think2ool

May 20, 2012

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About

think2ool by scott pickard is a browse engine enabling the reader to wander from one topic to another at the speed of a click along the leading edge of new ideas:

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Accountant and Accounting

What is the trend for the last three years for total annual outside accounting fees as a percentage of revenues? Does the company and/or our accountant have access to comprehensive and up-to-date resources on all accounting and tax-related matters?

questions for accountants: How long have you been the accountant? How long has the lead individual been handling the annual audit? Can you verify the numbers in the audit on assets, sales, and profits? Are there any significant or material changes in the numbers set up by management and the financial audit? (a) inventory value; (b) quality of receivables; (c) work in progress; (d) cost of goods sold Did you issue a management letter? Are the company's books and records in good condition for an efficient audit, or do they need improvement? Are adequate controls in place to prevent misuse of funds? How would you evaluate the financial management team? How would you evaluate the CFO? Is the company having operating problems? Is management listening to your best advice?

The Trusted Advisor by David H. Maister

Due Diligence Groups | Small Business

Financial Management

Accounts Receivable

What is the revenue recognition policy for recording revenues and establishing receivables? Is the distribution of aged receivables under control? Is there any one receivable that is 20% or greater of total receivables? How often are accounts receivable aging schedules prepared? Does the board audit this schedule from time to time? How long are accounts permitted to go unpaid before being considered delinquent? Are there accounts receivables that represent conditional sales? Are any receivables under dispute? What percentage of receivables is estimated to be written off at year-end? How is bad debt reserve computed? How is sales return reserve computed? What collection procedures does the company employ? Does marketing assist with accounts receivables collections? Which receivables are factored? Why? With whom and under what terms?

customer credit: What percentage of sales is on a credit basis? How does the credit approval process work? Who establishes the credit limits for customers? What percentage of sales were credit losses in previous years?

notes receivable: Is there a list of notes receivable indicating the terms? What is the company’s bad debt reserve policy? Is it adequate?

book: Accounts Receivable Management Best Practices by John G. Salek | credit reports: Dun & Bradstreet | credit risk management: approsystems, ebureau | bill by e-mail: transactis small business | factoring: ftrans, receivablesexchange

Cash Management | Financial Management | Retail

Production and Utilization of Wealth

Acquisitions

Does the company have an analysis of the tax basis of assets being acquired? Does the company have an estimate of the fair market value target of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed? What expense items can be added back to the income statement because the owner has been taking out excessive compensation? What is the estimated recapture tax liability, assuming that such is triggered? How does this compare to the present value of step-up benefits? Are there deferred inter-company gains or nondeductible write-offs that may result in additional taxes? What is the expected transaction effect on net operating loss and tax credit carryovers? What are the expected benefits of a taxable vs. nontaxable transaction? What is the performance of all operating entities that have been acquired in the past five years? Has the company made any bad acquisitions? What is being done to mitigate the adverse impacts? Can we maximize the salvage value of certain under-performing assets via a corporate barter transaction? (a)obsolete or excess inventory; (b)services; (c)underutilized plant capacity; (d)excess packaging; (e)short-dated products; (f)returns; (g)refurbished goods Will the seller be able to assume all debt not taken in an asset purchase? Are all assets appraised as to current market or liquidation value? What was the gain (loss) on all divestitures in the last five years? Are there deferred inter-company gains or nondeductible write-offs that may result in additional taxes?

merger: Is there an outstanding contractual agreement to merge this company? Can the company be sold if it gets into trouble? Is there a ready buyer for the company? What strategic objectives will this merger accomplish? (a) obtain a leading position in an industry new to the company; (b) become the major player in an industry through merger with a competitor or otherwise; (c) realize high growth, especially in industries not experiencing rapid technological change. Which individuals are critical to making it happen? What organizational structure will best support it? Whose culture will dominate? Has the company developed an integration management plan for before, during, and after the acquisition? Has a lead integration manager been assigned to this project?

reverse merger: Does a reverse merger make sense for the company? How many of the following criteria does the company match up with? (a) Unique business model, product, or service; (b) Revenues of $3 million + (c) A record of dynamic growth; (d) Positive cash flow; (e) Plans for $50 million + in revenue; (f) Proven, experienced management team; (g) Buzz in the industry; (h) Strong CFO; (i) Audited, clean financial statements; (j) Sufficient working capital for public company overhead; (k) Access to a reputable, thorough matchmaker/deal maker

subsidiaries: Are there any conditions which are restricting contribution payments from subsidiaries to the parent company? Has the company followed through on all promises and performance guarantees to its subsidiaries?

buy-sell agreement: Are key components of the buy-sell agreement updated to reflect changing conditions? (a) objectives; (b) valuation process; (c) funding mechanism (cash flow or life insurance proceeds); (d) payment terms (upfront; amortized; interest-only + balloon)

poison pill: What antitakeover protection plans has the board prepared? (a) staggered boards; (b) poison pills; (c) golden parachutes; (d) change of incorporation Has the board considered a chewable poison pill structured so that the pill's barrier to an unsolicited takeover disappears after an all-cash for all shares takeover offer of at least 25% more than the company's current stock price? Should the board consider rescinding its dead-hand poison pill?

in general: calendar | deal-making network: axialmarket | due diligence: duediligenceonline | model agreement | news: firstlist, themiddlemarket

books

Buy-Sell Agreement Handbook by Anthony Mancuso

Fools Rush In by Nina Munk hostile takeovers

Mergers and Acquisitions from A to Z by Andrew J. Sherman and Milledge A. Hart

The Art of M&A Due Diligence by Alexandra Reed Lajoux

The Buyout of America by Joshua Kosman

Organization of Production and Distribution

Advertising and Promotion

What percentage of revenues is required to competitively advertise and promote the company's products? What are the top seven most effective marketing and promotional strategies for an independent professional? How effectively does marketing solicit and integrate the advertising ideas from other divisions of the company? How does the company evaluate the effectiveness of advertising and promotional programs?

questions for advertising agency: How long have you been the advertising agency? What is the company's annual advertising budget? Does the company pay its bills on time? Have you ever had to contact the company for failing to pay? Is the company a good customer? Is management listening to your best advice?

local: singleplatform | www.yodle.com | classifieds: backpage, oodle

yellow pages: http://sfbay.craigslist.org | www.livedeal.com | www.yodle.com | self-management: yext

books

Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin viral

Political concepts, ideologies, and problems

Anarchism and Revolution

You say you want a revolution

Well, you know

We all want to change the world

Beatles

anarchists: Black Bloc | Lord’s Resistance Army | Sex Pistols

books

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp

The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom by Evgeny Morozov

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

History of Mankind

Ancient Asia, Africa, Europe

SW Asia, Egypt, the Aegean, and North Africa

Near Eastern, Aegean, N. African Civilizations

Mesopotamia and Iran to 1600 BC

River valley civilization in Egypt to 1600 BC

Syria, Palestine, Anatolia, Aegean to 1600 BC

Egyptian and Hittite empires, 1600-1050 BC

SW Asia; Iron Age, 1050-700 BC

Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, 746-250 BC

Parthian, Sasanian 250 BC-AD 651; Armenia

Nilotic Sudan, S. Arabia, Ethiopia AD 600

N. Africa until Roman conquest from 146 BC

Ancient Europe & Mediterranean to AD 395

Non-classical ancient Europe

Classical Greek civilization, 1200-323 BC

Hellenistic Age, 323-27 BC

Rise of Rome

Roman Empire, 31 BC-AD 395

books

ancient history sourcebook

Cartographies of Time by Anthony Grafton Visualization

The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer

TV: history channel | World Heritage List

Humanities | Lessons of History | Time

Apocalypse

about | Crisis planning: NISAC | doomsday groups millennialism | fantasy: Tokyo Genso

books

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

Art | Fields critical infrastructure | Religion

Art

Art in General pin

Theory & Classification | Experience & Criticism | Arts in Particular Cultures | books

How do you discover art? What categories interest you? What are your favorite styles? Which three artists would be in your dream collection? How often do you visit art galleries? What art events (fairs, auctions, etc.) did you attend in the last year?

Theory & Classification of Arts

Philosophy of art: Alain Badiou activist art

Classification of the arts

Experience & Criticism of Art

Art appreciation: <museums> | <news>: artfixdaily, Paris Review

Criticism of works of art

Scholarship in the arts

Social, economic, and cultural institutions: Public Art League

Economics of art: culturaldata data

Training and work of the artist

Collaboration: Indivisible by Four by Arnold Steinhardt

kickstarter philanthropy / funding

Preservation and dissemination of works of art

art fairs: friezeartfair

<digital>: digitisedart

Granta literature

member orgs: artspace | paddle8

online: vipartfair

Arts in Particular Cultures

Arts of the Stone Age peoples

Arts of the Western tradition

In antiquity

Middle ages

Renaissance to present in Europe & America

Arts of Asian peoples: Ai Weiwei

East, Central, South, SE Asia

Arts of the Middle East and of the Islamic peoples

Arts of the African peoples

Arts of the Oceanic peoples

Arts of the American Indian peoples

Primitive, folk, and popular arts

Books

Art/Work by Heather Darcy Bhandari

Cream

The Art Book

The Gift by Lewis Hyde

The Story of Art

in general: affordable: art, 20x200 | online: artbase, urchinmovement | publishers: sequencepress | Social Networking: society6 | visual search: plinklart

Computer Science

Artificial Intelligence

What does it mean to think or to feel?

expert systems

frame-based systems

semanitc networks

robotics

What is the mind? Do minds really exist? To what extent are minds functionally dependent upon the physical structures with which they are associated? Might minds be able to exist quite independently of such structures? Or are they simply the functioning of appropriate kinds of physical structure? Is it necessary that the relevant structures be biological in nature (brains), or might minds equally well be associated with pieces of electronic equipment? Are minds subject to the laws of physics? What are the laws of physics?

Singularity big ideas: about | IBM Watson | moore’s law | Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence singinst

Books and papers

Accelerando by Charles Stross

Man-Computer Symbiosis by J. C. R. Licklider crowd

The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil

Matter and Energy

Atoms

Structure and Properties of Atoms

intro

atomic nature of matter

atomic weights

atomic spectra

xrays/atomic structure

antimatter

physical constants

Atomic Nucleus and Particles

structure of atomic nucleus

isotopes

radioactive nuclei

neutron

reactions of atomic nuclei

fission

Fusion

subatomic elementary particles

passage of nuclear particles through matter

books

An Introduction to Nuclear Physics by W. N. Cottingham

The Ghost in the Atom by P. C. W. Davies

Elements of Technology

Automation

How much automation exists within each major manufacturing operation? How much additional automation (digital factory) can be implemented in the manufacturing operations? What would the capital requirements be? What would be the effects on production? (a) costs; (b) labor utilization; (c) labor content of costs; (d) production flexibility To what extent are finished products and components standardized?

B

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

big ideas | big picture | due diligence | pins

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Philosophy

Balance

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Voltaire

in general: live within your means | moderation | one video

simplicity: less is more

work & life balance: http://biggsuccess.com | www.fatherhood.org | www.worklifebalance.com

books

Balance, the fundamental verity by Orlando J. Smith big ideas, ten books

Walden by Henry David Thoreau books

Working by Studs Terkel

Employees | Equations & Algorithms | Issues | ThinkList | Values

Beauty

Do we think beauty, or do we feel it?

Richard Seymour

about | evolution of beauty | first impression | landscapes | sexual attraction

Art | Coolhunting | Design | Humanities | Perception

Life on Earth

Behavior of Organisms

Behavioral Responses

about

Diverse conceptions of animal behavior

Patterns of stereotyped response

Hormonal and nervous control of behavior

Evolution of behavior

Behavioral Capacities

Basic behavioral activities of individuals

Higher behavioral characteristics of animals: Dog Whisperer

behavior of animals in groups

Evolution of behavior

books

The Behavior of Organisms by B. F. Skinner

The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans

Fields of Technology / transportation / wheeled vehicles

Bicycles pin

books

Bicycle Portraits by Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler

Design | Green | Social Networking

Big Data

data is the new oil

Big Ideas

prezi

Big Picture

Matter and Energy

Atoms

Energy, States, & Transformation of Matter

Universe

Earth

Earth’s Properties

Earth’s Envelope

Earth’s Surface Features

Earth’s History

Life on Earth

Nature & Diversity of Life

Vital Processes

Structure and Function of Organisms

Behavior of Organisms

Biosphere

Human Life

Stages of Development

Health and Disease

Human Behavior

Human Society

Social Groups

Social Organization and Change

Production and Utilization of Wealth

Politics and Government

Law

Education

Art

Art in General

Particular Arts

Technology

Development of Technology

Elements of Technology

Fields of Technology

Religion

Religion in General

Particular Religions

History of Mankind

Ancient Asia, Africa, Europe

Medieval Europe, Africa, Asia

East, Central, South, SE Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa to 1885

Pre-Columbian America (1540)

Modern World to 1920

World Since 1920

Knowledge Creation

Logic

Mathematics

Science

History and the Humanities

Philosophy

Preservation of Knowledge

books aStore

About Looking by John Berger art

National Geographic earth

On The Shoulders Of Giants by Stephen Hawking matter & energy

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn

discovermagazine

ThinkList

Life on Earth

Biosphere

You protect what you love. Yvon Chouinard

Features | Biological populations | Disease & death | Ecosystems | Human impact

Basic Features of Biosphere

Extent of the biosphere: The Earth's Biosphere by Vaclav Smil

The ecosystem

Biodiversity

Balance

Nature & Diversity of Life

Natural Capital big ideas: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity TEEB

Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services ipbes.net

Biological Populations & Communities

Biological Populations

Biotic interactions

Biological communities

Biosphere Disease and Death

Disease and death

Plant diseases

Animal diseases

Human diseases

Ecosystems

Terrestrial ecosystems

Land environment

Major life forms

Productivity

Aquatic ecosystems

rivers

distribution of organisms

floras and faunas

Earth’s Envelope

forest land management: imagetreecorp | tree canopy height

Humans in the Biosphere

Qualities that set humans apart in the biosphere

Human impact on the biosphere

I human impact = P population x A affluence x T technology

Utilization of organisms by humans

Conservation of natural resources

Extinction: A Naturalist and Other Beasts by George B. Schaller

organizations: Millenium Alliance for Humanity & the Biosphere sustainability

Balance inequality/diversity | Books ten books | Earth’s Surface Features | Green | Issues

Fields of Technology

Biotechnology

in general | clinical trials | genomics | life science | stem cells

clinical trials and research: enrollment: inclinix | research: gobalto | software: cytel

genomics: knome | 1000genomes.org | opgen | personalized medicine big idea | cloud-based: DNAnexus

life science

stem cells: banking: Neostem china | bioethics | dental: store-a-tooth banking | skin: skin gun science / medicine, ulthera ultrasound

Black Box

Business Organization

Board of Directors

Agenda and Minutes

Does the CEO effectively integrate the agenda items of all board members? On both a macro (1-2 year) and micro (meeting-to-meeting) basis? How are agenda items prioritized? Has the board tried using a consent agenda to improve the efficiency of meetings? Is the agenda focused on strategic issues that will determine the company’s longer-term positioning; or is it delving too deeply into operational details? As a policy, does the board recommend the destruction of directors' meeting notes once minutes have been officially adopted? Are all board minutes archived at company headquarters and accessible by directors? What target is set for turnaround of board minutes? board forms

AuditCommittee

Is the audit committee about failing to perform its job properly because members are either unqualified or are too close (related) to the management of the company? Does the committee fully understand and comply with all required SEC reporting requirements? Do audit committee members meet the tests for independence necessary to meet SEC guidelines? (a) they, their spouses or children do not currently work or have worked at the company or its affiliates within the past five years; (b) they have not received compensation from the company or its affiliates for work other than board service; (c) they are not partners, shareholders or officers of a business with which the corporation is dealing. Does at least one audit committee member have an accounting or finance background? When was the last financial audit performed by an outside third party? For what reason?

book: Audit Committee Essentials by Curtis C. Verschoor | Institute of Internal Auditors | sample charter

Internal Audit

Board Makeup

What criteria/objectives are set to establish the makeup of the board? Is the size of the board appropriately scaled to the size and scope of the company’s operations? What are the director profiles needed to compose the board? Is the number of inside vs. outside directors balanced? What can the board learn from the composition of competitors’ boards? Does each director have a personal economic stake in the company? Is it appropriate and feasible for the board to have directors from other countries? What are the independence requirements for directors? How many directors should we have? How do we select the Chair? Do we need a lead director? What committees should we have? What specific skills do we need on the Board? Do directors need to have experience in our industry? What personal qualities should directors have? What behavioural skills should directors have? Should directors have previous board experience? What are the best sources of directors? How should we approach prospective directors? What is the director’s job description? What commitments do we expect individual directors to make? What compensation should we offer to directors? How long should we expect directors to serve? What other questions should we expect from prospective directors? How should we interview prospective directors? How should we do background checks? Does the Nominating Committee have the time and resources to conduct an effective search? What is the mandatory retirement age for directors? What is the term limit for directors?

