The city’s young professional network is always happy to welcome a new face, and last week, as part of a programme of engaging with individual Future members, I met a new arrival who has fallen for everything Birmingham has to offer.
Amrita Sidhu arrived in Birmingham 12 months ago, after spending 3 years working with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London. Amrita followed the majority of graduates to the capital after completing a three year Maths & Computer Science degree at Oxford. Her transfer to the Forensic Services department in PWC’s Birmingham office was initially a 6 month plan, which was then extended for a further 6 months, before Amrita became a Birmingham member of staff in September.
‘The appeal of Birmingham was both a social and a work one’ Amrita said as we caught up over a coffee in Starbucks on Colmore Row. ‘Having friends and family who have both lived and worked in the city, I was sure that I would be welcomed into the close knit community immediately. The opportunity to work as part of the Birmingham office was one that I took to continue to develop my career with my firm, and PwC has given me a fantastic opportunity to continue to progress’.
Having spent three years completing a 45 minute commute to and from the office in London, Amrita now enjoys the walk from Jewellery Quarter to Cornwall Court. She also enjoys being within easy reach of the important areas of the city, being able to walk to Brindleyplace for an after work drink, or being close enough to venture into one of the small bars in and around St Paul’s Square. ‘The business community of Birmingham is a vibrant one, big enough to attract some of the major investment banks, but compact enough that you can easily walk between offices for meetings. I came to Birmingham for the job opportunity here, and with the continued development of the city, I can see why more people are choosing Birmingham over London’.
Birmingham Future has also played a part in helping Amrita settle into a new business environment, with Speed Networking sessions and opportunities to mingle with the great and the good of the city.
When I challenged Amrita on how Birmingham could continue to attract new talent, and to develop them while they are here, her answer was clear. ‘The city needs to continue to attract the traditionally London based firms here, to give graduates the option of choosing Birmingham rather than heading to London. It’s a choice that I think many of them would make. I would also like to see the development of a greater social scene in the city. As a great University city, Birmingham does lack the after bar venues you see in other cities.’
In all Amrita is proud to call herself an adopted Brummie, and the city is delighted to welcome her into her new working environment. With talent like Amrita making the choice to work in Birmingham, the future for the city, and the individuals who choose to make it home, continues to look bright.

Jason Norris, Chair of the Talent, Retention & Development Committee and Membership Committee member.

I recently wrote up a post, Most Dangerous Innovation Misperception – The Silver Bullet Approach. In it, I discussed the issue of organizations myopically focusing on only disruptive innovations to the exclusion of more incremental or sustaining innovations.

In doing more research on the subject, I began thinking about the dynamics that apply when a firm pursues different kinds of innovation. A post by Venkatesh Rao, Disruptive versus Radical Innovations, was very useful for distinguishing between disruptive and radical innovations.

Building on that, I wanted a framework for delineating innovations based on their technology and business impacts. Because they’re not necessarily the same. The four quadrants below describe the dynamics for innovations according to their technology and market impacts:

In each quadrant, there are different rationales and issues that apply. Let’s take a look.

Existing Tech, Manage Existing Market

The lower left quadrant represent innovations that leverage existing technology, and service existing customers. This is every day innovation. The block-n-tackle innovation that keeps companies nimble and operating at rates above industry averages.

Example? See how Walmart improved the fuel efficiency of its vehicle fleet:

Wal-Mart has taken a number of steps, including the installation of diesel Auxiliary Power Units on all its trucks, and applying aerodynamic skirting. On the tire side, Wal-Mart is working with super single tires. and is testing nitrogen-filled tires and an automatic filling process to maintain constant tire air pressure.

Improving the customer experience is also a critical opportunity. In an era of social-media empowered customers impacting your brand, the consequences of failing to improve the customer experience are higher than ever.

But this quadrant is the one often pooh-poohed by many in innovation. I like the way PriceWaterhouseCoopers puts it in this blog post:

An unintended consequence of the Innovators Dilemma has been that companies have begun believing that unless they were pursuing a strategy of seeking disruptive innovations, they were somehow losing out.

Walmart’s efforts have paid off. The retailer has held relatively strong during the Great Recession, as seen in its stock price. And Toyota famously gathered over million ideas a year from its employees to emerge as a global leader in the automotive industry.

Existing Tech, Create New Market

In this quadrant, existing technology is leveraged to create a new revenue streams. This is the quadrant where the following phrase applies:

Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.

