UPS has developed new shipping containers made of a composite material called MacroLite, similar to that used in body armor, as well as an active fire suppression system.  Tests show that these new containers which weigh less and are more durable than legacy aluminum or polycarbonate-sided containers can confine an internal fire of 1,200 degrees for 4 hours.  Bob Brown, a UPS member of the group developing the new container, stated that some of the solutions were found in unusual places,  “We had to go outside of aviation into the automobile industry, Navy submarines and space programs to see how they handled fires.”   (Aviation Week and Space Technology)

While the containers cost more, the company stated that the added expense will be offset by transportation savings stemming from its reduced weight and by reduced maintenance.  What’s equally important is the company’s approach to the project.  Members of the development team went outside the walls, or silos, of this company to explore products and practices in other companies and industries.  Expanding their vision to the periphery helped this team develop a new product with benefits that should be felt for many years.

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Homeland Security officials have declared that failing to prepare for extreme weather events cost the U.S. $1.15 trillion from 1980 to 2010. Two years ago, 15 states had climate protection plans, now 36 states do. Delaware, which has invested in shore protection, has noted that for every dollar it has invested, it has received $10 in value back from the investment. (USA Today)   Electric grid, water management, transportation system upgrade and shore protection all seem to be slated for increased funding over the next several years.

Additionally, the conditions across the United States have caused numerous school cancellations and are creating challenges for schools to meet state class-time requirements.  Under a new Ohio law that took effect this year, districts that max out on “calamity” days can use up to three “e-learning days” to meet state class-time requirements and avoid having to add extra days on to the end of a school year.

To implement e-learning days, the state requires district teachers to post lessons and assignments online for students to complete during the snow day.  At Grandville High School in Michigan, an AP calculus teacher uses online technology for snow days to assign lessons and provides videos of herself teaching the lesson and working out sample problems, that way she doesn’t have to rush through lessons with fewer school days.   (Education Week)

These events have also created planning and budget issues for many schools and has pushed teachers to explore new ways of connecting with their students.   Out of these storms may come some helpful operational changes.  As just one example, the AP calculus teacher in Michigan now tapes most of her classes as it provides another connection for kids that are absent, or who just want to hear the lesson again.

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Business scholars Karim Lakhani and Lars Bo Jeppesen studied Innocentive, the service that helps connect companies that have a problem or technical challenge with ideas and solutions that anyone in the world can offer. Their research found that when a company posts a highly complex problem, they are not typically solved by professionals in the discipline in question, but rather by what they describe as a “borderline expert” – someone with knowledge of the field in question, but whose expertise lies in an adjacent field. The second marker of success involved individuals who have “interdisciplinary expertise” – the ability to draw connections between one subject and another. One of the scholars opined, “You have to be close enough to comprehend the technical aspects, but not so close that you’re biased by the way those immersed in the problem tend to think.” (The Atlantic)

This research suggests some takeaways for decision making, human-resources planning and staffing.  There are benefits to hiring people with non-traditional backgrounds for work in a related field. Diversity of a person’s professional experience can offer a broader range of insights and ways of approaching a problem. Changing a person’s area of focus and analysis can broaden his or her ability to make connections and gain insights. Companies should avoid having staff operate in siloes of expertise among colleagues who share a similar expertise.

In a recent real-world example, a team of researchers in Boston and Japan have discovered something other scientists are calling “shocking,” “astounding,” “revolutionary,” and “almost like alchemy” – a reference to the ancient belief that lead could be transformed into gold: Researchers learned that by dipping mature adult cells into a bath of acid for half an hour, the cells will transform on their own into stem cells. Currently, the art of creating such induced pluripotential stem cells or iPS cells, involves a series of highly technical steps with the use of specialized drugs. (Boston Globe)

This discovery could be a transformational landmark in the application of stem cell research, which has spent years looking for approaches to offer stem cell therapies that do not involve creating or destroying embryos. What is also significant, as noted by the Boston Globe, is that “the approach is so simple and so out-of-the-box that it might never have been tried if it hadn’t been for the persistence and curiosity of Dr. Charles Vacanti, an anesthesiologist working largely outside the field of stem cell science” [emphasis added].

Consider that Dr. Vacanti works in an adjacent field to stem-cell research but is not considered an expert therein, not dissimilar from the most successful researchers found in the study on Innocentive.

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This practice of taking executive recruiting in-house has produced substantial cost savings at GE, as well as Coke, Pfizer, Microsoft and Nike.  This new way of operating is one example of what we have termed Rampaging Efficiencies at U.S. companies.  But while it has produced savings in the tens-to-hundreds of millions of dollars at these corporations, it has resulted in substantial revenue declines at the talent-search companies.  No wonder the search giants are now acquiring leadership consulting companies in an effort to broaden revenue streams.  What happens when the corporate in-house recruiters also branch into in-house leadership consulting?

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For one, the mailbox is answering the call for delivery of online purchases.

