Category Archives: Evolution

It seems obvious to most people that businesses of all types are changing, adapting, and evolving in response to the Covid Virus and its effects on business.Observing this is continual daily everywhere.

Discussing this with business owners, management, staff, and employees of all types of business and companies, confirm that business management, attitudes, operations, strategies, human resources, communications and marketing, revenue-generating parts of the business is changing quickly and evolving.

Restaurants are now focusing more on the take-out, pick-up, and catering side of the business.

Enhancements and changes for more sanitation of the restaurants, employees, food preparation, and food packaging for take out/pickup are all advancing and evolving.

Social distancing and wearing masks are now part of daily life and work.

Some cultures are struggling with this since they are not used to this. The USA is struggling with this with 35-45% seeming to object to this.

Retail stores have the same issues with customers and evolving as well with these things.

Stores are controlling and managing this but this is a challenge.

The stores are now focusing more on their online websites and selling online with home delivery.

Inventory levels are declining in the stores forcing customers to shop online via the internet.

There is an increasing demand for home delivery services and logistics. This is creating new jobs.

Clothing stores have declining sales because many people are working out of their house now and do not need to buy so much office business clothing.

Auto sales are declining since people are not driving as much so they do not need new autos as much and the same for auto repairs and new tires sales.

Computer sales are increasing, and auto sales and auto repairs are declining since many people are now working out of their homes instead of driving into the office and workplace through traffic daily.

There is an increase in unemployment in some jobs and business sectors and an increase in others especially logistics, warehousing, truck drivers, and home delivery drivers.

Some businesses cannot stay in business with the Covid Virus situation.

Restaurant Buffets where food is put out on tables in the open, for all that you can eat and serve yourself, is not able to meet the sanitation and social distancing requirements and needs.

These businesses are closing or changing to provide only take out, carry out, catering.

The air quality is increasing and getting better because of fewer people driving to work every day.

Less travel and fewer autos on the road mean a decrease in gas demand so gas prices are decreasing.

Companies are now having many of their office staff and management work from their own house remotely.

This is a major attitude change, management change and operations change.

Video conferencing is being utilized far more now instead of traveling to customers and meeting in an office.

Companies are finding that they are actually more productive with this and there are substantial cost savings with not having to support company offices. They can now utilize the space for other things that can help the business to grow. Companies also are finding that many highly talented people who previously they could not hire due to relocation was not acceptable or desirable, now can attract more of these highly talented people since they can work remotely.

When in-person meetings are needed and required, video conferencing technology is utilized or such meetings are held to a minimum and staff travel by airplane to a major airport selected as the central point to meet, and local business conference and meeting rooms are rented for the day for such.

The airlines business has decreased significantly with some estimates being a 50-60% decrease because business travel has decreased so much as well as personal travel decreasing.

For social distancing airlines cannot pack people into the airplanes, elbow to elbow so close anymore.

More people are staying home to entertain or entertain outside of the house on the lawn or grass.

This is causing a big demand for lawn chairs to sit on outside.

Since there are more people working from their homes now, there is a big demand for home improvement products to repair the house or update and remodel. In the USA, house building products and wood lumber is in such high demand that prices have increased significantly causing new housing and new buildings cost to increase.

Home furniture and home dcor stores are busy with sales increasing since people are at home more and see the need for such.

There is a high demand for higher-level air quality equipment for all businesses and companies.

Cleaning supplies and sanitation supplies for higher-level sanitation requirements are in high demand.

Personal hygiene protection products such as masks and medical gowns are in high demand.

With company factories, they are reorganizing the facilities to provide more social distancing.

Some companies, businesses, products, and services are increasing sales while others declining.

Due to the Covid Virus students from many schools, grade schools, elementary schools levels are now learning from home online with a computer, and teachers are learning how to do this.

A lot of new computers are being sold with the increase of demand and need.

