CPU – Page 2 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: CPU

Alibaba Cloud stretches global reach with four new facilities

Posted on November 30, 2016 in Economics, Implementation, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

For hundreds of years, empires expanded their reach by establishing colonies on foreign shores. The book Go Lean … Caribbean chronicles (Page 307) the pushing-and-shoving between European powers in the development of the Caribbean. But in 1960, after the atrocities of World War II were inventoried – credited to the complexities of colonialism in World War I and the period between the wars, the United Nations made a declaration that colonialism needed to be disbanded:

The “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples” was adopted by the UN General Assembly by resolution on 14 December 1960. Though some countries had already started their independence process (i.e. Ireland, Australia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc.), this resolution established the standard for all dependent countries – even small ones – to become autonomous. – Source: UN-Wikisource

This is now the 21st Century. While colonialism is not dead … entirely, there is a new brand of colonies for trade. Colonies have gone from the physical world to the virtual world, referring to cyber-space or online communities. Chinese trading market-place Alibaba is providing us a model of colonizing their digital footprint in foreign countries. See the story here of Alibaba’s deployment of 4 new data centers in a potpourri of countries:

BEIJING (Reuters) – Alibaba Cloud plans to open four new data facilities outside China, the cloud unit of Alibaba Holdings Ltd said on Monday, as it seeks to grab global market share from leading players Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft.

The data facilities in Dubai, Germany, Japan and Australia will extend the reach of China’s leading cloud computing service provider to every major continent, and marks the latest step in the unit’s $1 billion infrastructure investment drive.

Also known as Aliyun, the unit has flourished domestically thanks to Beijing’s strategic emphasis on building homegrown cloud technology, while foreign firms have grappled with stringent licensing restrictions in the country.

However, it accounts for a much smaller slice of the global market for cloud computing, defined as the storage of data on remote networks rather than local servers, which is expected to reach $135 billion by 2020, according to research firm Canalys.

Alibaba Cloud is forecast to take 7.8 percent of that market, while leading players Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp and Alphabet Inc are expected to account for 69.1 percent.

Yu Sicheng, general manager of Alibaba Cloud’s international business, said the unit’s strength in China was a significant advantage and a lynchpin in the company’s globalization plans.

“We have the U.S., Europe plus China, which is quite difficult,” he told Reuters in an interview.

The new additions bring Alibaba Cloud’s total number of foreign cloud facilities to eight, surpassing the six within China, though the majority of the company’s data volume remains squarely within China.

It will launch the data facilities through partnerships with Vodafone in Europe, Softbank Group Corp in Japan and YVOLV in Dubai, a joint venture between Alibaba Cloud and Meraas Holdings LLC.

Yu, however, declined to comment on when the unit will likely post a profit, even as it has seen six quarters of consecutive triple-digit growth, to become Alibaba’s fastest growing business sector.

“Our focus is to keep expanding our market leadership and presence and this is our priority for now,” he said.

(Corrects title of Alibaba Cloud executive Yu Sicheng)
(Reporting by Catherine Cadell; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Source: Yahoo News Source. Posted 11-21-2016; retrieved 11-28-2016 from: https://www.yahoo.com/news/alibaba-cloud-stretches-global-reach-four-facilities-061614009–finance.html?ref=gs

This commentary takes another look at colonialism; there is the need for a cyber footprint in countries where “you” may want to conduct online business – this is a feature of globalization. In the effort to deploy the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) as a logistics solution for delivering modern commerce, this commentary takes another look at the Alibaba Group; a company that had previously been identified as an excellent role model for the CPU. (American company Amazon was also identified as a fitting role model).

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the CPU. The book describes a business model for the CPU in facilitating electronic commerce in the region. But it presents this business model as heavy-lifting; there is the need for data centers to power the cyber-functions and applications for online & mobile commerce. The Go Lean roadmap describes the need for 6 data centers strategically placed across the Caribbean region; we want to colonize our own region, following a similar business model to Alibaba’s plans to deploy its colonies throughout the world – in these 4 foreign countries.

More dynamic data centers deployed in a foreign country would mean more business-to-business commerce, including features like web portals, online retail, mobile functionality, payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services.

As detailed in the previous blog-commentary, Alibaba is not just a China focused company. They also have a Caribbean footprint. In September 2014, the company held an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the United States on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – Ticker symbol “BABA.N” – looking to raise US$25 billion. The NYSE corporate entity is actually a shell corporation based in the Cayman Islands. So Alibaba extending their global business operations is actually benefiting a Caribbean corporate citizen.

The Go Lean roadmap (Page 106) presented an advocacy that described the trends in data center design and functionality; they are needed for the Cyber-Caribbean strategy. A trend depicted in the book is the Case Study of Hydrogen Fuel Cells as a reliable back-up power-battery source. This Case Study sets the stage for understanding Data Center trends:

Case Study – Bottom Line on Hydrogen Fuel Cells: A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity thru a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel. Hydrogen is not in and of itself an energy source, because it is not naturally occurring as a fuel. It is, however widely regarded as an ideal energy storage medium, due to the ease with which electric power can convert water into its hydrogen and oxygen components through electrolysis. Hydrogen technologies relate to the production and use of hydrogen. Hydrogen technologies are applicable for many uses. Some hydrogen technologies are carbon neutral and could have a role in preventing climate change and a possible future hydrogen economy. Fuel cells are different from batteries in that they require a constant source of fuel and oxygen/air to sustain the chemical reaction, they can however produce electricity continually for as long as these inputs are supplied.

There are a handful of US data center facilities that are powered either partially or fully by hydrogen fuel cells; see Appendix IG on Page 285.

The advocacy, branded 10 Trends in Implementing Data Centers, is detailed here:

1. Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) initiative: Caribbean Union Trade Federation.	The CU treaty unifies the Caribbean region into one single market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby empowering the economic engines in and on behalf of the region. The CU embraces the cutting, “bleeding” edge concepts, systems and methodologies for data centers and computer server farms, as in high density computing, facilitating the maximum computing power with the least about of space and power. The prerequisite for any serious data center deployment is power…stable, reliable electricity, with primary, secondary and tertiary solutions. The CU roadmap calls for deployment of a regional power grid, with above ground, underground & underwater cabling. Though data centers must launch now, power costs will be expected to decline with the grid; hydrogen fuel cells will fill the void..
2. Fiber-Optics / Pipeline	Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communication. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are also immune to electromagnetic interference. The transparent fiber are made of high quality extruded glass, silica or plastic. The CU as a new Federation can apply a leap-frog approach to implement communication networks without having to contend with older methods or investments. Further the CU will embrace the strategy of installing elaborate pipelines thru out the region, enabling fiber-optics to traverse the network.
3. IP Convergence	Internet Protocol (IP) is now ubiquitous for data, voice, and video communications – they all operate on the same type of fiber. This indicates that data centers also function as telecom hubs – central switching offices are now bygones.
4. Cloud Computing	The CU will embrace cloud computing for many operational systems, thereby requiring optimal continuous processing. The roadmap calls for citizens to interact with their federal government via web portals, kiosks or phone contact centers.
5. High Availability (HA)	HA is a system design approach (hardware, software and networking) that ensures operational performance will be met, like parallel processing or mirroring. There are systems (i.e. hospitals, banking, electrical grid) that must maximize availability and minimize downtime. Recovery time or estimated time of repair is closely related to availability, optimizing the time to recover from planned or unplanned outages. A CU mission is to facilitate quick recoveries after hurricanes.
6. Colocation Data Centers	A colocation center (colo, or coloc) is a type of data center where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers. Colocation facilities provide space, power, cooling, and physical security for the server, storage, and networking equipment of other firms—and connect them to a variety of telecommunications and network service providers—with a minimum of cost and complexity. Colocation has become a popular option for companies as it allows the company to focus its IT staff on the actual work being done, instead of the logistical. Significant benefits of scale (large power and mechanical systems) result in large colocation facilities, typically 50,000 to 100,000 square feet.
7. Caves as Data Centers	There is a growing trend of building underground data bunkers. A market leader placed a coloc data center in a huge facility 220 feet underground in a limestone cave outside Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania. There are other limestone cave installations in places like Mammoth, Kentucky and Lenexa, Kansas. The advantage is cost savings, driven by cooling dynamics of an underground facility, where cooler temperature allows for saving money on air conditioning. The CU will identify limestone caverns, plentiful in the region, appropriate to construct data centers – the region needs 6 centers.
8. Storage Solutions – No need for humans	Old data center models needed people to load/unload data storage devices (tapes, disk drives). Now with the low costs of storage, the CU can implement storage libraries for primary and back-up purposes. Plus with tools/techniques like Deep Store archive systems [51], it allows for cost-efficient solutions for data/records that are rarely retrieved.
9. Security Issues	Modern data centers require minimal human interaction, therefore physical security tend to be very restrictive. In some firms, even the CEO is not allowed access. The CU will implement biometric systems like fingerprints and iris scanning.
10. Unified Command & Control	The data center may be void of humans, but there is still the need for many professional analysis, programmers and engineers. These are normally stationed in command centers to facilitate monitoring and cyber-security functions.

