AboutMy* Talk Here you can view your subscribed threads, work with private messages and edit your profile and preferences Registration is free! Find other members Frequently Asked Questions Search Home  
AboutMy* Talk : Powered by vBulletin version 2.3.2 AboutMy* Talk > Career Usenet Forums > Research Careers (sci.research.careers) > B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

Click Here for the story of an Aids Researcher from AboutMyJob.com
  Last Thread   Next Thread
Author
Thread Post Your Job Story Post New Thread    Post A Reply
Italy Anonymous Remailer
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=

103386&show_release_dte=1&print_p=1



IBS professor laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

Scripps Howard News Service, Sunday, December 19, 2004

SOURCE: The Providence Journal

BYLINE: SHIH-FEN S. CHEN



International Business Machines' recent decision to put its

personal-computer business up for sale is another sad day in

American corporate history. Having long ago outsourced the

development and manufacturing of the product it helped to

create, IBM is not even interested in carrying the personal

computer anymore. So, following RCA, Schwinn and the like,

another iconic U.S. brand is falling into foreign hands.



[...]



If the current trend of outsourcing is allowed to go on, the

victim list will get even longer. The next firm to fall could

well be Boeing, Motorola, Oracle, H&R Block - or any other

company we can think of.



(Shih-Fen S. Chen is an international-marketing professor in

Brandeis University's International Business School. His study

establishing the role of outsourcing in international technology

transfer is forthcoming in the Journal of International Business

Studies. His e-mail address is shihfen at [go to web page])



[Unless I'm mistaken, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is

also at Brandeis.]



Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-26-2004 08:01 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
rrcolby
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

Italy Anonymous Remailer wrote:
> http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=


>
>
> International Business Machines' recent decision to put its
> personal-computer business up for sale is another sad day in
> American corporate history. Having long ago outsourced the
> development and manufacturing of the product it helped to
> create, IBM is not even interested in carrying the personal
> computer anymore. So, following RCA, Schwinn and the like,
> another iconic U.S. brand is falling into foreign hands.
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> If the current trend of outsourcing is allowed to go on, the
> victim list will get even longer. The next firm to fall could
> well be Boeing, Motorola, Oracle, H&R Block - or any other
> company we can think of.
>
> (Shih-Fen S. Chen is an international-marketing professor in
> Brandeis University's International Business School. His study
> establishing the role of outsourcing in international technology
> transfer is forthcoming in the Journal of International Business
> Studies. His e-mail address is shihfen at [go to web page])
>
> [Unless I'm mistaken, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is
> also at Brandeis.]


I'm impressed... a business school professor who isn't full of shit.
But then again, it's those B-schools which started the culture of
management consultants who don't give a rat's ass about the success or
failure of an industry long term as long as Milton Freidmanisms are
uttered.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-26-2004 03:13 PM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
BMJ
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

rrcolby wrote:
> Italy Anonymous Remailer wrote:
>
>>http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=

>
>
>>
>>International Business Machines' recent decision to put its
>>personal-computer business up for sale is another sad day in
>>American corporate history. Having long ago outsourced the
>>development and manufacturing of the product it helped to
>>create, IBM is not even interested in carrying the personal
>>computer anymore. So, following RCA, Schwinn and the like,
>>another iconic U.S. brand is falling into foreign hands.
>>
>>
>>[...]
>>
>>
>>If the current trend of outsourcing is allowed to go on, the
>>victim list will get even longer. The next firm to fall could
>>well be Boeing, Motorola, Oracle, H&R Block - or any other
>>company we can think of.
>>
>>(Shih-Fen S. Chen is an international-marketing professor in
>>Brandeis University's International Business School. His study
>>establishing the role of outsourcing in international technology
>>transfer is forthcoming in the Journal of International Business
>>Studies. His e-mail address is shihfen at [go to web page])
>>
>>[Unless I'm mistaken, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is
>>also at Brandeis.]

