Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
This afternoon I received a comment on a post I wrote about passenger’s wheelchair damage at airports and it’s made me livid. It is disgusting that airport handlers are so careless with essential and expensive items such as wheelchairs.
Lack of care by airport handlers
Read the comments from Monica which highlights the saga that her son went through on a recent trip to Madrid to watch a football game. Basically, the airport handlers drove off and the wheelchair flew off the back of the truck.
Her son then spent four hours in the airport trying to get them to acknowledge that it was their responsibility. Yes, four hours. As Monica says in her comments it’s about time that travellers with disabilities are given some justice for the problems that occur at airports.
Insurance but not for airport damage
What made me even more disgusted is that the insurance company charge them £120 per year for insurance on the wheelchair but there is an exclusion in the policy which does not cover them for air travel or airport damage.
Passenger should be compensated in full
I’m not hot on airline laws but I understand that the compensation available under the Montreal Convention does not cover the full price of replacing a wheelchair. The wheelchair cost £13,000 so why should the passenger pay for this, someone needs to take responsibility and pay compensation in full.
Media need to cover real life news
I would like the media to write about this consumer issue rather than writing the ridiculous stories on a budget airline. Come on the Guardian, Times, etc let’s get this issue out in the open and start to address how badly travellers with disabilities are being treated by airports across the world.
This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants blog.
Please vote for Travel Rants as “Best Consumer Travel blog” in the Lonely Planet Awards. I am up against some tough competition so it would be a massive achievement if I won. Thank you in advance.
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Travellers with disabilities should not be treated like this
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
This morning I received an email apology from Air New Zealand regarding their recent special deals email that included a pricing error for a flight between London Heathrow and Auckland. The fare in the email was £1350 but it should have been £1530, an easy mistake to make.
Honour the price quoted
If a consumer received an email with an inaccurate price should the company honour that price? Okay, so in this case it was only a difference of £180, and at least the airline held their hands up and apologised, which is not something you see that often in the airline industry.
Personally, I think that they should honour the rate quoted in the email but I am interested to hear the thoughts of travel industry people out there. I would also be interested to hear of any stories of pricing errors from travel consumers.
This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants blog.
Please vote for Travel Rants as “Best Consumer Travel blog” in the Lonely Planet Awards. I am up against some tough competition so it would be a massive achievement if I won. Thank you in advance.
Vote here
Thoughts on pricing errors in travel deal emails
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
In a recent blog post, Travel Weekly asked if the rail networks are pricing themselves out of a potential UK tourist boom. I certainly think so and whilst you can get cheap rail tickets if you book well in advance, booking near to the journey date is ridiculously expensive.
Cheapest rail price tip
The best rail travel tip I can give is to buy two single tickets, rather than a return, and plan your journey as far as in advance as you can. Also make sure you travel outside of the peak periods to get the best price. Sometimes you can make big savings by changing trains and not travelling direct.
Not enough carriages at peak times
The majority of my work colleagues travel by train and I think one of their biggest complaints is that the rail companies do not put enough carriages on popular routes at peak times of the day. This means you’ll either have to wait for the next train or be squeezed up against other passengers.
Delays and cancellations
From my experiences travelling on trains, the local services provide the worst service. People still joke about some of the delay and cancellation excuses. Like the wrong type of snow or too many leaves on the track. Prices are rising but the standard of service is getting worse.
A lot of the delays and cancellations are due to track maintenance because of our ageing train network. Last year I took a train and had to get off in Manchester and get on a bus replacement service to Liverpool train station.
I am interested to hear your thoughts on the British rail network or in your own country.
This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants blog.
Please vote for Travel Rants as “Best Consumer Travel blog” in the Lonely Planet Awards. I am up against some tough competition so it would be a massive achievement if I won. Thank you in advance.
Vote here
My rant about the British rail network
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
Last week I wrote about a few design flaws that frustrated me when using travel websites so today I wanted to expand on that a little and suggest features that I think travel companies should look at implementing on their website.
