compassion, collaboration & cooperation iN transistion
The first hundred piece jigsaw ...
NOW IN PLACE
"There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she
has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle."
List of connections
…. the beginning of our universal time & place
5000BC 50+ stars forming a gas cloud - one light year long -
in our universe
3500BC Ancient inhabitants of Orkney sow the very potential
seed of the curious case of [BE]ing BRITISH
3100BC Pictographic writing invented in Sumer
2000BC Abacus originated in Babylonia
1100BC Phoenicians develop alphabetic script (basis of all modern European Scripts)
600BC Greek philosopher - Thales - identified the phenomenon of electricity
500BC First Hieroglyphic writing in Mexico
212BC Archimedes killed in Syracuse
80 BC The "Antikythera Mechanism" sinks with a cargo ship off the tiny island of Antikythera.
105 First use of paper (China)
190 Modern abacus with beads mentioned by Xu Yue in book on Eastern Han Dynasty
500 As size of writing became smaller, the quill replaced the reed pen
730 First Printing (China)
751 Paper making spreads from China to Muslim World and Europe
760 Arabs adopt Indian numerals and develop algebra and trigonometry
853 First printed book in China
863 Creating of Cyrillic alphabet in Eastern Europe
868 First Chinese printing press
900 Mayan calendar functions as metaphysical map of the evolution of consciousness
1045 Moveable type printing invented in China
1190 Italian mariners using early version of compass - needles magnetized by loadstone
1263 Baliol College, Oxford founded
1290 Spectacles invented (Italy)
1321 ‘The Divine Comedy' - Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
1339 Building of Kremlin (Moscow)
1445 Johannes Guttenberg prints first book in Europe
1477 Caxton issued his first dated printed book
1479 Oxford University Press founded
1489 'Book entitled On the Human Figure' - Leonardo da Vinci
1490 ‘Proportions of the Human Body' - Leonardo da Vinci
1492 Columbus discovered the Bahamas as The Church of ROME began the Spanish Inquisition
1509 Watch invented by Peter Henlein (Nuremburg)
1513 First dated etching -Urs Graf, Swiss artist
1532 “There is nothing more difficult …. ” (Machivelli)
1548 Brass pens - for very large writing - referred to in Juan de Yciar's ‘Writing Manual'
1590 Compound microscope invented (Zacharias Janssen)
1600 Thales phenomenon named as “electricity” by William Gilbert physician QE1st
1605 Gunpowder plot
1609 Telescope invented (Holland)
1620 First weekly newspapers in Europe
1632 Slide rule invented
1642 Pascal adding machine
1666 Great fire of London
Newton had uncovered the nature of colour & explained the colour of nature
1694 Calculating machine - Leibnitz
1697 The Ultimate Origin of Things - Leibnitz
1739 Plan de Paris - Tugot and Bretez
1752 Lightning proved to be electrical in nature (Benjamin Franklin)
1779 First Luddite riots against the introduction of machinery
1783 First manned hot-air balloon flight (Montgolfier brothers)
1784 First Mail coach ran between London and Bristol
1793 Decimal system introduced (France)
1795 “Lead” pencils - Nicolas Conte, French Chemist
Metric system made official in France
1798 Mechanised paper making machine invented - Nicholas Louis Robert
1800 Voltaic pile - first electric battery invented (Volta)
1801 Loom uses punch card “memory” (Jaquard)
1803 First steel-nibbed pen patented (Bryan Donkin - English engineer)
1812 Steam-driven “computer” conceived (Babbage)
Napolean's fateful march into Russia and retreat
Cylinder printing press invented and adopted by The Times (London)
1814 The “Times” first printed on steam presses
1822 First photographic image produced by J.N.Niepce
1831 Electromagnetic induction (Michael Faraday)
1835 Stockton-Darlington, world's first steam railroad
1837 Daguerre system of photography (Daguerre)
1838 First electric telegraph (Cooke and Wheatstone)
1839 Negative/positive method of printing allowing multiple prints from one exposure
and development split-second exposure times (Fox Talbot)
First Fuel Cell idea (Sir William Robert Grove - Welsh Judge, inventor & physicist)
1840 First postage stamp
