Conversations On Innovations

Conversation (1) on the Search for a Physics & Chemistry
of
Innovation - Reward Systems.
By J. Alexander.
'The diIIicult, I can do immediately.
The impossible may take a little time.
Saying -A great teacher.
'Let knowledge grow Irom more to more
and thus be human liIe enriched
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Iounded 1768.
INTRODUCTION.
Bruno Latour in 'How to evaluate innovation (2) develops a Iairly simple well argumented
procedure based upon the experimental sciences which may prove valuable to those involved
in making things work as best as possible (diIIicult?): innovating scientists, project managers
and decisional authorities such as non-technical managers or politicians in government,
henceIorth to be called the Innovation Team (IT)) whose aim must be to making things work
Ior the better`! Impossible? Encyclopaedic certainly, as immortalised by Britannica`s Motto
above.
In industrial terms such approaches may be better recognised as being within Total Quality
Control or Management System Frameworks. Herein the diIIiculty oI making things work as
best as possible is routine. The search Ior excellence, six & more sigma programmes are
oIten spoken oI. But currently, a more than oIten Iorgotten aim to make things work Ior the
better, appears damned well impossible!
Currently- the list is long whatever evaluation yardstick is chosen surpassing strictly industrial
concerns. In the present case, I was reIerring to long-standing calls Ior proper practice in
corporate governance, cI. also Footnote 1. We shall come back to this below (11).
Notions oI innovation and experimentation may not always be oI popular appeal, judging
Irom jobs and salaries. There are no such job titles in the boardroom or in government), in
spite oI the abundant managerial press reports and book titles. Perhaps these two words have
appeal in management circles but still remain too cerebral and IearIul Ior widespread
application and acceptation?
Latour by deIining Innovation, simply as a new and worthwhile project, goes a long way
on the path he set, to determine a powerIul protocol Ior eIIective action and as a consequence
on any path designed to make things work as best as possible (routine project) or to make
things work Ior the better (a continuous project ever in need oI new projects-innovation).
Please use CPS: chemistry/0307003 in any reference to this article
This article is available from: http://preprint.chemweb.com/chemistry/0307003 Uploaded 30 July 2003 at 16:30 GMT
Why such knowledgeable disdain oI Le changement dans la continuite`? - Change
through continuity` or more commonly the more the change the less.` The less! Could the
latter be the clue? Indeed I Iirst learned oI these notions not in my physics, chemistry, nor
even in my mathematics classes, but upon head changes, within the organisation or strategic
(undeIined) organisational changes in view oI unknown projects, seldom on deIined project or
concerning project aims although head counts are common practice. So much Ior diIIicult-
to-grasp concepts & unwittingly in deIence oI common sense -wide spread, by deIinition and
Iear pretty well universal. E.F. Schumacher (3) calls this mapping. We Iind strategy and
mapping associated in R. S. Kaplan and D. P. Norton`s- 'The Balanced Score Card, (4)
included in Harvard Business Review`s FiIteen Key Concepts (5). Strategy, and wait Ior it,
the currently much discussed Sustainability, are deIined by Porter also in Key Concepts (5)
Project managers and IT candidates please read on.
PRE-MODEL DESCRIPTIONS.
According to ProI. Latour, the basic problem that all innovators must Iace is known as 'The
Innovators Dilemma which goes something like this: 'When you know you can`t and when
you can you don`t know!
'At the start oI the project, the project manage knows nothing or next to nothing oI the
reactions oI the public, the Iinancial people, suppliers, colleagues, all oI whom together with
machines must be brought together in order that the project may take shape. He can, however,
very quickly modiIy, Irom A to Z, the nature oI his plans in order to respond to his new Iound
clients requirement.
Latour continues, 'at the end oI his project, he will know all he should about the resistance
oI materials, the reliability oI components, the quality oI sub-contractors, the loyalty oI
bankers and the passion oI his clients, but he can no longer change his plans: Too late, they
are moulded in bronze. The relevance oI the situation struck me; pardon the metallurgical
reIerences, like the work piece by the Iorge master to such an extent that the innovators
dilemma is again hammered home in Poster 0 A Zeroth Law`-taking the temperature.
