Theory of Incremental Advantage

Every Movement Matters in Manufacturing

Small gains in efficiency can have a dramatic cumulative affect. Henry Ford calculated that if each of the 12,000 factory workers on his assembly line could save 10 steps a day, a collective 50 miles is wasted energy and misdirected physical exertion would be eliminated.

The Incidence of Organ Donation Varies Dramatically

Many countries have spent tens of millions of dollars on public awareness campaigns about the importance of organ donation. However, the level of organ donation is largely a function of one lever. Whether a country chooses an opt-in or opt-out method for recruiting organ donations has a tremendous impact on the level of organ donations in that country. For instance, countries--such as France, Hungry and Austria--that have an opt-out method of organ donation enjoy 99.9% of their populations donating organs. On the other hand, countries that have opt-in organ donation have much lower levels of organ donation. Only 4.3%, 12% and 17.2% of the populations of Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively, donate their organs.

Attention to Colors is Important

Some of the greatest businessmen do not find it beneath them to be concerned about the color of their products. The reason why Henry Ford had the Model T's painted black was that black paint dries the fastest. Henry Ford was hypersensitive about reducing costs and making production as efficient as possible. (In a similar vein, Sam Walton economized on the name of his store by choosing "Wal-Mart". In part, this was because it had just seven letters, which required less neon than "Walton's 5-10.")

Steve Jobs of Apple Computer held up a crucial shipment of computers because the color of the cardboard box was not white enough. He knew that the boxes would be stacked on retailers’ floors all across America. With new products, first impressions count a lot. The color of the box was too bland and did not communicate anything sharp or crisp.

Psychologists point out that pink has a calming effect, even on prisoners. For this reason, the University of Iowa's football team paints its opponents' locker room pink. A calmer opponent is easier to defeat. Former University of Michigan coach Bo Schembechler ordered his assistants to paper over the pink walls before the players entered.

Being in the Top One Percent is Not Enough

In some instances, being in the top 1% of the competition is not sufficient. You must be the number one contender. This is true in the realm of being listed in online search results. When it comes to having your website listed in search results, being in the top 1% is not enough. If your website doesn’t appear on the first page of results, few people will visit your site. Professor Thorsten Joachims and his colleagues at Cornell University conducted a study of search engines. Their study examined the links users followed on the search engine results page. They found that 42% of users clicked the top search hit, and 8% of users clicked the second hit.

The Genetics Differtiating Men from Mice are Seemingly Marginal

99% of mouse genes have homologues in man. Of these, 96% are in the same syntenic location in man as in mouse. 80% of mouse genes that have a match on the same syntenic region in man are also the best match for that human gene. These 1:1 orthologues are not just similar genes but genes that have descended and diverged from a common ancestor.