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Insights
The recently completed draft of the human genome represents a milestone in human history. Although the global initiative to discover and sequence all human genes has fueled considerable commercial interest, the current accomplishment is commendable more for its scientific merit than for its business benefits. People commonly compare the completed draft of the human genome to a book in which the text is a single unpunctuated, unspaced word of more than 3 billion characters. To complete the Human Genome Project (HGP), researchers must next edit the text, enumerating and determining the functions of the undetermined number of genes within. The HGP's sequence and mapping information will be the reference standard that researchers use to interpret the functions of human genes and the roles they play in maintaining health and causing disease. The author reviews the technology and genomics research currently driving progress in the field, looking at three key areas: sequence genomics, functional genomics, and bioinformatics. In addition, he suggests technology areas to monitor, such as stem-cell technologies that shorten the time necessary to determine the therapeutic value of new drug candidates. Author: Andrew Broderick. 13 pages. Index Keywords: Biotechnology; Food Technology; Knowledge Management; Medical Research; Pharmaceutical Industry.
Even in today's booming U.S. economy, financial service institutions often fail to meet the needs of small businesses, especially those whose owners are in disadvantaged groups or seek to operate in low-income areas. In turn, business owners have difficulty meeting lenders' qualifications and often run into insurmountable barriers when they seek capital to launch, sustain, and expand their businesses. Until recently, banks and other lenders have had little incentive to serve these traditionally high-cost, high-risk markets. Now, however, numerous changes in financial services and markets are creating opportunities to improve systems for small-business financing, to the benefit of lenders and borrowers alike. Foundations and other interested parties have created and supported community-development financial institutions, for example, and the U.S. Community Reinvestment Act encourages financial institutions to expand their efforts to meet their communities' development needs. Many forms of public/private collaboration have also emerged to marshal capital resources and direct them toward small businesses. In work for the Ford Foundation, analysts in SRI International's Economic Practice evaluated the current climate for small-business financing and recommended innovations to remedy today's gaps between supply and demand. This study summarizes their findings. Authors: Tonia Callender, Katherine Johnston, Ophelia Yeung, and Matty Mathieson. 14 pages. Index Keywords: Banking; Credit; Finance; Financial Services.
Broadband connections to the Internet, such as those provided by cable modems and digital subscriber lines (DSL), are becoming increasingly affordable and available for connecting homes and remote offices to the Internet and corporate networks. An increasing number of companies are actively implementing remote access to corporate networks using these broadband technologies. But the software and systems most companies are using were not designed to assure security in the Internet environment at large. Home workers using Microsoft's Windows 95/98 operating system quickly discover that the software acts as if other broadband users in the neighborhood are coworkers in an office local-area network. The "always-on" feature of many broadband connections also presents risks by giving computer crackers an available launch pad for "denial of service" attacks on public Web sites. Software developers such as Microsoft have implemented a wide variety of capabilities involving the exchange of code and data from one application to another (enabling computer viruses and worms), but because the application and system code is proprietary, users have no means of tracking what's going on in their systems. If password systems aren't meticulously implemented and maintained, the broadband connections of home and remote workers can even provide an entrÚe to corporate data systems on the part of hackers intent on industrial espionage. Unsecured broadband connections can also be the entry point to the corporate network for simple vandalism such as e-mail viruses and worms. This study documents the major risks associated with broadband home and remote connections to the corporate network and describes measures that companies can take to ameliorate them. Author: Judi Clark. 12 pages. Index Keywords: Computer Networks; Computer Security; Information Technology; Internet; Telecommunications.
When most people describe knowledge management in their companies, they typically describe efforts to manage representations of knowledge or processes for creating and using knowledge. Knowledge itself—which comprises intangible ideas, concepts, and skills—is difficult to manage. Thus, the author of this study uses the term knowledge-resource management (KRM) to emphasize that knowledge is a resource like many other corporate resources, requiring optimal use, wise management, and alignment with business strategy. KRM is primarily about management and not so much about knowledge. All KRM approaches include the same components: knowledge content (knowledge, skills, and experience), the flow of resources, strategy, and implementation. However, analysts construct different frameworks around these components. This study focuses on four major elements of one KRM framework: Organizational levels of KRM reflect the growing complexity of a company as it grows from a small start-up to an industry leader. Knowledge activities require careful definition and distinctions to avoid overloading the organization's circuits or losing important information. Knowledge dynamics determine how people, technology, practices, purpose, and knowledge content fit together. And knowledge mapping locates knowledge within the enterprise and provides a tool for diagnosing a company's KRM competence. Author: Greger V. Teigre. 19 pages. Index Keywords: Information Management; Knowledge Management; Management; Strategic Planning; Training.
Through the Scan process, the Business Intelligence Program alerts companies to early signals of change and provides insight into their potential implications. Many of the ideas that surfaced in the July 2000 Scan meeting in Europe described the need for companies and individuals to manage increasing levels of complexity. Discussions focused on women managing complex lifestyles, companies managed as complex value networks, advertising diffusing into ever-increasing channels, and the demands of literacy expanding because of new media and modern business practices. This study describes how women's balancing act has implications for human-resources management and for new services that target women, how innovation networks can help companies harness innovation beyond traditional company boundaries, how pervasive advertising is increasing advertising noise resulting from an expansion in advertising channels, and how expanding literacy is changing what it means to be literate in an environment in which many people still lack the basic skills of traditional literacy. Authors: Rob Edmonds, Robert Thomas, Beryl Cannon, Joe O'Halloran. 11 pages. Index Keywords: Advertising; Consumer Behavior; Innovation; Labor Force; Strategic Planning.
News The summaries below describe current activities and programs not included in the B-I-P membership but of potential interest to members. New Report from Media Futures According to the latest report from Media Futures, Movies to the Home: Packaged versus Networked, packaged video—rather than facing extinction—will maintain a prominent if less dominant role in the next ten years. Although networked services will increasingly take market share away from video rentals, purchases of videos will continue to grow. This development is largely the result of a continuing shift toward collecting rather than renting—aided by consumers' upgrading from VHS to DVD, one of the most successful consumer-electronics products launches to date. Networked movie services will also morph technologically as the Internet plays a more prominent role in the delivery of all forms of video entertainment. For more information about Media Futures, telephone: New Report from Consumer Financial Decisions Using consumers' preference for face-to-face interactions and direct means across 15 different financial products and services, the latest MacroMonitor report, Marketing Financial Services: In-Person Selling versus Direct Marketing, groups respondents into four clusters. Because most financial institutions have few options other than to pursue a multichannel approach, the results of this analysis strongly indicate that they need to consider consumers' predilections and preferences. As technology develops and consumers migrate to other channels, financial services providers need to balance the new with the old. This report provides a framework for establishing and maintaining that balance. For more information about the Consumer Financial Decisions program, telephone: |
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