Electrical Rider ZEVS. By kind permission of Anders August Kittelsen, Bernhard Ranner and Rudolf Stefanich. Copyright 2010 All rights reserved.

Letting Design Rule

The electrical rider ZEVS is a design developed by the students Anders August Kittelsen, Bernhard Ranner and Rudolf Stefanich. It is a model – in a 1:5 scale – which shows an interesting approach to electric motorcycles; showing off the electric engine instead of trying to hide it. The model has been made without bringing engineers into the team. As far as I understand, it is a study of what might be possible, given that the technology – such as the battery (or batteries) – can be made to fit the design.

Meanwhile, On the Ground

Is design-driven work like the ZEVS useful? While performance is steadily improving, both in terms of speed, acceleration and range, current design approaches to electrical motorcycles can definitively be improved. The fastest production bike is the Mission One [en-2], which have one several design prizes. Notwithstanding the prizes, I think it looks rather bulky, see video below. Both Brammo and Zero, two of the most important producers of electric motorcycles, have taken a similar approach, although without the fairing of the Mission One [en-1, en-3]. It seems to me that design is lagging behind technical improvement.

Electrical Motorcycles for True Fans?

For motorcycle fanatics like myself, design is important. Changing to an electrical motor is a huge step for someone that has ridden nothing but big-bore combustion bikes for several decades. A lot of things get in the way of a change, including speed, range, handling, gears (or rather, the lack of them) and look. Perhaps it is about time that designers got a bigger say in electrical motorcycle development…

Electrical Rider ZEVS. By kind permission of Anders August Kittelsen, Bernhard Ranner and Rudolf Stefanich. Copyright 2010 All rights reserved.

References

In English:

1. Brammo electric motorcycles specification, downloaded on March 7, 2010.
2. Electric Motorcycles and Scooters, Wikipedia, downloaded on March 9, 2010.
3. Zero Motorcycles unveils their 2010 lineup of electric motorcycles, by David Herron, Green Transportation Examiner, March 3, 2010.

På norsk:

1. En elmotor til begjær, av Joachim Seehusen, Teknisk Ukeblad, 11.02.2010.

External links

In English:

The ZEVS, the University of Applied Arts Showroom, downloaded March 14, 2010.

En español:

Motocicleta eléctrica, Wikipedia.

En français:

Scooter électrique, Wikipedia.

• Episerver: Offers a range of content and community management products and services. It is highly profitable and have just reached 3000 customers. According to the company, the EPiServer CMS – is the world’s fastest growing commercial CMS platform. No wonder they are going public [en-1]. Third parties are continually adding modules and features [en-2].
• Fox Technologies: Delivers advanced access control, servers, applications and desktops, with centralised access controls management across the IT infrastructure.
• Nimsoft: Fast-growing supplier of unique solutions for the management and measurement of service levels, including levels in cloud computing.
• Qliktech: Business intelligence software with a wide range of applications for different sectors and company sizes. Impressive growth in revenue and number of clients. IPO-ready.

Northzone is a European Venture Capital Partnership with a focus on Nordic start-ups. Since 1994 they have raised and managed 5 different funds and currently manage EUR 355 million. Previous investments include Lastminute, Stepstone, Pricerunner and NextGenTel.

Industrifonden is an independent foundation founded by the Swedish state. It operates on a commercial basis without outside capital. Revenues are returned to the business for new investments. It’s portfolio includes a wide range of long-term investments in predominantly Swedish high-tech companies.

References

In English (en):

1. EpiServer Goes Public, by Adriaan Bloem, 27 January, 2010.
2. Reflections on EPiServer London Day, 15 October 2009.

På svensk (se):

1. Fyra bolag på väg till börsen, av Carl Grape, IT24, 2010-02-16.

External links

In English:

• EPiServer
• Fox Technologies
• Nimsoft
• Qlikview
• Northzone
• Industrifonden

En español

• Nimsoft
• Qlikview

En français:

• Nimsoft
• Qlikview

På norsk:

• EPiServer

På svensk:

• Industrifonden

I have seen compelling business plans in the form of a few PowerPoint slides, a couple of scribbled pages, and a brief video. What matters is having all the required ingredients (or a road map for getting them), not the exact form of communication. William A. Sahlman [1]

My starting point is a classic HBS publication that is clear, concise and to the point; “How to Write a Great Business Plan”, by William A. Sahlman [1], a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. I have focused on the same key elements, namely people, opportunity, context and risk & reward. In addition, I have added a few current and relevant examples of successful business ideas. Also, some considerations to be kept in mind due to the change in general business conditions are included.

Things to Keep In Mind

Twitter B.P. © Oliver Widder

The business plan, unlike other documentation, is your chance give a fairly detailed account of your business proposal. It should be the story of  the venture – past, present and future. It is your story and there really isn’t any template for that. Moreover, it is as much a  ”note to self” as a prospect for investors – if you need any external investors – and should be a systematic account of the idea and it’s development into a viable business.

In general, entrepreneurs waste to much time on numbers and spend to little time on information that matters. It is difficult or nigh impossible to predict numbers due to all the uncertainties facing a new venture. The numbers that are included – somewhere near the back – should be of the essential kind; those that describe the business model, such as key value drivers (process yield, effects of a chosen distribution model, …), break-even (required level of sales to be profitable, time to positive cash-flow,…), and last – but not least – pricing.

