Techonomics predicts massive upheavals in three significant markets: healthcare, education, and energy. You have the power to change things from the Oval Office (after all, its an election year!) – pick a societal challenge and offer your suggestions for corrective policies or reasons that things ought to be left alone.
Archive for the 'Techonomics' Category
Entitlement or Independence (CU Week 7)
Published April 21, 2008 Techonomics 0 CommentsTags: challenges, education, energy, healthcare, policies
Virtualization (CU Week 6)
Published April 21, 2008 Techonomics 0 CommentsTags: productivity, virtual world, Virtualization
One of the key trends pointed to by Techonomics is that we are headed to a “virtual” world - the ability to do more and more (productive output) with less and less (resources) until we will be able to do just about anything with almost nothing (virtualization). List things that you do “virtually” today that you used to do in person. Anticipate something that you do in person today that you may do virtually in the future.
Expand the list of things you currently do in person that you anticipate will be done “virtually” within 5 years. What needs to be done to enable each new entry?
Name one function performed internally by an organization that you are involved with that could be more effectively outsourced and support your reasoning. Do you think that outsourcing is a good or bad business practice and why?
Revolutionary Change from Technology Advancement (CU Week 3)
Published March 28, 2008 Techonomics 2 CommentsTags: advance, Apple, strategies, technology
The Apple iPod has revolutionized music (and is headed to do the same with video). Discuss any observations that you have as to 1) why digital downloads are overtaking other distribution methods, 2) why Apple has established such a dominant position in this market, and 3) strategically, how do you think can Apple keep its lead in this marketplace?
What is the fundamental transaction that drives your organizations success? How could the provision of this transaction be improved from either performance or cost standpoint?
Our organizations are a composite of the transactions they make and the partners they do business with. Describe one activity in your company or personal life that could probably be done better through either outsourcing or a change in the provider. Why?
Economic Engine (CU-Week 1)
Published March 6, 2008 Techonomics 4 CommentsTags: Collins, economic engine, Good to Great, metrics, supply and demand
I am learning to use the tools needed to teach Techonomics remotely. This is the first of a series of blog posts for my MBA distance class in Techonomics at Cumberland University. I look forward to the thoughtful responses of my students. Jim Collins in Good to Great describes the “economic engine” of a company. This term relates to the fundamental value proposition that company makes to its customers. It is also the jumping off point for the development of metrics (in our case techonomic metrics) to measure the performance of an organization in pursuit of its economic purpose. Describe the “economic engine” of an organization that you are involved in. As products become information and production capacity becomes virtually infinite, discuss the ramifications for supply and demand and how a company can establish and maintain sales prices and margins.
Techonomics: The End Game
Published January 23, 2008 Techonomics 0 CommentsTags: competition, efficiency, improvement, Negroponte, resource utilization
Techonomics is about predicting trends and trends can often lead to destinations. The destination of
Techonomics: The Founding Assumptions
Published January 22, 2008 Techonomics 0 CommentsTags: assumptions, competition, information, Techonomics, worldview
Techonomics is a framework - a worldview - that seeks to bring understanding to the observations of chaos in the economy. Every framework needs foundational assumptions upon which to stand. Continue reading ‘Techonomics: The Founding Assumptions’
Techonomics: The Economy from an Engineer’s Perspective
Published January 16, 2008 Abunga.com , Techonomics 0 CommentsTags: Business models, economics, Entrepreneur, Techonomics, World is Flat
I wrote a book, Techonomics, for the CRC Press targeted for engineering economics and technical MBA students last year. The word Techonomics is a combination of Technology and Economics with the root idea being that technology is the driver of change and economics is the determiner of which changes have lasting impact. The book is available on Abunga.com at (http://abunga.com/?d=product&productid=9780849370670). It is an engineer/entreprenuer’s explanation of the anecdotal thoughts in The World is Flat. From time to time on this blog, I will share thoughts about Techonomics and the major societal issues that are facing our country. I hope you will consider these observations and give feedback as to your grounded opinions. The business model aspects of Abunga are centered around lessons learned in Techonomics, although the heart of Abunga is centered around supporting worthy causes. - Lee Martin, Chariman
Techonomics: A Worldview of Change
Published December 18, 2007 Techonomics 0 CommentsTags: Business models, Entrepreneur, Techonomics

Greetings,
Before joining the Abunga team, I wrote a book, Techonomics, based on my observations of the .com boom and my experience of growing a company at that interesting time. Techonomics is an entrepreneur’s-eye view of the impact that technology is having on how business is conducted. As I was writing the book, Friedman’s book, The World is Flat, was released and there are many similar thoughts arrived at from completely different thought processes.
Abunga.com is a business built around the organizational models learned from the experience that resulted in Techonomics. This blog will describe, from time to time, the Techonomic approach as it actively applied in the Abunga operations.
- Lee