Directors Database: www.boardmember.com/member_directory/brief.shtml | executive search firms: www.boardmember.com/network/index.pl?section=1066&show=index | removing a director: www.boardseat.com/Articles.asp?AID=26 ]

Board Management

What percentage of time does the CEO spend on board-related activities? Is it reasonable? Is the board careful to not get involved in micro-managing the operations of the company? Do the CEO and directors effectively address, utilize, and resolve conflict in the boardroom? Is the board rendered dysfunctional due to directors who don't communicate effectively with each other, have difficulty reaching consensus on important issues, and find it impossible to work as a team? Instead of hard-copy briefing books, has the board considered an on-demand collaboration space for all board activities and information? (a) minutes; (b) orientation of outside directors; (c) agendas; (d) financials; (e) committees

on-demand board portal: boardvantage, directorsdesk

Board Prerogatives

Do the board and management clearly understand and agree to those decisions and rights the board chooses to reserve to itself? (a) strategic plan approval; (b) deal size limits; (c) sale of company assets; (d) reporting of buyer inquiries; (e) opinion letter; (f) takeover defense; (g) other deal-related issues; (h) acceptable dilution ratios; (i) valuation methods; (j) limits on investment banking fees; (k)requirements for post-deal audits Has the board specified a transaction level or size which requires board review and approval? What is the board’s policy on the use of stock for mergers and acquisitions? How far can management proceed with the exploration of the sale of assets without board approval? What is the board’s policy on management’s obligation to promptly report all inquiries concerning significant transactions? Do employees know how to respond to unsolicited inquiries? What is the board’s policy on when an opinion letter should be required? What transaction size? Who will sign off on valuation? Who will approve letters of intent? Who will approve investment banking fees? Who will approve deal structuring?

Corporate Governance

Chairperson

Should the Chairman and CEO be one or two people? Has the chairperson taken the lead role in key issue development? (a) board development strategy; (b) board committee structure and function; (c) board committee assignments; (d) board policies, procedures, by-laws Has the chairperson provided adequate opportunities for full and frank discussions of key issues and questions raised? Is the chair too dominant? Does s/he lack some essential leadership qualities needed for efficiency in reaching soundly reasoned decisions? How do you rate the interaction among the chair, the CEO, and the management team? Are board decisions being adversely affected by the chair’s leadership style or content? Chairman of the Board: A Practical Guide by Brian Lechem

Committees

What are the board’s policies for director committee service? (a) compensation; (b) number of committees at one time; (c) minimum time requirements; (d) tenure on each committee What are the functioning committees of the board?

board advisory services | sample charter

Compensation Committee

Is the compensation committee responsible for CEO succession, or has a special committee been formed for this function? Is the committee using performance-based compensation programs for executives tied to specific goals? Is the committee using all equity-based compensation packages in a reasonable and cost-effective manner? Is the committee ensuring that compensation policies encourage a meaningful financial stake in the corporation through long-term “acquire and hold” practices by key executives and directors? Is the committee basing compensation decisions on the effectiveness of various forms of compensation to achieve company goals, rather than simply on their accounting treatment? Does the committee give shareholders control over potential equity dilution resulting from compensation practices? Does the committee serve shareholder and market interests through transparent and readily understandable disclosure of executive compensation and the economic impact of such compensation?

www.equilar.com | Sample charter

Executive Compensation

Director Compensation

Are director’s fees paid at each board meeting? How much? How should regular board pay be structured and valued? What compensation elements are available and appropriate? What are the relative merits of a bundled fixed-fee approach versus a component-driven variable pay approach? How should committee pay be structured? Should a board’s US directors be paid more than its international directors? What guidelines and monitoring policies should be in place to monitor payments for expenses and indirect benefits? Who should be involved in setting director pay? Is there a director compensation philosophy and is it reasonable? Does current proxy disclosure provide complete and accurate information? What other disclosure processes (beyond proxy disclosure) should be in place? How should the Board Chair pay be structured? Is the total expected Board Chair compensation appropriate? How should the Lead Director pay be structured? Is the total expected Lead Director compensation appropriate? Are directors also offered stock options? Under what plan? Are director stock options appropriate for a particular company? If options are used, have they been structured in an appropriate manner? What rules should be in place of governing the exercise of options and sale of option shares? What is the appropriate level of share ownership for directors? Are the appropriate mechanisms in place to encourage and/or facilitate share ownership? What rules should govern directors’ acquiring and selling shares, including shareholder disclosure? compensation surveys and financial benchmarks: www.culpepper.com | Executive Compensation | Incentive Compensation Program

Director Training

Does the board consider it appropriate for outside directors to seek independent legal advice to prepare for certain board issues/meetings? Will the company reimburse the director for those charges? How effective is the board’s new director orientation program towards teaching directors the basics of the business? (a) corporate governance briefing by the corporate secretary and general counsel; (b) an introduction to the company, its mission, and values by the CEO and other senior officers; (c) stockholder communications, accountability and disclosure documents, and access to key analysts who have covered the company; (d) financial performance and comparative industry data by the CFO; (e) strategy and operations at each division or department level; (f) human resources; (g) succession planning; (h) legal and ethical environment of the business. Does the board have a regular schedule of manager presentations designed to orient outside directors as much as possible to the company? Does the company sponsor memberships for the board in key associations providing training and resources for directors?

board development: www.change-leaders.com | directory: www.asaecenter.org | management systems: www.arcsolutionsinc.com

Executive Education

Directors and Officers Insurance (D&O)

Does the company need to carry D&O Liability Insurance? Is the global D&O insurance coverage aligned with local regulations that address the complex licensing and foreign premium tax requirements? Does the company need to carry Health, Life, or Disability insurance for directors? Does the company have life insurance on its key officers? Disability insurance? Does the company have any outstanding COLI policies in force? When was the last audit? Does management clearly understand how the federal RICO statute can be applied to a corporate setting? Is there anything being done by the company, or an individual employed by the company, which could expose management and/or the board to liability? CEO Succession | kidnap/ransom insurance & response: www.asiglobalresponse.com

Nominating Committee

Does the board use an executive recruiter heidrick to search, screen, and select new director candidates? Is the nominating committee applying the rule of “least conflicts and the most information” when evaluating top director candidates? Is the company carrying adequate directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance? How has this affected the attraction and retention of high-quality directors to the board?

Director Search: www.boardsearchpartners.com | Sample charter: www.synopsys.com/corporate/governance/corp_gov_committee.html

Outside Directors

Do all directors meet the test for independence? As an outside director, have you achieved the proper balance of focus and accountability in your relationship with the CEO? Does the board clearly recognize a lead outside director? Does the board have an appropriate balance of inside to outside directors? Are outside directors holding separate executive sessions as required? Are outside directors given unrestricted access to auditors, counsel, and senior management? Are the audit, nominating, and compensation committees composed of the appropriate number of outside directors? Have outside directors been given primary responsibility for overseeing CEO succession? On key committees such as audit, are all of the directors independent? Is the company considering separating the positions of CEO and chairman? Could this best be accomplished at the next leadership transition? If not, has a lead outside director been considered to chair board meetings www.jnj.com/contact_us/corporate_gov/#question03 without the presence of management?

Directorial Liability: www.borisfeldman.com/directors.html

Performance Evaluation

How is board performance measured? How often? Does the board perform a self-evaluation boardevals on an annual basis? Does management evaluate the board? Based on the most recent evaluation, does the board contain the right individuals to provide effective oversight for the current and future needs of the company?

advisers: directorsnetwork | book: Board Self-Assessment by John Carver | online tools: governancepro on-demand

Decision Making | Small Business

Major Systems of Communication

Books & Book Publishing

How can you begin to parse out the books that will change your life from the books that will merely pass the time? (a) Addresses universal and permanent human concerns; (b) Is a game-changer; (c) Influences other great works; (d) Is respected by experts; (e) Challenges as it rewards.

encyclopedias: online: www.wikipedia.org | peer reviewed: www.citizendium.org, www.scholarpedia.org | women fashion / berg

pop-ups

From where the sun now stands by Andreas Johansson

The Modern Architecture Pop-Up Book by Anton Radevsky

www.popupbooks.com

ten books astore thinklist

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand capitalism

Dune by Frank Herbert science fiction

Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway art in general

Lord of the Flies by William Golding survival

Lost Horizon by James Hilton utopia

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl war

Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence modern world to 1920 / SW Asia, N. & Sub-Saharan Africa

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson biosphere

Walden by Henry David Thoreau balance

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig big ideas

Advertising and Promotion

Brand Identity and Loyalty

What systems are in place to gain real-time insight into our brand positioning and strength? What is the degree of brand loyalty among customers? How does the company measure brand loyalty? What strategies are employed to “lock-in” brand loyalty badges & stickers? What would be required to persuade users of competitive products to switch? What are the costs to the customer to switch? Are we using online brand monitoring tools that can deliver TV video clips of our broadcast mentions to the desktop within 1 minute of airing? What does the company do to insure a consistent corporate image? (a) marketing; (b) advertising; (c) sales; (d)products

in general: beauty industry: http://ibinc.com | build a loyalty program: punchtab small business | celebrity endorsement: dbireport CRM/influencer marketing | centralized marketing: swayonline | conversion and retention: www.instorecard.com, www.webloyalty.com | coolhuntng: EXP | customer engagement at point-of-experience: fizzback | customer reviews: powerreviews, yelp | enterprise social media: www.awarenessnetworks.com | http://telligent.com | interactive customer collaboration: www.thinkpassenger.com, www.vitrue.com | localized online marketing: balihoo, netsertive | logos: logogarden DIY, logoworks Knowledge Management / crowd | match content to brands: www.musicmakesitbetter.com music, skyword | mobile phones: cellfire | personal: brandyourself | protection: markmonitor | relationship building: www.closerlook.com, www.prospero.com | reward & discount programs: www.chockstone.com, clovrmedia card-linked offers (CLO)| social media monitoring: attentio, filtrbox, radian6, tweetriver aggregate twitter streams | social loyalty platforms: 500friends | strategy: thoughtmotor

books

BrandSimple by Allen P. Adamson

Buyology by Martin Lindstrom

Managing Customers for Profit by V. Kumar

private label: debit cards: www.mavericknetworksolutions.com, wines: www.wineryexchange.com

Financial Management

Budgeting

You can’t (shouldn’t) spend what you don’t have.

What is the budgeting process at the company? How often are budgets assembled? How are corporate objectives integrated with the budgeting process? Is the budgeting process an interactive one that allows for feedback and coordination between top management and line managers? How does the company integrate the individual forecasts of all functional departments into the overall sales forecasting process? How has historical performance compared with past budgets? How often is performance measured relative to budget? How is overall coordination between budgeted goals and operations achieved? What kind of accountability procedures does the company employ? Does the company have a contingency plan in the event actual results vary significantly from the budget? Has management considered transitioning to rolling forecasts rather than annual budgets? Are the enterprise systems in place to accomplish this? Are corporate objectives linked to the individual actions that support them? Are we identifying gaps between strategic goals and planned financial results before they occur? Are we managing financial budgets to properly impact strategic plans? Are we developing strategic budgeting techniques to add more value to our enterprise-wide budgeting processes? Are we using driver-based planning to enable operational managers to focus on key business issues and measures? Are we making budgeting information more relevant to key audiences such as senior management, board of directors, and operational managers?

enterprise budgeting: www.centage.com, xlerant | on-demand: www.adaptiveplanning.com

Financial Statements | Planning

Marketing

Business Intelligence

Does management have systems in place to effectively deal with the flood of real-time information riverglassinc? Are the company’s systems extensible to meet today’s data demands, and scalable to meet tomorrow’s? Does the company have database tools that allow users complete analysis, complete control of data, and the flexibility to change at any time? Does the company have reliable alternatives to closed mainframes that are easy to manage, maintain, and that interoperate with multiple business applications? Is management capable of decision-making and reaction to market change based on accurate, real-time intelligence from multiple data points? Are employees empowered to independently access and analyze enterprise data and access that data anywhere birst, on any device? Does the company have the ability to anticipate customer needs through thorough knowledge of their buying history and habits? Does the company have the ability to get customers the information they need, and information in the hands of those with the most customer contact? Can the company minimize costs and maximize resources through integration with legacy systems? Can the company integrate data mining and analysis tools in the same box to facilitate rapid deployment? Can the company leverage familiar tools to simplify training, application creation, and thus increase time to benefit? Are the company’s systems easy to integrate, deploy, manage and use? Does management have the ability to identify opportunities firstrain by merging and analyzing the growing mass of information from multiple data points from internal and external sources? What solution provider is the company considering to help plan, design, and deploy business intelligence?

enterprise information: business performance management: www.antarctica.net, www.qliktech.com | data integration: www.compositesoftware.com, hubspan, informatica, www.silvercreeksystems.com | talent results management: volometrix | unstructured data: www.itemfield.com

remote data: data synchronization: www.signiant.com | remote access: www.kidaro.com

Institutions that facilitate business formation, production, output

Business Organization

Types

Management and Control

Board of Directors

Finance

Short-term

Long-term

Growth & Decline: mergers & consolidations | reorganization

Trends

Acquisitions | Small Business

Management and Best Practices

Business Process Reengineering

Have we mapped our major business processes? Do the company’s collaborative systems archive projects and processes so they can be reused as best practices? How do these processes interface with customer and supplier processes? What are our strategic, value-adding processes? Which processes should we reengineer within three months, six months, one year, and subsequently? What organizations and jobs are involved in the processes? What pieces of work are done by each job? What policies apply to the performance of the processes? In which piece of work does each policy apply? What technology is used in the processes? In which piece of the work is the technology used? How do we identify processes that are conducive to redesign? (a) High customer requirement, but low performance (customers complain); (b) Some things just take too long; (c) High cost of poor quality (errors, rework, mistakes, scrap); (d) The company throws people at the problem, but things don’t get better; (e) High internal frustration factor and low morale; (f) Process spans several functions and there is finger pointing and blaming; (g) Process is not being measured, high variability in output or results; (h) Excessive information exchange, data redundancy, and re-keying of data; (i) Inventory, buffers, and other assets sitting idle; (j) High ratio of checking and control to value adding; (k) Complexity, exceptions, and special cases; (l) No one is responsible for the process Has the company fully implemented the restructuring actions previously reported? What effect has restructuring had on the company’s productivity, operating results, and competitive position in the marketplace?

Business Process Management (BPM): www.appian.com, savvion, simulator gaming | value engineering: www.value-eng.org | product strategy and design: www.hlb.com | social business design: dachisgroup

Automation | Cloud Computing | Continuous Improvement | Engineering and R&D

Production & Utilization of Wealth / consumer & market

Buying Decisions

Is the company’s Web site optimized to assist the customer through the buying decision process as quickly and easily as possible? What are the typical stages in the buying decision? What is the typical length of a buying decision? What are the driving criteria in the buying decision? (a) credit terms; (b) customer service; (c) delivery speed; (d) pricing (e) product features; (f) reputation; (g) sales rep relationships Are buying decisions affected by advertising and promotion? What is the customer’s sensitivity to price?

customer profile: Does the company maintain a list of its top ten customers by sales volume? Why does the customer buy the company's products and services? What are the driving trends of the typical customer? What is the demographic breakout of the company’s customer base? (a) geography; (b) gender; (c) income; (d) occupation; (e) age

Home autos | Market Research | Marketing | Sales and Customer Service | Shopping

C

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

big ideas | big picture | due diligence | pins

type CTRL+F to search

top

Time

Calendar

Measurement of time

Types of calendars

ancient and religious calendar systems

The Western Calendar

days left till end of year | leap year

Financial Management

Capital Expenditures

Asset Management | Capitalization | books

What is the formal procedure for approving major capital expenditures? Does the company require any major capital expenditures in the next 12-24 months? What will be the cost? How will these expenditures be financed? What is the expected return-on-investment (ROI) over the next 3-5 years for each major expenditure? If the budget would allow, what equipment should be replaced to either maintain or improve production efficiency, or as protection against major production stoppages should this equipment fail?