1841 Wet plate camera (Fox Talbot)
Tackley C of E School built - for the education of the village children
1847 Gold discovered in California
1851 Great Exhibition held in London
1855 First edition of the Daily Telegraph
1858 First Atlantic cable between America and England laid
1859 Origin of species published (Darwin)
1860 Great Age of European Novel begins
1861 First colour photograph of a tartan ribbon (Clark Maxwell)
First SLR camera (Thomas Sutton)
1863 First underground railway in London opened
1864 Foundation of the Red Cross in Switzerland
1867 Typewriter (Sholes)
1869 First trans-continental railroad completed across USA
1871 Dry plate camera introduced
1874 First electric tram in New York
First telephone receiver patented in UK (Arexander Bell)
Emergence of Impressionist School of Painting Monet/Renoir/Degas
1876 First telephone call made and receiver patented in USA (Alexander Bell)
Concept of “line of type” - Linotype typesetter first established
1877 Phonograph 'talking machine' (Thomas Alva Edison)
1878 First electric streetlighting in London
1879 F. W. Woolworth opened first 5 / 10 cent store
Patent on first electric lamp (Edison)
1884 First volume of Oxford English Dictionary (OED) appeared
First fountain pen with own ink reservoir patented (Lewis Waterman NY)
1885 Electric “logic” machine (Marquand)
Daimler and Benz pioneer automobile
Stanford University, Palo Alto founded
1886 First “Hot Metal” machine supplied to New York Herald Tribune (Linotype)
Gramaphone (Bell and Tainter)
1887 Dual composing & automatic type-caster - casts and sets letter by letter
(Talbert Lanston - Monotype)
First book composed on Linotype machine - 'The Tribune Book of Open Air Sports
1888 KODAK roll film camera (George Eastman)
Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
1889 Kinetoscope (Edison) - Eiffel Tower construction for World Trade Fair completed.
First film of reality projected on screen (William Friese-Greene)
1890 Tabulating machine (Hollerith)
4 colour separation process engraving
1891 Submarine telephone cable from London to Paris completed
1895 First message by radio (Marconi)
First practical movie camera and projector (Auguste and Louis Lumiere)
First public showing of motion picture (France)
1896 First demonstartion of X-rays (Rontgen)
“Interpretation of Dreams” (Freud)
The text of THE WISDOM of JESUS CHRIST first discovered
1897 J J Thomson - discovered the electron in 1897 at the University's Cavendish Laboratory
setting the foundation for modern physics, electronics and computer technology.
1901 Radio communication between UK and USA
1903 The first black and white movie “The Great Train Robbery”(Edwin Porter)
Wright brothers make first aeroplane flight
1905 Special theory of relativity et al - Annus Mirabalis - (Einstein)
Color Notation system devised - Albert Munsell, American artist
1907 Exhibition of Cubist paintings in Paris - Picasso and Braque
Creative Evolution published by Henri Bergson
1910 ‘Pathe News' newsreel began
Development of abstract painting - Kadinsky and Mondrian
Development of plastics
1911 First regular air mail service started (Hendon-Windsor)
1912 GPO formed
1913 Henry Ford develops conveyor belt assembly for Model T automobile
1918 Three colour traffic lights introduced in New York
1919 Rutherford splits atom (UK)
Collective Unconscious espoused by Carl Jung
Bauhaus School of Design started by Gropius at Weimar in Germany
First crossing of Atlantic by air (Alcock and Brown)
1920 Emergence of Jazz in USA - Louis Armstrong/Duke Ellington/Count Basie
Fountain pen established by now as chief writing in the West
World's first regular broadcast station opened in USA
1922 BBC formed and first radio programmes begin to be broadcast
1923 German inflation at its height 77 million DM to the £
1926 Baird demonstrates television system to Royal Institution
1927 Emergence of talking pictures
First London automatic telephone exchange opened
Videophone invented - Bell Laboratories
1928 First sound film 'Lights of New York'
First electron microscope built in Germany
First Walt Disney animation film with sound
Plastic/shellac Videodisc on sale at Selfridges in small numbers until 1938.