>
>
> I'm impressed... a business school professor who isn't full of shit.
> But then again, it's those B-schools which started the culture of
> management consultants who don't give a rat's ass about the success or
> failure of an industry long term as long as Milton Freidmanisms are
> uttered.
>


And then there are the management-fads-du-jour, accompanied by the
applicable buzzwords.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-26-2004 09:14 PM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
straydog
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing




On Sun, 26 Dec 2004, BMJ wrote:

> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2004 22:37:00 GMT
> From: BMJ <parametric_equation@yahoo.com>
> Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
> Subject: Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing
>
> rrcolby wrote:
>> Italy Anonymous Remailer wrote:
>>
>>> http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=

>>
>>
>>>
>>> International Business Machines' recent decision to put its
>>> personal-computer business up for sale is another sad day in
>>> American corporate history. Having long ago outsourced the
>>> development and manufacturing of the product it helped to
>>> create, IBM is not even interested in carrying the personal
>>> computer anymore. So, following RCA, Schwinn and the like,
>>> another iconic U.S. brand is falling into foreign hands.
>>>
>>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>>
>>> If the current trend of outsourcing is allowed to go on, the
>>> victim list will get even longer. The next firm to fall could
>>> well be Boeing, Motorola, Oracle, H&R Block - or any other
>>> company we can think of.
>>>
>>> (Shih-Fen S. Chen is an international-marketing professor in
>>> Brandeis University's International Business School. His study
>>> establishing the role of outsourcing in international technology
>>> transfer is forthcoming in the Journal of International Business
>>> Studies. His e-mail address is shihfen at [go to web page])
>>>
>>> [Unless I'm mistaken, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is
>>> also at Brandeis.]

>>
>>
>> I'm impressed... a business school professor who isn't full of shit.
>> But then again, it's those B-schools which started the culture of
>> management consultants who don't give a rat's ass about the success or
>> failure of an industry long term as long as Milton Freidmanisms are
>> uttered.
>>

>
> And then there are the management-fads-du-jour, accompanied by the applicable
> buzzwords.
>


Read all about it in: "FAD Surfing in the Boardroom, Reclaiming the
Courage to Manage in the Age of Instant Answers" by Eileen C. Shapiro,
ISBN 0201409747, 251 pp, Addison-Wesley, c 1995.

From the blurb:

"_fad surfing (n)_: the practice of riding the crest of the latest
management panacea and then paddling out just in time to ride the next
one; always absorbing for the managers and lucrative for consultants;
frequently disasterous for organizations"

I have this book.






















































































Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-26-2004 10:02 PM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
rrcolby
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

straydog wrote:
>
> Read all about it in: "FAD Surfing in the Boardroom, Reclaiming the
> Courage to Manage in the Age of Instant Answers" by Eileen C.

Shapiro,
> ISBN 0201409747, 251 pp, Addison-Wesley, c 1995.
>
> From the blurb:
>
> "_fad surfing (n)_: the practice of riding the crest of the latest
> management panacea and then paddling out just in time to ride the

next
> one; always absorbing for the managers and lucrative for consultants;


> frequently disasterous for organizations"
>
> I have this book.


But Art, according to Milton Friedmanisms, all plans and activities are
a result of the market deciding what's best for the company and
industry. So it's really the consumer who's driving *FAD surfing*
methodologies for the better of the industry and the managers are only
responding to the needs of the marketplace. Thus, if you disagree with
this then you're surely one of those "planned economy/Keynesian"
wannabe socialists.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-26-2004 11:02 PM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
BMJ
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

straydog wrote:

<snip>

>> And then there are the management-fads-du-jour, accompanied by the
>> applicable buzzwords.
>>

>
> Read all about it in: "FAD Surfing in the Boardroom, Reclaiming the
> Courage to Manage in the Age of Instant Answers" by Eileen C. Shapiro,
> ISBN 0201409747, 251 pp, Addison-Wesley, c 1995.
>
> From the blurb:
>
> "_fad surfing (n)_: the practice of riding the crest of the latest
> management panacea and then paddling out just in time to ride the next
> one; always absorbing for the managers and lucrative for consultants;
> frequently disasterous for organizations"
>
> I have this book.


In my experience, fad-surfing accomplishes the following.

1. It determines who's worthy of promotion, which is given to whoever
discovers what the next fad is and wins the most adherents to it.

2. It's used as a test of loyalty and determines what goes into one's
next performance appraisal. Anyone opposing the latest fruit-loop idea
is sent down for re-education, er, further training.

Any resemblance to improved performance, profits, service, and so forth
are purely coincidental.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-27-2004 12:04 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
R. Martin
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

BMJ wrote:
>
> straydog wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> >> And then there are the management-fads-du-jour, accompanied by the
> >> applicable buzzwords.
> >>

> >
> > Read all about it in: "FAD Surfing in the Boardroom, Reclaiming the
> > Courage to Manage in the Age of Instant Answers" by Eileen C. Shapiro,
> > ISBN 0201409747, 251 pp, Addison-Wesley, c 1995.
> >
> > From the blurb:
> >
> > "_fad surfing (n)_: the practice of riding the crest of the latest
> > management panacea and then paddling out just in time to ride the next
> > one; always absorbing for the managers and lucrative for consultants;
> > frequently disasterous for organizations"
> >
> > I have this book.