The simple application of a technology that serves one purpose toward a different purpose can be disruptive from a market perspective. It’s not a large technological leap. It’s the intelligent application of what’s already at hand.

Twitter is a great example. The technology itself is…simple. Web form. Subscription model. Limit to 140 characters. Yet it’s revolutionized the way people share and find information, causing Techcrunch’s MG Siegler to compare it to a modern day Walter Cronkite. All for a simple little web app. Here’s what WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg says about Twitter:

Whether the Twitter team intended it or not, they’ve built a killer and highly addictive reader platform with dozens of interesting UIs on top of it.

The thing with these innovations is that they are very much a market-determined disruption. This isn’t some sort of EUREKA! the moment the technology is rolled out of the labs. It takes the market to say that it’s disruptive.

Clayton Christensen (Innovator’s Dilemma) types of innovation will often fall in this quadrant. Existing technologies applied in new ways to address the lower end of the market.

Venkatesh Rao has a great perspective on this quadrant:

In fact, in most documented cases of disruption, the disruptive innovation was a minor/incremental change and well within the technical capabilities of the incumbent (and was often taken to market by a renegade spin off from the original company).

This quadrant is the best one for producing organic growth for companies. It has lower risk, but produces meaningful revenue growth.

Radical Tech, Create New Market

If any one quadrant defines the popular view of innovation, it’s this one. And that’s not without good reason. In the previous quadrant, existing technologies are applied to new markets. Well, existing technologies have to come from somewhere. That’s this quadrant.

This is the cool stuff that the press writes about. Check out AT&T’s Technology Showcase for a great example of some of these new technologies.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has done well in this quadrant. His latest innovation, the Kindle, is an example. It includes a new “electronic ink“. Ability to read text aloud. It’s incredibly thin profile.

And it’s paying off. Amazon reports that the Kindle set a new sales record this November. Which points to the Kindle as a strong new revenue stream down the road, and a new source of sales for Amazon’s book sales. A home run in this quadrant.

These types of innovations are important for maintaining the long-term growth rates of companies. They provide needed growth, replenishing changes in existing markets.

Which leads us to the final quadrant…

Radical Tech, Manage Existing Market

There are times a company’s business is under attack, and it needs to address changing behaviors in its market. Innovations in this quadrant share the high risk profile of the previous quadrant, but they have a defensive nature to them. They don’t seek to find new opportunities, they seek to address changes in customer behavior.

Hulu strikes me as an example of this. A joint venture of NBC, Fox and ABC, Hulu lets users view shows on computers. This initiative addresses the emerging market shift away from televisions to viewing on all sorts of devices. It’s a better answer for this shift than the music industry initially had for the proliferation of MP3 songs on various P2P sites.

Gary Hamel has noted the increasing volatility of markets across the globe. Customers have better access to information about new options, and are willing to shift their spending more quickly. With this dynamic, expect some increase in activity for innovations in this quadrant.

Companies Need a Portfolio of Innovation Opportunities

In a recent Accenture survey, 58% of executives said their organization is looking for the next silver bullet rather than pursuing a portfolio of opportunities. When I hear that, I think first of the upper right quadrant (radical tech, create new market). These types of innovations are incredibly important, and should be part of a company’s innovation efforts.

But there’s really a good basis for expanding that view to look at the other types of innovation: technology vs. market, disruptive vs incremental.

My first post is going to be on the critical importance of Seadoo covers.

I love all forms of personal watercraft. I grew up with a small family cottage on a lake in Eastern Ontario. For as long as I can remember we had an assortment of watercraft. We had some aluminum rowing boats, the odd motor boat, and a pontoon boat. However, my favorite of the watercraft were the personal watercraft. Within the category of personal watercraft we had canoes, kayaks, and windsurfers. Myself and my brothers used them all and in the summer, we used them daily!

My personal favorite was the windsurfers. Windsurfers were new and cool. they seemed to inject a bit of the famous California lifestyle into our Canadian Shield cottage. I will write more on my memories of windsurfing and how the windsurfer culture was intrinsically woven into my late teen age years. However, for the purposes of this post I will limit myself to the importance of Seadoo Covers.

Seadoos are often referred to by the acronym PWC. this is incorrect as PWCs cover the broad spectrum of personal watercraft. However, if I err and use the acronym PWC, I might actually be referring to Seadoos. There are companies that make Seadoo type craft that call their product Jet-skis. In generally the terms tend to be used interchangeably.

