I have observed that the books recommended in ICS 655 (Leadership seminar) are not simple text books that we need to study. These books are in fact, carefully selected by Dr Jay E Gillette for providing excellent knowledge about Leadership. The goal of CICS teaching is immersive learning.

'Thriving on chaos' is one of the greatest ever management books. The book has been authored by Tom Peters . This book is though not written specifically on leadership, but it contains insights that are very useful in leading people. According to Tom peters, leaders can achieve flexibility through empowerment —involving everyone in everything. By doing this, people are not considered to be a mere factor of production. They can be value added source. It is important. I feel that people are capable of things more than the things they are doing as per their job profiles. If we will involve everyone in everything, we can not only get the required services, that also make them feel important. This ultimately increases productivity. The book is excellent as it has also in-depth discussion on change, customer-responsiveness, building systems and innovation.

Michael porter is the greatest author on competitive advantage, competitive strategy and competitive intelligence. According to Porter, “The goal of competitive strategy for a business unit in an industry is to find a position in the industry where the company can best defend itself against competitive forces or can influence them in its favor.“The state of competition in an industry depends on five basic competitive forces – bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services and rivalry among existing firms. The collective strength of these forces determines the ultimate profit potential in the industry.” I agree with him as a good competitor knows its products and services, knows its customers and knows its competitors. It is true that the knowledge of own products and services, knowledge of customers and competitors is helpful in strategic positioning. By using this knowledge one can determine where its place in the competitive world is. Many companies do the analysis of strengths and weaknesses as well as threats and opportunities (SWTO/SWOT) for this purpose. Based on that analysis, STP strategies i.e. segmenting, targeting and positioning strategies are designed.

The Knowledge-value Revolution, or, A History of the Future, by Sakaiya is all about Knowledge management. I like Sakaiya's views that In the future the organizations will prosper to the extent they add knowledge value. According to Sakaiya, “People sense that wisdom or information (that is to say, knowledge) is the commodity that exists in greatest abundance now, and are thus driven by enlightened self-interest to make the most of it, for they can safely assume that if they draw on the supply of knowledge, there will still be more where that came from.”. It is true that information renaissance has enabled every leader access to information wealth, but the leader who can use the information well by creation of ideas based on the information will be successful.

Competitive intelligence and global business By David L. Blenkhorn, Craig S. Fleisher is a classic book on competitive intelligence especially from global business perspective. It is about the most current practices in the competitive intelligence field. After reading the book, I have gained knowledge that CI is an essential tool for success.

Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence, by Prescott & Miller is an excellent book on competitive intelligence. I love the quotes of Sun Tzu included in the book. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."–Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 511 b.c.

The Leader’s Companion by J Thomas Wren provides diverse perspectives on leadership The book has separate sections for each author which include Plato, Aristotle, Lao-tzu , Max De Pree ,James MacGregor Burns, John Kotter, Warren Bennis, Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi . Basically the book is a compilation of writings by great authors on leadership. I was amazed to see the articles of great ancient thinkers included in the compilation which shows that leadership is as old as civilization. The book provides insights on the practice of leadership.

REFERENCES

1. Competitive Intelligence and Global Business, Blenkhorn and Fleisher, Eds., ISBN: 978-0-275-98140-2
2.Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence, by Prescott & Miller, ISBN: 978-047140178-0
3.The Knowledge-value Revolution, or, A History of the Future, by Sakaiya, ISBN: 978-4-7-7001702-4
4.The Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages, Wren, ed., ISBN: 978- 002874091-1
5. Porter, M.E. (1980) Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980.
6. Peters, T. J. (1991). Thriving on Chaos. New York: HarperCollins.

The term broadband can have different meanings in different contexts. [1] The term’s meaning is changing with the rising internet speeds. It is true that there is no worldwide standard for broadband. In my view it is a high speed connection that is always on. The high speed according to FCC is different and undergoes change. It should be T1 at least in my view (1.5 Mb/s). South Korea and Japan are world leaders in broadband speeds. Slower broadband means what we can do with internet is constrained.[2] If we don’t produce a unified framework for how to push the bandwidth ball forward in a much bigger way, then we are going to continue this downward slide.[3] Different countries have dealt with this situation differently and results are also different.

Broadband gives critical access to life, labor and the pursuit of happiness in application for education and training; health information referral and consultation; work at home and abroad; business large and small; entertainment for all.[4] According to Prof Stuart Brotman[5], it is needed for:
• Fast uploading and downloading
• Multitasking
• Streaming media
• VOIP
• Gaming
• Videoconferencing

Prof Brotman has given seven reasons “how broadband can save the world”. These are:
• It will benefit the people with disabilities
• Increase GDP
• Support microfinance
• Health care- electronic medical records and remote monitoring
• Education
• Energy management
• Public safety

Broadband is directly related to welfare of people, prosperity, GDP and so on. Due to this, it is considered to be an important indicator of value. Broadband penetration if is higher, economic development is higher and vice versa.
National broadband networks deliver benefits across the whole of society. That makes them cost effective.[6] According to experts[7] broadband needs to be considered as basic national infrastructure and it will fundamentally reshape the world in the 21st century and change the way services and delivered from e-health to e-education to e-commerce to e-government.

Public policy on broadband decides the fortune of the country. Broadband penetration is directly related to economic and community development. Sound policies facilitate the broadband adoption and accessibility increase.
I strongly believe that broadband should be considered a part of basic infrastructure of any country. United States is considered to be a top developed country but performance of US in broadband is not very good. Though it is said that the country has been able to provide approximately 96% accessibility but its broadband adaptability rate is much lower compared to the accessibility. The Broadband infrastructure in United States is managed by private sector and government is regulating it with the help of FCC. The various laws relating to Telecommunications are in place.

South Korea and Japan are way ahead of US end even the current FCC plan does not plan for even reaching the limits to match those countries.

Fig. 1 Average advertised broadband download speed(OECD-Oct 2009)[8]

Fig 2 Total Number of broadband subscribers(OECD-June 2009) [9]

To encourage the development of broadband infrastructure (supply) in the United States, ITIF has suggested that U.S. policymakers take the following steps[10]:
1. Enact more favorable tax policies to encourage investment in broadband networks, such as accelerated depreciation and exempting broadband services from federal, state, and local taxation.
2. Continue to make more spectrum, including “white spaces,” available for next-generation wireless data networks.
3. Expand the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service Broadband Program and target the program to places that currently do not have non-satellite broadband available.
4. Reform the federal Universal Service Fund program to extend support for rural broadband to all carriers, and consider providing the funding through a reverse auction mechanism.
5. Fund a national program to co-fund state-level broadband support programs, such as Connect Kentucky or North Carolina e-NC Authority.
6. Promote the widespread use of a national, user-generated, Internet-based broadband mapping system that would track location, speed, and price of broadband.
7. State and local governments should take action to make it easier for providers to deploy broadband services, including making it easier to access rights-of-way.
To encourage the growth of consumer demand for broadband, we recommend that U.S. policymakers take these steps:
8. Support initiatives around the nation to encourage broadband usage and digital literacy.
9. Fund a revitalized Technology Opportunities Program, with a particular focus on the development of nationally scalable Web-based projects that address particular social needs, including law enforcement, health care, education, and access for persons with disabilities.
10. Exempt broadband Internet access from federal, state, and local taxes.
11. Support new applications, including putting more public content online, improving e-government, and supporting telework, telemedicine, and online learning programs.

FCC has intrduced its plan in March 2010 with following goals[11]:
• Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
• Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
• Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
• Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
• Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a nationwide public safety wireless network.
• Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.

I have analyzed the performance of United States and the US broadband policies in comparison to world broadband performance and policies. The following are my observations:

A) The free market economy has certain limitations. The government should play actively the role of regulator. While I am a firm believer of private infrastructure in United States, I also believe excessive freedom is detrimental to the interests of the country. At times even private players challenge the authority of the Government organizations (Comcast vs. FCC). Though a simple fix will work for FCC in that case but it is not a healthy sign. The government should take steps to promote competition. Increasing competition is one of the goals of FCC broadband plan.
B) Density of population in United States is less which is a major factor in broadband penetration. United States is ranked 178 in population density[12]. Comparing with Japan which is ranked 36 and South Korea which is ranked 22 in population density is justified. In my view comparisons are odious. The media has publicized the rankings so much and people without knowing full facts have started to believe the Government must do something to fix the problem. In my view it has been exaggerated. United States has been able to provide good telecommunications services compared to other countries. China and India have a combined population of more than 40% of world population but less than 2 lines per 100 people.[13] As telephones tend to be concentrated in cities, access in rural areas is much more limited and non-existent in many developing regions.[14]
C) Comparing the United States broadband policy with other countries, I have observed that the United States has not done anything to encourage broadband use. [15] Some countries are encouraging games; some countries are encouraging audio-video entertainment. It is very important that United States should also encourage something for increasing the adaptability of broadband. Health care is major concern. Online health care can be promoted. It is also possible to keep online medical records and even remote monitoring can be done through broadband. Entertainment is a big industry which can be encouraged. Civic sector should be involved in changing the attitudes of people. For broadband to be successful, in my view its use has to be extended from simple e-mail, web surfing to entertainment and social networking.
D) While speed is important and it is one of the major issues in broadband services, it is not the only issue. In my view accessibility and adaptability are more important especially in free economy. Increased adoptability means more profit, more traffic and in order to meet the requirements, the broadband service providers will take steps to ensure high speed and maintain quality of service.
E) Research and development in broadband technologies field has to be encouraged. For that government should offer incentives through favorable tax policies and grants for Research and development. Wireless broadband has great potential. It should be promoted. It is good that the FCC has also kept ‘fastest wireless networks’ a goal in its national broadband plan.
F) The broadband related laws are required to be reviewed from time to time. May it be reclassification or any other issue, if reviewed timely will not become a cause of embarrassment for the government.