Parents are learning how to help their children to learn and how to help motivate them as well. This is a very big challenge for the parents and the students.

Same for college and universities. Online classes are taking the place of classrooms and teachers are learning how to teach online and students are learning how to learn online and motivate themselves.

It is so important and critical for businesses and companies to creatively adjust and make bold changes and improvements for growing the business and staying profitable in business with the current Covid Virus situation and challenges.

Even now, many businesses and companies are re-evaluating their products, services and their capabilities to expand their products and services into things in high demand.

All businesses need to be doing the same thing.

This is progressively helping these businesses and companies to grow significantly, both in sales and profits.

There are a lot more changes with businesses and consumers happening right now and I have only mentioned just a few in this article to help open up your eyes to it, to help you be more aware and think about it more.

Once you are more aware of this, you will automatically and naturally start seeing it more. This may even take over much of your thinking and observing.

Businesses are evolving and changing due to the Covid Virus.

Consumer behaviors, needs, and attitudes are changing and evolving.

There will be a lot more changes to come and all will evolve.

Many of the business changes will most likely progress even though the Covid Virus will eventually get managed better and have inoculations/vaccinations for it.

Do not expect all of the business changes to go back to the way things were before Covid.

Written by Michael Marshall.

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The Covid Virus is Stimulating the Evolution of Business - CEOWORLD magazine

Cohn, de Vries, Stadler & Co

16 February 2022

Cohn, de Vries, Stadler & Co

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February 12 this year marks the 213th birthday ofCharles Robert Darwin, known as the "Fatherof the Theory of Evolution" according to which evolution ofthe species is driven by a process of natural selection. Namely, aprocess by which random variations in a subject's phenotype(i.e., characteristics) that increase the suitability of thesubject to a changing environment and its ability to reproduce, aregenetically maintained in the population and cause an evolution andcreation of new species.

As exciting and revolutionary as the theory of evolution hasbeen (and still is), Darwin did not"invent" it and it cannot be regarded asan "invention".

An invention is a creative achievement which usually developsfrom a hypothesis, a scientific discovery, or an experimentaldiscovery, and always includes an element of humanintervention. The hypothesis or the scientific discovery bythemselves are not an invention. They cannot be owned by anyone andcan certainly not be patented.

A patentable invention according to the Israeli PatentLaw is a product or a process in any technological field that isnew, inventive, useful, and industrially applicable.

Therefore, no matter how novel and inventive a theory or an ideamay be, abstract scientific theories are notpatentable.

One of the main reasons for that is the question of theusefulness and industrial applicability of the scientific theory assuch. The brilliant laws that govern the process of evolutionaryselection do not have a direct use or industrial applicability, andif such use is found, it may be regarded as an invention only ifthe proposed product or process involves a modification of thenatural processes.

And last, but not least, in the case of evolution, Darwin (aswell as other less celebrity scientists such as Alfred RusselWallace) crafted an ingenious theory based on its carefulobservation of Nature. If so, who after all can bedefined here as an inventor?

Perhaps the finches of Galapagos.

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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As industries race to gain a legal monopoly on their unique innovations through marks registration, we are inundated with an ever-increasing number of products with

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Could Darwin Have Patented The Theory Of Evolution? - Intellectual Property - Israel - Mondaq News Alerts

Is there a better duo than 76ers guard James Harden and 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey?

OK, so the answer might be that there is in fact a better duo out there, but there's no denying that Harden and Morey have developed quite the partnership over the years.

The two now enter a new chapter as Morey's Sixers motioned to acquire Harden from the Nets at the 2022 trade deadline. And who was the first person to greet Harden when he got off the plane in Philadelphia? You guessed it.

While Harden won't officially suit up for Philadelphia until after the All-Star break, his official introduction as a Sixer is the perfect time to look back at the timeline of the relationship between him and Morey over the years.

Oct. 29, 2012 Morey, who was entering his sixth season as Rockets GM, orchestrated a major trade ahead of opening night by acquiring Harden from the Thunder.