Is a discussion of data center trends appropriate for a societal elevation plan for the Caribbean? Absolutely! How the world has changed! The Go Lean book posits that this technology-tinged eco-system is a winning strategy for creating jobs here in the 21st Century. The book explains that Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) can serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The roadmap projects that 64,000 new jobs – 20,000 Direct & 44,000 Indirect – can be created with this strategy. This strategy is among the keys for elevating Caribbean society. In fact the prime directives of the roadmap is identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The foregoing article and the quotation from the Go Lean book depicts a vision of a new Caribbean industrial landscape. This vision was defined early in the book (Page 14) in the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

Beyond data centers, “where are the new jobs for the 21st Century”? This is a familiar question for the Go Lean movement (book and blogs). This question was examined in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9751	Where the Jobs Are – Animation and Game Design
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9203	Where the Jobs Are – Employer Models in the United States
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6089	Where the Jobs Are – Futility of Minimum Wage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2857	Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurism in Junk
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003	Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario: Ship-breaking
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	Where the Jobs Are – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly

ICT is a prominent feature of the Caribbean empowerment plan; creating a Caribbean Cloud is “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. This will facilitate electronic commerce and allow modern day colonies – data centers – in foreign countries.

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the best practices for Data Centers in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequence of Choice Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship – Incubators	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide – e-Government Services	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing – e-Government Scheme	Page 35
Strategy – Mission – Embrace the Advances of Technology	Page 46
Strategy – Competitors – Governments – Shared Systems –vs- Premise-based	Page 51
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – How to Grow the Economy to $800 Billion – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Union Revenue Administration – e-Government for Revenue Systems	Page 74
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Deploy Data Centers	Page 96
Implementation – 10 Trends in Implementing Data Centers	Page 106
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade – Electronic Commerce	Page 128
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Ways to Foster Cooperatives – Co-located Data Centers for e-Government	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Incubators Strategy	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street – e-Commerce as competition for Big-Box	Page 201

This VIDEO here – Google’s Data Center – demonstrates a theme from the Go Lean book, that data center trends will influence the ICT eco-system; also see the VIDEO tour for Facebook and Microsoft in the Appendix below:

VIDEO – Inside a Google data center – https://youtu.be/XZmGGAbHqa0

Published on Dec 16, 2014 – Joe Kava, VP of Google’s Data Center Operations, gives a tour inside a Google data center, and shares details about the security, sustainability and the core architecture of Google’s infrastructure.

According to the foregoing article and VIDEOs, data centers are important business infrastructure for the new economy. As demonstrated by Alibaba’s example, these data centers are colonies in the virtual world. The CU/Go Lean plan is to foster and incubate such key industrial installations for the goal of elevating the region economic engines.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the changes in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a Big Idea for the region, that of a Cyber Caribbean effort (Page 127), in which data centers play a major role. Welcome to 21st Century colonies. This is how we build a better future: a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————-

Appendix VIDEOs:

Facebook Data Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Rgje94iI0
Microsoft Data Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRR72b_qvc

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Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future

Posted on May 13, 2016 in Government, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

“The stone the builders reject has become the chief cornerstone” – The Bible; Luke 20:17

Now in the days of email, postal mail has become inconsequential; affectionately called “snail mail”. Governments around the world provide the overhead of postal operations, though they are mostly unprofitable and sneered upon. There are some exceptions however …

Germany’s Deutsche Post
SwedenPostenAB
Finland’s Netpost

… these feature some of the business models in postal services that have become impactful to their local communities. From the best-practices gleaned from these above countries, the model of the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) was forged. The CPU is a subset of the roadmap defined in the book Go Lean…Caribbean; this is the mission for physically and figuratively delivering the future. This roadmap, for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), focuses on the political transformations and the practical transformations to elevate the Caribbean region, individually and collectively.

The Go Lean book details the Germany, Sweden and Finland experiences (Page 99) in contrast to the US Postal Service (USPS). The USPS is not the model for the Caribbean to emulate. The Go Lean book describes the USPS as a failing enterprise. Previous Go Lean commentaries have identified better role models for the CPU: logistics/e-Commerce giant Amazon in the US, and Alibaba in China. These companies provide logistical solutions to their marketplaces; the same as the CPU can deliver the logistical solution for the Caribbean’s modern commerce. This model can transform Caribbean society: its people and institutions. The USPS is an old-dying model; the CPU, on the other hand, is a new, transformative model. See the VIDEO here that relates the disposition of the USPS as an enterprise.

VIDEO 1 – US Postal Service Faces Big Changes Amid Struggle to Deliver on Profitability – https://youtu.be/Lnjfua5wY5U

Uploaded on Dec 5, 2011 – The likelihood that a stamped letter could reach its destination by the next day will be virtually eliminated due to billions in U.S. Postal Service cuts announced Monday. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe joins Gwen Ifill to discuss the cuts and what’s next for the postal service and its customers.

This is commentary 3 of 4 – from the movement behind the Go Lean book – on the subject of transformations: how to move our region from the deficient-defective status quo to a new status, the undisputed title of “greatest address on the planet”. All these commentaries detail these issues, considering:

Perfecting our Core Competence
Money Matters – “Getting over” with “free money”
Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) – Delivering the Future
Civil Disobedience – Still Effective

The Go Lean book details this quest to transform the Caribbean; it features a how-to guide, a roadmap for elevating the region’s societal engines of economics, security and governance. It leads with economic issues, not political ones! But as established previously, there must be political transformations before practical transformations can take place. In order to explore the benefits of the CPU practical transformations – a consolidation of all existing postal entities – must take place in the region. This is a heavy-lifting task. Imagine the management and staff of those agencies in the member-state governments; they now become a part of the CU Federal Civil Service.

See Appendix below for the list of the National Postal entities – all members of the Universal Postal Union – that constitute the 30 Caribbean member-states.

The Go Lean/CU plan calls for this consolidation on Day One/Step One of the implementation of the roadmap, during the Assembly phase. This requires the type of political transformation that involves every stakeholder in the community: residents, businesses and institutions. But this effort can be communicated as a “labor of love”, with very little down-side. What is at risk? The rejected, ignored, expensive postal operations that is currently a drag on member-states resources. It is time now for these rejected entities to be the cornerstone of the Caribbean transformation.

To the everyday man on the street, he will see changes … on the street. There is the need for formal street names and house numbers. For all the regional member-states, except the US territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, there is no mail door-to-door delivery. With the CPU business model, the streets will be structured as a marketplace with grid numbers and postal/ZIP codes, and with pick-up and delivery.

The focus of the CPU is not just to deliver postal mail, but rather to deliver logistics … and the future. Just like Amazon and Alibaba do so much more than just sell merchandise online, the CPU will facilitate a complete eco-system for Small-Medium-Enterprises (SME’s) to thrive in the region: finding customers for their wares and collecting payments. This is key to growing the regional economy to $800 Billion.

The CPU is designed to deliver the Caribbean’s future for Global Trade and Electronic Commerce. These activities have greatly impacted many societies around the world – think China – elevating their economic engines. The CU/CPU will employ technologically innovative products and services to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including the consolidation of the state-ran postal operations.

The VIDEO here demonstrates the theme from the Go Lean book, that one organization-institution – like the CPU – that facilitates e-Commerce can optimize the societal engines in the region and impact the transformation of the homeland. The facilitation role will include the attendant functions of order entry, payment settlement, inventory fulfillment, marketplace hosting, customer service contact center and mail pick-up/delivery.

VIDEO 2 – What is E-Commerce? – https://youtu.be/nxSDHBdsWqA

Uploaded on Nov 19, 2011 – What is E-Commerce?
This video provides an explanation of e-commerce, trends in online business, and how the internet has revolutionized the modern marketplace. It also identifies key factors responsible for e-commerce’s continued success.

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to change the entire eco-system of Caribbean commerce and the interaction with postal operations. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12 & 14) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

In a previous Go Lean blog, this commentary described how …

“… email and text messages have replaced “snail” mail in advanced economy countries for personal written communications. Electronic Bill Presentation & Payments (EBP&P) schemes are transforming business-to-consumer interactions, and electronic funds transfer/electronic commerce is the norm. So [Internet & Communications Technology] (ICT) must be a prominent feature of any Caribbean empowerment plan. This is why creating the CPU and the Caribbean Cloud (www.myCaribbean.gov) is “Step One / Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. This is the by-product of assembling regional organs with multilateral cooperation and a separation-of-powers. The roadmap also includes establishment of the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB), as a cooperative among existing Central Banks, and its facilitation of electronic payment schemes so as to enable the region’s foray into electronic commerce and trade marketplaces.

