Fixing Detroit:
UM study shows how far, how fast, how fuel efficient As
the domestic automobile industry struggles to address the worst financial
crisis in its history, a new report released Monday by the University
of Michigan Transportation Research Institute analyzes critical choices
faced by automakers and finds that broad, deep, fast change is necessary
for success. According to the report, "Fixing Detroit: How Far,
How Fast, How Fuel Efficient?" successful turnarounds hinge on
rapid cultural transformation, which requires replacement of management
teams. Further, the report finds that the existing culture within the
domestic auto companies systematically underestimates the value of fuel
economy, which has crippled profitability. More.
ITC,
Mitsubishi Electric strengthen alliance Novi-based ITC Holdings
Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Power Products
Inc. Monday announced that they are expanding their existing business
alliance to develop and produce extra high voltage 765 kilovolt circuit
breakers and 765 kV power transformers. The companies will concentrate
on improving product development lead times, efficiency, technical design,
material standardization and life cycle costs. Their efforts will help
address a number of transmission industry challenges including the availability
and supply of extra high voltage power transformers in North America.
Mitsubishi Electric will produce 765 kV transformers for use in ITC’s
Green Power Express project, a 3,000-mile long network of transmission
lines that will move renewable energy from remote areas in the Upper
Midwest -- where large-scale wind generation is most promising -- to
major Midwest and East Coast population centers. More.
Report
puts Lansing-area green economy at 4,500 jobs The capital area has a green economy
supporting 4,500 jobs,according to a new report released Monday by Capital
Area Michigan Works. The region's green economy boasts jobs in manufacturing,
construction, professional and technical services and utilities. Manufacturing
accounts for over one-third of the region’s green collar economy,
more than 1,400 jobs, due to the emphasis on producing more fuel-efficient
vehicles as well as manufacturing’s diversification into making
parts for alternative energy devices and other green products. More.
Michigan
rises to No. 3 state in e-prescribing Michigan rose from No. 5
to No. 3 in the nation in e-prescribing in 2008, according to an industry
group. At an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Surescripts
announced today that Massachusetts ranks first in the nation when it
comes to routing prescriptions electronically. Rhode Island was second.
In getting the No. 3 award, Surescripts said 9.03 percent of all Michigan
prescriptions were routed electronically in 2008, up from 4.2 percent
of prescriptions in 2007, when Michigan was rated No. 5, and 1.9 percent
in 2006, when Michigan was rated No. 6. More.
Not
their parents' basement: UM students open incubator in Ann Arbor
A group of student entrepreneurs
has opened a small-business incubator in the basement of a downtown
Ann Arbor building. They'll spend the summer sharing space, equipment
and ideas. The incubator, called the TechArb, hosts 30 students running
10 different start-ups. The space came together with the help of Ann
Arbor venture capital firm RPM Ventures, the University of Michigan
College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship, and a new student-run
entrepreneurial organization on campus, Maize Ventures. The aim of the
TechArb is to create a community for student entrepreneurs. Marc Weiser,
RPM Ventures managing director, compares it to a beehive. More.
Jexbo offers
new tips on self-publishing
Jexbo.com, the Dearborn-based Web
site that helps self published authors sell books online, is out with
new summer tips and information on self-publishing at http://www.jexbo.blogspot.com.
At Jexbo, self-published authors can sell books directly to customers
for only 99 cents per month (and Jexbo receives 5 percent of whatever
the author sells). Plus, authors can market their books to customers
with a no-cost Web page and marketing bookmarks and get free information
about self-publishing. More.
'Best and
Brightest' companies sought Nominations are now being
accepted for the 2009 “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work
For in Metro Detroit” awards, sponsored by the Michigan Business
and Professional Association. The organization will honor 101 companies,
as well as present 11 elite awards. These awards were established to
recognize companies that employ exceptional strategies to create organizational
value and business results through their policies and Best Practices
in human resource management. Anyone can nominate their company or employer.
Complete the online entry form at www.101bestandbrightest.com
or call (586) 393-8800. The nomination deadline is July 10, 2009. More.
