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Topic Title: Lean Economics
Topic Summary: Book Review
Created On: 06/16/2010 05:38 AM
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06/16/2010 09:44 AM
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JohnPod
John Podlasek



Would anyone be interested in reviewing my "almost" completed book on the topic of Lean Economics to give me some feedback?
Please let me know and I will be happy to share.

John P
06/17/2010 09:55 AM
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Brent_Wahba
Brent Wahba



I would love to, John.

Brent
brentwahba@strategyscienceinc.com
06/17/2010 11:59 AM
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MattS
Matthew Spielman



John,
My first humorous thought is that you're going to tackle how to get GDP numbers in a better way!

I would also love to help review it: reeshau@yahoo.com
06/17/2010 04:24 PM
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Boeing_Lean
Ken Hunt



I'd be glad to.

Ken.L.Hunt@Boeing.com
06/18/2010 09:09 AM
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Cimetech
Jean-Pierre Goulet



Hi John,

I will be interesting to read your book and make comments as required.

Regards, Jean-Pierre Goulet, Eng.

jpgoulet@cimetech.com

www.cimetech.com
=======================

Originally posted by: JohnPod

Would anyone be interested in reviewing my "almost" completed book on the topic of Lean Economics to give me some feedback?

Please let me know and I will be happy to share.



John P
06/18/2010 09:09 AM
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PhilCoy
Phil Coy



I'd be very interested as well. Thanks for being willing to share.
Phil

phil.coy@futurestatesolutions.com
06/18/2010 09:09 AM
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abaper
Avinash Awade



Yeah,

Please send to my ID

avi_awade@rediffmail.com

RGDS

Avi
06/21/2010 10:43 AM
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GregJ
Greg Jones



I would be interested in reviewing it, please ....

greg201@gmail.com
06/21/2010 10:43 AM
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45763
Julio Lugo



John;

I would be delighted to review and provide feedback on your Lean Economics Material.

Julio Lugo
jlugo@primexpr.org
06/21/2010 10:44 AM
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henry03
Sithembiso Masuku



it will be my honour to review your book, sound very interesting,

Regards

Henry.masuku@za-man.co.za
06/22/2010 08:40 AM
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Kwonvay
Kwonvay Yen



John,

I'd like to see your precious book. Please send me a copy. Thanks!

Kwonvay

kwonvay@gmail.com
06/22/2010 08:40 AM
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Vishnu
Vishnu Rayapeddi



Hi John,

Thanks for the offer.
I would be happy to share my thoughts.
Please email me a copy.

Vishnu Rayapeddi
Business Transformation Coach
vishnu@pslglobal.net
www.pslglobal.net
06/22/2010 10:56 AM
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FES
Federico Esparza



Hi John

I'd appreciate if you can also share it to me

Kind Regards

Federico

federico.esparza@genpact.com
06/28/2010 08:39 AM
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sathishthantri
Sathish Kumar Thantri



Hi John,
Would be interested.
My ID is sathishthantri@yahoo.com
Regards
06/28/2010 08:39 AM
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Lars_Dyrby
Lars Dyrby Johansen



Hi John

I would be interested in reviewing it,

Regards

Lars


ldj@leankompagniet.dk
06/28/2010 08:39 AM
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Randall_D
Randall Cooper



I'd certainly be interested in reading it also. Please let me know when it becomes available. Thanks.

Randall Cooper
Sara Lee
Randall.Cooper@SaraLee.com
06/28/2010 08:40 AM
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101845
Gauthier Duval



John, I'm eager to read it and give a review.

Thanks,
Gauthier

gauthier.duval@lean-alliance.com
06/29/2010 03:56 PM
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Brent_Wahba
Brent Wahba



Per John's request and admirable intent to encourage open discussion, here are my thoughts so far:

Chapter 1:
1) Technically and historically, most growing economies consume more than they produce. That doesn't mean the U.S. is not creating wealth (still the highest GDP by far), but may mean that we are not currently retaining it.
2) Not mentioned is the fact that the U.S. has a very high standard of living - maybe artificially too high and maybe one of the reasons for our high debt.
3) Not everyone will agree with your lean definition (first sentence). Waste is a symptom of a poor process but not necessarily the target (or only target) of lean. I was hoping this discussion would be a combination of focus on greater value creation while simultaneously reducing waste - otherwise it's the old saving yourself out of business effect.
4) I like the focus on government waste reduction, but you could go a little farther on what that means. What about unnecessary spending / pork? What about foreign aid and defense? The government also spends a lot of money in the process of redistributing money.

Chapter 2:
1) You may want to better explain push versus pull.
2) The government is actually > 1/3 of the economy and it would require a radical change to pull them far apart.

Chapter 3:
1) I have trouble with the Ford argument because without high enough shareholder returns, nobody would take the risk and invest in companies (or governments). If we stopped it, then Americans would just invest their savings overseas to our detriment. Long-term successful companies find the right balance of serving all their stakeholders.
2) Since today's workers are also shareholders and benefit from their company's success, it is hard to argue that they don't benefit from a profit motive.
3) In public companies, anyway, investors are also owners and have a legal right to determine how their profits are utilized. If not enough goes back to wages, then workers will leave for somewhere that pays more. It's an intertwined free market of labor and goods.
4) I don't think there is any way around supply / demand and the market setting sales prices (without collusion). As soon as one Ford sets a lower price, then the market tries to match it until competitors start dropping out. Once competition is reduced, then prices start back up and competitors jump back in (Schumpeter).
5) The U.S. isn't technically bankrupt yet, but is heading down that path unless we control spending.
6) On many levels, society is far better off today (education, life expectancy) but doesn't that get back to needing to define what society values and producing towards that?

Chapter 4:
1) While interesting, I'm not sure the gold standard discussion helps create a call to action. There are many arguments on both sides and it is not something that the U.S. could do on its own.

Chapter 5:
1) Good place to talk about how an antiquated representative democracy drives wasteful spending and destroys the opportunity for citizens to define and prioritize what they truly value.

Overall:
1) Lots of interesting points, but I'm not sure what the big insight or call to action is. Lean is a combination of little, medium, and big things. What are some of the little and medium things we should be doing?
2) I could easily see that our country needs to: 1) figure out what we truly value 2) prioritize what we spend and stop spending on waste 3) find ways to create more value for ourselves and other countries so they trade for our goods and services.
3) I could also see the book heading down the lean path that our governmental process of identifying and solving problems is seriously broken.
06/30/2010 12:01 PM
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PatrickWalther
Patrick Walther



I would be interested in reviewing this book. Additonally I was wondering if you'd ever had the opportunity to hear Dr. Lee Buddress, Ph. D., C.P.M. from Portland State University speak. If not you may want to look into some of this material on this subject. He has some very interesting theories and war stories.
07/01/2010 08:49 AM
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CalvinSaran
Saravanan Muthusamy



Dear John,

Pls send me the copy.Thanks

saravanan.muthusamy@mpol.com.my
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