Profiting in the Info Economy: Using the Various Indexes to Assess the Future.

(revised at 18:18)

Following are some of the indexes that some of our associates have utilized  to assess the state of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP) of the information economy:

Terrain

• The Baltic Dry Index (the successor version of The Baltic Freight Index)  

The # of packages that are being delivered around our globe offer the trend state of the world's economy. 

I saw a story somewhere between 2007 and 2008, where the the state of the logisitic business ( FedEx , UPS, DHL, etc) predicted the immediate slowdown of the global economy because of the declining quantity of freight shipments during the previous year or the previous three consecutive quarters for that year.

• Google Trends  This index monitoring the day to day flow of the information economy 
• WorldoMeter  (Real-time Global statistics)
• Standard and Poor 500 (S and P 500) Index
• The Economist Magazine's Crony Capitalism Index
• The Supply Chain Index
• U.S. Postal Service

Viewing the Consumer Marketplace

• The Purchase Power Parity
• The Big Mac Index   Out here in the west coast, some of us preferred the In -n- out burger double-double. 
• The Pizza Slice Index   The price goes up while the "baseline" standard of quality stays the same.
• Wilshire Index
• Comscore.com
• The Dollar Index

Effectiveness of Logistics and Process

• The Popularity of Programming Language Index  
• Cisco's Visual Networking Index (VNI)

More to come

More IPTV Trends (Post-Dec. 2014)

IPTV technology is one of the many interesting technological trends that we have been following since 2008 .

Global IPTV Forecasts: 2014 Report
PR Newswire UK (press release)
Covering 138 countries, the number of homes paying for IPTV will rocket to 191 million by end-2020; more than double the 90 million recorded at end-2013 and ...

Pricey watches and cheap phones: tech predictions for 2015
CanadianBusiness.com

Over-the-top internet-based video—Netflix, Google Play, iTunes and the lot—are expected to “blow past” cable and IPTV to 9.5 million clients in Canada.

Wearable shipments to reach 168 million in 2019
IPTV News
According to a new report from the research firm Berg Insight, shipments of connected wearables reached 19.0 million in 2014, up from 5.9 million devices in the ...

Two in five Brits take time off for catch-up TV
IPTV News
What does the future hold for IPTV? (Lessons learned from Aereo). ABN & the future of African broadcasting. Vimeo & the search to reinvent video. TV's future ...

French TV households decline and diversify audiovisual reception
DigitalTVEurope.net
The number of French households with TVs declined in the year to June, while the number of homes receiving TV only via DTT or only IPTV fell slightly over the ...

Most Finns still prefer to watch TV on a traditional set
Telecompaper (subscription)
According to the market data collected by Ficora, there were nearly 1.5 million cable television subscriptions and 350,000 IPTV subscriptions in Finland in June ...

67% prefer to stream favourite TV shows
IPTV News
67% prefer to stream their favourite TV shows on-demand, rather than watch them live, according to a new report from CDN specialists Akamai. The report, State ...

Video Platforms, Players and Processing Tech 2006 - 2014: Exit ...
PR Newswire (press release)
High CAGR video platforms average 3.33x revenue, while consumer-facing solutions targeting the IPTV/OTT, entertainment and media content verticals have ...

4K demand to grow at 72% CAGR until 2018
IPTV News   
The worldwide television market is forecast to grow to 234 million units in 2014, representing a 3% growth from 2013, according to the latest research from ...

The Compass Trend of IPTV Continues

The IPTV trend continue.  Through our stats research process, we always knew that IPTV  was going to be a hot trend.

Compass Trend #31: The Efficient Economy

This is the slow end for the low level jobs.

Compass Trend: Poor Assessment of Intelligence

Gartner is reporting that 7 out 10 BI project are FAILURES!?  That number is scheduled to grow in 2013!

Assessing the wrong intelligence could be a major reason for the poor development of a BI system    Sometimes, it begins by changing how one thinks. Knowing and accepting that there is an error in the process of assessing the intelligence.  The approach of collecting information could also be the root cause of error.

Assessing complex situations by exploiting "The Occam's Factor" (aka The Occam's Razor) is not the way to go.  There are risk consequences for utilizing that mode.

Instead of thinking and operating in an "absolute" mode, view things in terms of "situational relativity" would be beneficial on the long run. It would enable you to secure the path of least resistance. Knowing what particular variables are in play for that specific situation is what counts. This is the "Dao of Strategic Assessment."