So true! Then I got my wits back.
This dichotomy (two opposing mutually exclusive propositions) is typical oI what E.F.
Schumacher (3); author oI small is beautiIul, calls divergent (or open ended) problems.
The best-known divergent problem concerns educational methods oI common knowledge to
everyone but the most unIortunate under developed regions deprived oI this experience:
- Authority, discipline and obedience versus Ireedom
- Freedom versus order
And relevant to our models:
- Growth versus decay.
By opposition, convergent problems can be solved, the more intelligently one studies them the
more the answers converge, whoever you are, according to the physical and chemical laws oI
inanimate nature (3).
The conIlicting opposites (an understatement iI ever there was one), Knowledge and
Ignorance are obviously in the divergent category.
But lets see, it may be instructive to liken the project manager to the young candidate seeking
his Iirst job? He has been conIronted Irom a tender age with parents, Iamily and relatives,
Iriends, relations mostly teachers- not real people-to which most youngsters, at least in
adolescence, will readily testiIy.
At this point it is worth recalling that, teachers apart, this is the very group singled out as
THE` liIe-long, high priority group oI people; Family, Friends and Relation, by management
Guru, Stephan R. Covey. Covey is a Harvard graduate and Founding-Director oI the Covey
Leadership Centre in his very well structured, well illustrated, Iull oI common sense, book
(6). By the way, Covey is a teacher.
II this sounds bad Ior the proIessional classes, Latour`s world oI 'Iinancial, industrial,
commercial people not to mention the anxiety conIronting the project manager, Ior the
candidate job seeker, this is a disaster. The learning curve can be made to be very painIul and
depressing indeed.
Funnily enough and perhaps a triIle cynically, salvation Ior both project manager and the job
seeker, may have similar roots. Fortunate the enterprising youngsters, who have within their
Iamily circle some or all oI the necessary experienced proIessionals with the necessary power
and inclination!
Now we could be accused oI Iailing in our aim oI setting up and evaluating projects which
make things work Ior the better, individually and collectively. The latter when elevated to the
level oI a strategy is known as a WIN/WIN strategy a dichotomy in disguise. The
WIN/WIN strategy is the most recommendable challenge in the eyes to Covey (6) who states
that high personal qualities oI courage, strength and respect oI others are pre-requisites
necessary to rise above, to transcend (3), the contradictions in order to achieve such an ideal.
These qualities are developed through necessarily long, deep, selI-knowledge, conscience,
imagination, moral integrity and Iree will. For our purpose, it is suIIicient to underline the
values oI gaining experience and independence.
MODEL TAKING FORM
In the model just outlined:
'The innovator is Iaced with two intersecting paths or curves, one rising, representing
knowledge acquisition, the other descending, representing the degrees oI Ireedom or number
oI options open to the innovator. Naturally a good environment Ior innovation consists oI a
rapid learning curve oI the world awaiting the innovator, as rapidly and as inexpensively as
possible while closing the options available as tardily as possible.
Fortunately this is likely to correspond to the natural human desire Ior Ireedom and a
rewarding liIe. 'The inspired innovator will try to learn as much and as Iast as possible while
maintaining all options open as Iar and as long as possible.
On the basis that a picture is worth a long speech, it is Iairly easy to draw up a universal
Iramework (model) Ior the ideas exposed in (2). LiIe being what it is, Time representing Age
can be conveniently traced Irom the beginning, (Zero) to end (1 or 100) and is represented
by the horizontal X-axis. The Learning and Degrees oI Freedom curves can be equally
represented qualitatively in the same way Irom Zero to 1 on the vertical Y-axis.
Thanks to Pareto, now over 150 years oI age who bequeathed us the 80/20 Rule and Napier et
al`s early worker on Natures natural logarithmic processes` (400 years ago!) it is possible to
draw up the Iirst ideas approach to innovation shown in Graph-Model: 1 a very Classical
Model`. Assuming the same logarithmic evolution (and coupling -dipole bonding!) Ior both
learning and degrees oI Ireedom and smooth progression slowing but no loss in total learning
experience due to age- conveniently ignoring any Bell shaped clangers - it is an incredible
coincidence that Ior an estimated liIe span oI 100 years the 80/20 Rule describes pretty neatly
our current Iormal school education systems in the EU and Iurther a Iield!