1930 Shannon shows how switching circuits can model Boolean logic
“Differential analyzer” (Bush)
Brooke Bond launch “Pre-Gest-Tee” - P.G. Tips at one shilling & nine pence/pkt
1932 Remote TELETYPE input to drive Linotype typesetter in TIMES building from
the House of Commons
1934: Alan Turing - graduated from King's College, Cambridge.
Turing was a founder of computer science and cryptographer, whose work
at Bletchley Park was key to breaking the wartime Enigma codes.
1935 First Penguin paperback published
1936 BBC set up first regular TV service with Baird, Marconi and EMI equipment
The "Turing machine" first described by Alan Turing
Patent application made for ECM Mark II (also known in the Navy as CSP-888/889 or SIGABA by the Army)
as a cipher machine. Like many machines of the era it used an electromechanical system of rotors in order to encipher messages, but with a number of security improvements over previous designs.
Kine Exacta first 35mm SLR camera
1937 Jet engine first tested (UK) - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs released by Walt Disney
1938 First Xerographic dry process copy (Chester Carlson) he later
sold rights to a small family firm which later grew into the Xerox Corporation
Laszlo Jose Biro invents and patents the ball point pen
1939 Audio tape-recording invented in Germany and used for propaganda during war
The Life Divine published in revised & enlarged book form - Sri Aurobindo
1940 Electronic tubes used as switching units (Atanasoff and Berry)
RCA develops audio-tape recording for non-propaganda purposes
1941 Patent Application for SIGSALY (also known as the X System, Project X, Ciphony I, and the Green Hornet) which was a secure speech system used in World War II for the highest-level Allied communications.
It pioneered a number of digital communications concepts, including the first transmission of speech using pulse-code modulation, otherwise known as PCM.
1942 ”Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is , perhaps, the end of the beginning” - Winston Churchill speaking of Battle of Egypt.
1945 “As we may think” - The Atlantic Monthly (Bush)
L'âge de raison (The Age of Reason) - Jean Paul Satre
The text of THE WISDOM of JESUS CHRIST re-discovered as part of Nag Hammadi Library
1946 Enlac, the first electronic digital computer (Mauch ley and Eckert)
Radar contact with moon.
Sony develops it's first audio-tape recorder - used for War Crimes Trial
1947 Polariod the World's first instant picture camera (Edwin Land)
Le Corbusier patented & publicized Le Modulor - The Modulor
First supersonic flight - Hologram invented but …..
needed invention of Laser for coherent light source (Dennis Gabor)
1948 Transistor invented (Shockley, Brattain and Bardeen)
Kodak develop colour scanner in their R&D laboratories, team went
off to Korean War - project completed at TIME Life Magazine
1949 Information Theory (Shannon)
Dick Tracy cartoons
“1984” (George Orwell)
Maurice Wilkes - developed the EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator),
the first practical stored program digital computer.
1950 NPL confirms speed of light 186,282 miles per second
1951 Univac 1 (Rand)
Boeing Stratocruiser full flight simulator (Redifon Simulation)
Philips introduce professional reel to reel audio tape recorder for £200
1952 Tea rationing in Britain comes to an end
1953 Mount Everest first climbed (Hillary and Tensing)
Rotring Rapidograph - standard by which all others were judged
First left-handed italic fountain pen produced by Osmiroid
1954 World's first colour television broadcast in USA - NTSC format
1955 First Linofilm photocomposing system (Linotype)
Le Phénomène Humain - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - published year of his death
1956 First use of broadcast quality VTR CBS Hollywood (AMPEX) - all television
prior to this date broadcast live or shot on film for archival purposes etc.
