McKinsey has a good overview of marketing in the era of advanced data science, innovative social media, digital advances, a continuous real-time marketing data tempo, the need for speed and simplicity, etc.
This is good read.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Public Safety as a Revenue Generator
From the Department of Justice report on the Ferguson police department:
"The City budgets for sizeable increases in municipal fines and fees each year, exhorts police and court staff to deliver those revenue increases, and closely monitors whether those increases are achieved. City officials routinely urge Chief Jackson to generate more revenue through enforcement. In March 2010, for instance, the City Finance Director wrote to Chief Jackson that “unless ticket writing ramps up significantly before the end of the year, it will be hard to significantly raise collections next year. . . . Given that we are looking at a substantial sales tax shortfall, it’s not an insignificant issue.” Similarly, in March 2013, the Finance Director wrote to the City Manager: “Court fees are anticipated to rise about 7.5%. I did ask the Chief if he thought the PD could deliver 10% increase. He indicated they could try.” The importance of focusing on revenue generation is communicated to FPD officers. Ferguson police officers from all ranks told us that revenue generation is stressed heavily within the police department, and that the message comes from City leadership. The evidence we reviewed supports this perception."
"The City budgets for sizeable increases in municipal fines and fees each year, exhorts police and court staff to deliver those revenue increases, and closely monitors whether those increases are achieved. City officials routinely urge Chief Jackson to generate more revenue through enforcement. In March 2010, for instance, the City Finance Director wrote to Chief Jackson that “unless ticket writing ramps up significantly before the end of the year, it will be hard to significantly raise collections next year. . . . Given that we are looking at a substantial sales tax shortfall, it’s not an insignificant issue.” Similarly, in March 2013, the Finance Director wrote to the City Manager: “Court fees are anticipated to rise about 7.5%. I did ask the Chief if he thought the PD could deliver 10% increase. He indicated they could try.” The importance of focusing on revenue generation is communicated to FPD officers. Ferguson police officers from all ranks told us that revenue generation is stressed heavily within the police department, and that the message comes from City leadership. The evidence we reviewed supports this perception."
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
The Rise of the Machines?
Why no drop in the number of tellers as the ATM became the mode of money transfer? Technology does displace labor - but to what degree?
Upcoming Webinar on Improving Agricultural Water Efficiency
Link to the event on March 6 and description of the event:
Description: Photosynthesis is a water-intensive biochemical process. As part of the photosynthetic process, plants and surfaces release water into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. The greater the biomass and crop yields, the greater the volume of water undergoing evapotranspiration. To conserve water, we need to increase the productivity of water use in terms of crop value yielded for each unit of evapotranspirated water. This global productivity ratio can be broken down into many partial efficiency ratios. These partial ratios cover a number of relevant aspects, including irrigation techniques, crop management and the environmental and climatic conditions present in the area. Furthermore, water use efficiency is just one aspect of the larger economic and resource efficiency. Capital, land, labour and energy are other basic inputs that must considered. For instance, farmers do not maximize water efficiency, they maximize profits. As such, it is essential that profit maximization is aligned with the goal of resource efficiency. This webinar will explain these efficiency ratios, provide numbers about potential improvement gains and discuss the barriers and obstacles to improving them. Lastly, the seminar will address some policy issues related to how governance, institutions and other management can address this issue.
Description: Photosynthesis is a water-intensive biochemical process. As part of the photosynthetic process, plants and surfaces release water into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. The greater the biomass and crop yields, the greater the volume of water undergoing evapotranspiration. To conserve water, we need to increase the productivity of water use in terms of crop value yielded for each unit of evapotranspirated water. This global productivity ratio can be broken down into many partial efficiency ratios. These partial ratios cover a number of relevant aspects, including irrigation techniques, crop management and the environmental and climatic conditions present in the area. Furthermore, water use efficiency is just one aspect of the larger economic and resource efficiency. Capital, land, labour and energy are other basic inputs that must considered. For instance, farmers do not maximize water efficiency, they maximize profits. As such, it is essential that profit maximization is aligned with the goal of resource efficiency. This webinar will explain these efficiency ratios, provide numbers about potential improvement gains and discuss the barriers and obstacles to improving them. Lastly, the seminar will address some policy issues related to how governance, institutions and other management can address this issue.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
A Sentence to Ponder
From the current issue of Fortune - Oil's New Math by Brian O'Keefe:
". . . 47% of new U.S. production in 2014 could break even with a price of WTI [West Texas International] below $61."
". . . 47% of new U.S. production in 2014 could break even with a price of WTI [West Texas International] below $61."
What Happens When Your Lawn Looks Like Phoenix?
Interesting article on the environmental and economic benefits of having a tree filled yard versus one that is rock filled. From the article:
"To this Greg McPherson of the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the US Forest Service adds that trees also mitigate flooding, sequester carbon, absorb noise, protect against skin cancer and beautify cities. They also pay their way financially. In a study for the US Department of Agriculture, McPherson found that a single mature shade tree could represent one per cent of a home's value. Properties on well-shaded streets could command three to seven percent higher prices than their unsheltered counterparts. In Los Angeles County, that gives the mature tree in the front yard of a median-priced home the value of $5,000 and the house on the shaded street a boost of up to $40,000."
"To this Greg McPherson of the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the US Forest Service adds that trees also mitigate flooding, sequester carbon, absorb noise, protect against skin cancer and beautify cities. They also pay their way financially. In a study for the US Department of Agriculture, McPherson found that a single mature shade tree could represent one per cent of a home's value. Properties on well-shaded streets could command three to seven percent higher prices than their unsheltered counterparts. In Los Angeles County, that gives the mature tree in the front yard of a median-priced home the value of $5,000 and the house on the shaded street a boost of up to $40,000."
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