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the best practices for the delivery of the CPU and trade marketplaces in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequence of Choice Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Strategy – Customers – Citizens and Member-states Governmental	Page 47
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – How to Grow the Economy to $800 Billion – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Services	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Establish CPU	Page 96
Implementation – Anecdote – Mail Services – USPS Dilemma	Page 99
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change – Group Purchase Organizations (GPO)	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Optimize Mail Service & myCaribbean.gov Marketplace	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean – # 8 Cyber-Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade – GPO’s	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Black Markets	Page 165
Advocacy – Ways to Manage the Federal Civil Service	Page 173
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201

Issues related to the CPU business model have previously been detailed in these Go Lean commentaries, listed here:

Skipping School to become Tech Giants

The Future of Money

How to address high consumer prices

Truth in Commerce – Learning from Yelp

Net Neutrality: It matters here … in the Caribbean

Robots help Amazon tackle Cyber Monday

Role Model Jack Ma brings Alibaba to America

Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market

Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone

Grenada PM Urges CARICOM on ICT

Increasing trade is a successful strategy for growing the regional economy; this will undoubtedly mean increases in jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. The CU/CPU/Go Lean plan is designed to foster and incubate key industries for the goal of transforming and elevating the regional economy.

But any transformation to the Caribbean societal engines must be permanent! The Go Lean book declares that for permanent change to take place, there must first be an adoption of new community ethos, the national spirit that drives the character and identity of its people. The roadmap was constructed with the primary community ethos of the Greater Good, not a profit motive and not a nationalistic motive; but rather a commitment for the “greatest good for the greatest number of people”.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions (like Postal Operations), to lean-in for the changes in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a Big Idea for the region, that of a Cyber Caribbean effort (Page 127), in which trade marketplaces play a major role. This roadmap is not just a plan for delivering the mail; it is also the delivery of the hopes and dreams of generations of Caribbean stakeholders; it is about delivering the future: a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

—————–

Appendix – Universal Postal Union (UPU) Members, as of 2009

Country	Governmental authority	Regulatory authority	Designated operator
Antigua and Barbuda			Antigua Post Office
Aruba^{[N 1]}			Post Aruba – for Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the Dutch SSS Islands.
Bahamas^[2009]	Ministry of Public Works and Transport	None	Bahamas Postal Service
Barbados^[2009]	Ministry of Home Affairs	None	Barbados Postal Service
Belize	Ministry of Public Utilities, Transport, Communications^[2]		Belize Postal Service^{[N 2]}
Cuba^[2009]	Ministry of Informatics and Communications	None	Empresa de Correos de Cuba
Dominica	Ministry of Public Works, Energy and Ports^[4]		General Post Office (GPO)^{[4][N 2]}
Dominican Republic^[2009]	Ministry of Public Works and Communications	None	Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM) (Dominican Postal Institute)
France^[2009]	Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment	Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation Authority (ARCEP)	La Poste for Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Barts and St Martin
British Overseas Territories			Anguilla Post Office^[7] Bermuda Post Office^[8] BVI Post^[13][14] Cayman Islands Postal Service^[15] Montserrat General Post Office^[18] Turks and Caicos Post Office ^[21]
Grenada			Grenada Postal Corporation^[2]
Guyana			Guyana Post Office Corporation
Haiti			Office des Postes d’Haiti
Jamaica			Postal Corporation of Jamaica
Netherlands	Ministry of Economic Affairs	OPTA/Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM)	PostNL for some of the Dutch SSS Islands (Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten)
Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla			St. Kitts & Nevis Postal Services
Saint Lucia			Saint Lucia Postal Service
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines			SVG Postal Corporation
Suriname			Surpost
Trinidad and Tobago			TTPost
United States	United States Postal Service^{[N 5]}	Postal Regulatory Commission	United States Postal Service for Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands

Source: Retrieved March 12, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postal_entities

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ENCORE: Thanksgiving and American Commerce – Past, Present and Amazon

Posted on November 26, 2015 in Economics, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

This commentary – from December 3, 2014 – was re-distributed on the occasion of the American Holiday Thanksgiving for 2015, as it is applicable for any Thanksgiving any year. Be thankful people; be festive and most important, be safe!

———

To understand American commerce, one must learn the BIG shopping “days of the week” – Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, as follows:

Black Friday – This is the Friday following the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the US (the fourth Thursday of November). Since the early 2000’s, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, and most major retailers open very early and offer promotional sales. Black Friday is not a public holiday, but some states observe “The Day After Thanksgiving” as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday such as Columbus Day.^[5] Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the day after off, followed by a weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. In 2014, $50.9 billion was spent during the 4-day Black Friday weekend. While approximately 133 million U.S. consumers shopped during the same period.^[6]
Small Business Saturday – This refers to the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed in 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick-and-mortar businesses that are small and local. Small Business Saturday is a registered trademark of American Express Corporation. Small Business Saturday UK began in the UK in 2013 after the success of Small Business Saturday in America.^[7]
Cyber Monday – This is a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday. The term was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online. The term made its debut on November 28, 2005, in a Shop.org press release entitled “‘Cyber Monday Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year”.^[2] According to the Shop.org/Bizrate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, “77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)”. In 2014, Cyber Monday online sales grew to a record $2.68 billion, compared with last year’s $2.29 billion. However, the average order value was $124, down slightly from 2013’s $128.^[3] The deals on Cyber Monday are online-only and generally offered by smaller retailers that cannot compete with the big retailers. Black Friday generally offers better deals on technology; with nearly 85% more data storage deals than Cyber Monday. The past Black Fridays saw far more deals for small appliances, cutlery, and kitchen gadgets on average than Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is larger for fashion retail. On the past two Cyber Mondays, there was an average of 45% more clothing deals than on Black Friday. There were also 50% more shoe deals on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday.^[4] Cyber Monday has become an international marketing term used by online retailers in Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Uganda, Japan, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Giving Tuesday – refers to the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It is a movement to create a national day of giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the “92nd Street Y” (Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association in New York, NY) and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).^[8][9] This occasion is often stylized as #GivingTuesday for purposes of hashtag activism.

That’s a lot of commerce … and philanthropy too!

This encyclopedic discussion is necessary for the Caribbean to model the best-practices of American commerce. The focus of this commentary is the role of one company in the pantheon of Cyber Monday, Amazon. This firm has previously been featured in a Go Lean blog, and is identified as a model for Caribbean logistics, our means for delivering the mail; this is the vision for the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU).

The focus of the book Go Lean…Caribbean and the CPU is not just postal mail, but rather logistics. Mail requires logistics, but logistics encompasses so much more than just mail. So we would want to model a successful enterprise in this industry space, like Amazon, not just another postal operation, like the US Postal Service (Page 99).

Amazon provides a good example of lean technocratic efficiency. So Amazon is a good model, not just for the CPU but the entire Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean book, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic CU.

One reason why Amazon is modeled for their lean stature is their use of automation. This following VIDEO depicts the creative solution of using robots to facilitate logistics in a warehouse environment:

VIDEO: Robots help Amazon tackle Cyber Monday – http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/robots-help-amazon-tackle-cyber-monday/

December 1, 2014 – Cyber Monday is the biggest sales day of the year for online retail giant, Amazon. Last year, Amazon customers ordered 426 items every second on Cyber Monday, and this year that number is expected to grow. In addition to the 80-thousand seasonal workers they employ to fulfill orders, thousands of robots also crawl the warehouse floors. CNET.com’s KaraTsuboi takes us inside an Amazon fulfillment center to watch the robots in action. (VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

Lean, automation, robotics, technocratic …

… welcome to the new Caribbean.

This is the mission of Go Lean roadmap, to elevate the economic engines of Caribbean society; industrial policy plays a key role in this roadmap. The region needs the jobs, so we need job creators: companies. These companies, or better stated, Direct Foreign Investors, need a pro-innovation environment to deploy their automated solutions. The Go Lean roadmap allows the structure of Self-Governing Entities (SGE) to incentivize industrial developments in the region. It is the expectation that robots and automated systems will flourish. The independence of the SGE structure neutralizes conflicts with “labor”.

Related issues have previously been detailed in these Go Lean commentaries listed here:

Disney World – Successful Role Model of a SGE

Using SGE’s to Welcome the Dreaded ‘Plutocracy’

Where the Jobs Are – Ship-breaking under SGE Structure

Fairgrounds as SGE and Landlords for Sports Leagues

Puerto Rico’s Comprehensive Cancer Center Project Breaks Ground – Model of Medical SGE

In addition to the roadmap encouraging robotic automation, the CU will directly employ such technologically innovative products and services to impact its own prime directives; the CPU is such a reflection; more automation and less labor. The CU’s prime directives are identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The CPU features economic, security and governing concerns.