Beginning of Rock and Roll music - Elvis Prestley
1957 Analogue computer generated film “Lapis” (James Whitney)
First space satellite launched (USSR)
1958 Ball point established as preferred writing instrument, rather than fountain pen.
1959 Integrated circuit invented (Kilby of TI and Noyce of Intel)
First Linofilm production mode1 installed at National Geographic (Linotype)
AN EMERGENT THEORY OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR - Clare W. Graves
USA 36 million TV sets, UK has 10 million
1960 UNC, the first “minicomputer” the first tape drive, the first CRT (Lincoln Labs)
First Laser built by Theo Maiman of the Hughes Laboratory USA
1961 PDP-1 (Digital Equipment Corporation) sets new low price at $120,000
Structure of DNA (genetic code) determined in UK
First man in space (Gagarin USSR)
First Air Traffic Control Cadet Course at Hurn Airport in Bournemouth
1962 First British book set on a Linofilm phototypesetter
Astronauts Glenn and Scott and the Telstar satellite go into orbit
1963 Colour Polariod Instant picture camera (Edwin Land)
Audio cassette introduced (Philips)
1964 BASIC programming language (Kemeny and Kurtz) Sound Techniques started
1965 EARLY BIRD satellite launched into geostationary orbit
1967 Computer only Linofilm typesetter introduced (Linotype)
1968 Magnascan colour scanner for four colour separation production (Crosfield)
Mouse, Windows based human computer interface demonstrated (Englebart)
1969 ARPANET 50 Kbps backbone established - 4 Honeywell mini-computer hosts
Alan Kay's doctoral thesis describes theoretical personal computer
Armstrong and Aldrin land on the Moon
1970 The Architectural Machine Group formed at MIT (Negreponte)
1971 Intel 8008 microprocessor (Hoff)
1972 World's first Compact Sound-Desk (Sound Techniques)
Smalltalk programming language conceived (Kay)
First public demonstration of LaserVideodisc (Philips) - data capacity 1.5 GB
Philips introduce first video cassette recorder
Sony introduce first editable VCR in industrial quality U-Matic format.
Sinclair calculator
Polariod automatic instant picture camera (Edwin Land)
E-mail invented and first used on ARPANET (Ray Tomlinson)
1973 First bit-mapped graphics-oriented monitor
“The Art of Color” - Johannes Itten
Appearance of Alto, precursor to Xerox PARC's Star operating system
First hand-held mouse (with Alto from Xerox PARC)
1974 IBM launch Winchester hard disc digital storage unit
NOVA magazine published
1975 Altair 8800 (first “personal” computer)
Sony introduces Betamax
Chis Curry formed Acorn computers
1976 First Magistrates' Courts System implemented by STL
Wozniack designs Apple II
TCP/IP adopted by ARPANET
JVC launches VHS -Video Home Standard
Editdroid and Soundroid used by Lucas Films in production of the 'StarWars'
series of movies (Droid Works) Editdroid allowed film editing techniques to be
utilised in the video editing environment
First transatlantic supersonic passenger service begins with Concorde
1977 Microsoft is founded
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) first company to create own internet site
1978 Bricklin writes VisiCalc (electronic spreadsheet)
Speak & Spell learning aid ( Texas Instruments ) .. used by ET to 'phone home'
Hayes announces Micromodem 100
Permaculture One published (Bill Morrison)
1979 Oracle introduces Standard Query Language (SQL)
Oxford University Press celebrates Quin-centenial
SILICON FACTOR screened as pre-cursor to BBC Computer Literacy Project
GAIA theory published by James Lovelock
1980 Xerox, DEC and Intel announce Ethernet
1981 IBM PC announced - ‘640K ought to be enough for anybody' - Bill Gates
Buckminster Fuller launches the idea of a Global Energy Grid in his book CRITICAL PATH
First re-useable shuttle space flight
DESIGNERS SATURDAY held in London
1982 32K BBC Microcomputer (Acorn Computers)
First lowcost RGB monitor (Microvitec)
Sony MAVICA digital still camera
1983 First demonstration of PAL interactive videodisc system (Michael Grove - Acorn)
