Featured in TechCrunch

My most recent musings found their way on TechCrunch which is awesome and even cooler is that I was greenlit to do another piece... Take a look below and enjoy!

http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/09/a-former-patent-examiners-perspective-on-the-current-patent-hubbub/

Getting Back Into the Blogosphere!

Dear Readers,

     So It has been awhile since I have blogged on this site, and truth be told I have not really pushed hard due to my hectic schedule. However I am getting back into it and in fact have authored a number of guest posts on Triple Pundit. Below are the links to my recent musings this past year...enjoy!

-n

US Patent Office Launches “Patents for Humanity” Challenge

Fostering Competitiveness and Innovation Capacity in the United States

Lots of Dinero Still on the Table: SBA’s $1B Impact Investment Fund

Green Government Opportunities

Why Regional Innovation Clusters Should Not be Demonized

White House Presidential Innovation Fellows Program

Launch: Beyond Waste Innovation Challenge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Economic Ecosystems

Yesterday in my Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics class we were going over the economic theories of Milton Friedman and Ed Freeman regarding Shareholder vs Stakeholder in Business organizations. Now everyone is quite familiar with the current capitalistic process that we understand from ROI's to NPV evaluations. Friedman generally favored the idea that money was a high (if not sole) factor for evaluating output produced. The idea basically that "money" is what makes the world go round.

However there has been a greater push as of late for businesses (in particular American) to seek alternative driving forces. A former Smith B-School Professor (Now at BU) Chris Dellarocas noted to us in class that there were three driving forces that motivate people: 1) Money, 2) Love, and 3) Pride/Glory. I would argue it is these forces that help make the argument for why stakeholder theory would play an important role in economic development.




(Source: http://www.stakeholdernetworks.com/StakeholderMapping.aspx)

When you look at the graph above (similar to the one showed to us in class last night) it is analogous to a food-web and it dawned on me that the modern day business environment has transformed (partially due to globalization and even limited resources) that we are no longer dealing with a competitive "dog eat dog" world, but looking at an "economic ecosystem". This is similar to what Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson (President of RPI) has been arguing in addressing the quiet crisis with respect to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Economic ecosystems have driving and reactionary forces that we need to be cognizant of in rebuilidng America's economy. I argue that three critical elements in local business eco-systems required to really work would include Research Universities, Active Local Government, and Entrepreneurial Businesses. These three ingredients can create a mixture of growth and development in a localized sense. I would present Silicon Valley and Tech Valley as examples of this concept from a mature (Silicon) to a new-born (Tech) perspective.

Final Exams This Week

So this week I commence my final exams (Tuesday and Thursday respectively), and I feel alright...still need to do more studying, but better off now, having studied over the weekend, rather than putting it off last minute like some of my classmates.

Fortunately I have a lot of vacation time that needs to be burned, so I am taking these next three days off to study and better prepare myself. The exams are for Managerial Economics & Public Policy and Leadership & Managing Human Capital.

Overall I am looking forward to taking a break from the semester, and catching up on items that have been slightly neglected, but definitely looking forward to Spring semester, which should be a lot of fun!

Before I close out...I'd like to show below an interesting question on Game Theory (a topic learned this semester and see what answers you might come up with?


1. Golden Cones and Sara's Ice Cream are both trying to decide what kind of ma-
chines to purchase. The profits earned by the two firms in each possible outcome
are listed below with Golden's profits listed first in each cell. Golden is the "row
player" and Sara's is the "column player." G denotes purchase of a gelato machine,
while Y denotes purchase of a yogurt machine.

G Y
G 150, 0 150, 300
Y 400, 150 50, 50
Figure 1: Payoff matrix (payoffs are profits in US dollars ($ 1,000))

(a) True or False: G is a dominant strategy for Golden.

(b) True or False: Y is a dominant strategy for Sara.

(c) Suppose the two players make simultaneous purchases. The Nash equilibrium
points of the game are:
i. (G, G) only
ii. (G, Y) only
iii. (Y, G) only
iv. (Y, Y) only
v. (G, Y) and (Y, G)
vi. (G, G) and (Y, Y)

(d) Now suppose that Golden moves first. Golden's equilibrium payoffs will be:

(e) Suppose Golden continues to have the first move. But before their move, they
get a phone call from the management at Sara's who announce that they plan
on purchasing Yogurt machines no matter what.
True or False: Golden should now choose to install a Gelato machine.

(f) Suppose that before Golden moves, the owner of Sara's rearranges his physical
plant in a way that makes the installation of Gelato machines more costly. In
particular, let's assume that Sara's profits from installing Gelato machines fall
by $125,000 due to this maneuver.
True or False: Golden should now choose to install a Gelato machine.

-ApuTao

China...Post Trip Reflection

Some of you may have heard through the grapevine that I was selected to represent the Smith School of Business-University of Maryland's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship Delegation to China (Whew...what a mouthful).


Below is a writeup I composed (for the center) regarding my thoughts on the experience...
as well I have included an actual press release link and you-tube video link highlighting the trip...

Enjoy!!!

-ApuTao
-------------------
The Communist China as we thought we knew it... is "dead".