I bought my first Seadoo many years ago. Within the first few months of Seadoo ownership I learned my lesson. Properly fitting Seadoo covers are very important. I was driving from the cottage to Lake Ontario when my car kicked up a rock which in turn made a 9 inch slice in my seadoo seat cover. It was a freaky accident which ended up costing me money I did not have. I immediately tried to patch the problem with some industrial strength water proof tape but that was not really a long term solution. After another season I had to have the seadoo seats reupholstered and it was pricey. I could have avoided that expense entirely if I had just purchased a proper cover when I purchased my machine. In fact, I later learned that the cost of a cheap Seadoo cover was less than the repair job I was forced to pay for.

There are a number of different types of Seadoo covers. The various choices range from expensive to extremely reasonable. A good quality Seadoo cover does not have to blow your budget. There are name brand covers made by the manufacturer such as Seadoo or Yamaha or Kawasaki. For those of you that do not know, Seadoos are made by the Bombardier family. These are popular amongst people who have a special affinity to one manufacturer over the others. There are no-name Seadoo covers that are the same quality but moderately less expensive.

Within each variety of Seadoo cover there are lightweight covers and heavier weight covers. If you only have the budget for one cover pick the heavier weight type as they are more durable and protective. The lightweight models are good for sun protection but not much else.

Covers can be purchased any where that the actual machine can be purchased. Any local marine supply store will have a small collection of available Seadoo covers. In the event that they do not stock those covers they will be able to order in some selections through a catalog. The best place to start your search for a new Seadoo cover is on the internet. You can get an idea of what is available and the approximate prices ranges.

It is also possible to find second hand Seadoo covers. To locate such covers check the bulletin boards at your local marina and ask around. Even if the cover is not posted for sale, someone might know of someone else who would not mind parting with an older but no longer used cover. Another great place to look for used Seadoo covers is Craigslist. It really is amazing what you can find on Craigslist. I once got a free wood stove for my dad’s boathouse through that site. I’m not suggesting that you will find a free Seadoo cover but it will never hurt to look.

Whatever you do, buy a cover. You have just paid a lot of money for your new personal watercraft. It is only smart to protect your investment. After buying your Seadoo, purchasing a good quality Seadoo covers might be the smartest investment you make.

Have fun on the waves!

http://www.vapost364.org/index.html  Post 364 Website

American Legion Post 364

3640 Friendly Post Lane

Woodbridge, VA  22192

703-494-4304

The Web’s Largest Powersports (motorcycle, ATV, PWC, snowmobile) Store featuring over 8 million OEM and Aftermarket parts, apparel and accessories since 1999.

http://www.bikebandit.com/

A new ACCA report confirms that Finance Professionals need to skill-up and focus on business strategy.

The report looks at how and where accountants are driving value in the current business climate, and includes an outline of how finance functions can optimise value.

The October 2009 research concludes that core skills and attributes around ethics, integrity, risk, value protection, and value creation will be key for accountants and finance professionals over the next few years. The report says adding greater value, with broader skills than ever before – across geographies, sectors, and organisational sizes would be needed.

The survey declared strategy as the domain in which current skills of finance professionals fell well short of requirements.

The ACCA report titled “Accountants for Business” was based on material provided by PwC, and is part of its Managing Human Capital in accounting and finance Insight series.

DLA Piper and PwC held a webinar recently to give an update on the state of the cleantech market within the PRC and to elaborate on their core findings. The full report can be found here.

by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Over the past decade, boards of directors have experienced an unprecedented increase in pressure and scrutiny from external stakeholders. High profile corporate collapses in the early 2000s and the resulting expectation of improved governance and oversight have put the spotlight on boards in all sectors. In Canada, these changes have given rise to greater focus on governance practices.

In our continued effort to help directors be effective and strategic in the boardroom, PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) and the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) retained the Clarkson Centre for Board Effectiveness (CCBE) to conduct a survey of recent directors’ experiences. The survey, conducted in the spring of 2009, received responses from 429 directors across Canada in a variety of industries and sectors. The CCBE subsequently interviewed eight survey participants to provide more personal insights into trends and issues highlighted by the analysis…(continue reading)

Popular Science Magazine has presented BRP with their prestigous ”Best of What’s New” award for their Sea-Doo GTX Ltd. iS with iControl technology.  The annual award is presented to a product that “challenges our views of what’s possible in the future.”

So, I’ve got a request for a sidecard to be priced out for a Silverwing Scooter! 

