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Imagine a network of 40 people as a lever with a potential global
impact comparable to creating a new company the size of Microsoft - every
year. |
See : The
Meaning of Our Logo
About Us -
Structure (graphics) Thought Leaders |
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What is the present value of adding 100,000 man-years of
productivity every year for decades? |
Differences in growth rates lead to exponential and
unsustainable gaps in prosperity over time. |
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There are thousands of major capital investment projects
worldwide per year. For simplicity, assume there are 2000 projects for new
business locations in the United States which create an average of 100 new
jobs Suppose further that it takes 9 - 12 months on average to
select and negotiate the deal for a new location, rather than 3 - 6 months
with good professional assistance. These are not random numbers - we
have specialized in this market for many years. For example, see our
1999 -2005
analysis of project distribution in the US. There may be other
potential to shorten the timeline and lower the project costs or improve the
expected return on investment between the start of planning work and the
eventual start of operations at the new location, but let's just assume that 6
months of delay can be saved. After dealing with thousands of such corporate project
plans over many years, this seems very realistic. Projects routinely
take 6 months longer (or more) than executives anticipate at first. |
Consider the Berlin Wall (1961-1989) as a social experiment.
Communities on both sides were very similar fifteen years before it was
built. Both were devastated by war. The differences in economic
development choices and actions taken by governments and individuals created
two very different business environments. The
capital investment and business growth in the West greatly exceeded growth
in the East - year after year. The exponential difference in compound
growth rates soon became socially unsustainable. Talent was being lost
from East to West. The leaders in the East and many academics argued
vigorously that their economic and political system was more "fair" and
"just". The results of the experiment, however, do not support that
flawed hypothesis. |
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The math is simple. 2000 projects x 100 jobs = 200,000
new jobs per year. If it takes 6 months too long to create those new
jobs, that means 100,000 man years of productivity are lost forever.
Such waste is rarely measured because it is in the lost opportunity to earn a higher ROI
by achieving growth goals faster and with less risk.
Each company just grows more slowly, and those 200,000 people scattered
around the country are needlessly
unemployed for six months too long, rather than being productive and achieving an even
greater impact because of their multiplier effect on communities, suppliers,
families, etc. because every job created affects others to some degree.
There are also other risks of waste in the
project planning and implementation process. Nobody likes to think
about the risks and costs of project failure, but that risk is very real in
any new business venture. Those risks can be reduced. |
The government in the East built the Wall to try to stop
people from voting with their feet to flee to a more prosperous West.
Ordinary people continued to risk being shot to escape from the East with
nothing more than they could carry in the attempt. Most, however,
either accepted the logic of their leaders, or assumed that change was
impossible or not worth the personal risks involved. They stayed and
tried to make the system work as best they could. Bright people worked
hard.
Within less than thirty years, the economic disparities were
so great that the people brought down the whole system of government that had
built and defended the Wall, rather than just breaking down the Wall. It wasn't the West that
destroyed the Wall. It was social collapse in the East.
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It is hard to achieve sustainable prosperity, or even more
limited sustainable development goals, if an inefficient process for capital investment projects means that perhaps far more than 100,000 man
years are being wasted forever - every year - in the United States alone. That impact soon adds up to millions
of jobs. By contrast, how many top professionals
does it take to help connect the 2000 project teams quickly and easily with
people who can help them to develop their projects faster and better?
Like an independent concierge, they aren't supposed to be the service provider. They
find and introduce the
best ones they know for specific needs, just as a concierge doesn't try to run every restaurant
or service in town to which a referral may be made, or refer everyone to the
same places. A concierge consistently makes valuable introductions by
understanding what the customer is seeking and applying valuable market
knowledge and contacts in response. |
The compound effect over time is exponential as
investment choices are made each year.
Business investment has the power to transform societies
through the freedom of individuals to choose how to invest in their dreams
of a better future for themselves and their families, however they may
define their dreams of better futures.
That is what defines
sustainable prosperity in the context of a specific community.
There may be very different expectations and priorities between communities,
even in the same culture or country, but business is how people work
together to advance both their personal and community prosperity.
Business investment is a major driver of social progress because businesses
are teams of people working together efficiently to achieve valued results.
A successful
business has a multiplier effect far beyond the jobs created directly within
the company. The success affects employees, suppliers, customers,
families, and
many others. |
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Clearly 40 people assisting only 1 major project per week could
soon
change the world.
40 people x 50 projects per year = 2500 projects x 100 jobs =
200,000 new jobs supported.
If that speeds up those projects by 3 months, that's 50,000
man years of productivity gained.
That's an average of 1,250 man years of productivity gained
for each of those 40 professionals.