Comparison suggestion
When using comparison sites for package holidays I would like to see highlighted the companies that are ATOL bonded. This will help me identify the agencies that offer financial protection when I am browsing through the search results.
Budget airlines now add on a ton of extras which makes it difficult to compare like for like. It’s got to the point now where I search on a budget airline website, and then compare this manually with another scheduled airline, so how about the flight comparison being more personal to me.
Embedding video
Considering that video has taken off in a big way online, they’re few companies using user generated or professional video content. I use services by Qik, Travelistic and Geo Beats and these videos can be easily embedded in to a website.
Give a member of your staff an iPhone or Flip camera when they go on a familiarisation trip ask them to record their experiences. Video local attractions, what the local restaurants are like and how to get around. Your customers will love that if they can watch it on your website.
Creating the community
Surely any travel company wants repeat customers and for that to happen you have to create a community where consumers can come back and leave comments about their holiday, or ask questions for other consumers to answer.
Would you book with a company you can interact with or a company hidden behind their website?
Mobile technology
Travel is lagging behind others where mobile is concerned. This is a brilliant opportunity to create iPhone applications that help consumers but also help them use your service or product. I probably spend just as much time surfing the internet on my mobile than I do in the comfort of my home.
Use Podcasts to inspire
Podcasting haven’t really taken off, but I would love it if I could download a podcast on the travel agencies website on a specific destination and upload it to my iPod. Then when I am in the resort I can listen and make sure I get the most of my time there.
These are just a few suggestions, but, let’s open up the discussion, what you would like to see being implemented on travel websites. Are they any travel companies using mobile, embedding video or interact with a consumer that stands them out from the rest.
This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants blog.
Please vote for Travel Rants as “Best Consumer Travel blog” in the Lonely Planet Awards. I am up against some tough competition so it would be a massive achievement if I won. Thank you in advance.
Vote here
Improving user experience on travel websites
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
span style=”font-size:85%;”span style=”font-style: italic;”After a hard hours work fiddling with some robots, Lord Darzi relaxes with the benefit of modern technology. Soon he’ll be refreshed and ready to talk bollocks about primary care again./span/spanbr /br /Dr Rant has cunningly altered the original image of Lord Darzi in his natural state with a subtle addition. Can you span style=”font-weight: bold;”span style=”font-style: italic;font-family:courier new;” Spot the Difference/span?/spanbr /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SZxGmsxnZzI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/6h7rsCheyUM/s1600-h/DarziChill.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SZxGmsxnZzI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/6h7rsCheyUM/s400/DarziChill.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304192091803838258″ border=”0″ /br //aa onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SZ6dQfGw3lI/AAAAAAAAAgY/dkRDS8hVf5Y/s1600-h/DarziChill2.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SZ6dQfGw3lI/AAAAAAAAAgY/dkRDS8hVf5Y/s400/DarziChill2.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304850317642358354″ border=”0″ //abr /br /Join us next week for our new feature: span style=”font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:courier new;” Robot Assisted Surgery and General Practice – Spot the Difference AND the Ball/spansup style=”font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;”smallTM/small/sup
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/424497484_a20ac8b02f.jpg?v=0″img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px;” src=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/424497484_a20ac8b02f.jpg?v=0″ alt=”" border=”0″ //abr /br /span style=”font-style: italic;font-size:100%;” Dr Rant would like to draw your attention to the following communication from Remedy UK, the newly formed representative body for junior doctors. They have already raised just over £15,000 pounds to launch this action, so just a bit more is needed to lace up the boot that will hopefully get stuck far up the Establishment and the GMC’s arses.br /br //spanspan style=”font-style: italic;”This case has a wider implication regarding regarding the dearth of accountability and the sham that is the ‘independence’ of the Quangos that have proliferated under this government. Let’s try to make them accountable. /spanspan style=”font-style: italic;font-size:100%;” Even if you are not a doctor, please consider donating as you can then regard yourself as a moral stakeholder in the endeavour, and enjoy the resulting carnage all the more./spanbr /br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tphMnL4vxbs/SVoapd4Cw2I/AAAAAAAABN0/VVUDqViYUlo/s400/RemedyUK-Logo.JPG”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 