I’ve done a Helix before (speaking of scooters), but most of the time it’s always the larger bikes that we’ve put sidecars on…..

Kinda trippy

GRAN partido el de anoche, enhorabuena a todo el equipo!!!!! Eso si, menudo frio que hacía coño

Ya están actualizados los resultados y calendario. Algunos detalles:

- En la clasificación de goleadores le han dado 2 a Víctor y 2 a Lucas, así que lo he puesto igual en la nuestra para no liarla, okis?

- Como predijo Ramón seguimos en 5º lugar.

- Danone ha desaparecido y ahora hay un nuevo equipo que se hacen llamar “La Guinda”, serán nuestros rivales el próximo Lunes.

- Como sospechamos ayer (Ramón, Marc y yo…) algo pasó con Hospital del Mar (no vimos a los brasileños…), perdieron 7-1 contra Luxtal!

- Y no veas la paliza que Nacex le metió a Europastry, 10-0, como pudimos empatar contra ellos maldita sea jajajajajaja…y Nacex será nuestro rival en dos semanas ups…

Bueno, os dejo unos videos que Xavi grabó durante el calentamiento y un momento del partido (tenía que ser justo cuando “casi” pierdo un balón en defensa? jajajajajaja…). Y una foto de Leo en la clínica el lunes pasado (cortesía de Lucas…), “Leo, MUCHOS ÁNIMOS amigo y nos vemos prontito…”.

PD. Uri, ets un cabrón, al final conseguirás que m’agrade jugar de central

PD2. Dani, have a good flight back to Barcelona!

done

Introducing the Dunce.

Canon EOS 5D - (1/160)sec - ƒ/5.6 - 16 mm - ISO 400

We Came up with a character for one of my shoots at the 2nd NLPhotographers‘ Strobist Meet. David was my model for this, as Darrell Sharpe pointed out, he had a really cool cartoon joker look. and the striped shirt he brought for one of his wardrobe changes was the perfect fit.  all i had to add was the Dunce hat. David really got into this character.

i really wanted to work with the surroundings of the whole school location, and this character allowed for that. it was really fun.

Canon EOS 5D - (1/160)sec - ƒ/7.1 - 16 mm - ISO 400

Canon EOS 5D - (1/160)sec - ƒ/10 - 16 mm - ISO 400

My sister Inlaw is the one who really let us use the LRC and hallways on either side for our shoots, and gave us an old dejected book that was destined for the trash, so we could make this character sing. the torn pages all around are from that book.

and out come the wolves…

Canon EOS 5D - (1/160)sec - ƒ/8.0 - 16 mm - ISO 400

So i have a few other shoots from the strobist meet over at my flickr page Feel Free to check those out too! and leave comments/sugguestions too!

i REALLY want to thank EVERYone for making the whole strobist meets happen properly. the models, the participants, Allison and derrick and patrick for sticking around even after the end time and putting up with us in the LRC at the school and the people down at the salon that volenteered their time and effort to give our models a makeover this week. you guys are all great!

Strobist Info:

top three images-one LP120 on a stand shot through a white umbrella  from just camera left. triggered with a modded eBay trigger,

bottom image – one Lp120 just camera right blasted through a white shoot through umbrelly at david and one further right  shot back at skye and brad. both triggered with modded eBay triggers.

(i really have to start writing down my flash power’s for these things. or taking a point and shoot to make a sort of “slate” with the info on there.)

Accountancy firm PWC is named as the first sponsor for England’s bid to host the 2018 football World Cup…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: world cup history soccer. The blog is also related to: soccer shirts.

Olga Grygier from PwC Poland is at the moment talking at the main stage in Globe Forum Gdansk;

She tells us that sustainability is becoming the centre in the board room agendas, it has shifted over the last five years. Good business leaders understand that they need to respond to the challenges and answer the consumer concerns. Business will die if they don’t adapt to sustainability changes.

But still only 24 percent of the CEOs in Poland talk about sustainability being critical to the success of the business.

Olga is however ensuring us that it is improving in Poland as well, businesses are taking the sustainability agenda more seriously, but many remin sceptical. PwC in Poland are stressing the fact that businesses can’t view sustainability as risk - it is an opportunity to develop and be innovative and more creative.

Last year, 40 companies in Poland did CSR reports. These companies are reporting but even more importantly – they are commiting for the future, and that is exactly what we need, according to Olga Grygier PwC Poland.

