27. April 2008 by admin.

“Wealth does not exist, only money management”

“Freedom does not exist, only time management”

In our current economy, an efficient method of distribution is required to stay afloat. Gas and oil prices are increasing. Maximizing efficiency, not profit, should be pursued as the highest priority. Long-term profitability will come as a result.

All corporations should compile a list of shipping locations, supplier locations, retail stores, warehouses, and office spaces. Integration should be done horizontally (owning a larger market share of retail stores, for example) and vertically (managing the flow of products from factory down to retail store).

Once a list has been completed, route planning or mapping should be done through GPS units, Google Maps, or other enterprise software. The shortest route distance between A to B should be mapped out. Alternate routes must be considered. Factors such as traffic, the weather, and shipment weight must be calculated. Since the weather is becoming increasingly erratic, hot weather or unusually rainy weather can be extremely harmful to business. Executives must now plan new hours of operation as well as other times for delivery, such as during the night, in order to balance work load.

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and cell phones will be the medium of communication used to update other members of the team one’s physical location as well as update route information. If there are any business calls during the day, a new route can be calculated in order to maximize convenience. UPS and FedEx already have an efficient method of route planning; businessmen need to do something like that as well.

The efficient use of transportation, not necessarily efficient transportation, is also crucial towards success. Hybrid vehicles should be used for the mainstream means of transportation of the company. Chief executives should drive luxury sedans instead of sport utility vehicles. Delivery will still be done by large trucks, but whenever possible, small loads can be done on compact sport wagons such as the Toyota Matrix, or sport utility vehicles.

The same applies for corporate technology. Companies should opt for energy efficient computers as well as smart, user-independent technology. Currently, the collaboration between Intel and Windows Vista has produced computers that can sense how much power is needed, and automatically reduces energy consumption when performing basic tasks, or shuts off when the user is not present.

The combination of all these techniques will lead to long term profitability as well as longer equipment lifespan, shorter hours of work, and better adaptability towards market conditions.

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27. April 2008 by admin.

“Business is Life”

Modeling the business under Green and environmental policies, like Ralphs, Pavilions (Vons), and countless other business models have done, is an excellent initiative, but it may not be enough. The proper way to model a corporation (as well as government) is on nature and universal law. The Green and environmentalist movement are only a small part of the whole nature; they only draw on what the most cutting-edge modern day science tells us - but knowledge is limited by technological progress. Relying on the rate of progress is not enough; we need to go back to nature.

How is it possible to understand nature without science? Through intuition, through experience. There is no sure fire way for businessmen to learn from nature. Each person must take his or her own journey through nature, and debrief and analyze what they learned in the end. People cannot learn about nature just merely from business books that gives tips on how to maximize profit by applying environmental principles; they must experience nature firsthand, think about nature, and discuss nature with other businessmen.

More specifically, men should model their business on the movement of the heavens. Thus, another source of inspirations are the laws of physics. The inverse square law of how half the profits should be derived from local source, a fourth from state, an eight nationally, and a sixteenth internationally, is one great method to earn a profit. There are also basic astronomical themes of arranging the business structure. A business works annually, because of the solar cycle. The best type of business report is quarterly and also once per four years. Company goals as well as debriefing should be set at certain intervals of the year.

Indeed, when solar and lunar eclipses occur, deep meaning towards human life is present. Also, when certain planets line up, or when the solar system aligns with the galactic center, it is an excellent time to consider business ideals. Not because, a magical force is present, but rather, because a certain cycle has been completed. Fulfillment, was always the theme in ancient Chinese astronomy. When the moon is full, it is considered especially auspicious, or lucky. The Chinese even have a holiday dedicated towards the moon. In addition, life as we know would certainly not exist without the moon. The moon causes tides, the tilt of the earth, the four seasons, as well as the stability of earth’s rotation. Also, the moon offers a source of light at night, and businesses can maximize this source of light, instead of building more lamps, by aligning their enterprises to the position and intensity of moonlight.

Empirically, we still do not know why floods and earthquakes occur. Too often, natural disasters occur is because humans disrespect the environment. Not just polluting, but being unprepared for events is also disrespecting nature, because being acting impervious to natural disaster is a form of of shallow pride. Businessmen must be prepared for hard events, and lead the people in the vanguard when trouble arises. For example, warehouses, offices, and stores must be earthquake-resistant. Also, when fire or earthquake occurs, there should be emergency plans prepared.