Be candid. Openly identify and discuss challenges facing your venture. Don’t hide or whitewash anything; it will inevitably come back to haunt you later on; if “surprises” pop up constantly, investors, partners, and/or team members will inevitably lose faith.

Be realistic. Entrepreneurs tend to be too optimistic about market size and growth, and sales price, and underestimate costs, in particular costs to access customers.

Be practical. Spell out what you are actually going to do.

A business plan ranks no higher than 2 out of 10 as a predictor of success William A. Sahlman [en-1]

People

Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!
Alexandre Pope, “Know Thyself”

The qualities of the entrepreneurial team is probably the most important predictor of success. Both space and effort should therefore be spent on this, answering the following questions [1]:

• What can you do?  Show what you, the team and your partners can do that is relevant to the idea. Keep in mind that the idea as such doesn’t count that much. Execution skills do.

• Whom do you know? Do you have a network that will help you to carry through, say, get access to key industry players?

• How well are you known? If you are well known in the industry in question, the business proposal will be viewed less as a start-up and more as a continuance of existing business. This is an advantage; most potential investors, partners or team members do not like a venture, because it involves too much uncertainty.

Opportunity

The opportunity has to be both attractive and sustainable:

• Attractive: There is a large market for your product or service, the market is growing fast, or – preferably – both. Current examples include equipment and software for the ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) and Smart Grid markets. Moreover, the costs to access customers must be considerably lower than the price paid for the product or service, and the cash flow should be favourable; Buy low, sell high, collect early, pay late.

• Sustainable:

  • In order for your venture to be sustainable, you will need to maintain your competitive edge. How are you going to go about doing this? Be clear, concise and practical. Note: One way to keep the edge is to expand (1) the range of products or services, (2) the customer base, and / or (3) the geographical scope. Example: Q-free, a Norwegian company expanding from simple road toll systems to ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems), and from a regional to an international market [no1].

  • The venture must also be sustainable in terms of energy use and environmental impact as such. This is an aspect that is not considered by Sahlman, but the present context makes it necessary; fewer investors and other stakeholders are willing take on the risks involved in ventures that are unsustainable in the medium to long term, such as fish farming (untenable use of natural resources; several kilos of wild fish to make 1 kg of salmon, trout, whatever…) or oil sands (too much pollution). One reason is that analysts are increasing their focus on sustainability.

“The effects of climate change have become clearer, especially on stocks. But the effects on debts are still in the dark. You may compare the climate change with a lottery, but with some predictable suprises.” Eric Boremans, BNP Paribas Investment Partners [no2]

Your customer must be clearly defined: Who are you going to sell your product or service to? That’s you customer. Note that in a long value-chain, identifying your customer among all the players may not be as easy as you think… Pricing scheme; careful consideration. Cash flow: Buy low, sell high, collect early, pay late.

Identify the competition: Carefully analyse current and – potentially – future competitors. If you find that you have no competition, present or future, you either have done something wrong or the idea isn’t an interesting business as such. Look at strengths, weaknesses, and response:

• Who are they currently and who else may enter, that is, are there anyone out there that might be inclined to move into your market? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

• Response:  What will be their response to your entry, how do you respond to that, and so forth. This is similar to playing strategic games; predict several moves ahead.

• Cooperation: Is this a possibility, for instance, do identified competitors have a history of cooperation or of fierce and uncompromising competition? What will it take to make cooperation happen?

Context

A description of the context in which the venture will operate, including:

• Macroeconomics: Important developments on the macro level that will affect the venture. Example: The current economic crisis, and the challenges and opportunities it represents.

• Rules and regulation:  These can have a huge impact and effectually open or close markets. The bigger the area, the bigger the impact. Examples: Changes in international rules regarding fire safety aboard ships or airplanes, which is more often than not a boon for equipment makers. Opening up of the European telecom markets, giving a pletoria of startup virtual operators access to the mobile networks.

• Policies: Current policies that might result in changes in rules and regulations, new tax regimes, …

• Technology: The no.1 enabler (creating new ecosystems around an invention) and disabler (rendering previous solutions obsolete). Applies to both services and products.

Risk and Reward

When you are creating a business plan, the hardest exercise is to make a clear account of the risks that lay ahead and what you can do to mitigate those risks. Again, it is important to be practical and identify what you are going to do if any identified hindrance does materialise.

There are 2 types of diagrams that are particularly useful in communicating with investors and other potential stakeholders, according to Sahlman:

Fig.1 - Cash required, time to break-even, return

Figure 2: Range of possible returns and the likelihood of achieving them.

Fig.1, which shows a useful diagram to both visualizing risk and reward; it shows the time to break-even, the money used before break-even, and the potential reward. Your venture would typically have either line (1) or (2), or something in-between. Note: The outcome of many ventures making it through the first 3 years is something like (3), while most start-ups end up with (4).

Fig.2, which shows the range of possible returns and the likelihood of achieving them.

A Few Words About Investors

It is better to secure sales than to go hunting for an investor, if possible, as you do not have endless access to capital. Moreover, that capital is going to cost you. If you decide that capital is needed to get your idea off the ground, consider the kind of investor you are looking for; pro’s don’t fret.