Harden, who was the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, was entering his third NBA season and viewed as a promising young talent. Morey, however, saw much more.

I think hes a great, great player. I think hes already playing at an All-Star level and is going to be a perennial All-Star and those players are rarely traded so I thought, frankly, it was going to work out there. Im very happy for the Houston Rockets that hes here.

Then when we were able to talk to James it was real exciting because I think our goals and his goals are aligned: We want to win a championship and this is a place where he can win a championship as a foundational player for a team.

Not only did Morey call 23-year-old Harden "foundational" but he also correctly predicted that Harden would be an All-Starthatseason, which was the first of 10 consecutive selections.

On Oct. 31, 2012, Harden signed a five-year extension with the Rockets worth $80 million.

July 20, 2015 Morey, a savvy tweeter, takes to Twitter to joke that anyone disagreeing with Harden being deserving of MVP of the 2014-15 season over Warriors guard Stephen Curry. The joke is based on the viral "meet me in Temecula" story involving a Kobe Bryant fan one year prior.

He would again express disappointment in the MVP process in 2017.

June 21, 2017 Morey signs a four-year extension to remain GM of the Rockets through the 2021-22 NBA season.

July 8, 2017 Just two weeks later, Harden signs the richest contract in NBA history at the time a four-year extension reportedly worth $228 million to remain with the Rockets through the 2022-23 season.

June 25, 2018 At the NBA Awards, Morey is named Executive of the Year and Harden is named MVP of the 2017-18 NBA season.

Aug. 15, 2019 During an appearance on the 100 Thieves' "Selfmade" show, Morey, wearing a Harden shirt, says "it's just factual" that Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan.

Oct. 18, 2020 Days after it was reported that Morey would step down from his post as the Rockets GM, he took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle to confirm the reports.

In his letter to Houston and the Rockets organization, Morey penned that "James Harden changed my life," adding that he could dedicate an entire page to Harden.

Nov. 2, 2020 Morey is hired as the 76ers President of Basketball Operations.

Dec. 28, 2020 As Morey settled into his new post with the 76ers, he inadvertently sent out an automated tweet celebrating the one-year anniversary of Harden breaking the Rockets' franchise assist record.

It turned out to be a pricy mistake as Morey was fined $50,000 for violating the league's anti-tampering policy as Harden was still a member of the Rockets at the time.

Jan. 14, 2021 After publicly demanding a trade from the Rockets, Harden was linked to Morey's 76ers before ultimately being traded to the Nets.

Feb. 10, 2022 With Harden privately requesting a trade from the Nets, Morey and the Sixers again emerged as suitors.

This time, a deal was done at the trade deadline with Morey and Harden reuniting in Philadelphia.

Feb. 15, 2022 Harden is officially introduced as a member of the 76ers.

With a history that dates back nearly a decade, Morey has always been a believer in Harden and in turn, Harden has made Morey look like a genius more often than not.

They might not bethebest duo there is, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a similar relationship between an executive and a superstar in all of professional sports.

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James Harden and Daryl Morey: The evolution of a one-of-a-kind relationship - Sporting News

Remarkably, this year marks the 30th anniversary of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR debut at Riviera. Needless to say, the game (and players equipment) has changed a whole lot over three decades.

For a bit of perspective, take look at the driver Tiger used in 1992 versus 2022:

Its almost hard to believe that in 1992 Tiger (just 16 years old at the time) averaged 263.3 yards off the tee in his first two rounds at Riviera. For perspective, the event winner, Fred Couples, averaged 282.5 yards in those same first two rounds of the tournament.

Embed from Getty ImagesThe question is, how well do you think you could hit Tigers old 1992 driver with its small stainless steel head and Tour Gold shaft?

Cover image via PGATOUR.com

Golficity co-founder, host of The Golf Podcast, always looking for more laughs and less bogies.

