Electronically Networked Intelligent Communities (ENICs) are changing the nature of community, economic, and education development. Virtual Communities Of Practice (VCOP) are critical to achieve digital dividends. What characteristics are essential for ENICs via VCOPs?

What business-level policies and strategies must enterprises adopt to remain competitive?

How can economic development embrace entrepreneurship and risk taking for diverse businesses?

What curriculum content must be integrated into alternative delivery systems of high quality?

Globally Competitive Communities, Electronically Networked Communities, and Intelligent Communities were highlighted in previous issues of KM.  And, articles about above-mentioned questions have been included in KM ranging from consumer-centric to technology-centric issues.

An article focused on outsourcing of research and development begins this issue of KM followed by chief executives who are leaders in developing intellectual capital for their enterprises and an article on knowledge worker productivity on page 2. Articles that follow are intended to add clarity to
how to prepare a new wave of leaders for improving Quality Of Life for more people. 

Ike Sophie has good reason to smile these days. In a year that*s been rough for almost every business sector, the CFO and vice president of finance at Alameda, California-based UTStarcom is expecting an 86 percent jump in revenue, from $982 million in 2002 to a record $1.8 billion. And he hopes that's just the beginning. The company, which provides mobile telephony suited to emerging markets, is soon to deploy the technology in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. To that end, UTStarcom earmarked $25 million in July to expand its research-and-development center and hire about 100 engineers. If that sounds like a lot of bang for the buck, it is * because the R&D center is based in India.

CFOs still wondering whether or not to send back-office functions offshore are far behind the outsourcing vanguard. Increasingly, technology R&D is migrating overseas. Intel, for example, is developing Banias, its next-generation mobile processor, in Israel; Nortel Networks is developing its wireless Internet infrastructure in India.

Cost advantages and a vast talent pool are driving the trend. India is the overall outsourcing leader, followed by Ireland and the Philippines. But China is gaining ground (see "China Wants Our IT Jobs, Too," page 78). In general, the movement of high-end jobs offshore can only accelerate, says Partha
Iyengar, a research vice president at.... A must read article.  

De Ramos, Abe (October 2003). The China Syndrone. CFO, 19(13), 74-78. http://www.cfo.com 

Johnson & Johnson has a clear management challenge. The 117-year old company consists of more than 200 distinct operating units, most led by a president or managing director. 

Running such a decentralized company allows Chief Executive William C. Weldon to move his top leaders from one challenge to the next, while bolstering their development with formal leadership training programs. "You have this wonderful developmental opportunity as an individual," says
Weldon, at his office. "As a company, you get to develop people." 

Not far away, another leading CEO is spending time on developing his top talent. IBM's Sam Palmisano is determined to push his vision of "On Demand" computing, in which IBM's software, hardware, services and even research units organize themselves to focus on delivering integrated technology solutions to customers. "We don't separate out strategy from leadership." 

Spiro, Leah Nathans (October 2003). In Search of Leaders. Chief Executive, 24-30. 
http://www.chiefexecutive.net 

Additional chief executives focused on leader development are Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric; Reuben Mark, Colgate-Palmolive; Michael Dell, Dell; Art Collins, Medtronic; A. G. Lafley; Proctor & Gamble; Steve Ballmer, Microsoft; John Chambers, Cisco; Dick Kovacevich, Wells Fargo; Fred Smith, FedEx; Ray Gilmartin, Merck.  

Articles about knowledge worker productivity have yielded insights about problems and strategies. Tom Davenport highlights a brief review of problems:

* Knowledge work is hard to measure, so most of us don*t bother.

* Although not all knowledge workers are alike, there is no standard classification or segmentation scheme for them.

* There are lots of "productivity tools" for knowledge workers * to many * but they don*t connect well with each other. 

* The organizational support for knowledge work is similarly fragmented and comes from a variety or IT organizations, human resources, facilities organizations and so fourth.

Tom Davenport elaborates on Intel*s eWorkforce with focus on collaboration, knowledge management, and personal productivity groups to develop integrated solutions to "generic" KM processes based primarily on behaviors and attitudes toward technology. The categories are:

* Functionalists. Primarily manufacturing workers (but including some office workers) who use IT occasionally but don*t rely heavily on "office IT" to perform their job functions. 

* Cube captains. Spend the majority of their time in the office, are very mainstream in their office IT needs and overall are very happy with the tool sets they have.

* Nomads. Heavy users of remote access and mobile IT, whether while traveling or working in remote offices.

* Global collaborators. Interface often with people around the world; they resemble nomads but work across time zones and need access to collaboration tools, anywhere, anytime.

* Tech individuals. They want and adopt early the latest IT tools and are willing to take risks with them. A "Next Big Thing" article at http://www.cio.com 

Davenport, Tom (October 1, 2003). Putting It All Together Again. CIO, 17(1), 44-46. 