Were I rewriting the article today, I might emphasize the importance of controlling your destiny by being conservative about access to capital. Many great ventures in the Internet era (pre-1999) ended up failing because they assumed they would have continued access to cheap capital. William A. Sahlman [en-2]

References

In English (en):

1. How to Write a Great Business Plan, by William A. Sahlman, Harvard Business Review, July 1997.

2. Updating a Classic: Writing a Great Business Plan, Q&A with W.A.Sahlman, by Sean Silverthorne, October 6, 2008.

En español (es):

1. Claves de un Buen Plan de Negocio, por William A. Sahlman, Estrategía Magazine.

In French (fr):

1. Comment rédiger son « Business Plan », par William A. Sahlman, Dossier thématique n° 46, QualitéOnline.

På norsk (no):

1. Full fart for Q-Free, av Ole-Morten Fadnes, Dagens Næringsliv, 22.oktober, 2009.

2. Spår nedtur for CO2-verstinger, av André Benonisen, Finansavisen, 13.november, 2009.

In Portuguese (pt):

1. Como redigir um projeto de negócio excelente, com todas as informações realmente necessárias, por William A. Sahlman, HSM Management, 9 julho – agosto 1998.

External Links

In English (en):

• Q-free – International supplier of solutions and products for Road User Charging and Traffic Surveillance having applications within electronic toll collection for road financing, congestion charging, truck-tolling, law enforcement and parking/access control.

På norsk (no):

• Q-free – In Wikipedia.

Obsolete? “Newsagent”, by Ben Terrett. Some rights reserved.

We need news, proper news, the results of professional investigative reporting. We need it now more than ever. Why? Due to the climate change and local, regional environmental destruction and global demographics, we have extremely turbulent times ahead. In fact, they have already started.

In this situation, the much reported decline of quality journalism is – to say the least – lamentable [fr1, fr2]. The so-called citizen journalism is no replacement for professional investigative reporting. But unlike the latter, professional journalists need to get paid. Maintaining and even expanding investigative reporting is possible, even with reduced sales of advertising space, but only if news media comes to grip with the new reality in terms of production, presentation and distribution.

A Period of Transition

Harold Evans, giving an interview on BBC World News on journalism and the current state of affairs pointed out that we are in a period of transition, and he is convinced that quality journalism will prevail [en1]. But how long will this transition last? And what will be destroyed in the meantime?

Although the Internet has been around for a while – it is now 40 years since it’s initial conception – , but we are still in a period of transition in terms of production, distribution, presentation, earnings and the distribution of earnings. Right now, transport and search are profitable, while creating content is not [es1]. This is not a tenable situation. I believe that the mayor changes we will see – in the relatively short term – are the way news are produced and the business model as such; news media must take to heart that there will be less revenue per accessed piece of content.

Production, Distribution and Presentation

I love the art of printing, and it’s regrettable that traditional printing on paper will cease, but investigative journalism cannot be sacrificed on the altar of tradition. It is more important than the means by which it is distributed. To make up for less revenue overall, everything between the journalist and the reader / user /viewer must be kept to a minimum in terms of costs. That means letting go of paper and cutting all administrative costs.

Another change that is badly needed is the way journalistic content is presented. To a large extent, presentation is still being done the old way; paper media and television on the web.

• Interaction: Right now, the most common interaction offered in mainstream media is the possibility to comment on and rate articles.

• Is that satisfactory for the digital generation? I doubt it. New ways of involvement must be found, keeping in mind that ” Thine users are smarter than thou.” (their collective competence is much more comprehensive than yours).

• Interconnection: Connecting content to other content, location, time, popularity… An example of connecting content to location is EveryBlock, one of the winners of BusinessWeek‘s 2009 innovation contest.

• Real-time: Enabling the user to experience the story as it is developing – showing work in progress.

• Fragmentation: All the different channels has to be taken into account, in particular mobile units. This will be a real challenge, as you may expect the number of different devices to keep increasing.

• Experiencing the same content in different ways: Providing different media for the same story. Providing different views of the same story based on a time-line, popularity of pieces of the story, the related points in time, it’s popularity, it’s quality, and so forth.

• Providing translations of the story, thus making it available to a greater audience.

• Graphical presentations: Enabling graphic presentation of a story through various means, including interconnections.

More Journalism, Less News

In a recent article in Le Monde [fr2], the writer and commentator Claude Arnaud, laments the lack of depth of Internet content, and it’s consequences in terms of critical reading and learning. But what came first? The combination of the way content is currently presented on the Internet and the lack of investigative reporting, or many people’s – especially the native generation’s – inability to gain an in-depth understanding of an issue via Internet content? This is likely to change if the presentation (perhaps as outlined above) and the quality of the content improves.

What I can search Google – the data, facts, stock quotes… – are not interesting, while analysis, interpretation, opinion, creativity, anticipation are. Thus, I think the press will be more based on talent rather than on quantity. The news as a genre will be less common and there will be more journalism. Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero [gl3, es3]

The Business Model

A business model based on charging for online content is – by an large – not a viable option right now, despite Mr. Murdoch‘s belief to the contrary [en2, fr5]. It’s a Catch-22; Too little is spent on the actual content, that is, journalistic work (investigating, writing, video shots, drawing, whatever…). Thus, the content presents little or no additional value to the user compared to free content. The result is not unique enough to differentiate it from the free Internet content soup, and most users are not willing to pay for it. The lack of paying customers, together with falling advertising revenues, makes media companies cut down on staff, thus worsening the quality of the product, making it even less attractive, and so forth.