‘The Visual Display of Quantitive Information' - Edward R Tufte
First sub-£1000.oo Twin Double density 800K floppy disc drive
Sony and Philips introduce CD compact disc format
First Sony 1”C format single frame edit broadcast VTR
1984 The Macintosh 128K is introduced bundled with MacWrite and MacPaint
PICT file format introduced
3.5” Floppy disk standard established
Linotronic 300 laserphotosetter introduced
ACORN VIDEO established
1985 Graphic interface widely available
Apple Macintosh encompasses “postscript” to drive Laserwriter
printer and Linotronic at different resolutions
VideoWorks launched by Marc Cantor's MacroMind
Genlock/Overlay card, MIC software and virtual device interface (Teletape Video)
1986 First Facsimile or “FAX” device launched in Japan
Luxor Jr. Anglepoise lamp animation ex-disney animator (John Lasseter - Pixar)
Dr. Clare W Graves - instigator of Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDI) - died
Mercedes Benz Car and Truck simulator
MacTimes UK - first published
Small Computer System Interface [SCSI] standard [X3.131:1986]
Olivetti Research Laboratory founded
TIFF standard announced by Aldus, Microsoft and others
Joint Photographic Experts Group - JPEG - established
Domesday Project published
Macintosh II - open architecture, full colour GUI microcomputer
1987 Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks [RAID] - Patterson, Gibson and Katz
Hypercard & Multifinder introduced by Apple Inc.
Oxford University Press and BBC launch the “Volcano” videodisc
First colour photocopier [Canon]
First “desktop minimum design solution” for interactive multimedia development
1988 T1 [1.544Mbps] NSFNET back-bone completed - 56,000 hosts
‘Made in Japan' - Akio Morita
NEXT machine announced
Omnipage OCR software launched for Apple Macintosh
Industrial videodisc recorder announced (Sony)
ISDN first demonstrated
Rex Beddis funeral
Piper Alpha oil-rig disaster
PICS file - multiple PICT - format first mooted for Director/Swivel/MediaMaker
“Learning with interactive multimedia” Sueann Ambron & Kristina Hooper
NEC Ultralite first sub-notebook (4.4lb) with pen + handwriting recognition
Moving Picture Experts Group - MPEG - established
MPEG1 developed (150KB/s 352x240 @ 20fps)
1989 Hayes Smartmodem 9600
First computer controllable fax launched (Canon)
“Virtual realities” demonstrated at Hypermedia Show San Francisco
Canon low resolution digital still video camera launched
PIXAR Renderman and Levco Transputer launched for Macintosh
Guernica first demonstrated by Bob Abel @ Microsoft CD-ROM conference
MIDAS 1& 2 - first digital offline editing system launched
1990 Designed for Manufacture Macintosh FX launched
Macromind Director II - with Lingo based interactive capability
CERN implements first Hypertext system, Internet conceived
‘Envisioning Information' - Edward R Tufte
AVID/1 digital off line video editing system available
Adobe releases PhotoShop
Microsoft Windows 3.0 released
Postscript RIP launched for Canon CLC500 colour scanner/copier
“Graphic art has entered a new age of accessibility …..”
Hubble telescope put into orbit
Sony CD Reference-disc/Premaster recorder launched
Art of the Possible event held in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
Mrs Thatcher resigns
OSHO contemporary mystic teacher dies aged 60 years - The Sunday Times
of London votes him “ONE of 1000 makers of the 20th Century”
THE FIRST 100 drops in the pond of humanity
here on earth within the sea of our universe
& the ocean of our multiverse of parallel universes
First posted by Michael Grove @zaadz on 19th August 2006 at 17:30
based on a Mac Times article first published in September 1990
.
Access: Public
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Views: 392
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Comment by Michael Grove on January 7, 2013 at 7:52
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Does it make you feel old to know that Dyson’s dustbag-free vacuum is 20 this year?
