January 2011 Newsletter

Yoyah Group


Facebook at Harvard, Experiencing the Future
By Yoram Yahav

FacebookIt is 6:00 am at the Harvard Business School where I am spending the week studying with YPO (Young President Organization) colleagues representing more than forty countries around the globe. During one of our sessions, we spoke about the Facebook phenomenon, specifically about the establishment of the company, and its present and FUTURE statuses. Yes, the same term I enjoy addressing so often these days; The FUTURE!

One of the attendees mentioned that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of Facebook, has a solid potential to head the first company to reach a trillion dollar market value (it is fifty billion today). It made me think about the amazing changes and unpredictable realities we are living in these days. More>


Affordable Housing
By Prof. Shlomo Maital

housing_market

America has an ongoing housing crisis because house prices fell sharply. Israel has a housing crisis because apartment prices have risen sharply. It seems you just can’t win… Despite the global economic crisis in 2007-9, housing prices in Israel have continued to soar.

There is a solution. It is called “affordable housing,” defined as intervention in housing markets (rental and purchase) to enable low and middle-income families to live in neighborhoods they could not otherwise afford. This is done by keeping rent or mortgage payments at no more than, say, a quarter of monthly income for those who qualify and by requiring a proportion of housing units in each development to be “affordable.” It has big advantages, by making neighborhoods more diverse. But how is this done? More>

Towards a Sustainable Future
By David Miron-Wapner

sustainability

Fully embracing sustainability demands a real transformation in the way we perceive globalization and the role of governments and modern corporations. Citizens must demand that their governments be accountable to future generations alike for the impact of our collective actions on the ability of the earth to provide all with the essentials for a high quality of life. In turn, governments that afford corporations’ limited liability protections, must demand corporate responsibility to the public interest now and into the future. Insurers fearing new rules for liability for unchecked climate change are also beginning to demand greater transparency. Seeking to avoid long-term threats to disruption to their business operations, business and industry must become more willing to initiate and lead the transformation. Those that correctly perceive climate change pressures, anticipating and adapting to the challenges, stand to gain, others will be left behind. More>

Social TV & End of the Couch Potato?
By Debbie Meltzer

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Social TV, On-demand TV, Dual screens, Cloud TV, Visual networking… We are going to hear a lot more about these rising trends. And unlike HD and 3DTV –it’s not just about technology, it’s about opening up another virtual avenue.

Just as you thought you got a grip on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter tools, the world of social, visual and educational content is about to flip again…faster than you can imagine. The content industry is about to become a whole lot more innovative and more democratic very quickly. And the next big break is propelled from the visual world. More>