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17. April 2008 by admin.

The I-Jing is the deepest as well as most obscure of all ancient Chinese texts. The level of mathematical ardor using a 6 digit binary system to compose 64 binary figures, to produce a level of understanding of the world, humbles the most able thinker. The core wisdom of the I-Jing, however, is knowing how to respond to change.

Responding to change is a level beyond responding to a static world. Normal assessment of situations, whether it be military, business, political, uses a three dimensional model to depict the battlefield, the corporate structure, or the political arrangement. Too often, we only use one or two dimensions to simplify the situation. However, the I-Jing is not a passive group of lines used in a linear fashion; it is the active integral of a changing two-dimensional matrix over time. Thus, four dimensions are required to map the changing landscape of the universe.

To know what to do when faced with a situation is one thing, but how does a person, even granted with the best of abilities, deal with a changing situation? This was what I was pondering over as I was driving on the freeway, cruising a variable 80 miles per hour, sometimes speeding up, sometimes slowing down, in the midst of the changing scenery of moving cars. To know when to move forward, when to retreat… To know when to act, when to wait… To know who to befriend, and who to stay away from…

In business, this means when to push forward the business through advertising and initiative. Too often, large and small companies advertise too much, at the wrong time. Much money and effort at lost. The opposite is true as well, when a business feels complacent or does not stand in a moral position - that is the case for many Chinese electronic companies with products that have better quality than mainstream products in America but lack advertising promotion. The lack of coordination between different businesses is what causes the contraction, or recession, in the business cycle.

Equally as important is the allies and competitors a business possesses in its domain. Friends must be gained from a starting position, and intimacy without this initial bond causes the business alliance to fall apart. Allies can shift, and therefore the business must take advantage of favorable conditions and produce relationships that can be still lukewarm even in the most distant of separation.

Knowing one’s competitors does not mean acting according to any fixed plan in the traditional sense. Contention should not be viewed negatively. Competition between businesses can produce better performances and product quality, and often this is how evolution in biology works. However, too much competition is destructive as well, and applying Hegelian dialect to every situation in the world utterly fails to model a failproof way to respond.

Competition, as well as cooperation can enhance communications between rival companies. Cooperation must not degrade into mutual submission, where both parties form an oligarchy and move slowly in the market on purpose. Some competition is best, in the long run. Experience is gained, and strength is built through hardship.

Also, over time, some rival companies take a lot of fire, whether from lawsuits or just having to deal with the bulk of orders from customers, as the top seller of a certain product line. These companies shield smaller companies and does everyone else a great favor.

This excerpt all but draws upon a small portion of the complete wisdom of the I-Jing. More will be written in the future, but in order to understand the world, both a sensory, detail-based understanding as well as an theoretical, intuitive element is required.

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12. April 2008 by admin.

I was discussing on the definition of unity with a close friend, and we used the Socratic method, as well as Ch’an (Zen) logic to arrive at a conclusion.

He asked, “What is unity?”

I replied, “Diversity.”

He asked me to clarify on this definition.

I paused for a few moments, and said,

“Unity is having significant diversity to contribute to the whole.”

An atom, then, is the perfect example of harmonious unity. Where the atom can be made up of many different elementary particles (quarks, gluons, electrons, leptons), they all function as a coherent whole. So is the solar system. Although the planets vary vastly by planetary orbit (elliptical), speed (variable), and composition, they function as a coherent whole, with the Sun in the center.

That being said, my friend pointed out that the phrase on unity was a classic example of Greek irony, which seems paradoxical, but produces truth. Irony moves in multiple dimensions, and is the changing transition between opposing ideas; irony is the seed of movement. When an irony occurs, the unexpected element makes the idea more powerful. How do we teach irony? Through everyday experience, as well as drama in movies, plays, and novels.

Because irony can exist, the logical conclusion is that philosophy can be used against itself. Thus, philosophy by itself is not the proper method of obtaining truth. Traditional Aristotlean philosophy must be paired with intuition, include a moral element, as well as intertwine itself with religion - in order to obtain the truth.

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12. April 2008 by admin.

