a primer on Electrochaea's storage process my NTD.TV Think about the sources of carbon-based energy--coal, petroleum, propane, natural gas. One thing they have in common is that they are tangible, transportable products that are not consumed in...

short interview bites from Seraina Maag ; For more, see speech after honor Seraina Maag (Macia), age 49 , has had a remarkable international career in insurance and finance. So far, it has included these highlights: An idyllic childhood in the Swiss...

One take on the Korean Beauty Product Business Marketing communication is a primary component of the sale of "Health And Beauty Aids." Magazines and social media abound with "solutions" for problems that may or may not even need...

PBS : Why do we go to space? Planet Money , the podcast series on business from NPR, has obtained space on a satellite (owned by Planet ) orbiting the Earth and taking pictures. (But they still need a rocket.) This may sound exciting, but then they...

one view of tax reform from the right-of-center Young Turks Proposed GOP tax reform promises increased global competitiveness of American companies. One of the supporting arguments of this is that the "U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate among...

George Clooney discusses corruption in South Sudan Business has a way of sneaking into politics in every corner of the world. When celebrities get involved, they can raise awareness and money with appeals that can be understood by those in the United...

A Mahindra factory in India The Detroit area is growing again. The Mumbai, India-based company, Mahindra , had a ribbon-cutting ceremony today signaling a new plant to be built in Auburn Hills, MI. This is the first auto plant investment in the Detroit...

promotional/instructional video from YouTube Hickies is a company that makes one product: silicone bands that connect the parallel eyelets of shoes semi-permanently. Their function is to replace shoelaces in a forgivingly stretchy way so that shoes...

image from linked podcast header As the baby boomer generation ages, one thing is certain--the need for burial or other end-of-life services will peak for more than a decade. As it happens, this coincides with a larger world population and less space...

Ken Garduno, illustrator (from link below) There are many professionals from India working in Kansas City, Kansas. Apparently, this is a big deal, as evidenced in the cricket community: " The Indian community here, now 7,000 strong, has boomed...

a different company ( Carrier ) announces that it is moving jobs to Mexico Rexnord Corporation has employed 43-year old Sharon Mulcahy in a plant manufacturing industrial-use bearings for over seventeen years. She'd dealt with sexual harassment...

Dyson and electric car; Bloomberg Two wealthy Britons have recently announced separate visions for introducing new cars: James Dyson , an inventor of high-end and efficient vacuum cleaners and hair dryers, now has 400 people working on a new electric...

from Fox Soccer The U.S. soccer team will not be involved in the World Cup play-offs for the first time in 30 years. They lost in the men's qualifying event to LAST place Trinidad-Tobago. But Fox Sports was an even bigger loser: " The most...

Zuckerberg spins Facebook's involvement in politics Facebook has been in the news lately--not for its cute baby goat videos, but for its considerable political influence. Mark Zuckerberg's belated and underwhelming response to his company's...

from the LA Times Swedish home furnishings company, IKEA --famous for its meatballs as well as its assemble-it-yourself bookshelves--recently signed an agreement to purchase TaskRabbit . TaskRabbit is a San Francisco company that provides a platform...

Fox News on Best Buy's comeback Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly has been instrumental in turning around company sales and image for Best Buy . His strategy has been consumer-focused and experiential. If you haven't been into a Best Buy recently, you...

image from LinkedIn SlideShare, Matt Bentley One of the axioms of capitalism (just like in Vegas) is that when there are winners, there are going to be losers. Even globalization--which appeared to be a welcome expansion to new markets, allowing for...

Bloomberg report on various EU investigations into Google After a seven-year investigation, the European Commission (EC) has imposed an antitrust fine against Google ( Alphabet ) of 2.4 billion Euros (~$2.826 billion U.S.). The issue involved consumer...

Dole video above of what occurs BEFORE bananas arrive in NYC Logistics is a major factor in management and profit. Amazon, UPS and FedEx are a consumer-end supply chain giants. But all products need to find a way to get to market. Fresh food that needs...

image from The Tap Blog The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has changed its estimates of U.S. economic growth as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP). The estimates have declined. As of April, 2017, the IMF estimated 2.3% growth this year...

R&D Opportunities, part 2/3 trailer from Nordic Noir & Beyond: Follow the Money Investment in research and development to fulfill a need or solve a problem is one way to strike it rich while actually producing a product. The inspiration for...

image from Rockford Register Star blogs What global warming contributor is going to get worse and why? Air conditioning becomes increasingly important as the world gets warmer (whether or not you believe the warming is cyclical in nature or caused...

WSJ makes a cheap smartphone Does everyone who owns a smartphone wonder what the real cost and profit involved might be? What is a reasonable profit anyway? The Wall Street Journal experiment is enlightening. Source : " The Wall Street Journal...

Ford plant in China, from NYT Daily 360 In January 2017, Ford Motor Company scrapped its plan to build a $1.6 billion factory in Mexico, partly in response to "chiding" from Trump . Instead, at that point they planned to re-tool an existing...

image from Investors Business Daily Just when we thought that Amazon was already everywhere , it decides to buy the decidedly on-ground Whole Foods chain for $13.4 billion. What next? When it comes to a conglomerate form of business, we don't...