> Host's Note: I hesitated about distributing this msg, I don't want to
> spread negative words about a company that I think is quite effective. I
> decided that this can be a "learning moment" if we can go more deeply
> into this -- What does make L.L. Bean a learning company? What does get
> in the way? And same for other companies.
I've been impressed with Rol's understanding of business processes.
Yesterday, I saw in a magazine information about 3M. Two rules they
use are the 15% rule, where 15% of their technical people's time is
intended to be used for technology-related experimentation. Another
rule is the 25% rule, where 25% of a unit's profits are supposed to
be from products created in the last five years. It's possible that
the wording may be different. Also, $50,000 grants are available for
prototyping new products.
The information was interesting to me in terms of providing for
experimentation and also managing the cost of experimentation.
-- John Paul Fullerton jpf6745@acs.tamu.edu