“Risk cannot be eliminated, but it can be managed”

After completed my business conference, I would like to outline a few points of new type of insurance policy provided by Citigroup.

• Benefits to the deceased
• Automatic rebalancing
• Reallocation of funds

Traditional insurance policies do not include such benefits. In the the case of investments provided by Citigroup, principle protection, which is offering the market value or higher, is offered. A step-up is also given, which gives the highest value on every anniversary, although the highest value depends if the market goes up or down.

Automatic rebalancing offers solutions if the market screws up and one market you invested little in does unexpectedly better than the one you invested the most in. Rebalancing fixes the available funds and investments, and maintains the integrity of the investment portfolio.

Reallocation is a service provided to change stocks, with virtually an unlimited number of times, without going through a middleman, which incurs fees and taxes.

Speaking of the market, people remember the market lows (interest rates), when the economy is down at its worst nadir.

The lows seem to make the average interest rate over a hundred years much lower, but in truth, long-term growth is inevitable. What financial experts do for the common folk, is to have a share in that wealth.

The best investment options (1926-2006) are as follows:

• Small Company Stocks - 12.7%
• Large Company Stocks - 10.4%
• Long-Term Government Bonds - 5.4%
• Treasury Bills - 3.7%

Source: 2007 Morningstar, Inc.

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9. April 2008 by admin.

As equally as important for a product to be able to give customers some lasting satisfaction, it is important for merchants to give customers a hospitable climate when purchases are made. That way, when a customer remembers in their memory,

“Oh, I bought it from this-and-this store. The weather was sunny and cool, and I walked down a clean sidewalk filled with many trees, and upon entering the store I was greeted by genuinely polite employees, not workers droning out a generic message, my product was easy to find and I spend hours just wandering and getting lost looking at products, in the atmosphere XYZ store provided. The salesman advertised the product in an optimistic and objective manner.”

Contrast to a store where the store sign is dull and falling apart, the environment dirty, dangerous, and the place looks like as if you want to get out of there as fast as possible. Indeed, profit will always be made in certain industries, if people need lamps, they will buy lamps. If they need wood, they will buy wood. If they need food, they will buy food from a convenient location. If they need shoes, they will go some place to find shoes. Same goes for anything that is necessary for survival - living supplies. Profit is guaranteed; if people need something, they will come to you. However, being able to attract more customers and staying in business long term requires business acumen and quality of service.

In short, business is about not only being able to exchange money or goods, but also about making people feel good. A superficial commitment is not enough, a genuine commitment towards a truly satisfying experience provides the answers towards customer happiness. Not all customers can tell the difference between falseness and commitment, but mathematically, If 80% of customers cannot tell the difference but 20% are able to discern a difference in atmosphere, the business has already automatically won the hearts of the 20%, making the full 100%. Business is about being all-encompassing, being able to say yes to everybody and not excluding a single customer. The extra profit lost through investment (towards a better experience), will automatically be regained and reabsorbed over time, and will produce more profit in the long run.

Given that quality of service is a effective and competitive business model, the responsible conduct of the customer will be important as well. Businesses will assume customers are moral and responsible unless proven otherwise. Security and collaboration between either private security or law enforcement is an necessity for all sizes of businesses, small or large.

Rowdy customers is the reason that, for more than three hundred years, businesses have the sign “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” If the customer is trying to take advantage of the business, steal goods, or return products and raise a commotion, such actions must be punished either fiscally or legally.

Ultimately, the law must protect both business and consumer. A capitalist monopoly scheme, that oppresses its customers through sheer psychological force and financial power, cannot subsist. A indiscriminate customer-first scheme, putting customers first at the loss of merchants, is equally as despicable.

Power must come from above as well as below; we do not live in a mobocracy. We live in a Federalist Republican society. Merchant responsibilities, also equate to customer responsibilities. The lack of participation of either in implied contracts terminates business transactions, as well as profits. In short, the full definition of smooth business is a condition where both customers and merchants feel good. The customer must gain the product they want or need, and the corporation must make their employees feel good, and must satisfy the executive’s ambitions and dreams.

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8. April 2008 by admin.