Under constant threat from an invisible enemy, the U.S. forces in the Middle East are relearning the rules of engagement almost daily. They face what has been described as the new enemy: stealthy, unpredictable and asychronous, but every bit as deadly as the adversaries who preceded them.

Back home, four active and retired U.S. Navy personnel are engaged in an administrative battle to change the way sailors learn to handle these new threats, with training and collaborative learning delivered by computer on land and at sea. In just nine months and on a shoestring budget, these men have built one of the biggest knowledge management (KM) portals around.

Navy Knowledge Online (NKO), as the portal is called, is part of a broader effort, named Sea Warrior, to re-evaluate every job function in the Navy and quickly match sailors* credentials with the skills needed to fight a decentralized and mobile enemy, .... 

(Find out how the Navy is putting KM to work: http://www.nwc.com/1418/1418p12.html

Joachim, David (September 18, 2003). Sea Change. Network Computing, 14(18), 36-48.

(Mine "Panning for Gold" and "Buyer*s Guide" http://www.nwc.com/1418/1418ibg1.html

In August 2001, President Bush announced the President*s Management Agenda (PMA) to improve the management and performance of the federal government. PMA encompasses five government wide initiatives: 

                      -- Strategic Management of Human Capital, 

                      -- Competitive Sourcing, 

                      -- Improved Financial Performance, 

                      -- Expanded Electronic Government, and 

                      -- Budget and Performance Integration.  

Consider with $72 billion in annual spending, a workforce of more than 112,000 people, and $123 billion in assets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is about the same size as private-sector giant General Electric. But unlike a corporation, USDA*s success or failure * and the success or failure of all 26 federal agencies * is ultimately based on serving the nation*s citizens, not growing profits. From farming subsidies and school lunches to forest conservation and food inspection, USDA defines and measures its goals much differently than a shareholder-driven enterprise. But in meeting its mission, USDA and other public-sector agencies must still manage information technology with increasing sophistication, or falter. 

Smith, Aaron (September/October 2003). The Agenda. Projects@Work, 3(5), 14-22. Agencies mentioned in the article include HUD and Customs.   http://www.projectsatwork.com

Also, Project Management Case Studies include one for the U.S. Census Bureau by ESI, a Maryland Applied Information Technology Initiative assisted by Mindjet*s MindManager, and a major transportation distribution corporation*s use of Project Management Leadership Group (PMLG) to
run a Certified Project Management Boot Camp. http://www.esi-intl.com
http://www.mindjet.com      http://www.pmlg.com 

The economic and geopolitical landscapes have changed since December 1999, when the Department of Commerce published a rosy report on the state of small and medium-sized exporting businesses. But, despite a global economic slowdown and series of wars, the trajectory for U.S. small exporters has remained largely positive.

"Not being one of the big guys has been an advantage, because we can move faster,"says Agustin Ramirez, CEO of HUSCO International, the number 3 company on the Hispanic Business Top 50 Exported Directory. http://www.huscointl.com 

Riley, Jennifer (November 2003). Small Exporters in a Big World. Hispanic Business, 42-50.

Additional articles focus on exporting: http://www.hispanicbusiness.com

Williams, Scott (November 2003). Helping Hands Overseas. Hispanic Business, 52-54.

Reveron, Derek (November 2003). North-South Power Balance. Hispanic Business, 58 and 64,

Reveron, Derek (November 2003). Money That Binds From Afar. Hispanic Business, 60-64.

Also, read about a new course for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce:

Russell, Joel (November 2003). A Whole New Chamber. Hispanic Business, 32 and 34.

Access information about the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at http://www.ushcc.com 

One year ago this week, IBM chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano trumpeted the phrase *e-Business On Demand* and committed $10 billion of Big Blue*s money to the new computing model, in the process proclaiming to his then-375,000 employees worldwide, *No doubt about it, it*s a bold bet. Is it a risky bet? I don*t think so.* 

April, Carolyn A., & Lelii, Sonia R. (October 27, 2003). On-Demand on the Horizon.

VARBusiness, XIX (22), 30-36. http://www.varbusiness.com 

An October/November issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive (iSource Business) contains numerous excellent articles. Version 6.0 of the Global Enabled Supply and Demand Chain Map is a framework for understanding aspects of this essential business level strategy: Procurement, Fulfillment, Logistics, Payment, Customer Relations Management, Order Demand/ Capture, and Sourcing. http://www.isourceonline.com

Articles in the October/November issue include:

Murphree, Julie (October/November, 2003). Sourcing. Supply & Demand Chain Executive, 6(4),
34-39. Based on AMR Research, Forrester Research, The Yankee Group, etc.