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The Evolution of Tiger Woods' Driver - 1992 Versus 2022 - Golficity

There was a time when Paige Spiranac took everything said to her on social media very personally. Every hate-filled comment, every off-color joke about her physical appearance, every jab at her golfing ability during her playing days stung a little harder than the last.

This caused her to become a staunch advocate against cyberbullying, a worthy cause. Looking back, though, Spiranac believes she could have handled some of the more fair criticisms differently. Now she can be seen regularly jabbing fellow tour pros on Instagram and Twitter, where she's amassed a combined following of just over 3.7 million. A hypocritical heel turn? No, Spiranac explained as our guest on this week's episode of "Be Right." Just part of her social-media evolution.

"It was really hard, because when people would come at me, it was about my golf game," she said. "As we all know, your ego is so tied in to how you play, and publicly for people to be like 'You suck, you need to quit,' that was really hard for me and I took it very personally.

"My early interviews I talked a lot about cyberbullying, and I was kind of dealing with other things behind the scenes, so I was a big advocate for that. Things have progressed where I've stopped playing professionally and now social media has become my career. It was hard because now I want to have a 'hot take,' but sometimes it comes at the expense of someone else, and not in a way that's bullying. Now I'm tweeting stuff about players, and it's funny, but I would get so upset about that before [if it were me], but it's not really bullying. I was just soft. I was a huge baby. You do have to have a good sense of humor, you have to be able to laugh things off."

Spiranac has become much better at laughing things off, like when she sarcastically tweeted over the weekend "I can't believe [Harry] Higgs would oversexualize himself for attention," referring to Higgs pulling his shirt up over his eyes and revealing his dad bod on the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale. "I would NEVER." More than a few folks who didn't get the joke instantly flooded her mentions with some variation of an "isn't that what you do?!?" response.

"Welcome to Twitter," Spiranac said.

In addition to being a social media influencer, Spiranac is now an ambassador for the PointsBet Sportsbook, which will debut a weekly free-to-play pick 'em contest in partnership with the PGA Tour for this week's Genesis Invitational. Spiranac gave us her picks for this week at Riviera, as did we, and we discussed much more, including all the chaos at the WMPO. Please, have a listen to the full episode below:

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Paige Spiranac on her social-media evolution, and why the Waste Management Phoenix Open is good for golf - GolfDigest.com

The ad tech industry has seen its fair share of changes over the last decade, marked by substantial shifts in the sector each year.

To name a few: the launch of Prebid in 2015, the switch from a second-price to a first-price auction, video outstream implementations, privacy, identity, contextual advertising, and server-side technologies, amongst many others.

All these evolutions happened within a relatively small period of time and contributed to a drastic change in the way publishers monetise their inventory. Thus, navigating this fast-paced environment nowadays is a real challenge.

So, as a new year begins, many digital media actors might wonder: where exactly does the industry stand at the moment? How do all these innovations affect the market overall? And where is all of this complexity driving the industry towards?

During its first webinar of the year, Pubstack will be discussing the challenges and opportunities that await us during 2022, plus how to tackle them, so that publishers can refine their plans for the year ahead.

By the end of the session, you will have an overviewof the global ad tech market consolidation and rebound over the last year; the different server-side solutions on the market, and how they work; and much more.

The event will take place on Thursday, February 24th, 2021 at 3:00 pm CET (9:00 am EST). Register here.

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Pubstack Announce 'State of Programmatic and Evolution Perspectives for 2022' Webinar - ExchangeWire

In a recent study, an Indian researcher traced the tectonic evolution and the nature of the Greater Maldive Ridge (GMR) --- a very crucial geodynamic features in the western Indian Ocean whose origin has been the centre of many a scientific debate.

The study can help reconstruct the original Gondwanaland break up and dispersal that led to present-day configuration of continents, continental fragments, and formation of ocean basins in the Indian Ocean.