The proper solution to inconsistencies in employee work habits in identical occupations, is a variable pay rate, that takes into account the amount of work spent in a certain location. Some places have few customers, which require less work. Some places have many customers, which require much more work. Those who work harder should be paid more, and those who do not should be given the lowest wage permitted by law or fired. Not all identical jobs are equal. Additional compensation, not including overtime, should range up to double the starting salary.

We will take the wisdom of John Smith into accord.

“[Those that] will not worke, shall not eate.”

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7. April 2008 by admin.

Traditional Multiple Choice exams are based on “choosing the best answer.” That is highly open to interpretation, especially if you meet a scholastic Aristotlean. Aren’t schools supposed to be scholastic? If so, they are discarding their core philosophy! The question can be defined as choosing the “right” answer, or the “most comprehensive answer.” After all, most things are true, it is just that some answers are more appropriate for the right context. Thus, the traditional Multiple Choice exam is an all-or-nothing shot. That is un-American . That is treating people like machines. Or worse - Not even machines can fully contextualize answers; such AI for a machine that can answer tests will take decades to program. Only the best of the best graduate, or more precisely, the smartest. Not the wisest or the quickest, but the most effective test taker. Now are we teaching students learning or test-taking?

The other alternative solution is to modify the grading method of the test. Exams with choices A B C D E should be given more credit per correctness. So if an question has two answers that are correct, and a third “B and C” which is the best anwer , the student should be given partial credit if they answer B or C. No technicalities are reached. The best students will always choose the best answers, and those who are average students will learn. That way, not only will people not be penalized for their answers, but they will also learn from their answers. rom history to programming, from mathematics to science (maybe except grammar, which requires absolute precision).

The Chinese are both excellent and terrible at this, and have a two thousand year tradition of stagnant test-taking, as well as a two-thousand tradition of brilliant teachers who design human-oriented tests. But this system needs to change, because modern world needs are not testing to gain political office, the global economy is testing to learn and achieve the full human purpose.

The parabolic equation can provide the framework for motion under constant acceleration. Nature can reproduce this, through any accelerating system, such as gravity. Because nature can produce it, humans can produce it as well. Realistically, any human or artist can reproduce the curves of the parabola by applying constant increasing pressure of her pen. Able to change the direction of the vector is also why we can draw a perfect circle, although in the case of the circle, the speed of the pen is more or less uniform, and the acceleration is a centripetal acceleration v squared over r, meaning that how the circle is drawn really depends on its radius.

However, the real application of the parabola is when the bounds begin from negative and end up on positive, since that provides the right context for a parabola. The recovery of business . We technically can’t always “bounce” back to recovery every time. Our greatest business losses cannot be applied with the same force upwards as the moment business hits the lowest point. Almost all true recovery is gradual. Such gradual recovery would more accurately model the non inverse parabolic function, and proper downsizing of the company (cutting jobs) would more accurately model an inverse (upside-down) parabolic function.

When we feel sad or angry, effort is required to put us out of that mood. Recovery cannot be automatic, not even the strongest can recover immediately from great tragedy. One of the Chinese commentaries on the Dao, said that the meaning of being invulnerable to pain means not physical or emotional invulnerability, but mental invulnerability. A sage can still have feelings, but knows exactly what to do. By responding to these events positively, and eventually recovering, no harm can ever come to a sage. The proper quote should be: “It does not matter how hard you fall, it matters how quickly you recover [rather than bounce].”

Any business or political model is capable of recovery. Whether it be Bear Sterns, Worldcom, or dying online computer retailers (Such as Monarch Computer as well as hundreds of computer stores that have gone out of business in the last five years). The solution may be extremely difficult, but it requires a kind of dedication and optimism that not all top business executives have. The leaders must be willing to take responsibility and neither, tell someone else to acquire and merge their company, in order to maximize their profit, nor take the easy way out, which is to close the company. Take heed and bear witness to this advice.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »

4. April 2008 by admin.

It is not products, that make money, it is information of products that make money. Everything in our reality is fundamentally a mental construct. Good information, would lead to profit. Inaccurate information, would lead to loss. Amazing that the top corporations are only vaguely aware of this fundamental law.

Information, channeled through person-person relationships via six degrees of separation (in reality of business, more often two to three degrees) ultimately lead to profit. Communications, relationships to people, are equally important as information in business. Having good friends, and having a widespread reputation, can help critically in business.