Asset Management

How does the organization inventory, track, and manage its hardware and software assets? Is it an effective system that easily scales with the growth of the company? What depreciation method is used for fixed assets? Is the same method used consistently? Have any recent changes significantly affected earnings? Where does excess capacity exist in the corporation? Can we liquidate some of these assets? Does the company have any intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights, or licenses) that are undervalued? Does the company have undervalued real estate or equipment? Are inventories understated? Are the profit sharing and/or pension plan over funded? capital assets and depreciation: www.toolkit.cch.com/text/P07_2900.asp | depreciation calculator: http://ww.bassets.net/depcalc.asp | Fields of Technology critical infrastructures | people and asset tracking: airclic, inilex, sensorlogic | real-time location system (RTLS): awarepoint Health & Disease / hospitals| remote monitoring: airsis, zebra | web-based asset management

Capitalization

Does the company maintain an accurate history of the total capitalization of the company (debt and equity) beginning with incorporation? Are interest rates such that this would be a good time to consider some debt restructuring? Who will put up more cash if the company needs it? Does the company’s aggregate of long term debt need to be reviewed and consolidated for more competitive terms/rates? Is the company’s debt/equity ratio acceptable to its lenders? Other constituencies?

books

Physical Asset Management Handbook by John S. Mitchell

The Capital Structure Decision by Harold Bierman Jr.

Balanced debt/equity capitalization

Production and Utilization of Wealth / economic theory

Capitalism

Evolution of capitalism 17:910 a2

Mercantilism to commercial capitalism

Commercial to industrial capitalism

Industrial to state capitalism

Problems of capitalism

about | movie: Atlas Shrugged Part 1 book

Democracy | Entrepreneurship | Innovtion | Issues | Production & Utilization of Wealth taxation

Phases of Education

Case Studies

about | book: Case Studies by Robert Yin

Knowledge Management

Financial Management

Cash Management

Are we reviewing invoices for accuracy so that they match the goods/services and terms which the customer expects to receive? Do we anticipate key receipt due dates and call to confirm payment prior to the due date? Do we designate a key person to be in charge of cash receipts and disbursements processing? Do they daily identify receipt delays? Can customers pay by credit card or by wire transfer (ACH)? Do we have our lock box receipts imaged at the lock box location? Is the imaged file transmitted for cash posting? What anti-check fraud procedures are in place? Do we have systems in place to detect money laundering? Do we use Official Bank Checks (OBC)? Do we use plain paper check stock? Are all bank accounts reconciled each month? Any discrepancies? How does the company <forecast cash flow>? Is the CEO a part of this process? Is the board informed monthly of the revised projections? What minimum cash balance is appropriate for the company? Is the company using every available technique to minimize transfer time for collecting cash balances? (a) rapid billing; (b) lock boxes; (c) discount policy; (d) collection efforts Who is authorized to make payments of company funds and what amounts are they authorized to disburse? Are authorized persons bonded at the appropriate amounts? Is the company taking advantage of discounts taulia when available? What is the company's plan for optimizing the balance between maintaining the liquidity of excess cash vs. generating maximum short-term and long-term interest income?

Cash Flow

How does the company <forecast cash flow>? How often? What are the long-term cash needs for the company for the purchase of property and equipment? What effect does the variation in key assumptions (sensitivity analysis) have on the financial projections?

cash flow statement: direct vs indirect

Embezzlement

Has the company ever been a victim of embezzlement? What proactive measures risk management / fraud are taken within the company to prevent embezzlement?

Forecasting Cash Flow with an Integrated Spreadsheet sp

How are financial projections (and assumptions behind them) put together? Are they realistic? Is there enough reliable information behind the assumptions to make them believable? Who has reviewed the projections? Are basic ratios consistent throughout the projections? Are basic ratios consistent with industry figures? If not, why? How do these projections/assumptions differ with past projections? Did the company achieve past projections? If not, why? What are the best-case and worst-case projections? What is the probability that the company can meet its projections? article : www.think2ool.com/think2ool_files/CashFlow.pdf | how-to video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDCFGVWNRc | how-to powerpoint: www.think2ool.com/think2ool_files/HowToBuild.ppt | free template.xls: www.think2ool.com/think2ool_files/template.xls

Bankruptcy

Has the company ever filed, or considered filing, for bankruptcy? Are any of the company’s vendors in bankruptcy or near bankruptcy? Has the company’s attorney developed a detailed checklist www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98703,00.html and plan for liquidation and dissolution? In the event of a non-all-cash sale of the assets of the corporation, has the board appropriately obtained shareholder approval?

American Bankruptcy Institute: www.abiworld.org | appraisal of asset values: www.accuval.net | Internet Bankruptcy Library: http://bankrupt.com | liquidation services: www.liquitec.net

Checklists | Cities | Valuation

Investment Policies

What capital budgeting procedures does the company employ? What is the minimum acceptable investment return on capital items? Who makes the order decision for production equipment and machinery? How are lease vs. purchase decisions evaluated? What is the company's investment policy with respect to excess cash? How much is kept in short-term marketable securities? What is the record of gains (losses) from sales of securities in the company's portfolio? What is the IRR of the portfolio for the last year? The last 3-5 years? Since inception? Does the company perform background checks on either the firms or individuals that handle the company's trading in securities?

books

Corporate Treasury and Cash Management by Robert Cooper

Daily Bankruptcy Review by Dow Jones

Accounts Receivable | Fiscal Control | Identity Management | ZScore

Roman Catholicism

Catholic Church in the Modern Period

Catholicism in Revolutionary France

Relationship to Christianity

Church vs State

The Enlightenment

Secret Fraternal Societies

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown | code cracking | Illuminati

Papal system vs the new order

Napoleon I -- exportation of the Revolution

The reign of Pius IX 1846-78

The reign of Leo XIII 1878-1903

The period of the world wars

Vatican II

Management and Best Practices

CEO

The genius of Steve Jobs was connecting art + design with technology. big ideas

Performance Evaluation | Succession | Interim CEO | Interviews | books

When's the last time our CEO rolled up his or her sleeves and worked alongside employees? Is the CEO in touch with "the manufacturing floor" and employee rank and file? Does the CEO have the employees' respect?

Conversations from the Corner Office audio

Performance Evaluation

Does the chairman (board) annually evaluate the CEO? What behaviors and competencies are desired in the CEO to lead the company today and into the future? Are they continually altered to fit the unique technical and industry requirements arising in the marketplace? (a) performance as measured against current objectives; (b) progress towards strategic objectives; (c) business conduct and integrity; (d) match between CEO competencies and company's needs, current and future; (e) leadership abilities, response from staff; (f) physical and psychological fitness; (g) quality of relationships with the board. Does the board require the CEO to complete a self-evaluation? Has the board benchmarked the strategic performance of CEOs at peer companies? Is the board responsive to the concerns of shareholders about the effectiveness and responsiveness of management? Is the incumbent CEO in good health? On what grounds is the board considering firing the CEO? (a) poor company performance; (b) strategic disagreement with the board; (c) personality clashes; (d) consolidation of control due to merger; (e) unwillingness of CEO to comply with a board mandate; (f) personal problems; (g) illegal/improper behavior

Evaluating the Performance of the CEO by Peter Weil

Succession

Has the incumbent CEO hand-picked a successor who is intentionally weak? Has the board challenged the heir-apparent to be compared against external candidates? Has the board been able to observe and evaluate the heir-apparent in representative trial assignments? Is the compensation committee responsible for CEO succession, or has a special committee been formed for this function? Does the board have a plan for an interim CEO in the event of a sudden and unexpected departure or death of the CEO? (a) insider; (b) director; (c) independent interim manager Is competition among internal candidates getting out of hand? Is the incumbent CEO the right leader at the right time? Does the board have a healthy collaboration with the incumbent CEO in the succession process? Has the board established clear performance benchmarks and an exit timetable for the incumbent CEO? Is the incumbent CEO attracting, hiring, and developing key employees worthy of succession candidacy? Is there a turnover problem with top management candidates? Does the incumbent CEO restrict access by the board to top management? Are executive session meetings of the outside directors discouraged by the CEO? Should the board consider removing the incumbent CEO from the board? Is the board developing and maintaining a familiarity with top succession candidates within and external to the company? Is retirement of the incumbent CEO being delayed by lack of a successor? For the incumbent CEO close to retirement, has the board structured a compensation package heavily weighted towards stock options vesting after retirement giving him/her incentive to cooperate with a successful transition?

Interim CEO

Does the board have at least one member with the qualifications to serve as interim CEO in the event of an emergency? Does it make more sense to consider an interim CEO and/or CFO at this stage, before filling these positions with full-time long-term candidates? Does the board need to consider an outside turnaround specialist to manage the current crisis in the company? www.cfo-for-hire.com

Interviews

Have we developed a position profile? Have we developed a recruiting plan for each position? Have we communicated our hiring process to each manager? Does our process leave the candidate feeling respected and appreciated? Is our recruiting message targeting the networks and individuals we want to attract? Are our questions uncovering the skills we need with the position? Are we requiring interview team members to provide written feedback after each interview? Are we getting continuous improvement after each interview process? Is the company making use of online sources of original and syndicated streaming broadcast interviews www.ceocast.com of CEOs at public and private news-making companies to pre-select succession candidates? get paid to interview: http://notchup.com | on-demand videos: www.interview-on-demand.com

books

CEO Succession by Dennis C. Carey

Effective Succession Planning by William J. Rothwell

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Social Organization and Change

Change

Better to remain a work in progress, following a guiding star and a set of principles that aren't dependent on, and vulnerable to, the ever-shifting landscape.

Baratunde Thurston

Is there a sweet spot for the pace of change that allows for independent thinking?

about | percent-change | social change: change issues, theharwoodinstitute communities, visualizing cities | speed of technological change: Dany Hillis TED

Future | Issues | Research & Development multidisciplinary

Learning & Thinking

Checklists

pandemic preparedness: business checklist: www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/businesschecklist.html | research: gvfi | U.S. HHS: http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/

World Since 1920 / East Asia in the 20th century

China since 1912

Cities with population greater than 1 million: China = 160, United States = 9

Development of the republic 1912-20

Interwar years 1920-37

War against Japan 1937-45

Development of Kuomintang and Chinese Communist ideologies

Emergence of the People’s Republic of China

books

In Search of History by Theodore H. White

Biotechnology | Entertainment | International Business | Research Parks & Incubators

Social Organization and Change

Cities

History | Planning | Government | in general

History of cities

historical layers: HyperCities world since 1920

Urban Planning

history

planning & government: infill development sustainability

location

neighborhoods

megacities

Modern City government

bankruptcy: Harrisburg, PA cash / bankruptcy

Economic Development

in general

climate change: c40cities earth’s envelope / global warming | density: persquaremile population | parking: parkinginmotion, parkatmyhouse, sfpark mobile apps, streetline | sensor networks big ideas: senseable

models: miniatures | Shanghai | sketchup: model your town

urbanology: gamification: urbanology | ideas: bmwguggenheimlab | trends: micro-urbanist

Fields of Technology / Information processing & systems

Cloud Computing

in general | medical | data centers | servers | smart home

What are the risks of cloud computing? (a) data separation; (b) data detection; (c) unlawful data handling Can cloud computing globally democratize education v big ideas ? How critical is a system to day-to-day business operations? Does it make better sense to test out a non-core function using the cloud model first before trying out core systems? What are the failure recovery requirements for the system? How critical are performance requirements for the application? How specific is the system's functionality (customization) relative to the requirements of other organizations desiring the service? What are the cost savings over the development period of an internal system vs. the perceived life of the system?

in general

medical: case management: eccentex | gene mapping: dnanexus structure/heredity/gene| imaging: lifeimage healthcare | project/practice: carecloud

smart home: heating and cooling: tado

Collaboration

long live the whiteboard

web casting: www.freeconference.com | gotomeeting | www.netviewer.com | www.webdialogs.com | salesforce.com users: www.clearmeeting.com

wikis: enterprise: www.socialtext.com, www.twiki.net | Microsoft office: thinkfree | online communities: www.wikia.com | openstreetmap

Social Groups (Language & Communication)

Communication

Models of communication

Linear models

Dynamic models

Applications of formal logic and mathematics

Types of communication

Nonvocal

signals

signs

symbols

icons

gestures

proxemics

Vocal

origins of speech

adaptability of language

humor

Mass and public communication

Psychology of communication

degree programs: communicationsdegree job

Marketing

Competition

Is this an easy market to enter? What are the barriers to entry? Who are the company's five top competitors? How would you rate their financial strength? What is their percentage of market share? How much does the company know about competitors' management and business in general? Does the company monitor the annual reports of its competitors? What does a competitor comparative analysis show about our company's market, product position, and pricing? Are there any expected new entries to the market? Has management developed defensive and offensive strategies to deal with new competing products and services? How will this impact sales and profits? Has increased global competition brought in new international competitors? Is the company in danger of being leap-frogged by the emerging e-business capabilities of a competitor?

Antitrust: Antitrust by Herbert Hovenkamp If the company is dominant in its market, are there any potential antitrust problems? Does the company use intellectual property as a club to coerce customers and rivals? Is the company slowing innovation in the marketplace by destroying existing or potential competitors? Does the company seek interoperability alliances with its competitors? Does this activity violate any antitrust laws? Does the company effectively set the technical standards for its industry? Does this then allow the company to exert substantial control over the competition?

Foreign imports: Does the company face noticeable competition from foreign imports? What are the company’s advantages/disadvantages compared to competing foreign imports? What are the applicable U.S. tariff controls to these imports? What is the company’s position with respect to these tariffs?

