Corruption Perceptions Index 2005 Released

This is the index from Transparency International, which the folks from the international business class should recall.

And the winners this year.....

Bangladesh is, again, the most corrupt, followed by Chad. The three most honest -- Iceland in first place, with Finland and New Zealand tied for second. The US comes in at #17.

BBC NEWS: South Asia: Bangladesh tops most corrupt list

Transparency International

Economic growth vs. inflation in EU

Today's news is appropriate. The ECB (European Central Bank) is keeping interest rates steady, despite pressures to cut rates to stimulate the European economy (which is facing the same energy-related problems as the US). From Business Week:

European Central Bank leaves rate steady

The euro is not just maintaing its strength against the dollar, but continuing to gain. Venezuela is shifting its reserves from US gov't securities to dollar-denominated deposits and is looking to increase it's euro holdings; is this Chavez's paranoia or a Good Idea????

Your comments?

Bogus work excuses on the rise: 'God didn't wake me'

Bogus work excuses on the rise: 'God didn't wake me'

This is a Yahoo news item, so I don't know how long this link will work.

My favorite -- "The voices told me to clean the guns today."

What are yours?

Microsoft, Google, and Sun Microsystems

News today:

Google, Sun Challenge Microsoft's Office

Note in the 4th paragraph that Office is referred to Microsoft's "cash cow". This is a perfect example; Microsoft, of course, has the vast majority of market share and most people have an office package (so not a lot of market growth).

But the really interesting question is whether or not Sun & Google can displace Microsoft. [Note here that the 2 companies are hoping that their partnership will create synergy -- remember that concept? Some feel, though, that the big winner here will be Google, that "partnership" really isn't in the picture]

Microsoft has a big competitive advantage here. Its office suite is on most everyone's computer, meaning that:

1. Support and help (college & continuing ed classes, magazine articles, etc.) assume you're using Microsoft Office -- so if you go with a different product, where's the support?
2. Most companies and schools use MS Office -- if it's on the computer at school, you might as well have the same program at home.
3. Sharing files -- passing on a document to co-worker for editing, for example, is possible because everyone is on the same platform.

Here's the big if, though. We also said that competitive advantage had to be sustained, as well as created, and that sustainable competitive advantage depens on innovation. Ok. What Google and Sun are talking about is a competing way of distributing software.

Your comments???