2007 Index of Economic Freedom

The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, released their annual “2007 Index of Economic Freedom” report on January 16. 

According to the press release, “The move toward greater economic freedom worldwide stalled over the last year,” and that “countries that increase their levels of economic freedom experience faster growth rates.” 

The Index covers 10 freedoms in 161 countries: Business Freedom; Trade Freedom; Fiscal Freedom; Freedom from Government; Monetary Freedom; Investment; Freedom; Financial Freedom Property Rights; Freedom from Corruption; and Labor Freedom.

Forward-Looking Statements and Risk

Forward-Looking Statements Notice (incorporating elements of “risk”).

From EMC Corporation press release: “EMC Completes RSA Security Acquisition, Announces Acquisition of Network Intelligence,” an example of a “forward-looking statements” disclosure, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) risks associated with acquisitions and investments, including the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (v) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (vi) component and product quality and availability; (vii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (viii) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (ix) war or acts of terrorism; (x) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (xi) fluctuating currency exchange rates; and (xii) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. RSA and EMC disclaim any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

Managing the New Realities of Risk

Global Business Network, self-described as the “world’s foremost scenario consultancy,” based in San Francisco, published a report on “Managing the New Realities of Risk,” as part of their April 2006 Annual Forum: “The changing nature and dimensions of risk at the contextual, market, and organizational levels should be reperceived as opportunities in addition to threats. This requires new approaches to understanding and managing risk as both individuals and organizations.” 

“The success and growth of organizations depend today, as they always have, on navigating the landscape of risks and opportunities. But it is a defining characteristic of our times that the risks and opportunities we face—whether the spread of terrorism or globalization, avian flu or scientific and technological breakthroughs, economic and climatic volatility or demographic shifts—are both increasing and increasingly complex. Most current approaches to managing risk and capturing opportunity focus on the most immediate and knowable environments—the organization and the market—and give only limited consideration to uncertainties in the external environment. Yet the future’s winning businesses will be those best able to anticipate and manage risks both within and beyond the enterprise, while simultaneously exploiting the upside opportunities they create. Developing these capabilities requires more effective utilization of today’s techniques and models, along with new approaches and tools for understanding the changing global context.” “GBN’s 2005 Annual Forum offered an original and provocative look at these “New Realities of Risk:” from the emerging and accelerating sources of uncertainty and the risks they create in the market and organizational environments to different lenses on the psychology of risk to the importance of reperceiving risk, as an opportunity for real advantage as well as a downside to be managed.”

The Innovation Edge: Meeting the Global Competitive Challenge

Bay Area Economic Forum’s “The Innovation Edge: Meeting the Global Competitive Challenge” report (September, 2006): 

“Innovation is increasingly the currency of international competitiveness as nations, states and regions worldwide increase their investment in education, R&D and manufacturing capacity. Successful innovation is the product of many forces: investment in scientific research; investment in education; the interaction of scientists across disciplines and of technologists with entrepreneurs; and a flexible, entrepreneurial culture. An analysis by the Bay Area Economic Forum, The Innovation Edge: Meeting the Global Competitive Challenge, assesses the nature of the new global challenge and the measures needed at the federal, state and regional levels to ensure our future competitiveness.”

Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks

David Borgenicht, Co-Author of “Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks,” recently presented at the Commonwealth Club of California, on “Worst-Case Scenarios: Surving the Mundane to the Extreme”: 

Event description:

”Danger! It lurks at every corner. Earthquakes. Family visits. Terrorists. Sea lions. BART derails and you’re stuck under the Bay. What do you do? Borgenicht will tell us all the right stuff for times when everything goes wrong. From how to deal with a nightmare boss to how to take a punch in the gut to how to leap from a motorcycle into a moving car, he will offer extreme answers to real-world situations and real-world answers to extreme situations. Join this phenomenally successful author-turned-independent publisher for his first San Francisco appearance ever. Because anything can go wrong, anywhere, anytime.”

The Power of Access

The Power of Access 

SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute conducting client-sponsored research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses, foundations, and other organizations, based in Menlo Park, California, has teamed up with FedEx to produce a report: “How Greater Access is Changing the World: A Landmark Study on the Relevance of Access to People, Businesses and Nations.”  

Definitions of Access from the SRI study: 

“Every day, a stream of information, goods, capital and ideas flows around the world because of a single powerful force: Access. Access is what makes all forms of interaction and exchange possible between people, businesses and nations. Far from being an abstract idea, Access touches all of us. The world has seen an enormous increase in physical and digital Access in the past 35 years. It’s fueling the remarkable transformation of the world’s economy, helping businesses and nations to flourish, and empowering individuals with greater choices and opportunities.  Access is such a part of life and business today that by understanding it, we gain a greater understanding of the world around us.” 

Excerpts from the SRI study: 

“The SRI study defines the benefits of Access in terms of People, Businesses and Nations. It finds that increased Access has a tremendous positive impact on economic growth, quality of life, competitiveness, international trade and financial flows. Access benefits people, businesses and nations alike through greater opportunities to participate, choose and improve their prospects: (1) People benefit through the opportunities created by access to job markets, social groups, life choices, personal finance, health and education; (2) Businesses benefit from greater access to physical goods and information, transforming the ways companies operate, innovate, compete and create value; and (3) Nations benefit because they thrive or stagnate depending on their level of access to the inputs that supply their economies — and to their ability to market what they produce.
”The report’s Access Index ranks 75 nations around the world based on nearly two dozen indicators of physical and information Access.  The results are unequivocal: The 10 nations that afford their citizens the highest degree of Access had an average GDP per capita growth rate of 22.6% between 1993 and 2003. The 10 lowest Access nations posted an average rate of only 14.1%.”