REFERENCES
1. Broadband - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband

2. App-Rising. (n.d.). App-Rising. Retrieved April 24, 2010, from http://www.app-rising.com/2010/01/oh_great_american_broadband_ge.html

3. App-Rising. (n.d.). App-Rising. Retrieved April 24, 2010, from http://www.app-rising.com/2010/01/oh_great_american_broadband_ge.html

4. Gillette J. E. (n.d.). “Common Sense and Common Carriage:
Draining the Net Neutrality Swamp”. Retrieved April 24, 2010, from http://www.items.fr/IMG/pdf/Jay_Edwin_Gillette_GF_2008.pdf

5. Brotman, S. (n.d.). Can broadband save the world? 24th March 2010 (AJ 175 Prof Stuart Brotman-VISH. CICS Weblogs. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/vkmalhotra/

6. Build on Broadband. (n.d.). ITU: Committed to connecting the world. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from http://www.itu.int/en/broadband/Pages/default.aspx

7. The Broadband Vision. (n.d.). ITU: Committed to connecting the world. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from http://www.itu.int/en/broadband/Pages/vision.aspx

8. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/53/39575086.xls

9. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/15/39574806.xls

10. Atkinson, R. D., & Correa, D. K. (n.d.). ITIF: Explaining International Broadband Leadership. The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://archive.itif.org/index.php?id=142

11. The National Broadband Plan: Connecting America. (n.d.). The National Broadband Plan: Connecting America. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from http://www.broadband.gov/

12. List of countries and dependencies by population density - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density

13. Hudson, H. E. (1997). Global Connections: International Telecommunications Infrastructure and Policy. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

14. Hudson, H. E. (1997). Global Connections: International Telecommunications Infrastructure and Policy. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

15. National broadband plans from around the world - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_broadband_plans_from_around_the_world

Net neutrality is combination of two things viz. internet freedom i.e. access of information without any type of filtering and indiscriminate network access. Network Neutrality is the idea that telecommunication providers should provide services without individual restrictions on content and access. Google has defined Net neutrality in guide to net neutrality [1] for Google users as:
Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. The Internet has operated according to this neutrality principle since its earliest days... Fundamentally, net neutrality is about equal access to the Internet. In our view, the broadband carriers should not be permitted to use their market power to discriminate against competing applications or content. Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, broadband carriers should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online.

The pro-Network Neutrality website defines network neutrality as:
Net Neutrality is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers may not discriminate between different kinds of content and applications online. It guarantees a level playing field for all Web sites and Internet technologies. Net Neutrality is the reason the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation and free speech online. It protects the consumer's right to use any equipment, content, application or service without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network's only job is to move data -- not to choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.[2]

Some ISPs are blocking some applications as well as websites and controlling how the user will use the internet by restricting the users. In 2008, Comcast was asked by FCC to unblock a P2P website. The Federal Communications Commission handed Comcast a cease-and-desist order and required the company to disclose to subscribers in the future how it plans to manage traffic. [3] But Comcast later on challenged FCC and ultimately won. This decision is important and has initiated debate both net neutrality as also the powers of FCC in regulating broadband in United States.

Network Neutrality is a global policy issue. Alan Davidson, director of public policy for Google, told a joint Congressional panel that the United States should consider withholding development aid for countries that restrict certain Web sites. He said censorship had become more than a human rights issue and was hurting profit for foreign companies that rely on the Internet to reach customers. More than 40 countries actively censor the Internet currently, he said. [4]

NEED FOR REGULATIONS ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY

Dr. van Schewick defines net neutrality as regulations that “forbid network operators to discriminate against third-party applications, content, or portals (‘independent applications’) and to exclude them from their network.”[5] The network neutrality regulation means that the ISPs will not be able to block the internet applications, content or portals.

The Network neutrality is a public issue that needs to be addressed by the government. Different countries have dealt with network neutrality differently. On one extreme the government is in entire control (China) and on the other extreme the ISPs are in full control (United States). The user who is paying the internet is not able to access it freely. In my view if you want to encourage internet use, you should first bring the network neutrality regulations. In United States, FCC is in favor of net neutrality. According to the FCC:
“The FCC is firmly committed to promoting an open Internet and to policies that will bring the enormous benefits of broadband to all Americans. It will rest these policies — all of which will be designed to foster innovation and investment while protecting and empowering consumers — on a solid legal foundation. Today’s court decision invalidated the prior Commission’s approach to preserving an open Internet. But the Court in no way disagreed with the importance of preserving a free and open Internet; nor did it close the door to other methods for achieving this important end.”[6]

President Obama professed his strong support for network neutrality on YouTube. In an interview with political director Steve Grove based on questions submitted online after the State of the Union speech, Obama called himself a “big believer in net neutrality … I campaigned on this. I continue to be a strong supporter of it. [7]

Fig. Net Neutrality-issues [8]

In United States, the net neutrality debate is mainly due to blocking of P2P applications and discrimination in service based on the price factors. There are supporters of Net Neutrality including the FCC, US president, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. Imagine not being able to access Yahoo's Web portal as quickly from your Internet service provider, because the company that owns the cable lines has cut a deal with Google to provide their services exclusively. In a letter to Congress in Nov. 2005, Google advisor and Internet guru Vinton Cerf advocated Net neutrality policies as championing innovation and free content access for all users.[9]

"Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators should not dictate what people can do online," Cerf said. "I am confident that we can build a broadband system that allows users to decide what websites they want to see and what applications they want to use and that also guarantees high quality service and network security."

Water is water, electricity is electricity, and heating is heating. Each does what it does, and that's it. Internet connectivity, on the other hand, varies in speed (among other factors) and is therefore differentiated. Many popular web applications will just not run on too slow a connection, but the electricity grid will either power a light bulb or it won't at all. [10] I agree with Michael K. Powell, former FCC chairman about four Internet freedoms[11]:
• Freedom to Access Content (consumers should have access to their choice of legal content)
• Freedom to Use Applications.(consumers should be able to run applications of their choice)
• Freedom to Attach Personal Devices (consumers should be permitted to attach any devices they choose to the connection in their homes)
• Freedom to Obtain Service Plan Information (consumers should receive meaningful information regarding their service plans)

There are some authors who believe that the internet has never been truly Neutral and that the arguments of both sides are “theoretical” and purely hypothetical. [12]

The common carriage principle is the basis of net neutrality argument. Dr Gillette [13] has prescribed Common carriage principles. According to him, common carriage principles allow:
– For end-users, client businesses and customers—information access; content freedom; reasonable cost/performance ratios
– For carriers, service providers—reasonable, predictable network management parameters; potential for tiered service revenues (not “unjust or unreasonable”); level competitive playing-field
– For regulators, governments—rational, feasible, tested basis for policy and regulation; equality of treatment for users and providers; framework for handling innovation and especially future growth.

