Gemlab Update

I found the latest research newsletter from GemLab @ http://www.gemlab.net/website/gemlab/fileadmin/user_upload/Research/Gemlab-Newsletter-06-2008.pdf educational and interesting.

Useful link:
www.gemlab.net

Managing Price Increases

John Quelch offers tips on how marketers can cope with inflation and consumer sticker shock @ http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5957.html

Useful link:
Marketing Know: How

Brilliant!

Coral Reefs + Economic Value

The World Resources Institute, in collaboration with government and NGO partners in St. Lucia, Tobago and Belize, has developed an economic valuation methodology to quantify the value of coral reefs in the Caribbean more accurately. The methodology supports the evaluation of trade-offs, thereby highlighting the management and development paths which protect coral reefs, and maximize the economic contribution of coral reefs to the economy.

Useful link:
www.wri.org

Knowledge + sustainable planning = Long-term economic potential

Jewelry Camp

The Antique Jewelry and Art Conference will be held on July 11 - 13, 2008, at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. Speakers include Diana Singer, Christie Romero, Michael Goldstein, Gus Davis, Ben Macklowe, Tom Burstein of Harry Winston, Joyce Jonas to name a few. Don't miss it.

Useful links:
www.jewelrycamp.org
www.appraisers.org

Recession Proof Shoppers

I found the article on research-proof shoppers @ http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/apparelretail/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003813502 intriguing. What drives women to buy expensive goods? I guess it must be quality, designs, service, prestige, success and confidence.

Useful links:
www.elle.com
www.brandweek.com
www.surveysampling.com

Cyd Charisse

Cyd Charisse, a former co-star of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, has died in Los Angeles aged 87. She sang and danced with legends Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain, and Fred Astaire in Silk Stockings.

Useful links:
www.humorinthenews.com/cyd
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001998

Fred Astaire described Cyd Charisse as beautiful dynamite. I think he was spot on. She will be dearly missed.

Design Thinking

Tim Brown is a British-born designer who is now CEO of the design group called Ideo, based in Silicon Valley California. He has a fascinating article, in the June Harvard Business Review, urging organisations to embrace what he calls Design Thinking.

Useful links:
www.ideo.com
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/357
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_thinking

Skoll World Forum

(via BBC) Every year the Said Business School at Oxford University hosts the Skoll Forum for Social Entrepreneurs, a wonderful meeting place of famous and not so famous practitioners and beneficiaries. It happens in Oxford, England, because this ancient university is where the Foundation’s founder Jeff Skoll established a department that actually teaches social entrepreneurship to business school students. He made a fortune out of in at the founding of the Internet Auction site eBay. Now he is trying to encourage more social entrepreneurship, and to get more innovation out of it. The Skoll Forum is an exhilarating place, noisy with ideas.

Useful links:
www.skollworldforum.com
www.skollfoundation.org
www.sbs.ox.ac.uk
www.ashoka.org
www.camfed.org
www.mobileactive.org
www.gatesfoundation.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Skoll