Or that the much-loved Sony Walkman and the world’s first ever laptop, the Epson HX-30, are both over 30 years old?
In 1966 the BBC announced plans to begin broadcasting television programmes in colour. Britain was the first country in Europe to offer regular programming in colour
The Instamatic was a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak in the 1960s. Today there would be no Instagram without this invention
Cutting out the hard work: Apple's iPod meant trips to the record store were a thing of the past, while Dyson's bagless vacuum cleaner got rid of a lot of the mess and fuss of keeping houses in order.
These are just a few of the gadgets that have made it onto the 100 gadgets of the past century that we can’t live without, with technologies ranging from humble zip to the Playstation 4.
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Capita plc announces that it has acquired STL Technologies Limited (‘STL’) for an undisclosed sum. STL provides software and ICT to the criminal justice system, including courts and the police, and to asylum and immigration tribunals.
STL specialises in case management applications and currently provides Equis case management for Her Majesty’s Court’s Service, Libra case management for the Ministry of Justice, national case management and accounts for the Scottish Courts’ Service and case preparation and custody applications for West Midlands Police.
Andy Parker, Capita plc’s joint chief operating officer, said: “The acquisition of STL will provide further depth to the range of solutions we offer the emergency services, criminal justice system and wider public and private sector clients. It has significant synergies with our existing justice and secure services business, which holds contracts with the Ministry of Justice and the UK Border Agency. We already work, in some capacity, with all police forces in England and Scotland and with a number of large public and private sector organisations. These additional capabilities will allow us to provide new solutions, on a tailored basis, alongside our multi service offering.”
STL has around 105 employees, primarily in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.
https://www.capita.com/news/news/2013/capita-acquires-justice-softw...
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New IT Systems for Magistrates’ Courts: the Libra Project
Report – Value for money Date: 29 Jan 2003
Topics: Commercial and financial management, Digital transformation, Digital, data and technology, Education, training and skills, Private finance
A national standard IT system for magistrates’ courts has been under development for over ten years but is still not complete, Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today. The cost of the project has increased substantially since a PFI deal was signed in 1998.
IT systems in magistrates’ courts have been inadequate for many years. Current systems do not allow information to be shared electronically with other courts and electronic information transfer to other enforcement agencies is piecemeal. After two failed projects in the early 1990s, the Lord Chancellor’s Department decided in 1996 to procure a PFI contract for a national standard IT system called Libra.
https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/new-it-systems-for-magistrates-court...
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MPs slam Libra as one of UK's worst PFI deals ever
Costs more than double and Whitehall shoulders risk on magistrates IT.
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240053405/MPs-slam-Libra-as-on...
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Michael said
Following the broadcast of the BBC Television programme – The Silicon Factor – and the subsequent issuance of the BBC Microcomputer contract to Acorn Computers, I witnessed - as an interactive multimedia consultant and adviser to the owners & senior management of Acorn Computers – the meteoric rise of a 12 strong embryonic microcomputer company, which was “destined for great things” – its metamorphosis within 18 months into a global business that employed 350 staff and was valued on London’s Alternative Investment Market at £198 million - & its ignominious demise into a shadow of its former self. Never forgetting of course that the Acorn Research Machines adjunct subsequently transmogrified into ARM with the backing of Apple Computers and the rest is history so to speak.
__________________________________
"Salutary as this experience no doubt was, Michael’s in depth observations during that time comprise a master-list of what to do & not do, in the context of the management problems of rapid-growth companies, if they aspire to be a world class business."
Wayne Barsanti - European Business Development Director
Xerox Printing Systems
The following are some of the master-list “real problems” which will be inevitably imposed by such rapid-growth in a marketplace where “ever increasingly changing change” is the status quo.
Legal …
the legal basis of the company is THE paramount priority
The corporate contracts demanded of new companies grow geometrically –trademark & patent agreements, distribution agreements, employment agreements, financing agreements etc. - and mistakes on any of them can seriously jeopardise a company’s ultimate value. Even minor errors can require inordinate top management attention to fix.
