Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 10)

More on the strategic decisions and cost-cutting measures taken. SM: How did you do that? Did you change materials, did you negotiate your supply contracts? I mean 70% of material costs is a lot of material costs to shave. JR: The way we did it was we bought a laser fab in Fremont to make

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Featured Videos

It’s A “Dry” Cold… (Part 2)

By Calvin McElroy, Guest Author [Second part of Cal’s review of the Canadian Venture Finance scene]

Enterprise 3.0 Collaboration: eProject (Part 1)

I have discussed a framework for Enterprise 3.0 recently, and wrote a few pieces to illustrate the Saas and Extended Enterprise trends that I deem as the drivers. Here is a company, eProject, and its CEO Jeff Pancottine, answering some of my clarifying questions. At the heels of Cisco’s Webex acquisition, this seems to me

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The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 8)

In the next segment, we discuss how Raj’s model could be applied on a global scale. When thought of in these terms, it could become a revolutionary methodolgy and change the concept of education throughout the world. SM: So Raj let me explore a different thread with you. Kind of like an evolution; let’s assume

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It’s A “Dry” Cold… (Part 1)

by Calvin McElroy, Guest Author [Cal writes a funny and informative piece on the Canadian Venture Capital industry. The good news: Entrepreneurship in Canada is alive and well.]

Will Gannett Pull It Off?

I wrote several pieces on the newspaper industry: Newspapers, Roll Up, Newspapers, Wake Up, and the Pro-Am Debate. Gannett (GCI) publishes 90 daily newspapers, nearly 1,000 non-daily publications and 23 television stations in the US. In the UK, Gannett publishes 17 daily newspapers and around 300 non-daily publications. Gannett’s popular newspaper USA TODAY with a

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Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 9)

Essential to the turnaround of Finisar were decisions which were much different than those being made by competitors, and different than prevailing popular trends. Ultimately, these decisions were also the right ones for Finisar’s survival. SM: And there were lots of process innovations along the way? JR: Exactly. So sharing all of that with a

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India versus China: Beyond Infrastructure

By Dominique Trempont, Guest Author [SM: Business Week’s Cover Story on India’s Infrastructure troubles, in my opinion, are being addressed seriously by the government and public-private collaborative efforts. We will cover this in more detail later. Dominique’s piece raises some other questions that are not being addressed as aggressively by India.] I just came back

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