GIA reset diamond grading by starting at D
GIA, facing inflated diamond color grades, launched a D-to-Z scale starting at D, a letter with no prior use, so its top grade meant only what GIA defined.
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDJoseph Glidden fenced the prairie with barbed wire cattle avoided
Joseph Glidden patented barbed wire that deterred cattle by pain, ending open-range grazing.
Read the caseGlobal Skill Partnerships trained extra workers so emigration funds home capacity
Global Skill Partnerships trained extra workers and split cohorts into away and home tracks, so emigration funds extra home capacity.
Read the caseGM beat Ford by selling cars as fashion, not durable goods
GM under Sloan stopped fighting Ford on price and instead sold cars as fashion via a price ladder and yearly model changes.
Read the caseGood Housekeeping backed its ads with a money-back guarantee
Good Housekeeping backed its ad screening with a money-back guarantee, refunding readers if advertised products failed.
Read the caseGoogle gave outages ranks and commanders, borrowed from the fire line
Google's SRE team solved equal-urgency alerts by importing fire service's incident command with severity tiers.
Read the caseObree broke cycling record with tuck position and washing-machine bike
Obree broke the Hour Record with a tuck position and a washing-machine bike.
Read the caseGrameen Telecom lent women phones to resell calls
Grameen Telecom lent village women a single phone to resell calls, giving whole villages phone access without building infrastructure.
Read the caseGree smoothed seasonal production by paying dealers for off-season orders
Gree paid dealers a discount for paying cash and taking stock in the off-season, turning distributors into financiers of production smoothing.
Read the caseGreen House Project rebuilt nursing homes as small houses
Geriatrician Thomas rebuilt nursing homes as small houses, improving outcomes.
Read the caseXian Guansheng sold throat-soothing candy at a theater's stage door
After his restaurants failed, Xian Guansheng sold throat-soothing plum candy at a theater's stage door, turning performers into loyal customers and investors.
Read the caseHaitian kept distributor power in check with dual-chariot system
Haitian avoided distributor leverage by installing two competing distributors per city, keeping no single partner indispensable.
Read the caseCongress traded patent term restoration for generic drug approval pathway
Waxman and Hatch ended the pharma stalemate by trading patent term restoration for a generic safe harbor in one bill.
Read the caseHaudenosaunee bound a treaty in a wampum belt
The Haudenosaunee made a binding treaty with Dutch traders by weaving its terms into a wampum belt that trained orators on both sides could read back.
Read the caseHeineken built furniture with strangers before revealing their politics
Heineken had strangers with opposing views build furniture together before revealing their differences, so they'd talk instead of defend.
Read the caseHeinz claimed the fry-carton keystone shape
Heinz, facing generic rivals, built an outdoor campaign from fry-carton photos echoing its label shape.
Read the caseHighlands Small Communities Housing Trust turned rent into a deposit
Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust turned tenants' rent into a deposit by returning a cash-back sum after five years.
Read the caseIndore ran its sewer trunk through slums first, as gravity made it cheapest
Himanshu Parikh routed Indore's main sewer trunk through slums because gravity made it cheapest, turning slum service into an efficiency win.
Read the caseNudge Unit and HMRC moved £2.4m by telling late payers most locals had paid
UK's Behavioural Insights Team and HMRC added a local social-norm sentence to tax reminders, lifting payments from 67.5% to 83% and pulling forward £2.4m.
Read the caseLife insurer scored agents with actuarial hiring formula
Holcombe scored agents on a biographical composite validated against sales outcomes.
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