This autumn the World Bank published its regular report on the economies of the Western Balkans, and its special topic is titled From Market Entry to Sustained Exports. The authors followed exports through customs data, down to the level of individual export relationships. Thanks to that, we can see something the aggregate export figures do …
Impressions from a study visit on BIM and building permits in Estonia
This week I spent two days in Tallinn with partners from the BIM4Gov project. People go to Estonia to see what a digital state looks like: since 2024 there has been no public service there that is not digitalised, and the last one to move online was divorce. In the same year, every municipality made …
Ten years of first-hand stories (and 22 years of SenseMaker)
Today an email arrived from The Cynefin Co: SenseMaker is turning 22. We have been using it for 10 of those years, from the study on business networking in the winter of 2015 to the one on weak signals this summer. In those five studies, companies told us about their own concrete cases and interpreted …
The best ideas come off the shop floor, and that is where they are most easily lost
Under project DESET, we have just finished a study that goes after something other than opinion. Instead of asking people what they think, we collected small changes that had already taken place in their companies. The method was SenseMaker, a narrative approach we have used often enough by now to trust. Twenty-five stories came in, …
Knowledge management in companies
Knowledge management in companies is not a new topic. However, it is becoming increasingly relevant in a time of rapid change that requires companies to learn and adapt quickly, as well as in a time of growth among domestic firms that are reaching the point where it becomes a problem that most of the knowledge …
Why good companies write weak applications
Lately I have been thinking about something that is very much in the air these days on Umrezi.se: the quality of a company and the quality of its application often have little to do with one another. There are companies that have exported steadily for years, have regular customers in Germany and make products few …
Using IT tools to adapt to new circumstances
We are witnessing the closure of many businesses and cancelation of activities and events due to the Covid-19 pandemic to prevent physical contact and virus spread. Where applicable, activities are shifting online and people are starting to work and collaborate from home. We have an opportunity to see how quickly the world can change. For …
Looking at economic development through Helmuth von Moltke’s military glasses
21st century is the time of increased complexity and thus uncertainty. But that doesn’t mean that things weren’t complex and uncertain before. I have found an example of how the German army used to cope with the uncertainty which I would like to share: for others to read it and for me not to forget …
Where does economic growth really come from and what can B&H do about it
I’ve been listening to Pitchfork Economics podcast Where does economic growth really come from? and it’s great. Here‘s a link. This concrete podcast is part of a greater series that I still have to explore, but this episode alone has a few very useful insights and great guests: W. Brian Arthur and César A. Hidalgo. …
Will it be better if we solve the problems of this country?
I’m not sure the majority of things we identify as problems of this country are relevant to the citizens. I’m also not sure that these are actually problems. And if they are, let’s not miss to ask a question I often hear from a friend: To who is this a problem? There’s one more question …