115px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tphMnL4vxbs/SVoapd4Cw2I/AAAAAAAABN0/VVUDqViYUlo/s400/RemedyUK-Logo.JPG” alt=”" border=”0″ //aspan style=”;font-family:times new roman;font-size:200;” span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” The Double Standards Challenge/span/spanbr //divspan style=”;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;” br /br /br /br /br /In August of last year 1600 people wrote to the GMC requesting an enquiry into the conduct of the architects of MTAS. Many of you stepped up to make the biggest referral in the GMC’s history. This level of support indicated that Remedy were right to be calling for universal accountability in the medical profession – one rule for all. It reassured us that we were not looking back at 2007, but forwards to a fairer future where serial errors at the highest level aren’t brushed under the carpet.br /br /Those of you who signed may have been as disappointed as we were to learn that the GMC rejected this request for an enquiry into the fitness to practice of the architects of MTAS. You may not be surprised to learn that Remedy intends to challenge this decision.br /br /There is a wider point of principle here – one which affects all doctors. Should those entrusted with the highest responsibilities in medicine be above the law? Or are they as accountable as the rest of us in our own individual fields of practice? Do the concepts of accountability and revalidation apply to some but not to others? Is the GMC applying double standards? These questions rise above the events of 2007.br /br /We plan to take the GMC to judicial review, and have mobilised our legal team. But we can’t continue until we have raised sufficient funds. We’re asking for a one-off donation of between £10 and £50 by you to make this happen. We have just a few weeks to raise the money – time is of the essence. To donate now click herebr /br /br /span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” The story so far/spanbr /br /In October 2008 Remedy wrote to the GMC on behalf of 1600 signatories expressing concern about MTAS and the Specialty Selection and Recruitment (SSR) disasters of 2007. A series of enquiries and reviews condemned these processes but failed to establish responsibility. We asked whether the professional and managerial actions of the people responsible could amount to misconduct and/or deficient professional performance. We then requested a full GMC Fitness to Practice enquiry to resolve these uncertainties.br /br /In December we heard that the GMC had refused to submit the case to a lay or medical examiner. This has meant that those responsible for the ‘biggest disaster in a generation’ have not been subjected to independent professional scrutiny for their actions. We believe this constitutes a reflex rejection of the most widely supported GMC referral in the history of the medical profession.br /br /Remedy believes that this GMC decision should be challenged as a benchmark for future practice and conduct, and we are prepared take legal action to try to have it reversed. We have strong legal arguments in our favour, a first class legal team and the courage of our convictions. It will be a test case for impunity in the medical profession.br /br /We now need to raise the money to pay for a day in court. You can make a donation and play your part in securing one rule for all.br /br /span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” Why Remedy referred the case to the GMC/spanbr /br /Our specific complaints related to:-br /br /* The unfitness for purpose of the computer system, the shortlisting and interviewing system,br /* The lack of piloting and the decision to proceed before it had been shown to be fit for purpose, andbr /* The failure to adequately heed or address the risks that were identified in advance.br /br /The impact on individual doctors, their patients and the medical community were well documented. Many different people were responsible, some of whom were doctors. None of those that we identified have seen fit to resign their posts, nor have their employers seen fit to sack them.br /br /We consider this action an essential step:br /br /* to maintain the good reputation of the profession in the eyes of other doctors and the general publicbr /* to protect the public and the public purse against future equivalent mismanagementbr /* to rebuild trust. Acting with impunity will harm the profession, patients and taxpayers.br /br /The GMC decision to reject the case was made on two grounds.br /br /1. the alleged misconduct is not relevant to the fitness to practice of these doctors, andbr /2. allegations of deficient performance must be concerned with poor performance in a clinical setting.br /br /We refute these arguments, and have written a detailed summary of the legal arguments and case law.br /br /br /span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” What we plan to do/spanbr /br /If the GMC maintains its position we will seek a judicial review of their decision. Judicial review is a legal process whereby a public body is challenged in court for acting illegally or irrationally, or for making a decision improperly. If we succeed, the GMC can be ordered to reconsider its decision by the courts. Judicial review in the