The Internet freedom and non-discrimination Act, 2006 was intended to prohibit discrimination by broadband network and Internet service providers by adding an additional section that stated:
It shall be unlawful for any broadband network provider—
1) to fail to provide its broadband network services on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms and conditions such that any person can offer or provide content, applications, or services to or over the network in a manner that is at least equal to the manner in which the provider or its affiliates offer content, applications, and services, free of any surcharge on the basis of the content, application, or service;
2) To refuse to interconnect its facilities with the facilities of another provider of broadband network services on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms or conditions;
3) (A) to block, to impair, to discriminate against, or to interfere with the ability of any person to use a broadband network service to access, to use, to send, to receive, or to offer lawful content, applications or services over the Internet; or (B) to impose an additional charge to avoid any conduct that is prohibited by this subsection;
4) To prohibit a user from attaching or using a device on the provider’s network that does not physically damage or materially degrade other users’ utilization of the network; or
5) To fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose to users, in plain language, accurate information concerning any terms, conditions, or limitations on the broadband network service. (b) If a broadband network provider prioritizes or offers enhanced quality of service to data of a particular type, it must prioritize or offer enhanced quality of service to all data of that type (regardless of the origin or ownership of such data) without imposing a surcharge or other consideration for such prioritization or enhanced quality of service. (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a broadband network provider from taking reasonable and nondiscriminatory measures—
1) to manage the functioning of its network, on a system wide basis, provided that any such management function does not result in discrimination between content, applications, or services offered by the provider and unaffiliated provider;
2) To give priority to emergency communications;
3) To prevent a violation of a Federal or State law, or to comply with an order of a court to enforce such law;
4) To offer consumer protection services (such as parental controls), provided that a user may refuse or disable such services;
5) To offer special promotional pricing or other marketing initiatives; or
6) To prioritize or offer enhanced quality of service to all data of a particular type (regardless of the origin or ownership of such data) without imposing a surcharge or other consideration for such prioritization or quality of service. [14]

In case of broadband, performance measures are difficult to ascertain. The difference between the phone system and the Internet lies in the fact that an “Erlang model or formula” existed for the phone system. The Internet, however, lacks a similar formula because no stable and reliable statistics exist by which ISPs can easily ascertain how much capacity they must offer in order to guarantee objective measures for service quality and provide a customer experience that meets or exceeds expectations.[15]

Google Inc [16] has given suggestions to FCC regarding Net Neutrality . According to Google Inc in particular:

1.The Commission should codify the four existing Internet policy principles.
2.The Commission should adopt a general nondiscrimination rule. This is a well-settled standard that Congress and the FCC have applied in numerous instances to mitigate threats of anti competitive conduct due to communications providers’ abilities and incentives to discriminate. In this context, “simple nondiscrimination” should prevent a broadband provider from using its control over the network to favor or disadvantage particular sources of content or applications. The standard also should prohibit imposing new charges on Internet application and content providers to reach end-users, including charges for enhanced or prioritized access.
3.The Commission should adopt a rule ensuring transparency. Consumers have every right to know the features and limitations of the broadband services they purchase especially if their broadband provider intends to engage in network management practices that could degrade or impair Internet communications to or from other users or applications. Likewise, for the hundreds of thousands of applications and content developers to engineer and design services that will work, they also need to understand the limits of broadband providers’ services.
4.The Commission should adopt a carefully-defined reasonable network management exception. Broadband network providers still should be free, of course, to address genuine network sharing and congestion issues, as well as to protect against malware, spamming, and similar issues. At the same time, such network management should be tailored to address valid engineering and consumer protection issues.
5.The policy framework adopted in this proceeding should be network agnostic, applying across both wire line and wireless broadband infrastructure. As FCC Chairman Genachowski has noted, “Even though each form of Internet access has unique technical characteristics, they are all different roads to the same place. It is essential that the Internet itself remain open, however users reach it.” Consumers enjoy services and applications across networks and expect seamless integration, usage and utility, regardless of whether the underlying networks are wired or wireless. That said, there is little doubt that the wireless sector has its own unique characteristics, and its own unique technical challenges and constraints in dealing with Internet traffic flows. The Commission’s framework certainly can and should account for these factors in evaluating “reasonable network management.”
6.Finally, the FCC should adopt clear, quick, and effective enforcement mechanisms. If a violation of the rules occurs, the FCC should have streamlined mechanisms in place to provide expeditious redress. By thoroughly explaining its adjudication procedures, including discovery practices, the elements of a prima facie case, and the range of remedies available (whether injunctive relief, contract modification, or other measures), the FCC will be able to resolve disputes rapidly and deter future abuses. In conjunction with this government enforcement mechanism, Google also suggests looking to the development and sharing of technical expertise from the best thinkers in the private and public sectors. Such “technical advisory groups” (TAGs) could help guide future thinking about optimal ways to manage broadband networks so as to preserve and promote the open and robust Internet.

With regards to Network Neutrality, I have following recommendations for the US policy makers:
• I think at this point of time (during recession), there should be no radical changes in the existing system. If we will enforce very strict regulations or change the system, that can prove to be failure. I am myself a strong supporter of Network Neutrality as I don’t like my ISP to dictate what I should do with internet. The blocking of websites or applications should be made illegal. The user should be the decision-maker, how he wants to access the internet. As unlimited broadband plans are popular in US, regarding the fear of jamming the traffic due to P2P, I suggest unlimited plans with reasonable data limit per month. Beyond that limit user should pay extra money. It is as simple as cost for putting extra load on the system needs to be paid. It will make people think rationally and will also keep the system in good health.
• Pricing should be transparent. There is nothing wrong in charging more amounts for better service provided. But every customer should be able to access better service on payment of extra cost. However, I suggest there should not be any regional discrimination in pricing. The remote areas pricing should be the same and government can stipulate remote broadband business. Some encouragement should be through government in the form of tax reliefs for remote broadband business.

REFERENCES

1. Network neutrality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality

2. Frequently Asked Questions | Save the Internet. (n.d.). Save the Internet. Retrieved April 9, 2010, from http://www.savetheinternet.com/faq

3. McCullagh, D. (n.d.). FCC formally rules Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent was illegal | Politics and Law - CNET News. Technology News - CNET News. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10004508-38.html

4. Hernadez, J. C. (n.d.). Google Official Calls for Action on Internet Restrictions - NYTimes.com. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/technology/25google.html

5. Hass, Douglas A., The Never-Was-Neutral Net and Why Informed End Users Can End the Net Neutrality Debates. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Vol. 22, p. 1563, 2008; Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No. 82. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=957373

6. Higginbotham, S. (n.d.). Comcast vs. FCC: In Battle For Net Neutrality, Did the Courts Hand Comcast a Pyrrhic Victory? . GigaOM . Retrieved April 23, 2010, from http://gigaom.com/2010/04/06/did-the-courts-hand-comcast-a-pyrrhic-victory/

7. Eggerton, J. (n.d.). Obama Backs Open Networks - 2010-02-06 07:00:00 | Multichannel News. Cable Television News, Broadcast, Syndication, Programming & Local TV | Multichannel News. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from http://www.multichannel.com/article/448035-Obama_Backs_Open_Networks.php

8. http://www.runtogold.com/2010/02/define-fcc-net-neutrality-legislation-debate/

9. Bosworth, M. H. (n.d.). The Battle for Net Neutrality. consumer affairs.com. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/net_neutrality.html

10. Meyer, D. (n.d.). Is broadband a utility? | ZDNet UK. ZDNet UK | Business IT News, Reviews and White Papers for tech professionals. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/is-broadband-a-utility-10009696/

11. Thompson, M. (n.d.). Questionable Future Looms for Common Carriage Regulations. Online Journalism Review | Knight Digital Media Center. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/041202thompson/

12. Hass, Douglas A.. "The Never-Was-Neutral Net and Why Informed End Users Can End the Net Neutrality Debates." BERKELEY TECHNOLOGY LAW JOURNAL 22 (2007); Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No. 82. 1565. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=957373

13. Gillette, J. E. (n.d.). Common Sense and common carriage-Draining the net neutrality swamp. items.fr. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from www.items.fr/IMG/pdf/Jay_Edwin_Gillette_GF_2008.pdf

14. The Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, H.R. 5417 (2006)

15. FCC Net Neutrality Debate. Define Net Neutrality Legislation - Please!. (n.d.). RunToGold.com — Monetary science applied to current events focusing on the role of gold and silver... Retrieved April 24, 2010, from http://www.runtogold.com/2010/02/define-fcc-net-neutrality-legislation-debate/

16. 01-14-10 Google Net Neutrality Comments. (n.d.). Scribd. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/25246261/01-14-10-Google-Net-Neutrality-Comments

Below is a way he uses information in the form of a challenge.

For a forthcoming event, I was asked to provide some possible "sayings" on leadership, six words or less, fit to go on coffee cups distributed as gifts. Well, I got a little carried away. (That's not news.) The results are listed below.

"Passion!"
"Energy!"
"Enthusiasm!"
"Passion! Energy! Enthusiasm!"
"Enthusiasm! Enthusiasm! Enthusiasm!"
"Enthusiasm Moves Mountains!"
"Nothing Matches Enthusiasm as a 'Motivator'!"
"Enthusiasm, the Ultimate Virus."
"Technicolor Times Demand Technicolor Actions."
"Technicolor Times Demand Technicolor People."
"Wow. Now."
"Re-imagine!"
"Re-imagine! Re-do! Re-vise! Re-vo-lu-tion!"
"Respect!"
"Leaders 'Do' People. Period."
"Credibility. Asset No.1."
"Tell the Truth."
"Truth Wins."
"Challenge. Challenge. Challenge."
"Two Big Goals. Tops."
"Focus. Your Calendar Never Lies."
"Good Story. Good Leader."
"Best Story Wins."
"Live the Story."
"Change the World. Accept Nothing Less."
"Dream!"
"Dream. The Only Worthwhile Reality."
"Beware Those Who Agree With You."
"Seek Dissidents. Nurture Dissidents. Cherish Dissidents."
"Excellence!"
"Demand Excellence!"
"Demand Excellence. The Greatest Gift."
"No Less Than Excellence. Ever."
"Excellence, Life's Gold Standard"
"Stop Talking! Start Doing!"
"Execute. Execute. Execute."
"Do. Do. Do."
"'Good Execution' Beats 'Good Strategy.'"
"Agility Trumps Size."
"Women make the best bosses!"
"Women Rule. Believe It."
"You must care!"
"Listen."
"Ask. 'Why?'"
"'Different' beats 'Better.'"
"'Distinct' or 'Extinct.'"
"Innovate or Die."
"'Me Too' = 'Me Dead.'"
"Talent Time!"
"Best Talent Wins."
"Moderation Fails in Immoderate Times."