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to change the entire eco-system of Caribbean logistics and resulting commerce – the interaction with postal operations. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12 & 14) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

Amazon is not our only example. A previous blog/commentary identified Chinese company Alibaba as a fitting role model for Caribbean consideration. There are so many best-practices around the world for the region to study and glean insights and wisdom from. The successful application of this roadmap will foster such best-practices for the delivery of the CPU logistics in the Caribbean. The wisdom the Go Lean book gleans are presented as a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies; a detailed sample is listed as follows:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Strategy – Customers – Citizens and Member-states Governmental	Page 47
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Services	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Establish CPU	Page 96
Anecdote – Implementation Plan – Mail Services – US Dilemma	Page 99
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Improve Mail Services – Electronic Supplements	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy –Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Call Centers	Page 212
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234

Following the Amazon’s example (and Alibaba’s example) will spur the Caribbean to embrace more robotic technologies. This field is new, fresh and ready for innovation. There is a level-playing-field for any innovator to earn market share. The underlying company in the foregoing VIDEO is Kiva Systems – a Massachusetts based company that manufactures mobile robotic fulfillment systems.^[10][11] They rolled out a great product, then “Lo-and-behold”, they were acquired by a major e-Commerce company. Today, they are a subsidiary of Amazon, yet their material-handling systems are currently used by many other retailers including: The Gap, Walgreens, Staples, Gilt Groupe, Office Depot, Crate & Barrel, Saks 5th Avenue, and more.^[12]

This commentary therefore features the subjects of commerce, logistics and entrepreneurship. The Caribbean can emulate this model from Amazon. The biggest ingredient missing in the region is the ‘will’. But the ‘will’ can be fostered anew in the Caribbean. This is the heavy-lifting for the CU, instituting such new community ethos.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a Big Idea for the region; that of a Cyber Caribbean, in which Cyber Mondays may become a big deal for our region – not only as consumers, but producers as well. Therefore, this roadmap is not just a plan for delivering the mail/packages, but rather a plan for delivering the future.

We must employ whatever tools and techniques, robotics included, to make the region a better homeland to live, work and play.

Does “play“include Robots? Yes, indeed. Consider this fun VIDEO here. 🙂

Supplemental VIDEO – The “Nutcracker” performed by Dancing Kiva Order Fulfillment Robots: http://youtu.be/Vdmtya8emMw

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————

Appendix – Source References:

2. “‘Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year”. Shop.org.
3. “Fundivo – Cyber Monday Statistics”. Fundivo.
4. “What’s the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?”. Mirror.co.uk. Mirror.co.uk. Nov 28, 2013. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
5. “Pima County in Arizona Replaces Columbus Day with Black Friday”. BestBlackFriday.com. 2013-08-07.
6. “”Fundivo – Black Friday Statistics””. Fundivo.
7. Small Business Saturday Hailed as Success. The Telegraph. 8 December 2013″. Telegraph.co.uk. 8 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
8. Fox, Zoe (October 23, 2012). “6 Inspiring Organizations Joining in #GivingTuesday”. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
9. “#GivingTuesday: About”. Giving Tuesday. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
10. http://www.kivasystems.com/about-us-the-kiva-approach/
11. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2012/03/amazon_buys_warehouse_robotics.html
12. http://www.kivasystems.com/about-us-the-kiva-approach/history/

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How to address high consumer prices

Posted on November 4, 2015 in Economics, Government, Industries, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

The Caribbean is arguably the best address on the planet, but a lot is missing. There are certain aspects of Caribbean life that is hard … and expensive.

Is it only the actuality of islands that make Caribbean life so expensive or are there other dynamics? These issues apply:

The need to import consumer products is a constant feature of island life.
An island is usually more limited with landmass, (sans Australia).
Opportunities for agricultural exploitations may be limited.
Transportation cost is the biggest hurdle, everything must be flown in or shipped in. The low-cost logistics of rail or trucks are irrelevant because of the reality of being surrounded by water.

This high cost of island living is not just a Caribbean issue; the American State of Hawaii has the same issues. Consider the news article in the Appendix below – from September 2013 – describing Hawaii’s plight.

Drawing from that experience, we are able to identify the following challenges consistent with island life … everywhere in the modern world:

Energy Costs – Unless the source of energy is homegrown (think Geo-Thermal Geysers in Iceland) the logistical costs of getting energy to an island is higher than mainland options.
Limited Land – There is competition for the available land on small tropical islands. The laws of supply-and-demand therefore implies that the price would rise with the demand. A higher demand for real estate puts upward pressure on home prices and rentals.
Consumer Prices – The consumer products to satisfy the day-to-day needs of island residence tend to be more expensive due to importation and an increase in transportation costs.
Heightened Corrosion – Islands are surrounded by salt water. There are also consistent trade winds. This is a bad combination for metal fixtures, appliances and equipment. Cars tend to suffer more wear-and-tear on islands compared to the mainlands due to this exposure to salt water on a daily basis.
Healthcare Realities – Healthcare costs are higher in island locales. The infrastructure needed to minimize costs (energy, product pricing) are less optimized on islands. Plus the lower populations affect the actuarial numbers for insurance pools.

This above summary applies equally to life in … the Caribbean. 27 of the 30 Caribbean member-states are islands (sans Belize, Guyana and Suriname) and the residents there have to contend with these hard realities.

One of the Caribbean member-states is the US Virgin Islands territory. Their government officials have been monitoring the foregoing societal factors for higher-than-mainland costs, and have become enraged over one factor: the price of oil/petroleum products. The assertion in this territory is that all that “glitters may not be gold”, something is afoul in the economic equations that result in oil/petroleum pricing. There may be some other factors at play.

See the article here:

Title: USVI to address high consumer prices

ST THOMAS, USVI — The Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs has announced an initiative with the attorney general’s office to take action to bring relief to the consumers of the US Virgin Islands.

“The Department of Licensing and Consumer continues to be concerned with the high prices consumers are paying for essential commodities in the Virgin Islands, especially food and gas,” said Commissioner Devin Carrington.

The commissioner stated that this concern is exacerbated by the fact that, in the past, retailers have justified the prices charged consumers, in part, on the cost of fuel on the world market that affects shipping and transportation costs paid by importers of consumer goods.

“If this is the case, periodic surveys conducted by the department for food and gas prices reflect no appreciable change in the prices paid by consumers for these essential commodities. This is so even though the price of oil per barrel is currently at the lowest it has been in a ten-year period. If fuel costs are lower, prices at the pump and on the shelf should be lower as well,” Carrington said.

Having observed the continuing trend in prices in the US Virgin Islands, despite lower fuel costs, the department has decided to take a more aggressive posture in order to bring relief to the consumers.

“After examination of survey data that may suggest fraudulent manipulation of prices, the department made the decision to enlist the attorney general’s office to launch an investigation into the causes of high consumer prices,” Carrington noted.
Source: Caribbean News Now – Online Magazine – Posted 10/29/2015 from: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-USVI-to-address-high-consumer-prices-28102.html

Welcome to the Caribbean, arguably the best address on the planet; in terms of physical beauty, absolutely yes; but in terms of a home to live, work and play – not so much.

VIDEO – https://youtu.be/q6NKdMjdzpk – Guadeloupe’s sky high prices spoil tropical paradise

Uploaded on Feb 25, 2009 – This report was posted during the impactful 2009 general strike on the French Caribbean island Guadeloupe. One of the protester demands was more help to cope with the high cost of living. This report specifically addresses the outlying island of Marie-Galante where prices are particularly high.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean addresses the issues that makes life in the Caribbean difficult and expensive. Identifying all the challenges of island life above, the book serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) with the strategies, tactics and implementations to optimize Caribbean life. The book details how the CU is chartered with these prime directives to elevate life in the islands:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

So specifically, why does the US Virgin Islands suffer from higher consumer prices with gasoline? Or generally, why is the Caribbean region expected to pay higher prices?

The answer is the same for us as for Hawaii (as depicted in the below Appendix) …

… plus the added burdens of rent-seeking!

In a previous blog/commentary, this bad community ethos of rent-seeking was identified as running contrary to the goal of optimizing the economy. Unfortunately, in the Caribbean the “free market” is not always “free” nor a “market”; sometimes, there are Crony-Capitalistic and monopolistic forces at play.

The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is not just to report on Caribbean failures, but also to project solutions. The book details these 3 initiatives which will be used to impact the high costs of living:

Caribbean Postal Union
Regional Energy Grid
Union Atlantic Turnpike & Pipelines

CPU
To lower the eco-systems for higher costs of living, the Go Lean roadmap introduces the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU). This vision is identified as a model for Caribbean logistics, our means for delivering the mail. But the focus of the book Go Lean…Caribbean and the CPU is not just postal mail, but rather logistics for packages and chattel goods. So the Go Lean/CU/CPU does not model other Postal operations (like the US Postal Service debunked in the book at Page 99), but rather successful enterprise in the logistics industry, like Amazon and Alibaba.