Right now, only some 6 % of users are willing to pay for content [en1]. That number is likely to increase with targeted, added value content. One example, that is already paid content, is unique content that is clearly of added value to the user; in-depth analysis for various business sectors. Moreover, 6 % may be a sufficient number if all costs – not related to quality – are kept low.

Another element that may play a role in the future are subsidies. The press in several countries – for instance Norway, Sweden and France [gl1] – is already receiving subsidies. Even members of the American press is calling for subsidies [en4], and that call might be answered by the current administration. However, there is a danger associated with subsidies; that the press – becoming dependent on these funds – loses objectivity in favour of those holding the bag of money. Several state-owned broadcasting corporations have been accused of this in the past. Moreover, there are some blatant examples were that was undoubtedly the case, for instance the TVE‘s reporting of the M-11 bombings in Madrid.

A major part of the money earned must flow to where the content is created, that is, to journalists and other professional content creators. This is the only way to ensure quality content in the long term. Right now, there is a lot of talent that either have nothing to do, or are underpaid. Lots of experienced journalists are presently joining the unemployment line. Moreover, many junior staff members, having competence on “new” media, are let go due to seniority [no1]. Freelancers are even worse off; excellent freelance photojournalists – the likes of David Burnett or Patrick Aventurier – have a very hard time getting sensible assignments, just at the time when photos are used more than ever [fr3, fr4].

The reason we have not gone to newspapers is because its a slow growth industry and I think they are dying. I’m not sure there will be newspapers in 10 years. I read newspapers every day. I even read Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal. Sumner Redstone [en3]

References

In English (en):

1. Harold Evans on journalism’s future, online excerpt from BBC World, 6 October 2009.

2. Rupert Murdoch: Let’s Charge for Online Content Again, by Frederic Lardinois, ReadWriteWeb, May 7, 2009.

3. Redstone says U.S. on brink of bull market, by James Pethokoukis, April 29, 2009.

4. Yes, journalists deserve subsidies too, by Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols Friday, The Washington Post October 30, 2009.

En français (fr):

1. Photojournalism: Trying times, (fr: “Photojournalisme: Le temps des épreuves”), by Claire Guillot, Le Monde, paper edition,September 7, 2009. Online paid article available here.

2. The flipside of the Web, (fr: “L’envers de la Toile”), by Claude Arnaud, Le Monde, paper edition,September 7, 2009. Online paid article available here.

3. Internet and the economics of advertising are forcing the American press to rethink, (fr: “Internet et conjoncture publicitaire obligent la presse américaine à se repenser”), by Xavier Ternisien, Le Monde, May 12, 2009. Online paid article available here.

4. The purchase of “BusinessWeek” illustrates the crisis of American magazines, (fr: “Le rachat de « BusinessWeek » illustre la crise des magazines américains“), by Xavier Ternisien, Le Monde, October 16, 2009.

5. The new fad of Mr. Murdoch: charging for online press, (fr: “La nouvelle lubie de M. Murdoch : faire payer la presse en ligne”), by Una Galani, Le Monde, August 8, 2009. Online paid article available here.

En galego (gl):

1. Sarkozy lauches a series of measures to reform and support the written press (gl: “Sarkozy lanza unha serie de medidas para reformar e apoiar á prensa escrita“), by EFE, La Voz de Galicia, January 1, 2009.

2. The printed press will be converted into a medium for the elites, (gl: “A prensa impresa converterase nun medio orientado ás elites“), interview with Ramón Salaverría, La Voz de Galicia, March 8, 2009.

3. I believe there will be a reduction in nespapers in Galicia and in Spain (gl: «Creo que haberá unha redución de xornais en Galicia e en España»), interview with Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero, La Voz de Galicia, September 9, 2009.

På norsk (no):

1. The Media Crisis, (no: “Mediekrisen”), by Lars Richard Bache, paper edition, Dagens Næringsliv

En español (es):

1. Connectivity is King; The real value is in not in providing content, but in transporting it (es: “La reina es la conectividad -El valor auténtico no está en proveer contenidos, sino en transportarlos”), by Robert Cyran, El País, November 1, 2009.

2. The printed press will be converted into a medium for the elites, (gl:«La prensa impresa se convertirá en un medio orientado a las élites»), interview with Ramón Salaverría, La Voz de Galicia, March 8, 2009.

3. I believe there will be a reduction in nespapers in Galicia and in Spain (es: «Creo que habrá una reducción de periódicos en Galicia y en España»), interview with Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero, La Voz de Galicia, September 9, 2009.

External Links

In English (en):

• BBC World News
• BusinessWeek
• The Washington Post
• EveryBlock
• The Official Harold Evans Website
• Robert Cyran at Journalisted
• Una Galani at Journalisted
• Ben Terrett‘s blog
• David Burnett‘s site
• Robert W. McChesney‘s blog
• John Nichols in the Nation

En français (fr):

• Le Monde

• Claude Arnaud‘s website

En galego (gl):

• La Voz de Galicia

På norsk (no):

• Dagens Næringsliv

En español (es):

• Ramón Salaverría’s blog
• La Voz de Galicia

What Do You Want?

