Louisville Kentucky Bridges Photo

 Louisville Kentucky. Just outside Joes Crab Shack.  

UN Secretary-General Encourages Nations to Take Extremism Seriously

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres discusses the danger of growing extremism. He also discusses how these groups are becoming more internationally connected and a bigger threat to countries. We are just sort of becoming aware of these dangers in the U.S. A very good article that outlines what is occurring and why the international community is concerned. We are still struggling with how serious we want to take these issues and we find that some groups are getting free passes only because we don't have the mental framework to see the motives behind many crimes. HERE

U.S. and China Begin Diplomatic Talks

 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan begin talks with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Yang Jiechi. Discussions range in topics but what is of particular interest is how cyber related espionage has become an important part of international affairs. Such behaviors go against good conscious and the spirit of free trade. All societies, even the global one, should have some rules that all countries agree with in terms of appropriate business affairs. Human rights was raised as an essential issue for both countries. We know there are lots of different dark spots in history from many different countries and these are a shame to our species. Its where people go from here that will make the biggest differences in our line of societal development.

US. Weekly Jobless Claim 770000 WK Ending March 13th, 21

Unemployment claims not looking rosy for week ending March 13th, 2021. You may read the Department of Labors March 18th press release HERE. Following trends is often more telling than a single week. Sometimes there are natural fluctuations in the market that are going to impact employment. One should used a wider lens when making educated market guesses. 

Start-Up and Incumbent Firms in Industry Innovation (Delta County Theoretical Model)

The world is in constant change as the free hand pushes the market in directions of its choice. Nations that can perceive these changes can better align their efforts to wiggle themselves into a stronger competitive position.  Understanding emerging economic systems rests on applying explanatory theory as new phenomenon unfold in real time. Transactional clusters theories offer opportunities to understand how ground level innovation occurs and how new knowledge influences local economic success. Delta County (DC) Michigan holds in its possession underutilized shipping infrastructure and a small business community that can benefit by implementing stronger pro-investor policies.

Start-Ups and Incumbent Firms Impact Economic Growth:

Start-ups are innovative by their very nature and attract the appetites of larger incumbent firms that devour innovations to develop novel products/services. Attracting new business to Delta County and juicing these businesses with investment capital can make a big difference in the quality of economic and social life for local residents.

Aligning local businesses to the needs of the global market generates new opportunities that move beyond the smokestacks of the Industrial Age and into wireless technologies of the Information Age. Local (and national) governments don't need shoot blindly into the whirlwind of change to find safe harbor in the Digital Economy. They must instead understand the fundamental key components of new economic realities.

Delta County's digitization could very well come through industries such as global logistics/shipping, engineering, small batch manufacturing (specialized military, space, and outdoor equipment), international tourism of localized products (micro-manufacturing of outdoor sports equipment) and the thrill of activities (waterfront, trails, hunting, fishing, diving, etc...).

Underutilized Strengths of Delta County:

Delta County Michigan is a tree covered semi-isolated county nestled on the water's edged of the Great Lakes with dormant assets that haven't been seriously explored since America began its outsourcing fantasies in the 70s.  As the nation pushes to bring U.S manufacturing back, Delta County sits as a strong contender for shipping infrastructure/distribution investments, and small batch manufacturing/assembly production. Matched with its trade oriented Bay De Noc Community College and other colleges  in the area (Houghton Tech and NMU) it could ferment U.S.  Human Capital Stock within those cluster competencies (Industry-University Competencies).

The sizable military and space industry investments in the Upper Peninsula could further influence new exploration of small batch production, shipment of equipment/supplies, and regional exportation in a way that could transform this area(See shipping review Delta County MI.). Delta County can be the "Dubai on the Great Lakes" if it can attract global firms with advanced business intelligence to test out and develop ground breaking products (Our nation will begin to change quickly once new digital, shipping and manufacturing infrastructure kicks in).

What are Transactional Clusters?

Transactional clusters is an emerging line of economic thinking based on the micro-transactions (that can be measured quantitatively) that are inherent in every day business activity such as making a purchase or sending an email. When you add these transactions up across a cluster you can determine essential factors that create innovation and growth. Research on how to develop innovation at the microcosm level has taken center stage as the United States seeks to revamp lost manufacturing capacity.

Transactional clusters develop collaborative/competitive environments organically based on the way in which people, resources, and industry interact to spur economic growth (i.e. Detroit and automotive or San Diego pharmaceuticals). With research we can recreate the innovation of clusters through focused infrastructure and business investments guided by the wisdom of good government policy.

Once sparked, clusters align to global needs, innovate quickly in their effort to "beat" the market. Such environments, “involves people working together to solve problems and accomplish work in ways that are synergistic – where more is accomplished than organization members could achieve separately and additively” (Shipper et al., 2013, p. 100).