>
> In my experience, fad-surfing accomplishes the following.
>
> 1. It determines who's worthy of promotion, which is given to whoever
> discovers what the next fad is and wins the most adherents to it.
>
> 2. It's used as a test of loyalty and determines what goes into one's
> next performance appraisal. Anyone opposing the latest fruit-loop idea
> is sent down for re-education, er, further training.
>
> Any resemblance to improved performance, profits, service, and so forth
> are purely coincidental.


The last word is key, IMO. Deming railed against mistaking random
variation for performance, but that is just what most organizations
seem to do. They are encouraged in this by Wall Street and its
quarterly, bottom line myopia.

Cheers,
Russell
--
All too often the study of data requires care.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-27-2004 12:04 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
BMJ
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

R. Martin wrote:
> BMJ wrote:
>
>>straydog wrote:
>>
>><snip>
>>
>>>>And then there are the management-fads-du-jour, accompanied by the
>>>>applicable buzzwords.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Read all about it in: "FAD Surfing in the Boardroom, Reclaiming the
>>>Courage to Manage in the Age of Instant Answers" by Eileen C. Shapiro,
>>>ISBN 0201409747, 251 pp, Addison-Wesley, c 1995.
>>>
>>> From the blurb:
>>>
>>>"_fad surfing (n)_: the practice of riding the crest of the latest
>>>management panacea and then paddling out just in time to ride the next
>>>one; always absorbing for the managers and lucrative for consultants;
>>>frequently disasterous for organizations"
>>>
>>>I have this book.

>>
>>In my experience, fad-surfing accomplishes the following.
>>
>>1. It determines who's worthy of promotion, which is given to whoever
>>discovers what the next fad is and wins the most adherents to it.
>>
>>2. It's used as a test of loyalty and determines what goes into one's
>>next performance appraisal. Anyone opposing the latest fruit-loop idea
>>is sent down for re-education, er, further training.
>>
>>Any resemblance to improved performance, profits, service, and so forth
>>are purely coincidental.

>
>
> The last word is key, IMO. Deming railed against mistaking random
> variation for performance, but that is just what most organizations
> seem to do. They are encouraged in this by Wall Street and its
> quarterly, bottom line myopia.
>
> Cheers,
> Russell


Ah, but when one objects to all the tomfoolery associated with it, the
true believes invoke the name of Deming and his ilk to justify it. His
sayings have the same weight as quotations from holy writ.

I used to work for someone like that. He frequently sneaked the current
buzzwords into his conversation to show how well-versed he was in
whatever was current. He reminded me of characters in "1984".

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-27-2004 12:04 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
straydog
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing




On Mon, 27 Dec 2004, R. Martin wrote:

> Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 02:22:45 GMT
> From: R. Martin <russell.martin@wdn.com>
> Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
> Subject: Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing
>
> BMJ wrote:
>>
>> straydog wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>>> And then there are the management-fads-du-jour, accompanied by the
>>>> applicable buzzwords.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Read all about it in: "FAD Surfing in the Boardroom, Reclaiming the
>>> Courage to Manage in the Age of Instant Answers" by Eileen C. Shapiro,
>>> ISBN 0201409747, 251 pp, Addison-Wesley, c 1995.
>>>
>>> From the blurb:
>>>
>>> "_fad surfing (n)_: the practice of riding the crest of the latest
>>> management panacea and then paddling out just in time to ride the next
>>> one; always absorbing for the managers and lucrative for consultants;
>>> frequently disasterous for organizations"
>>>
>>> I have this book.

>>
>> In my experience, fad-surfing accomplishes the following.
>>
>> 1. It determines who's worthy of promotion, which is given to whoever
>> discovers what the next fad is and wins the most adherents to it.
>>
>> 2. It's used as a test of loyalty and determines what goes into one's
>> next performance appraisal. Anyone opposing the latest fruit-loop idea
>> is sent down for re-education, er, further training.
>>
>> Any resemblance to improved performance, profits, service, and so forth
>> are purely coincidental.

>
> The last word is key, IMO. Deming railed against mistaking random
> variation for performance, but that is just what most organizations
> seem to do. They are encouraged in this by Wall Street and its
> quarterly, bottom line myopia.