Reese, Andrew K.(October/November, 2003). The Reality of Real-time Performance Management. Supply & Demand Chain Executive, 6(4), 12-18.

Haln, Susan A. (October/November, 2003). Making Global Agreements Work. Supply & Demand Chain Executive, 6(4), 20-25.

Walden, Joseph L.(October/November, 2003). The Art of War...and the Supply Chain. Supply & Demand Chain Executive, 6(4), 26-33 

Training magazine published a 22nd annual industry report in the October issue. Highlights:

                      Total dollars budgeted for formal training * $51.3 billion;

                      Amount spent on training products and services * $13.9 billion 

                      Dollars spent on executives * $ 7.0 billion 

http://www.trainingmag.com 

When learners pop an e-course from company A onto a learning management system from company B, they should be able to sit down and take that course anywhere, anytime, right? The LMS will automatically note that they finished it, and log how much time they spent on it and how they did, right? E-learning standards make all that possible, right? WRONG.

Three of nine (9) things you need to know about e-learning standards in the article:

                      1. Most current standards aren't standards.

                      2. Standards are still works in progress.

                      3. Maybe you can fix it. 

http://www.trainingmag.com  Hequet, Marc (October 2003). E-Learning Standards. Training, 40(9), 46-50.  

A special report has sections on The Standards and Calculated Risks by Early Adopters: Kock, Christopher (October 1, 2003). The Standards. CIO, 17(1), 54-64. http://www.cio.com

Varon, Elana (October 1, 2003). Calculated Risks. CIO, 17(1), 64-73. 

*The State of Information Security 2003' survey covered six continents, 54 countries, and included more than 7,500 respondents. What emerged is a portrait of a new discipline taking baby steps toward defining norms and developing best practices. 

Berinato, Scott, & Ware, Lorraine Cosgrove (October 15, 2003). The State of Information

Security 2003. CIO, 17(2), 79-93. http://www.cio.com and http://www2.cio.com/research  

Case studies are an asset in business education. Baseline provides excellent case studies. The September issues contains four excellent case studies on the Port of Oakland, Reconnecting Verizon at the World Trade Center, a transition by the N.Y Board of Trade, and how the FBI is overhauling the way it shares data on potential terrorists. http://www.baselinemag.com

Gage, Deborah, McCormiick, John & Barrett, Randy (September 2003). Hope & Prayer: The

State of Seaport Security (Port of Oakland: 1,500 containers daily). Baseline, Case 085.

Mendyk, Dennis (September 2003). Reconnecting (Verizon*s phones). Baseline, Case 086.

Dignan, Larry (September 2003). Going Home (NY Board of Trade). Baseline, Case 087.

Barrett, Larry (September 2003). Under the Gun (FBI). Baseline, Case 088. 

Solectron Corp. was riding high in 1999, the year it became the largest contract manufacturer (CM) in the world. All CMs grew during the 1990s but none faster than Solectron, whose revenues rose from $300 million in 1989 to $8.4 billion a decade later.

Further down ... was Flextronics International Ltd., with $1.8 billion of revenue. With corporate offices in Singapore and San Jose, .... It climbed to the No. 2 spot in 2001, held it in 2002, and this year moved to the top of the list. 

Roberts, Bill (September 2003). The Ups and Downs of Contract Manufacturing. Electronic

Business, 29(12), 36-50. Excellent for case studies firms. http://www.eb-mag.com

Gordon, Pamala (September 2003). Europe plays new role in contract manufacturing coalitions.

Electronic Business, 29(12), 72. http://www.eb-mag.com 

More than 300 technology executives and engineers converged ... to try to shape the direction of ultra-wide band (UWB), a revolutionary technology that may turn out to be the next big thing in wireless networking. The attendance was impressive, especially for the opening round of an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards-setting process .... 

Arensman, Russ (September 2003). Unleashing UWB. Electronic Business, 29(12), 62-66.

                      Article contains links to numerous Web sites. http://www.eb-mag.com

                      Federal Communications Commission http://www.fcc.gov

                      General Atomics http://www.ga.com/uwb

                      IEEE 802.15.3a Task Group http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/15/pub/TG3.html

                      Intel Corp http://www.intel.com/technology/ultrawideband/faq.htm

                      PulseLink Inc. http://www.pulselink.net

                      The UWB Multi-Band Coalition http://www.uwb.multiband.org

                      The Ultra-Wideband Working Group http://www.uwb.org

                      Wimedia Alliance http://www.wimedia.org

                      West Technology Research Solutions http://www.westtechresearch.com

                      XtremeSpectrum Inc. http://xtremespectrum.com 

The argument for offshore outsourcing begins with a basic assumption: There are masses of high-quality IT workers available in places such as India, China, and the Philippines at low cost. Yet what worries business-technology managers most about sending work abroad is ....

