The non-payment risk rate for online merchants in Europe has fallen to the lowest level in 7 years, to just above one quarter of one percent, in some cases superior to bricks and mortar transactions. These and other useful findings are summarised from the Deutsche Bank e-Commerce report.

The first-ever World Expo held in China will run from May through October 2010, and is expected to attract 70 million visitors – more than any Expo in 150 years of Expo or World Trade Fair history. And it’s a big opportunity for U.S. and Chinese business as well…

Corporate news, yes. But significant as the march of enterprise-focus Chinese cities continues. This is Kunshan, between Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, now working to grow as a centre of global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) – and thus a newer service focussed element to Chinese innovation segments.

Victoria, Australia makes the decision to support local innovation.

COMMENT, Melbourne — The Rudd Government today announced $6 billion in life support for the local Australian car manufacturing industry.
Manufacturing skills, infrastructure & cars are important.
Rudd’s $6 Billion on the Amex.
The Rudd plan is broadly positive, however it has a large cost. $6 billion to be precise.
One of the problems with Government intervention in the economy is that Governments see costs, and not opportunities. Costs not revenue increase.
It’s unimaginative.
But when I’ve worked for Government that’s what I normally find. Lack of imagination.
Most farsighted ideas will be killed. Or implemented in …

COMMENT, Melbourne — It seems politicians at the State Level in Australia are determined to destroy local manufacturing.
Consistently the Victorian Government in Melbourne, & NSW Government in Sydney import trains & trams rolling stock.
According to The Age, $3.6 Billion dollars of import orders in the last 18 months.
For citizens.
The imported trains & trams often have problem working in different climates, on different rails, and with different power requirments.
Furthermore, the seats in imported trams provide less effective seating, being often too small for the Australian market.
For local manufacturing.
If the Governments do …

COMMENT — Across the Western world increasingly large chains dominate most products you buy. Groceries. Petrol or gas. Liquor. Books.
In difficult times,  support independent stores not large chain stores. Not mega-supermarkets.

Cheaper Groceries & Fuel.
Genuine competition means we pay less. Smaller players create competition.
Small independent stores are friends of the family.
Consumer choice is one of few weapons we have to create competition. Sometimes, we can sell our shares in such monopolies.
The only two forces controlling many industries are:
a) consumer choice and
b) shareholder activism.
Especially since, any Govt regulation or constraint on market …

ANALYSIS, Global – Salaried employees in the C-Suite being paid obscene sums of money they ill-deserve, is an inflationary disease that has spread to executives in most Western countries.
Kevin Rudd is one of a chorus of international leaders to draw our attention to this short-termism & greed as a philosophical cause of the international economic crisis.

Pay Solutions.
How can we simply link executive pay & control it? Without something as unwieldly as a black-letter figure…
Simple. The 2thinknow view is that we set executive pay based on a market capitalisation and a …

Cubicle non-comformity. Distracting? Or empowering fun? I guess that depends if you’re reading this at work…

VIDEOS, Youtube — This one’s been attracting quite a lot of attention on Youtube.
OK it’s an advert, and they’re not saving the world, but it’s worth a look from a design viewpoint.
And corporations like BMW should be encouraged to improve automobiles and other products by engaging with designers.
Besides, BMW are one of the world’s best crawling, no … driving, machines…. Watch. You’ll see what I mean.

COMMENT, Melbourne — Corporations are often unhealthy, sick work environments. Not physically. At least not in the West. Emotionally.
Whilst corporations may have cleaned up the physical environment, we have created an unhealthy psychological and emotional environment.

Leaving many corporate workers of having the feeling of being empty and alone. Hollow vessels at times, especially over many years. And leading to unhealthy and socially irresponsible behaviours.
Instead the outcome of the upper echelons of the modern corporate workforce often seem to reward bitter, manipulative, win-at-all-costs people.
Why corporate workforce health matters…
We spend a lot …

VIDEO, YouTube — Tom Peters impassioned plea for innovation and remarkable business.
Well worth a watch for a passionate view on innovation.

VIDEO, Youtube — Presentation by Google CIO Douglas Merrill on Innovation at Google.
Diagnose an undiagnosed problem.
Find a creative solution.

SATIRE, Global – I have noticed a new fad in offices I have been visiting lately.

Need to look like you’re into your job?
Want to look like you care?
Want to disguise the fact you’re lazy?
That a chimpanzee could do your job?

COMMENT, Global – 24/7 may be good for some individuals, but the majority of us still work some version of 9 to 5.
Our sleep and lives cannot help be impacted by the people around us who work night-shifts.
Society’s need some standards. Rampant individualism impacts the whole.
In last nights hotel I was woken by round-the-clock traffic not there 10 years ago.
At home, in the space of 3 years, there has been a rapid increase in the amount of traffic going to and from work at all hours. Our formerly quiet place …

ANALYSIS, Melbourne – Where you work is important to how you are inspired to create & then implement innovation.
Do some of these describe your workplace?
Concrete, gray, drab, cubicle, boxed-in, noisy, mobile phone ringtones from hell, low barriers, bombarded with email, ‘no door’ policy, jokes, noise, prison-like gulag?
Or is it more interesting?
Post-modernist refugee camp for cultural relativists?
Weekend-after recovery center?
Creative desert?
Angst-ridden pit of teenage romance?
So what works for innovation?
One of the perks of having worked at so  many corporations (more than 350) is you get to see what works and what doesn’t …