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Energy Advances Have Potential to Make the U.S. the Low Cost Leader in the Global Chemical Industry
- February 4, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Alternative Energy, Chemicals, Energy, News
No CommentsThis week, The Dow Chemical Company announced that its 4th quarter earnings, for 2010, had nearly tripled. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, volume was up 12%, and earnings were at 37 cents per share as compared to 8 cents per share last year. (Dow Chemical Profit Nearly Triples – WSJ.com, February 3, 2011)
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The Short-selling of Higher Education
- February 3, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Higher Education, News, Public Sector
In August of 2010, Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, wrote an article in Forbes magazine, taking on “For-profit” institutions of higher education. These would include universities such as the University of Phoenix, DeVry University, Kaplan University, and Walden University, among others. Senator Harkin’s
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Banking Industry – Consolidation by Fiat
- January 28, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Banking, News
Today, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took over banks in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. These included: First Community Bank, based in Taos, N.M, with $2.3 billion in assets; FirsTier Bank, based in Louisville, Colo., with $781.5 million in assets; First State Bank of Camargo, Okla., with $43.5 million in assets; and Evergreen State
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NBC Revitalization – An Attempt to Put Humpty Dumpty Back on the Wall
- January 27, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Brand Revitalization, Cultural Change, Media, News
The old English nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty, first appeared with slightly different lyrics than we know them in our day: Humpty Dumpty sate on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; Threescore men and threescore more, Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before. (Joseph Ritson, Grammer Gurton’s Garland: or, the Nursery Parnassus; a
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Valuing Customer Experience Management – A Lost Art In the Do-It-Yourself Business
- January 27, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Customer Experience Management, News, Retail
Today, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. announced the layoffs of 1,700 workers who held positions between store manager and assistant store manager. In their place, the company plans to hire up to 10,000 hourly, part-time workers who will staff the store on weekends when peak shopping occurs. The underlying theme is to cut labor costs, including benefits
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Changing of the Guard – Potential Perils in Top Leadership Changes at Chief High Tech Rivals
- January 22, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: High-tech, News, Succession Planning
Last Monday, Steve Jobs announced that he will be taking a leave of absence in order to focus on his personal health issues. While this is not the first time that Mr. Jobs has taken a medical leave of absence, the tech genius and chief visionary of the company, this time, did not indicate a
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Food for Thought, But for Higher Prices
- January 20, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Commodities, Food, Inflation, Monetary Policy, News
This week, the CRB BLS Spot Index exceeded 2008 record high levels. The foodstuffs sub-index also exceeded 2008 record highs. Both indices exceeded the previous highs by approximately 7%. Leading up to the index-highs of this week, food policy experts have warned of serious consequences resulting from food inflation, particularly if countries respond with counterproductive
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Five Dollars Per Gallon Of Gasoline Predicted But Could Be Avoided
- December 27, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Alternative Energy, Automotive, Energy, News, Oil & Gas, Transportation
Today, the former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, says Americans could be paying $5 for a gallon of gasoline by 2012. He added the caveat: “I’m predicting actually the worst outcome over the next two years which takes us to 2012 with higher gasoline prices.” This prediction has, understandably garnered a lot of press.
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The Low Profile Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Process
- December 23, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Chemicals, Energy, News, Oil & Gas
A new white paper was posted on the SECG web site. This paper documents a significant development in fluid catalytic cracking: the Low-profile Fluid Catalytic Cracker (LPFCC.) This patented innovation is based on the rearrangement of existing technology and the transport mechanism for the catalyst. Because the catalyst moves through a series of lifts and
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End-to-end PC Lifecycle Cost Management
- December 9, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Information Technology, Lifecycle Cost Management, News
A new white paper has been posted on the SECG web site. The topic addressed is End-to-End PC Lifecyle Cost Management. This topic, of course, is a subset of the larger concepts of Lifecycle Cost Management within IT. This topic will be addressed in a future paper. According to surveys, the three dominant issues facing