High Court is the legal technique that Remedy used in 2007 to challenge the Secretary of State for Health.br /br /Our lawyers have sent a ‘letter before action’, and are asking for a review of the specified decision. We have also sent a Freedom of Information request to determine how the decision was reached and whether or not there were any improper procedures or inappropriate influence.br /br /We want to establish whether or not the GMC has jurisdiction in cases like this. If not then have the ‘great and the good’ become unimpeachable?br /br /Now it is up to youbr /br /If you don’t support this action, it can’t go ahead – Remedy doesn’t have the cash reserves to fund it. We believe the whole medical profession will benefit from the case going forward – not just those affected by the 2007 reforms but all doctors with a legitimate interest in issues of accountability and impunity.br /br /We need to raise a minimum of £20,000 by March 2009.br /br /What you can dobr /br /This is a landmark case which could change GMC case law to the benefit of every doctor now and in the future.br /br /We’re asking for donations from individual doctors of between £10 and £50. You can donate by credit card, direct debit, bank transfer or Paypal. All donations will be anonymous.br /br /We’re also happy to accept donations from corporate sponsors.br /br /If every signatory to our Unfinished Business petition gave just £20, we’ll reach our target.br /br /br /To make your donation a href=”http://www.remedyuk.org/index.php/component/option,com_mh2treasury/Itemid,614/”click here/abr /br /br /Thank youbr /The Teambr /RemedyUKbr /Hotline number 0845 6431821br /br /a href=”http://www.remedyuk.org”www.remedyuk.org/a/span
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SZr1Yed-zBI/AAAAAAAAAgA/A7uxiK9NMi4/s1600-h/darziccino.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 285px; height: 712px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SZr1Yed-zBI/AAAAAAAAAgA/A7uxiK9NMi4/s400/darziccino.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303821312026659858″ border=”0″ //a
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://image.trucktrend.com/f/miscellaneous/band-wagon-2007-dodge-nitro-r-t/7337075+w225+cr1+re0+ar1/junket.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 257px;” src=”http://image.trucktrend.com/f/miscellaneous/band-wagon-2007-dodge-nitro-r-t/7337075+w225+cr1+re0+ar1/junket.jpg” alt=”" border=”0″ //abr /Thanks to the wonders of the Freedom of Information Act, the inner working of the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″GMC/span are open to scrutiny. The span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_1″GMC/span is funded by an annual levy paid by DOCTORS, and not the tax payer. My annual fee went up by £100 this year to £390. Without paying this, I am unable to practice medicine.br /br /Someone on Doctors.net noticed the following statement in the a href=”http://www.gmc-uk.org/about/council/papers/2009_01/3-%20Chief%20Executive%27s%20Report%20%282%29.pdf”span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_2″GMC/span council minutes/a:br /br /blockquote style=”font-family:courier new;”"Council members and senior span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_3″GMC/span staff attended and participated in the 8span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_4″th/span Conference of the International association of medical regulatory authorities in Cape Town.”/blockquotebr /To which the intrepid doctor asked (under the freedom of information act), and then thankfully to freely share then information freely:br /br /span style=”font-family:trebuchet ms;”/spanblockquotespan style=”font-family:trebuchet ms;”a) please enumerate by name the people from the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_5″GMC/span (council members and senior staff) who attended (and participated) on behalf of the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_6″GMC/span/spanbr /br /span style=”font-family:trebuchet ms;”b) please tell me how much this junket cost the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_7″GMC/span in total/span span style=”font-family:trebuchet ms;”br /br /c) please give the amounts of expenses that that the various span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_8″GMC/span attendees and participants claimed for this junket./span span style=”font-family:trebuchet ms;”Comment – please attend to the recent decisions of the Info Commissioner on span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_9″MPs/span expenses whilst you are deciding whether to and how to answer this information inquiry. It is clearly in the public interest that subscribers whose money is running the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_10″GMC/span know how it is being spent. I am sure transparency in financial matters is foremost in the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_11″GMC/span press office’s mind./span /blockquotebr /Here’s the reply:br /br /span style=”font-family:courier new;”/spanblockquotespan style=”font-family:courier new;”Thank you for your email below regarding attendance at the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_12″IAMRA/span conference in Cape Town in October 2008. In response I have adopted the lettering system used in your request: /span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /br /a) The presenters and attendees were: /span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Presenters:/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Dr John Jenkins /span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Finlay Scottbr //span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Attendees:/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Dr Edwin span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_13″Borman/span/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Paul Buckley/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Professor Sir Graeme span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_14″Catto/span/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Claire Herbert/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Dr Joan Martin/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Jane O’Brien /span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Paul Philip /span span style=”font-family:courier new;”Dr Nicola span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_15″Toynton/span/spanbr /br /span style=”font-family:courier new;”b) The total cost to the span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_16″GMC/span was £43062.96. /span span style=”font-family:courier new;”c) The expenses claimed by each individual were as follows:/spanbr /span style=”font-family:courier new;”Dr Edwin span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_17″Borman/span = £44.00/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Paul Buckley = £56.43/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Professor Sir Graeme span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_18″Catto/span = £40.64/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Claire Herbert = £18.00/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Dr John Jenkins = £91.52/spanbr /span style=”font-family:courier new;”Dr Joan Martin = £97.18/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Jane O’Brien = £0.00/spanbr /span style=”font-family:courier new;”Paul Philip = £0.00/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Finlay Scott = £44.20/span span style=”font-family:courier new;”br /Dr Nicola span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_19″Toynton/span = £329.48 (Any connecting air fares were paid for centrally, hence they are included at b) above. Any connecting rail fares were claimed individually, hence Dr span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_20″Toynton/span’s expenses figure being in excess of the others)br /br //spanspan style=”font-family:courier new;”If you have any queries concerning this request please do not hesitate to contact me. /span /blockquotebr /Forty three grand?? For what benefit? Did that number of people have to go? Did 10 span style=”font-weight: bold;”Quangonauts/span, at span style=”font-style: italic;”[a 'credit-crunch busting' -Ed]/span £4300 each, span style=”font-weight: bold;”really/span have to go??br /br /Presumably, they managed to pick up a few tips on red tape from the French span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_21″Conseil/span span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_22″Generale/span and Kangaroo court span class=”blsp-spelling-corrected” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_23″procedures/span from the Australian span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_24″GMC/span, from which we will all doubtlessly benefit.br /br /At a time, when doctors are under attack for merely interacting with pharmaceutical companies, and a simple span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_25″biro/span is seen as a corrupt inducement, should we be paying for our unaccountable, unelected span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_26″Gaulieters/span to Swan off to Cape Town for a bit of sun- span style=”font-weight: bold;”at OUR expense/span?br /br /span style=”font-size:85%;”span style=”font-style: italic;”[Ed - before the usual Daily-Mail reading suspects make the usual ignorant, smart-arse comments below: Of course, what with GPs earning £250k per year for doing less work and playing golf whilst Baby P dies and immigrants are stealing your jobs, they should have taken twice as many people and gone /spanspan style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"first/spanspan style="font-style: italic;" class.]/span/span
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
This excellent presentation on innovation further supports the evidence presented previously a href=”http://www.blogger.com/%3Cdiv%20style=%22width:425px;text-align:left%22%20id=%22__ss_50561%22%3E%3Ca%20style=%22font:14px%20Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px%200%203px%200;text-decoration:underline;%22%20href=%22http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/innovation-and-strategic-growth?type=powerpoint%22%20title=%22Innovation%20and%20Strategic%20Growth%22%3EInnovation%20and%20Strategic%20Growth%3C/a%3E%3Cobject%20style=%22margin:0px%22%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22355%22%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22movie%22%20value=%22http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=innovation-and-strategic-growth-11161amp;stripped_title=innovation-and-strategic-growth%22%20/%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