Sep

24

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow ?

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I was not really surprised to learn Montevideo Uruguay has set in motion the process to claim the title “Silicon Valley 3.0″ — Okay that’s too much to ask for, but they have established a foothold nevertheless.

Yes, that’s Montevideo Uruguay. That’s right…Uruguay. You may not be thinking Uruguay and high tech belong in the same sentence, but you would be very wrong today thanks to globalization.

No doubt about Tom Friedman’s article (subscription required) Wednesday in the NYTimes regarding Uruguay tapping into the highly successful outsourcing mix in India (the country holding the title Silicon Valley 2.0)…hey those Indian engineers have to sleep sometime! But just as the original Silicon Valley looked to India for Y2K solutions, now India’s largest consulting service has found a new source in South America.

It may raise an eyebrow that some very large American companies have their back-room operations and computing networks managed in this little South American country. American Express along with Proctor & Gamble have solidified operations in Montevideo…and Friedman’s article also pointed at major U.S. banks who have also migrated operations (and people) south of the equator.

Friedman illustrated again in a flat world you can build a successful business anywhere with access to educated people, technology and the internet. A solid business plan never hurts. If big U.S. firms are even considering moving to Uruguay…they have to be setting up shop the right way, for the right price and with the right types of resources in-place.

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Sep

21

My latest read - Lexus and the Olive Tree

Filed Under Education, Globalization, Milwaukee, Reading, Technology, Web2.0 | 2 Comments

Tom Friedman’s book The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization has a couple of great chapters and “The Electronic Herd” is one that fits right into how web2.0 entrepreneurs have been able to move social networks into powerful forces.

Although Tom’s immediate focus was finance, its easy to see how MySpace impacts social networks. The rapid change in today’s world has made a large leap within the last three years. The strength of the herd continues to have more impact with even the youngest of the internet generation like…say…Digg.

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Sep

4

at&t: please stop killing trees!

Filed Under Education, Milwaukee, Technology, Web2.0 | 1 Comment

I have not opened a phone book in almost five years…yet AT&T thinks the internet does not exist. So they dropped off these two trees…or shall I say “books” at my door.

phonebook.jpg

I certainly did not ask for them. Sure the postal carrier feels the same way.
Its best save trees and make phone books optional. Now I have to drop them in my recycle box on garbage day.
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Sep

4

My latest read - Secrets

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Daniel Ellsberg’s memoir of Vietnam and The Pentagon Papers in a revealing look in Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.

A first hand account of the role of US involvement in Vietnam. Daniel’s lessons in both academic research and military battlefields help me learn more about the times he lived in that caused him to steal and publish top secret files regarding the war in Vietnam. The Pentagon Papers he leaked showed world the role of US involvement in Vietnam dating back to Harry Truman. He exposed the secrets of five consecutive Presidents. His work is not to be under estimated. I was impressed to learn of his work with President Kennedy in David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest.

His background: undergraduate studies at Harvard. He received a Woodrow Wilson fellowship at Cambridge in England. Daniel returned to apply for Marine officer candidates courses but had to wait a year — so he went to grad school at Harvard (during the Korean War) where he was expected to serve. Daniel Ellsberg was a political hawk regarding communist expansion in the world, especially Soviet aggressive actions in Czechoslovakia and Poland. A week after getting his PhD, he was in the military training to be a lieutenant. He would command a rifle unit in the second Marine division. Already married, as his tour was ending his first son was born. He was awarded a three year junior fellowship back at Harvard, but asked the Marine commandant to extend his tour as war in the Middle East appeared imminent. Daniel drafted secret plans against Egypt and Israel. As a research fellow back at Harvard in economic and decision theory he attracted attention of the Rand Corporation and in ‘58 accepted an economic position in California. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik during this time-frame.

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