From this it would appear that innovation is distinctly a young persons game. To a large
extent this may be true and iI so Iurther exaggeration such as Bell shaped normality- is likely
to increase the incandescent nature oI the human existence (7) or dare I suggest, experiment?
However either the desire Ior eternal youth or the pleasure oI seeing things work 'Ior the
better would induce one to graph a more 'Ideal Innovators Economy (Graph-Model 2.)
whereby all one`s Faculties Ior Learning` together with one`s Freedom are conserved
throughout.
WishIul thinking or a programme - political objective and agenda? Answers to such questions
in Iact constitutes the central theme oI Latour`s well-reIerenced expose.
The LiIe Long` time scale extrapolation in Model 1, may be restated as; How can one
make a good thing last? And as such is the sole responsibility oI this author`s, dare I say it,
Inventive Unconsumed- Spirit` Iurther encouraged by selected reIs. (3 - 7)
To ensure a steep learning curve (Ireed Irom the excessive pressures oI and complimentary
to.the modern education system) Latour proposes the experimental method. Latour recalls
that 'this is not as easy as it sounds since it goes against common sense` embodied in the
concept: know beIore you act` not to be conIused with the still highly relevant look beIore
you leap`!
'So the good project manager is one who puts into action with the least deviation a plan
prepared in the most minute detail. In Iact the latter method can only be applied in the most
routine cases rarely encountered in real project management. One does not acquire
conIirmed` knowledge without action, one acts in order to gain knowledge, preIerably in a
proIitable manner as he justiIiably recalls Ior the beneIit oI Apprentice Sorcerers
II I had read the book, I would use the Harry Potter (HP) analogy. I am deeply ashamed oI
this omission. Harry Potter books are an undoubted source oI new (universal) models and
(global) project ideas by all media reports including Iinancial statements.
'The experimental scientist conIronted in permanence with the requirement oI conIirming or
inIirming theory and improving upon models (idealised or simpliIied representations oI real
phenomena including some witch craIt diIIicult to attribute exclusively to HP) resolves the
Knowledge versus Ignorance dichotomy by designing and carrying out an experiment. This is
the true sense oI the word DO (an experiment) in what is known by industrial engineers,
project managers, quality practitioners and administrators as the Deming Circle or Virtuous
Spiral`: PLAN ~ DO~CHECK~ACT repeat continually.
Deming was one oI the early statisticians who brought quality to the Japanese Economy (8).
A First Law - Post. 1 underscores the 'Knowledge vs. Ignorance Dichotomy & presents a
modiIied Deming-Latour Circle, to include Latour`s protocol.
Cf. Footnote 3-Cautionary note: Four principles of Do-Ing.
(Cultural note: Ing`. is the Irench abbreviated equivalent oI Eng.` short Ior engineer)
'Between Ignorance and Knowledge everyone in the laboratory knows the value oI an
unsuccessIul experiment. It can be bungled. It can be non-representative. It can Iorce us to
abandon a research route or even a whole discipline. 'Nevertheless it would never cross any
one`s mind to act (experiment) without reporting according to a careIully pre-established
protocol, the eIIects oI the diIIiculties encountered, cf. 2nd Law Post. 2 & 3, Wrong 1
st
Time, Deming-Latour energy conservation car-not cycle Then, as iI to give unwanted
substance to my allusion to thermodynamic entropy in my playIul poster title, the Bell Labs.
scandal loomed to mind - a unique case? I knew it would be diIIicult to avoid the Bell shaped
curve:
The Bell Shaped Curve:
Not the one oI dreams, actually,
With all its ring oI normality,
And background skewed tonality,
Neither justiIiable oI necessity,
Trying so to avoid all criminality,
OIt` Iar Irom proper musicality.
copyright J.A.
