About

Innovation, Books, Political Economy, History and Futurology: SYNTHESiST brews these passions – a strange taxonomy similar to the one described by M. Foucault in The Order of Things.

SYNTHESiST’s Domain.

Through the years, I worked on knowledge gained from these passions to craft a domain that, over the two year life of SYNTHESiST, has morphed into the development field. SYNTHESiST now contains my reflections on emerging markets development as a special case of catch-up through the interactive co-evolution of institutions, innovation systems and modern industrial policy..

This work continues and also includes a practice in designing and commercializing products and systems, institutional process improvements, putting together new businesses and systems, raising equity for entrepreneurs, and implementing change.

Writing a blog is a way to think through the domain-crafting. Towards a theory on innovation and change for emerging markets, I have crafted a kernel of a working hypothesis according to Kathleen Eisenhardt’s methodology or from Richard Nelson’s appreciative theorizing from clinical case studies.

Some focus on the 2010 automated elections.

Through May 2010, I posted on the 2010 Philippines’ automated election that is a fitting subject under (a) implementing technology-enabled change for social innovation and (b) the extreme change management challenges that need to be overcome because of congestion from clustering on top of new technology adoption for one whole country.

I continue to be involved in electoral reform advocacy. Involvement in the automated election fits very well under SYNTHESiST’s chosen domain: innovation and change management for emerging markets.

Enriching conversations in the Community.

Educators and student researchers, policy-makers, business managers, technologists, and entrepreneurs interested in innovation and change management, especially in merging markets in the process of catching up, are SYNTHESiST’s community.

I hope the blog helps enrich the conversations within the community. I hope it sparks ideas that build bridges between knowledge and applications, learning and practice, thought and action. SYNTHESiST ultimately seeks to help community members grow in wealth and, thus, for the Philippines a nation of strength and true democracy.

Some thoughts on the emblem.

The mortars and pestles, SYNTHESiST’s emblem, evokes mixing (and separation, too). The three characters stand for spirit potential, deep enlightenment and sincerity.

Sincerity. Cheng in Chinese and Makoto in Japanese. Sincerity means being true to oneself and one’s role in the community. Sincerity has a subtly different meaning in the East, from India to Japan, than in the West.

To understand sincerity better in the eastern sense, do read: Ivan Morris, The Nobility of Failure, 1988, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux or, further back, Wang Yang Ming trans., Instructions for Practical Living, 1963,Columbia University Press. Sincerity is a cherished Confucian virtue practiced,for example, as filial piety.

Enlightenment. Wu in Chinese and Satori in Japanese. The idea and exercises traveled from Bihar, India through China (Chan) into Japan (Zen). The continuing search for Satori lies at the heart of Zen Buddhism.

Muladhara is the foundation chakra of Hinduism where the spirit potential rests waiting to be aroused.

All three require exercises to move forward to perfection (in similar vein as the Exercises of Saint Ignatius or the rituals of monastics). I believe that for these three core values, one will always be approaching the highest but never getting there.

Together with the ethical and moral precepts coming from religion and right intuition (Wang Yang Ming), the ideas behind these characters guide me in writing the posts as they have guided student-teachers over the centuries.

Making them part of SYNTHESiST places us, of the ASEAN nations, squarely with our big neighbors – China and India – who are our customers, competitors, never conquerors though always influencers in the last millennium.

Inspiration from Apolinario Mabini.

I have found inspiration in the life of Apolinario Mabini, Filipino hero from the turn of the 20th century. He was far from perfect but was always working to approach it.

In exile, he made one compromise so he can die and be buried in his beloved homeland. He was allowed home and died three months later.
.

What I enjoy most.

Short SYNTHESiST Bio. I am Marvin Beduya, an industrial engineer and MBA. I have worked from the factory floor to the board room. Along the way, I have done Engineering, Product Development, Sales and Marketing, and Finance.

I continue a practice as consultant in innovation and change management, entrepreneurial finance, and equity-raising (sell-side) for entrepreneurs.

I love teaching. I belong to the adjunct faculty at a management school in Makati, Philippines.