To put this example another way, the gain of 50,000 man years
of productivity is like creating another company the size of Microsoft
every year, year after year. Or Dell, Cisco Systems, Oracle,
Medtronic, etc. Every year. It's just spread
around in lots of projects, so the impact isn't so obvious - except to those
who have supported hundreds of such projects..
The 40 people in this example obviously aren't responsible
for all that impact - but they can provide the leverage of global and local
networks of market knowledge and valuable contacts to help make it happen.
The impact is created by those 2000 growing companies achieving their ROI
goals at a faster pace than otherwise expected. The 2000 companies are
what changes the world. The 40 professionals just provide the unique
leverage of global networks to help the companies succeed faster as a
unique resource to share valuable market knowledge and contacts with executives as they face complex investment decisions
anywhere. |
Are the numbers at left realistic? Is such leverage
possible? The founder of GDI Solutions and the
GDI Forum, Bruce Donnelly, performed marketing work for a decade for a
British regional development agency and for the global site selection
consultants of PricewaterhouseCoopers. (Biographic profile - at
OnTheShortList.com or
GDI-Solutions.com )
This typically involved support of more than 100 projects
per year through meetings with the key executives at their companies, as
well as contact with hundreds of others about their interests.
Many other professionals in this field have also proven
their capabilities to do this. Because they just promote one place or
service, however, they don't achieve such leverage. Instead, they have
to discard most of the project "leads" they find, because the investor
doesn't need the specific service or business location which they are
promoting at the time. |
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We know what doesn't work. We need to do less of it.
Communities and service providers invest many millions of dollars every year
trying to arouse the interest of executives in their own services through
advertising, events, telemarketing, PR, and many other promotional activities.
Much of that delivers very low value - like buying millions of lottery
tickets and then getting excited about announcing every small winner while
ignoring all the losses.
There are also many countries which have demonstrably
achieved sustainable poverty. Some are trying to change that outcome.
Others inexplicably remain committed to similar paths to sustain great misery,
instead of learning from what fails and what works..
The GDI Forum and Foundation can create a far more efficient
channel to connect top executives with the services and shared market
knowledge, contacts, and experience they need to develop and implement
capital investment plans rapidly, when and where they need them. This
impact can be achieved within months and years - not decades from now.
The impact of 20 to 50 top professionals with strong networks
of contacts in key markets worldwide is that they can find and support
thousands of investment projects per year, yielding a huge social benefit.
The speed of success of thousands of projects every year matters.
The world needs to create tens of millions of
productive and sustainable new jobs every year - year after year - because
the lives of billions of people depend on it.
Capital investment by business of all sizes is the
driver of global and local social change of this magnitude.
Governments won't make that result happen. They have a role, but they
don't drive the growth process. They can add or destroy economic
value. Their choices have great social consequences over time through
the exponential impact of gaps in growth rates. |
We know what works. We need to do more of it.
Faster and better.
The exact numbers in the hypothetical example at left are
largely immaterial, because the waste is so great that the cost - benefit
relationship is intuitively obvious. One cannot reliably predict how
much can be saved, and one cannot control how quickly executives will move
forward with their plans once they have the information and contacts to take critical
investment decisions.
A faster process, however, can
also minimize the risk of missed market opportunities that might otherwise
jeopardize the expected ROI as nimble competitors around the world also move faster.
In many cultures, personal business and social networks are fundamental to
success. That may position such cultures to achieve great leverage
through technology to enhance traditional social and business networks as a
new generation of leaders matures which takes the Internet, e-mail, wireless
communications, and instant messaging or other new technologies for granted.
The potential to achieve sustainable prosperity through
global business has never been greater. It is in our
interest for the whole world to achieve prosperity - not just reduce
poverty. Part of the solution is through the impact
of creating many small local businesses. There are many charitable and
business initiatives which are attempting to encourage such progress.
The positive impact of many large companies, however, has not
been adequately recognized. |
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The challenge facing the GDI Forum and GDI Foundation, as
well as the work of Global Direct Investment Solutions, is to
become a lever to help three business networks uplift
the world. The GDI Forum and GDI
Foundation are a lever and fulcrum to apply these networks to
the great challenge. Each company within the networks uplifts the
world through successful choices.
By working together, even relatively small networks can be
a great force to achieve sustainable global prosperity as a legacy despite
the great economic development challenges of our time. |
If it only takes a network of 40 or so people to change the
world, then it shouldn't take decades to do it, or many millions of dollars.
GDI Solutions has already been building up the networks.
The goal is to have a massively beneficial global impact
within just 5 - 10 years, starting today.
The critical success factor is to get motivated business
leaders to work together for this goal, not just because of charitable or
philanthropic interests, but because it is good business to create a more
prosperous and less dangerous world by applying the positive force of
capital investment. |
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