Legal Information and Compliance

Compliance to Regulations

What are the major regulatory bodies which control this industry? Is there a trend towards more government regulation in this industry? Does the company have in place an effective ethics and workplace compliance program to guide the actions of employees? Has management evaluated the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing the collection, management, and reporting of drug and alcohol testing information across the enterprise? Does the program meet the minimum standards set out by the Federal Sentencing Commission? (a) compliance standards and procedures; (b) compliance program oversight; (c) training; (d) monitoring; (e) enforcement and discipline; (f) response and corrective action Is the company in compliance with Federal guidelines for the use and care of animals? Does the company have automated compliance systems in place such that the company can use foreign contractors or outsource outside the United States confident that export controlled information will remain secure?

anonymous reporting: Is the company trying to create an ethical environment? Does the company communicate to employees about behaviors that are not acceptable? How is the company educating employees about the issues addressed by Sarbanes-Oxley? Do employees know how to report illegal or unethical activities using an anonymous hotline? Is the call always answered by a trained interviewer? If there is a hotline, is it run professionally? Are complaints received 24x7? Are avenues for reporting malfeasance actively promoted to suppliers and investors? If the company is launching a hotline, is there a comprehensive implementation plan? Will the audit committee members be automatically notified about allegations? Does the company have a case management system in place for tracking complaints?

safety: Is the company a candidate for accreditation under the SA8000 standards (Social Accountability)? (a) child labor; (b) forced labor; (c) health; (d) safety DuPont’s STOP safety training program | noninvasive alcohol testing: trutouchtechnologies

ADA: www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm, www.adata.org | commodities: ekaplus | document management: nextdocs biotechnology | Environment, Health & Safety: www.camaxys.com | Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Walmart | Long-Term Archive: www.permabit.com | online compliance management systems: www.conformia.com, www.enviance.com, www.healthflash.com, lumigent | RoHS compliance portable x-ray: www.innov-x-sys.com

Corporate Governance | Employees | Enterprise Systems | Laboratories | Legal Information and Compliance

Information Processing & Communications

Computer Science

Development of computer science

Architecture

Software

Software & Web Development

programming languages

operating systems

information systems and databases

artificial intelligence

computer graphics

Theory

Impact of computer systems

Information Technology

Computer Security

What anti-fraud systems are in place? Can these systems search data stored in multiple, disparate, remote databases and perform real-time risk assessment, decision automation, and non-obvious relationship discovery? Has IT developed an assessment program to periodically assess system vulnerabilities? Does IT have the capability to simulate attacks on the network to locate and fix vulnerabilities? Has the organization deployed a comprehensive identity management solution that enables secure, centralized management of user rights and privileges to enterprise resources spanning Web-based applications, client-server environments and legacy mainframe systems? Has IT physically secured sensitive and critical systems? Has IT implemented an anti-virus sensor and response program? Does IT keep operating system and application security veracode patches and repairs up-to-date? Has IT developed disaster recovery and business continuity measures? Who has organizational responsibility for information security? Have they established administrative standards and procedures for systems security management? Has IT created an integrated security architecture? When was the last security audit? Results? How high a priority is information security for the company? Who has been the source of a security breach or <corporate (economic) espionage> in the past year? (a) authorized users/employees; (b) unknown; (c) unauthorized users/employees; (d) hackers; (e) terrorists; (f) former employees; (g) contract workers, consultants; (h) suppliers; (i) customers; (j) competitors; (k) public interest groups; (l) foreign governments What types of security breaches or corporate espionage have occurred within the company in the past year? (a) computer virus; (b) information loss; (c) data/system integrity loss; (d) denial of service; (e) manipulation of software applications; (f) fraud; (g) theft of data/trade secrets; (h) trafficking illegal materials; (i) manipulation of systems programs; (j) Trojan horse; (k) revenue loss How much money has the company lost as a result of breaches or espionage in the past twelve months? What is the most important element of the company's information security policy? (a) end-user awareness; (b) business continuity plan; (c) encryption tools; (d) security audits; (e) training IT staff; (f) incident response team Are computer users familiar with the security policy? What percentage complies? What security protection tools does the company use to protect its information systems? (a) virus detection software; (b) firewalls paloaltonetworks; (c) automated data backup; (d) dial back or secure modems; (e) intrusion detection systems; (f) PC hardware security devices; (g) virtual private networks; (h) security evaluation software; (i) business continuity software; (j) Java/ActiveX controls How often does the company classify sensitive data files and records? What are the most significant barriers to implementing effective security in the company? (a) lack of time; (b) lack of management support; (c) pace of change; (d) complexity of technology; (e) capital expense; (f) lack of qualified staff; (g) labor expenses How confident is IT with its denial-of-service protection? What is the potential for daily revenue loss should an attack lock up one of more production servers?

in general: automated auditing: ncircle | book: Network Security Assessment by Chris McNab | Endpoint Compliance Enforcement (ECE) : www.endforce.com, lumension | enterprise monitoring: www.q1labs.com | insider content monitoring: www.vericept.com | organizations: www.issa.org, www.isaca.org, www.asisonline.org | plug-and-deploy appliance: quorumlabs disaster recovery appliance | vulnerability management: eeye, rapid7

encryption: data protection: gazzang, www.ncipher.com | electronic signature: www.docusign.com, signnow | embedded: PRESENT | enterprise systems: www.guardianedge.com, www.pgp.com, www.venafi.com, www.voltage.com | portable: ithinksecurity

phishing: anti-phishing protection: www.wholesecurity.com | training: phishme

Human Behavior / Capacities / Attitudes

Confidence

You have to believe in yourself. Sun Tzu

about | Confidence is the Prime Mover | home field advantage | sports: winningstate | worthiness

Health placebo | Leadership | Sports

Fields of Technology / Contruction

Construction

Materials

concrete: solidiatech

Green

Recycling

Supply Chain Management

General building construction

Design

directory: openbuildings particular arts / architecture

energy management: firstfuel

high-rise: Emporis Skyscraper Awards big ideas, Porsche Design Tower

stages pin

Construction of civil engineering works

bridges: highest

prefabrication and shop fabrication: quadror mathematics / geometry

Project Management

Small Business | Virtual

Marketing

Content Management

Are we optimizing the revenue-generating potential of content yieldex by multi-purposing content across all publishing formats and media channels? Is the company taking advantage of enterprise content management systems that enable authoring, managing and publishing content in any format and any language? Do we have a content management system that will prevent the accumulation of outdated information, dead sites, typos, and unnecessary storage and support costs across multiple web sites and thousands of pages? Do we hear complaints of visitors getting lost within our site(s)? Are we regularly weeding out stray pages that might be useful to competitors, hackers or even terrorists? Do our pages all load fast yottaa? Have we optimized visitor experience from entry to shopping cart?

in general: buy/sell content: www.associatedcontent.com, mochila, skyword, synacor | content monitoring: www.codegreennetworks.com, www.hisoftware.com, www.vericept.com | cross-platform: endplay | curation: magnify video, getspool | open source: plone | revenue-generation: www.ecnext.com, meebo, www.vignette.com, www.venetica.com | sharing: sharaholic | web publishing: acquia, www.crowdfusion.com

document management: digitized postal mail: www.documentcommand.com | document security: www.vincera.com, watchdox | enterprise: www.archivesystems.com, www.falcondocumentmanagement.co.uk, www.imagenow.com, www.imrgold.com | free documents: www.docstoc.com | online document production: www.mimeo.com, www.printinc.com | technical documents: latex-project

forms & agreements: contracts software: contractedge, gartner | digital licensing: www.snocap.com | documents: legalzoom | forms online: allbusiness, formdesk, templates | <Startups>

scanning: professional imaging services: www.scanics.com/imaging.html | text-to-speech: www.plustek.com

subscription services: Is the company ready to adopt an on-demand subscription model zuora for its services? Does the company have in place the necessary mediation software that can collect both Internet protocol (IP) and legacy voice information from a combination of network elements? (a) routers; (b) switches; (c) databases; (d) directory services Is the company using the data collected from mediation to support Billing, Abuse Management, Decision Support, Traffic Engineering, CRM, Service Assurance, and Provisioning? Is the company using the data collected from mediation to deliver flexible billing packages based on usage? (a) billing by total upstream or downstream, average or peak throughput levels (Mbps); (b) destination-sensitive billing; (c) billing by total bandwidth used per application (megabytes consumed for Web, streaming, e-mail, etc.); (d) total quantity used per application (number of e-mail sent, Web sites visited, files downloaded, etc.); (e) variable billing for premium and/or free Web sites by quantity of hits or volume used billing management: recurly cloud

Manufacturing & Distribution

Continuous Improvement

Has the company conducted any time and motion studies? What were the results and recommendations? Any implementations? Has the company conducted any production time reduction studies? What were the results and recommendations? Any implementations? Has the company conducted any plant layout and utilization studies? What were the results and recommendations? Any implementations? Does the company have a regular process of scanning the entire company's inventory of equipment and processes for obsolescence? Does the company review long-term contracts on some cycle for all suppliers? (a) suppliers; (b) insurance vendors; (c) banking relationships

Quality Management

Does the company have a quality manual? What procedures does the company have for testing incoming raw materials and component parts? What are the quality standards for each component and material? What happens to parts or shipments that fail quality standards? What happens to finished goods that do not pass quality tests? What is the average failure rate for products in final test? What has been the company's experience with each supplier of key components? Has any customer or governing body in any of the company's markets mandated a requirement that the company be ISO registered in certain areas? Does the company employ any full-time quality management staff? When was the last external audit? How complete and accurate are the quality records? Is there a written procedure for receiving goods and services? Who is authorized to sign receiving tickets? What system is in place to reduce the possibility of internal theft?

hotwash | video auditing: arrowsight

Business Process Reengineering | Checklists | Criticism | Manufacturing and Distribution | Nuclear Power

Social Organization & Change

Coolhunting big ideas

in general | cars | coolhunters | gifts | luxury shopping

in general

cars

bmw-art-cars particular arts | smart cars: www.smartusa.com

coolhunters

gifts

curated: wantful | giftiki | gselect | pockitt | registry: simpleregistry

luxury shopping

by invitation only: www.ideeli.com | China: hiersun, hk970 | product & service recommendations: http://spire.com | second-hand: www.portero.com

Management and Best Practices

Core Competency

What constitutes a core business? (a) product; (b) intellectual property; (c) process; (d) business design What are the corporation's core competencies? Are the company's strategies tightly coupled to these core competencies? How visible is the core competency outside the corporation? Can competitors easily replicate this core competency? Can the company protect against this? Could outsourcing certain functions enable the company to better focus on its core business? To focus more on market differentiating processes and technology, is the company evaluating all those high-cost, non-differentiating operational processes that could be shared with other companies in the same industry as a Business Process Utility?

Eighty-Twenty Principle big idea : Can it be said that 20% of our products, or customers, or employees, are really responsible for about 80% of our profits? Can you identify which actions make up the useful 20%? And can you do so in advance? Does this useful 20% always contain more or less the same actions? If this is true, how do we best use this knowledge? Which products will yield the highest increase in revenues (profits) for a given investment in product enhancement and/or marketing? Which products should we harvest and/or discontinue? Which customers should we keep or not keep? (1) list ALL costs related to servicing each client, and all clients as a whole; (2) list the revenue for each client, and all clients as a whole; (3) show the net profit/loss for each client, in $ and %age terms; (4) sort your list of clients by %age of profit (highest to lowest) ; (5) categorize each client by how great/awful they are (scale of 1, awful, to 5, great); (6) Eliminate the bottom 20% to 25%, and determine if any of the remaining clients should be eliminated because they have a 1 or 2 rating for how awful they are.

books

Creating Customer Evangelists by Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba 1% rule

Strategic Management and Core Competencies by Anders Drejer

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch

Management & Best Practices

Core Technology

What is the corporation's core technology? Where does the company choose to position itself on the technology application spectrum? (a) exotic, new, very high added-value; (b) specialty, niche products; (c) commodities Is the company effectively focusing its core competencies and technologies to applications that fit its chosen technology spectrum? What is the company doing to maintain or improve its technology position? (a) R&D investment; (b) production investment; (c) marketing and distribution development Does management have a clear strategy for value development of its core technologies? At what stage in the product life cycle is each of the company’s core products? Has the company coasted too long in a technology comfort zone? Is management evaluating the replacement of declining-margin products with higher-margin products? What changes in technology does management foresee in the future? How will this impact the company? How visible is the core technology outside the corporation? Can competitors easily replicate this core technology? What is the company doing to protect its core technology? (a) aggressive patent application and protection; (b) know-how secrecy; (c) competitive information In what ways is the company leveraging its core technology? (a) new markets; (b) new materials; (c) new products; (d) new applications; (e) new systems; (f) new partners; (g) new sales channels; (h) new production technology

S.W.O.T: What are the three top strengths www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/ in the company? What are the three top weaknesses in the company? What are the three top opportunities in the company? What are the three top threats in the company?

Methods of Business Organization

Corporate Governance

What are the most important issues facing directors? (1) Board/CEO Relations; (2) CEO Succession; (3) Corporate Governance; (4) Accountability systems; (5) Corporate Performance and Valuation; (6) Director Education; (7) Executive Compensation; (8) Federal and State Regulatory Compliance; (9) Mergers and acquisitions; (10) Nomination/Succession of Directors; (11) Relations with Shareholders/Owners; (12) Relations with Other Constituencies; (13) Risk Oversight; (14) Strategic Planning Who owns the corporation? Who has the authority to run the corporation? Does the board have a consensus understanding of a working definition and application of the business judgment rule as it relates to the board’s function and obligations? Has there been a formal evaluation of the appropriateness of the governance structure, the delegation model, and the competencies of directors in the past two years? If yes, is there an action plan to correct any identified deficiencies? Are there conflicts of interest related to governance structure and if so, are they being appropriately addressed?

Corporate Development Policy: Has the board developed a formal corporate development policy? (a) mergers and acquisitions; (b) divestitures; (c) licensing; (d) joint ventures; (e) other external growth structures Has the board clarified the responsibilities of officers and other members of management? Is there an internal management committee for reviewing all transactions before board review and approval? What controls are in place to ensure management's compliance with the corporate development policy? (a) copies of all policies and procedures; (b) early feedback to management in the deal life cycle; (c) list of alternative strategies that were rejected; (d) designate an internal champion; (e) post-deal audits If the transaction is not approved, what will management do?

Transparency: Has the board adopted and acted on the philosophy that transparency with shareholders and all constituencies is good governance that can directly reduce risk and increase market valuation and shareholder value? (a) Communicate confidence; (b) Enable greater access to the company story; (c) Communicate corporate governance in detail

Law

Crime and Corruption

Greed is good. Wall Street

How can transnational organized crime networks be stopped from becoming more powerful and sophisticated global enterprises? Have we done, or are we doing anything that can result in an Enron-style financial collapse? (a) self-dealing; (b) undisclosed insider trading; (c) unauthorized compensation; (d) debt-loaded limited partnerships

power

Cronyism, closed-door dealing, patronage, conflict of interest, and bald-faced unethical conduct is unfortunately the ecosystem of power and influence unchecked.

How is power consolidated in the company? Are directors careful to not get involved in the internal politics of the company? greed

books

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy by Michael Johnston

The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh

Ideas creativity

Risk Management

Crisis Management

Board of Directors | Emergency Disaster Plans | Disaster Relief Agencies

Has the company rehearsed its responses to various crises? Does the company carry business interruption insurance? Do we have a crisis? What is the nature of the crisis? Is there a good chance that this situation will, if left unattended, escalate in intensity? Might the situation foster unwanted attention by outsiders, such as the news media or some regulatory agency? Is the CEO responding promptly and decisively? How does the CEO plan to handle it? Are we communicating frankly and truthfully? Do we have the internal competencies to manage the crisis, or do we need outside expertise? Is it likely that the situation might interfere with normal business operations in some manner? Could it make the company look bad or cause people (the public at large, or investors) to lose confidence? How is it going to affect the bottom line?

Board of Directors

How can the board help? Did the board stay calm and united, get the facts and assess the situation? Was the board’s involvement timely and appropriate? Did the board stay on top of the situation? Was the board helpful to the CEO? Did the crisis reveal any weaknesses in the company’s strategic planning and risk management processes? How might we apply what we have learned to improve the way the board functions and relates to the CEO?

Emergency Disaster Plans

Does the company have a written plan kept off-site to guide the restart of the business in the event of major fire, flood, or other catastrophe of nature? Are the appropriate people trained in the implementation of the plan?

Disaster Relief Agencies

Network | Risk Management | What If?

