In 1994 and 1995 I attended two Summer Schools on International Political Economy, the second whose official title was “The Politics of Global Finance” (albeit we agreed on a slightly more “neutral” title for the diploma, “International Political Economy”).
In July 1995 I had to prepare a short essay- and my assigned title was: “Hegemony in an Era of Turmoil” (the focus was in global finance, not on military issues).
In 1994 and 1995 I attended two Summer Schools on International Political Economy, the second whose official title was “The Politics of Global Finance” (albeit we agreed on a slightly more “neutral” title for the diploma, “International Political Economy”).
In July 1995 I had to prepare a short essay- and my assigned title was: “Hegemony in an Era of Turmoil” (the focus was in global finance, not on military issues).
This week I attended two conferences, the first on the 50th anniversary of the laser, and the second on a completely different field, a Microsoft conference on the latest crop of its web technologies.
In both cases, a funny curious similarity- the complexity of what we take for granted.
This short article (less than 500 words) is just to share some considerations.
Cum grano salis
In this seventh article and last article of this series (beside the bibliography), a reality check.
You can share ideas, dreams, or “what ifs”, but, in the end, experience is built by the interaction with reality- not by thinking about an alternative reality.
In this article I would like to share some practical experience on how to temper the fury of over-excited zealots of innovation-through-patterns.
Recently, a former classmate in London asked if I assumed that the private sector is more flexible than the public sector
.
My reply? Not necessarily- as the degree of flexibility within any organization is limited by the need to ensure what I call its “structural integrity”.
This relatively short article presents the concept and few case studies.
If you weren’t outside this planet over the last few weeks, you heard some sabre rattling.
Following the guidelines that I described in the previous article (see “Maximizing costs, minimizing ROI“), this article was inspired by simply connecting strings of unrelated but mutually influencing news items.
I had the chance to observe organizations and communities since quite an early age, and something was really fascinating.
When organizations expand, often it is assumed that the “culture” of the original entity will spread to all its parts- as if the center were the heart, and the parts (branches, subsidiaries, etc) were limbs of the same body.
An anthropocentric view of organizational development.
In this article, a small framework to observe, analyze, and ensure that your organization complies with the same professional and ethical standards throughout.
Beyond Microfinancing
If you pick up any newspaper or magazine covering economic issues, every month you will find articles about microfinancing.
The idea of microfinancing expand globalization benefits available to developing countries, by changing the way funding is accessible.
Figures do not lie. And the picture that is projected, despite the 2006 Nobel peace prize to the Grameen Bank founder, is closer to the old way of managing financial relationships with developing countries, creating what was described already in 1990 in a Museum in Germany as the “spiral of debt”.
The idea? Merging microfinancing and charity to deliver self-sustaining development.
(2000 words)
Beyond microfinancing: the vision
Monday, October 26th, 2009If you pick up any newspaper or magazine covering economic issues, every month you will find articles about microfinancing.
The idea of microfinancing expand globalization benefits available to developing countries, by changing the way funding is accessible.
Figures do not lie. And the picture that is projected, despite the 2006 Nobel peace prize to the Grameen Bank founder, is closer to the old way of managing financial relationships with developing countries, creating what was described already in 1990 in a Museum in Germany as the “spiral of debt”.
The idea? Merging microfinancing and charity to deliver self-sustaining development.
This article is the sequel of the “Beyond Microfinancing” article, published on 2009-10-12.
Focus: an action plan for ethical micro-financing.
(1000 words)
Tags: bank, co-operative, community, cooperative, dev2009, development, finance, innovation, keiretsu, market, microfinancing, startup
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