Archive for June, 2004

Does diversity matter?

Wednesday, June 30th, 2004

By Dean Whittaker

In commerce, diversity of color, race, nationality and sexual orientation may not matter all that much.  What does matter is diversity of thought, experience and ideas, all of which contribute to a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. 

Products go through a natural evolution from the high-margin, low-volume new “new” thing to a commodity focused on high volume, low cost.   The high value added of research, development, innovation and design create the new “new” thing and bring it to the marketplace.

Diversity does matter in order for communities and companies to participate in the global marketplace.  Without the diversity of thoughts and ideas, the creative process is limited, and with it the ability to conjure up those products and services that will allow the area and its workers and its companies to prosper in a highly competitive world.

At a recent chamber of commerce retreat, the only non-white participant, a Japanese-American, explained to the audience what it felt like to be ignored by the sales staff when shopping at a local retail establishment. After the mayor apologized on behalf of the community to the young man, one of the other participants said that not until we are broken-hearted over this incident rather than just apologizing will anything change in our community.

At the conclusion of the retreat, the facilitator asked each of us what one thing we could do personally that would make a difference. How about you?

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100 Fastest Growing Tech Companies

Wednesday, June 30th, 2004

By Pete Julius

Business 2.0 magazine revealed their list of the 100 fastest growing technology-related companies.  Interestingly enough, nearly 25% of the companies on the list are located in the Midwest.  The Midwest has traditionally been known as a manufacturing-based economy, but as the national economy shifts into a service-oriented economy so does the Midwest.  California is home to 33 of the fastest growing technology-based businesses.  The second closest is not even close.  Massachusetts has a total of eight companies in the ranking.  Massachusetts is closely followed by Pennsylvania with six companies.

It is not much of a surprise to see business services as the top industry sector since the national economy has been migrating from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy.  Electronics is second with 21% and software at 20%. 

The ranking consists of primarily medium to large companies.  Eighty-nine of the companies contain at least $100 million in revenue for the calendar year 2003.  Hewlett-Packard was the largest company with nearly $75 billion in 2003 revenue.  The smallest company on the list reported $52.5 million.

Not all of the companies in the list experienced job growth.  Only about seventy-five percent of the companies had any job growth.  In fact, only 43% of the companies experienced greater than 10% growth.  Enzon Pharmaceuticals had the largest job growth with 150%.  Business Objects was the next closest with almost 83% growth in jobs.

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U.S. Industry Output & Employment Projections Updated

Wednesday, June 30th, 2004

By Jeff Vedders

In the November 2003 issue of our newsletter, I provided a link to an article published in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review that outlined U.S. industry output and employment projections to 2010.

In February of this year, the Monthly Labor Review published an updated outlook that covers the time period from 2002 to 2012.  The author, Jay M. Berman, looks at industries by NAICS code and shows the number of jobs in 1992, 2002, and projections to 2010.  It also displays industry output for the same time period.

Here is the link to the pdf file:  http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2004/02/art4full.pdf

Listed below are the industries expected to have the fastest employment growth and fastest employment declines through 2012.

Fastest Growing

NAICS Code Industry 2002 Jobs* 2012 Jobs* 2002-2012 Change* Average Annual Rate of Change
5112 Software publishers 256 429.7 173.7 5.3
5416 Management, scientific, and technical consulting services 731.8 1,137.40 405.6 4.5
6233, 6239 Community care facilities for the elderly and residential care facilities 695.3 1,077.60 382.3 4.5
5415 Computer systems design and related services 1,162.70 1,797.70 635 4.5
5613 Employment services 3,248.80 5,012.30 1,763.50 4.40
6241-3 Individual, family, community, and vocational rehabilitation services 1,269.30 1,866.60 597.3 3.9
6214-6, 6219 Ambulatory health care services except offices of health practitioners 1,443.60 2,113.40 669.8 3.9
2213 Water, sewage, and other systems 48.50 71.00 22.5 3.9
516, 518, 519 Internet services, data processing, and other information services 528.80 773.10 244.3 3.9
6244 Child day care services 734.20 1,050.30 316.1 3.6
5324 Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing 102.20 142.80 40.6 3.4
6211-3 Offices of health practitioners 3,189.90 4,418.80 1228.9 3.3
5322, 5323 Consumer goods rental and general rental centers 352.90 484.20 131.3 3.2
5152, 5175 Cable and other subscription programming and program distribution 220.90 299.80 78.9 3.1
713 Amusement, gambling, and recreation industries 1,307.60 1,717.30 409.7 2.8
485 Transit and ground passenger transportation 371.50 487.70 116.2 2.8
5414 Specialized design services 122.90 160.80 37.9 2.7
5611, 2 Office administrative and facilities support services 390.30 507.60 117.3 2.7
512 Motion picture and sound recording industries 387.10 503.10 116 2.7
61 Educational services 2,650.60 3,409.80 759.2 2.6

