Week 3

The third lesson kicked off with a short recap of last week’s lesson on global dominance, with a brief discussion on China and how they saw themselves as superiors and shut themselves out from Western influence; also being insular (looking inward at own problems and becoming polarized in the process).

What piqued my interest was the short video of “the story of stuff” by Annie Leonard where she describes where stuff comes from and what happens when you throw it out. The process can be summarized as: Extraction-> production->distribution->consumption->disposal. In this age, we are a materials economy and we simply cannot run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely! Less than 4% of the original forests remain; 100,000 synthetic chemicals used in commercial; 4billion pounds of pollution a year as a result of manufacturing. Such statistics are definitely of shock value. In fact, we are but a mere 5% of world population but we are using 30% of global resources! If this goes on, we’ll need 3-5 planets. We are constantly interacting with culture, environment and society and we cannot afford to be selfish. But unless in an unlikely scenario that we find alternative life in outer space (and I’m being rhetoric), we have to learn to use our resources more wisely and tactfully- let’s face it, we only have 1 Earth to live in.

This lead me to think back on the interest concept of “advantages of backwardness” in the article, Industrialization as an engine of growth in developing countries by Adam Szirmai where latecomers profit from the availability of modern technologies developed in the leading industrial economies, without bearing all the risks and costs involved in research and development.

Also, we have to take into account the IPP's (Integrated product policy) aim to improve the overall environmental performance of a product has to be realized. It is undeniable that all products cause environmental degradation in some way but are we forever caught in a case of equivalent trade where in order to progress and remain sustainable we forego our humanity and compromise our very living environment? Surely there must be a line to be drawn to demarcate this. I believe if everyone plays his/her own part, a lot of small effort will amount to something huge. We should stay away from the mindset that large corporations are mainly to blame and doubt ourselves by asking “what change can we as individuals make”. Change, no matter how large, can amount to something. If going green or using a recycling bag helps saving a tree, why not?

We moved on to market driven innovation vs. technology driven innovation. As defined, Market Driven Innovation (MDI) is designing, managing and implementing your innovation process based on the needs and wants from your key markets. Alternatively, technology driven innovation encompasses  technology, namely IT performance, information processing and communications that results in innovation. Should innovation be technology or market-driven? I believe there must be a fair balance on this. A company cannot solely be market driven as technology and profits are in tandem and they are so intertwined that they are inseparable. Of course, we should bear in mind not lose our morality and ethics in the process of doing so.

The lesson concluded with a discussion on valley, summit and cloud opportunities. Valley opportunities like rice farming has a low barrier to entry given the low level of skills required. Summit opportunities mainly involve knowledge-based production, a notch above valley opportunities. Cloud opportunities harnesses cutting-edge new technology and value-adds existing products. Example of such an industry would be apple. I can’t wait for iphone 5, like totally!

I would like to give this week’s lesson a 8.5/10 as it is very applicable to the world today as we are heading towards a knowledge based economy. At the same time, we should bear in mind not engage in Faustian bargains for the sake of progress.

Here's a parting quote to ponder:

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.  ~Mohandas K. Gandhi