Even those bullish on offshore outsourcing have their concerns, according to a new InformationWeek Research survey of 300 business-technology executives. ... what weighs most heavily on their minds is the quality of work performed, unexpected costs, and project delays. 

Hayes, Mary (Oct. 20, 2003). Precious Connections. InformationWeek, Issue 960, 35-50. http://www.informationweek.com/TC/bizservices  

"Technology is having a profound impact on the world we inhabit and the way we conduct our lives, but even the most dramatic changes may seem incremental to those of us who are knee- deep in it." Abbie Lundberg, CIO Editor in Chief, invites readers "to pause and reflect on the broader implications of the work you do" and "to share your thoughts with us and with each other at http://www.cio.com/impact2003. Below are opening paragraphs of the lead article. Articles include health care, spirituality, the human condition, work, and sports. Must read for leaders. 

Technology has always been a double-edged sword, empowering both our creative and our destructive natures. It has brought us longer and healthier lives, freedom from physical and mental drudgery, and many new creative possibilities.

Bioengineering is set to make enormous strides in reversing disease and aging processes. However, the means and knowledge to create unfriendly pathogens more dangerous than nuclear weapons will soon exist in most college bioengineering labs. As technology accelerates toward full realization of generic engineering, nanotechnology and, ultimately, robotics (collectively known as GNR), we will see the same intertwined potentials: a feast of creativity resulting from human intelligence expanded manyfold, combined with grave new dangers. We need to devise our strategies now to reap the promise while we manage the peril. http://www.cio.com 

Kurzweil, Ray (Fall/winter 2003). Promise and Peril of the 21st Century. CIO, 22-26  

Whether you*re a buyer or a seller, there's plenty of reason to be excited about wireless LANs. The global WLAN market is healthy, increasing from about $600 million in 2000 to nearly about $1.8 billion in 2002, according to Synergy Research Group. And with wireless component costs free-falling, unit volume growth is even more impressive. http://www.nwc.com 

 Molta, Dave (October 2, 2003). Generation W. Network Computing, 14(20), 3-74. 

A School of Information Studies (IST) renovation at Syracuse University coincided with a project by Network Computing. Seven wireless LAN venders responding to the RFP included:

                      Airespace Wireless Enterprise Platform http://www.airespace.com

                      Aruba 5000 Wireless LAN Switching System http://www.arubanetworks.com

                      Trapeze Networks Mobility System http://www.trapezenetworks.com

                      Symbol Technologies http://www.symbol.com

                      Cisco Systems Aironet Series of Wireless LAN Solutions http://www.cisco.com 

                      Molta, Dave & Lindeman, Jesse (October 2, 2003). New WLAN on Campus. Network

                      Computing, 14(20), 49-72. http://www.nwc.com 

Gillespie, Greg (November 2003). Trying to Form a More Perfect Union. Health Data Management, 11(11), 26-34. http://www.healthdatamanagement.com 

Goedert, Joseph (November 2003). Electronic Transactions: Standards Aren't Common.

Health Data Management, 11(11), 36-42. http://www.healthdatamanagement.com

(Article includes American National Standards Institute*s X12 committee standards). 

Briggs, Bill (November 2003). New Applications of CRM Technology are Multiplying.

Health Data Management, 11(11), 44-49. http://www.healthdatamanagement.com 

The Workforce Management Vendor Directory is an outstanding resource for HR with 3,483 product and service listings from 3,090 companies in 147 categories grouped under Consulting Services, General Benefits, Global HR, Health Benefits, Legal/Compliance, Recognition & Incentives, Relocation, Software & Technology, Staffing & Recruitment, Training & Development, and Workplace Management. http://www.workforce.com 

Baldrige Award recipients in business, education, and health care will be announced shortly and honored at Quest for Excellence XVI on March 28-31, 2004. http://www.baldrige.nist.gov 

A Buyers Guide by Communications News (October 2003) begins with 32 Audioconferencing Equipment/Service providers in the Product Guide and then lists Web sites in a company guide.

Access to companies and products can be done via the Web site. http://www.comnews.com 

 Fischler Graduate School of Eduction and Human Services Disneyworld Contemporary Resort, July 25-30, 2004  

Summer Instruction, The Research Institute, & The Global Leading and Learning Institute 

KM can be accessed and mined: http://www.members.cox.net/greenka6/wgnewweb/wgindex.html

KM began to include materials used in E-Commerce, international business, and capstone courses at graduate and undergraduate levels for the College of Business at Cardinal Stritch University. Contents include many variables essential in business development, both domestic and global. 

Comment: I work with individuals using multiple form and style guides with unique variations.

Content and leads to sources remain a central focus of KM; consistency to a format is variable.

Warren H.Groff, 3408 N. 49th St., Milwaukee, WI 53216-3208, 414-871-1127, groffw@nova.edu