The Maldive Ridge is an aseismic ridge that is not associated with earthquake activities. This ridge, located in the western Indian Ocean, southwest of India, is not well investigated. It is of paramount importance to gain knowledge on the structure and geodynamics of aseismic ridges (as it provides valuable inputs towards understanding the evolution of ocean basins).

The study by the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Mumbai, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, has chalked the possible geological cross-sections along the GMR for the first time with the help of satellite-derived high-resolution gravity data. The researchers postulated that the GMR may be underlain by an oceanic crust. The results from their study can provide additional constraints in understanding the plate-tectonic evolution of the Indian Ocean, better.

The research work carried out by Dr. Priyesh Kunnummal under the guidance of Dr. S.P. Anand provides the crustal architecture and the state of gravitational equilibrium between Earth's crust and mantle (isostasy) of the Greater Maldive Ridge segment of the larger Chagos-Laccadive Ridge (CLR) system. Their study, based mainly on the interpretation of gravity anomalies (small differences in the pull of gravity caused by the lateral variations of density within the subsurface) with broadband seismic and refraction seismic data, provided for the first time a three-dimensional picture of the variation of Moho along the Greater Maldive Ridge and the adjoining ocean basins. The depth to the boundary between the earth's crust and the mantle or the Mohorovicic discontinuity (Moho) over the GMR was systematically mapped along with the finer variation of effective elastic thickness (Te) at the place. The research related to Te variations and isostatic compensation has been published recently in the journal 'Gondwana Research'.

IIG team found that Moho is deeper over the Maldive Ridge (MR) segment and shallows southwards in the Deep Sea Channel region (DSC). However, the effective elastic thickness (a proxy for the strength of the lithosphere) values were lower over the MR compared to DSC region. Maldive Ridge and Deep Sea Channel region may probably be oceanic in nature with the presence of underplated materials associated with the Reunion hotspot volcanism. The research suggests that Maldive Ridge might have formed in the close vicinity of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge (where creation of a new ocean floor occurs due to divergent motion of lithospheric plates or spreading centre). Meanwhile, the DSC region was under a long transform fault (offset between the spreading centres, which neither create nor destroy lithosphere), which hindered melt production and gave rise to gap between Chagos and Maldive Ridge during the Plume-ridge interaction.

Satellite-derived gravity anomalies are very helpful in deciphering the crustal architecture where traditional shipborne geophysical data are either not available or scanty.

"The study provides new insights into the crustal architecture, isostatic compensation mechanism, and the tectonic evolution of the Greater Maldive Ridge, said Dr. Priyesh.

(With Inputs from PIB)

Excerpt from:

Tectonic evolution of Greater Maldive Ridge traced in western Indian Ocean - Devdiscourse

A star-studded Los Angeles Rams beat the Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI while another year of star-studded auto industry Super Bowl Ads confirm the EVolution is here. While Super Bowl regulars like Audi, Mercedes, and Ford skipped this years show, BMW, GM, Hyundai, Kia, and startup Polestar showcased their commitment to an EV future. Even the Toyota and Nissan ads, while not directly promoting EVs, emphasized how new technology doesnt mean less fun, or performance. Toyota showcased its new 437-hp iForce MAX twin-turbo V-6 hybrid in its Tundra pick-up, while the iconic Nissan Z was the star of Thrill Driver.

In BMWs Zeus & Hera the terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, plays Zeus the god of lightning, and Salma Hayek is Hera, goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth. Seeing Zeus grow frustrated trying to adapt to retired life with continual requests for electric charges, Hera gets him a little pick me up in the form of an all-electric BMW iX. To the tune of Eddy Grants Electric Avenue, a clearly happy Zeus and Hera drive away in what BMW promotes as the Ultimate Electric Driving Machine.

