Monday
Time Zone Travelers
It's becoming the essential competitive edge: the ability to hopscotch the globe, switching countries, cultures, and languages as easily as the rest of us change clothes. Meet some folks who are really living the borderless life. more..
The Globe-Trotter's Guide to the Galaxy
A rule book for global execs is a bit of a contradiction in terms, because listening and flexibility are key. But here's what some time-zone itinerants have picked up in their travels.
"State visits" -- those fly-in-fly-out formal calls on overseas facilities -- tend to be a waste of time. So says Harold Sirkin of Boston Consulting Group. What you'll get is a show and a
handshake, not a real feel for real problems.
Frequent teleconferences beat infrequent videoconferences. "And when you schedule conference calls, you should share the pain," says Claude Philipps of Atos Origin. "Don't always make the team in Barcelona wake up at two in the morning."
Use technology that supports "presence detection" -- instant messaging, for example -- to tell you when a colleague is or isn't available. Terry Walters of Plantronics swears by Skype, software that supports voice conversations over the Internet: "You can see who's online and who's busy," he says.
Make sure regular teleconferences or videoconferences happen at a regular time and day. "That way," says Walters, "if you need religion, you can be there. It's like going to church."
Don't expect tight bonds among team members who collaborate only via teleconference,
email, and instant messaging. "You need to get your people together in one place if you want them to really appreciate how good everyone is, and how good you are as a team," says Bob Armstrong at GE Healthcare Technologies.
Pick a system for Web collaboration, and stick with it. IBM Lotus's QuickPlace, Groove Networks' Workspace, and other systems all have their relative merits. But the level of participation drops sharply when companies switch from one system to another.
English may be the de facto language of global business, but efforts to speak like the locals can help build stronger bonds. "At our Christmas party in Mexico, I give a speech in Spanish every year," says Walters. "I rehearse it pretty carefully. I haven't yet given speeches in Chinese, but I will."
The Globe-Trotter's Guide to the Galaxy
A rule book for global execs is a bit of a contradiction in terms, because listening and flexibility are key. But here's what some time-zone itinerants have picked up in their travels.
"State visits" -- those fly-in-fly-out formal calls on overseas facilities -- tend to be a waste of time. So says Harold Sirkin of Boston Consulting Group. What you'll get is a show and a
handshake, not a real feel for real problems.
Frequent teleconferences beat infrequent videoconferences. "And when you schedule conference calls, you should share the pain," says Claude Philipps of Atos Origin. "Don't always make the team in Barcelona wake up at two in the morning."
Use technology that supports "presence detection" -- instant messaging, for example -- to tell you when a colleague is or isn't available. Terry Walters of Plantronics swears by Skype, software that supports voice conversations over the Internet: "You can see who's online and who's busy," he says.
Make sure regular teleconferences or videoconferences happen at a regular time and day. "That way," says Walters, "if you need religion, you can be there. It's like going to church."
Don't expect tight bonds among team members who collaborate only via teleconference,
email, and instant messaging. "You need to get your people together in one place if you want them to really appreciate how good everyone is, and how good you are as a team," says Bob Armstrong at GE Healthcare Technologies.
Pick a system for Web collaboration, and stick with it. IBM Lotus's QuickPlace, Groove Networks' Workspace, and other systems all have their relative merits. But the level of participation drops sharply when companies switch from one system to another.
English may be the de facto language of global business, but efforts to speak like the locals can help build stronger bonds. "At our Christmas party in Mexico, I give a speech in Spanish every year," says Walters. "I rehearse it pretty carefully. I haven't yet given speeches in Chinese, but I will."
Tuesday
Technology Map of the World
Where will you find the best minds to tackle difficult technology problems? Call your travel agent. Just as jewelry stores and fast-food joints often huddle with their own kind, high-tech specialists tend to congregate in specific cities or regions. There's a logic to this: After a breakthrough company or top-tier university program lays the groundwork, an area may begin to attract managers and engineers with relevant technological expertise. Throw in a few financiers or venture capitalists to back budding entrepreneurs, and with luck you may find yourself in the next Silicon Valley. Economists refer to these specialized business ecosystems as "clusters," and the tech world is famous for spawning them. Take Cambridge, England, where startup Plastic Logic was founded in 2000 to develop inexpensive computer chips using ink-jet printing techniques. "We knew that ink-jet expertise would be fundamental to our technology," says marketing executive Cranch Lamble. That made Cambridge, home to an ink-jet cluster, the place to be.
Specialized brainpower can be a draw for mature companies as well. Microsoft set up an R&D lab in Beijing partly because the city is rich in computer interface expertise -- a talent nurtured by the need to adapt Western keyboards and software to China's pictographic language. The $80 million research center, which opened in 1998, is developing a digital pen with built-in handwriting-recognition capability and software that reads text in a natural voice. Of course, you don't need us to tell you that San Jose is a great place to go for silicon chips or that Redmond is home to thousands of programmers who know a thing or two about creating software for PC operating systems. In the pdf file above, you'll find Business 2.0's guide to the world's budding pockets of expertise, the up-and-coming technologies they champion, and the companies that are exploiting them.
