Posts Tagged ‘market’

Of rules and watchdogs

Friday, November 19th, 2010

As today is Friday, an article with considerations on rules and consumers rights within European Union- using some personal experiences as practical examples.

Last Sunday I was watching a news show reporting on watchdogs in Italy, as I reported on Frype/Facebook few days ago.

It was quite interesting to see how it was simply a confirmation that, also when an institution is built around a purpose that is not fulfilling as originally expected, it will shift its purpose from the original one to… its own survival.

Structural integrity

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

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.

Beyond microfinancing: the vision

Monday, October 26th, 2009

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.

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)

AGB2009: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

This part of the AGB2009 series (see the presentation)
AGB2009: QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES

BACKGROUND

Look around: you will see an increasing role in our complex society for various forms of “oversight”, “audit”, “watchdog”, “rating” entities.

ABSTRACT

The first issue is certainly related to authority and initiation.

If, by consensus, established authorities set up a watchdog, the line of authority is clearly inherited from the source, and the initiation contains also the framework for the potential evolution (or dissolution) of the new watchdog.

But what about some of the pre- and post-Internet self-appointed watchdogs?