International Law

Project management

Posted on October 15, 2008
I've been working on long-term projects which have stopped me starting some new projects. Should I start the new ones anyway? No. I agree with Johanna Rothman here: put your priority into finishing projects if you can before you start...

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

Posted on September 26, 2008
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior has been getting good reviews. An age-old question that small business owners face all the time is, ?Why do intelligent people make stupid choices?? Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior examines the...

How Can Decision Making Be Improved?

Posted on September 20, 2008
HBS has published a Working Paper by Chugh, Milkman, and Bazerman on How Can Decision Making Be Improved? They pose the problem as follows: If we all behaved optimally, costs and benefits would always be accurately weighed, impatience would not...

New online business ideas

Posted on July 26, 2008
Any new business has to satisfy a need (or convince customers there is a need to be filled). It can answer that question: Why doesn't somebody do something about that? Paul Graham has written about Startup Ideas We'd Like to...

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Effective execution of strategies

Posted on July 03, 2008
The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution from Harvard Business Review points out that implementation depends largely on 2 factors: Clarifying decision rights? for instance, specifying who ?owns? each decision and who must provide input Ensuring information flows where it?s needed?...

Entrepreneur blogs

Posted on June 19, 2008
The Wall Street Journal lists 15 Entrepreneur Blogs Worth Reading. I'dd add the following: Guerilla Marketing for Consultants A VC HBS Working Knowledge Paul McKey

Is your business still in 1999?

Posted on May 31, 2008

Australia 2020

Posted on April 20, 2008
The Australia 2020 summit has issued its initial report. Although there is doubt about whether the delegates were representative and whether they were the "best and brightest" the report contains a snapshot of contemporary Australian views which the Government will...

Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific

Posted on March 21, 2008
The Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific is produced by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), to provide a detailed picture of the major economic, social and environmental trends in Asia and the...

Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific

Posted on March 21, 2008
The Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific is produced by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), to provide a detailed picture of the major economic, social and environmental trends in Asia and the...

Building a company culture

Posted on March 20, 2008
This interview with Google's engineering director gives some insight into how the company maintains its creative culture and innovative operations.

Building a company culture

Posted on March 20, 2008
This interview with Google's engineering director gives some insight into how the company maintains its creative culture and innovative operations.

Google for non-profits

Posted on March 19, 2008
Google has launched a site for non-profits with free Google tools to promote their work, raise money, and operate more efficiently

Australia 2020 summit: scenario planning on a national scale?

Posted on February 04, 2008
The Rudd Government is convening an Australia 2020 Summit at Parliament House on 19 and 20 April to help shape a long term strategy for the nation?s future. The Summit will debate and develop long-term options for the nation across 10 critical areas...

George Soros on the market crisis

Posted on January 24, 2008
This Financial Times article by funds manager George Soros has some interesting background and comments including the following: The super-boom got out of hand when the new products became so complicated that the authorities could no longer calculate the risks and started relying on the risk management methods of the banks themselves...

Bank-customer communication and blogs

Posted on January 23, 2008
Whilst I have been aware of Savings & Loans credit union's blog for some time, the Better Banking Blog has drawn my attention to RaboPlus's Executive Blog and its demonstration of the value of interactive communication with customers. In the comments section on a post about Westpac's online banking downtime, RaboPlus's Head of Financial Services for  Australia and New Zealand receives comments both about his site's own downtime and design and responds to both quickly receiving praise from the commenters...

Reviewing your CEO

Posted on January 16, 2008
Venture capital investors are reputed to be hard-nosed, so I found this framework for reviewing a CEO to be of interest. It assesses the CEO in the following areas: Vision Leadership Operating Management Values and Integrity Shareholder/Investor/Financial Community Strategic Partners Human Resources Public Relations Board Relations Financial Results Key Challenges in the Year Ahead

Message to a new lawyer: don't be arrogant

Posted on January 14, 2008
Each year at Yom Kippur (Jewish Day of Atonement) I say a prayer asking for forgiveness for (amongst other things) being arrogant. I did not always think that this applied to me. I recall responding, when I was a young lawyer, to a client's observation that lawyers were privileged with a sharp retort that, on the contrary, lawyers had huge obligations and responsibilities...

When your product becomes a commodity: how to respond

Posted on December 30, 2007
You need to be different to make your product stand out in the marketplace and maintain profit margins. But if you can't differentiate, how do you survive if you find yourself in a commoditizing industry characterized by me-too products, overcapacity, and frequent price cuts? How can you make money? Read this HBS Working Knowledge article

The risk of data breaches

Posted on December 30, 2007
As we store more information electronically, the importance of keeping data secure grows. It's not just a risk from hackers or viruses. The breach could be as simple as leaving your notebook or flash drive in the wrong place. The top 10 data breaches of 2007

Storytelling in Business: Made to Stick

Posted on December 11, 2007
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath is a great story about what makes a great story. Why is that important? In business, great stories are very effective tools. Using examples from urban myths and Hollywood pitches through to public interest campaigns and product marketing, the authors emphasise getting to the core of your message by using high-concepts and schemas and getting people's attention (Didn't see that coming?)...

Blawg Review #136

Posted on November 27, 2007
You don't believe in globalisation? Peter Black from QUT is this week's Australian host of Blawg Review #136 , prepared while the Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving. It offers a great variety of law-related posts plus that wonderful time-killer, videos.

Designing law practice management systems

Posted on November 22, 2007
Designing a law practice management system is not as simple as documenting your office management procedures or your risk management systems (see here). A comprehensive system will consider the matters identified by ISO 9000: 2000 as interpreted by Law 9000...

Personality models

Posted on November 07, 2007
I first heard Chris Golis talking about personality models in the context of his assessing managers of businesses in which his venture capital funds invested. He would only invest in a business if he was satisfied with its management. He has now retired from venture capital but has continued his interest in personality models...

First Australian social (peer to peer) lender: iGrin

Posted on October 30, 2007
I previously discussed social lenders here and here. iGrin has launched in Australia: its principal offering is a borrower-lender matching service (up to a maximum $25,000,00 per loan) whereby a borrower nominates the amount it wants to borrower and the preferred rate and iGrin co-ordinates the lenders' bids until sufficient funds at the right rate are recived...

Strategic planning case study: the future of the legal profession

Posted on October 23, 2007
Every business needs to regularly review its future focus:  what are its strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, threats? What is its business model? What resources are needed? What is its competitive advantage? The legal profession, like others, has been affected by technology and competition...

Finding information

Posted on October 23, 2007
Here's the link between knowledge management and user-generated content...an excellent video

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