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to change the entire eco-system of Caribbean commerce and logistics, with the interaction with postal operations. Part-and-parcel to this CPU effort is the launch of the social media website www.myCaribbean.gov to bring much of the general public interactions and marketing online. Now island residents can easily order consumer goods online from any merchant (foreign and domestic) and have them delivered… via the CPU. This creates a “great equalizer” for Caribbean life; it brings downward pressure on consumer prices. This vision is defined early in the book (Pages 12 & 14) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

Regional Energy Grid
Fulfilling energy needs is a great target for lean, agile operations, perfect for the CU technocracy. A more technocratic solution would equate to lower energy costs.

This Go Lean/CU roadmap recognizes that modern life has now expanded to include food, clothing, shelter and energy as a basic need. And thusly the book proposes many solutions for the region to optimize energy …

generation – Green options (solar, wind turbines, tidal and natural gas)
distribution – Underwater cables to connect individual islands
consumption – efficient battery back-ups for home deployments.

No “stone is left unturned”. Go Lean posits that the average costs of energy can be decreased from an average of US$0.35/kWh to US$0.088/kWh in the course of the 5-year term of this roadmap; (Page 100). That’s a 75% savings!

Union Atlantic Turnpike & Pipelines
The “Union Atlantic” Turnpike, (modeled after the Union Pacific efforts in the US back in 1862), is a big initiative of the CU to logistically connect all CU member-states for easier transport of goods and passengers. There are many transportation arteries envisioned for the Turnpike: Pipeline, Ferry, Highways, and Railroad. (Imagine a sophisticated network of ferry boats on schedule service to every island).

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that pipelines can be strategic, tactical and operationally efficient for lowering the cost of delivery in the Caribbean region, for energy communities like oil, gas and water. They can also mitigate challenges from Mother Nature, create jobs and grow the economy at the same time. The book purports that a new technology-enhanced industrial revolution is emerging, in which there is more efficiency for installing-monitoring-maintaining pipelines. Caribbean society must participate in these developments, in order to optimize its costs of living. This point is pronounced early in the book with this Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14), with these statements:

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of … pipelines …

There are many best practices around the world for the region to study and from which to glean insight and wisdom. The successful application of this roadmap will foster such best practices to optimize living in the Caribbean and lowering the costs of doing so. The wisdom the Go Lean book gleans are presented as a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies; a detailed sample is listed as follows:

Community Assessment – French Caribbean: Organization and Discord	Page 17
Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 22
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering – Pricing Analysis	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Close the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Embrace the advances of technology	Page 46
Strategy – Mission – Re-boot and Optimize Postal Operations	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Services	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Establish CPU	Page 96
Anecdote – Implementation Plan – Mail Services – US Dilemma	Page 99
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Develop a Pipeline Industry	Page 107
Implementation – Improve Mail Services – Electronic Supplements	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Improve Energy Usage	Page 113
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Cyber Caribbean	Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
Advocacy – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation – Ferries & Pipelines	Page 205
Appendix – Alaska Marine Highway	Page 280
Appendix – Eurotunnel Model – English Channel Tunnel	Page 281

This commentary therefore features the subjects of commerce, logistics and energy. Yet the Go Lean book asserts that the problems of the Caribbean are too big for any one member-state to assuage alone, that rather the requisite investment of the resources (time, talent, treasuries) will require an integrated region-wide, professionally-managed, deputized technocracy to effect greater production and greater accountability.

The Caribbean can do better, even better than the US State of Hawaii. (While Hawaii is 2500 miles from the US mainland, Trinidad is 7 miles from the South American mainland; the Bahama island of Bimini is 50 miles away from Miami, Florida). This new improved infrastructure – described above – awaits deployment. The biggest ingredient missing in the region is the “will” of the people. We hereby urge all in the region to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap.

This is the take-away of this consideration: Ferries, pipelines, tunnels and railways functioning as “blood vessels to connect all the organs” within the region, thus allowing easier transport of goods (ordered online) and people among the islands and the mainland states (Belize, Guyana or Suriname) – at cheaper costs.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to work to make their homeland a better and more affordable place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

Appendix: Living Hawaii – Why Is the Price of Paradise So High?

By: Kery Murakami

Source: http://www.civilbeat.com/2013/09/19815-living-hawaii-why-is-the-price-of-paradise-so-high/; posted September 4, 2013; retrieved October 30, 2015

So this is paradise. Palm trees sway in the trade winds that take the edge off the late-summer sun. Nearby, tanned bodies glisten on the sand.

Cabbie Lam Lu sits at the entrance of the parking garage at the AlaMoanaCenter shopping mall, overworked and stressed out as he awaits a fare. Lu is parked outside Foodland. Inside the supermarket, an advertisement shows two smiling girls eating hamburgers. Maybe they shouldn’t be so happy. The store’s pack of hamburger buns goes for $5.59, almost $3 more than it costs at a similar market in Washington, D.C. Do the kids want to wash it down with some milk? That’s another $3.69 per quart, which is nearly double the $1.88 it costs in the nation’s capital.

Yes, we know it is pricey here. Cars run on the most expensive gas in the nation, at $4.35 a gallon on a recent day. Our shopping centers and our homes use electricity that’s twice as expensive per kilowatt hour as the next costliest state, Alaska. We have to earn more per hour than Californians and New Yorkers to afford a two-bedroom home. Hawaii actually has the ninth highest median income in the nation, at $59,605. That sounds great to many people on the mainland, but when the cost of living is factored in, Hawaii slides down to the 21st highest median income. And we pay more for goods and services than residents of any other state.

And, as we all know, the list goes on. It is why we work so hard, skimp so much.

All of which is why Lu looks so glum. He doesn’t surf. He doesn’t hang out at the beach. To make ends meet, he drives his cab 12 hours per day, seven days a week. For every $100 he makes in fares, $15 of it goes for gas.

“No time for paradise,” he said.

Does It Have to be This Way?

In an ongoing series, Civil Beat will examine the reasons behind the high cost of living and how it affects Hawaii’s submerged middle class. How come life is so expensive here? Why is food — including our beloved Spam — so pricey? Should rentals and real estate around the islands really compare with world-class cities like San Francisco and New York City? And why do we pay so much just to sit at home with the lights on?

It all adds up to the price of paradise, the phrase coined by University of Hawaii law professor Randy Roth in two best-selling books by that name that he edited and co-authored in the early 1990s. And it affects every aspect of our lives, at every stage from childhood to parenthood and beyond, to our final days in some of the costliest nursing homes in the country.

We’ve heard the explanations. Many people accept it because we are on our archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 2,500 miles from the West Coast ports that so much of our stuff ships through. There is a set amount of real estate on the islands, and there is competition for how it is used, which puts intense pressure on farmers, home renters and buyers. Some locals blame tourist-generated inflation. Others wonder who is getting rich — and maybe profiteering — off of our vulnerabilities. Others point at unions, a lack of competition, our small consumer market, high taxes.

So, what can be done to bring down the cost of living here? What are the actual costs — of shipping, of transportation, of labor, of regulation. We look forward to breaking them down.

We’ll also look at what political and economic interests are standing in the way of making Hawaii more affordable and how the islands might remake themselves politically and economically to improve residents’ quality of life.

As part of this, we want to hear from you about your experiences. What sorts of things do you question the cost of? What everyday products have inexplicably high price tags? What do you want to know about, what have you sacrificed to live here and what do you

In the meantime, here are some facts of life in our islands:

— Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the nation, according to a U.S. Commerce Department Bureau of Economic Analysis report in June. The cost of living is 16 percent higher than the national average. (Second place goes to New York.)

— A single person can earn as much as $54,850 and qualify for housing assistance on Oahu. For a family of four, the cut-off is $78,300, according to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority. In most of the country, those would be comfortably middle-class incomes.

— We spend more on housing. Based on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data, the National Low Income Housing Coalition says the median cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment in Hawaii is $1,671 a month. That’s not just the highest nationally, it is about 71 percent more than the national average of $977.

Based on the HUD standard that families shouldn’t spend more than a third of their income on housing, the coalition calculated what hourly wage people around the country would have to earn to afford such an apartment. Hawaii again earned the dubious rank of No. 1. A resident here would have to earn the most: $32.14, compared with a national average of $25.25 per hour.

— A 2013 report by the Center for Housing Policy found that Honolulu was the fifth most expensive city for home buyers. The average income necessary to own one, according to the center, is $115,949.