Page Listings

A feature that would benefit online catalogs currently would be to allow some kind of deleting of obsolete or more importantly, duplicate listings of same products. Currently, all listings are permanent; there is no way product listings can be deleted, not even the creator of the page (the owner of the product listing, who is a merchant), is able to delete it. Page deletion can only occur through a complicated process of appealing to online catalog’s review board. If current trends continue, in a few decades many top corporations will have a catalog size that is unmanageable, even with a huge editing team and ample resources, top corporations would not be able to clean the mess it brought itself into.

Not even laws are made forever permanent. The effectiveness of a state lies in its ability to respond quickly to situations with new laws, modifying current laws, and scrapping old laws.

What makes online catalogs so successful on the Internet? Convenience. Customers can surf from Levi Jeans to Blu-Ray Players to Basketball Supplies, without leaving the site, buying everything they need in a single shopping basket, and paying only once. This is the power of online catalogs. Power comes at price; there is a hidden commission charged to the sellers, resulting in a higher price than the market. The only way online catalogs can continue profit while charging higher prices is to be better than online stores. The only way to be better than online stores is to have clearer product listings, and higher payment to time-spent ratio. (Customers spend much valuable time searching for the lowest price). Merchant honesty is the only way to generate the maximum profit for online businesses; there is no other more efficient alternative. Only then, will customers continue to use the online catalog.

Taking a Unitary, Federal, and Confederalist government as an example, online catalog corporations would more or less resemble a Federalist system, or a two way power exchange between corporation and customer. A Unitary system would be more of the old railroad corporations of the 1800, as well as large banking institutions. A Confederalist system would resemble Wikipedia, where users have most of the power to write articles. However, I would hold off comment on Wikipedia for the moment. A Federal system seems to be notsomuch ideal, but more desirable. Online catalogs, then, have a special relationship with sellers, and can bypass merchants (or states, in the case of government). Quite a design for checks-and-balances.

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2. April 2008 by admin.

When visiting the local bookstore today and picking up a copy of the Blue Cliff Record by Thomas Clearly, I ran through an inventory check of some books I wanted including Thinking Through Confucius: SUNY Series, which was advertised on an email I received from Amazon.com. Borders did not even have the book in stock, so it seems that they do not have a direct link with Amazon. This is disadvantageous when a reader is looking for a rare book. On the positive side, it allows readers to browse between different selections of books.

Probably the greatest marketing invention, in the book industry, is not the creation of an ISBN but rather, the creation of “personalized recommendations” that vary depending on a user’s tastes. All I told Amazon was that I owned a few Chinese classics, some IT training manuals, and some political philosophy, and it returned back a wonderful wealth of potential knowledge.

But which books have the keenest insight and the best long term-profitability? Classics seem to reap more profit than any other book. Bestsellers often flare and burn out, often as quickly in a period of four seasons. A choice of publisher is also important, but it seems that once an author has chosen the right press, the author can keep rolling out new knowledge. Check out Donald A. Norman.

Statistically, Borders in Arcadia needs to restock on its Chinese literature and philosophy if it ever wants a few more million dollars over the next decades; the shelves are almost empty of Chinese classics and covered with New Age meditation and Indian and Tibetan Buddhist books; all that remains are a few tacky translations of the I-Jing and a book titled “Daoism for Dummies.”

What is the most efficient and profitable method of distributing information (books)? Should books be sold by merchants (bookstores), shipped from an online catalog or store, or sold as bits and bytes of information as an e-Book? Here:

http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=14107

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=133616

Clearly, the traditional method generates more monetary velocity, as they say, when the book exchanges hands. Information wise, it would determine whether if the book is prized by the owner, or passed quickly after readings.

Also, the method of selling rare and collectible books has its own industry, and a markup on the price within a few years a book is out of publication reaps its own rewards. Books, unlike most technology, do not lose value over time when kept in good condition, and have over a +100% profit margin. Special editions of the book generate even more revenue. Although books are not copied by hand, imagine how much the Ma Wang Dui Daodejing texts or the Gutenberg Bibles are worth! Creating such a mechanism for efficient sales or lending would lead to a library, which could be a public library or a private corporation with an online catalog. All that is needed is a group of friends and a few bookshelves.

http://www.santacruzpl.org/libraryadmin/01-02bud.shtml

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