If you were given the same assignment, what other pithy, world-changing, cup-suitable pearls would you suggest?

Dr Jay E Gillette, the professor, Center for Information and communication Sciences, Ball State University gave us this challenge in Leadership seminar. My response to the Tom Peters challenge is (as per his six words or less phrase condition)

L- Logical
E- Energetic
A- Admirable
D- Determined
E- Enthusiastic
R- Resourceful

I have included the most important characteristics of the leader in the above leadership phrase.

The other phrases that I created-

Plan well,execute well with passion
Find the goal path and guide

Information need is prevalent in all spheres of life. We need information in order to take decisions. We also act and behave based on information. We also form our attitudes and perception based on information. The information renaissance has changed the methods of communication and ways of accessing information. The information was earlier used by the managers in taking decisions only. But now, managers use information for deciding the future strategies. This paper discusses the various aspects of information and how the information can be used for strategic purpose.

The discussion is in six sections:

• Concept of information
• Concept of Strategy and need for competitive strategy
• Information revolution impact on competition
• Strategic intelligence and 21st century leader
• Globalization and strategic use of information
• Conclusions and recommendations.

1. Concept of information
The term ‘Information’ has been defined in business dictionary as follows:
“In general, raw data that (1) has been verified to be accurate and timely, (2) is specific and organized for a purpose, (3) is presented within a context that gives it meaning and relevance, and which (4) leads to increase in understanding and decrease in uncertainty.”

Dr Gillette, in his Knowledge management paper declared that “information is a component of knowledge. It occupies a central position in a scale of knowledge from phenomena to wisdom.”
It is easy to feel the effects of these changes on the way that information can be accessed. In 1994, the Web could be counted easily with a modest 500 websites worldwide. But in 2000 the Internet had exploded to over 3 billion pages.
In my view information is processed data that is required to be act upon to be effective. Information has to be used intelligently in order to be effective. Even if one gets accurate, organized and actionable information does not mean that the information will be intelligently used. It is because we have individual differences in everything. These individual differences are not limited to persons only. The whole world—companies, institutions, organizations and even nations are different in using the available information. That is the only reason I always emphasize that information is easy to obtain in the information renaissance of 21st century but ultimately how we use that information is important. It is logical. For example, a Cricket player may be good in his technique, but low in actual performance. Similarly, a company may have the best information system available and they may not be that effective in acting intelligently based on information. Larry Kahaner has also expressed the same views. According to him, “Information is merely the starting point of the decision-making process and no the end. And while the quality of the information is important, what you do with it—how you analyze and then use it—is much more important.”

2. Concept of strategy and need for competitive strategy
Dr Gillette has dynamically defined strategy as “coordinated action through time to achieve a goal.” Every firm competing in an industry has a competitive strategy, whether implicit or explicit. In my view, it is difficult for a business organization to survive without a competitive strategy. Strategic management is a requirement for survival and prosperity for every organization doing business in the information economy. Sun Tzu has also explained the relationship between strategy and tactics. According to him, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
The goal of competitive strategy for a business unit in an industry is to find a position in the industry where the company can best defend itself against competitive forces or can influence them in its favor. According to Michael Porter, “Rivals can easily copy your improvements in quality and efficiency. But they shouldn’t be able to copy your strategic positioning—what distinguishes your company from all the rest. The essence of strategy is choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do.” Certainly, strategic positioning differentiates a company from the rest and that differentiation determines the fortunes of the company in competition.

3. Information Revolution impact on competition
Michael Porter and Victor Miller have visualized the impact of industrial revolution in three vital ways:
• It changes the industry structure and, in so doing alters the rules of competition.
• It creates competitive advantage by giving companies new ways to outperform their rivals.
• It spawns whole new businesses, often from within a company’s existing operations.

“The state of competition in an industry depends on five basic competitive forces – bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services and rivalry among existing firms. The collective strength of these forces determines the ultimate profit potential in the industry.” A good competitor knows its products and services, knows its customers and knows its competitors. It is true that the knowledge of own products and services, knowledge of customers and competitors is helpful in strategic positioning. By using this knowledge one can determine where its place in the competitive world is. Many companies do the analysis of strengths and weaknesses as well as threats and opportunities (SWTO/SWOT) for this purpose. Based on that analysis, STP strategies i.e. segmenting, targeting and positioning strategies are designed.

4. Strategic Intelligence and 21st century leader
John Kotter notes that “Most US corporations today are over-managed and under-led.” Jay Liebowitz has explained the need for strategic intelligence to improve decision making in the organizations by defining strategic intelligence as a synergy of business intelligence, competitive intelligence, and knowledge management. According to him, “Organizations need to apply these catalysts (CI, BI and KM) to foster SI for improved decision making. By doing so, the IQ of the organization should grow and the organization’s institutional memory will be preserved and strengthened.” In other words, a leader has to make his organization strong by applying the synergy of competitive intelligence, business intelligence and knowledge management. It also forms the basis of strategic position of the business organization. A leader is not only required to use strategic intelligence he must do strategic planning in order to be effective .I agree with Dr Gillette that “Strategic management is the art of the future.” The business in competitive scenario is similar to the game of Chess. You have to plan ahead not only thinking what should be your step using business intelligence and knowledge management, you have to think what competitor can do using competitive intelligence. The following quotation tells all:
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."–Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 511 b.c.
A leader must encourage participation of people at all levels in the organization.
Indeed, in a rapidly changing competitive environment the most valuable knowledge was often distributed among the members of the organization. Moreover, top management often didn’t know who had the critical knowledge. This, again, led to an emphasis of the communicative aspects of organizational information processing.

5. Globalization and strategic use of information
The competition is not limited to organizations. That goes beyond the boundaries of nations also. Though nations do not compete directly, there is a vested interest involved of every nation to see the companies of their nation prosper internationally. Government’s role varies by country in what it does and the significance of its impact on the private sector businesses. Some countries are performing very well in international trade due to which their economy is strong. Currently China is doing very well and strategic intelligence is one of the basic reason of their success. The adversity of factor— population has been converted into an opportunity by using appropriate combination of labor and technology. Hill has done a lot of research on global businesses. According to him, managing international or global businesses is different from managing domestic business organizations for a number of prominent reasons, including the following :
• All nation-states are different from one another.
• Managers of international and global business organizations face a larger number of problems and wider range of complexities than those faced by their counterparts in domestic organizations.
• Managers in international and global businesses must navigate a trickier and wider array of limits imposed by government intervention in the ever-changing international investment and trading systems
• International transactions typically involve an array of different conversions, including conversions of languages, understandings, cultures and currencies.
With the more complexity of business, strategic use of information is more important in global and international business.

6. Conclusions and recommendations
The information is not an end in itself. It is just a process. Data is required to be converted into information in order to be meaningful. Information loses its value if it is not used intelligently. Strategy is coordinated action through time to achieve a goal. The information renaissance has made it easier to get information but without strategic intelligence which is the synergy of competitive intelligence, business intelligence and knowledge management no organization can reach to its potential. The information renaissance is in one way threat because information is available to the competitors also. But looking from the positive point of view it is an opportunity if strategic intelligence is used.

REFERENCES

information definition. (n.d.). BusinessDictionary.com - Online Business Dictionary. Retrieved April 14, 2010, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/information.html
Gillette,J.E.(1999). Information is knowledge in motion
Gates, Bill. (2000, December). Shaping the Internet Age. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from Microsoft News Center website: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/writing/shapingtheinternet.mspx
Kahaner, L. (1997). The rise of competitive intelligence. Competitive Intelligence : How to Gather, Analyze, and Use Information to Move Your Business to the Top (p. 15). New York: Touchstone.
Gillette, J. E. (2006). Strategy development for the information economy: A practical guide to coordinated action through time. Annual Review of communications, 59, 5.
Porter, M. (1980). Competitive Strategy-Techniques for Analyzing Industries & Competitors,. London: 1980. p.Xiii
Gillette, J. E. (2006). Strategy development for the information economy: A practical guide to coordinated action through time. Annual Review of communications, 59, 1.
Sun Tzu Quotes. (n.d.). Famous Quotes and Quotations at BrainyQuote. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sun_tzu_2.html
Porter, M. (1980). Competitive Strategy-Techniques for Analyzing Industries & Competitors,. London: 1980.p4
Porter, M. E. (2000). What Is Strategy? (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition). Boston: Harvard Business Review.
Millar, V. E., & Porter, M. E. (1985). How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage. Boston: Harvard Business Review.
Porter, M. (1980). Competitive Strategy-Techniques for Analyzing Industries & Competitors,. London: 1980.p3
Callon, J. D. (1995). Business competitive environment. Competitive Advantage Through Information Technology (p. 28). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Wren, J. Thomas (Ed.) (1995). The Leader’s Companion. In John W. Gardner, Leadership in Large-Scale Organized Systems. New York, NY: The Free Press. pp 114-115
Liebowitz, J. (2006). Organizational intelligence through strategic intelligence: The synergy of knowledge management, competitive intelligence and business intelligence. Strategic Intelligence: Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, and Knowledge Management (1 ed., p. 25). Chicago: Auerbach Publications.
Gillette, J. E. (2006). Strategy development for the information economy: A practical guide to coordinated action through time. Annual Review of communications, 59, 1.
Quote by Sun Tzu: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you ne...". (n.d.). Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes
Tuomi, Ilkka. (2002). The Future of Knowledge Management Lifelong Learning in Eurpoe, 7(2), 4.
Callon, J. D. (1995). Business competitive environment. Competitive Advantage Through Information Technology (p. 30). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Blenkhorn, D. L., & Fleisher, C. S. (2005). The state of our understanding of research and practice in competitive intelligence and global business. Competitive Intelligence and Global Business (p. 6). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

