The news from the world's financial markets last week was not good - actually scary for many. In a lucid piece in today's Boston Globe, Professor Mihm of the University of Georgia writes that the world economy is being driven by a vast secretive web of investments that might be out of anyone's control.
In a sidebar to the article, Mihm has a brief field guide to the "the new financial jungle" - acronyms that we may be hearing more of in the next year - CDO (Collateralized debt obligation), CDS (Credit default swap) and SIV (Structured Investment Vehicles).
Buckle up for the ride!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Enterprise 3.0 and an excellent blog
Today, I spent some time browsing a few of the pieces in Sramana Mitra's informative and well-written blog. I especially like the pieces on Enterprise 3.0 and Web 3.0.
I am including a link to Sramana's blog in the blog roll on the right. Check it out.
I am including a link to Sramana's blog in the blog roll on the right. Check it out.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Paying more when list prices are precise
When you are ready to sell your $485,000 house, don't list it for $485,000, but list it for $485,111. You may net an extra $1100. See this blog entry in Bostonglobe.com.
A higher price may actually net you more! There is some solid research behind this. Researchers at Cornell University found that people perceive specific numbers (such as $485,111) as being smaller than rounded numbers (such as $485,000). As a consequence, they were willing to pay a price closer to the specific number (because it seemed smaller) than to the rounded number.
You can download the research report here:
A higher price may actually net you more! There is some solid research behind this. Researchers at Cornell University found that people perceive specific numbers (such as $485,111) as being smaller than rounded numbers (such as $485,000). As a consequence, they were willing to pay a price closer to the specific number (because it seemed smaller) than to the rounded number.
You can download the research report here:
Monday, January 7, 2008
Prediction Markets - Tech Trend to watch?
Almost two years ago, I attended a Microsoft manager's presentation at a local PMI Chapter meeting. The topic was how Microsoft uses "Prediction Markets" to predict project milestone dates. Last week, I was reminded of this by this Freakonomics blog entry on several presentations and panel discussions having to do with Prediction Markets at last week's American Economic Association conference in New Orleans.
This post, from December 2006, in a ZDNET blog rightly points out that prediction markets are starting to gain traction in corporate settings. The post has several examples of the most popular prediction markets in addition to giving due credit to James Surowiecki and his book, "The Wisdom of Crowds".
Google's Bo Cowgill has been at the forefront of that company's work in prediction markets, to forecast product launch dates, new office openings, and " many other things of strategic importance to Google". By September 2005, more than a thousand Googlers have bid on 146 events in 43 different subject areas (no payment is required to play).
The venerable consultancy, McKinsey has weighed in also. In the latest McKinsey Quarterly, they have tabbed predictive markets one of the eight business technology trends to watch.
"Just as the Internet and productivity tools extend the reach of and provide leverage to desk-based workers, technology is helping managers exploit ever-greater amounts of data to make smarter decisions and develop the insights that create competitive advantages and new business models. From “ideagoras” (eBay-like marketplaces for ideas) to predictive markets to performance-management approaches, ubiquitous standards-based technologies promote aggregation, processing, and decision making based on the use of growing pools of rich data".
Definitely, something I will be keeping an eye on and following with interest.
This post, from December 2006, in a ZDNET blog rightly points out that prediction markets are starting to gain traction in corporate settings. The post has several examples of the most popular prediction markets in addition to giving due credit to James Surowiecki and his book, "The Wisdom of Crowds".
Google's Bo Cowgill has been at the forefront of that company's work in prediction markets, to forecast product launch dates, new office openings, and " many other things of strategic importance to Google". By September 2005, more than a thousand Googlers have bid on 146 events in 43 different subject areas (no payment is required to play).
The venerable consultancy, McKinsey has weighed in also. In the latest McKinsey Quarterly, they have tabbed predictive markets one of the eight business technology trends to watch.
"Just as the Internet and productivity tools extend the reach of and provide leverage to desk-based workers, technology is helping managers exploit ever-greater amounts of data to make smarter decisions and develop the insights that create competitive advantages and new business models. From “ideagoras” (eBay-like marketplaces for ideas) to predictive markets to performance-management approaches, ubiquitous standards-based technologies promote aggregation, processing, and decision making based on the use of growing pools of rich data".
Definitely, something I will be keeping an eye on and following with interest.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
SAAS making inroads into the enterprise
Happy New Year to all !
Andrew Conry-Murray writes in the StartupCity blog in Informationweek (December 18, 2007):
"SaaS has been making enterprise inroads for several years, and is now a serious contender with packaged software. And while Salesforce has long carried the flag, we may look back on 2007 as the year the banner passed to other hands. Just consider NetSuite's IPO, SAP 's entrance into the space, and the launch of new offerings from hot startups such as Workday"
SAP's entry is called "Business By Design", will be available sometime in 2008 and will cost $149/month per user. The Workday news release has this statistic: Gartner estimated in August 2007 that SAAS revenue will top $5.1 billion in 2007, a 21% increase over 2006.
Andrew Conry-Murray writes in the StartupCity blog in Informationweek (December 18, 2007):
"SaaS has been making enterprise inroads for several years, and is now a serious contender with packaged software. And while Salesforce has long carried the flag, we may look back on 2007 as the year the banner passed to other hands. Just consider NetSuite's IPO, SAP 's entrance into the space, and the launch of new offerings from hot startups such as Workday"
SAP's entry is called "Business By Design", will be available sometime in 2008 and will cost $149/month per user. The Workday news release has this statistic: Gartner estimated in August 2007 that SAAS revenue will top $5.1 billion in 2007, a 21% increase over 2006.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)