dispatches from the new world of work

Biz2004

My picks as 2004's top business stories:

China I. China's been coming on for a decade or so; arguably this will be seen as the year China ... ARRIVED. Hint: The World damn near has a second Superpower. China is manufacturing everything. China is exercising its trade muscle in Asia. China is moving rapidly up the value-added chain, investing like crazy in research, buying into branding. Etc. Etc. And: More to come. Much more!

China II. As I traveled the world, everyone (the Irish, Thais, Singaporeans, Danes, Swedes, Italians, etc.) have figured they can't meet or beat China on cost—all are looking for ways to move up the value-added spectrum. My "American message" played as well in Dublin and Singapore as in Chicago and Houston.

Infosys. I call this story "Infosys," rather than India, because for me the rise of this stellar firm signifies the growing aspirations of the likes of India in the world economy. Infosys gleefully takes on all comers at the top of the VA chain.

Outsourcing. The heat around outsourcing cooled a bit post-election, and in fact the #s were always overblown, Lou Dobbs' rants notwithstanding. Nonetheless, the hue and cry over outsourcing has enormous symbolic impact. Message: No American job is safe. The Brand You-Free Agent attitude is no longer an option. Let's hope, in the public sector, that the "ownership society" idea is not stillborn—because some version thereof is necessary to support a far more independent workforce.

Google! The recent story of Google's overture-deal with Oxford et al. defines a new era in information ubiquity-availability. Corporate transparency may still be more wish than reality, but Planetary Transparency is well on its way; if you don't believe me, just ask Dan Rather!

Eliot Spitzer & Martha Stewart & Fannie Mae. Alas, corporate malfeasance is still not a thing of the past. While many complain of the heavy hand of Sarbanes-Oxley and the political aspirations of AG Spitzer, executive housecleaning still appears far from complete.

Richard Florida vs John Ashcroft. We need a solid Homeland defense. And we need to continue to welcome brains-by-the-bushel to our shores ... and be a Welcoming Society in general. The tension will not be easy to resolve—the stakes on both sides of our table are very high.

George Bush. The Economy hasn't been Mr Bush's top priority. By some measures (the mess in Iraq, the continuing terror threat), that's still necessarily the case. Moreover, the dollar's slide (tumble!), the twin (trade & budget) deficits, and creeping lame-duck status effectively tie the President's hands. All that aside, our ultimate defense against global instability of any & all flavors is unequivocally a matchless economy. Let's pray for strong & responsible presidential leadership.

Big Pharma Implosion. First Merck, now Pfizer. A ton of consolidations among Big Pharma have made them more vulnerable, not less. The Era of Life Sciences is dawning, and the Big Guys are looking more dinosaur-ish with every passing day. By the by, while safe drugs are imperative, the dawn of the life sciences age is precisely the wrong time for the Congress & FDA to wrench drug approval to a halt.

Creative Destruction. Capitalism's primary calling card (esp the American Flavor) was/is/will be "built to flip" (churn!), not "built to last." Big Pharma imploding! Kmart buys Sears ... and nobody cares! IPOs healthy again! BioTech rising! Cheer on the mess! Churn rules!

Design recognized. Think Samsung. Think DHL. And, of course, think iPod. Design has long been the secret weapon of the likes of Nike & Sony & Apple & Starbucks—but finally the world-at-large is catching on. High time!

Tom Peters posted this on 12/21/04.

Comments

DHL - > Yellow is the New Brown!
Love it!

~Will
people.love.technology
www.mlgrocksit.com

Posted by Will Mechem at December 21, 2004 11:40 PM

And then of course, the smaller â€™05 events:

Former SU satellites auction 239 Pu on eBay-Iraqi.com - 15 yr. old in Peoria (female teen) winning bidder - builds functional device and offers demo.

Liberals concede, buy AK-47â€™s in mass (legally) and start using them (sales up 3K%) - Russian entrepreneur opens first DC retail outlet in former Gateway Computer storefront with successful â€œ90 days same as cash promo.â€ DC Crime down. Kalashnikov.gun.ru sets up first manufacturing site in Atica, NY. Wal-Mart Supercenter first to proudly offer â€œmade in Americaâ€ products again.

Terrorist supra-worm halts net-commerce with 1,000,000 petabyte per second attack to all corporate e-mail systems. Firewalls melt, Internet dies. Rummy declassifies and takes Internet II public and lands CEO slot. IPO announced. Bush on Board of Directors.

Pentagon buys defunct UAL for 1 US dollar â€“ massive resource needed war effort transport â€“ drafts all pilots in the union via the back door. Female cabin crew assigned land combat role.

Walmart Supercenter employees offered training opportunity at the new Guangzhou Corporate HQ, provided transport to-and-fro is via Young Sun Shipping Company.

Afghan Opium goes pubic on the new world order stock market. Introduces â€œsafe opiate alternativesâ€ to Naproxen and Celebrex in partnership with Pfizer Inc.â€™s new Asian division to be headed by Bernard Kerik. Stocks surge on opening day.

Martha Stewart, in a surprise move, accepts the position to head the State Department after Condi admits Lesbian encounter in 1974. Bush grants pardon to both in advance.

Posted by peter at December 22, 2004 12:36 AM

No RSS Feed?

Posted by Al Hill at December 24, 2004 5:53 PM

In Re. Bush's "creeping lame-duck status effectively tie the President's hands."

Why? I've never understood this concept. Isn't it more plausible that a politician who can not, will not run for re-election is actually strengthened? No need to pander to various groups of voters. No need to watch the polls. Just press forward with the policy initiatives. And go over congress's head and speak directly to the voters, if necessary, a la Reagan. Perhaps this notion that lame-duck presidents are somehow weakened comes from the fact that virtually all presidents enter a second term with shifts in Congress to the opposing party. But not this time. I guess time will tell.

Posted by Doug at January 2, 2005 4:34 PM