— Similarly, the people of Hawaii pay the highest electricity rates at 37 cents per kilowatt hour, triple the national average of 12 cents per kilowatt hour, according to the the US. Energy Information Agency. That translates into bills that are two, three or even four times those in other states. While rates can fluctuate quickly around the country, Hawaii residents are currently spending $60 per month more than people in Alabama, the state with the next highest monthly bill (even though Alabamans pay much lower per-kilowatt rates than residents of some states).

— The cost of having a car (insurance, gas, maintenance, depreciation, etc.) is the eighth highest in the nation here in Hawaii. A study last year by Edmunds.com, a car pricing website, estimated that Hawaii drivers will have to spend $52,683 on their cars over the next five years, which is about $3,000 more than the national average. Hawaii cars also depreciate the fastest in the nation, by $16,809 over a five-year period. We also pay the most interest to finance a vehicle, $4,084, and the gas bill for those five years, $15,822, is also the highest in the nation.

— Food costs more. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates the differences in cost around the country to determine the size of food stamp benefits, and has found that food prices in Hawaii are 70 percent more than the national average. According to the USDA’s calculations, a family of four with young children nationally should be able to eat on a “thrifty” food budget of $373 per month. In Hawaii, it would cost the same family $632 for the same meals.

— We have to work more. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6.2 percent of Hawaii workers have more than one job, compared to only 4.9 percent nationally.

An Age-Old Problem

There are those who say don’t worry. Be happy. Lucky you live Hawaii. But others note there are real impacts. Even for a middle-class that manages to scrape by, the cost of paradise often catches up to us late in life.

Bruce Bottorff, spokesman for the Hawaii chapter of the AARP, says that high prices have made it hard for most people to save for the day when they need help to live. “Most adult families have mortgages and rent, transportation, food and beverage costs, health care. And when you have all these costs, it makes it difficult to set aside an additional sum of money for an eventuality down the road. People take care of their immediate needs,” he said.

As a result, the AARP’s annual survey of Hawaii residents over 50 years old last year found that three in four said they did not want to rely on families and friends to take care of them in their old age, but more than half said they had no real plan for how they’d afford elderly care when they need it. (They acknowledged that they probably would have to rely on their families and friends.)

No wonder Tony Lenzer and his family have been feeling plenty of pressure. Lenzer, 83, said he had to put his wife, Joan, in a care home this year because she suffers from a variety of health problems, including dementia. Their children had taken turns helping Tony take care of his wife at home. But they couldn’t anymore. “We couldn’t keep her safe. She’s too frail,” he said.

They were among the (relatively) lucky ones because they bought long-term care health insurance that covers most of the nearly $9,500-a-month cost, Lenzer explained.

If they hadn’t, she would not have been able to afford the care home, Lenzer said. “I think it would be a very difficult situation. We would have to rely on family members, possibly friends, possibly neighbors to help out with the care. And even then we wouldn’t have been available for her 24/7.”

Old, with dementia, and needing your neighbor to bathe you.

Paradise.

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Robots help Amazon tackle Cyber Monday

Posted on December 3, 2014 in Economics, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

To understand American commerce, one must learn the BIG shopping “days of the week” – Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, as follows:

Black Friday – This is the Friday following the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the US (the fourth Thursday of November). Since the early 2000’s, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, and most major retailers open very early and offer promotional sales. Black Friday is not a public holiday, but some states observe “The Day After Thanksgiving” as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday such as Columbus Day.^[5] Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the day after off, followed by a weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. In 2014, $50.9 billion was spent during the 4-day Black Friday weekend. While approximately 133 million U.S. consumers shopped during the same period.^[6]
Small Business Saturday – This refers to the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed in 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick-and-mortar businesses that are small and local. Small Business Saturday is a registered trademark of American Express Corporation. Small Business Saturday UK began in the UK in 2013 after the success of Small Business Saturday in America.^[7]
Cyber Monday – This is a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday. The term was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online. The term made its debut on November 28, 2005, in a Shop.org press release entitled “‘Cyber Monday Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year”.^[2] According to the Shop.org/Bizrate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, “77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)”. In 2014, Cyber Monday online sales grew to a record $2.68 billion, compared with last year’s $2.29 billion. However, the average order value was $124, down slightly from 2013’s $128.^[3] The deals on Cyber Monday are online-only and generally offered by smaller retailers that cannot compete with the big retailers. Black Friday generally offers better deals on technology; with nearly 85% more data storage deals than Cyber Monday. The past Black Fridays saw far more deals for small appliances, cutlery, and kitchen gadgets on average than Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is larger for fashion retail. On the past two Cyber Mondays, there was an average of 45% more clothing deals than on Black Friday. There were also 50% more shoe deals on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday.^[4] Cyber Monday has become an international marketing term used by online retailers in Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Uganda, Japan, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Giving Tuesday – refers to the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It is a movement to create a national day of giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the “92nd Street Y” (Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association in New York, NY) and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).^[8][9] This occasion is often stylized as #GivingTuesday for purposes of hashtag activism.

That’s a lot of commerce … and philanthropy too!

VIDEO: Robots help Amazon tackle Cyber Monday – http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/robots-help-amazon-tackle-cyber-monday/

December 1, 2014 – Cyber Monday is the biggest sales day of the year for online retail giant, Amazon. Last year, Amazon customers ordered 426 items every second on Cyber Monday, and this year that number is expected to grow. In addition to the 80-thousand seasonal workers they employ to fulfill orders, thousands of robots also crawl the warehouse floors. CNET.com’s KaraTsuboi takes us inside an Amazon fulfillment center to watch the robots in action. (VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

Lean, automation, robotics, technocratic …

… welcome to the new Caribbean.

Related issues have previously been detailed in these Go Lean commentaries listed here:

Disney World – Successful Role Model of a SGE

Using SGE’s to Welcome the Dreaded ‘Plutocracy’

Where the Jobs Are – Ship-breaking under SGE Structure

Fairgrounds as SGE and Landlords for Sports Leagues

Puerto Rico’s Comprehensive Cancer Center Project Breaks Ground – Model of Medical SGE

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The CPU features economic, security and governing concerns.

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Strategy – Customers – Citizens and Member-states Governmental	Page 47
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Services	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Establish CPU	Page 96
Anecdote – Implementation Plan – Mail Services – US Dilemma	Page 99
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Improve Mail Services – Electronic Supplements	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy –Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Call Centers	Page 212
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234

We must employ whatever tools and techniques, robotics included, to make the region a better homeland to live, work and play.

Does “play“include Robots? Yes, indeed. Consider this fun VIDEO here. 🙂

Supplemental VIDEO – The Nutcracker performed by Dancing Kiva Order Fulfillment Robots: http://youtu.be/Vdmtya8emMw

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————–

Appendix – Source References:

2.    “‘Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year”. Shop.org.
3.    “Fundivo – Cyber Monday Statistics”. Fundivo.
4.    “What’s the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?”. Mirror.co.uk. Mirror.co.uk. Nov 28, 2013. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
5.    “Pima County in Arizona Replaces Columbus Day with Black Friday”. BestBlackFriday.com. 2013-08-07.
6.    “”Fundivo – Black Friday Statistics””. Fundivo.
7.    Small Business Saturday Hailed as Success. The Telegraph. 8 December 2013″. Telegraph.co.uk. 8 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
8.   Fox, Zoe (October 23, 2012). “6 Inspiring Organizations Joining in #GivingTuesday”. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
9.    “#GivingTuesday: About”. Giving Tuesday. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
10. http://www.kivasystems.com/about-us-the-kiva-approach/
11.   http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2012/03/amazon_buys_warehouse_robotics.html
12. http://www.kivasystems.com/about-us-the-kiva-approach/history/

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Role Model Jack Ma brings Alibaba to America

Posted on October 2, 2014 in Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The Chinese company Alibaba Group is another model for the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU): our logistics solution for delivering the mail … and modern commerce – 21st Century trade – to the Caribbean region.