ICT includes information technologies and communication technologies. Information and communication Technologies or ICTs allow users to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technologies. [1] What is information? We use the term very broadly. Essentially, anything that can be digitalized –encoded as a stream of bits-is information. [2] ICTs have global impact and therefore ICT global governance is needed.

William Drake has defined the ICT global governance as the development and application of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs intended to shape actors’ expectations and practices and to enhance their collective management capacities concerning global electronic networks and the information, communication, and commerce they convey. [3] ICT is changing the world and I agree with William Drake that ICT is required to be governed globally through consensus sharing of principles, rules, norms and procedures.

Economic development is the increase in the amount of people in a nation’s population with sustained growth from a simple, low income economy to a modern, high income economy. Its scope includes the process and policies by which a nation improves the economic, political and social well being of its people. [4] In my view the economic development is the indicator of prosperity of the country commonly reflected through GDP.
China has shown the world it can do best even in recession. China’s leaders are turning economic crisis to competitive advantage, said economic analysts. [5]

It is the process of developing active and sustainable communities based on social justice and mutual respect. It is about influencing power structure to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives. [6]

The ICT is essential for economic & community development. In the most recent Haitian tragedy, where entire cities have been crumbled by earthquake, the UN’s first recovery objective was to restore communication infrastructure. [7] A stronger ICT differentiate between good governance and bad governance. Chile also was affected by earthquake recently but “Chile will return to normal faster than Haiti.” [8]

According to the FCC chairman Julius Genachowski “ICT has significant potential to help lead us out of recession and to become an enduring platform for global prosperity and opportunity.” [9] The world bank estimates that a 10% increase in broadband penetration corresponds to a 1.2% increase in GDP in developed countries and even higher increases in the developing world.”[10] Russ Van Natta in his CICS newsletter on broadband and ICT has stated that “ There is no doubt that future economies will live and die by the decisions that today’s communities make with regard to broadband and information communication technologies.”[11]

Many of the so-called industrial nations are indeed experiencing a transition to an information based economy in the sense that ICE-information communications and entertainment-comprises of even-greater share of GDP.
The ICTs are important because not only ICTs provide technological abilities; they also provide knowledge value or information access for good organizing and management abilities. The value of the web lies in its capacity to provide immediate access of information.[12] According to Shapiro & Varian, even if 10% of material is useful, it has more than 1, 50,000 useful books material.”[13] Knowledge is wealth.

Today through ICT you can get information on anything by searching keywords in Google or any other search engine. The technology saves time as theory does. The ICT tools can be used to find, explore, analyze, exchange and information responsibly and without discrimination. It gives you quick access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures. [14] As Heather E Hudson says in Global connections, “Telecommunications play a vital role in the social, political and economic development.”[15]

REFERENCES

[1] Information and communication technologies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communication_technologies

[2] Shapiro, C., & Varian, H. R. (1999). Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy. New York: Harvard Business School Press.

[3] Drake, W. J. (2008). Governing Global Electronic Networks: International Perspectives on Policy and Power (Information Revolution and Global Politics). London: The MIT Press.

[4] Economic development - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_development

[5] Bradsher, K. (n.d.). In China’s Stimulus Spending, Seeds of a Surge - NYTimes.com. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/business/worldbusiness/17compete.html

[6] Community development - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_development

[7] Wilson Shaun (2010). Haitian policy changes improve restoration efforts. The Wire: ICS 642-I Newsletter, CICS Ball State University

[8] Hsieh Winnie(2010). Chile’s earthquakes & regulation. -The Global Gazette: ICS 642-I Newsletter, CICS Ball State university

[9] ICT: Global Opportunities and Challenges - Speeches - OpenInternet.gov. (n.d.). Welcome to OpenInternet.gov. Retrieved April 13, 2010, from http://www.openinternet.gov/speech-ict-global-opportunities-and-challenges.html

[10] ICT: Global Opportunities and Challenges - Speeches - OpenInternet.gov. (n.d.). Welcome to OpenInternet.gov. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from http://www.openinternet.gov/speech-ict-global-opportunities-and-challenges.html

[11] Natta V R (2010). Broadband & ICT’s role in economic and community development. Muncie Broadband Policy source: ICS 642-I Newsletter, CICS Ball State university

[12] Shapiro, C., & Varian, H. R. (1999). Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy. New York: Harvard Business School Press.

[13] Shapiro, C., & Varian, H. R. (1999). Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy. New York: Harvard Business School Press.

[14] Information and communication technologies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communication_technologies

[15] Hudson, H. E. (1997). Global Connections: International Telecommunications Infrastructure and Policy. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Leadership is prevalent in all spheres of life. Leadership is not limited to organizations and politics only. We see the applications of leadership in informal groups, team projects and even day-to-day activities such as in the families.The Information Renaissance of 21st Century is mainly due to advancement in various fields of technology. This information renaissance has changed the methods of communication and ways of accessing information. It has enhanced the skills sets of leaders as well as followers. The competition has become more intense in the professional settings. Knowledge management and competitive intelligence have become more important.

This paper discusses the various aspects of leadership comprising leadership concept, difference between leadership and management, leadership qualities, leadership styles, competitive intelligence, strategic use of information and the practice of leadership in 21st century.

The discussion is in six sections:

1. Concept of leadership: overview of leadership definitions and theories and my theory of leadership.
2. Management vs. leadership: Overview of relationship and differences between leadership and management.
3. Qualities of an effective leader-what make the leader effective.
4. Leadership styles-what are the styles of leadership, their uses.
5. Competitive intelligence and Strategic use of information-concept and need.
6. Summary and conclusions.

1 The concept of leadership

1.1 Definition of leadership
Many scholars have defined leadership. Following are few selected definitions:
Jacobs, T. O., & Jaques, E. (1990)
"Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose.”
Holmes, CJ (2010)
“Leadership is a natural aura that followers can sense, feel, and identify.”
Northouse (2004)
"Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal."
Evans, R. (2010)
“Leadership is the innate ability to guide others to produce effectively for a chosen cause while sharing and believing in the goals of a chosen leader.”
Chemers M. (1997)
"Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. The main points of this definition are that leadership is a group activity, is based on social influence, and revolves around a common task."
Gillette J.E. (Gillette, J.E., 2010)
“Develop an inspiring vision.”

The various definitions provide us different perspectives on leadership. These perspectives can be analyzed and synthesized for understanding leadership. Leadership in my view is an art of influencing and guiding the group activities towards achieving group goals. This seems rational to me as groups are formed with some common goal even the social groups. Also the biggest role of a leader is to develop an inspiring vision. I like the views of Dr Gillette , Professor, CICS, on inspiring vision. In his paper on “Measuring leadership commitment and engagement for information renaissance communities”, he has clearly stressed on the importance of inspiring vision as follows:
“The vision must inspire-The community should seek to thrive, not just survive. Show your works what ‘finish’ look like…That is a vision that people can relate to and find inspiring.”(Gillette, 2010)

In my view leadership is all about inspiring vision and versatility. Versatility helps the leader to be flexible and adaptable in order to convert dreams into reality.

Sullivan declared that “versatility in leaders, to a large extent, is the ability to improvise solutions in uncertain and changing battlefield conditions”. (Sullivan, G., 2001).

1.2 Theories of leadership

A theory saves your lot of time (Gillette, 2009). No theory can explain everything. Theories provide us different perspectives which are helpful in understanding concept of leadership. People have different opinions regarding whether Leaders are born or made. The different leadership theories give different opinions. Theories also enhance your knowledge value.
Following is the summary of theories:
Table 1 Theories of leadership (Wren, J. Thomas (Ed.) (1995).)