The first step is to decide what kind of a job you are looking for, that is, what corresponds to your professional goals. Moreover, it is important that the job fits your personality and salary requirements.

• Make a list of all of your skills, determine which kinds of businesses and industries need them most and find those companies that will most likely benefit from them.
• Fit the job to your skills, not the other way around. Do not tweak the way you present your own skills and experiences to fit a company or a job description.

Building a Network

Some important points on networking:

• Attitude: Remember that you are not selling your knowledge, skills and attitude as such. You are selling a fit between your competence and the company’s needs. You need to demonstrate your desire and ability to help the company succeed. Everything you communicate should reflect this.
• Volunteer: As a foreigner, it is a great advantage to have local references. One way of achieving this is to do volunteer work. Good side effects; you show an interest in the local community and you develop a connection to it.
• Online Presence: Create an online presence with relevant information on interests, education and experience, related to needs and requirements of local companies. LinkedIn is a good starting point. If you are a bit computer savvy, your own blog can also be useful, see for instance WordPress.

• Elevator pitch: Develop a short description of who you are and what you are looking for that can be presented in less than 2 minutes, preferably less, see also How to Develop Your Own Elevator Pitch (WikiHow). understand your background, your accomplishments, why you want to work at XYZ company and what your future goals are. Be prepared to deliver the pitch; practice!

Your Curriculum

One basic challenge for you as a foreigner is that educational institutions and companies you have worked for may not be known to the receiver. Unless you have studied at world-famous institutions like Oxford, Cambridge, MIT or Harvard, or worked at globally well-known companies, a short description of each should be included, with a link to the institution’s English web pages, if any, in all online information.

• Language: Make sure your CV does not contain any linguistic errors. Consult with a native speaker if necessary.
• References: References that you include must be able to speak fairly good English or the local language. If you have any local references that speak the latter, highlight these.
• Consistency: Make sure your curriculum is consistent throughout, that is, it represents yourself in the same way irrespective of channel (online, offline, blog, LinkedIn, etc).
• Unique soft-skills: Being from somewhere else implies a skill-set that might be unique at your location and that may be interesting to some companies; language(s), knowledge of interesting markets, and cross-cultural soft skills. Highlight these skills if they are relevant in the local job market.

Job Searching

Finding something interesting:

• National: Most national employment agencies have an online job portal of some kind, , such as the Norwegian administration’s vacancies on nav.no in English.
• Regional: Portals that focuses on a region. The European EURES is one example.
• International: There are several international portals available, including Monster and Stepstone. Moreover, LinkedIn is full of job offers, usually posted in the pertinent professional groups.

When you do find something interesting:

• Internet search: Find out as much as you can about the company and it’s key people, including company history, mission, products and services.
• Use your legs: If it’s a retail company, visit a few of their stores, observe the customers, and even strike up a few conversations. Talk to existing employees–ask them what it’s like working there, how long the position has been open, and what you can do to increase your chances of getting it.

Interviews

Guides on how to handle interviews abound. A couple of important points for a foreigner:

• If you’ve moved around a lot, be prepared to offer a good reason for it. You’ll need to make a good case for why you want to stick around in the area where the job is located. A company doesn’t want to hire someone who still wants to relocate.
• Be prepared to outline why you are where you are today, how long you intend to stay there, and why. Give specific reasons. The more details and specifics, the better.

Alternatives

Online

If you find yourself lost in the sticks with no job prospect in sight, it might be the right time to consider an online job. Look at your skills; Is there anything you can do that does not require a physical presence? Before you get going, consider this:

The folks I interviewed who are making decent money at home also made decent money in the regular workplace world. They tended to have good educations, strong business skills and a history of workplace success. If you’re organized, focused, a self-starter and possessed of in-demand skills, you could do OK at home. If you’re not, your options are likely to be more limited. [1]

Starting Your Own Business

If there are no opportunities that fit your aspirations, perhaps it is worth considering starting you own business? If you have a business idea with a considerable technological height, that is addressing a potentially big market, or both, get in touch with you local CONNECT, see Global CONNECT. It provides a range of free services to entrepreneurs.

Job Searches in Norway

Finding relevant vacancies may prove difficult:

In the wake of the fall in economic activity, the demand for labour is expected to remain low in the near future. The very strong growth in the construction industry has been replaced by a strong decline and this negative trend is now expected to continue for the immediate future. A decline in the level of activity is also expected across a large part of industry. These are the two sectors where the demand for labour will probably fall the most. There could also be a fall in some private service-providing industries, such as trading in goods, for example. [2]

If you are undeterred, here are some sources of information, in English, on formalities, requirements and vacancies:

Public information:

1. The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV): Probably the best starting point for information on vacancies, labor regulations, and so forth, in Norway.

Job search engines:

1. Vacancies on nav.no in English
2. Career in Norway – Part of the the official Norwegian trade portal, Nortrade.
3. Monster - Lots of offers. If you do not understand Norwegian, do not choose Norway as your location; all texts switches to Norwegian. Choose your country of origin.
4. Stepstone - International career portal, based in Norway, with local offices on all continents.