Criticism

about | plus-ing an idea Pixar

Continuous Improvement

Marketing

CRM

How does the company stack up to ten critical success factors for its CRM implementation? (1) Establish measurable business goals; (2) Align business and IT operations; (3) Get executive support up front; (4) Let business goals drive functionality; (5) Minimize customization by leveraging off-the-shelf functionality; (6) Use trained, experienced consultants; (7) Actively involve end users in solution design; (8) Invest in training to empower users; (9) Use a phased rollout schedule; (10) Measure, monitor, and track Is the company prepared to utilize software systems that can understand informal written communications and automate appropriate actions? (a) email response management; (b) web self-service; (c) call center agent assist; (d) instant messaging/chat; (e) email productivity; (f) employee relationship management Is the company taking advantage of automated speech analytic systems that can monitor thousands of calls a day to measure what issues are important to customers, how many customers call about each issue, and how well call center agents and current processes address their issues? Is sales taking advantage of web-based systems to optimize and accelerate the customer acquisition process? (a) demand generation; (b) sales lead qualification; (c) sales lead management; (d) closed loop reporting

in general: appointment scheduling: timetrade | CRM open source systems: www.sugarcrm.com | higher education: www.intelliworks.com | multi-channel management: www.talisma.com | small business: www.infusionsoft.com | speech analytics: www.callminer.com, www.utopy.com

influencer marketing: identify influencers: klout, peerindex, traackr | Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini | mylikes | pursway | volunteers: high school, college

books

The New Influencers by Paul Gillin

Knowledge Management

Crowd Sourcing big ideas

Production & Utilization of Wealth/Money

Currency and Exchange

Has the volatility in international markets significantly impacted the company? What if the euro collapses? Is it conceivable the world could move to a global currency? Or at least, three major currency blocs (dollar, euro, and asian bloc)? What has been the impact of the fluctuating value of the dollar on the company's import and export activities? What protective measures does the company take against currency fluctuations? What exploitive measures does the company take with respect to currency fluctuations?

calculators: www.x-rates.com | foreign exchange: fxecosystem, ozforex | trading: forex, www.fxall.com, www.oanda.com | Wolfson Economics Prize big idea

Marketing

Customer Feedback

How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague? In what ways does the company gather customer feedback? How is our product being rated and reviewed? Is the product visible in shopping search engines? Are we proactively managing the organization based on real-time, accurate understanding of each stakeholder's brand experience?

focus groups: Has the company explored the use of online meetups to organize product focus groups at the local level?

questions for customers: Do you like the product? Has the company lived up to its claim of quality? Have you ever been shipped defective goods? Has the customer service met your expectations? Was the price fair? How important is brand identity to you? How would you compare the company's product(s) vs. competitors? Will you buy from the company again? How much will you spend? What changes would you suggest in the product(s)? What is your impression of the company's employees?

in general: bio-sensory measurement: emsense | books: The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth by Fred Reichheld | conversations: getsatisfaction | corporate reputations: www.bbb.org, www.planetfeedback.com | customer approval: http://ratepoint.com | local services: http://cityvoter.com | mobile: talkbin | product reviews: www.reevoo.com, viewpoints, wize | real-time customer intelligence: causata | surveys: mshare | track what customers are saying: callminer speech analytics, www.w2groupinc.com | user relationship management: pipewise, user communities

Sales and Customer Service

Customer Service

What creative techniques does management use to motivate great customer service? (a) Run daily sales contests; (b) Huddle staff before each shift and share customer service highlights; (c) Track each staffer’s sales; (d) List service instructions on small cards; (e) Hire customer service “naturals” Does the company's workforce management system integrate all key functions to optimize employee performance, and therefore the customer experience? What are the top service complaints? What have been the most costly complaints? What is the trend in customer complaints? How does customer service interact with sales? Does the company use any third-party providers? Is this a profitable operation for the company? Is there an excess capacity that can be sold to other companies? Does the company have a system in place for automatic response and follow-through to e-mail requests for information and/or customer service? Is the company taking advantage of the Internet to integrate an online learning center within its e-commerce platform to increase brand loyalty and ultimately sales? Is the company deploying a system that makes product returns easy and efficient for the customer?

in general: automated: http://web.interactions.net | book: The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence by Robert Spector | online real-time: www.experticity.com | winner-take-all

call centers: Is the company reducing its brick-and-mortar capital investments by using a remote agent network? | automated virtual agents: spoken, virtuoz, www.voxify.com | on-demand: www.liveops.com | quality control: www.hyperquality.com | workforce optimization: www.witness.com

self-service: automated customer service: www.bevocal.com, www.colloquis.com, www.edocs.com | educational marketing: www.nutricate.com, www.powered.com | ice cream: www.moobella.com food & beverage | Interactive e-billing: www.avolent.com | voice recognition: www.voxify.com

voice self-service: animated character: www.sitepal.com | online self-service: interactions, www.realdialog.com

War

Cyberspace, Cybersecurity, Cyber Warfare

How cyber-secure are public companies? Factoring in probability, what is the bigger threat: missiles or hackers? Is cybersecurity as important as border security?

war: Was Stuxnet an act of war? Is the Internet facilitating the democratization of cyberwarfare big ideas among nation-states? How do we define and differentiate cyber crime and cyber war? How do we understand cyber war escalation and de-escalation? Should China be considred a potential rival on future cyber conflicts? What are the obstacles and difficulties on international cyber arms limitation?

enterprise: Do the (a) risks associated with cyber incidents, (b) the costs of mitigating those risks, and (c) the consequences of a cyber incident rise to the level of materiality that would require disclosure to investors and regulatory authorities? Do you have a procedure in place for action following a cyber attack? Are you certain your employees do not send intellectual property or private data over any Internet channel, including Gmail and Facebook? Are you certain all corporate access is shut down once a consultant leaves your organization? Do you understand the security policies of your offshore providers?

in general: conferences & training: blackhat | consultants: savidtech | cyber armies | education & awareness: esetfoundation.org | gaming: agentsurefire | homeland security: Fusion Centers | Innovation: security-innovation | policy & regulation: CISPA, Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace, Trustworthy Cyberspace: Strategic Plan for the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Program | science of cyberspace | stuxnet: article, symantec whitepaper | tools list | vulnerability scanning: auraredeye

hacking: hackers: anonymous anarchists, LulzSec, Syrian Electronic Army, the consortium | training: www.thehackeracademy.com, the jargon file popular culture | Web Hacking Incident Database

incident response: analysis: prelert | detect & respond: countertack, mandiant, soleranetworks | info management: www.fishnetsecurity.com | physical management: www.rontal.co.il | situational awareness: lgscout risk management

malware: botnet | worm: configur, stuxnet | W32.Duqu

books, magazines, portals

Cyber War by Richard A. Clarke & Robert Knake

thenewnewinternet

D

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

big ideas | big picture | due diligence | pins

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Mathematics / Applied

Data Mining

Is the company employing data mining techniques to statistically analyze customer transaction data? Does the company take advantage of new software tools that allow visualization of the data? Are we making critical business decisions with the benefit of automatic geoparsing tools to discover spatial patterns from large quantities of data linked to a geographical location?

in general: animal tracking: movebank | book: Web Data Mining by Bing Liu | content optimization: ramp | forecasting large-scale human behavior big ideas | metadata definitions: www.metamatrix.com | open source tool for analyzing large data sets: www.cloudera.com | personal digital profile | unstructured text analysis: www.clarabridge.com

data warehousing: www.datallegro.com | www.infobright.com | www.kalido.com | www.kickfire.com

Information Technology

Databases

Does the company maintain a secured inventory of all its databases of measurable intangible value? Does IT have a strategy for managing the data growth on the network and maintaining the necessary performance levels for mission critical systems?

Thought & Thought Processes

Decision Making

The magic of the Star Trek model lies in its uncanny ability to blend the cool and analytic with the warm and affective side of decision making.

Theories of Decision Making

How can the capacity to decide be improved as the nature of work and institutions change? Can you spot the key patterns? Can you extract critical insights from data?

books

Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis by G. Allison & P. Zelikow

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

Judgment Calls by Thomas H. Davenport, Brook Manville, Laurence Prusak

Political concepts, ideologies, and problems

Democracy

We are the friends of liberty everywhere, custodians only of our own. Jefferson

about | Capitalism | portal: democracynow

Particular Arts / Design

Design

How would a butterfly inspire your next design innovation / biomimicry? How can understanding consumer emotions at the front end of the design give design engineers more freedom?

jewelry: baublebar | www.ice.com | custom design: www.paragonlake.com | n-e-r-v-o-u-s | private home parties: stelladot shopping

books

In Search Of The Miraculous or One Thing Leads To Another

Knoll Textiles, 1945-2010 by Angela Volker textiles

Technology

Development of Technology

History | Human Work | Education | in general | books

History of Technology

Definitions of technology

Technology and contemporary life

History of technology

Innovation

Organization of Human Work

Organization of work

supplies: poppin

Application of scientific methods

Time management

tracking time: getklok team/projects, rescuetime computer

Relation between man and machine

Trustworthy Systems

DIY

Education for Technology

How can scientific and technological breakthroughs be accelerated to improve the human condition? What does it take to effectively interest and prepare students to participate in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce of the future? What are the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students need in order to participate productively in the changing STEM workforce and be innovators? How do they acquire them? How can the nation’s burgeoning cyberinfrastructure be harnessed as a tool for STEM learning in classrooms and informal learning environments? What will ensure that the nation has the capacity it needs to participate in transformative, innovative STEM advances? How can we assess and predict inclination to participate in the STEM fields and how can we measure and study impact of various models to encourage that participation?

in general

books

Ruling the Waves by Debora L. Spar history

Technology, Humans, and Society by Richard C. Dorf

Future | Thought & Thought Processes

Particular Arts / Broadcasting

Digital Content

Does the organization have an infrastructure deployed that can quickly and reliably publish any book, paper, or magazine to any device (libredigital) with a variety of payment methods and currencies that allow payments of less than $10? Does the company have a Digital Asset Management plan in place such that it can maximize revenue from its digital content?

podcasting: audio/video delivery: www.theschoolplayer.com | NPR directory: www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php | target marketing: www.podbridge.com

Health & Disease

Diseases of particular bodily systems

Cardiovascular system

Lymphatic system

Respiratory system

Digestive system

Endocrine system

Reproductive system

Excretory system

Supportive-Protective system

skeletal system and bone, connective tissue, joints, bursae, sinuses, body cavities & membranes, muscle, skin

Nervous system

Hydrosphere

Distribution of water in the hydrosphere

Saltwater bodies

Freshwater bodies

rivers

lakes

museums: Chicago Maritime Museum

estuaries

swamps

groundwater

ice

Water in the biosphere

Water

books The Blue Planet by Alastair Fothergill

Development of Technology / Human Work

DIY do it yourself

gardening is the original DIY

electronics: hardware platform: teagueduino open source | keyboard: makeymakey | parts: sparkfun

hobbies & toys: cardboard animals: kineticcreatures | Free Universal Construction Kit | model airplanes: paper, thequadshot

repairs: carmd, fixerscollective, ifixit | waterproofing: getflexseal

tools & machines

laser cutting: epiloglaser | windmills

videos: animation: xtranormal virtual | cloud: animoto visualization, sequoiamg | tracking shots: cinetics

books and magazines

Makeshift design

ReadyMade 100 Project Manual

Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, & Design by F. Levine & C. Heimerl

The American Boy's Handy Book by Daniel Carter Beard

Particular Arts / Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Photography

Drawing

Acquisitions

Due Diligence Groups

E

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

big ideas | big picture | due diligence | pins

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Earth

Earth’s Envelope

Is the polar bear our canary in the mine shaft for global warming?

Atmosphere | Hydrosphere |Weather & Climate | books

Atmosphere

Composition & structure of the atmosphere

Large-scale motions of the atmosphere

Hydrosphere

Distribution of water in the hydrosphere

Seawater

Freshwater

Hydrologic cycle

Ocean-atmosphere interactions

Effects of human activities on the hydrosphere

Waves in the hydrosphere

Ocean currents

Weather and Climate

Solar radiation and temperature

Atmospheric humidity and precipitation

clouds

fog on the boulevard sp

Atmospheric pressure and wind

Major forms of weather disturbances

hurricanes: about | National Hurricane Center: www.nhc.noaa.gov

Climate

Meteorological measurement and weather forecasting: darksky iPad

Scientific weather modification

weather becomes art visualization

books

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore

Boiling Point by Ross Gelbspan

Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes by Kerry Emanuel

The Last Polar Bear by Steven Kazlowski

Understanding Weather and Climate by Edward Aguado

advocacy: surfrider

Earth

Earth’s History

Origin & Development of Earth about

Origin and development of the lithosphere

Origin and evolution of the atmosphere

Origin and evolution of the hydrosphere

Formation and growth of the continents

Formation and growth of mountains

Theory of plate tectonics

Interpretation of the Geologic Record

Stratigraphic interpretation

Paleontological interpretation

Relative age dating

Absolute dating

Paleogeographical interpretation

Reconstructing the geologic history

Page Paleontology Science Center

Eras & Periods of Geologic Time

Precambrian time

Paleozoic era

Mesozoic era

Cenozoic era

tour of geologic time

books

Earth: Portrait of a Planet by Stephen Marshak

Historical Geology by Reed Wicander

Paleoclimatology by Raymond S. Bradley

The Man Who Found Time by Jack Repcheck

in general: www.scotese.com/earth.htm

Science earth

Earth

Earth’s Properties

Planet Earth | Physical Properties | Earth’s Interior | Earth’s Minerals & Rocks | books

Planet Earth

Orbital motions of the earth

Figure of the earth

Physical Properties

Earth's gravitational field

Earth's magnetic field

Earth's electrical properties

Earth's thermal properties

Mechanical properties of earth

Physical properties of earth materials

Deformation of materials in the earth's crust

www.mnh.si.edu

Structure of Earth’s Interior

intro

Earth's concentric layers

Earthquakes

Distribution of elements in Earth's core, mantle, crust

Indirect evidence to infer Earth's interior

Earth’s Constituent Minerals & Rocks

Mineral constituents of the Earth

Rocks of the Earth's crust

Elements in the Earth & its envelope

www.rocksandminerals.com

books

Earth by James F. Luhr

Earth's Dynamic Systems by W. Kenneth Hamblin

Foundations of Earth Science by Edward J. Tarbuck

Planet Earth by German Space Center

Smithsonian Handbooks: Rocks & Minerals by Chris Pellant

in general: www.usgs.gov/science/science.php?term=287 | planet earth discovery

Science earth

Earth

Earth’s Surface Features

Physical Features of the Earth’s Surface

Vertical relief of the Earth's surface

Stable platform regions of the continents

Continental shelf, slope, and rise

Oceanic deeps

coral islands, reefs, atolls

types

conservation: globalcoral biosphere / ecosystems | Travel aquabike

Major mountain ranges and fracture zones

Oceanic ridges

Geomorphic Processes

overview

Action of the hydrosphere and atmosphere weathering

Actions of biosphere, exosphere, lithosphere

Earth's major environments

Theories of landform evolution

in general: about | google earth | high-resolution satellite imagery: geoeye | Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano: dynamic visualization of plume, pictures

books

Exercises in Physical Geology by W. Kenneth Hamblin

Fundamentals of Geomorphology by R. Huggett

Mountain: Portraits of High Places by Sandy Hill et al

Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation by Tom L. McKnight

Science earth

History of Mankind

East, Central, South, SE Asia

China to Late T’ang, AD 755

Character of Chinese civilization

Emergence of traditional Chinese civilization

Ch'in and Han dynasties, 221 BC-AD 220

Breakdown and revival of the Chinese empire

China from T’ang to Ch'ing 755-1839

Late T'ang dynasty

Ten Kingdoms

Five Dynasties

Sung dynasty

Mongol-Chinese rule under Yuan, 1279-1368

Ming and Ch'ing dynasties to 1839

history of Chinese mathematics

Inner Asia to 1750

Peoples of the steppes

Peoples and states of Inner Asia to AD 1200

Mongol Empire and its successor states

Tibet and Nepal to 1750

Waning of nomad power from 16-18th century

Japan & Korea to 1910

Character of Japanese and Korean civilizations

Early Japan

Feudal Japan

Korea to 1910

India & Ceylon to 1200

Traditional Indian civilizations

India from the prehistoric period to AD 300

North India, Deccan, South India, AD 300-750

N. India, 750-1200; Deccan, S. India, 750-1330

Ceylon to end of the Classical Age, AD 1200

India 1200-1761; Ceylon 1200-1505

N. India under Muslim hegemony, 1200-1526

Deccan, 1320-1627; South India, 1336-1646

Mughal Empire, 1526-1761

Maratha Empire

Ceylon to 1200 & arrival of Portuguese in 1505

SE Asia to 1600

Traditional southeast Asian civilizations

Mainland Southeast Asia to 1600

Islands of the Indonesian Archipelago to 1600

in general: antiquities: tkasian art

books

The Dust of Empire by Karl Ernest Meyer

Philosophy

Eclecticism

Eclecticism is self-defeating not because there is only one direction in which it is useful to move but because there are so many: It is necessary to choose.