Yeah! You both got it right (about the last thing BMJ said, above), but,
then, the book you need to read is:

"Pay Without Performance" by Lucian Bebchuck and Jesse Fried, Harvard U
Press, 278 pp, 24.95 and reviewed in the WSJ Thurs, Dec 23, on page D8, by
Tyler Cowen under the title "Nice Work if you can Get it". I read the
review, but not the book. Here is a quote of just one sentence in the
review: "Indeed, the authors believe that the fundamental practices of
American business are rotten to the core." In the next paragraph
statistics are stated that less than 1% of CEOs resigned or left under
pressure because of poor performance but a whole lot more than 1% of
companies are doing poorly and thus its hard to believe that 99% of the
executives are doing a good job. I happen to agre with this assessment and
thus the universe made up of executives and boards is essentially that of
a giant parasitic machine whose purpose is to rip-off the rest of the
company in a scheme to impoverish the employees (all or a fraction of
them) for the purpose of enriching the executives. viz. Lay, Ebbers,
Kozlowski, etc.

> Cheers,
> Russell
> --
> All too often the study of data requires care.
>






















































































Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-27-2004 01:03 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
BMJ
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

straydog wrote:

<snip>

>>> In my experience, fad-surfing accomplishes the following.
>>>
>>> 1. It determines who's worthy of promotion, which is given to whoever
>>> discovers what the next fad is and wins the most adherents to it.
>>>
>>> 2. It's used as a test of loyalty and determines what goes into one's
>>> next performance appraisal. Anyone opposing the latest fruit-loop idea
>>> is sent down for re-education, er, further training.
>>>
>>> Any resemblance to improved performance, profits, service, and so forth
>>> are purely coincidental.

>>
>>
>> The last word is key, IMO. Deming railed against mistaking random
>> variation for performance, but that is just what most organizations
>> seem to do. They are encouraged in this by Wall Street and its
>> quarterly, bottom line myopia.

>
>
> Yeah! You both got it right (about the last thing BMJ said, above), but,
> then, the book you need to read is:
>
> "Pay Without Performance" by Lucian Bebchuck and Jesse Fried, Harvard U
> Press, 278 pp, 24.95 and reviewed in the WSJ Thurs, Dec 23, on page D8,
> by Tyler Cowen under the title "Nice Work if you can Get it". I read the
> review, but not the book. Here is a quote of just one sentence in the
> review: "Indeed, the authors believe that the fundamental practices of
> American business are rotten to the core." In the next paragraph
> statistics are stated that less than 1% of CEOs resigned or left under
> pressure because of poor performance but a whole lot more than 1% of
> companies are doing poorly and thus its hard to believe that 99% of the
> executives are doing a good job. I happen to agre with this assessment
> and thus the universe made up of executives and boards is essentially
> that of a giant parasitic machine whose purpose is to rip-off the rest
> of the company in a scheme to impoverish the employees (all or a
> fraction of them) for the purpose of enriching the executives. viz. Lay,
> Ebbers, Kozlowski, etc.


<snip>

One of the first things I learned early in my career is that a gram of
image is worth a kilo of performance.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-27-2004 01:03 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
afia boy
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

BMJ wrote:

> One of the first things I learned early in my career is that a gram

of
> image is worth a kilo of performance.


That's it. In today's western world and especially in America the
stronghold of it, people became used to the easy and comfortable life.
They are perfectly adjusted to living in the current version of today's
world, but they do not have the moral strength to survive should the
world change. (Western) people rather die than adjust to a different
world. They havve no skills of survival in a physically challenging
world. I am sorry for the people who died in the last Sunday's tsunami
in South and South-East Asia (70 thousand by the last news), but they
are an example. When tsunami came, first it drew water out of the
shore. Instead of recognising it for the first signs of tsunami, they
rejoyced that they can collect water animals out of the water which
suddenly became shallow. For quite a part of them, the life was easy,
and it bring even more life pleasures -- the opportunity to collect
water animals from the drained shores. They had no living memory of
tsunami, and besides, no bad tsunami had not happened to them before.
They learned it the hard way, and paid by their lives for their
ignorance. Same might well happen with the people of the US. They will
give away their technical industries, and become the nation of service
industry. Then, one day, they will have to defend their land agains
either enemies or natural disasters, and they won't be able to do that.
Most of the Americans will perish. It might be possible that an a-bomb
will be detonated by the terrorists in the US, and much more than 70
thousand people will die. But at the moment, people can continue to
live and enjoy in delusions, all the while building their delusional
virtual world where what kind of image of yourself you built is more
important than youur survivability skills in the harsh physical world.
One might get envious to Art Sowers who is not going to see most of it.
\|/.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-29-2004 05:11 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
afia boy
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

BMJ wrote:

> One of the first things I learned early in my career is that a gram

of
> image is worth a kilo of performance.