My opinion is that certainly the leaders have some inherent qualities that make them effective leaders. But it is also true that through learning and experience these qualities can be further developed. Both the arguments are extremes and hence not fully true. If we assume that these qualities are inherent only, then what is the need of teaching leadership? Moreover leadership is all about inspiring vision and versatility of leader. It is important to think clearly and change is the magic word to be effective. Thinking can be developed through learning and the very nature of the word “change” is effort. The following are important quotations in this regard:

DePree, M. (1992)

It is important that we focus more on what we need to be than on what we need to be. In so doing, leaders do transform people’s lives. What a daunting responsibility!

Maslow, A. (n.d.)

“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”

Danny Myers(2010)
“As Goethe said that 'to write clearly, we must first think clearly,' in order for a leader to lead with clear direction, they must have a clear vision; and in order for the leader to lead followers into a prosperous future, they must be able to CLEARLY communicate their inspiring vision."

John Sculley
“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.” (Maxwell, J. C., 1999)

John C Maxwell (1998)
“Becoming a leader is a lot like investing successfully in the stock market. If your hope is to make a fortune in a day, you are not going to be successful.”

2 Leadership vs. management

I like the work of Warren Bennis. In his book "On Becoming a Leader" he describes his view of the differences between managers and leaders as follows:
• The manager administers; the leader innovates.
• The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
• The manager maintains; the leader develops.
• The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
• The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
• The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.
• The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
• The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
• The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon.
• The manager imitates; the leader originates.
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
• The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
• The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing. (Bennis, W, 2009).

I agree with John P Kottar that “Leadership complements management: it doesn’t replace it.” (Orloff, J., 2008). According to Hiebert, M., & Klatt, B the distinction between management and leadership is not either-or; rather, it is a balance. (Hiebert, M., & Klatt, B., 2000).

John Kotter notes that “Most US corporations today are overmanaged and underled.” (Wren, 1995, pg. 114) Continuing: “companies should remember that strong leadership with weak management … is actually worse than the reverse.” (115)

Leadership and management are complementary to each other. Without good leadership management is ineffective and without good management leadership cannot be effective. A manager is expected to be a leader whereas a leader may not necessarily be a manager. A leader with good management skills is more effective. Generally whether you should be more of a manager or more of a leader depends upon the situation and level. For example, a top level executive should be more of a leader whereas at grass root level it is better to be more of a manager.

3 Qualities of an effective leader

I have summarized the qualities of effective leaders in the acronym of leadership itself.
L- Learner for life
E -Excellent communicator
A -Admirable
D Determined
E-Excellent motivator
R-Resourceful

Learner for life

It is important for leaders of current scenario to constantly update themselves. Competitive intelligence and knowledge management are keys to success. Effective leader is not perfect. Effective leader understands his weaknesses and try to overcome them.

Excellent communicator

Leadership and communication have an inter-relationship. The effective communication is crucial to leader's success.

Admirable

The authenticity pays a lot in leadership. That gives you followers. The sincere following is half the battle won. The leader should have self respect not ego. The leader should be compassionate, kind and empathetic. He understands that the individuality of people and lack prejudice. He is even-sighted.

Determined

Effective leader exercise initiative, He has a lot of patience and also take calculated risk at times. Decision making is unwavering, accurate and prompt.

Effective motivator

The effective leaders have a clear vision and they inspire their group for its realization. The effective leaders are excellent motivators.

Resourceful

An effective leader uses his resources very well and he has the ability to act effectively especially in difficult situations. He is reliant and courageous. He has lot of self confidence. He is systematic and self disciplined.

4 Styles of leadership

Leadership style is the approach of leader in interacting with his followers. Kurt Lewin (1939) led a group of researchers to identify different styles of leadership. He came up with three major styles of leadership-authoritarian or autocratic, participative or democratic and delegative or Free Reign (Leadership Styles. (n.d.)).

The leader has to get the things done through people. He can adopt any style of leadership but in my view no particular style is good for all the situations. That is why I stress on versatility of leaders. Poor leaders stick to one style of leadership. For example, Hitler was a famous authoritarian leader. Though he was effective, he missed the point. He would have been more effective had he used different styles of leadership. James MacGregor Burns even does not recognize Hitler a leader. According to him he was a tyrant (Wren, J. Thomas (Ed.) (1995)). In my view many leaders use style according to their personality traits. Though it is also important, but rigidity restricts your understanding of the things.

5 Competitive Intelligence and Strategic use of information

Dr Gillette, in his Knowledge management paper declared that “information is a component of knowledge. It occupies a central position in a scale of knowledge from phenomena to wisdom.” (Gillette, 1999). I agree with Dr Gillette that wisdom is the ultimate ability to discern difference. The strategic use of information is key to success. Strategy, according to Dr Gillette is “coordinated action through time to achieve a goal.” It is true that strategic planning is required for success and I agree with Dr Gillette that “Strategic management is the art of the future.” (Gillette, 2006)

Competitive Intelligence simply means the art of using information for competitive advantage. The process involves following steps:-
1. Gathering relevant information ethically and legally.
2. Analyzing and synthesizing the information for converting raw information to intelligence.
3. Using intelligence to own competitive advantage.

William L. Sammon, Mark A. Kurland and Robert Spitainic in Business competitor intelligence described competitive intelligence this way:
“The objective of competitor intelligence is not to steal a competitor’s trade secrets or other proprietary property, but rather to gather in a systematic, overt (i.e., legal) manner a wide range of information that when collated and analyzed provides a fuller understanding of a competitor firm's structure, culture, behavior, capabilities and weaknesses.” (William L. Sammon, et al.,1985)

Benjamin and Tamar Gilad defined competitive intelligence as follows:
“Competitor intelligence is the analytical process that transforms disaggregated competitor intelligence into relevant, accurate and usable strategic knowledge about competitors, position, performance, capabilities and intentions.” (Benjamin and Tamar Gilad, 1988)

For many people, the term competitive intelligence means “competitor analysis”. In fact, competitive intelligence includes not only competitor analysis; it also includes analysis of overall external business environment. Competitive intelligence aims at improving the whole organization to become total customer- responsive and competitive.
Competitive intelligence is often confused with, or viewed to have overlapping elements with related fields like business intelligence, competitor intelligence, knowledge management, market intelligence, marketing research, and strategic intelligence. According to Gilad, “the commonality among many organizational sensory functions, whether called Market Research, Business Intelligence or Market intelligence is that in practice they deliver facts and information, not intelligence. Intelligence, by Gilad, is a perspective on facts, not the facts themselves. Uniquely among other corporate functions, competitive intelligence has a specific perspective of external risks and opportunities to the firm’s overall performance, and as such it is part of an organization's risk management activity, not information activities.” (Competitive intelligence,n.d.)

Competitive intelligence helps business organizations to stay and succeed in business in competitive scenario.
Some common goals of competitive intelligence are (Richard combs associates inc . (n.d.).) :
1.Detecting competitive threats
2.Eliminating or lessening surprises
3.Enhancing competitive advantage by lessening reaction time
4.Finding new opportunities

The types of intelligence that organizations are interested in are similar, and fall into four categories: Strategic, tactical, adhoc and continuous Metayer, Estelle (1999). The actual importance of these categories of information to an organization differs from organization to organization. In my view gathering information through Internet is not be part of competitive intelligence as that information is accessible to all the competitors as well. Competitive intelligence is much more than surfing the Internet for getting information. Internet is essential and information gathered through is also crucial but it should be supplemented with other sources of gathering information. Moreover, to me gathering, analyzing and synthesizing information through Internet is very important as you find conflicting information from the Internet that sometimes confuse or mislead the analyst. The non- Internet sources include R&D, industry experts, business journals & magazines, trade shows, conferences, customers’ feedback, suppliers’ feedback and so on.

The leaders are required to take decisions and achieve team objectives. The competitive intelligence serves as aid to core functions of leadership. Leaders will be able to take accurate and timely decisions if they use competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is more important to leaders of corporate organizations.

Taichi Sakaiya has explained the concept of knowledge value as “the price of wisdom” and “the value created by wisdom”. “In the future the org will prosper to the extent they add knowledge value-Sakaiya “
(Sakaiya, 1991). Dr Gillette in his essay "Leadership for the Information Renaissance: Clarity, Challenges, Opportunity" paraphrased the knowledge value concept given by Taichi Sakaiya as “add knowledge-value to everything you touch”.
(Gillette, J.E., 2006)

The following quotation tells all:-
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."–Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 511 b.c.

6. Conclusions and recommendations

Let us first summarize our observations from above discussion:

1. Leadership is an art of influencing and guiding the group activities towards achieving group goals.
2. No theory can explain everything. Though effective leaders have certain inherent qualities but these qualities can also be developed through learning and experience.
3. Management and leadership are complementary to each other and whether you should be more of a manager or more of a leader depends upon the situation and level.
4. The essential qualities of a leader are learner for life, admirable, determined and resourceful . They also have excellent communication and motivation skills.
5. The leader can use any leadership style - autocratic, democratic or delegative but no style is good for all situations. A leader who is versatile in his style of leadership is effective.
6. Competitive intelligence and strategic use of information help business organizations to stay and succeed in business in competitive scenario.