How Start-Up and Incumbent Firms Create Innovation

Innovation is uniqueness in solution while business is the practical application of that solution. Start-ups are launched by entrepreneurs that have a new and useful innovations they want to sell on the market for profit. They invest their intellectual capital and often personal resources to launch a product but all too often find themselves in need of capital infusion as credit lines become stretched thin.

Connecting corporate investors with nimble new companies developing high prospect products/services spurs research & development (Importance of University Research and U.S. & China Patents) that often leads to innovation. Larger firms crave these start-ups to keep their own products and company at the leading edge of industrial development. They are willing to invest their resources into these resource start-ups in order to gain new technologies/products that help them achieve top market positions. 

Start-Up Firms:

Scientists from TU Darmstadt University analyzed factors that influenced successful collaboration between incumbent and start-ups to create technological advancements. They analyzed key factors between the two entities to gain greater awareness of why and how they collaborate (Islam, Buxmann, & Ding, 2017).  

The study method includes:

• Semi-structure interview of 30 experts from incumbent firms (Group IF) and digital innovation start-ups (Group SU).
• Start-ups were characterized by beginning-introduction stages and incumbent firms were characterized by maturity in the life-cycle stages.  
•  Individual statements were coded into factors and in turn placed in categories for analysis.

The Factors (F1, F2, etc..) found from the interviews:

• 12 for incumbent firms and 8 for start-ups
• Two major categories "Intention to Collaborate" and "Actual Collaboration Behavior"
• + Positive Influence - Negative Influence
• F= factor

How Finding Factors Helps Create Innovation?

When researchers break down oral information obtained by interviewing executives working in start-up and incumbent firms, they develop a coded framework for further analysis. The real life experiences, intentions, and behaviors of these executives are important when we consider the human elements of how and why some partnerships succeed and some never happen! All economic systems rest on human decision making and behavior and thus the real lived experiences of professionals are testimony to internal cluster dynamics.

What we are likely to find if we repeated a similar study across a wide range of clusters (i.e. large survey) is that each cluster has their own unique factor (i.e. markers) that pertain specifically to that type of industry (Side note: With a strong cluster evaluation model we could assess for markers/factors that denote specific cluster competencies 👀). If we understand what factors/markers denote successful partnerships in those clusters we can better prepare start-ups for investment interest and increased growth prospects (Measurable Strategies).

How Does this Research Apply to Delta County?

Delta County Michigan is a place that retains significant underutilized value in small batch manufacturing, distribution/shipping, and tourism. When located in the same vicinity (virtual and/or physical) the development of one industry cluster can influence the innovative product/service development line of another cluster through shared resources and capital.  Multi-cluster knowledge accumulation can sometimes lead to whole new yet to be imagined industries as new discoveries in one area are quickly adapted to other industries within connected clusters. While the theory I'm working on is an adaptive transactional theory, its specific elements have support in prior scientific research. You can read the unfinished version HERE.

A Line of Thinking

Creating theories comes from the necessity of understanding the world in which we live through accurate assessment of available information (data). It might start from a hypothesis, or question, but ultimately must find logical support through utilizing the scientific method. One way to create a strong theoretical background is to review the research and the evidence other's have collected through their own analytical assessments (nanos gigantium humeris insidentes.). The more times something is experienced and tested, the more valid a theory becomes. In this case, the theoretical development borrows from other's research and in turn seeks to connect those concepts into something that may be useful for government decision making. 

In any great problem we must fist recognize pattern distortion and then a need to overcome the chaos (Economic Theory of Chaos) through specific actions (COVID Change). The earlier we can do this, and the more accurate our market projections, the more likely we can successfully navigate market disruption. Leaders should learn to use evidence based decision making (Social Constructionist Learning) to more accurately navigate complex environmental changes that can't be easily explained by pre-existing ideological beliefs (I-Conomics); drawing upon our socialized processes to spark new behavior patterns (Me-Conomics); and, in turn development new economic systems through collaboration (We-Conomics/In process).

A few articles to help explain the general concepts (not all). Theory development requires 100's of supportive documents (literature search) to justify the premises that lead to more complex knowledge creation.

1. Attract entrepreneurs to DC. (DC Neuroeconomics and Escanaba/Gladstone Downtown )

2. Find a strategy to attract international investment/companies to "break out" products (i.e. incumbent and start-up). (Venture Collaboration and ROI Pure Michigan and Available Investor Information and DC Virtual Communities) and Export Creative Destruction and Information Venture Validation.)

