Hollywood on the run.

Hollywood is worried, although they have not yet had a full-blown panic attack. Their bedrock market - the one they have always taken for granted - is eroding beneath their feet. Generation X, is growing up and their tastes have changed. The once captive audience that grew up on the "Star Wars" movies that their parents took them to is finding that their own children are not nearly as impressed as the Gen-X parents once were with special effects.

But that is not the only place we are seeing changes.

Video games are capturing a bigger piece of the pie.

"If I had some time in the afternoon, and it was a choice between watching a movie or playing a game, I'd rather play a game," said Marlon Castro, 35, of Foster City.

Jim Heskett, of the Harvard Business School, authored an interesting piece entitled, "What are the lessons of New Orleans." In his opening, Professor Heskett poses an important question,

There will be an endless number of post-mortems concerning the tragedies that befell the residents of New Orleans last week. More important are the actions, if any, which may result from them. In this regard, can lessons learned in the private sector be brought to bear in minimizing the suffering and damage from inevitable future calamities?

Professor Heskett invited responses and I answered, in part:

...there is a deeper lesson and that is one of investment to prevent disasters in the first place. A large firm is well aware of the human capital and material assets within the perimeters of its fences. It does not take long for the finance committee to run a return-on-investment analysis of operating safely or know that safeguards are part of the cost of doing business, and that industry has a moral responsibility to those who work on-site. There was a saying at [DuPont]: "You are safer inside the plant gates than outside."