the many stages that will eventually lead your company to doing the right thing and giving back to society. ”

In this Soundview Executive Book Summary from BNET.com of the book, you’ll learn:

“✓ What the entrepreneur’s key tasks are. Every startup must make meaning, make mantra, get going, define its business model and weave a MAT of critical Milestones, Assumptions and Tasks.

✓ How a new company can articulate what it is all about. Pitching, positioning and writing a business plan are the ways in which a startup defines itself and communicates its message to others.

✓ How you can “activate” your business. Bootstrapping (operating on little cash), recruiting and raising capital will all give you the human and financial resources you need.

✓ How you can “proliferate” your business. Creating win-win partnerships, building a brand and “rainmaking” (generating large amounts of business) all expand your startup beyond its original horizons.

✓ What the entrepreneur’s obligation is to repay society. In exchange for the right to exist and do business, each of us is required to give back to society and to be a mensch — a generous, honest, socially responsible, fully moral person.”

SoYouWanna resign from your job?

“Those who resign from their jobs usually fall into one of two categories.

-You’re changing your career path. You want to change your job completely (say, from a paralegal to a stand-up comic).
-You’re escaping an unhappy environment…

All you need now are the tools to bow out as efficiently as possible…

Make sure you have a new job…
Give your oral and written resignation…
Inquire about health insurance, unused vacation days and 401-k…
Deal with your coworkers…Be Positve…Be humble…
Take care of unfinished business…wrap up any assignments that you presently have… train your replacement.
Go through the exit interview…”

Read more in this SoYouWanna post.

The ABCs of Supply Chain Management

“Supply chain management is the combination of art and science that goes into improving the way your company finds the raw components it needs to make a product or service, manufactures that product or service and delivers it to customers. The following are five basic components for supply chain management.

1. Plan-This is the strategic portion of supply chain management. You need a strategy for managing all the resources that go toward meeting customer demand for your product or service. A big piece of planning is developing a set of metrics to monitor the supply chain so that it is efficient, costs less and delivers high quality and value to customers.

2. Source-Choose the suppliers that will deliver the goods and services you need to create your product or service. Develop a set of pricing, delivery and payment processes with suppliers and create metrics for monitoring and improving the relationships. And put together processes for managing the inventory of goods and services you receive from suppliers, including receiving shipments, verifying them, transferring them to your manufacturing facilities and authorizing supplier payments.

3. Make-This is the manufacturing step. Schedule the activities necessary for production, testing, packaging and preparation for delivery. As the most metric-intensive portion of the supply chain, measure quality levels, production output and worker productivity.

4. Deliver-This is the part that many insiders refer to as ‘logistics.’ Coordinate the receipt of orders from customers, develop a network of warehouses, pick carriers to get products to customers and set up an invoicing system to receive payments.

5. Return-The problem part of the supply chain. Create a network for receiving defective and excess products back from customers and supporting customers who have problems with defective products…”

Read more at the Supply Chain Management Research Center – CIO.

Business Plan Outline

“As an entrepreneur, you must prepare a business plan to: evaluate the feasibility of your enterprise, develop a document to help you acquire needed resources and start you toward the sound planning that will be part of your management style. The time and effort that you invest in developing a complete and detailed plan will be regained many times over in future business success.”

This MBA Toolbox pagecontains a useful outline of such a business plan.