NXGen
subsidiary Green Bridge opens new HQ, R&D lab Saranac-based NXGen Holdings
Inc. said Monday that its subsidiary, Green Bridge Industries Inc.,
signed a lease to open new corporate offices in Saranac. Green Bridge
Industries will be moving all of its major corporate functions as well
as coordinating its national fundraising and philanthropic efforts from
this office. Also included will be a new research and development lab
where the company will be looking to develop new non-toxic, environmentally
friendly cleaning products that can be added to its current product
line, with a goal of adding five to eight new products to the Green
Bridge line over the next few months. More.
Patricia
Nemeth is founding partner
Nemeth Burwell P.C. in Detroit, which specializes in employment
litigation, traditional labor law, and management consultation
for private- and public-sector employers. Since 2001, Nemeth
Burwell has collaborated with the Wayne State University Law
School’s Law Review to compile the Annual Survey of Michigan
Employment and Labor Law, a summary and analysis of the important
labor and employment decisions of the preceding year. After
working for several smaller law firms, Nemeth founded what is
now Nemeth Burwell in 1992. Since that time she and Linda Burwell,
who joined Nemeth in 1994, have grown the firm to 16 attorneys
and 18 support staff. Nemeth has been named one of Michigan’s
25 Leaders in the Law by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. She has been
named a Michigan Super Lawyer under her primary area of practice,
employment and labor, since the honor was first presented in
2006. She has also been included on the Super Lawyers list of
Michigan’s top 50 women lawyers. In addition to being
a litigator, Nemeth is certified as a mediator. She is a member
of the Michigan Bar Association, labor and employment and international
sections, and the American Bar Association, labor and alternative
dispute resolution sections. A member of the National Association
of Women Business Owners, Nemeth was named one of the group’s
top 10 Michigan business women in 2002. In 2007, she was named
to Inforum’s prestigious Inner Circle, which recognizes
women for exemplary leadership. Read
more.
Do you know a business, professional or community leader whom you think deserves being honored as a Leader and Innovator?
Click here to nominate them.
Demand
for Information Technology solutions continues to grow and proliferate
despite the economic downturn -- but like everything else, there’s
a catch. Internal teams don’t necessarily have the right skills
for all types of projects. Budgets are getting slashed nearly every
week and now there are pressures to not outsource. What do you do?
There’s a
great book on sales called Hope is Not a Strategy by
Rick Page. According to Page, people who are involved in large ticket
sales don’t have a prayer if hope is all they have in their strategic
plan. The same can be said for managing an IT function. Whether it’s
a large internal IT department, an application development project or
selecting another company handle the IT function for you, knowing how
to make these decisions is imperative to surviving and prospering in
this economy.
Dynamic business
models require adaptive sourcing strategies that can be used to make
the most appropriate decision in the face of constantly changing variables.
And the operative word here is appropriate. CIBER has over 30 years
of experience in helping companies create adaptive strategies for getting
work done, using the most risk-appropriate sourcing methods available.
When everything is changing around you, your strategy must change, too.
Not in a reactive sense, but in a proactive manner using solid information
that’s been filtered through your Dynamic Decision Matrix.
Here are a few
things to keep in mind as you consider where to source work.
1. The solution
must balance throughput, knowledge, retention, and scalability. Knowing
how to build the most appropriate mix of onshore and offshore delivery
teams are key.
2. Assessing the business critically and complexity of the project portfolio
will ensure an appropriate sense of urgency, local control and mix of
low-cost resources.
3. Provide supplier redundancy and hold them accountable to metrics
to bring resilience to the operation.
4. Security concerns are addressed based on the overall risk tolerance,
data integrity issues and provider best-practices.
5. CIBER is a premier consultancy at a mid-tier price, with local accountability
including cost-sharing and low-cost country options.
Call CIBER today
for a free Dynamic Sourcing Assessment on any area of your IT functions
that might need a second opinion. To find out more about CIBER please
go to www.cibermichigan.com
or simply call 800.324.6001 and ask for Dan Hoover.
Note: Today's
Blue Box was sponsored by Ciber. For information on how you can sponsor
content in the Blue Box, contact Jeff Lasser at (248) 455-7319 or
jeff.lasser@cbsradio.com.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Apple:
More than 1 million new-model iPhones sold Apple
Inc. sold more than a million units of its latest iPhone model in the
first three days, making it the most successful debut for a smart phone
yet. The iPhone 3G S went on sale Friday in the U.S. and seven other
countries. When Apple Inc. launched the previous model last year, it
also sold one million units in the first three days, but that model
launched simultaneously in 22 countries. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene
Munster had expected the Cupertino, Calif., company to sell half a million
3G S in the first three days. More.