ProI. Latour continues to enquire:
' Where, in administration, in government or in large companies, are the experimentalists
designated to report continually on the results positive or negative oI the diIIiculties
encountered by projects in progress, diIIiculties to which projects are subjected?
'Who deIines the protocol? 'In military terms, who deIines the mission debrieIing?
To answer these questions can I tell you that I was one oI these experimentalists and my
superior(s) carried out the debrieIing. It is a delicate task. Like the Mediator on the French TV
channel (A2) which oIIers such a service, the only one oI the big 6 in Iact, it requires strong,
Iirm and Iair support (6) oI senior management.
It is wise to let negative results speak Ior themselves as Iar as possible and rather to seek
cooperatively the elementary Iacts` - scientiIic policing distinguishing Iacts Irom
personalities and highlighting the positive. The expert in industrial. quality, research and
development, quite a portIolio, requires discretionary judgement not to let the situation get out
oI hand. This may help put the ball back in the court so to speak or put an end to hostilities
whatever.
For the still unconvinced, Latour enquires rhetorically:
'Can one imagine a research scientist who never learns any lesson Irom his mistakes?
I. oIten ask myselI?
And less unequivocally: 'a laboratory which never records it`s results, unless.?
The crimes oI Bell Labs, extremely serious as they were, did not take place in the medical
Iield, I trust?
'Stranger still, what does one do when one does not know, when the certitudes are lacking?
Will we design a protocol Ior serious Iiddling and Iumbling`?
Fiddling and Iumbling with variations,
Mixing and muddling and even juggling
With Time and Temperature and Space,
In order to learn, bit by bit.
Adapted Irom 'From Entropy to Poetry J.A. 2002-3

II I may use such technological terminology as, bit by bit,`
'By working on reduced models, carrying out pilot studies, simulations, representative
samples, how can one anticipate the results oI Iuture actions? 'No, concludes Latour,
thoroughly disgruntled, 'We shall take a decision, a surgically clean cut, a surgical
operation.
Here I add my voice to Latour`s,
Surgical action oIten costs a bomb, big spender.
Your attitude is ever present, 2003 still tender.
The situation calls Ior a LiIe Saver
Could this perchance be a banker?
I do not mean cash hoarding, I thunder,
You looting, plundering, warmongering murderer.
(Notice the curves dreams are made oI? 'Bell shape curve rotational transIormation,
gyrations) Copyright J.A. Dolphins) ADA Grp.
In the surgical approach, common sense cumulates both inconveniences: it imagines an
engineer who knows beIore he acts and a politician who decides without knowing. From any
ensuing results, nothing is learned. And a new combination oI the Innovating Team (IT) will
recommence without the necessary cumulative experience. And time goes by, nothing
sustainable or durable is achieved.
Does entropy`s A quantum wave(s),
Universally durable by its very Nature
Require sustainability, my brave(s)?
Fully realising the requirement Ior speed in ' Iumbling ones way Iorward my very brilliant
and literally poor sighted, boss Ior many oI my Iormative years, Irequently would pull a coin
Irom his pocket and addressing the protagonists in our admittedly more stressIul (Ior costly)
industrial situation. 'Heads or tails? he would calmly enquire.
LeIt to my own more modest capabilities, I became an adept oI the laboratory experimental
approach (3) as tentatively exposed herein.
Oh! I must tell you this story. The same chap, my boss, was about 6 Ieet tall. His short sight
gave him naturally enhanced microscopic vision when he removed his spectacles. Well, I
shall let you imagine the scene when he stuck a sample, 1cm. distant Irom his eye, but at least
25cm. above the rest oI the team`s heads, then pointing a Iinger to the sample and exclaiming
it`s obvious, look! Then, satisIied oI his comprehension oI some strange Ieature was gone
beIore anyone knew what we he had observed. (Footnote 2.)
Scaling up has always been a considerable problem in engineering.
Latour proposes 'the creation oI a new power which is no longer deIined by knowledge, or
aptitude Ior incisive decision making but rather by it`s capacity to Iollow experimentation
underway and to judge the value oI the exercise by the quality oI learning In sort oI new
observer capable oI eIIective management, pragmatic not as a principle but in practise, when
need be?