The US Postal Service (USPS) is not the model for the Caribbean. The book Go Lean…Caribbean describes the USPS as a failing enterprise (Page 99). Alibaba, on the other hand, just went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), raising $25 Billion in the first week.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a publicly traded Hangzhou-based group of Internet-based e-commerce businesses, including business-to-business online web portals, online retail and payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services. The group began in 1999 when Jack Ma founded the website Alibaba.com, a business-to-business portal to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. In 2012, two of Alibaba’s portals handled 1.1 trillion yuan ($170 Billion) in sales.^[13] The company primarily operates in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and at closing time, on the date of its historic initial public offering (IPO), 19 September 2014, Alibaba’s market value was measured as US$231 Billion.^[14]. Analysts says that performance marketing will play a key role in meeting the financial markets’ expectations of such market valuation ^[15]

In September 2013, the company sought an IPO in the United States after a deal could not be reached with Hong Kong regulators.^[16] Planning occurred over 12 months before the company’s market debut in September 2014. The NYSE Alibaba ticker symbol is “BABA.N”, while the pricing of the IPO initially raised US$21.8 billion,^[17][14] which later increased to US$25 billion, making it the largest IPO in history.^[18] However, buyers weren’t purchasing actual shares in the group, since China forbids foreign ownership, but rather just shares in a Cayman Islands shell corporation.^[19]

Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao Marketplace, similar to US-based eBay.com, features nearly a billion products and is one of the 20 most-visited websites globally. The Group’s websites accounted for over 60% of the parcels delivered in China by March 2013,^[13] and 80% of the nation’s online sales by September 2014.^[14] Alipay, an online payment escrow service, accounts for roughly half of all online payment transactions within China.^[20]

Alipay.com is a third-party online payment platform with no transaction fees.^[1] It was launched in China in 2004 by Alibaba Group and its founder Jack Ma. According to analyst research report, Alipay has the biggest market share in China with 300 million users and control of just under half of China’s online payment market in February 2014. According to Credit Suisse, the total value of online transactions in China grew from an insignificant size in 2008 to around RMB 4 trillion (US$660 billion) in 2012.^[2]

Alipay provides an escrow service, in which consumers can verify whether they are happy with goods they have bought before releasing money to the seller. This service was offered for what the company says are China’s weak consumer protection laws, which have reduced consumer confidence in C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) and even B2C (Business-to-Consumer) quality control.

The company says Alipay operates with more than 65 financial institutions including Visa and MasterCard^[3] to provide payment services for Taobao and Tmall as well as more than 460,000 Chinese businesses. Internationally, more than 300 worldwide merchants use Alipay to sell directly to consumers in China. It currently supports transactions in 12 foreign currencies.

The payment methods are MasterCard, Visa, Boleto Bancário, Transferência Bancária, Maestro, WebMoney, and QIWI Кошелек as of May 2014.^[4]

The PBOC (People’s Bank of China), China’s central bank, issued licensing regulations in June 2010 for third-party payment providers. It also issued separate guidelines for foreign-funded payment institutions. Because of this, Alipay, which accounts for half of China’s non-bank online payment market, was restructured as a domestic company controlled by Alibaba CEO Jack Ma in order to facilitate the regulatory approval for the license.^[5] The 2010 transfer of Alipay’s ownership was controversial, with media reports in 2011 that Yahoo! and Softbank (Alibaba Group’s controlling shareholders) were not informed of the sale for nominal value. Chinese business publications Century Weekly criticised Ma, who stated that Alibaba Group’s board of directors was aware of the transaction.^[6] The incident was criticized in foreign and Chinese media as harming foreign trust in making Chinese investments.^[7] The ownership dispute was resolved by Alibaba Group, Yahoo!, and Softbank in July 2011.^[8]

In 2013 Alipay launched a financial product platform called Yu’ebao.^[9] As of June 2013 the company still had what it called “a minor paperwork problem” with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, but the company said that they planned to expand the product while these are sorted out.^[10]Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia – Retrieved October 2, 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alipay

Source References:

Zhe, Sun (Jan 2012). “From Stall to Mall”. News China.

John Watling (14 February 2014). “China’s Internet Giants Lead in Online Finance”. The Financialist. Credit Suisse. Retrieved 15 February 2014.

“About Alipay”. Alipay. Retrieved 10 October 2013.

https://alipay.alibaba.com/checkout.htm (free registration required)

Wang, Shanshan (27 May 2011). “Alipay Awarded Third-Party Payment License”. Caixin Online.

“How Jack Ma’s Mistake Damaged China’s Market”. Caixin Online. 14 June 2011.

“Jack Ma Talks To China Entrepreneur Magazine About The Alipay Case (UPDATED)”. DigiCha. 6 July 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2013.

Rusli, Evelyn M. (29 July 2011). “Yahoo and Alibaba Resolve Dispute Over Alipay”. DealBook.

Chohan, Usman W. “Financial Innovation in China: Alibaba’s Leftover Treasure – 余额宝”. McGillUniversity. Retrieved 14 May 2014.

Hsu, Alex (27 June 2013). “Alipay’s Issue with CSRC Only a Paperwork Problem; Alipay Will Continue to Expand Yu E Bao”. BrightWire News.

Alibaba’s 2013 revenues amounted to USD 7.5 billion^[11] with 22,000 employees (March 2014).^[^12]This Alibaba model relates to the Caribbean in so many ways, including the fact that it is a Cayman Islands incorporated business entity.

If the CPU can duplicate some of Alibaba’s success, that would be a win-win. The focus of the CPU is not just postal mail, but rather logistics. Alibaba does so much more than just sell Chinese manufactured goods online, it facilitates a complete eco-system for Small-Medium-Enterprises (SME’s) to thrive: finding customers for their wares and collecting payments. (The end result is the generation of $170 billion in commerce). We need that functionality in the Caribbean. Alibaba is therefore a good model, not just for the CPU but the entire Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The book Go Lean…Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic CU.

Alibaba was the brainchild of just one person, Jack Ma.

This VIDEO demonstrates an additional theme from the Go Lean book, that one person can make a difference in transforming society:

VIDEO: CBS News 60 Minutes – (Posted 09-28-2014) –
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alibaba-chairman-jack-ma-brings-company-to-america/

(VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

Jack Ma and Alibaba have greatly impacted Chinese society, elevating the economic engines. This result synchronizes with the Go Lean roadmap for elevating Caribbean society. The CU will employ technologically innovative products and services to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

Email and text messages have replaced “snail” mail in advanced economy countries for personal written communications. Electronic Bill Presentation & Payments (EBP&P) schemes are transforming business-to-consumer interactions, and electronic funds transfer/electronic commerce is the norm for payments. So ICT must be a prominent feature of any Caribbean empowerment plan. This is why creating the CPU and the Caribbean Cloud is “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. This is the by-product of assembling regional organs into a single entity with multilateral cooperation and a separation-of-powers (Page 71). The roadmap also includes establishment of the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB), as a cooperative among existing Central Banks, and its facilitation of electronic payments schemes so as to enable the region’s foray into electronic commerce and trade marketplaces, as depicted with the Alibaba/Alipay model in the foregoing article and VIDEO.

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the best practices for the delivery of the CPU and trade marketplaces in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequence of Choice Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – How to Grow the Economy to $800 Billion – ‘East Asian Tigers’ Model	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Services	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Establish CPU	Page 96
Implementation – Anecdote – Mail Services – US Dilemma	Page 99
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change – Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO)	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Optimize Mail Service & myCaribbean.gov Marketplace	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade – GPO’s	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Black Markets	Page 165
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Anecdote – Caribbean Industrialist – Role Model Butch Stewart	Page 189
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Incubators Strategy	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street	Page 200
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201

According to the foregoing article, trade business models can be very successful as a strategy to grow the regional economy. Increased trade will undoubtedly mean increased job opportunities. The CU/CPU/CCB/Go Lean plan is to foster and incubate key industries for this goal, incorporating many of the best practices as related in the foregoing article and VIDEO; imagine a Caribbean-based marketplace – www.myCaribbean.gov – with 150 million subscribers (Page 74). Alibaba is now worth over US$231 Billion, though it is a recent start-up. This is a role model for the CU/CPU/CCB/Go Lean roadmap to follow, a methodical start-up with technocratic efficiency.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———————————

Appendix – Commentary References:

11. “Ali Group’s revenue in 2011 amounted to $ 2.8 billion over 40% profit margin”. Sohu.com – Chinese Internet Search Engine . Retrieved 2012-06-07 from: http://it.sohu.com/20120607/n344991768.shtml.

12. “Alibaba group FAQs”. Retrieved 2012-06-07 from: http://www.alibabagroup.com/en/about/faqs.

13. “E-commerce in China: The Alibaba phenomenon”. The Economist. Retrieved 23 March 2013 from: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573981-chinas-e-commerce-giant-could-generate-enormous-wealthprovided-countrys-rulers-leave-it.

14. Lianna B. Baker, Jessica Toonkel, Ryan Vlastelica (19 September 2014). “Alibaba surges 38 percent on massive demand in market debut“. Reuters. Retrieved 20 September 2014 from: .

15. “How Alibaba can double sales“. Retrieved 30 September 2014.

16. “U.S. to get coveted Alibaba IPO after Hong Kong talks founder“. Reuters. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2013 from: .

17. “IPO launch of Alibaba pushed back by a week“. China National News. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.

18. Picker, Leslie; Chen, Lulu Yilun (22 September 2014). “Alibaba’s Banks Boost IPO Size to Record of $25 Billion“. Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 September 2014.

19. Solomon, Steven Davidoff (May 6, 2014). “Alibaba Investors Will Buy a Risky Corporate Structure“. New York Times (Dealbook blog).