The above summary supports my thesis that “leadership is all about inspiring vision and versatility.” Inspiring vision is most important, as a leader has to direct, guide, motivate and influence people. Leader has to show the way. One has to dream to convert that dream into reality. The leader leads the way, shows the followers how to be there, help them, guide them, and nurture them. Followers are comfortable with those leaders who know what to do, when to do, how to do and why to do.

Secondly, versatility is very important for a leader to achieve what he wants to achieve. Versatility not only means the leader is multi skilled, it also means the flexibility and adaptability which are very important in leading people. For different situations, versatile leaders use different styles and methods. Management and leadership roles balance can be maintained through versatility. People who are rigid in my view are more or less predictable and have narrow view of situations. Only change is permanent in this world and versatile leader can adapt to any situation and be effective.


Figure 1 Leadership and inspiring vision

REFERENCES

1. Jacobs, T. O., & Jaques, E. (1990). Military executive leadership. In K. E. Clark and M. B.
Clark (Eds.), Measures of leadership. West Orange, New Jersey: Leadership Library of America,
p 281.
2. Holmes, CJ (2010) .Leadership: An Endlessly Shifting Concept, Unpublished Paper, 7
3. Northouse, P.G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and practice, Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications.p3
4. Evans, R. (2010): Leadership paper- Leaders stand up! Managers, please sit down. Unpublished paper
5. Chemers, M. (1997). An Integrative Theory of Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.p1
6. Gillette,J.E. (2010). Measuring leadership commitment and engagement for information Renaissance communities
7. Sullivan, G. (2001). Leadership,versatility and all that Jazz. Leadership: The Warrior's Art (p. 44). carlisle PA 17013: Army War College Foundation Press.
8. Gillette J.E.(2009) Class lectures. ICS 602. Ball State University, USA
9.Wren, J. Thomas (Ed.) (1995). The Leader’s Companion. In John W. Gardner, Leadership in Large-Scale Organized Systems. New York, NY: The Free Press.p 89-99
10. DePree, M. (1992). Give the gift of change. Leadership Jazz (p. 142). New York: Dell Trade. max depree
11. Wren, J. Thomas (Ed.) (1995). The Leader’s Companion. In John W. Gardner, Leadership in Large-Scale Organized Systems. New York, NY: The Free Press. pp 89-99.
12. Maslow, A. (n.d.). Our Favorite Quotations. Home. Retrieved March 27, 2010, from http://theplacewithincounseling.com
13. Danny Myers (2010) – Defining leadership. Unpublished paper
14. Maxwell, J. C. (1999). Vision. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow (1 ed., p. 148). Waco, TX: Thomas Nelson.
15. Maxwell, J. C. (1998). The law of process. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (p. 23). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc.
16. Bennis, W. (2009). 2. On Becoming a Leader (Fourth Edition, Fourth Edition ed., p. 42). New York: Basic Books.
17. Orloff, J. (2008). Conflict and change. The Top Performer's Guide to Leadership (Top Performers) (1 ed., p. 64). Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc..
18. Hiebert, M., & Klatt, B. (2000). Foundational concepts. The Encyclopedia of Leadership: A Practical Guide to Popular Leadership Theories and Techniques (1 ed., p. 5). New York: McGraw-Hill.
19. Wren, J. Thomas (Ed.) (1995). The Leader’s Companion. In John W. Gardner, Leadership in Large-Scale Organized Systems. New York, NY: The Free Press. pp 114-115
20. Leadership Styles. (n.d.). Colocation | Broadband Wireless | Dedicated Servers | DocSTAR | DSL | Web Hosting | Web Design & Development - Infinity Internet. Retrieved March 30, 2010, from http://www.sos.net/~donclark/leader
21. Wren, J. Thomas (Ed.) (1995). The Leader’s Companion. In John W. Gardner, Leadership in Large-Scale Organized Systems. New York, NY: The Free Press. P 10.
22. Gillette(1999). Information is knowledge in motion
23.Gillette(2006) .Strategy Development for the information economy
24.William L. Sammon, et al.
Business Competitor Intelligence
New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1985, p. 62
25. Benjamin and Tamar Gilad
The Business Intelligence System
New York, AMACOM, 1988, p. viii
26. Taichi Sakaiya (1991). The Knowledge- value revolution or a history of the future. New york and Tokyo: Kodansha International, pp 235-237.
27. Quote by Sun Tzu: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you ne...". (n.d.). Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes
28. Metayer, Estelle: "Demystifying Competitive Intelligence" Ivey Business Journal, Nov 1999
29.Competitive intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive
30.Gillette,J.E. (2006) . Leadership for the Information Renaissance: Clarity, Challenges, Opportunity

Public policy is the combination of two words viz. public and policy. The word “public” comes from the Latin word publicus, meaning “of the people”. Policy derives from the Greek word polis, meaning “city”. As polis means “city”, policy essentially means” citizenship” or what duties, obligations and rights come with having citizenship, or belonging to the population of the city. So policy is the approach by the organized “city” or state or governing to the duties, obligations and rights of the citizens, or those who live in or Pass through the .[1] Public policy is essentially “policy for the people”.

Public policy is a policy or set of policies which forms the foundation of public law. Public policy is expressed in the body of laws, regulations, decisions and actions of government. Policy analysis may be used to formulate public policy and to assess its effectiveness.[2]

The free dictionary defines administrative law as “the procedures created by administrative agencies (governmental bodies of the city, county, state or Federal government) involving rules, regulations, applications, licenses, permits, available information, hearings, appeals and decision-making.” [3]

The main difference between policy and law is who has the authority to create it and how it can be enforced. [4] My view is that public policy is informal in nature whereas law is legal binding. A public policy is “whatever the government chooses to do or not to do.”[5] The public policy changes with the government not the law. My view is that these policies also depend on political agenda of the government in power. The Obama administration, for example may choose not to follow the policies followed by the Bush administration. But it is not the case with law. A change in law is also required to be passed by the senate whereas change in policy is not required to be passed in the Senate.

The relationship between public law and public policy is that they are dependent on each other. In other words, they supplement each other. If public policy and law are in harmony, effects or results are better. On the other hand, if these are contrary to each other, it is not good for the public. The public policies also form the basis of many laws. Also, the deficiency of laws can be overcome through sound public policies. It is the same as put by Dr Gillette “Theory guides practice and practice corrects theory”. [6] Policy is essentially preferred course of action; law is action government has to take whether preferred or not.

REFERENCES
[1] Gillette, J. E. (2010). Public good, Convenience or Necessity: the relation between Policy and Law. Muncie: Unpublished.
[2] What is the difference…(n.d.). Google. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iUPPGvmKVvkJ:academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/mpafirstyearcore0607/policy%2520vs%2520law.doc+difference+between+policy+and+law&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
[3] Administrative law legal definition of administrative law. Administrative law synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary. (n.d.). Legal Dictionary. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/administrative+law
[4] What is the difference…(n.d.). Google. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iUPPGvmKVvkJ:academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/mpafirstyearcore0607policy%2520vs%2520law.doc+difference+between+policy+and+law&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
[5] What is the difference…(n.d.). Google. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iUPPGvmKVvkJ:academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/mpafirstyearcore0607/policy%2520vs%2520law.doc+difference+between+policy+and+law&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
[6] Gillette, J. E. (n.d.). Jay Gillette: Strategic management is the Art of the Future, by Jay Gillette.. CICS Weblogs. Retrieved April 4, 2010, from http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/jaygillette/archives/000909.html

The introduction of Prof Staurt Brotman has been cut short to save time because he has so many accomplishments to his credit that cannot be covered in a short time.The new brandband policy video featuring FCC chairman is being shown which is interesting.

Prof Staurt Brotman discussed the broadband plans of some countries. Brotman described brooadband as" high speed access to the internet which is always on". Why broadband is needed? It is needed for:-
Fast uploading and downloading
Multitasking
Streaming media
VOIP
Gaming
Video conferencing

Prof Brotman discussed broadband network technologies:-
Optical fiber
WiFI, WiMAX
DSL
cable modems
satellites
Broadband over power line

Broadband is really an echo system. According to Prof Brotman Metcalfe's law is relevant in assessing the network effects of increasing the subscribers. It is related to the fact that the number of unique connections in a network of a number of nodes (n) can be expressed mathematically as the triangular number n(n − 1)/2.

Prof discussed the broadband adoption trends-65% broadband and 96 % broadband approachability in USA

How can broadband save the world?
Access
Adoption
Impact

1. Almost 10% of the people in the world are disabled. Broadband helps those people. Types of disabilities that can benefit from broadband:-
Motor disabilities
Visual disabilities
Speech disabilities
Hearing disabilities
2. Over 80 % people live on $ 10 a day. It can help in economic well being because it has direct relationship with GDP.
3. Broadband support microfinance. Example success story of Gramin Bank in Bangladesh. Watch following video

Second success story- India's MChek easy bill payment service.