Specialized brainpower can be a draw for mature companies as well. Microsoft set up an R&D lab in Beijing partly because the city is rich in computer interface expertise -- a talent nurtured by the need to adapt Western keyboards and software to China's pictographic language. The $80 million research center, which opened in 1998, is developing a digital pen with built-in handwriting-recognition capability and software that reads text in a natural voice. Of course, you don't need us to tell you that San Jose is a great place to go for silicon chips or that Redmond is home to thousands of programmers who know a thing or two about creating software for PC operating systems. In the pdf file above, you'll find Business 2.0's guide to the world's budding pockets of expertise, the up-and-coming technologies they champion, and the companies that are exploiting them.
Fed raises rates a quarter-point again
Central bank policy-makers add another quarter-point to fed funds rate, see economic pickup ahead.
The Federal Reserve raised its target for a key short-term interest rate a quarter-percentage point Tuesday in a continuing effort to raise lending rates from the lowest levels in more than 40 years. The Fed also gave financial markets reason to believe it was more likely to raise rates again in September. While acknowledging recent signs of a slowdown in economic growth and the labor market, the central bank repeated the view, stated in recent weeks by its chairman, Alan Greenspan, that the slowdown was temporary. At the end of a one-day policy meeting, the Fed's policymakers unanimously agreed to raise their target for the fed funds rate, an overnight lending rate that influences other rates throughout the economy, to 1.5 percent from 1.25 percent. more..
The Federal Reserve raised its target for a key short-term interest rate a quarter-percentage point Tuesday in a continuing effort to raise lending rates from the lowest levels in more than 40 years. The Fed also gave financial markets reason to believe it was more likely to raise rates again in September. While acknowledging recent signs of a slowdown in economic growth and the labor market, the central bank repeated the view, stated in recent weeks by its chairman, Alan Greenspan, that the slowdown was temporary. At the end of a one-day policy meeting, the Fed's policymakers unanimously agreed to raise their target for the fed funds rate, an overnight lending rate that influences other rates throughout the economy, to 1.5 percent from 1.25 percent. more..
Wednesday
Chips to talk without wires
Sun is developing technology that lets chips communicate directly with their neighbours without circuit boards or wires.
It will take a lot of work, but Sun Microsystems says it is making headway on a technology that will allow chips to communicate without circuit boards or wires. The technology, called "proximity communication," aims to let one chip transmit signals directly to another next to it, instead of through the tangle of pins, wires and circuit boards employed today. If successful, the technique could greatly alter many aspects of computer design. more..a>
It will take a lot of work, but Sun Microsystems says it is making headway on a technology that will allow chips to communicate without circuit boards or wires. The technology, called "proximity communication," aims to let one chip transmit signals directly to another next to it, instead of through the tangle of pins, wires and circuit boards employed today. If successful, the technique could greatly alter many aspects of computer design. more..a>
Monday
Microsoft looks beyond Windows
Microsoft is looking beyond Windows for technologies to fuel the future growth.
During his speech Mr Gates showed off early versions of programs designed to compete with arch-rival Google. He said novel technologies had to fuel expansion because markets for other Microsoft products were saturated.
At its annual analyst meeting Microsoft unveiled a prototype of an MSN toolbar that works with the Internet Explorer browser. As well as letting people search the net, it also lets them query the documents, images, e-mails or spreadsheets stored on their PC. The add-on is squarely pitched at the efforts of Google and Lycos, standalone search software from firms such as Enfish and newcomers such as Blinkx. The toolbar is due to be released within 12 months.
Microsoft has also unveiled a new version of its MSN search engine that it hopes will start to wean people off their reliance on Google.
Microsoft is also expected to unveil its own anti-virus software following its acquisition of a security firm last year.
As evidence that Microsoft was looking for novel technologies to profit from, Mr Gates said that the company was expecting to apply for about 3,000 patents this year.
During his speech Mr Gates showed off early versions of programs designed to compete with arch-rival Google. He said novel technologies had to fuel expansion because markets for other Microsoft products were saturated.
At its annual analyst meeting Microsoft unveiled a prototype of an MSN toolbar that works with the Internet Explorer browser. As well as letting people search the net, it also lets them query the documents, images, e-mails or spreadsheets stored on their PC. The add-on is squarely pitched at the efforts of Google and Lycos, standalone search software from firms such as Enfish and newcomers such as Blinkx. The toolbar is due to be released within 12 months.
Microsoft has also unveiled a new version of its MSN search engine that it hopes will start to wean people off their reliance on Google.
Microsoft is also expected to unveil its own anti-virus software following its acquisition of a security firm last year.
As evidence that Microsoft was looking for novel technologies to profit from, Mr Gates said that the company was expecting to apply for about 3,000 patents this year.