*thousands of jobs

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

 Fastest Declining

NAICS Code Industry 2002 Jobs* 2012 Jobs* 2002-2012 Change* Average Annual Rate of Change
3152 Cut and sew apparel manufacturing 281.8 77.1 -204.7 -12.2
3151 Apparel knitting mills 49.6 20 -29.6 -8.7
3133 Textile and fabric finishing and fabric coating mills 82.4 40.1 -42.3 -6.9
3161 Leather and hide tanning and finishing 8.6 4.5 -4.1 -6.3
313 Textile mills 293.2 156.9 -136.3 -6.1
3169 Other leather and allied product manufacturing 19.9 10.8 -9.1 -5.9
3132 Fabric mills 146.6 79.6 -67 -5.9
3159 Apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing 26.2 15.1 -11.1 -5.4
3131 Fiber, yarn, and thread mills 64.2 37.2 -27 -5.3
3122 Tobacco manufacturing 33.2 20.2 -13 -4.8
2122 Metal ore mining 29.4 18 -11.4 -4.8
NA Federal Government enterprises 51.9 32.4 -19.5 -4.6
2121 Coal mining 74.9 52.3 -22.6 -3.5
3259 Other chemical product and preparation manufacturing 112.4 79.4 -33 -3.4
3311 Iron and steel mills and ferroalloy manufacturing 107.1 76 -31.1 -3.4
211 Oil and gas extraction 122.5 88.4 -34.1 -3.2
3341 Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing 249.8 182.1 -67.6 -3.1
1131-2, 114 Forestry, fishing, hunting, and trapping 67.6 50.4 -17.2 -2.9
3221 Pulp, paper, and paperboard mills 168.2 126.4 -41.8 -2.8
3252 Resin, synthetic rubber, and artificial synthetic fibers and filaments manufacturing 114.3 88.5 -25.8 -2.5

*thousands of jobs

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Edutainment

Wednesday, June 30th, 2004

By Leigh Howe

The phrase “edutainment,” meaning educational entertainment, has been around since the early 90’s.  Today, with advanced technology and realistic computer games, the phrase is picking up steam. Increasing numbers of cable television stations are also focusing on educational programs, such as Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, and the History Channel.

MIT researchers are getting into the act now.  MIT and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are collaborating to create Education Arcade, which will ultimately bring together educators, game designers, publishers, and policymakers to develop sophisticated games for educational curriculum.  There are as many as 15 games in various stages of development.  Here are a few:

  •  Supercharged! – this game teaches the basics of electromagnetism by having students navigate a spaceship that acts like a charged particle through electric and magnetic fields.
  • Environmental Detectives – in this game, students use GPS to gather clues in order to solve a science problem, such as fictional chemical spills.
  • Civilization III – this game uses 6,000 years of world history to allow students to pursue “what if” scenarios.  What if Japan had colonized the United States – how different would our culture and politics be?

This trend toward edutainment is seeing some resistance.  The idea of games as teachers is not welcomed with open arms by many educators.  Classroom games, done correctly, have the potential to augment and enhance education, not replace traditional teaching and textbooks.  But as computers have become ubiquitous in our society, this was a trend that was bound to happen.

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