Developing a Unique Personality …
modelled on the balance & harmony of a YIN/YANG minimum design solution
Great companies develop a unique ”image” in the eyes of their employees and their customers in which their contribution is seen as different and significant. IBM, Sony, and Canon – If anyone can Canon can –are classic examples. These companies believe they are unique in their products, quality, internal culture, people and personality. In most cases, a distinct personality develops gradually over the first few years of the company’s life. A company needs to identify its distinctiveness and convey that image effectively to it’s employees, customers and the financial community. This isn’t easy, but if successfully accomplished the benefits include greater customer loyalty, simpler marketing, improved employee morale, and higher P/E ratios.
International Sales …
through a global partnership of local communities
Overseas customers can make a key contribution to a technology company’s early financial viability by providing revenue with little incremental overhead cost. Moreover, markets for technology products are world markets, and one’s competitors will be pursuing your markets even if you are not in theirs. However, international markets are a maze of idiosyncrasies, where the unknowledgeable can waste prodigious amounts of time and money.
Achieving Value Pricing …
to counter the concept of the cost of everything & the value of nothing
All new technology products/services, worth building a company around, represent significant value to customers - usually an enhancement of the customer’s productivity but more importantly an enhancement in their creativity. However, companies can inadvertently slip into a vicious cycle of – poor prices. poor service – unhappy customers - poor prices. It is remarkable how few managements give enough consideration to the understanding of customers needs and to the creative structuring of their product/service offerings so as to emphasise their company’s unique value added, and thus maximise the profitability of each sale. Too often managements let their product/service be defined by their competition and sell on the basis of price alone. Price should always be low on the customer’s list of reasons to purchase. This is essential to achieving the profitability needed to build the company in the longer term.
Management information …
integrated within its own closed loop risk-management & reporting system
High quality, organised information is fundamental to a company’s decision-making. Maintaining adequate management information systems in growth companies is difficult for two reasons: first because decisions need to be made so rapidly; and, second because the organisation (which generates and is directed by this information) is in continuous transition. Unless attention is applied to evolving a company’s information and decision-making systems in parallel with growth, the company can suddenly find itself flying blind. With the right attention to the development of flexible planning and reporting systems a new company can make all the necessary mid-course corrections that dynamic markets will demand.
Nurturing Initiative …
from the bottom up within a top down, closed-loop, change-management model
In rapid growth companies, the opportunities and problems are too dynamic to rely solely on traditional management methods of delegating responsibility from above. The tasks just cannot be adequately defined in advance and too much creative initiative in their effective solutions is required. Thus, a process of “bottoms up initiative taking” and strong communications is essential for rapid creative problem solving. Reconciling this management environment with the “policy, plans, procedures and controls” which larger size entails, is an art. The strength, however, of a company’s values and mechanisms for this “ownership taking” from below will determine its future entrepreneurial energy and growth.
Balancing Optimism with Objectivity …
as a result of a totally harmonious YIN & YANG business philosophy
New companies demand enormous energy and enthusiasm. Pessimistic realists don’t become entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, in building a successful company, problems and opportunities must be realistically assessed and prioritised against the company’s limited resources. Good managers do this naturally. But in a rapidly changing high growth situation, objectivity can be easily blurred regarding competition, development schedules, marketing programmes and shifts in strategy. Striking the right balance between aggressive exploitation of opportunities and dangerous over-extension requires continuous attention and often third party objectivity.
Defining the contributions …
within a dynamic, change related & managed business model , from the outset
It normally takes the management in a new growth business several years to fully grasp the potential of its services or marketing approach. Companies get started by solving a customer need better then the competition. This ”value-added” justifies their initial existence. In order to grow, they must keep expanding the definition of the scope of their problem solving capability. A strong strategic business planning process is a necessary tool to assist the management in evolving its perceived contribution in a focussed and controlled manner.
