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It can be as simple as applying the wrong concentration of herbicide, pesticide or fertilizer to agricultural machinery related accidents. Drift of chemicals from treated areas to neighbouring areas which damage people or crops is another example.

Although some define this to primarily focusing on data mining of enterprise and customer information, Expert’s interest is in analysis as in Competitor Analysis to understand where a business is in the competitive war and what will happen next and all the info necessary to make strategic business decisions. Expert worked on this for clients at Kroll for 7 years and also did one-off studies for clients while at Thomson Scientific. It seems that companies do SWOT analysis that do not reflect their real position in the food chain of that industry, only what they want to believe about themselves, good business intelligence can blow such misconceptions away.

Chiral systhesis can be achieved by effective use of catalysts, be they inorganic or enzymes, as well as columns. Mostly Expert has looked at enzymatic approaches as he goes deeper on biotechnology. Typically a drug or sweetner is more effective, and sometimes less toxic, in one chiral form than another. Finding racemic contamination can be key to qualirt and forensic issues. Naturally high value attaches to achieving 100% chiral systemesis.

Chromosomes are the quaternary order organization of gene sequences with a 3D matching pair helical structure then wound into a quaternary structure containing proteins for stabilization. It is surprising how often one sees references to chromosomes in bacteria but chromosomes only occur in eukaryotes. Despite their key role in the life of cells, chromosomes as an entity normally come into consideration when pieces are lost or new plant species are generated with extra sets (e.g. tetrapoid, hexaploid) of chromosomes.

Microbiology refers to the study of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, basically any organism which can only be seen in a microscope. Expert worked in microbiology for about 10 years at the laboratory bench, working principally on the sometimes pathological bacterial (E. coli, S. typhimurium) and on the autotropic and industrially useful Chromatium venosum and Thiobacillus ferroxidans. He did his M.Sc. thesis on the metabolism of C. Venosum. T. Oxidans is used in bacterial leaching of mineral ores and Expert was employed as an EU funded researcher on application of bacterial leaching to extraction of metals from the depleted mine at Avoca Ireland.

Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) is a term used in food science and sometimes pharmacology. In the case of food science, it is most often applied to food colorants and flavor additives that have been used over many decades without any citation of danger or harmful effects. For example, the red color of beets or red grapes is used as a red colorant for other foods both because it is naturally derived (though concentrated) and has been used for a long time. Benzaldehyde is used to impart the flavor of almonds, but is synthesized industrially and is GRAS.

Patent infringement refers to the situation when an entity, who is not the patent owner or licensee, uses the technology covered by a patent for their own material gain. Having worked as a patent examiner (5 years), in patent information (12 years) and patent and trademark enforcement for seven years, Expert feels qualified to understand what constitutes the infringement of a patent, to find who is doing it and by what means and to work with clients, lawyers and/or law enforcement to cause cessation of the infringement. However, it has to be said that most disputes are settled, eventually, out of court and that the most important thing is collection of comprehensive information on the infringement circumstances and where possible, evidence of infringement. Typically, purchase and reverse engineering of the allegedly infringing product constitutes evidence for product patent infringement. For process patents, it is difficult to obtain evidence directly but indirectly evidence and information can be derived from raw materials used, by-products (air/water/solid), off cuts, evidence from (former) suppliers or workers, papers or brochures presented at conference or to prospective clients, not to mention use of discovery.

Due Diligence Case Study 2 : Eastern Europe DD
A Japanese Hi-Tech investor had found an interesting technology owned by a small company based in an Eastern European country. The investor had concerns that the owners of the company could be former Communist era officials whose ownership was questionable. The investigation revealed that the owners were former government officials but the ownership postdated the collapse and the title was not, nor likely to be, disputed.


Due Diligence Case Study 3 : Software
A Japanese software company was in difficulty and up for sale. A potential buyer wanted to know if its troubles were just plain bad management and if it would fit with a currently owned portfolio of software. The investigation revealed that the company had a number of unpublicized but unresolved lawsuits which drew into question the value of core assets. The investor proceeded anyway as such companies were rarely on the market and experienced a devastating avalanche of lawsuits and losses over a three year period.
In a dispute between two industry majors in Europe and Asia infringement was cited by the plaintiff and the defendant needed to counter with invalidity. Employer found a relevant Japanese patent portfolio for that field where most of the patents had not been filed in EU or US, hence they had never been translated. Citable patent applications published in Japanese before the plaintiffs filing date were identified and translated to prove invalidity.A maker experienced claims from assemblers that client parts bought in good faith from resellers were substandard. The client analyzed returned components and found that while they were genuine client components but of a different specification than “as sold”. The investigation revealed that the components were sold by an authorized reseller who, when they experienced shortages, repacked sub-par tiny component in delivery reels of the asked-for component, i.e. passed-off sub-standard as “spec”. Law enforcement raided the establishment and found the offending articles.A Japanese building materials company was successful in launching their innovative safety product in Japan but lacked market entry elsewhere. Operational Risk Management identified regulatory barriers and key potential ‘early adopters’ in key target markets. The company is well on its way to being a global specialist provider of ‘best of breed’ products.

Market Entry Case Study 3: Outsourcing Company
A small outsourcing company in Japan was experiencing severe competition from larger rivals and clients cited industry average margin and staff benefits. Employer was able to benchmark industry market-up levels, salary norms and benefits which helped the client to get competitive and grow market share.