I hope I got that OK.
In this system 'a bad (poor) experiment, is not one which Iails but one in which nothing is
learned (& iI possible gained reported to re-invest) Ior the next one. Conversely a good
experiment is one in which the diIIiculties appear early on disturbing the apparent evidences
upon which the project is based. In plain english this is called 'cutting one`s losses.
Cf. 1
st
& 2
nd
Laws Posts 1 & 2.
Latour calls upon a higher authority to support his proposition in the Iorm oI Karl Popper
according to whom 'the search Ior IalsiIication is not the prerogative oI the laboratory but
should be extended to all collective experiences (experimentation) in which one is seriously
engaged.
'This power does not constrain one by decree (laws and orders) to do this or that but by
documenting obstinately the learning and which one accepts voluntarily.
I can add my own strong preIerence Ior Auto-discipline, then I am a veteran tried and tested
as the aerospace ad-age goes 'there is no such thing as a good or bad driver only old drivers!
But the story does not tell whether these old drivers are sending their Iuture students,
employees, younger colleagues, and readers, into the wall?
Latour hazards 'where angels Iear to tread, adding his voice, to others, criticising the
'Techno-crane a variation on the Techno-c-rat, 'capable oI cumulating political ills with
scientiIic and administrative ones with no apparent virtues
Latour rightly considers that 'there is something intolerable in seeing such capacity to ignore!
Technocrats neither pay the price oI popular representation nor that oI the diIIicult process
(abnegation) oI scientiIic research nor the uncertain Iollow-up oI the evaluation process.
'However this techno-corporatism, in France at any rate, has the enormous advantage oI
being powerIul. Latour recommends we discard this strange view oI the engineer as someone
who knows and the politician as someone who disposes and in doing so perhaps Iorge
ourselves a master tool to reIorm the State.
BATH - TUBS, CORNED - HATS and CHIP - POKES.
PRELUDE TO MODEL 3:
It strikes me that Model 3, the Bath-Tubs Model oI Iailure rate Ior integrated circuits (IC`s)
taken Irom the semiconductor industry, (9) and inversely, the Corned Hat model oI success
rate images rather vividly many oI the ideas just expressed. Should anyone Ieel over oIIended,
I hasten to add that in earlier times in Scotland, I too wore something similar. It was Iamiliarly
was known as a chip poke` hat, Irom the shape oI the carry-out recipient Ior French Iries,
word discouraged by a certain Oh so certain America.`
Until now he concludes 'the French, Latour is French (and Irom all reports much oI the
European Union) 'have been inspired by the certitudes oI science. It is time that we all Iind
inspiration in the uncertainties oI research.
May I repeat something, which is obvious Ior the scientiIic community and the scientiIically
aware?
The century which has come to a close is one in which a major revolution in science took
place; that oI quantum physics and chemistry synonymous to some extent, with the Iamous
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
The word uncertainty was out, but paradoxically it brought certitude despite it`s name
certitude through Nature`s lower (nano) limitation around Planck`s Universal constant (h)
added to the Speed oI light (c) more certitude in the Iorm oI an upper limit.
Theory and incredible powers oI prediction came Irom experimental veriIication and
widespread indispensable product manuIacturing and much gadgetry. Both the certitude oI
boundaries inIinitely large and small and Ior ever and ever` were being deIined, Irom
diIIicult to grasp theory and experimentation, oI great power (nuclear) and Iinesse, quantum
theory, where the speed oI light reigns and it`s messenger is a particle called a photon with
wave like properties. Mien Gotte! Such a situation leads even more predictably to an
increasing sense, oI individual human helplessness and Iragility.
To add slick oil to the Iire, quite mature inIormation technology has produced exponential
acceleration and shows no sign oI any serious technical obstacle. The power to chose to
change has seldom been so potent and yet, so too are the corollaries, conservatism and inertia.
Worse the shadow oI change in English is Chop (to chop and change`) Project Managers
and Job Seekers - when common sense would dictate action to the contrary, Latour`s main
criticism oI the powers that be, lack oI experimentation and the experimental method.
