It has two basic programs: a five-day course on how to research and write grant proposals and negotiate with financing sources, and a three-day workshop on spinning off products and services (think Girl Scout cookies, Salvation Army stores).
Victorian toymakers spun off products from the latest theatrical productions soon after the plays opened.
Pharma companies used to work with thousands of researchers on staff but now they are sacking those employees and instead working with universities whose research companies can spin off and make their own products – America and Israel have understood this, the UK hasn't.
The sale of the brands, Lucozade and Ribena, is part of an overhaul of Glaxo's European operations, as the company tries to spin off noncore products so that it can focus on its main pharmaceutical business.
In South Korea, the little blue penguin has 1,500 spin-off products and a section in a theme park.
Blockbusters today aspire to be "tent-pole franchises" — centerpieces for multiple spin-off products, from lunchboxes to soundtracks, comic books, children's books, arcade games, and computer games.
Clarkson and chums, Richard Hammond and James May, are broadcast in 170 countries and there are roadshows, a magazine and spin-off products galore.
The faithful gathered in San Francisco will spend much of the week speculating about those long-rumoured products and trying out the latest spin-off products.
Colorado has issued 348 recreational pot licences, comprising 136 for retail stores, 178 for cultivation, 31 for infused edibles and other spin-off products, and three for testing.
Both turned into huge hits with staying power: in fiscal 2006 and 2007 combined, Disney made over $100m of operating profit from "High School Musical" and various spin-off products.
It helps, of course, that so many of its customers are children, who tend to be more receptive to spin-off products than adults.Mr Eisner certainly pushed synergy hard, but Mr Iger's collaborative management style is better suited to it, insiders say.