As a note to our Sunzi readers, re-reading Chapter One of the Art of War is not going to help you.  One needs to rebuild their sense of awareness by re-strategizing their means and their modes.  This practice enables you to reconfigure your "experience" level.   

Visit Cook Ding Kitchen, there is a mountain of content that could enlighten you.

In our future book project, we will focus on the process hierarchy behind the art and the science of strategic assessment.
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Compass Trend #30: The Efficient Economy Sometimes Means Even Parity

When every competitor in your terrain, has a similar vantage point, what is your counter point?  ... Regardless of the criteria,  what set of specific points do you use to assess the competitive position of your marketplace?

What would you do, when each and every principal competitor has the same vantage point?  The emphasis on efficiency and quality could only go far.  At some point, the society only evolve forward when the new emphasis is on real scientific innovation.  ...  Technology could only go so far.

Innovation requires someone who is willing to take risk. In a society of rules and regulations, risk and freedom become a memory. 

Side note
Currently, most high-tech. innovations are based on achieving short-term gratification of minimizing time and reducing minor costs.  In most cases, these gratifications have become an afterthought.  

...  By being aware of their settings, one noticed that these acts of short term gratification usually breed attention deficit disorder and this dilemma has becomes the norm.  (In a future post, we will  talk about this topic.)

In summary, our cyber-driven setting has created a grand situation of near-equal level of efficiency and quality between the competitors.    

Compass Reads for 2012

Following is an abridged listing of our audience favorite reads for 2012: 

• Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail
• Preparation Precedes Performance
• The Sign of the Times: The Robots Trend is Here
• The Vending Machines Trend  
• Compass Trend (8): The Automated Trend Continues
• Compass Trend (10): Employing the Health-Perfect Employees...
• Our Compass Toolbox
• Understanding the Competition  
• Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare (Military Methods)  
• Jiang Tai Gong

Happy New Year.  ... 

--- The Compass360 Consulting Group.

Compass Trend #29: The Robotics Economy!

This is an old topic that we forgot to post.  When some of the jobs are going toward robotics, where would the rest of the jobs originated from?

That is one of the many macro causes of an economically challenged economy.   This is the effect

Machines 1  Human Race 0

Compass Trend #28: The Gaming Economy

The gaming economy is now a part of our mobile economy.   Its portability is a segment of its efficiency. The "commoditization" of this marketplace is inevitable due to its simplicity and the quality of the various competition. ... Some portions of the gaming evolution will be based on the user's experience. The next innovation would be the player becoming a "live" part of the game through the use of a mobile device.  The stakes might be pseudo-risky and the prizes could be small.  But the experience will be individually unique.

Compass Trend # 27: The "Efficient Algorithm" Society

In the "efficient algorithm" economy, almost everyone is being scored and ranked . To get ahead, it helps to know the hidden situational rules of the "information economy" game.

Compass Trend #26: The Continuous Demand For IPTV and Satellite Technology

Previously we predicted the rise of IPTV.  IPTV  technology is still running hot especially in other regions of our ever-evolving world. While satellite technology is hot, the cable industry is in trouble.  Click here and here for the latest news on the slow demise of cable. 

We also agreed with the experts on OTT.

In summary, IPTV is here to stay.

Side Note
Those who are living and connecting in our ever-expanding mobile economy, will be receiving instant data almost anywhere.  Whether they would be getting valid information is another story.

We believed that the constant demand of instant news, could create deception. 

When assessing the news, one must think how it connects to the terrain that is beyond one's own settings.  If the information does not connect with the relevant facts, then it is a deception.

Knowing the relevant facts is the challenge for the "low attention-span" crowd. 

A Compass Reminder
Understanding the Big Tangible Picture requires solid information collecting and good strategic assessment skills.  Collecting sound, solid and relevant information is step one. The capital cost would be moderately high.

The next step is transforming well-assessed information into exploitable intelligence. It is a  challenge that most amateurs do not understand.  In most cases, they think that it is so easy.
Minimum risk consequences enables them to say stuff that are totally irrelevant. 

Happy Labor Day!

Returning  Some of the Manufacturing Activities to the USA
In our ever-expanding information society,  some of their U.S. manufacturing companies are contemplating on returning their activities to their shores. ...  Google is currently building their Nexus product in California.

Due to the advancement of robotics, there will be less need for manual labor. 

Side note: Due to the accelerating push for automation, we do not expect the employment growth to exceed past the 2 percent number.

