The U.S. Chamber - A Multi-Million Dollar Shell Game | U. S. Chamberwatch In the late summer of 2009, with the health care reform debate heating up, ads began appearing all over the country attacking the legislation. Months later, the National Journal revealed that major insurers including Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint had funneled between $10 million and $20 million to the U.S. Chamber to fund the campaign. Meanwhile, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade association, continued to public voice support for reform.The duplicitous campaign is typical of the role the U.S. Chamber plays in corporate lobbying since CEO Tom Donohue took over the organization in 1996. Last year, nearly 40 percent of the U.S. The Wall Street Journal unmasked the strategy as early as 2001. The hallmarks of U.S. With the 2010 Congressional elections looming, the U.S. The template?
scanners (UPDATED) Stanley Kubrick faked the Apollo 11 moon landing. The Newtown massacre and Boston Marathon bombings were "false flag" government conspiracies designed to take away our guns. Also, black is white, rich is poor, Obama is a foreign-born Muslim, work is freedom, freedom is slavery and Mona Lisa was a man. Continue reading → "I believe he's not guilty." "Are you sure?" "No, but I have a reasonable doubt." The last words spoken in David Mamet's HBO feature film "Phil Spector" are "reasonable doubt." This is a work of fiction. I'm not quite sure what that means (beyond "Don't sue us") -- but it sounds a little like one of Mamet's nonsensical latter-day post-right-wing conversion rants. Continue reading → But what really matters is the Muriels. Continue reading → Another brawl in the square Another stink in the air! I was an eyewitness to "Les Misérables." After repeated exposure to that dreadful theatrical trailer-cum-featurette about how the singing is all done live on camera! (AP photo)
A Business-Oriented Foundation for Service Orientation Ulrich Homann Microsoft Corporation February 2006 Applies to: Enterprise Architecture Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Summary: Automate business activities effectively and efficiently by using service-orientation with Web services. Contents IntroductionEnter Business Capability MappingBusiness Capabilities - A More Stable FoundationCapability Model OverviewConclusion "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change." Introduction Service-orientation, with the advent of Web services, is the latest technology solution put forward to automate business activities. According to the current definitions of service-orientation, services offer network accessible functionality through standard, published, and discoverable interfaces. These days, however, solving technical integration problems is not enough by itself to justify investing in service-orientation. As we will see, the answers to these questions are interrelated.
Blogs.com Home ITAG : Enterprise Architecture Guide The MIT Enterprise Architecture Guide (EAG) documents MIT's architectural principles and goals, the current state of MIT's enterprise architecture, and a future state architectural vision. The EAG also includes information regarding the ITAG architecture review process. Since this document serves to inform developers about available enterprise tools and services, we expect the EAG will be useful to enterprise system developers across the institute. Intended Audience The intended audience of the EAG includes project teams making enhancements to existing systems, project teams developing new systems, sponsors of initiative, ITAG Members, and DLC Leadership. How to Use the Guide The EAG is divided into the following sections: Introduction, Context and Principles, Current State, Key Systems Overview, Future State, Project Review Process, and Moving Forward. Key to Documents All sections of the EAG are available in PDF format (.pdf).
Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) is a high-level strategic management approach for evaluating possible strategies. Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix or a QSPM provides an analytical method for comparing feasible alternative actions. The QSPM method falls within so-called stage 3 of the strategy formulation analytical framework. When company executives think about what to do, and which way to go, they usually have a prioritized list of strategies. What is a Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix or a QSPM? The Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix or a QSPM approach attempts to objectively select the best strategy using input from other management techniques and some easy computations. Stage 1 strategic management tools... The first step in the overall strategic management analysis is used to identify key strategic factors. Stage 2 strategic management tools... Stage 3 strategic management tools... What does a QSPM look like and what does it tell me? Step 2... Step 3...
Enterprise Architecture, People, Process, Business, Technology, Institute For Enterprise Architecture Developments (IFEAD) A growing number of consultants and academics are looking at complexity theory, once the domain of the biological and physical sciences, to help managers improve the way they lead organizations. What is complexity theory? One way to understand it is to look skyward to the avian maneuverings of birds. A lone bird follows simple rules of behavior, such as when and what to eat. Complexity theorists argue that managers should allow creativity and efficiency to emerge naturally within organizations rather than imposing their own solutions on their employees. Several researchers and companies are examining how an understanding of complexity theory can apply to businesses. How to manage business complexity? How do you define complexity theory for business people? There is no simple definition of complexity theory. What are the principles of complexity theory? A few simple rules guide the interaction between the components of a system. People often think of complexity theory as a metaphor.
What are strategy maps? | Balanced Scorecards Strategy maps are diagrams that allow you to quickly visualize the performance of your balanced scorecards. If you don’t know balanced scorecard terminology yet, it’s a good idea to start there first. The main idea is that each objective in your balanced scorecard is represented by a shape, usually oval or square. Here are some example strategy maps from around the web: (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source)
Strategic Plan Strategic Planning Business Strategy Strategic Planner Mission Statement Vision SWOTs Strategy Development The Vision The first step is to develop a realistic Vision for the business. This should be presented as a pen picture of the business in three or more years time in terms of its likely physical appearance, size, activities, structure, scale offerings etc. Answer the question: "if someone from Mars visited the business, what would they see (or sense)?" I will come to America, which is the country for me. The Mission The nature of a business is often expressed in terms of its Mission which indicates in a factual way the purpose and activities of the business in terms of operations, (unique) characteristics, functions, customers, offerings, sectors/segments, scale/scope/penetration, methodologies, technologies, resources etc. Intel's original plan, written on the back of a menu (view copy), is an excellent example of a hard statement: If you'd prefer a soft statement, use the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator.
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