Following up on last years Will Farrell No Way Norway showcasing the companys commitment to an EV future, GM continues its EVerybodyIn campaign with EVerybodyIn: Dr. EV-il. In this catchy ad, the Austin Powers team of Mike Meyers as Dr. EVil, Mindy Sterling as Frau Farbissina, Seth Green as Scott Evil, and Rob Lowe as Number Two has taken over GM. With climate change as the No. 1 threat to the world, the Dr. EVil team vow to reduce tailpipe emissions and its carbon footprint by using GMs new Ultium battery platform, saving the world so that Dr. EVil can then take it over. Heading off to a fleet of EVs, including a Silverado EV, Dr. EVil announces Were going all electric with GM promising 30 EVs globally by 2035.

GMs second ad certainly made Sopranos fans happy. Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Tonys daughter Meadow, makes her fathers famous Manhattan-New Jersey commute. But, instead of Tonys black Suburban, Sigler is driving a royal blue Chevrolet Silverado EV. The tag line: The All Electric Silverado, A whole new truck for a whole new generation.

After skipping 2021, Kia returns with Robo Dog, where a neglected Robo Dog falls in love with a Kia EV6. As it pulls away from the charging station, Robo Dog chases it down to Bonnie Tylers Total Eclipse of the Heart all while dodging pedestrians, hopping on an elevator, and finally leaping towards the sunroof only to have its battery die mid-air. Kias theme of live fully charged is showcased by the driver reviving Robo Dog with the EV6s reverse charging feature (a nod to a V2G future?) before driving off with Robo Dog in the passenger seat, head out the window.

Little known EV start up Polestar, which sold less than 30,000 cars in 2021 but promises to release its Polestar 3 electric SUV later this year, made its Super bowl debut with its No Compromises ad. Polestar used a simple ad with white on black punchy words for a no-nonsense introduction.

Toyota featured two ads. First, similar to last years Upstream featuring Team USA Paralympic gold medalist Jessica Lang, Toyota aired another inspirational ad with Start Your Impossible, the story of the McKeever brothers who worked together to help Brian, who lost his eyesight, become the most decorated Paralympic cross-country skier with 17 medals. Toyota's second ad The Joneses featured Tommy Lee Jones, Leslie Jones, Rashida Jones, and Nick Jonas, driving the new 2022 Tundra full-size pickup truck, powered by the Toyotas new 437-hp iForce MAX twin-turbo V-6 hybrid. To Tom Jones Its Not Unusual the Joneses show off the fun and performance of Toyotas hybrid technology, even in a full size pick-up.

After a 7 year hiatus, Nissan returned, also with its performance themed Thrill Driver ad. Eugene Levy, Brie Larson, Danai Gurira, and Catherine OHara reenact an action thriller after Larson gives Levy the keys to her iconic Nissan Z. While Thrill Driver clearly promotes the excitement and performance of the Nissan Z, Nissan cleverly features Nissans EV Ariya, first as Levy passes a surprised Catherine OHara and at the end when the stars leave the fictional Thrill Driver movie premiere and Brie Larson, Nissans brand ambassador, takes her keys back before they drive off in an Ariya.While Nissan had Daniel Levys fictional film, Porsche leveraged its reunion with the highly anticipated "Top Gun: Maverick"to showcase its cars speed, maneuverability and performance.

For tech-based online used car retailers Vroom and Carvana, the evolution is about the ease of buying and selling online. In last years Dealership Pain Vroom focused on consumer dislike of the dealership car buying experience. With Flake the Musical, Vroom promotes on the ease of selling your car online. With a made-up musical, Vroom tells the story of a woman (Ariana Rosado) who just can't find someone to buy her car only to have Vroom come to the rescue. In its first-ever Super Bowl Ad the used car online retailer Carvana featured an Oversharing Mom who can't stop talking about a great Carvana buying experience, including online in person support.

EV charging company Wallbox used a 15 second ad, Seth to promote its home EV charging technology with the story of a lightning strike survivor fearful of plug in electricity but who embraces using Wallbox to charge his EV.