Developing Individual Potential …
within an environment of permanent cultural transformation
Many of the entrepreneurial individuals who will build new businesses have limited general management experience, having come, largely from engineering or marketing backgrounds. When their companies grow rapidly, these individuals soon find themselves undertaking unfamiliar responsibilities. This can be unnerving, and result in tardy decision-making as they begin to distrust their instincts and fall back on their analytical capabilities. However, these individuals usually have exceptional vision and learning abilities. With the right reinforcement of their naturally good instincts, by experienced advisers, their rate of personal growth in executive skills surprises even themselves - and keeps them ahead of their companies’ fast development. Personnel turnover is extremely debilitating to fast growing companies and maximising personal growth must be the primary solution emphasised.
Organising for Change …
within an equitable, equality of thinking YIN/YANG/YIN/YANG environment
A corporation is normally structured with the goal of clarifying responsibilities and increasing stability. But in high growth technology companies, organisational structures must facilitate continuous change rather than stability. The needs of these dynamic businesses tend to change more rapidly than many people are comfortable with. Great skill is needed to establish an attitudinal environment in which the individual ego-needs and organisational needs-for-change can be kept in consonance. Only in this way can the organisation keep its personnel resources effectively positioned against the right problems.
Financing …
on the basis of totally integrated holistic model
One of the key tasks of a new company is to raise money effectively. A company must have adequate financial resources to develop and market its products, attract key people and assure major customers. The alternatives for financing are many and must be matched both to the company’s stage of development and its long-term strategy. Creative approaches at critical times can be pivotal. Risk reduction must be balanced against dilution. Individual financing cannot be viewed in isolation since early mistakes can easily foreclose important future options.
Turning a World Class Lead into a World Class Market Position …
requires the truth of simplicity, an open mind, vision and perseverance
Technological advantages in competitive high growth markets are inherently short-lived. Unless a company expects to establish a standard, or to make a major new invention regularly, it must rapidly turn its initial technology lead into a defensible market position. That is, it must establish itself with a distinctive market “image” and an adequate share of its self-defined market.
Quality …
you don’t get quality by following a procedure, it is a state of mind
The maintenance of the quality of the team and methods of business is among the highest priorities in building a business. While the importance of quality is always acknowledged, small compromises can easily occur under the pressures of high growth and once lost, quality standards are hard to regain. Even the best managers can Iose their objectivity.
Credibility …
as a result of the integrity of transparency of words, values and actions
Credibility (and the faith which underlies it) is a precious asset for a young company. Credibility is needed with each of the “Company’s constituencies” – it’s customers, suppliers, employees and financiers. The process of building a company can, in many ways, be considered as a process of constantly building confidence with these constituencies. For example, its best financial asset is the credibility of its financial predictions & projections. During the early stages, when a company’s credibility is most fragile, the management needs to do everything possible to accelerate the credibility building process. As the company grows, all its reserves of accumulated credibility should he jealously guarded.
Gathering the Team …
in line with the model of an infinitely scalable YIN/YANG environment
To take a business rapidly beyond a few million in sales, an outstanding team is required. Identification and attraction of the exceptional individuals that such growth demands is a major challenge. Excellence in software, hardware, engineering, marketing, manufacturing, sales, support, finance and general management must all be brought together. A single weak link can be debilitating or fatal.
Conclusion.
The company that intends to become a world-class corporation must recognise that there is no viable “low and slow” strategy for building a company of significance. The pressures, commitment levels, hours required will always be extreme. All the above problems must be met simultaneously and the resulting decisions must be made almost instinctively with only limited time and ephemeral facts for analysis.
The pieces begin to FIT TOGETHER
cHAngeL said
Thank you…
cHAngeL said
My God man….you are definitely the smart one “between us” :)
But then I have my talents too….eh ;-)
Calling them in 4 months by the way :)
Michael said
The microchip, used in devices from cookers to computers to mobile phones …
is celebrating its 50th birthday.
Michael said
Whatever Happened to Silicon Valley Innovation?