4. Healthcare
between 65%-80% naturopathic or homoeopathic medicine
less than 30% have access to modern medicine
Electronic medical records
Remote monitoring
5. Education
6. Energy management
7. Public safety

After the lecture, Prof Staurt Brotman answered the questions of the audience. We are thankful to Prof Staurt Brotman for the knowledge value we got from him tonight. Certainly, Broadband can save the world.

"We did not enter the search business," Jobs told Apple employees, according to an article in New York Times. "Make no mistake Google wants to kill the iPhone. We won't let them," said Jobs shortly after the public introduction of iPad.

The recent introduction of Google's own handset Nexus One has further strained the relationship. Nexus One, has effected Apple in two ways. Firstly, it runs on Google’s own operating system-Android. Secondly, the phone is directly competing with Apple’s iPhone. There are speculations that Apple might change the default search engine on its products from Google to Google’s arch rival- Microsoft’s Bing.

Apple has also sued Taiwan's HTC Corp, which makes touch screen smartphones using Google software and introduced first Google phone. Apple has accused HTC of infringing 20 hardware and software patents related to the iPhone. The Apple’s move though is not a direct attack because Google has not been mentioned as defendant in the suit, but analysts believe as proxy for an attack on Google. If Google has entered the phone business, Apple should come up with even better products and services. The Apple’s aggressive attack on Google reminds about Philip Kotler’s views on relying on old market positions to uncovering new ones:-

“In highly competitive marketplaces, companies must always be moving forward with marketing programs, innovating products and services, and staying in touch with customer needs. Companies must always be seeking new advantages rather than just relying on their past strengths.”

References
1. Stone, B. (n.d.). Apple’s spat with Google Is Getting Personal - NYTimes.com. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved March 16, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/technology/14brawl.html

2.Keller, K. L., & Kotler, P. (2005). Understanding Marketing management. Marketing Management (12th Edition) (Marketing Management) (12 ed., p. 28). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall.

The different leadership theories give different opinions.Following is the summary of theories:

My opinion is that certainly the leaders have some inherent qualities that make them effective leaders. But it is also true that through learning and experience these qualities can be further developed. Both the arguments are extremes and hence not fully true.

The Information Renaissance of 21st Century is mainly due to advancement in various fields of technology. This information renaissance has changed the methods of communication and ways of accessing information. It has enhanced the skills sets of leaders as well as followers. The competition has become more intense in the professional settings. Knowledge management and competitive intelligence have become more important.

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

Competitive Intelligence simply means the art of using information for competitive advantage. The process involves following steps:-

1. Gathering relevant information ethically and legally.
2. Analyzing and synthesizing the information for converting raw information to intelligence.
3. Using intelligence to own competitive advantage.

William L. Sammon, Mark A. Kurland and Robert Spitainic in Business competitor intelligence described competitive intelligence this way:

“The objective of competitor intelligence is not to steal a competitor’s trade secrets or other proprietary property, but rather to gather in a systematic, overt (i.e., legal) manner a wide range of information that when collated and analyzed provides a fuller understanding of a competitor firm's structure, culture, behavior, capabilities and weaknesses.”

Benjamin and Tamar Gilad defined competitive intelligence as follows:

“Competitor intelligence is the analytical process that transforms disaggregated competitor intelligence into relevant, accurate and usable strategic knowledge about competitors, position, performance, capabilities and intentions.”

For many people, the term competitive intelligence means “competitor analysis”. In fact, competitive intelligence includes not only competitor analysis; it also includes analysis of overall external business environment. Competitive intelligence aims at improving the whole organization to become total customer- responsive and competitive.

Need for competitive intelligence

Competitive intelligence helps business organizations to stay and succeed in business in competitive scenario. Some common goals of competitive intelligence are :

1.Detecting competitive threats
2.Eliminating or lessening surprises
3.Enhancing competitive advantage by lessening reaction time
4.Finding new opportunities

The types of intelligence that organizations are interested in are similar, and fall into four categories: Strategic, tactical, adhoc and continuous .The actual importance of these categories of information to an organization differs from organization to organization. In my view gathering information through internet is not be part of competitive intelligence as that information is accessible to all the competitors as well. Competitive intelligence is much more than surfing the internet for getting information. Internet is essential and information gathered through is also crucial but it should be supplemented with other sources of gathering information. Moreover, to me gathering, analyzing and synthesizing information through internet is very important as you find conflicting information from the internet that sometimes confuse or mislead the analyst. The non internet sources include R&D, industry experts, business journals & magazines, trade shows, conferences, customers’ feedback, suppliers’ feedback and so on. Marketing expert, Philip Kotler has suggested online customer feedback systems in his world famous book-Marketing Management :

“Online customer feedback facilitates collection and dissemination of information on a global scale, usually at low cost. Through online customer review boards or forums, one customer's evaluation of a product or a supplier can be distributed to a large number of other potential buyers and, of course, to marketers seeking information on the competition. Currently existing channels for feedback include message boards, threaded discussion forums that allow users to post new and follow up existing posts; discussion forums, which are more like bulletin boards; opinion forums, which feature more in-depth, lengthy reviews; and chat rooms. While chat rooms have the advantage of allowing users to share experiences and impressions, their unstructured nature makes it difficult for marketers to find relevant messages. To address this issue, various companies have adopted structured systems, such as customer discussion boards or customer reviews.”

Distinguishing competitive intelligence from similar fields

Competitive intelligence is often confused with, or viewed to have overlapping elements with related fields like business intelligence, competitor intelligence, knowledge management, market intelligence, marketing research, and strategic intelligence. According to Gilad, “the commonality among many organizational sensory functions, whether called Market Research, Business Intelligence or Market intelligence is that in practice they deliver facts and information, not intelligence. Intelligence, by Gilad, is a perspective on facts, not the facts themselves. Uniquely among other corporate functions, competitive intelligence has a specific perspective of external risks and opportunities to the firm’s overall performance, and as such it is part of an organization's risk management activity, not information activities.”

Ethics and Competitive Intelligence

Ethics in competitive intelligence is a long-held issue of discussion .What is the limit beyond which ethics don’t permit CI is debatable issue. In cut-throat competition like in recession, people sometimes forget ethics. Competitive information in my view should be obtained with due regard to ethics. Unethical is unethical whatever may be the circumstances.

Leadership and Competitive Intelligence

The leaders are required to take decisions and achieve team objectives. The competitive intelligence serves as aid to core functions of leadership. Leaders will be able to take accurate and timely decisions if they use competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is more important to leaders of corporate organizations. The following quotation tells all:-
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."–Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 511 b.c.

Conclusion

Competitive intelligence is an art of using information for competitive advantage. A business organization that does not use competitive intelligence is inconceivable. For staying in business, it is essential to use competitive intelligence. If you will not have competitive intelligence, your market share is in danger. Internet should be used with caution in competitive intelligence. You should take care that competitive intelligence should take care of ethical and legal issues.

REFERENCES
1.William L. Sammon, et al.
Business Competitor Intelligence
New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1985, p. 62
2. Benjamin and Tamar Gilad
The Business Intelligence System
New York, AMACOM, 1988, p. viii
3. Richard combs associates inc . (n.d.). Competitive intelligence, business intelligence. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://www.combsinc.com/chapt1
4. Metayer, Estelle: "Demystifying Competitive Intelligence" Ivey Business Journal, Nov 1999
5.Keller, K., & Kotler, P. (2008). capturing marketing insights. Framework for Marketing Management, A (4th Edition) (4 ed., p. 76). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall.
6. Competitive intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive
7.Quote by Sun Tzu: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you ne...". (n.d.). Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes

Outsourcing is nothing but contracting out certain business functions to some external service provider. Outsourcing should not be confused with hiring people from other states or other countries. Outsourcing is considered to be the choice of companies facing cost cutting problems due to competition, recession or any reason. Employers need to cut their costs in order to stay in business. This is not only helpful in reducing costs spent on personnel; it also helps to reduce the operating costs. Especially for developed countries, outsourcing to developing countries get you cheaper labor. Moreover, you need not pay for the employee welfare schemes and statutory obligations provided for the employees. Union problems as well as training costs are also not there if you opt for outsourcing. In some jobs there are high turnover rates and outsourcing firm saves the company from the headache of dealing with these problems. Through outsourcing, the company can focus on core business.

While opting for outsourcing the company should also consider the negative aspects. The main negative aspect is data security issue. Secondly, the offshore outsourcing is also a cause of concern due to loss of jobs for own countrymen. Thirdly, it also depends how you govern. If you are not able to govern the outsourcing firm, you will be a loser. Fourthly, the competitors can join hands with the ex-employees as generally the outsourcing is a cause of lay-offs too.

Looking at all the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing, I would recommend that outsourcing should be in only those areas where security of data is not a big concern and differences in costs are huge. It is better to avoid offshore outsourcing especially during recession on ethical grounds as there are social responsibilities of the business also.