3. Seek to build viable clusters based on assets of the area (i.e. rail, deep sea port, skilled labor, tourism, skilled trades etc... (Digital Nomads Land and Human Capital Stock and Human Capital FDI and Technology Skill and Venture Cap. Environ. and Tourism Micro-Manufacturing and Global Supply Chains).

4. Ensure cluster behavior ties into and is enhanced by other cluster activities (i.e. create cluster flow that produces market solutions). (Transactional Subfactors and The Working Cluster and Digital GDP and Probability of Firm Linkage. 

5. Utilize innovation and collaboration among existing clusters to launch new technologies and industries (i.e. entrepreneurs, articulating market problems, etc...). Multi-Cluster New Innovation and and Global Perspective and Enhancing Manufacturing.

6. Adjust government and business behaviors to develop a sustainable economic system that invests in infrastructure and encourages further business investment in a way that creates "net positives" and reduces local (i.e. national) debt. (Sustainable Systems Marketing, Interactive Value Cities, DC Great Lakes Shipping Infrastructure, and Perpetual Economic Systems. 

7. Create competitive model that can be used as part of a larger strategy for prime investment locations in Michigan, region, and/or nation. Game Theory U.S. and Economic Platforms (Information Age) and U.S-China Econ Platforms and Regional Development and Economic Societal Development and Cultural Advantages and Advanced Industries  and International Marketing Dev. and Global Managers and China Manufacturing and Digital GDP Govt. and Bounded Rationality and Cluster Human Rights and Haiku Eagle Eggs.

Islam, Nihal; Buxmann, Peter; and Ding, David, (2017). "Fostering Digital Innovation Through Inter-Organizational Collaboration Between Incumbent Firms and Start-Ups. In Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Guimarães, Portugal, June 5-10, 2017 (pp. 1029-1043). ISBN 978-989-20-7655-3 Research Papers. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2017_rp/67

Shipper, F., C. C. Manz, K. P. Manz and B. W. Harris (2013). Collaboration that goes beyond co-operation: it’s not just “if” but “how” sharing occurs that makes the difference. Organizational Dynamics, 42 (2), 100-109. 

Ensuring We Don't Give a "Free Pass" to Hate Crimes in Michigan

The Justice System is imperfect, made up of imperfect people, that live in an imperfect world and make imperfect decisions. Sometimes decisions make sense and sometimes it looses its logic completely. Feedback loops to the Justice System is helpful to create stronger systems that reflect the needs of people. Feedback is not so much a criticism as an opportunity for improvement. 

Building trust means always acting with a level of integrity in a way that leads to the best outcomes for all parties involved. The authority is thus bound to a moral value system that enhances the functioning of a wider community.

Because of the limited resources (financial and human) there are choices as to what cases to investigate and which ones to not expend resources. Those choices may be practical in nature but should not be based in racial, religious, or political affiliations. 

What we want to avoid is people engaging in criminal behavior with the belief that certain groups will receive preferential treatment based on norms that violate central Constitutional values. Assuming that the Constitution is central to our American values it should act as a guide to direction.

"A free pass" prompts people to believe that hate based crimes in society are an acceptable outlets for personal problems and mental health issues. 

Cases with the most horrific behaviors are pursued while those of smaller consequence fall off the edge of the desk.  Most of the hate crime behavior is on the smaller level but can have significant impact over time.

Sometimes not pursuing a cases is based on the practicality of obtaining a prosecution but sometimes it is because of similarity and culture. Its something that is part of human nature and without recognizing this bias in ourselves to prefer people similar to ourselves we are unable to fairly offer justice.

When behavior is intentionally designed to target minorities and radicalize followers I don't believe it is wise to not hold perpetrators accountable. While jail time isn't necessary in all cases, "accountability" is a must. Without accountability we can expect such behaviors to be repeated when the "coast is clear". 

Our state, our nation, and its legal institutions have a responsibility to be adaptive by nature. Failure to changes our thoughts, feeling, and hearts when our future rests on coming to awareness about creating systems that supports human development.  Stopping the "free pass" for hate based behaviors means designing a system that codes behavior accurately for analysis and solution. Without change we will experience this problem over and over in an environment that welcomes it.  

Opportunities for Hate Crime Reform Michigan-Better Coding and Better Solutions

FBI director testifies on Capitol Riots: Opportunities for National Improvement in Thwarting Future Extremism

“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
― Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Don't be Scammed by Vaccines: Michigan AG Warns

There is a right way and a wrong way to conduct business. Making money should be done in a legitimate fashion with a real product that has meaningful value for consumers. When people feel they are purchasing one product but receive something they feel cheated! All business and commerce is based on trust and when people defraud consumers they damage that trust. Countries with large black markets often have the lowest growth rates and the most corruption.