That's it. In today's western world and especially in America the
stronghold of it, people became used to the easy and comfortable life.
They are perfectly adjusted to living in the current version of today's
world, but they do not have the moral strength to survive should the
world change. (Western) people rather die than adjust to a different
world. They havve no skills of survival in a physically challenging
world. I am sorry for the people who died in the last Sunday's tsunami
in South and South-East Asia (70 thousand by the last news), but they
are an example. When tsunami came, first it drew water out of the
shore. Instead of recognising it for the first signs of tsunami, they
rejoyced that they can collect water animals out of the water which
suddenly became shallow. For quite a part of them, the life was easy,
and it bring even more life pleasures -- the opportunity to collect
water animals from the drained shores. They had no living memory of
tsunami, and besides, no bad tsunami had not happened to them before.
They learned it the hard way, and paid by their lives for their
ignorance. Same might well happen with the people of the US. They will
give away their technical industries, and become the nation of service
industry. Then, one day, they will have to defend their land agains
either enemies or natural disasters, and they won't be able to do that.
Most of the Americans will perish. It might be possible that an a-bomb
will be detonated by the terrorists in the US, and much more than 70
thousand people will die. But at the moment, people can continue to
live and enjoy in delusions, all the while building their delusional
virtual world where what kind of image of yourself you built is more
important than youur survivability skills in the harsh physical world.
One might get envious to Art Sowers who is not going to see most of it.
\|/.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-29-2004 05:11 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
afia boy
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

To sooth your soul, read The Programmers' Stone --
http://www.reciprocality.org/Reciprocality/r0/

\|/.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-29-2004 09:28 PM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
R. Martin
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing

afia boy wrote:
>
> BMJ wrote:
>
> > One of the first things I learned early in my career is that a gram

> of
> > image is worth a kilo of performance.

>
> That's it. In today's western world and especially in America the
> stronghold of it, people became used to the easy and comfortable life.
> They are perfectly adjusted to living in the current version of today's
> world, but they do not have the moral strength to survive should the
> world change. (Western) people rather die than adjust to a different
> world. They havve no skills of survival in a physically challenging
> world. I am sorry for the people who died in the last Sunday's tsunami
> in South and South-East Asia (70 thousand by the last news), but they
> are an example. When tsunami came, first it drew water out of the
> shore. Instead of recognising it for the first signs of tsunami, they
> rejoyced that they can collect water animals out of the water which
> suddenly became shallow. For quite a part of them, the life was easy,
> and it bring even more life pleasures -- the opportunity to collect
> water animals from the drained shores. They had no living memory of
> tsunami, and besides, no bad tsunami had not happened to them before.
> They learned it the hard way, and paid by their lives for their
> ignorance.


While your point about western people not being able to survive under
more primitive conditions is largely true I suspect, it would be lack
of knowledge, tools, and enough land to support the population that
would kill them if civilization's infrastructure collapsed, not lack
of moral strength. OTOH, maybe our new leaders would be homeless
people who'd learned how to survive.

As for people not knowing that the extreme receding of the sea was a
sign of a tsunami, as you noted few people have ever experienced one
and so would not have first hand knowledge. You can bet those who
survived will know if they encounter it again. Otherwise, one might
chalk it up to poor science education, but how many scientists know
that? I only know because I saw a special on TV a few years ago about
tsunamis with a survivor's account. I never had in in a course.

> Same might well happen with the people of the US. They will
> give away their technical industries, and become the nation of service
> industry. Then, one day, they will have to defend their land agains
> either enemies or natural disasters, and they won't be able to do that.
> Most of the Americans will perish. It might be possible that an a-bomb
> will be detonated by the terrorists in the US, and much more than 70
> thousand people will die. But at the moment, people can continue to
> live and enjoy in delusions, all the while building their delusional
> virtual world where what kind of image of yourself you built is more
> important than youur survivability skills in the harsh physical world.
> One might get envious to Art Sowers who is not going to see most of it.
> \|/.


Well, it won't be because no one warned us, including some of us.

