Category: Business and Enterpreneur

  • Innovation contradiction

    A quote from LEGO “ Innovation flourishes when the space available for it is limited. Less is more” LEGO designers found that innovation thrives more when the boundaries are limited. In contradiction to what is thought of as complete “blue sky” freedom that is required for innovation, the LEGO designers found a big contradiction. A…

  • Rules for companies

    Many companies train their employees and then tell them the rules about safety, work and other work related things but very few inculcate the values that are important to the company. LEGO is one interesting company that set very clear values on what it expects its employees to do and believe about its products: Limited…

  • Carpenter known world wide

    Ole Kirk Christiansen, was a carpenter who founded LEGO toys. His story is very inspiring and amazing to see how one carpenter in one country takes it forward to create a great worldwide company. The motivating story is told to every LEGO employee but from the beginning to success was no easy road. Ole’s wife…

  • Only the best is good enough

    There are several ways to look at development: The Lego way used to be that the best is good enough in the book “Brick by Brick” with the assumption being that the product has to be perfect before it is made available to the general public. However, the second line of thought is that the…

  • Scientist/Engineer to Entrepreneur

    It takes many steps to make a businessman. The path from a scientist to businessman takes many more steps. There are some fascinating stories out there and the three entrepreneur mentioned in the link below have fascinating stories by themselves.

  • Innovation – circle back to old materials

    Dr Teng Li and Liangbing Hu of University of Maryland have been working on lithium or sodium based batteries and have used a unique material in the batteries that has not been thought before – wood. In batteries typically, the positive ion shuttles between the electrodes as it goes through its electrical cycle. Lithium is…

  • Innovation: A common bicycle as an example.

    Bicycle has been around for quite some time. It has been modified to many degree’s. Designers have changed the color, number of wheels, suspensions and just about everything including how you sit, how you pedal including a design that allows you to push instead of pedaling. In many cases the essential design has kept the…

  • Accounting for start-up companies

    Accounting is something that is required for most businesses. In larger companies, there are full departments tracking the expenses for a company but for a smaller company, there are several options. One of the more popular options is to do some of the major accounting with a software from Intuit like Quickbooks and then consult…

  • Business turnaround – Lego story

    The story of Lego has been used as an example for many a MBA course. The story is incredible. Lego – a privately owned company did almost everything right – they listened to the customer, they developed products in different categories, enabled innovation in their company and came up with unique ideas. When the technology…

  • Collaboration and new business models in Venice.

    Murano is known for the glass blowing industry in Italy’s venice. Tourists visit in great numbers and almost all of them pass by Murano to buy some glass piece of value. However, what they buy are the usual momento’s and nothing very expensive. Thus, a glass blower who has to keep the kiln working day…