LinkedIn – important groups:

1. Norge / Norway – Discussions mostly in Norwegian, but membership is still useful; group membership opens up the possibility to communicate directly with group members.
2. Foreigners in Norway
3. By location:
   1. Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland – Scandinavia Group
   2. Nordic
   3. There are several local and regional networks (search for your town or region).
4. By sector:
   1. The Norwegian Computer Society (Dataforeningen); ICT
   2. Silicon Vikings; ICT
   3. NOM – Nordic Online Marketing (+1000 members from Nordics)
   4. Scandinavia Supply Chain and Logistics Network

Note: If you switch to advanced search in LinkedIn, you may search for both vacancies, companies and people within a limited geographical area.

Major international sectors and companies:

1. ICT: There are numerous international software companies with a presence in Norway. However, your best bet is probably ICT companies with an international outlook, but with their headquarters in Norway, such as Opera.
2. Telecom: The only major telecom  with their headquarters in Norway is Telenor. In addition, you have Tandberg (part of Cisco), which provides videoconferencing equipment globally.
3. Maritime: The majority of shipping companies use English as their working language. Major shipping lines include Wilh. Wilhelmsen, Stolt Nielsen, BW Gas and the Grieg Group. NorShipping is an important event in the shipping sector.
4. Marine: Aqua-farming is an important sector in Norway, and it is a major exporter, in particular to the European market, see for example Aker Seafoods and Marine Harvest.
5. Oil and Gas: A sector totally dominated by English as a working language. Moreover, a significant part of the work force of major companies are foreigners. See also Shell, Elf Total, BP and StatoilHydro.
6. Multisector:
   1. DnV, based outside Oslo, is one of the largest ship classification societies in the world. It also works with risk management at large.
   2. Stolt Nielsen – Sea farms, tankers, terminals and bitumen.
   3. Fred Olsen & Co. – Energy, shipping, marine services, cruise line, travel…

Nortrade, the official Norwegian trade portal, is a good place to search for companies within a specific sector.

Starting Your Own Business in Norway

A fairly complete guide to establishing a business in Norway is available here.

Help to develop you business may be found at:

1. Innovation Norway: A company, owned by the Norwegian government, that is responsible for supporting innovation in Norway. See also Innovation Norway’s offices abroad (In Norwegian, but you may glean contact information from the pages).
2. CONNECT Norway: The national CONNECT, with regional offices in most parts of Norway. Again, of if you have a business idea with a considerable technological height, that is addressing a potentially big market, or both, get in touch. CONNECT provides a range of free services to entrepreneurs.
3. Business development offices of municipal and regional authorities.
4. The local chamber of commerce.

References

1. Real work-at-home jobs, by Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money, Sept. 16, 2008
2. EURES, Living and Working: Norway, downloaded October 10, 2009.

Why?

Simply put, the joint competence of more than 2 million NRK users is much higher that that some 3500+ NRK employees. Thus, they have valuable input on all of NRK’s activities, but they have to be given the opportunity to express their views.

How?

1) Open up to interaction: The standard on the Internet so far has been more or less static, one-way Internet pages. Social media has changed that. Users expect to be able to interact, which includes expressing their views on a certain product or service, or the company as such.  NRK Beta is living up to this by providing multiple ways of interacting with the project.

2) Be proactive: Regular searches across multiple channels is a necessity. It is likely that you will find customers, or potential customers, that have something to say about your products or services. Providing positive input to those conversations is a must. For instance, a conversation  could be about a practical problem with a service or product that needs to be resolved, thus improving quality and reducing churn. Moreover, although users right now find it to be “awesome” and “fantastic” that companies respond directly to tweets or blogging, my guess is that this is something they will come to expect as such CRM practices become more commonplace.

3) Leave no-one behind: You need to employ multiple channels. That does not include electronic channels only. The telephone number and the snail mail address are still necessary.

A point made by several in the audience was that finding the time to manage social media will be a challenge, especially for smaller companies. Øyvind’s answered that there is a lot of difference between people in terms of time spent; seasoned users spend their time efficiently. Some have realised that there is a possible business opportunity in this, and social CRM services are already available, complete with an acronym of it’s own (of course); SCRM.

References

Øyvind Solstad‘s blog.
NRK Beta – The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s “sandbox for technology and new media”.
Customer Service Vs CRM – A discussion on SCRM at SocialMediaToday.

I cannot count the number of times I have read articles on innovation (both in the Norwegian and the international press), where the construction of a new building is supposed to support innovation. It should be obvious; innovation is not primarily about constructing nice buildings. Innovation policy should focus on competence, good processes and incentives. The problem is that these are not visible nor tangible. Consequently, politicians often sucumb to the temptation of constructing monuments instead of supporting real innovation.

Introductions

Xulio Ferreiro (UDC) introduced the keynote speaker, while Xose Manuel Carril (UDC)  introduced the theme of the conference, focusing on the impact of the crisis on social security, on the international, national and regional level. In particular, he focused on how it has generated a dual (with / without social safety nets), socially unjust (social dumping / social rights) and unsustainable global labour market, and on the need for a labour policy adjusted to the average worker, while being socially and ecologically sustainable. According to Mr.Carril, labour legislation is neither the cause nor the solution to the present crisis. He stated that current macroeconomic policies may make the effects of the crisis more severe, given the huge contraction of economic activity and the persistence of high unemployment (with examples from Galicia), and the global worsening of poverty.