Cheers,
Russell
--
All too often the study of data requires care.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-30-2004 05:09 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
straydog
Usenet User

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing




On Thu, 30 Dec 2004, R. Martin wrote:

> Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 03:24:03 GMT
> From: R. Martin <russell.martin@wdn.com>
> Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
> Subject: Re: B-School prof laments American firms' 'suicidal' outsourcing
>
> afia boy wrote:
>>
>> BMJ wrote:
>>
>>> One of the first things I learned early in my career is that a gram

>> of
>>> image is worth a kilo of performance.

>>
>> That's it. In today's western world and especially in America the
>> stronghold of it, people became used to the easy and comfortable life.
>> They are perfectly adjusted to living in the current version of today's
>> world, but they do not have the moral strength to survive should the
>> world change. (Western) people rather die than adjust to a different
>> world. They havve no skills of survival in a physically challenging
>> world. I am sorry for the people who died in the last Sunday's tsunami
>> in South and South-East Asia (70 thousand by the last news), but they
>> are an example. When tsunami came, first it drew water out of the
>> shore. Instead of recognising it for the first signs of tsunami, they
>> rejoyced that they can collect water animals out of the water which
>> suddenly became shallow. For quite a part of them, the life was easy,
>> and it bring even more life pleasures -- the opportunity to collect
>> water animals from the drained shores. They had no living memory of
>> tsunami, and besides, no bad tsunami had not happened to them before.
>> They learned it the hard way, and paid by their lives for their
>> ignorance.

>
> While your point about western people not being able to survive under
> more primitive conditions is largely true I suspect, it would be lack
> of knowledge, tools, and enough land to support the population that
> would kill them if civilization's infrastructure collapsed, not lack
> of moral strength. OTOH, maybe our new leaders would be homeless
> people who'd learned how to survive.
>
> As for people not knowing that the extreme receding of the sea was a
> sign of a tsunami, as you noted few people have ever experienced one
> and so would not have first hand knowledge. You can bet those who
> survived will know if they encounter it again. Otherwise, one might
> chalk it up to poor science education, but how many scientists know
> that? I only know because I saw a special on TV a few years ago about
> tsunamis with a survivor's account. I never had in in a course.


Well, I'm about 12+ miles from the Atlantic Ocean and there was some kind
of strong 'noreaster'-type storm around here back about 40-50 years ago
and it _did_ push the ocean inland a good 5-10 miles in lots of places
around here (Lewes-Rehoboth beaches) and left standing waters in the
several feet high depths!!!! This was all printed up in a newspaper
article I saved somewhere just to let myself remind myself that freak
things can happen and what would I do just in case? Hurricanes bother me,
too, to think about.

>> Same might well happen with the people of the US. They will
>> give away their technical industries, and become the nation of service
>> industry. Then, one day, they will have to defend their land agains
>> either enemies or natural disasters, and they won't be able to do that.
>> Most of the Americans will perish. It might be possible that an a-bomb
>> will be detonated by the terrorists in the US, and much more than 70
>> thousand people will die. But at the moment, people can continue to
>> live and enjoy in delusions, all the while building their delusional
>> virtual world where what kind of image of yourself you built is more
>> important than youur survivability skills in the harsh physical world.
>> One might get envious to Art Sowers who is not going to see most of it.
>> \|/.

>
> Well, it won't be because no one warned us, including some of us.


We've also got that asteroid.....

Weird freak EMP-like cosmic ray pulse after some black hole goes
supernova or something hitherto unknown? After 90% of our economy -- for
example -- is switched over to the internet and computers, this EMP pulse
comes out of outer space and frys all of the transistor elements in the
CPUs and totally mucks up our economy (can't buy anything because your
"smart card" is a pile of melted silicon? and the store's computer is a
pile of melted silicon?) Who runs the new economy? The guys with the guns,
its obvious, right?

> Cheers,


Cheers? Are you kidding?

Volcanos? Earthquakes? Asteroids? Terrorists get an a-bomb?


> Russell
> --
> All too often the study of data requires care.
>





















































































Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Old Post 12-30-2004 05:28 AM
Edit/Delete Message Reply w/Quote
All times are GMT. The time now is 12:15 PM. Post New Thread    Post A Reply
  Last Thread   Next Thread
Show Printable Version | Email this Page | Subscribe to this Thread

Rate This Thread:

Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is OFF
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is OFF
 

< Contact Us - AboutMyTalk.com - Discussion forums for aboutmy* sites >

Powered by: vBulletin Version 2.3.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.