Miscellaneous
For those who are interested in purchasing various U.S. manufactured quality products, please review this abridged listing of our favorite companies:

• Zippo lighters
• Emerson knives
• Saunders
• New Balance shoes
• Levi's Jeans
• Standup Desks
• Versatables
• Nalgene's water bottles.
• Stanley's steel bottles.

Click here for other U.S. manufactured products.   23% of the Germany job economy are based on manufacturing while the number in the U.S. is nine percent.Support the 9%.

Happy Labor Day!  ...

Compass Trend #26: The Efficiency of Space

The N.Y. Mayor has an unique idea of getting more people to reside in the city.  ...  Of course, a San Francisco activist and a politician read about it and decided to copy it.   (Read between the lines and one might realized what is the political-economic intent behind this unique idea.)

Interestingly, one Japanese businessman has already taken this idea to the extreme. More information on these small living quarters can be found here and here.

Densely populated coastal cities will be the on-going trend in the United States.

Compass View
In an non-innovative setting, achieving the efficiency of everything is the name of the game.  By seeing the connectivity behind the Big Tangible Picture (BTP), the successful strategist can properly adjust to the situation with minimal resistance.

Compass Trend #25b: Inefficient Cities Going Chapter 11

Click here for another view on inefficient cities.

Compass Trend #25: Inefficient Cities Going Chapter 11

A few months ago, we posted an item on the possible causes behind the various cities going bankrupt.  ...  Stockton,  Mammoth Lakes, and San Bernardino have recently joined this unique group of  bankrupted cities.


In your view, what are the possibilities that Scranton, Pennsylvania  and a few other U.S. cities will become members of this list soon? 


Positive News
In less than five years, the city of Vallejo has strategically emerged from this state of financial calamity.  ...  

Compass View
Due to certain micro trends and specific data, we have seriously expected that more cities will be following this route quite soon.  ... We and many other sideline strategists have speculated that a European country might go bankrupt quite soon.   ...   Humorously, Germany could only save so many countries.     ... By being the Alpha in Europe, how long will Germany hold its advantage?  


Follow the ideas, the events and the people.  ... You can connect the dots.   


To live effectively in the information economy, one must be strategically efficient in their connection of their intent and their settings to the Big Tangible Picture of the information  economy.  Depending on the level of one's own settings, the political-economical-social factors can be quite relevant to that implementer.

Compass Trend (23): The Rise of IPTV Continues

Since the 1990's, IPTV  technology has been hot .  ...  In a wireless economy, the cord could be history. 

Compass Trend (21): The Theme of the Efficient Economy

In an uncertain setting, competition can become a relevant factor.  ... While the amateurs know that competition is the enemy of complacency, the professionals acknowledged that it also enhances one's competency.  ... Psychologically, complacency usually creates a progression of corruption within one's being.  It occasionally spreads rapidly throughout their settings.   ... The outcome is usually quite obvious.


Those who compete, understand the reasoning behind this perspective of competition.  ... This is the Dao of the Efficient Economy. ... 

Compass Trend (20): Noise Over Signal

"When the noise is louder than the signal, the hype becomes irrelevant.  The victims usually become quite angry. ...  Trusting one sole source is not a good idea. 


Performing due diligence is always included in the strategic assessment process of the successful strategist.

Compass Trend (19): Thriving in the Efficient Economy

The Compass rule of the efficient economy is to have a macro roster of multi-facet players (esp in the supporting role). Sport organizations (i.e., the San Francisco Niners, the New England Patriots, etc.) have utilized them for the purpose of getting maximum cash efficiency. It is all about getting the most bang for the buck.

Whenever, a starting player is injured, another capable player (with less financial value) steps in and meets the performance standard. Idealistically, there should be no drop of efficiency.

The Real World

Finding quality people in the bargain basement of cheap labor is what Walmart and many corporations do quite well. ... To succeed in the retail marketplace, they have to be able to find the "right" lower-tier talent in order to to fulfill their field operation without ever making any full commitment.  Their labor pool are usually quite expendable and cheap.   


This is the "Dao of the Efficient Economy."  Regardless of the various innovations that one might think about, one must be extremely efficient for the purpose of saving time and resources.


Compass Rule
Thriving begins by knowing the order (of priorities) for each situation and beyond.

Compass Trend (16): The Dao of Efficient Economy

When there is economic uncertainty, competitiveness increases.

On the 2nd day of April, do you know the answers for these three questions

• In your terrain of competition, what is your current move?
• What advantage have you gotten from it?
• Do you know how long will it last?