Clifford Geertz

about | festivals: wanderlustfestival yoga | literature: dalkeyarchive, Oulipo | restaurants: freemanrestaurant | travel: joycewalk

Software & Web Development

Ecommerce

Is the company considering offering its products/services over the Internet? Can the company be sure of the security of these transactions? Does the company currently use (or plan to use) an automated system for order-entry and management? Would it help the customer and/or the company if customers could perform their own inventory and price checks, check their order status and place their orders without working through sales reps? Could e-commerce save the cost of a comprehensive printed catalog of products? If our e-commerce systems go down, do we have backup systems? Is the company using online auctions to buy/sell certain capital assets at the optimum price? Are we automating the distribution of products across all the major online marketplaces?

in general: auctions: auctionshark, channeladvisor, dovebid, equipnet, swaptree, swoopo, truition | barter: listia | design/develop: fluid | eLab: http://elab.vanderbilt.edu | Electronic Commerce Guide: www.ecommerce-guide.com | on-demand: www.demandware.com, esellerpro, www.netsuite.com, www.plimus.com, www.shopatron.com, truition, www.venda.com | optimization: omniture | order fulfillment: www.comergent.com | personalization: baynote | product content management: www.webcollage.com

Economic Growth and Planning

Economic Conditions

To what degree is the company influenced by broad social and economic conditions?

business cycles: What are the major drivers to the key product/company business cycles? Can the company reliably predict a cycle upturn or downturn? Are the company’s operations significantly affected by weather patterns? Are we comparing leading domestic indicators against external events to determine the expected impact on our business?

industry trends: What are the major trade publications and trade associations that report events and make analyses of this industry (forrester) and the companies that compete in this industry? Does the company keep a current list of all industry analysts and experts? What are the industry analysts and experts generally reporting about the industry and the company's competitive position in the industry? Is the company aware of those venture capitalists and other capital sources that have invested in this industry? Is the industry in or entering a trend of merger and acquisitions? Are there any business failures in the industry? Why? Are companies concentrated in any particular way? (a) geography; (b) product line; (c) pricing level; (d) customer type Does this industry have a high dependence on key customers? What is the industry growth rate? What are the factors affecting future growth of the industry? Has there been any consolidation in the industry? How does consolidation affect the company?

market trends: Will the concentration in market share change in the next five years? Will price competition increase in the next five years?

recession: Does management have a financial contingency plan in the event of a recession that adversely impacts the performance of the company?

books

Ahead of the Curve by Joseph H. Ellis

Recessions and Depressions by Todd A. Knoop

World Economic Forum by Geoffrey Allen Pigman

economic data: economy, federal reserve beige book | fuel prices: www.lundbergsurvey.com

Competition | Coolhunting | Inflation | International Business

Cities

Economic Development

How do you know if the benefits a new company brings to your community outweigh the costs of recruiting and servicing the company and its employees? How are you held accountable for the public funds used to lure relocation to your community? How do you draw a line in the sand when it comes to incentives? Is the deal a win-win for the company and the community? Would the community be better served to invest our time, energy, and public funds in building new companies from within? Is business attraction a viable economic development strategy? Should we attract the creative class? Does technology economic development makes sense in our community? What is the impact of creating our own micro economy? How does the Internet impact our local businesses? What Web 2.0 tools can assist our economic and community development? How can we engage citizens? How can we get started down a path of successful community engagement? What do we need to do to retain young graduates? How can we sustain innovation? What are some practical tactics we can implement now? How can your business community grow in today’s hyper-competitive economy? How can your community’s population create a stronger social fabric? What can your community’s residents do to better communicate and collaborate? How can more young citizens get engaged in designing your community’s future? What can your community’s young professionals do to enhance their careers? How can your community workforce continue to grow its skill level? How can your community continue to empower its residents and businesses?

Advanced Energy Economy sustainability | American Planning Association: www.planning.org | American Recovery & Reinvestmnet Act: www.recovery.gov | book: Boomtown USA by John M. Schultz | Economic Development Administration: www.eda.gov | FEMA Federal Disaster Declarations: www.fema.gov/news/disasters.fema | international: www.iedconline.org, www.worldbank.org | modeling software: www.implan.com | multipliers: bea

Competition

Economic Espionage

Has the company identified any perceived theft vulnerabilities, as well as theft report procedures, major theft concerns or criminal enterprises which may target the organization? What are the procedures of reporting computer intrusion hits on the company's network? What is the level of foreign travel of employees or members within the organization? How many are associated with classified operations, and to what extent? What is the level of foreign visitors to the organization? What is the level of foreign consumers associated with the organization? What is the scope of R&D involved with any Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) products or pre-cursors? (a) nuclear; (b) chemical; (c) biological; (d) conventional

book: CIA, Inc: Espionage & the Craft of Business Intelligence by F. W. Rustmann | consultants: www.adestesconsulting.com | explosives detection: www.revealimaging.com | home & apartment: laser shield

Competition | Computer Security | News / participatory media / wikileaks

big ideas

Edge.org

To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.

2012: What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?

2011: What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit?

2010: How is the Internet changing the way you think?

2009: What will change everything?

2008: What have you changed your mind about? Why?

2007: What are you optimistic about?

2006: What is your dangerous idea?

2005: What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

2004: What’s your law?

2003: What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation and the world…..?

2002: What is your question? Why?

2001: What now?

2001: What questions have disappeared?

2000: What is today’s most important unreported story?

1999: What is the most important invention in the past two thousand years?

1998: What questions are you asking yourself?

books

This Will Make You Smarter by John Brockman

Human Society

Education

Do we need the Department of Education? Are students well prepared for future challenges? Can they analyze, reason and communicate effectively? Have they acquired some of the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society PISA? Do they have the capacity to continue learning throughout life?

Aims and Organization of Education

Philosophies of education

adaptive learning: knewton

Learning process and the teaching art

reading fluency: helpsprogram

Organization of education

phases or levels of education

preparation and performance of teachers

economics of education

social aspects of education

Education Around the World

Systems of education

Blended Learning: edelements

Charter schools

Home schooling

History of education

International education activities

advocacy: centerforcsri, projectappleseed | films: waitingforsuperman | Issues

in general: www.edutopia.org | audience response systems: iclicker | campus-wide lecture recording: tegrity | charter schools: seedfoundation | conferences: wise-qatar | course management system (CMS): moodle | digital classroom: www.hotchalk.com | dress codes | free: flatworldknowledge books / textbooks, iTunes U, MITOpenCourseware | globalization: http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com | google tools: www.google.com/educators/index.html | Immigration | knowledge center: emtech, www.wallacefoundation.org/KnowledgeCenter | networking & communication: www.echalk.com | one laptop per child big ideas: http://laptopgiving.org/en/index.php, www.amazon.com/xo, www.nova1to1.com | project-based learning: http://college.hmco.com/education/pbl/background.html, www.thinkquest.org | self-organized learning | question & answer: piazza, yahoo | virtual public schooling: www.k12.com

books

Cultural Literacy by E.D. Hirsch

Finnish Lessons by Pasi Sahlberg

roomtoread

The Teaching Gap by James W. Stigler and James Hiebert

Ubiquitous Learning by Bill Cope & Mary Kalantzis

Energy Conversion & Utilization

Electronics

http://irresistibleelectronics.blogspot.com | books: Irresistible! Markets, Models, & Meta-Value in Consumer Electronics by George Bailey | Consumer Electronics Show (CES): www.cesweb.org | flexible displays: www.plasticlogic.com, www.polymervision.com | learning kits: http://sparklelabs.com | search: www.retrevo.com | warranties: squaretrade

Elements energy conversion | Gadgets | Search Engines | Technology | Manufacturing and Distribution

Technology

Elements of Technology

Energy Conversion & Utilization | Tools and Machines | Measurement, Observation, Control | Industrial Raw Materials | Industrial Production Processes

Energy Conversion & Utilization

Major types of energy useful to mankind

Devices & techniques for utilization of energy

muscle energy

wind/water energy: hydroelectric

gravitational energy

strain & compression energy

magnetic & electrical energy: Electronics

rotational energy: Bicycles

heat energy

thermovoltaics: gmzenergy

chemical energy

nuclear energy

solar energy

engines

Devices for energy conversion: wireless power

Devices for energy concentration and control

Unlimited production of free energy

Tools and Machines

Hand tools: Coolhunting knives | my toolbox sp | table saws: sawstop

Machines and machine components: micro-devices

Machine tools

Computer-aided machining

Nonconventional methods of machining

Modeling & Simulation

Measurement, Observation, Control

Theory of measurement

Units and standards of measurement

Weights and Measures

Time

Principles of measurement

Common types of measuring instruments: watches coolhunting

Instruments used for observing and recording

microscopes

telescopes: Hubble

spectroscopes

interferometers

cameras: lytro photography

Special instruments used in scientific research

pH meter: senovasystems energy/chemistry

Major measurement & observation systems

Instrumentation and control systems

touch screen | visualizing time

Industrial Raw Materials

World's physical and biological resources

Technology of the extraction industries

Primary conversions of raw materials

plastics: frxpolymers flame retardant

steel: arcelormittal

Industrial Production Processes

Materials processing

Metallurgy

Materials handling

Packaging

books: Wheels, Clocks, and Rockets: A History of Technology by Donald Cardwell | www.mechatronicszone.com

Major Systems of Communication

Email

direct mail lists: www.infousa.com | www.once.com | Intelligence: www.whosmailingwhat.com

gmail: attachments.me | social networking: ming.ly

in general: analytics: www.emaildatasource.com | Archival and Recovery: www.liveoffice.com, www.mimosasystems.com | Certified e-mail: www.goodmailsystems.com | Campaign management: www.mailnetexpress.com | collaboration add-on: www.ccbetty.com | direct marketing and communications: clicktactics, www.constantcontact.com, www.echomail.com, www.icontact.com | Enterprise Rights Management (ERM): www.authentica.com | legal discovery and compliance: www.clearwellsystems.com, www.fortiva.com, www.messagegate.com, www.sendmail.com | live content: movableink | Mobile: www.seven.com | Outlook plug-in: www.xobni.com | outsource outbound: sendgrid | Restaurants: www.fishbowl.com | security-as-a-service: proofpoint | switching accounts: www.trueswitch.com | unified e-mail management: mimecast | video: www.helloworld.com | Virus detection: www.avinti.com, eset

mail: larger than letter size: mailexpressinc | postal mail online: earthclassmail, zumbox

permission marketing: e-mail: exacttarget | incentive offers: www.newworldiq.com | mobile: www.m-qube.com/index.html

spam: Is the company's email address collection and emailing process following applicable [ laws and best practices for email ] marketing? Does our permission policy make sure we have a preexisting business relationship and/or affirmative consent? Does your "From" line include your company name or brand? Is your "Subject" line the right length? (5-8 words, 40 characters including spaces) Does your "Subject" line incorporate a specific benefit? Does your "Subject" line include your brand? Is your email personalized with the recipient's first name, last name or both, if appropriate? Is your email copy clear and concise? Are you prepared to handle inbound email responses and questions resulting from your outbound email campaigns? Have you previewed and sent yourself a test in both HTML, and text? Does your email include a way for recipients to unsubscribe, e.g. an unsubscribe/opt-out link and/or instructions? Are you prepared to handle all unsubscribe requests within 10 days of the request? If you use multiple email products, or have multiple databases from which you send emails, are you prepared to process all unsubscribe requests across all lists? Is your physical address included in your email campaign?

Human Behavior / internal states

Emotion

Defintions and humanistic background

Importance of emotions

Contemporary approaches to emotion

books

The Fear Index

Executive Education emotional intelligence | measure emotion: affectiva | Thought

Human Resource Management

Employees

Does the company maintain a list of all employees with key information? (a) name; (b) social security number; (c) duties; (d) date of hire; (e) current salary; (f) location Are the critical functions staffed with well-qualified people? Are there special personnel or skill needs related to technology, marketing, or manufacturing? What are the plans to respond to skill needs or technical obsolescence? Is there, or will there be, an excess of manpower in some functional areas? Can excess people be retrained and reassigned to other areas?

Agreements

Have employment agreements and non-compete agreements been perfected for all senior management? Are there any employment agreements which are a problem or could become a problem for the company? Does the company maintain detailed information on all key personnel? (a) function; (b) location; (c) compensation: base, bonus, granted and vested options; (d) bio

Culture

What adjectives describe the company's culture? (a) brave; (b) competitive; (c) confident; (d) enthusiastic; (e) fair; (f) fast; (g) fun; (h) having presence; (I) restless; (j) smart; (k) well-prepared What are the core values of the company's culture? What do employees value in a culture? Are employees tolerant of growth and associated chaos? What is being done to orient the company's culture to the constant change that technology brings? Does the company have fun? Does the company have a way to understand and manage its corporate culture to achieve positive results? What are some things you, as an executive, can do? Just how important is company culture? How do you strike a balance between the employee wish list and the corporate bottom line? online assessment: www.cindexinc.com

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Has the company developed and put in place a confidential employee assistance program? What range of personal matters does the program address? (a) emotional health; (b) mental health; (c) depression; (d) anxiety; (e) stress; (f) career and workplace counseling; (g) self-improvement; (h) parenting and family; (i) marital/relationship; (j) alcohol abuse; (k) drug abuse; (l) gambling; (m) dependent care; (n) legal assistance; (o) financial assistance book: Employee Assistance Programs by Michael A. Richard | divorce360 | get it off your chest | psychological self-assesment (journalists) | therapy: findcounseling

Equal Opportunity

Is the company aligning its recruiting policies with recent Supreme Court decisions to facilitate healthy diversity in the workplace without the use of quotas? What percentage of the company's key positions is held by women? What is the trend? Are there any EEOC violations? What actions has the company taken to resolve them? Has the company had any age discrimination lawsuits in the past?

Any pending or threatening? Don’t ask, don’t tell: How can lying be the basic principle of a workplace policy? bias: Gender and Racial Bias in Hiring | facts about age discrimination | <issues> | underrepresented graduates: ADVANCE

Benefits

Is the company’s vacation/sick leave policy competitive with industry standards? In the event of due diligence on the company, are details of existing benefits and their costs reasonably accessible in one location? (a) vacation policy; (b) sick pay policy; (c) health insurance; (d) disability insurance; (e) life insurance; (f) bonus policy; (g) pension plan; (h) profit sharing plan; (i) overtime policy; (j) employee loans; (k) non-cash perquisites; (l) relocation policy; (m) severance policy Are these policies detailed in an employee handbook? Are employees given total compensation information so they have an informed appreciation of all the benefit costs carried by the company? Has the company developed a policy relative to the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Can the company offset decreasing health benefits with perks in other areas? (a) Domestic-partner benefits for partners and dependents of gay employees; (b) Paid-time-off bank; (c) Flexible working arrangements; (d) 401(k) immediate vesting; (e) Mentoring and career development What is the total benefit cost as a percentage of total compensation? What is the company's policy on "comp time" for salaried employees? benefits management: adam, www.highroads.com, www.ie-engine.com, www.rewardsplus.com | wageworks | pharmacy plan: truveris

Morale

How strong is the environment of trust in the company? Does the company have interactive systems that allow HR to quickly determine root causes to internal problems? Is the attitude and morale of employees good? Is there generally a strong work ethic among employees? Is there a strong team feeling? Is the company's energy and productivity being drained by turf wars between departments trying to protect power and resources? What is the level of stress in the company? How does the CEO monitor morale? What specific methods and techniques has the company found and applied to motivate hourly employees? Does the company annually survey employees to assess their overall morale and job satisfaction?

art and management: aesthesis | book: Building A HIgh Morale Workplace by Anne Bruce | employees tell the truth: morale audit sp | gaming: keas wellness

Retention

Does the company have an employee turnover problem in general? What has been the turnover in the last two years? What percentage of turnover is structural, and what percentage is due to forces in the company which are driving people away? What are the forces that are driving people away?

Sexual Harassment

Does the company have in place a sexual harassment policy that can provide an affirmative defense in the event of suit? Does the policy effectively address "quid pro quo" harassment ("this for that")? (a) protected group; (b) unwelcome sexual harassment; (c) based on sex; (d) affected a tangible aspect of employment; (e) employer knew or should have known but took no action Does the policy effectively address "environmental sexual harassment"? (a) verbal; (b) physical; (c) visual Have employees been trained in this policy? Is the process repeated annually? Has the company had any sex discrimination lawsuits in the past? Any pending or threatening?