20. “Alibaba: The world’s greatest bazaar“. The Economist. Retrieved 23 March 2013.

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[Top]

Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone

Posted on June 20, 2014 in Government, Implementation

Go Lean Commentary

The American company Amazon is the model for the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU): our means for delivering the mail.

This is surprising! One would think the American model would be the US Postal Service (USPS). No, the book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that the USPS is a failing enterprise, as of late; they lose money every year, have excessively high overhead expense base and an under-funded pension (Page 99). Why would anyone want to model that?

The focus of the CPU is not postal mail, but rather logistics. So we would want to model a successful enterprise in this industry space, like Amazon, not just another postal operation.

But Amazon does so much more than just sell books online. They are the epitome of an electronic commerce company. They operate a number of business operations online and off-line; and they run these companies well. They provide a good example of lean technocratic efficiency. So Amazon is a good model, not just for the CPU but the entire Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The book Go Lean…Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic CU.

This concept of “lean” is very prominent in the book, even adapting the title, Go Lean, for the quest for excellence in Caribbean economic empowerment and governing efforts. The label “lean” is indicative of this quest; the word is used as a noun, a verb and an adjective. This point is pronounced early in the book (Page 4) with these statements:

The CU will lean on, lean in, lean over backwards, and then lean towards…The CU will embrace lean, agile, efficient organization structures – more virtual, less physical, more systems, less payroll.

The foregoing news article and VIDEO demonstrate Amazon’s commitment to a lean business model with their deployment of a proprietary smartphone.

By: Keith Wagstaff, Technology Reporter
The long-rumored Amazon smartphone was officially unveiled Wednesday and, yes, it has a 3-D screen. Well, technically Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos called it “dynamic perspective,” but it gives the new Fire Phone the illusion of depth with no glasses required thanks to four face-tracking cameras built into the front of the phone. While it features a 4.7-inch Gorilla Glass screen, users don’t necessarily have to touch the screen, thanks to controls that let people scroll through pages by tilting the phone. It also unveiled a service called Firefly, which makes it easier to buy items on Amazon by scanning and recognizing more “100 million different items” including books, movies and other products. The Fire Phone (32 GB), which ships July 25, is available now for pre-order for $199 with a two-year AT&T contract.

NBC News / CNBC – Cable News Channel (Posted 06-18-2014; retrieved 06/19/2014) –http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/amazon-unveils-new-3-d-fire-smartphone-n134561

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From the first glance, a benefit of the Fire smartphone is obvious for Amazon’s core business^[a]. A consumer can scan “more than 100 million different items” and process a direct purchase directly from the phone – any electronic media would be delivered instantly to the phone, while a chattel good would be delivered within days, using Amazon’s already matured logistics network. Evidently, the execution of this business model requires hardware (smartphone) and not just some software (app).

This is win-win.

This entire model demonstrates the advantage of leading with technological innovations, even for non-technical endeavors.

This synchronizes with the Go Lean roadmap for elevating Caribbean society. The CU will employ technologically innovative products and services to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The book posits that the Caribbean is in crisis, but that this crisis can be a good thing because a “crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. Therefore the roadmap seeks to change the entire eco-system of Caribbean commerce and the interaction with postal operations. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12 & 14) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

This roadmap changes everything … in the Caribbean:

The CPU will be the owner/operator of the Caribbean Cloud web-site dubbed as myCaribbean.gov.
The CPU will operate a marketplace (like EBay or Amazon.com) to facilitate business transactions for Caribbean-based businesses and consumers (in the homeland or the Diaspora).
The CPU will provide mobile apps to facilitate contact & commerce within the region, modeling this Amazon FIRE feature.
The CPU will provide logistics to deliver products (“wet and dry”) to every Caribbean address.
The CPU will be the owner/operator of the cutting-edge network planned for pneumatic capsule pipelines in the region.
The CPU will own/operate refrigerated warehouses throughout the region, to distribute “wet” merchandise to destinations.
The CPU will be the Number One client for the Union Atlantic Turnpike, providing the cargo/parcels on the vessels (ferries, etc.) and thoroughways/tollways/railways built to inter-connect the islands of the homeland and the coastal states.

Creating the CPU and the Caribbean Cloud is “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. This is the by-product of assembling regional organs with multilateral cooperation and a separation-of-powers. The roadmap identifies Service Level Agreements (SLA) that the CPU will adhere to in fulfilling the obligations to its stakeholders: residents and member-state governments. There will be financial penalties for failures to deliver “absolutely, positive” at the agreed-upon schedule. This is how technocracies are structured. The guarantee forms the community ethos that success is not optional!

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the best practices for the delivery of CPU logistics in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Strategy – Customers – Citizens and Member-states Governmental	Page 47
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Services	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Establish CPU	Page 96
Anecdote – Implementation Plan – Mail Services – US Dilemma	Page 99
Implementation – Ways to Develop a Pipeline Industry	Page 107
Implementation – Improve Mail Services – Electronic Supplements	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Call Centers	Page 212
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living	Page 235
Appendix – Alternative Remittance Modes	Page 270
Appendix – Interstate Compacts	Page 278

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the changes in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a big deal for the region. This roadmap is not just a plan; it is also the delivery of the hopes and dreams of generations of Caribbean residents…and their Diaspora.

The region needs this delivery. Otherwise, we have no hope to incite and retain our young people. This roadmap therefore is more than just delivering the mail; it is about delivering the future: a better place to live, work and play.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

a. Appendix – Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is an American international electronic commerce company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world’s largest online retailer. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, VHSs, CDs, video and MP3 downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. The company also produces consumer electronics—notably the Fire Phone, Amazon Kindle e-book reader and the Kindle Fire tablet computer—and is a major provider of cloud computing services.

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO, incorporated the company (as Cadabra) in July 1994 and the site went online as Amazon.com in 1995. Bezos changed the name cadabra.com to amazon.com because it sounded too much like cadaver. Additionally, a name beginning with “A” was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized.

Amazon has separate retail websites for United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sri Lanka, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India and Mexico soon coming soon, other South East Asian countries, with international shipping to certain other countries for some of its products. In 2011, it had professed an intention to launch its websites in Poland, Netherlands, and Sweden, as well. An Austrian website operates as part of the German website. As of June 2014, it still does not service Australia or New Zealand.

According to 2008 data, the domain amazon.com attracted at least 615 million visitors annually, twice the number of competitor Walmart. Amazon attracts approximately 65 million customers to its US website per month. The company has also invested heavily on a massive amount of server capacity for its website, especially to handle the excessive traffic during the December Christmas holiday season.

For 2013, Amazon posted revenues of US$ 74.45 Billion; profit of US$ 745 million (before taxes) and US$ 274.0 million after taxes. They have 117,300 employees, as of January 2014.

Multi-level sales strategy – Amazon employs a multi-level e-commerce strategy. Amazon started off by focusing on Business-to-Consumer relationships between itself and its customers, and Business-to-Business relationships between itself and its suppliers but it then moved to incorporate Customer-to-Business transactions as it realized the value of customer reviews as part of the product descriptions. It now also facilitates customer to customer with the provision of the Amazon marketplace which act as an intermediary to facilitate consumer to consumer transactions. The company lets almost anyone sell almost anything using its platform. In addition to affiliate program that lets anybody post Amazon links and earn a commission on click through sales, there is now a program which let those affiliates builds entire websites based on Amazon’s platform.

Some other large e-commerce sellers use Amazon to sell their products in addition to selling them through their own websites. The sales are processed through Amazon.com and end up at individual sellers for processing and order fulfillment and Amazon leases space for these retailers. Small sellers of used and new goods go to Amazon Marketplace to offer goods at a fixed price. Amazon also employs the use of drop shippers or meta sellers. These are members or entities that advertise goods on Amazon who order these goods direct from other competing websites but usually from other Amazon members. These meta sellers may have millions of products listed, have large transaction numbers and are grouped alongside other less prolific members giving them credibility as just someone who has been in business for a long time. Markup is anywhere from 50% to 100% and sometimes more. [A disadvantage is that] these sellers maintain that items are in stock when the opposite may be true. As Amazon has increased their dominance in the marketplace these drop shippers have become more and more commonplace in recent years. [There is a fear that this practice will result in] damage to a supply and demand marketplace, but this remains to be seen, as advertising contracts with large search engines have eliminated smaller websites from overall exposure. So these practices have not had a negative effect on the industry as a whole.

Revenue model – Over the last decade, Amazon has developed a customer base of around 30 million people. Amazon.com is primarily a retail site with a sales revenue model. Amazon makes its money by taking a small percentage of the sale price of each item that is sold through its website. Amazon also allows companies to advertise their products by paying to be listed as featured products.
(Source: Retrieved 06/19/2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com)

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