22allowFullScreen%22%20value=%22true%22/%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22allowScriptAccess%22%20value=%22always%22/%3E%3Cembed%20src=%22http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=innovation-and-strategic-growth-11161amp;stripped_title=innovation-and-strategic-growth%22%20type=%22application/x-shockwave-flash%22%20allowscriptaccess=%22always%22%20allowfullscreen=%22true%22%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22355%22%3E%3C/embed%3E%3C/object%3E%3Cdiv%20style=%22font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;%22%3EView%20more%20%3Ca%20style=%22text-decoration:underline;%22%20href=%22http://www.slideshare.net/%22%3Epresentations%3C/a%3E%20from%20%3Ca%20style=%22text-decoration:underline;%22%20href=%22http://www.slideshare.net/imootee%22%3Eimootee%3C/a%3E.%20%28tags:%20%3Ca%20style=%22text-decoration:underline;%22%20href=%22http://slideshare.net/tag/business%22%3Ebusiness%3C/a%3E%20%3Ca%20style=%22text-decoration:underline;%22%20href=%22http://slideshare.net/tag/idris%22%3Eidris%3C/a%3E%29%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E”here/a that innovation provides a key route out of the economic crisis. Over to you HR professionals – how are we going to innovate?br /div style=”width: 425px; text-align: left;” id=”__ss_50561″a style=”margin: 12px 0pt 3px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; display: block; text-decoration: underline;” href=”http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/innovation-and-strategic-growth?type=powerpoint” title=”Innovation and Strategic Growth”Innovation and Strategic Growth/aobject style=”margin: 0px;” width=”425″ height=”355″param name=”movie” value=”http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=innovation-and-strategic-growth-11161amp;stripped_title=innovation-and-strategic-growth”param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”param name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”always”embed src=”http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=innovation-and-strategic-growth-11161amp;stripped_title=innovation-and-strategic-growth” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”355″/embed/objectdiv style=”font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,arial; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;”View more a style=”text-decoration: underline;” href=”http://www.slideshare.net/”presentations/a from a style=”text-decoration: underline;” href=”http://www.slideshare.net/imootee”span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″imootee/span/span/a. (tags: a style=”text-decoration: underline;” href=”http://slideshare.net/tag/business”business/a a style=”text-decoration: underline;” href=”http://slideshare.net/tag/idris”span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_1″span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_1″idris/span/span/a)br //div/div
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
Posted March 5th, 2009
by hsb10
span style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:100%;” According to a href=”http://www.nesta.org.uk/”NESTA/a (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) Innovation is:o:p/o:p/span span style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:100%;” /spanblockquotespan style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:100%;” …the development and dissemination of a new product, service or process that produces economic, social or cultural change.
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br /Innovation is the integration of scientific discoveries, new technology and creative activity leading to economic and social value/span./blockquotea onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TiHeeslRSxU/SZ3KT04ysVI/AAAAAAAABCI/swuLPTMWYDY/s1600-h/innovation.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TiHeeslRSxU/SZ3KT04ysVI/AAAAAAAABCI/swuLPTMWYDY/s400/innovation.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304618378075484498″ border=”0″ //ameta name=”ProgId” content=”Word.Document”meta name=”Generator” content=”Microsoft Word 11″meta name=”Originator” content=”Microsoft Word 11″link rel=”File-List” href=”file:///C:%5Ctemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml”!–[if gte mso 9]xml o:officedocumentsettings o:relyonvml/ /o:OfficeDocumentSettings /xml![endif]–!–[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:donotoptimizeforbrowser/ /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]–!–[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate=”false” latentstylecount=”156″ /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]–!–[if !mso]object classid=”clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D” id=”ieooui”/object style st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]–style !– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:536871559 0 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:none; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –/styleEconomic downturns can have positive effects; they force companies to increase their efficiency, cut waste, and strive to do things in smarter ways. In such times is has been claimed that innovation is the single most important condition for transforming crisis into an opportunity (a href=”http://www.businessweek.com/bios/Sami_Mahroum.htm”Mahroum/a, Business Week 2008).