The Current Economic Situation

Robert Pollin started out by describing the current economic situation, focusing on the US:

• The current budget deficit is 14 %, which is unsustainable. A similar deficit has not been seen since the Second World War.
• There are just a few signs of recovery and those signs are very weak.
• Barack Obama’s government is not doing enough to counter the crisis. He is continuing many of the policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations, perhaps due to the fact that several members of the present economic staff were key members of previous administrations.
• Neoliberalism is socialising losses and privatising winnings: For example, the US taxpayer is paying for the bad decisions made by financial institutions, while the people that made those decisions are profiting.
• Banks are amassing funds. The US banks had negative loaning in the 1st quarter of 2009. Thus, funds are not reaching those that need them.

The Labour Market

Some of the most important points about the labor market and how it is affected by the crisis, according to Mr.Pollin:

• There is a huge difference between sectors in terms of job creation. USD 1 million invested in education results in 21 jobs, while the same investment in the oil and gas sector results in 4 jobs.
• The US labour market is much worse off than is apparent in unemployment statistics. The real unemployment rate is close to 16 %.
• The uneven international playing field in terms of workers’ rights and conditions causes unemployment in the US and elsewhere in the developed world. This is exacerbated by the crisis.
• Even though American workers are ever more efficient in terms of output, their pay per hour has been steadily reduced, and job destruction continues unabated.

Possible Solutions

Mr.Pollin was rather brief on possible solutions, perhaps due to time constraints. Some key points:

• Somehow even out the playing field in terms of workers rights and social safety nets.
• Transparency throughout: He stated that ownership (public or private) was not that important; securing access to information about the goings-on in both the private and public sector that affects stakeholders is, however, paramount.
• Regulation of financial markets: Roll back some of the liberalisation of later years, in order to channel investment into socially productive and non-speculative endeavours.
• Taxation of transactions: Limit short term speculation by taxing financial transactions.
• Invest in labour-intensive sectors that have a future, above all in education and green technologies.

A detailed explanation of his proposals on regulation and taxation is available in “Proposals for a financial regulatory system” [3]

My Comments and Questions

Mr. Pollin is probably right about the current economic status. If there is any recovery, it is presently very weak. Negative numbers still abound, for instance, the Spanish industry is still in a free fall, with a 20.5 % reduction in May [5]. The fundamental questions are what to do about the current crisis, and how to avoid it happening again (and again,…). It was surprising that some of his answers were more social-liberal than socialist, given that he is a left-wing economist: a focus on transparency and democratisation (instead of a focus on ownership), and technical solutions to our environmental problems (green technologies).

Some of the problems with the presentation, in my view:

• How to even out the playing field: The importance of a fair world-wide labour market is obvious. However, a complete solution to these challenges was not presented.
• How to deal with the banks: Having identified financial institutions as the keystone in both the cause and the solution to the crisis, he offered no clear approach in dealing with unstable banks.
• US focus: Most of the statistics and other facts were American. In an international setting, it would be better to internationalise the both the facts, the problems and the solutions.

I could not stay for the Q&A session following the presentation. If I could have stayed, I would have asked the following questions:

• The Swedish Model: The Swedish government dealt, quite successfully, with a national banking crisis in the early 90ies [6]. Is there any reason why this model cannot serve as a basis for dealing with the present crisis?
• Social entrepreneurship: In a panel discussion on the future of market capitalism at Harvard Business School [4], social entrepreneurship was identified as one important element in making capitalism work. Do you think that this could be effective? In that case, which public policies should be adopted to support it?
• The long term: The panel discussion above called for broad-reaching public policies to induce businesses to make sound decisions for the long term, taking into account societal needs, but it was rather fuzzy on the details. Do you think that would be feasible? In that case, which policies could support such a redirection?
• Consumer activism: The digital natives are well informed. If any business do anything in the way of polluting or mistreating workers, it is more often than not out in the public domain within seconds. Cannot such a well informed and concerned public have a positive effect on business decisions?

Given recent headlines regarding management bailouts, fraud, and what-not, black-balling business people has become quite common among some left-wing academics and members of the press. This conference was quite  free of such tendencies.  That was a relief. Some business leaders may be a part of the problem, but the business community at large is definitively a part of the solution. Moreover, the conference had a practical focus. In the present situation, trench warfare between various ideologies is not helpful. We need practical solutions. However, I would like to have seen a more in-depth presentation of solutions and perhaps a little less on the problems, as they are quite well known by now.

References

[1] Robert Pollin: ‘By Reading Marx You Learn More Than 95% of the Economists’ (Original title in Spanish: Robert Pollin: ‘Leyendo a Marx se aprende más que del 95% de los economistas‘), La Opinión de Coruña, , 1 June 2009.

[2] Not One Executive Has Been Fired On Wall Street: There Will Be More Madoffs, (Original title in Spanish: «En Wall Street no se echó a ningún ejecutivo, habrá más casos Madoff»), La Voz de Galicia, 1 June 2009.

[3] Tools for a New Economy – Proposals for a financial regulatory system, by Robert Pollin, Boston Review, January / February 2009.

[4] The Future of Market Capitalism Panel Discussion, Harvard Business School, October 14, 2008.

[5]  No Recovery for the Industry (Original title in Spanish: La industria no logra recuperarse), El País, 3 July 2009.

[6] Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way, New York Times, 22 September, 2008.