The innovation team, through inIormation technology and communication is more global,
apprenticeship still riIe with corporate Iear, arrogance and in some instances some
megalomania. Latour`s 'power must Iirst gain awareness oI experimentation underway,
understand and explain and moderate neither Ireeze in some death like inertial ignorant bliss
Cf. 3
rd
Law -Crystal Clear Post 4, nor hurtle head long into a the predictable, wall or
precipice-a mechanical view is illustrated as Iollows:
'Last year we were at the edge oI a precipice!
This year we shall take a large step Iorward.
An imaginary punch line Irom a Presidential address in an some Iictitious,
poorly-developed country or region.
Or worse become the source, the epicentre oI some explosive Iront- a chemical view whose
symbol has become, Sept 11. and suicide bombers, so despairingly mislead, misguided. -
AlIred Nobel must turn in his grave.
And a nuclear one!
'N as in Nu-clear?
The highest state oI strong order, dawning
'et de ce jour bacteries et champignons
jailirent a lèxistance pour dissoudre
et un nouveau champignon est ne
(3 lines Irom J.Updike, Facing Nature, trad.Alain Suid 'Ode a la Decomposition)
Such is Nature reviewed.
From Entropy to Poetry` copyright J.A.
The increasing orders oI magnitude Ior mechanical, chemical and nuclear reactions alluded to
in poetic terms, above, are given in reI. (10).
This expose has reach deep waters, egos perhaps over-inIlated, Iatigue gaining ground,
conIusion gaining over clariIication (dichotomy a-gain!), but no going back.
MODEL 3: THE BATH-TUB AND IT`S COROLLARY THE CORNED -HAT FORMS
Please believe me, I had hoped to avoid the Bell Shapes Curve recalled in Model 3. It came
to mind early on suggested by rising and Ialling exponential curves oI our simpliIied idealised
smooth curve LiIe-Long and Career Wise cycles.
La vie nèst pas un long Ileuve tranquille, was the title oI a Iilm,
And serious questions concerning the quality and limitations oI these system conversations
are only too obvious.
But would liIe today without a bathtub be worth living?
Graph 3 the now classical so- called 'bath-tub model Ior component reliability especially
relevant to semiconductors and integrated circuits (IC`s) recalls our shared shaky start in liIe.
With the so called highly expressive inIant mortality phase, the burn-in phase, representing
initially poor reliability, survivors enjoying a long steady state until dropping-out or burn-out.
We have touch upon one recipe Ior turning Iailure into success imaged by Ilipping around a
Yield and Reliability Model and complained oI the residual cost involved.
This also may serve as a caution to our Innovating Team (IT).
Neither to pretend we collectively did not know. Ior want oI an experiment. Nor to be
content with easy to express pictures in guise oI serious models not oI reality but to help us
live, experiment Ior the better, to enjoy, philosophise, and to share. No getting oI the hook.
Putting my above precepts (Plan) to practise, (Do) I Checked Britannica Ed.1974- 1985 (11)
Ior earlier reports on Innovation. I did not waste my time. Let me share a short summary oI
my Iindings Post 4 -The 3
rd
Law - Crystal Clear - Britannica on Innovation.
PRIOR - CONCLUSION.
No engineer, with the knowledge oI experience can be satisIied by high inIantile mortality
(high burn-in loss), Ior example highlighted, dramatically, here in France at the moment by
the issues such as Road SaIety, much oI which is oI an apparently avoidable suicidal anti
nature candidate- unconsciousness,` and neglect by the most inIluential members oI the
Innovation Team. Recent experimental evidence shows substantial improvement and should
encourage reporting. UnIortunately despite enlargement oI the European Union these lessons
and yardsticks are not yet Pan EU. A particular extreme example oI burnout and perhaps the
ultimate Iight Ior durability is that oI Nature`s supreme in-built obsolescence, the deadly
component in all oI us, Cancer.
'Silence like a Cancer grows.
From the song 'The Sound oI Silence by Paul Simon.
