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09.07
25 Years of the CD
by Terrance Malkinson
On 17 August 1982, a marvel of
engineering began emerging from an assembly line
in a factory in Langenhagen, just outside of
Hanover Germany. Jointly developed by Holland's
Royal Philips Electronics NV and Sony Corp. of
Japan the CD ushered in a technological
revolution in the music industry. It was an easy
product to market, and became an instant
success. The CD industry grew rapidly in the
1990’s as music fans replaced cassettes and
vinyl records. By 1988 CD’s outsold records. At
the time, no one envisaged the CD as a means of
data storage. Discovering unforeseen
applications is a common — and pleasant —
side effect of innovation.
As the story goes, in 1979,
Philips and Sony set up a joint task force of
engineers to design a new digital audio disk.
Many decisions had to be made including the size
of the disk and CD technical standards. How do
you think that the engineers decided on the disk
size? Let us know by sending an e-mail to
todaysengineer@ieee.org. Although the
technology was new, the design was inspired from
vinyl records. Similar to the grooves on a
record, CDs are engraved with a spiral of tiny
pits that are scanned by a laser. Because the
pits are covered with plastic and
non-destructible the CD never loses sound
quality. This was a welcome relief to those of
you from my generation who recall scratched and
track repeating ever present on vinyl records,
and continuing on with the annoying breakage of
magnetic tapes on cassette tape recorders.
It is estimated that over the 25
years, more than 200 billion CDs have been sold
(Digital Home Canada,
www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/1947/206/).
If all CDs ever produced were collected and
stacked, they would circle the earth six times!
The CD still accounts for the majority of the
music industry's recording revenues, but its
sales have been declining since peaking early
this decade, in part due to new technologies.
CDs won't disappear overnight, but its years may
be numbered and like the vinyl record replaced
by a new currently unthought-of innovative
technology.
Other Bytes
Here are some of the things
going on in and around the engineering
community:
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The Future of Work is the
topic of a special issue of the 20-27 August
2007 issue of BusinessWeek (www.businessweek.com).
Twenty-two articles, over 53 pages, are
essential reading for everyone; students,
job seekers, and those who have what they
believe to be a permanent job. The nature of
work has changed considerably over the past
decade and change will continue. Just
because you may feel that you are in a
secure position today does not mean that you
will be in the same secure position
tomorrow. An excellent group of articles for
the career savvy individual that will get
you thinking about making your future
successful.
-
“How to Launch a Cool,
Profitable, Worth-all-the-Risk, Kick-Ass
Start-Up” (Inc. Magazine, 29(7), pp.
77-86, July 2007,
www.inc.com/magazine/20070801), Max
Chafkin et al. provides four case studies of
start-up’s that are based on an interesting
idea and a passionate champion. In an
interesting twist readers are invited to
return feedback on their favorite among the
four start-ups and your reasons for your
choice.
-
When engaged in our daily
activities and encounter a difficult issue
we sometimes think “How might someone else
handle this situation?” In “How Successful
Leaders Think” (Harvard Business Review,
85(6), pp. 61-67, June 2007,
www.hbr.com),
Roger Martin discusses the practice of
emulating what others do apply lessons
learned to our own life. The author suggests
that simply copying what others do is not a
good approach as what works in one context
may not work in another situation. A better
approach is to analyze how successful
leaders think and apply this to your issue.
The results of his research suggest that a
process of consideration of various ideas
(some opposing) and then synthesizing a new
superior idea is the best approach. He calls
this approach “integrative thinking.”
-
Motivating employees by
providing them with valued incentives has
been a subject of discussion since ancient
times when the first superior/subordinate
relationship was established. In “Weighing
Pay Incentives” (HR Magazine, 52(6),
pp. 65-68, June 2007,
www.shrm.org/hrmagazine), Joanne Sammer
discusses some of the current thinking about
incentive plans that might motivate
employees to perform at high levels of
performance. Online resources for additional
information about designing incentive plans
are provided in the article. The author
particularly emphasizes the importance of
determining the correct incentives for your
company and employees; what business
objectives an incentive plan should support;
reviewing the plan to maintain relevance;
and detailing the plan in writing.
-
On the lighter side in “The
Pet Economy” (BusinessWeek, #4045,
August 6, 2007, www.businessweek.com ) Diane
Brady and Christopher Palmeri discuss how
Americans spend about $41Billion a year on
pets and this is expected to increase to
$52B within two years. The author comments
on the business and business opportunities
that will arise from this where today about
63% of US households own at least one pet.
An interesting inset authored by Arlene
Weintraub discusses the psychology of why we
desire pets.
-
The feature article in
Inc. — the Handbook of the American
Entrepreneur — is entitled “Fun” (Inc.
Magazine, 29(8), pp. 84-94, August 2007,
www.inc.com/magazine/20070801/), Leigh
Buchanan characterizes fun as the new core
value — it’s good for employees, good for
customers and good for business. With the
tight labor market existing in some regions
an enjoyable “fun” workplace might be the
critical factor in recruiting the best
candidate. In addition research over many
years has proven that a worksite where
workers feel comfortable and non-restricted
enhances creativity and innovation. Examples
are provided of companies that embrace the
concept of “fun” in their human resource
practices.
-
Today, many jobs are being
outsourced. In “Today’s Solution and
Tomorrow’s Problem: The Business Process
Outsourcing Risk Management Puzzle” (California
Management Review, 49(3), pp. 27-44,
Spring 2007,
http://cmr.berkeley.edu), Yuwei Shi
provides a comprehensive overview of the
different types of risk that might result
from business process outsourcing. Among the
many important issues raised in this
interesting article the author that the
“effects of outsourcing on the firm’s
immediate bottom line may not always be
consistent with the effects on the long-term
well-being of the firm.” He concludes with
the statement “Perhaps it will be better to
require senior management and even
board-level scrutiny of Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) projects to recognize and
deal with the more strategic risks before it
is too late.”
Terrance Malkinson is a
communications specialist, business analyst and
futurist. He is an elected Senator of the
University of Calgary, a Governor of the
Engineering Management Society, international
correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer
Online, editor-in-chief of IEEE-USA
Today's Engineer Digest, editor of IEEE
Engineering Management, and associate editor
for IEEE Canadian Review. He the author
of over 300 publications and is also an
accomplished triathlete. The author is grateful
to the Haskayne School of Business Library at
the University of Calgary. He can be reached at
todaysengineer@ieee.org.
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