Most tech start-ups have a product focus, including a good product development process, normally involving agile methods. On the other hand, a clear-cut business model based on proper market know-how is missing in the majority of start-up projects. Admittedly, some projects are so innovative that it is difficult to establish a market need, but in that case it is paramount to establish a process to obtain market intelligence as early as possible. Moreover, marketing, sales and distribution strategies are not prioritized early on. Typically, they come into focus at a much later stage, often too late.

In the development of my last project, one of the great successes was the implementation of a flexible product development method for agile teams, SCRUM. A method first described in a seminal work by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikjiro Nonaka [1], it helped us to focus, to prioritize, to steadily improve time estimations, and to deliver the right quality. It is a methodology that is suited to small teams and it is used in a wide variety of settings. In fact, SCRUM is currently also used by some marketing teams [2], due to the uncertainties and turbulence connected to launching new innovative products:

“Very often when innovative products are born, manufacturers and customers may not know how or why the products will be used, so it’s not evident what specific features of a product will or will not be valued. Playing in such markets entails a process of mutual discovery by customers and vendors…” [2]

In addition to a market focus, there is another success factor that should not be underestimated; the importance of a positive “inner work life” in innovative projects. Recent work at the Harvard Business School (HBS) shows how the  knowledge workers’ positive thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and motivations, defined as the inner work life, affects creativity:

“People have their best days and do their best work when they are allowed to make progress. …Big breakthroughs are great, but we found that even incremental progress evokes a powerfully positive inner work life…”

“Fostering a positive inner work life, then, can be as easy (or difficult) as this, Amabile concludes: Support employees’ progress in their work every day. Set clear and meaningful goals for them; provide direct help, versus hindrance; offer adequate resources and time; respond to successes and failures by drawing on the experience as a learning opportunity, not just a moment to praise or reprimand; and establish a culture where people are treated with respect.” Teresa Amabile, Professor of Business Administration, HBS.[3]

Agile development – correctly implemented – address several of these issues, in particular measuring incremental progress, support for the project team, meaningful goal setting, sensible time estimations and continuous learning. Moreover, everybody in the team have the opportunity to present their views, underpinning a democratic team culture.

Given the similarities of technology-based projects in terms of project management, I am wondering whether it would be useful to employ an agile methodology for start-up projects as such, combined with best practices within the different disciplines. This may help entrepreneurs avoid some common mistakes (in particular with regards to priorities at an early stage), improve adaptability to the market, and becoming better at estimating and achieving milestones.

References

[1] The New Product Development Game, by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikjiro Nonaka, Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 1986 (Reprint 86116).

[2] Scrum in marketing: making enterprises adaptive, by Andrew Filev, Project Management 2.0, 27 November, 2007.

[3] Getting Down to the Business of Creativity, HBS Working Knowledge, May 14, 2008.

Some call it the entrepreneurial purgatory. Personally, I think that it has been too much fun to earn the designation “purgatorium”. Entrepreneurship does entail a relatively high stress level, and things change very much from one day to another, and sometimes from hour to hour. The best term is the ping-pong-life: work, good times and bad, opportunities and obstacles, and your mood, varies widely. In such a situation is very difficult to maintain focus, and to prioritize correctly is a big challenge. You are in a constant time squeeze and, quite often, what is urgent takes precedence over what is important. Another challenge in such a turbulent life is to see your own limitations, and to obtain expertise when needed.

In retrospect I see that there is much that could have been done better, and that much has been done as well as possible. What I think was relatively well-implemented (now I’m not really a neutral party here, so others can have very different opinions about this …):

• Blue Ocean: I had an international focus from the start, both in terms of recruitment, development, distribution and marketing. This resulted, after some trial and error, in both very qualified personnel (both employees and freelancers) and distribution agreements with key players in the market.
• Product development: We eventually implemented flexible methods for product development (Scrum). It was an unqualified success, both in terms of predictability and delivered quality. SCRUM gave us the tools for clear prioritization. Moreover, it is extremely results oriented, and provide realism in terms of time estimates.
• The Board: I had, almost from day 1, no close associates in the Board, and I was not a board member myself. That distance provides a more critical and constructive board. Moreover, we really kept track of the paper work from the beginning, something that many entrepreneurs do not. Eventually, it can be virtually impossible to sort out the mess…

Some of the things that could have been done better:

• Market knowledge: I have, as so many other entrepreneurs, not done a good enough job with regards to getting to know the market. You must have market focus from day 1, and ensure that all development is well rooted in customer needs. It is not enough to substantiate that there is a need, based on general and publicly available market data (often from similar or parallel markets, but which in reality may be substantialy different…). In addition to ensuring that there is a a real customer need, most entrepreneurs will also have to deal with a distribution channel. Will the channel will accept your product? Talk as much as possible with both the distribution channel and potential end customers.
• Focus: We worked in an industry where a supplier should support multiple technologies. The magic word here is “should”. Instead of doing serial production with the technical platform we had built at a relatively early stage, we used too many resources to support a pletoria of new platforms.

Things that I am still unsure about the correct or wrong:

• Life buoy: At the end, when we were running short of money, we tried to get to secure development work on commission. but failed, either because we started too late, or were not geared for this type of activity, or both. It would perhaps be better to be faithful to the original business idea to the last.