For iI these are serious issues in IC`s they must surely be even more so in liIe. So, 'Moore
projects and candidates to meet the challenges. While introducing 'Silence in guise oI an
Au revoir` I have just received an invitation to a National Physical Laboratory, NPL (UK) to
their workshop on electromagnetic noise measurement theory and applications. On the
programme; Noise standards, radiometers, care oI connectors, repeatability, ampliIier noise,
and phase noise. I wonder iI phonons with photons are the good vibrations oI interest in
cancer care and cure? With Armstrong, Lance and Wilson, Matt`s both cyclists in the 2003
tour vanquishers oI cancer, Latour de France, Centenary edition is well.on the way to
success. (AS 0)
Dare I edit Britannica`s Motto?
'Let knowledge grow Irom Moore to Moore`
and thus be human liIe (health, environment.) enriched.
Probably not.
Gordon Moore & Associates, brilliant (IT) experimentalists in their specialised Iield oI
semiconductors and integrated circuits-rich in materials science, may Iind synergy with the
encyclopedic approach more adapted to the needs oI Latour.
.
'Let knowledge grow Irom more to more
and thus be human liIe enriched.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Iounded 1768 (11).
P. -S. Additional ReIs (12, 13) Irom 'Les Echos FT Grp. 10 July 2003. & (14) indebted to.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The tram is largely inspired by a short essay in a series oI articles 'Amateur de Science by B.
Latour in La Recherche. The unusual layout Ior science is Irom Alistairr Cooke`s Letters Irom
America (1947 to Date) on BBC available Ior consultation, sharing and discussion via the
BBC website, www.bbc.co.uk Cooke`s letter is also a thread to the History oI the immense
power and inIluence oI Ralph Nader already mentioned in Encyclopaedia Britannica,
acknowledged throughout and especially in Poster 4. Not Iorgetting J..E. Harris Ior his
monthly entertaining and instructive column Material Matters` in Materials World or Bob
(R.W.) Cahn in Materials Today and to all committed to the sustainable and durable
development oI individuals and society through science and engineering, proper business
practice and governance.
REFERENCES:
1). De la Conversation, Theodore Zeldin, Translation en Fraais, E. Diacon, Ed. Fayard,
Original Title in English-Conversation - How it can change peoples lives. Ed. Hidden Springs
/ Paulist Press.
2). 'How to evaluate innovation / Comment Evaluer LÌnnovation by Bruno Latour,
Amateur de Science, La Recherche, No 314, 1998.
3). 'A Guide Ior the perplexed E.F. Schumacher, Ed. Jonathan Cape 1977 reprinted Abacus
1978 and 1980.
4). 'The Balanced Scorecard-Measure that Drive PerIormance R.S. Kaplan, D. P. Norton
HBR. Jan-Feb. 1992.
5). HBR., 'Business Classics FiIteen Key Concepts Ior Managerial Success (1998).
6). The Seven Habits oI Highly EIIective People, Stephen R. Covey, Ed. Simon & Shuster
NY. (1989) French Edition Les 7 Habitudes Ed.. Lavoisier -Tec & Doc First general (1996).
7). LÌncandescent, Michel Serres, Ed Le Pommier, (2003 in French).
8). Many good reIerences to Deming (1900- Univ. Wyoming 1921-), his US and British
contemporaries, and the battery oI tools built up the by excellent Japanese pupils oI the time
and since. Shewart (1891-UCLA 1914 -), Juran (1904-Romainian emigrated USA 1914- ) .
The Japanese School- Ishikawa et al.
a) my lectures in Cross Cultural Management and Total Quality Control, The European
University in Toulouse, (1992). Well researched using available local resources.
b) A good book in Irench, 'La Qualite outils et methods Patrick Lyonnet,
Ed. Lavoisier Tec & Doc (1997).
9). 'VLSI Technology Ed., S.M. Sze, (Bell Labs), McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical
Engineering McGraw-Hill International (1983) In Iact this is a book on materials science,
materials processing (Si reIining , crystal growth, waIer preparation, epitaxy, dielectric and
polysilicon thin Iilm deposition, oxidation, diIIusion, ion implantation, lithography, dry
etching, metallization, process simulation, VLSI process integration, diagnostic analysis and
control techniques, assembly & packaging, yield and reliability) all technologies used Ior
manuIacturing and control oI very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits.