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br /This is an area where I believe HR can play a significant role – a specific subject on which I will return to in the near future.span style=”" /spanHowever, there are some macro level opportunities for organisations and governments to support innovation – which given the evidence presented here only work:span style=”font-size:100%;”bspan style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);”
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br /Injecting capital./span/b/span New funds should be provided to fill the gap in any serious downfall in private investment in strategic science and technology (Samp;T) including areas areas such as disruptive technology, nanotechnology, alternative energy, health and life sciences.span style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:100%;”
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br /This approach was taken by the South Korean government when the country was hit by an economic crisis in the 1990s. Two years later spending on Ramp;D exceeded pre-crisis levels, and Korean businesses did not have to play catch-up when the economy bounced back./spanspan style=”font-size:100%;”bspan style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);”
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br /Think Global./span/b/span Encourage international investments in Samp;T programmes from nations and regions that have cash such as st1:country-region st=”on”China/st1:country-region, the Gulf, and st1:place st=”on”st1:country-region st=”on”Japan/st1:country-region/st1:place.span style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:100%;”
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br /The Japanese are looking to expand globally, the Chinese are hungry for knowledge transfer, and more recently, small, rich Gulf countries have allocated billions of dollars to spend on science, technology, and learning programs. Expensive long-term Samp;T programs can become new platforms for multilateral collaboration./spanspan style=”font-size:100%;”bspan style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);”
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br /Focus on Public Programs./span/b/span Maintaining and expanding levels of funding for public Samp;T programs. This should help keep a country’s knowledge base expanding.
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br /When st1:country-region st=”on”Finland/st1:country-region was hit by economic crisis in 1990, after the collapse of its main trade partner, the st1:place st=”on”Soviet Union/st1:place, its government’s expenditure on Ramp;D and education in all sectors increased. Ten years later, st1:country-region st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Finland/st1:place/st1:country-region emerged as one of the most competitive and innovative countries in the world.
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br /In st1:country-region st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Sweden/st1:place/st1:country-region, a major economic crisis also in the 1990s saw the number of people engaged in Ramp;D activities increase by about 20%. Swedish businesses emerged from the crisis with global leadership in sectors such as telecom and machinery.span style=”font-size:100%;”bspan style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);”
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br /Support Talent./span/b/spanspan style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:100%;” Seed capital funds can be created to support the newly created army of potential entrepreneurs composed of highly skilled people made recently redundant in specific sectors. o:p/o:p/spanspan style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:100%;”
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br /This current crisis will decide the fate of economic systems of many countries for decades to come. Not all have the capacity and resources to come out of the recession successfully. This is the time for driving ahead-and no time for battening down the hatches. /spanp class=”MsoNormal” style=”margin-bottom: 4.9pt; line-height: 14.4pt;”span style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Verdana;font-size:8;” span style=”font-size:100%;”
br /span style=”;font-family:arial;font-size:78%;” Other Information:/spanspan style=”font-size:78%;”
br //spanspan style=”;font-family:arial;font-size:78%;” Quote in title by Austrian economist Josef Schumpeter/spanspan style=”font-size:78%;”
br //spanspan style=”;font-family:arial;font-size:78%;” Referance: /span/spana href=”http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2008/id20081027_851140.htm”span style=”font-size:78%;”span style=”font-family:arial;”Business Week/span/span
br //ao:p/o:p/span/p
Posted in Other Ranters, Rants