As we noted in our review of the 2020 and 2021 Super Bowl Ads, the evolving automobile industry presents many important strategic, legal, and regulatory issues and challenges for both established automakers and new entrants. Some of those for 2022, include:

Seyfarths Future of Automotive Task Force understands the evolving auto industry and the challenges it presents.

Link:

2022 Super Bowl Auto Ads: the EVolution is here! - JD Supra

hapabapa/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

For a company that was perpetually restructuring over the last two decades, what CEO Bjorn Rosengren has accomplished in two years at ABB (ABB) impresses me. The company has embraced decentralization with gusto and starting moving more definitively in terms of rearranging the portfolio (selling Dodge, looking to IPO the charging business, spin-off turbocharging, and so on). With that, margins have improved and the company's credibility on the Street is substantially higher.

Now comes the next phase growing off of this improved base, and this offers a different set of challenges and risks than the prior phase. I like ABBs leverage to electrification and automation, two of what I believe will be the dominant trends over the next decade, but there will still be challenges to navigate, including the ongoing question of whether ABB has invested enough in software capabilities.

ABB has been a modest underperformer since my last update, but not by a wide margin. I still see core revenue growth potential of around 4% long term, as well as high single-digit to low double-digit FCF growth, and with that I think ABB is priced for a high single-digit long-term annualized return; good enough to keep it at a buy in my book.

On balance, I cant really complain about ABBs fourth quarter results revenue and orders were ahead of expectations, as was EBITA, though margin was a little weak. That was very typical for what industrials have reported, and its a little strange in past cycles, industrials that beat on revenue and missed on margins would have been punished. Yes, this cycle is different, and its also true that some air has come out of industrial sector valuations, but its a difference worth monitoring as a sentiment risk for the time being.

Revenue rose 8%, beating by 2%. Gross margin improved almost two points year over year, but declined about a point sequentially. EBITA rose 22% as reported, beating by 1% (though one reporting source indicated a higher average estimate, where ABB would have missed by about 2%-3%), though the 160bp margin improvement to 13.1% was about 20bp short of expectation (or 60bp by that other source).

The Electrification business posted 4% organic revenue growth, beating by about 2%. By comparison, Eaton (ETN) posted 5% growth in its Electrical Americas business and 15% growth in its Electrical Global business, while Schneider (OTCPK:SBGSY) has not yet reported and Siemens (OTCPK:SIEGY) posted 6% growth in its Smart Infrastructure segment. Hubbell (HUBB), a smaller rival, reported 16% overall growth. Segment profits fell 1%, beating by 1%, with margin declining 80bp to 14.8%. Orders rose 20%.

Motion revenue rose 9%, beating by 2%. This segment is a little harder to benchmark, though Siemens did report 11% growth in Digital Industries and Rockwell (ROK) reported 26% growth in Intelligent Devices. Segment profit declined 1%, beating by 2%, with margin down 70bp to 16.1%.

Process Automation revenue rose a strong 19%, beating by more than 3%. Honeywells (HON) Process Solutions was down 2%, and again Siemens Digital Industries (which is about 20% exposed to similar markets) grew 11%, while Emerson (EMR) was up about 5%. While Rockwell pointed to 20% growth in its discrete automation business, process automation growth was tagged at 30%. Profits rose almost 150%, beating by 2%, with margin up almost seven points to 13.7%. Orders were up 20% adjusted for large orders in the year-ago period.

In the Robotics and Discrete Automation business revenue declined 1%, beating by 1%. Again, this can be a somewhat challenging business to benchmark, but ABB definitely lagged the reported results from Fanuc (OTCPK:FANUY) and Yaskawa (OTCPK:YASKY), something Id attribute in part to quarter-to-quarter order habits of large auto OEM customers. Segment profits rose 10%, missing by more than 12%, with margin up 80bp to 8.1%, and orders were up 59%

ABB was undoubtedly hit hard by supply shortages in the quarter, and I think that explains at least some of the differences in revenue growth with its comparables. Along those lines, the 21% order growth and 21% backlog growth werent bad the order growth in RDA was strong compared to Fanuc and Yaskawa. Likewise with the 20%-plus growth in the other businesses.