10). 'Skyscrapers need strong legs, Material Matters, by J.E. Harris, Materials World, Oct-
Nov. 2002 .
11). ReIerences to Innovation in the Encyclopaedia Britannica Ed. 1985.
12). 'L` Eurosclerose est de retour, Euro-Sclerosis is back by Erik Izraelewicz, Les Echos
10/07/2003. themes related to the present Conversations. Cf. footnotes 5.
13). 'Patrons, cultivez votre jardin / Bosses should tend to their own back garden by Xavier.
Mesnard and Laurent Chevreux, A.T. Kearney, Les Echos 10/07/2003. themes related to the
present Conversations cf. footnote 6.
14). The 5
th
Discipline The Art & Practice oI The Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge
Systems approach
FOOTNOTES 1 to 6.
Footnote 1:
Yardsticked as abusive corporate governance practice has been boastingly estimated as high
as 66 in France, not known to be an innovator but a Iollower in this Iield. The boardroom
circle still appears disjoint Irom accepted quality control circle yardsticks and assurance
practise?
Footnote 2:
When the late Y. Honnorat leIt to manage materials Ior a leading aero-engine manuIacturer, it
was a challenge and an honour to deIend many oI the highly contested programmes initiated
under his direction.
Footnote 3:
Most Scientists and Engineers: Physicists, Chemists, Metallurgists, Thermodynamicists will
recognise elements oI phase diagrammes, departures Irom ideality and much else, whether
true or Ialse, stretched, twisted and turned, hopeIully it will prove thought provoking
Footnote 3 - Cautionary note: the Four Principles of Do-Ing: (a pseudo-scientiIic enquiry):
1. Classical & Biblical- Do unto others, as you would they do unto you. Security`
2. The so called Business principle: Do them beIore they do you`. Commercial`
3. The so called Management Model Do it to them beIore they do it to you. Defence -
Attack being the best Iorm!
4. The no-no` Model Do them in beIore they do you in! Totally unlawful but.`
Footnote 4: ConIusion possible between Brute Iorce and Intelligence.
Footnote 5: Translated exerts related to the present work.
'Old Europe doubts in herselI again. She neglects to spend Ior the Iuture; on education and
research and development and in so doing increases her lag on USA. Izraelewicz reports on a
conservative similarity oI the recent European Managers Forun in Helsinki with the EMF in
1980. (I used as a yardstick Britannica`s 15
th
Edition 1974-1985). And concludes that in an
ageing society the elderly impose their will in a decisive way against all spending which
designed to prepare Ior the Iuture 'money goes to old age homes not to maternity wards &
kinder garden Decision makers today being closer to the 2
nd
than the 1
st
category this is not
surprising. Also Ior the same reason managers and researchers Ilock to USA to the detriment
oI European Institutions. EU spends (3 PIB on Iuture) 1.5 oI PIB on Universities & 1.5
on R&D. whereas USA spends twice these rates (6) 3 Univ. & 3 R&D.
Criticism: cI. my graphs concerning early age and Iormative years a period which is longer
than that inIerred by a quick reading oI Izraelewicz. 20/80 at the very least and perhaps 80/20
is a more modern liIe-long approach. Model 3 is a very rough 1
st
approach to deIining two
areas where special attention is required. This needs reIinement and diIIerentiation not
ammunition supply Ior a general conIlict oI generations. There is much consensus on the
abusive power and unwarranted rewards practised at senior management
Footnote 6: All is in the title ' Bosses should tend to their own back garden so too should
they; the competitive advantage theme even iI signiIicant (HBR Key Concepts- reI 5 above) is
incantation no longer creation and innovation. As Ior the quality oI execution, not a popular
word at this time oI detestable reintroduction oI military tribunals by the current US admin, I
wonder in which category will readers class AT. Kearney directors?

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Conversation (1) on the Search for a Physics & Chemistry

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