Standing in Tiananmen Square, the site of the 1989 Student Protests, it was amazing to see the portrait of Mao Ze Dong hanging across the street of the entrance to Forbidden City, amongst a sea of people dressed in fashionable western attire from Armani or Gucci clothing to Dolce and Gabana HandBags. You might ask yourself how is this possible? The year was 1979 and Deng Xiaoping, then leader of the People's Republic of China famously quipped "...it is glorious to be rich", pursued a capitalist open-market policy to help initiate China's rise as an economic power-house and leader in the global market-place.

As a part-time MBA student, I was priveleged with the opportunity to represent the Smith School of Business's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship to help assist with the annual China Business Plan Competition (at Beida University) and learn more about the cultural, trade, and intellectual partnerships between the United States and China. Our agenda was jam-packed with various business meetings and tours of companies in Beijing and Dalian. We met some of the top business leaders of China in Beijing from Bensom Tam of Fidelity Investures to Matthew Estes of BabyCare Co, as well met with Diplomat Conrad Wong, Intellectual Property Rights Attache, of the United States Government/Department of Commerce. Also we scored a very cool tour of the Lenovo Manufacturing facilities, unfortunately we were unable to receive a free laptop, but as a constellation prize we did see and hold an Olympic torch from the 2008 Summer Games.


One fascinating highlight of the trip was a visit to a "tech-focused" high-school where bright and eager teenager students from impoverished areas of China are able to receive an education in a specfic trade, helping them learn useful skills and pursue a career in job opportunities that would have otherwise been unavailable to them. Smith Alumnus and former Dell CEO, Kevin Rollins helped contribute to the students intellectual development by donating money and Dell PC's for their educational benefit.

During some of our down-time we were able to visit the Great Wall, the Bird's Nest and Water Cube Olympic venues, and utilize our bargaining skills at the Silk and Dirt Markets. The students were provided the opportunity to interact not only with each other but also with the Dingman Center Staff (Asher Epstein, Melissa Carrier, Sarah Moon), the Entrepreneurs in Residence (Paul Bowen, John Lapides, Neil Selvin, Tien Wong, and Steven Roth) and Associate Dean Bob Krapfel learning so much from their insights and experiences in both the academic and applied business worlds.

Although we had to be up bright and early each day, and generally not able to go to bed till midnight usually, the excitement and opportunity to learn more about international business and seeing first hand the transformational changes occuring to China was well worth lack of "shut-eye". I highly recommend Smith School of Business students to take advantage of this opportunity and be ready to immerse yourself in an intense week of business learning and cultural immersion for what will be an amazing experience.
---------------------
http://www.smith.umd.edu/news/stories/2008/dingman-china-trip.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irqyz03kghc

T-Accounts

So from the previous post, I noted that I was pursuing my MBA Part-time this fall.

This Semester I am taking 3 classes, 2 of which are half term and one that is full term. To adequately prepare the B-School student with the rudimentary basics of "Business", it is best to have an Introduction to Financial Accounting Course.

Now mind you the textbook's title is Introduction to Financial Accounting in an Economic Context, which begs to question where was this textbook hiding, given the current Wall Street crisis, in the fat cat's bookshelves?

Our class has begun to explore Financial accounting techniques when drafting up Statement of Cash Flows, Income Statements, Balance Sheets...etc.... What is interesting is that there is a "Direct" and "Indirect" method for drafting a Statement of Cash Flows. Take a guess which method many American accounting firms tend to use compare to the rest of the world?

You guessed it..."indirect"....here's a recommendation to Hank Paulson and "W"....stop talking the talk and actually propose that all American corporate institutions to begin preparing their documents via the "Direct" method...maybe...just maybe....there might be an easier means for oversight and data collection to crack down on incompetence accounting and spending??

For all you non-business peeps...here's the eqn to know...

Assets = Liabilities + Shareholder's Equity....

There has to be a balance to the system when everyone wants a piece of the pie...

My money on Lehman Bros and Merrill Lynch's downfall...someone did not follow the rule and ensure that A = L + SE with all the revenues and expenses coming and going...that and someone probably messed up the numerical calculation when using a T-Account...

-ApuTao

8 Months Later Update and B-School

Last posting was in January discussing my plans to venture to the land down under...

All I can really say is that the trip was an amazing adventure...traveling from the Opera House of Sydney to the massive city of Melbourne to the amazing spiritual outback of Uluru and Ayers Rock to the beautiful yet fragile Great Barrier Reef of Cairns to wrapping up to the modest and simple yet peaceful city of Brisbane....

Olisa and I are in the talks of taking on Greece and Turkey next year....we'll see what ends up occurring...but what a trip....

Beyond that massive trek, little projects and travels were undertakend here and there... From the West Coast Adventure of California and Oregon to the mid-west rendezvous with Chicago and of course a pit-stop to the folks home in Albany, NY.

All of this before...the next biggest project I undertake....B-School and my agenda to obtain my MBA from the University of Maryland.

For the next 2-3 years...I will be busy but I think I am going to start pursuing this blog further from a perspective of a part-time Business School Student and the juggling and time management one undergoes working full-time and obtaining another shiny piece of paper in order to help beef up credentials and open up new doors of opportunities...

Until next time....Peace out and be good....

-ApuTao