Amazon is now teaming up with Staples, Radio Shack, 7-Eleven and Albertsons for its Amazon Locker Service.  The physical retailers will install Amazon lockers in their stores, allowing customers to buy from Amazon and ship packages to the lockers and then pick them up later.

As we have noted in our New American Lifestyles context, individuals are increasingly moving to urban locations and these locker services, also offered by startups BufferBox and ShopRunner, may prove beneficial to those living in apartment buildings and urban environments.

For another example of the past offering a solution for modern problems, the general store is proving to be a valuable retail model in some cities.

Facing a mass exodus from urban to rural areas and a general population decline that was forcing retailers to close, residents of the German village of Barmen formed a corporation and funded the creation of a village center in 2006.  Today the 150 square meter store sells basic staples and also has an ATM machine, post office, travel center, a place to register a car or renew a driver’s license and has a doctor who comes once a week from a neighboring town.

Those who run the Barmen store have gotten so many inquiries from other towns that they have created a separate consulting firm and estimate that they have helped set up about 10 other stores, none of which are losing money.  They have another 25 stores in the works.

According to one of the Barmen consultants, the most important element of the village store is the café in the back.  While the store can’t compete with discounters on price, or with upscale supermarkets on variety, it can offer a community feel and an experience.

Simplicity (the limited inventory), Connectivity (the community of the town center) and Experience (the café) are three things that are making these general stores a success and are also three of the four items, along with Restraint, on our American Consumer Values Hierarchy.

American retailers, faced with a myriad of challenges, might want to look to Germany for some ideas.

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That was President Ronald Reagan’s perspective on international diplomacy.  Increasingly, that is advice all individuals, all the time, need to apply.  On Amazon.com, for instance, roughly 80 percent of all reviews are four stars or higher, a positive perspective that defies human nature.  Yelp!, which knows that fake reviews undermine its entire business model, claims a proprietary fraud-detection system stops at least 20 percent of all reviews before they reach the public.  According to computer scientist Bing Liu, who studies online fraud, roughly 30 percent of all reviews across the Internet are fraudulent.  Yet, 70 percent of global consumers trust online consumer reviews, up from 55 percent just four years ago.  Review fraud is increasing, and trust in those reviews is also increasing.  Is this ignorance or indifference to accuracy?

The Reagan perspective needs to be used much more widely than just for consumer reviews on the Internet.  A recent study of biomedical journals discovered that use of manipulated data or fraudulent professional reviews has increased 10 fold since 1975 – and that study only counted frauds that were caught.  In September alone, several journals, including Experimental Parasitology and Pharmaceutical Biology discovered that nearly 30 papers had made their way to publication by using fake peer reviews.  The reviews, which are routinely solicited by the journal to assess the papers’ worthiness for publication, were fraudulent, most commonly being reviews by fake professionals created by the authors themselves.

The Internet has put an enormous amount of information at everyone’s fingertips, and now those wanting to use that incredible resource are having to deal with the effects of the intentional polluting of that information. Has deception and fraud become so commonplace that those trying to detect it constantly lag the deceivers?  What does that say about nearly all kinds of societal interactions, including those in retail, advertising, medicine, equities, religion, politics, education, marketing and on and on?  Is there any place individuals can place their trust?  Is there room for an independent, non-aligned business to validate information?

Hmmm, fact checking, the new black.

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Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina all placed in the top 10 of the Business Facilities list of the best workforce-training programs with Louisiana on top.  The four states trained a combined 70,000 workers, adding a net total of 26,300 manufacturing jobs from January 2011 to January 2012.

The states’ programs all have a number of things in common including, being offered free of charge, and ensuring that the workforce is adequately prepared to take actual jobs that are already available.  Tax breaks for the companies are usually included as well.

North Carolina is also offering tax breaks for companies to move to the state.  Charlotte recently lured Chiquita from Cincinnati, offering more than $24 million in state and local incentives, as well as the promise of easier travel into and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

As unemployment remains elevated states that offer incentives to attract companies will benefit.  This should also benefit companies looking to open new locations or relocate.  This environment should create increased business for any companies offering or facilitating training programs for states.

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We’ve written about the ways in which producers of other goods are attempting to eliminate the middle man and sell directly to consumers and now some book publishers are following suit.  It appears that the publishers are more afraid of Amazon’s power (60 percent of the e-book market) than they are of piracy.  Can these publishers effectively dent Amazon’s profits, or is it too little, too late?

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These are not knockoffs like those the software and hardware businesses face; rather these are knockoffs of the original content but by people who make no pretense of being the original musicians. The fashion industry has faced this issue, as lower-priced stores create their own versions of runway fashion, putting the products in stores before the original designers get theirs to market. The idea of “rolling out” any product slowly around the world is anachronistic.

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This is yet another example of airlines doing whatever they can to save on fuel prices. We expect to see more moves in the transportation market to mitigate one of their biggest expenses. Meanwhile, the market for tablets and the reasons for corporations to purchase them continue to grow.

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