Business
101: Must Apple discuss CEO Jobs' health?
This week, Apple Inc. wasn't shy
about touting the sales of its latest mobile device. But the company
didn't say anything confirming reports from over the weekend that co-founder
and CEO Steve Jobs had a liver transplant two months ago. What happens
to Jobs matters to Apple's investors, largely because he has become
the public face of the company he started in 1976 - and because he's
widely seen as the creative force behind the company's products. Apple's
stock has fluctuated along with Jobs' health since 2004, when investors
first learned that he had cancer. So do investors across corporate America
have the right to know this sort of information as they struggle to
manage their recession-hit portfolios? What are the rules under U.S.
securities laws? More.
T-mobile
to launch second Google phone in August T-Mobile USA's follow-up
to the first "Google phone" will go on sale in early August,
the carrier said Monday. The "T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google"
will be a touch-screen phone and will lack the physical keyboard of
the T-Mobile G1, the first phone that used Google Inc.'s Android software.
The G1 went on sale in October. T-Mobile has sold more than 1 million
of the phones. Google is giving away the software, because the company's
goal is to make Android the basis for phones across the industry, stimulating
the use of its Web services on mobile devices. More.
World's
media seeks ways around Iran clampdown
Protesters and security forces gather.
They collide in a cloud of tear gas and a shower of rocks and bottles.
In most cases -- when the battles are big and the stakes are high --
journalists from around the world are there. But in the possibly history-shaping
struggles now unfolding in Iran, the international media has been blocked
from its normal front-line role and is quickly making adjustments to
counter an official ban on firsthand reporting. Instead of the main
dispatches coming from the scenes, the equation has been greatly reversed.
Many major news outlets now rely on phone calls, e-mails and Web chats
- and other methods - to contact Iranian protesters and officials for
information that bolsters the reports from colleagues in Tehran, who
must remain in their offices. More.
Stocks:
Techs tumble as broader market falls on stimulus pullback
A surprisingly bleak forecast for
the world economy pushed stocks to their biggest loss in two months.
Major stock indexes tumbled by more than 2 percent Monday after the
World Bank estimated the global economy will shrink 2.9 percent in 2009.
It previously predicted a 1.7 percent contraction. The grim assessment
was the latest unwelcome surprise for the market since last month and
further eroded hopes that the economy was starting to emerge from recession.
Investors began driving stocks sharply higher in early March, encouraged
by modest improvements in housing, manufacturing and even unemployment.
The dampened economic outlook from the World Bank, a global lender based
in Washington, also weighed on the prices of oil, metals, and other
commodities. Those price drops in turn sent energy and metal producers'
shares falling. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)
fell 61.28 points or 3.4 percent to 1,766.19. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU)
fell 200.72 points or 2.4 percent, to 8,339.01. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index ($SOX)
fell 9.87 points or 3.7 percent to 254.6. The Morgan Stanley High Tech
35 Index (MSH)
fell 16.45 points or 3.6 percent to 434.44. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical
Index (DRG)
fell 4.79 points or 1.8 percent to 258.36. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index
(BTK)
fell 14.96 points or 2.2 percent to 664.17. Finally, the Standard &
Poor's 500 (SPX)
fell 28.19 points or 3.1 percent to 893.04.
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E-Mail Story
Print Story
As
the domestic automobile industry struggles to address the worst financial
crisis in its history, a new report released Monday by the University
of Michigan Transportation Research Institute analyzes critical choices
faced by automakers and finds that broad, deep, fast change is necessary
for success. According to the report, "Fixing Detroit: How Far,
How Fast, How Fuel Efficient?" successful turnarounds hinge on
rapid cultural transformation, which requires replacement of management
teams. Further, the report finds that the existing culture within the
domestic auto companies systematically underestimates the value of fuel
economy, which has crippled profitability. 
Apple
Inc. sold more than a million units of its latest iPhone model in the
first three days, making it the most successful debut for a smart phone
yet. The iPhone 3G S went on sale Friday in the U.S. and seven other
countries. When Apple Inc. launched the previous model last year, it
also sold one million units in the first three days, but that model
launched simultaneously in 22 countries. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene
Munster had expected the Cupertino, Calif., company to sell half a million
3G S in the first three days. 