Termination

Should we contest unemployment compensation? Should we offer severance and/or outplacement careerminds? What other benefits should we offer the employee? How do we handle giving references for terminated employees? What compensation is owed to a terminated employee and when? How can money owed by the employee to the company be retrieved? How much notice must be given? Who should actually conduct the termination? Where is the best place to conduct a termination interview? Do we have to tell an employee why they are being terminated? What documentation should be given to an employee? Should we record any observations after the termination has been completed? checklist: www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/trmntp_m.asp

Visa: Does the company provide reasonable assistance and expense reimbursement to obtain work visas for key technical and management employees? What percentage of employees is working under a visa of some form? How difficult would it be to replace these workers with American citizens? online resource: http://faq.visapro.com

Fields of Technology / Urban Community Technology

Energy Management big ideas

How can growing energy demands be met safely and efficiently? Can we efficiently, reliably, safely, sustainably, and economically get 100% of our energy from wind, water, and solar (WWS) power?

in general

commercial buildings & schools: scientificconservation fields of technology / construction, senselogix, seriousmaterials, www.webgensystems.com | conferences: worldfutureenergysummit future| conservation | demand response services: www.enernoc.com, www.poweritsolutions.com, www.prenova.com | Department of Energy: energy.gov | energy survey: www.think2ool.com/think2ool_files/EnergyReductionSurvey.pdf | energy storage: ice-energy, www.pentadyne.com | helioculture | Innovation | interactive game: www.willyoujoinus.com/energyville | lighting management: www.lumenergi.com | residential buildings: www.control4.com | renewable energy systems: www.gridpoint.com | solar control: ravenbrick | turnkey solutions: nexamp | waste heat recovery: alphabetenergy recycle | wind energy: www.windenergy.com | wireless sensors: www.synapsense.com

batteries

demand-response

electric power

Buying Decisions comparison shop | consumer initiatives: www.galvinpower.org | storage: pumped

energy requirements company

What percentage of operating costs is accounted for by energy purchases? Is the processing of any raw materials heavily dependent on energy? What kinds of fuel does the company use? What is the name and location of energy suppliers? Do firm contracts or other commitments exist? Is the company or any of its suppliers subject to allocation regulations? Does this affect the company's ability to maintain production levels? What is the outlook for energy supplies in areas where the company operates? What ability does the company have to pass increased costs on to its customers without losing market share? Can the company optimize its energy budget by participating in a Demand Response program?

Corporate Energy Managers Consortium: www.esource.com | energy reduction survey pdf | Power Management for PC Networks: www.verdiem.com

fuel cells

harvesting

copenhagen wheel | pressure reduction valves: rentricity | shock absorbers

lighting

addressable: encelium | control systems: www.lumenergi.com | flexible: gorillatorch | fluorescent lighting energy management: www.enerlume-em.com | Light Emitting Capacitor (LEC): www.ceelite.com | Light Emitting Diaodes (LED): bridgelux, ecosenselighting, illumitex, www.luminus.com, www.mrbeams.com, relume | organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs): www.ge.com/research/grc_2_9_1.html, novaled | solid state: www.lifi.com, www.renaissancelighting.com | Visualization presentations | wireless energy management: www.aduratech.com

books

Guide to Energy Management by Barney L. Capehart

The Green Guide to Power: Thinking Outside the Grid by Ron Bowman Smart Grid

Matter and Energy

Energy, States, & Transformation of Matter

Chemical Elements

classification

periodic table

groups of chemical elements

origin & distribution of elements in nature

Chemical Compounds

theory of molecular structure

determination molecular structure

spectra of molecules

chemical bonding

classification of chemical compounds

inorganic compounds

organic compounds

common compound library

Chemical Reactions about

energy changes in chemical reactions

rates of chemical reactions

mechanisms of chemical reactions

acid-base reactions and equilibria

oxidation-reduction reactions

photochemical reactions

synthesis of chemical compounds

Heat, Thermodynamics, Nonsolid States about

Principles of thermodynamics

Gaseous state of matter

Liquid state of matter

Solutions and solubility

Physical effects at surfaces

Plasma state of matter

Properties of matter at extreme conditions

Transport phenomena

Solid State of Matter about

crystals and crystallography

crystalline solid state

ionic crystals

metals

semiconductors and insulators

glassy or amorphous state of matter

Mechanics of Particles about

Principles of classical mechanics

Celestial mechanics

Relativistic mechanics in inertial systems

Stress dynamics of elastic materials

Vibrations of elastic bodies

Fluid mechanics and gas dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD): cfdesign engineering | exa fields/transport

Rheological phenomena

Electricity and Magnetism

static electric charge

moving charges and electric currents

magnetism

theory of fields in physics

electromagnetic fields and radiation

relativistic electrodynamics

Waves and Wave Motion

general wave phenomena and wave motion

electromagnetic waves

light waves: invisibility/cloaking

focusing and imaging of light waves

sound waves

wave energy

5 types, nsf, www.orecon.com, pelamiswave sea snake, wavebob | fans: uekus, verdantpower | pumps: aquamarinepower

books

A Guide to the Elements by Albert Stwertka

Classical Mechanics by Herbert Goldstein mechanics

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics by David R. Lide

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman relativity

Gases, Liquids and Solids by D. Tabor

Introduction to Heat Transfer by Frank P. Incropera

Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism by James Clerk Maxwell

Wave Motion by J. Billingham waves

Why Chemical Reactions Happen by James Keeler

physics: hyperphysics, lightandmatter, Natural Philosophy Alliance worldnpa

Energy Management | Equations and Algorithms | Wind Energy

Methods of Business Organization

Engineering and R&D

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What is the function of engineering within the overall corporate strategy? What is the relationship with production operations? How are engineering projects organized and monitored? How are engineering efficiency and productivity measured? What is the record with respect to engineering projects being completed on time? Does the company's engineering department pursue perfectionism to the point where products are not getting to market when they should?

Information Technology

Enterprise Systems

Is IT routinely analyzing existing systems to identify and extract valuable components? Can IT improve business processes by leveraging newer technological capabilities?

in general: botnet protection: damballa | collaboration: cubetree | compliance: hiperos | enterprise 2.0: www.bsgalliance.com | Enterprise Data Lifecycle Management: utopiainc | ERP (enterprise resource planning): www.compiere.com, www.openbravo.com, www.workday.com | indexing: virtualworks search | log data: splunk computer security | mobile device management: zenprise | multi-enterprise data integration: informatica | next-generation enterprises on-demand: www.ngenera.com | search: lucidimagination open source | secure data sharing: digitalbridge | security: www.imperva.com, proofpoint, www.tracesecurity.com, tripwire | social media management: syncapse social media tools | workforce management: dayforce human resources

core systems: insurance: guidewire

SAP : Data management tools: www.getgamma.com, www.panayainc.com, winshuttle | Integrate GIS and Project Management: www.impress.com | RFID Integration: www.acsisinc.com | Voice automation: www.voiceobjects.com

social: collaboration: moxiesoft | media management: syncapse social media tools

Innovation

Entrepreneurship

Are you willing and able to bear great financial risk? Are you willing to sacrifice your lifestyle for potentially many years? Is your significant other on board? Do you like all aspects of running a business? Are you comfortable making decisions on the fly with no playbook? What’s your track record of executing your ideas? How persuasive and well-spoken are you? Do you have a concept you’re passionate about? Are you a self-starter? Do you have a business partner?

elevator pitch: What is the pain in the market? What is so badly broken in the industry that consumers are desperately seeking a solution? What is your solution to this pain in the market? What are you doing to solve this problem or, at a minimum, make it more manageable for consumers? How big is the market? How do you make money and, equally important, how do you plan to reach your customer? Why you and your team? What is it about you and your team that gives an investor confidence that you will succeed? shark tank

in general: http://blog.gcase.org/ | annual assessment: gemconsortium | bootcamp: www.nxlevel.org | education: deshpandefoundation, http://edcorner.stanford.edu, www.kauffman.org, nuvention biomedical | entrepreneurship 101: www.fasttrac.org | food & restaurants | food for thought: www.fortytwodegrees.co.uk | games: http://spapps.go.com/hsb4/landing, simventure | global entrepreneurship networks: http://unleashingideas.org/welcome, TIE | handmade: craftsvilla, elo7 brazil, etsy vl | kids: lemonadeday | microloans to entrepreneurs: www.kiva.org | MIT Forum: http://enterpriseforum.mit.edu | napkin entrepreneurs | necessity entrepreneurship | readiness test: www.readinesslevel.com | research and teaching: www.effectuation.org | startup religion: www.moltz.com | The Big Idea by CNBC | videos: www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F50F392CB43B1661 | workspace for entrepreneurs: dogpatchlabs | young entrepreneurs: extremetour, lemonadeday Parenting / kids , livewire 16-30

books

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford trial & error

Bounce! by Barry J. Moltz failure

Entrepreneurship by Donald F. Kuratko & Richard M. Hodgetts

The New Artisans by Olivier Dupon handmade

The One-Hour Activist by Christopher Kush social

failure: Failure is inevitably a part of discovery. | How business failure paves the way to success | jump the shark tipping point

students: funding: nciia | note-taker | solar farm solar | under30ceo

Entertainment

amuzement parks: heavy equipment playground: digthis construction | water cube china

gambling: fantasy sports: draftday | mobile: http://betnow.co.uk

restaurants: Alinea | Chez Panisse | on-table tablets: elacarte | philadelphia | private chefs: kitchit

Mathematics

Equations and Algorithms

DESPAIR = suffering - meaning Jason Gots

PRINCIPAL = life + consciousness; sleep = interest; death = repayment A. Schopenhauer

RENEWABLE ENERGY = fresh water + salt water + bacteria John Timmer

books

Indexed by Jessica Hagy

What Is Your Dangerous Idea? by John Brockman

Ethics

Moral hazard is our greatest global social threat.

How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions? What is the day-to-day visibility, awareness, and discussion level of ethics within and outside the company? What are insiders and outsiders saying? Has the board adopted a code of conduct and ethics policy? What are the objectives? Who develops, administers and maintains the ethics code? What is the process for periodic review and revision? What are the organization's mission, vision and values? How do these policies relate to the organization's culture? Has the organization determined its actual ethical risks? How does the ethical code apply to foreign operations? Who are the champions of ethics? How is ethics communicated and how are people educated in it? How does the organization handle criticism of the ethics code? How is compliance to ethical standards measured and monitored? Do we ask people to sign off? Where do people go for advice or issue resolution? How do ethics conflict with the rewards system and how are violations handled? How does the company deal with whistle blowing? How does an organization's ethics maintain and/or change with time?

Board of Directors

What is our company’s strategy to manage ethics? Who is responsible for ethics in our company? Are people in our firm equipped to recognize and resolve moral dilemmas? Are people in our organization provided with a safe opportunity to discuss ethical issues of concern? Do we reward or punish ethical integrity and moral courage if it has a negative impact on the bottom line? What information should the board receive? How does a director really know the ethics code is actually working? Do any affiliated transactions exist between the company and any of its officers, directors, or their relatives other than in their capacity as an officer or director? Do any stockholders supply products and/or services to the company? Do any directors supply products and/or services to the company? Is general counsel to the company also a director? Does this pose an unmanageable conflict of interest in the event of a lawsuit against the company? Could this negatively infringe on the attorney-client privilege? Would the company/board be better served to have general counsel serve as corporate secretary instead of director, so that counsel's input can still be heard on important issues?

Insider trading

Has the company made a reasonable effort to make all insiders (executives, employees, directors) aware of the insider trading rules? News that hasn't been publicly released that would affect a shareholder's decision to buy or sell stock in a publicly traded company. Tipper - Someone who passes on inside information ("material nonpublic info") that they had a legal obligation to keep secret, but doesn't trade on it themselves. Tippee - Someone who accepts inside information from a person who shouldn't have revealed it, and trades on it. SEC Filings: www.10kwizard.com

social accountability: Is it appropriate and feasible for the company to achieve substantial compliance with the consensus standard SA 8000 www.sa-intl.org? (a) child labor; (b) forced labor; (c) health and safety; (d) freedom of association; (e) right to collective barraging; (f) discrimination; (g) disciplinary practices; (h) work hours; (i) compensation; (j) management systems Does the company employ a web-based public participation system to efficiently manage public comments on controversial initiatives? www.commentworks.com

books

Business Ethics by O. C. Ferrell

On Being a Scientist by Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy

The Market for Virtue by David Vogel

The Responsibility Revolution by Jeffrey Hollender

corporate guidelines: www.oceg.org

Events

Mega Events Olympics, G8 Summit: What is projected as to the number of visitors including international visitors to the city? How much are they anticipated to spend while here? What is the estimated impact leamgroup on business in the metropolitan area? What steps are being taking to reduce negative effects on existing businesses, especially those located in the downtown area? Should workers and shoppers coming to and from the downtown area of the city make other plans? What are the projected costs to the city and the state compared to the expected economic benefit?

General Requirements: What type of property best serves the meeting's objective (city hotel, resort, conference center)? From where will most attendees be traveling? Will pre- and post-convention trips be planned? What are the group's primary service needs?

Sleeping Rooms: What are the room rates, including sales tax, bed tax and any ancillary fees? How are room rates determined (rack, sliding scale, government per diem)? What is the breakdown of sleeping rooms, smoking and nonsmoking, by sleeping configuration (singles, doubles, one- and two-bedroom suites)? How many rooms comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)? In what sleeping configurations? | On what date will the room rate be guaranteed? Is there a policy regarding complimentary rooms? What is the policy on late arrival and late checkout? How is overflow handled? What are the in-room telephone charges? What are the policies on cancellation and attrition? Are these negotiable?

Function Space: How many meeting rooms will be available to the group? Do any meeting rooms have visual obstructions? Are they soundproof? Does each meeting room have its own sound system, data ports, and light and temperature controls? Is there a storage area near the meeting space? Do ballrooms have access to the banquet kitchen? What is the capacity and location of the freight elevator?

Food and beverage: What are the tax and gratuity percentages on group functions? What is the number, type and seating capacity of on-site restaurants? Are they available for group use? Is outdoor dining an option? What is the average price of breakfast, lunch and dinner? Will the hotel contract provide specific food and beverage quotes for one function? Are complimentary coffee breaks offered?

Important Considerations: What type of security is provided? Are any groups scheduled to be on-site during the dates your group will meet? If yes, what types of groups? Are any citywide special events scheduled to take place? How many parking spaces are there? What are parking rates? Is valet parking available? How far away are the convention center, downtown, hospital and airport? Is airport shuttle service offered? What type of local transportation is available? What is the average taxi fare from airport to property? What are the local union requirements? Are there any restrictions? When do union contracts expire? When was the last renovation? Are any renovations planned? What are the scheduled dates? What are the concierge hours? Can they be extended? Are sports, entertainment and child-care facilities on-site or nearby? What is the average length of service per employee? How long has the general manager been at the property? Does the property offer any promotional assistance? References of three comparable groups that recently met at the property?

in general: event planning: www.amiando.com, www.bizbash.com, http://commongroundpublishing.com, cvent, eventbrite | host you own: gidsy | invitations: paperlesspost | keynotes speakers: www.janastanfield.com | online registration: www.regonline.com | party planning: www.mypunchbowl.com | search: www.zvents.com

meetings management: www.onvantage.com | book space: eventup, www.worktopia.com | polling: www.doodle.com, www.polleverywhere.com | scheduler: www.timebridge.com, www.tungle.com | software: www.meetingsense.com

On-Demand Software

Executive Compensation

The Complete Guide to Executive Compensation by Bruce R. Ellig

In general, are executive compensation packages reflective of individual performance? Are executive compensation packages competitive with others in the industry? Are compensation packages effective in attracting and retaining talented individuals? Is it understood where the ultimate responsibility for oversight of executive compensation rests? Are the respective roles of the Board and compensation committee clearly defined and understood? Are the directors sufficiently independent for purposes of serving on a compensation committee? Has the need for independent advice been considered and what is the purpose for which independent advice is required? What is the nature of the overall business relationship between the company and management's advisors? What is the Board's role in selecting and periodically evaluating advisors? Is it clear who (e.g. management and/or advisors) is recommending and/or supporting the reasonableness of the compensation recommendation? Is there clear consensus among the company's directors as to best practices and have they been formalized and/or codified? Has responsibility for completing the report on executive compensation for the management proxy circular been explicitly set out in the Board or compensation committee mandate, as applicable? What is the Board's position on broader disclosure and have appropriate policies been disclosed? Has an independent advisor reviewed the executive contract for reasonableness? How does the executive's remuneration, in total and by element, compare to the competitive market? Is there a proper process in place to monitor all payments and other benefits received by executives? What factors have been taken into account in comparator group selection? What is the process and timing for reviewing the comparators? What is the methodology used in presenting the competitive data? Are the performance measures and standards appropriate? Does the design and size of option awards make sense in light of the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the program as well as competitive practice? Are there appropriate rules and guidelines in place with respect to share ownership and share related transactions? Do we understand and are we comfortable with the pension and post-retirement benefits the executive is entitled to over time? Does the Board understand and feel comfortable with compensation that may be payable in special circumstances such as change-of-control? Is the company regularly benchmarking its compensation programs to keep them competitive yet reasonable? At a minimum, is the company matching the most common perqs provided to CEOs and key executives? (a) physical exams; (b) financial counseling; (c) company car; (d) income tax preparation; (e) communications equipment What resources is HR using to benchmark executive salaries www.rileyguide.com/execpay.html?

severance: Are copies available of any prior severance agreements which contain provisions for employee benefits? Are total severance payments under control and reasonable?

Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERP): If the organization provides a SERP, are the benefits funded or otherwise secured? If not, have the plan members (i.e., the managers and executives) been formally advised that their additional company-sponsored retirement income is at risk? How old is the target Executive? Will is the target retirement age? What average annual rate is assumed for salary inflation to 65? What average annual rate do is assumed the SERP account will grow to retirement age? Is the SERP going to close the gap for 100% of final salary at retirement age, or something lower like 80%? What is assumed will be covered by social security (20%?) and 401(K) (40%) and other plans the executive may have from previous employment? What will be the term of the SERP payout? 10 years? 15? More? Will the calculation be fixed, or does it get adjusted annually based on changing conditions that would be hard to predict? planaserp

enterprise management systems: www.workscape.com | online wizard: www.salary.com | say on pay

Board of Directors | Incentive Compensation Program | Pension Plan

Executive Education

Does the company have in place a formal management development program?

coaching: Does the coach create structure? Is the coach supportive? Does the coach provide accountability? Is the coach demanding? Has the coach made you better than your best?

emotional intelligence: Is the company measuring the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) of executives and key employees? How? How is EQ being measured, monitored, and used as tool for management and leadership development? Is the company automatically auditing the appropriate “emotional meaning lymbix” (sentiment) in its text messaging?

in general: Innovation Leadership Advisory Board (UIUC): http://engr.uiuc.edu/external/ilab/index.php | International Coach Federation: www.coachfederation.com | life science entrepreneurs in IL : http://ibioinstitute.org/programs/ | midwest: www.thecoachinghouse.net | on-demand: http://candogo.com | peer-to-peer: vistage | train the trainer: www.coachinc.com | Worldwide Assoc. of business Coaches: www.wabccoaches.com | Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute CEO

books

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

The Power of Coaching by Machen MacDonald

education: Harvard: www.exed.hbs.edu | HSM: www.hsmglobal.com | World Business Forum: http://us.hsmglobal.com/contenidos/uswbfhome.html

Board of Directors director training | Emotion | Knowledge Management | Leadership

Extreme

Entertainment | Fitness | Stages adolescence | Unequivocals

F

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

big ideas | big picture | due diligence | pins

type CTRL+F to search

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Facebook

Could the growing interest in a market for personal data that shares profits with the individuals who own the data, adversely impact Facebook? big idea

books and film

Inside Facebook by Karel M. Baloun

The Facebook Era by Clara Shih v

The Social Network by David Fincher

Google+ | Social Media Tools

Methods of Business Organization

Facilities and Equipment

Are the facilities adequate overall to meet the company’s objectives? Is the company employing a Web-based capital planning and asset management system www.vfa.com (CPMS) across all its properties? Is the company taking advantage of cost-effective, centralized web-based systems that can remotely monitor vital sign data, audio, and video of equipment, facilities, and personnel? Are we able to automatically monitor www.vidient.com, identify and track objects for security policy violations via our existing CCTV infrastructure? Integrated Workplace Management Software www.centerstonesoft.com/

Facilities Management

automated Irrigation: www.hydropoint.com | on-demand asset lifecycle management: www.axispointe.com

Automation | On-Demand Software

Office Facilities

How often does the company evaluate the cost-effectiveness of its branch office(s)? How is this done? Where do people do their best thinking? How does environment/space impact creativity and innovation? What characteristics, elements or resources from other peoples’ environments might be applied in your spaces? What might be changed or improved in the current environments and spaces to inspire more creativity and innovation? How would people describe the ideal environment that inspires collaboration and teamwork to produce more creativity and innovation?

books: The Other Office: Creative Workplace Design by Matt Stewart, Corporate Interiors by Roger Yee | boxoffice460 | global office search: www.globalofficesearch.biz | shared facilities: wework | virtual office: www.intelligentoffice.com | working at Google: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZhbOhEunY

used: cars: www.autoquake.com, mojomotors | heavy equipment: www.ironplanet.com

questions for landlord

How long have you been renting to the company? How many square feet does the company rent from you? Does the company make its rent payments on time? Have you ever had to contact the company to get your payment? Does the company maintain the property in good condition? Would you rent to the company again?

Major Cultural Components & Institutions

Family & Kinship

Family History

The Modern Family

Kinship

Neighborhoods | Wellness

Technology

Fields of Technology

Critical Infrastructures

What is the current state of our assets? What is the required level of service and performance? Which assets are critical to sustained performance? What are the best investment strategies for both operations and maintenance and capital improvement? What is the best long-term funding strategy? What can we learn from European Union’s long-term integrated infrastructure planning? land policy think tank: www.lincolninst.edu | natural gas | Report Card for America's Infrastructure | Smart Grid | Trustworthy Systems | water distribution

Agriculture & food production

History of agriculture

Farm management

ADM farmerview | software: farmeron, profitshotsoftware

Crop farming

Livestock farming

Technology of hunting, fishing, whaling

Food processing

Food preservation

Techniques for controlling the quality of food

Food sources and new product development

in general: books: buying local: know your farmer, know your food | equipment leasing: www.machinerylink.com

Major industries

Organization of work & production

Major manufacturing industries: <Robotics and Autonomic Systems>

Major fabrication industries

Major processing industries

Construction industries

Service industries

Utilities: Edison Electric Institute, edisonfoundation

Merchandising of consumer goods

Industrial research and development

Technology of industrial safety

C onstruction Technology

T ransportation Technology

Information Processing & Communications

Communication and information theory: Claude Shannon

Calculating devices

Office machines

Computers

Computer Science

General information-recording devices

Sound/video recording & reproducing devices

Technology of photography

Information processing and systems: Cloud Computing

Major Systems of Communication

Major systems of detection and remote sensing

Electronic components and techniques

Military Technology

Offensive weaponry

Defensive weaponry

Weapon platforms

Engineering

Logistics

Electronics

UAVs: Aerovironment Nano Hummingbird | www.insitu.com | www.proxyaviation.com

Urban Community Technology

Basic engineering services of the city

Technology of social services of the city

Technology for new urban problems

Energy Management

geothermal exchange homes

Earth & Space Exploration

Why do you explore?

surface exploration

Lewis & Clark

mobile robots robotics

south pole: expeditiontothesouthpole

underground exploration: Journey to the Center of the Earth

undersea exploration: Jacques Cousteau | Weird sissou

space exploration

life-support systems

B iotechnology

Books

Crisis and Opportunity by John E. Ikerd agriculture

My Father, the Captain by Jean-Michel Cousteau exploration

Open Innovation by Henry Chesbrough

The Power Makers by Maury Klein utilties

File Sharing

Methods of Business Organization

Financial Management

Financial Markets

futures/options: Commodities Charts: www.cbot.com | Futures Quotes: http://quotes.ino.com

international: Canadian Companies: www.site-by-site.com/canada/astock.htm | FT Marketwatch: www.ft.com/markets | World Portfolio: http://quotes.ubs.com/quotes/

movers: Earnings Surprises: http://biz.yahoo.com/zacks/extreme.html | Upgrades & Downgrades: http://finance.yahoo.com/mru

stock screener: Yahoo: http://screen.yahoo.com/stocks.html

News | Personal Time

Financial Statements

How soon does the company provide financial statements for the previous month just ended? Are there individual financial statements for each major business segment, product line, or geographical location? Can a binder be prepared for directors including the annual financial statements for the last five fiscal years? Income statements by month for the most recent two years? Is key financial information presented in charts and graphs to improve the interpretation of the numbers? How clean and transparent is the company’s balance sheet? Is it where it should be? What corrections and improvements need to be made?

accounting policies: Have there been any significant changes in accounting principles, policies or estimates over the past three years? Are there any accounting policies unique to the company's industry? Are there any proposed changes to generally accepted accounting principles or government regulations that may have a significant impact on the company? What are the details of overhead allocation?

accounting: accountingnet, intacct | basics: www.studyfinance.com/lessons/finstmt/ | books: Accounting and Finance Policies and Procedures by Rose Hightower | CFO: www.cfo.com | sample balance sheet template: www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/balshe_m.asp | software: www.cartesis.com/en/

Budgeting | Financial Management

Financing

Banks | Questions for bankers about the company | Bond Offering | Equity Financing | Private Placement

Does the company need approval of any entity other than the board of directors regarding any financing? Will the company need to raise any additional capital in the coming year? Have significant swings in the company’s stock price affected its ability to obtain equity financing? Are overseas capital markets a viable source of financing for the company? Is the company making use of equipment leasing where it is cost-effective?

corporatefinancemag

Banks

Who is the company’s primary bank? Is the bank in solid condition? Is it vulnerable to a bank run? How many banks does the company have relationships with? Who in the company has lead responsibility for banking relationships? What is the bank’s last credit rating of the company? What is the bank’s computed Z score? Have any banks refused to lend to the company? What are the major covenants in loan agreements that give the bank(s) substantial control under certain conditions? Is the company in default of any provisions?

questions for bankers about the company

How long has the company banked with you? How long has the current loan officer serviced this account? How does the bank rank the credit worthiness of the company? What is the current credit limit for the company? What is the lowest and highest credit balance with this bank? Has the company ever been denied credit? When and why? How is short-term debt collateralized? How is long-term debt collateralized? Has the company ever been in default on a loan payment(s)? Does the company have any operating problems? What is your evaluation of management? Is management listening to your best advice?

Bond Offering

What is the company’s bond rating? Has it been reviewed or changed recently by Standard & Poor’s or Moody’s? What is the company doing to improve its bond rating? Has the company issued high-yield, non-investment-grade bonds? When do these bonds mature? Is there adequate cash flow now and in the future to cover interest payments on this debt? What were the results of a bond offering in the past year? How was it accepted by the investor community? Is the market right for a bond offering?

book: Bond Markets, Analysis and Strategies by Frank J Fabozzi | bond database: www.nasdbondinfo.com/asp/bond_search.asp

Equity Financing

What type of equity financing best fits this stage of funding? What valuation is being used for this offering? What is the investor's IRR based on the company's projected cash returns to the investor? Will this return be sufficient relative to the perceived risk of the investor? What impact on the distribution of ownership will be affected by the proposed equity financing? Is angel financing appropriate for this stage of funding? Is any broker entitled to a commission upon successfully raising of capital?

Private Placement

Is the company confident that all relevant disclosures have been made in any private placement memorandum? Do subscription agreement(s) clearly disclose all requirements for qualified investors? Do investors all meet the tests for accredited investor? (a) annual income $200,000 or greater; or (b) net worth of $1,000,000; or (c) investment represents 20% or less than net worth

deals: www.dealipedia.com | investment banking: dealogic | SBA resources: www.sba.gov/managing/financing/equity.html

Capitalization | Investing and IPO Research | Stockholders | Venture Capital

Fiscal Control

Asset Management | Financial Management | Transactions and General

Asset Management

Are changes, transfers, and deletion of assets are recorded promptly in inventory records? Are property control decals promptly affixed to equipment to facilitate the conduct of inventorying/safeguarding of assets? Does the company conduct a physical inventory of its inventoriable equipment and report the results to management at least once every two years? Does the company perform physical inventories of its merchandise for resale and reconcile the results with its financial records? Has any equipment been physically removed from company facilities for disposal or transfer prior to receiving authorized approval? Is cash managed in accordance with company policies and procedures established for cash controls? Are funds, property, and other assets and resources safeguarded against waste, loss, unauthorized use, and misappropriation?

Financial Management

Are accounting financial statements reviewed each month and appropriate actions initiated to reconcile transactions to unit records? Are business plans developed for clearing deficit balances? Do staff responsible for financial management understand the policies and regulations related to the use of funds? Is there a process in the company’s review of funds to ensure they have been properly used? Are fund accounts reviewed to determine that they are used only for the purpose originally stated and that the continued use of any such fund is warranted? Have management and staff been made aware of the rules and regulations for the use of any funds under their control? Do management and staff responsible for credit card use and oversight understand the policies related to the use of this purchase instrument? Are accounts receivable (and appropriate allowance for doubtful accounts) promptly recorded when services are rendered? Are encumbrances and costs incurred by the company utilized efficiently, effectively, and in compliance with policies and regulations? Are revenues, expenditures, and transfers of assets, resources, or funds applicable to operations properly recorded and accounted for?

Transactions and General

Has the company reviewed the financial security and approval profiles to determine if they are appropriate and deleted any authorizations which are no longer valid? Are staff members who have financial security and approval authority aware of and accept the responsibility inherent in this authority? Are credit card transactions reconciled on a timely basis and reviewed by appropriate management staff? Is documentation for credit card transactions properly maintained and available for audit purposes? Are fiscal duties properly segregated so that there are appropriate checks and balances for all transactions? Does management demonstrate a comprehensive awareness of fiscal policies and procedures? Does management participate in key decision making including budgets, purchases of expensive goods and services and the hiring and firing of key employees? Are lines of authority clearly understood throughout the company? Are company planning, policy and procedural manuals used by management to communicate and define goals and objectives and outline the methods to be followed by employees in achieving the goals and objectives? Do all employees have access to these materials? Are reports submitted to management on a regular basis which summarize activities, programs, transactions and financial status?

books: Managing the Audit Function by Michael P. Cangemi

Cash Management | Capital Expenditures asset management | Financial Management

Recreation, Sports, and Games

Fitness

Is your fitness program well-rounded? (1) Cardiovascular; (2) stamina; (3) strength; (4) flexibility; (5) power; (6) speed; (7) coordination; (8) agility; (9) balance; (10) accuracy

Entertainment | Recreation, Sports, Games | Social Networking | Wellness

Food and Beverage

You are what you eat.

Victor Lindlahr

recipes: www.cookstr.com | foodily | search: yummly

wine pins: Cecilia | direct to consumer: inertiabev | music for the occasion: winedj | The Scholium Project

Food Production

Can the world feed itself without ruining the planet? Darci Palmquist

What is the impact of biofuels production on the world’s food supply? Do our food-energy decisions recognize the high degree of integration between these two imperatives?

France

Fusion

in general: art: fiction + music + puppetry + sculpture + video, Olympic Fusion | synergy: three sisters agriculture

energy: about | Atoms | magnetized target fusion: generalfusion big ideas

Intersections

Future big ideas

change: What is emerging? What impact will it have? What are the factors pushthefuture contributing to these activities, and how do they extend into other domains? How do other vectors of change converge on this issue, and how might they influence its adoption or spread?

in general: aircraft/car | education: thefutureschannel development of technology/education | Energy: The Future of Energy | Think Tanks: bakas, fastfuture, futureguru, iftf gaming, Harvard’s Breakthrough Ideas, thefuturelaboratory | gaming the future v | healthcare | long-term thinking: futuristspeaker, longbets, longnow | technology capsules

books and magazines

Future Science: Essays from the Cutting Edge by Max Brockman

Matter

The Extreme Future by James Canton

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas by Matt Miller

G

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

big ideas | big picture | due diligence | pins

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Electronics

Gadgets

tablets: playbook blackberry | reviews: www.tabletpcreview.com | smallest: www.oqo.com

wireless: charging: powermat energy / batteries | music: lynx, sonos speakers

DIY | Gaming | Home | Innovation | Music

Gaming

in general | casual | gamification | books

casual gaming: advertising: neoedge | www.casualcollective.com | popcap | www.wildtangent.com

gamification big ideas

books

Creating Casual Games for Profit & Fun by Allen Partridge

Fun Inc. by Tom Chatfield

Reality Is Broken by Jane McGonigal gamification

Globalization

How can the global convergence of information and communications technologies work for everyone? How effectively is the company meeting the challenges of globalizing its operations? (a) workable global structure; (b) unifying employees; (c) attracting and retaining managers with advanced cultural, linguistic, and personal skills; (d) embracing cultural diversity Is it more appropriate and feasible for the company to organize its global operations by product vs. geography?

in general: http://globaledge.msu.edu | G8: The G 7/8 by Hugo Dobson, www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/index.html | Strategic analysis: www.oxan.com | <web site> content <translation>: www.idiominc.com, myGengo | world stats real-time: worldometers

books

International Business: The Challenges of Globalization by John J. Wild

New World Economy by Business Week

The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

Good vs Evil

C.S. Lewis | J.R.R. Tolkien

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