Well what a week it has been, angry shareholders, ASIC lawyers working overtime as the litigation funders and class action lawyers continue to feast on corporate carcasses.

Shareholders voice their anger at excessive executive remuneration

AGM season is well underway and the shareholders of EDI Downer and Qantas let their respective boards know in no uncertain terms what they thought about their executive remuneration strategies.    In the US, the Obama administration has taken steps to slash executive salaries by up to 90%, in companies such as Citigroup, AIG and GM which were the beneficiaries of government bail-outs.

ASIC shakes off its corporate plod reputation

ASIC lawyers have been very busy.    First it issued proceedings in the NSW Supreme Court against the managers of the boutique Astarra Strategic Fund as well as obtaining an urgent interim order forcing the responsible entity of the fund to remove its PDS from its website.    Not much information flowing at this stage with ASIC being barred by the Judge from commenting on the case.

Then, in a move several commentators described as “terrifying for directors”, ASIC launched legal action against the entire 2007 board of Centro claiming that their accounts failed to classify more than $2 billion of debt.  What’s $2 billion amongst friends?

With these types of strikes ASIC might even start to shake is reputation as “the corporate plod”.

Class action lawyers feast on corporate carcasses of Centro and ABC Learning

We often say to clients that “regulators are the least of your problems” and wasn’t this proved to be the case this week with the administrators of ABC Learning, backed by ligitation funder IMF, lining up former directors of ABC Learning, its auditor Pitcher Partners, as well as Com Bank (alleging a $500,000,000 preference payment).

On the same day Maurice Blackburn, class action lawyers acting for aggrieved Centro shareholders, announced that they are considering a direct claim against auditor’s PWC.  PWC are already the subject of a counter claim by Centro.

Also during during the week the liquidators of Babcock & Brown took further steps towards investigating a possible breach of directors’ duties and insolvent trading claims arising from its collapse, as well as a $40 million loan to broking firm Tricom.

Fair Work Ombudsman keeps up the heat

No one can accuse the Fair Work Ombudsman of taking it easy.  The FWO’s enforcement activities seem to be heating up in the lead up the transition to the Modern Awards on 1 January 2010.  During the week it announced that it had successfully claimed $113,000 back-pay for 32 Casino workers accidentally underpaid since 2006.  This followed its announcement that a Ballarat company and director were fined $105,000 for underpaying a young apprentice.

This followed news that unfair dismissal claims had nearly doubled in first 10 weeks of the remedy becoming available to small business employees on 1 July 2009.

National Health & Safety Laws Draft Exposure Released

Finally, if businesses didn’t already have enough on their plates a further draft of the new national health safety laws was released for comment. The new laws are due to commence on 1 Jan 2012.

Progress reports from the administrators of Lehman Brothers’ bankrupt businesses show how pricey going bust can be.

In Europe, PricewaterhouseCoopers reported this week that it collected US$238m in fees for winding up the bank over the past year. The accountancy firm charged for more than 250,000 hours of work in the past six months, up from around 235,000 in the previous six-month stretch. Lehman’s European legal team, led by Linklaters, collected US$112m over the past year.

In the US, Lehman’s first year in bankruptcy racked up fees of US$417m, according to a filing last week. Restructuring specialist Alvarez & Marsal received the most, US$169m, followed by law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges, with US$99m.

The advisors’ work is far from finished, not least because Lehman’s various units continue to file large, complex claims against each other. In its latest report, PwC notes that Lehman’s European unit will “imminently” lodge a US$90bn claim against its (former) US parent.

by John Durie, for The Australian Business, Ocotber 21, 2009.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has finally taken action against some of the chief architects of the Australian market collapse, with unprecedented legal action against former senior executives and former board members as well as incumbent board members of the struggling Centro Properties Group.

The action by ASIC is one of the most comprehensive crack downs on a major Australian company in history and its target is one of the worst managed with the worst corporate governance standards in history. Some investors will also wonder what action will be taken against the company’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

While ASIC has yet to win its case in court, the legal action puts corporate Australia on notice that the law may take its sweet time to get into gear but ASIC boss Tony D’Aloisio is doggedly keen to hold wrongdoers to task.

Such was Centro’s contempt for shareholders that in 2007 it paid bonuses to executives for the year before it had even finished, misstated its accounts and its structure was so complex that it took the banks months to work out who was owed what.

Each of its assets was geared separately with links back to other assets…(continue reading)