Philanthropists for years have used the “prize model” to spark societal innovations–from space (the X Prize) to the environment (Goldman Prize). The idea is to create a mercenary incentive to create broader social good.
Now a billionaire doctor has come up with what could arguably be the most unusual philanthropic prize of all. It is called [...]

It is not all that long ago that the big credit crunch banks were being lambasted in some quarters for their plans to invest heavily in Chinese banks, and that at least one pundit was predicting “The Coming Collapse of China”. How things change! Now it is the titans of Wall Street and the City [...]

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson said he and his Group of Seven counterparts had agreed to an “aggressive” plan to deal with a financial turmoil that has quickly ballooned into a “global event.” While the U.S. has come up with its own bank rescue plan, Paulson said other countries are considering options appropriate to their own [...]

Michael Webster brings up a good point in his article Can You Sell an Unproven System as a Franchise? It is worthwhile looking at Janet Sparks’ original report in Franchising Times.
When discussing a pending Colorado lawsuit, I tend to agree with Michael’s prediction:
I believe that the law in this area will turn out to be, [...]

Bob Purvin’s book is a must read.
Don’t listen to Richard Solomon’s rants against Purvin and the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers. Richard needs a distemper shot.
In a Blue MauMau posting, Bob tries to explain what he meant by fraud:
Purvin explained it was a much bigger problem which he addressed in a book he wrote, [...]

Shanghaiist sports editor Maggie Rauch writes a biweekly column in Chinese for the 21st Century Business Herald. Below is a translation of her column from yesterday on today’s men’s basketball game between China and the USA.
China plays the United States in men’s basketball tonight at Wukesong Arena, in what is for Chinese fans one of [...]

Race, gender and faith are the defining issues of the U.S. presidential campaign. It’s an explosive combination in any arena, let alone politics. For the Democrats, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been headlining on race and gender, whereas the Republicans are preoccupied with the characters and merits/demerits of their Baptist, Mormon, and Roman Catholic [...]

The signs of an imminent recession are all around us. The spillover from the subprime mortgage crisis is weakening both consumer confidence and the consumer spending–much of it on credit–that has been buoying the US economy.
Companies should bear eight factors in mind when making their marketing plans for 2008 and 2009:
1. Research the customer. [...]

What is Six Sigma?
The concepts surrounding the drive to Six Sigma quality are essentially those of statistics and probability. In simple language, these concepts boil down to, “How confident can I be that what I planned to happen actually will happen?” Basically, the concept of Six Sigma deals with measuring and improving how close we [...]