With ABBs business stabilized and margins on a better path, the next challenge will be ABBs transition to growth.

Ill start with some negatives first. Managements guidance for 4% to 7% growth at the December Capital Markets Day was an upgrade (from 3% to 5%), but not all that remarkable next to what weve seen/heard from the likes of Rockwell, Schneider, Siemens, and so on. Second, while CEO Rosengren has solid credentials where margins and business management are concerned, his ability to position businesses for growth is more questionable it was an issue with both Sandvik (OTCPK:SDVKY) and Wartsila (OTCPK:WRTBY). Last and not least, while software is widely seen as a key enabling technology for this next leg of factory automation, ABB only generates about 3% of its revenue from software; rivals like Emerson, Honeywell, Rockwell, Schneider, and Siemens have all been more aggressive in building their software capabilities.

On a more positive note, ABB has excellent positioning in what I believe will be significant growth markets, including electrification (building and factory electrification, vehicle charging), factory automation (drives, controls, robotics), and process automation (full solutions for plant automation and electrification). Second, management has made it clear that theyre open for business where M&A is concerned, though with fairly rigorous price and fit criteria ABB seemed to suggest that they passed on Aspen (AZPN) before the Emerson deal due to a lack of fit.

As far as software goes, management has gone to lengths to point to the number of engineers they have committed to software development and the R&D resources theyre spending there. This is a longstanding issue of mine with ABB and one I wont belabor further, but I think this is an area that will remain controversial.

Im still looking for long-term revenue growth of around 4% from ABB, and I think the company has excellent leverage to electrification and automation, which should serve as a strong tailwind across the next decade. I also see further margin improvement potential, with long-term FCF margins in the low-to-mid teens driving a nearly double-digit FCF growth rate. I also see an improving outlook for margins and ROIC beyond 2022, where supply chain risks are still significant, and this can support a higher forward multiple.

I do think that ABB is priced for a strong high single-digit long-term annualized return, and thats enough to make it an attractive stock in my book. That said, the valuation at Siemens is still interesting and Schneiders isnt bad (Ill get to Eaton another time). I do think investors should shop around as there are multiple plays on the key electrification and automation themes; I cant and wont call ABB my best idea in the space, but considering quality, risk, self-improvement potential, the possibility for outperformance, and so on, I still believe its a good option.

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ABB Undervalued As The Next Phase Of Its Evolution Begins - Seeking Alpha

Reading Time: 2 minutesThe latest episode of the Huddle Insights podcast features a fascinating interview with one of Canadas most distinguished market researchers, Michael Adams, the Chairman and Co-Founder of Environics Research.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Adams provides listeners with a data-based analysis of the diverging differences in values between Canadians and Americans through the pioneering work done by Environics in social values research.

He also talks about some of the differences by region within Canada and provides a surprising finding regarding Atlantic Canadians openness to immigrants.

The conversation will also be of interest to those seeking a better understanding of current events, including the Freedom Convoy. Adams points out that the vast majority of Canadians support vaccines and restrictions to tackle the pandemic.

As for the Freedom Convoy, theyve done their cause a disservice. They probably united the other 90 per cent in saying, what is going on with these people?' says Adams.

Were all sick of Covid and we do want those restrictions gone, but we want a data-driven scientific, medically sensible way of gradually getting rid of these restrictions so that we dont have [more outbreaks] like weve had a couple of times so far.

You can listen to the conversation with Adams in the player above. Better yet, search for Huddle Insights on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.

The Insights podcastcombines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, to promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and to encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

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Michael Adams On The Trucker Convoy, Immigration And The Evolution Of Canadian Values - Huddle Today