How the US lost out on iPhone jobs

(via Peerside) Apple makes it clear that it isn't just labor costs that makes the US uncompetitive

"Apple has become one of the best-known, most admired and most imitated companies on earth, in part through an unrelenting mastery of global operations. Last year, it earned over $400,000 in profit per employee, more than Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil or Google.

However, what has vexed Mr. Obama as well as economists and policy makers is that Apple — and many of its high-technology peers — are not nearly as avid in creating American jobs as other famous companies were in their heydays.

Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas"

Further Reading
New York Times Article By CHARLES DUHIGG and KEITH BRADSHER, 2012 link

Building effective teams Anywhere!

Alfredo Behrens writes about building effective teams in emerging markets. His examples highlight the fallacy of assuming that organisational members can simply collaborate and work effectively with any other organisational members. People know people, they come from different communities, different teams, different cultures. The simple notion that organisational members are interchangeable is inherently problematic.

Further reading
A, Behrens. Building Effective Teams in Emerging Markets. HBR Blog. 2012. (link)

Cases for Global Sourcing

1. You've got email MAT
2. Symantec moves off-shore
3. We need warm bodies
4. Celtic Tiger, Chinese Dragon
5. Keeping Pace with the local
6. Relocating knowledge
7. We have a problem Heuston
8. Happy Hollowing Customs
9. Managing global local
10. Core banking source

Visa-less offshore development?

Paypal founder backs Blueseed "visa-free entrepreneurship and tech incubator" (link)

Nation states require visas, employer sponsorship, and other impositions such as taxation and juridical regimes. All of these are obstacles to free movement of people, trade, and industry.

On the topic of national identity and nation states Einstein stated
"I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss , and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever" (link)

Comment on Peter Thiel's (Paypal co-founder) commitment to supporting Blueseed's floating "Googleplex of the Sea". Who gains? Who loses?

Global Pulse, who benefits?

Who benefits from data Philanthropy? Individuals, organisations and corporations have long dreamed of the free availability of social data. We now imagine that Orwellian vision to be so much closer by accessing messages in social networks, text messages, blogs, micro-blogs and other emerging social exchanges. Worthy causes break down our reluctance to give up or give over something we may have never appreciated fully. But who benefits?

“something is happening that is evident in the digital smoke signals... This is computational behavioral economics,” he said. “We’re part of a whole new science here.”

Robert Kirkpatrick, director of Global Pulse (quoted in Lohr, 2011)

References and further reading
Global Pulse: Harnessing innovation to protect the vulnerable. Website (link)
Steve Lohr, pSR1 The New York Times. December 18, 2011. (link, may require registration and/or fee)

You can outsource the work; you can't outsource the risk

RT @mrkwpalmer: "You can outsource the work; you can't outsource the risk" @BBGLINK #BBTech Raj Samani, McAfee #security

Does location matter?

Innovation, startup, silicon valley or fen or bog whatever. Does location matter if you intend to start a new venture?

The FT ran a piece in 2005 investigating the phenomenon of Cambridge startup success; "The Fertile Soil of Silicon Fen". The argument goes that Cambridge's close social circles and the willingness of entrepreneurs to try again and again, priming new ventures with prior experience and capital while also drawing on the fertile imaginations and academic excellence of the University's graduate output.

In spite of the small scale of firms spawned under Cambridge's influence, profiting from early success undoubtedly worked, the next question was always going to be "can a Cambridge startup achieve global success?" Well apparently that question is answered in the affirmative, albeit by firms that aren't quite household names but are nonetheless well known in their respective fields. The Cambridge Startup Report "From the lab to the limelight" looks at recent history surrounding Cambridge. Previously Cambridge innovation stories were characterised by early stage sales, meaning few firms attempted to grow and achieve scale success; now it seems that has changed with the four+ biggest Cambridge startup stories displaying longevity, ability to grow beyond the initial concept product and the capability to scale.

So a question: What would a 'Dublin Startup Report' have to say?

References

Maija Pesola. The Fertile Soil of Silicon Fen, The Financial Times, 2005 (link)
The Cambridge Startup Report "From the lab to the limelight" (link)