The third way to cut costs is to apply mass-production techniques in new and unexpected areas such as health care.

ECONOMIST: The charms of frugal innovation

The only accurate and defensible way to get rid of data in a corporation is to define a solid policy, and apply it to not only your current production data, but the legacy data as well.

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Washington also refuses to apply the Constitution's interstate commerce clause to the production of gasoline.

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James McNerney, a former boss of 3M, a manufacturer, damaged the company's innovation engine by trying to apply six-sigma principles (which are intended to reduce errors on production lines) to the entire company, including the research laboratories.

ECONOMIST: Schumpeter

This week's ruling applies to materials like bauxite, coke, magnesium, manganese and zinc, but, most notably, does not apply to rare earths -- a group of 17 elements critical to the production of tablets, smartphones and myriad other gadgets.

ENGADGET: WTO ruling revives debate over China's rare earths trade

This work makes me extremely confident that had Charlie Sheen been managed according to a special set of rules that apply exclusively to Super Talent, Two and a Half Men would be in production today.

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Does this apply only to software, with very low costs of production?

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But the duties did prompt much of the production to shift from China to Vietnam, where the duties don't apply.

WSJ: Chinese Furniture Makers Buy U.S. Peace