Companies 'not doing their best' to communicate strategy

I found this very interesting that 80 percent of companies recognize and know that they are “not doing their best” when it comes to communicating strategy throughout the organization. Business strategies are constantly changing and new plans are being developed, one of the company’s most important parts to handle is the execution and being sure everyone is on the same page. I find this frustrating, because you spend all the time planning, but then not follow it through or know how to effectively handle the execution. I tend to see this a great deal at my place of employment. There are big plans dreamed up and they are talked about for a month or so then fall off the face of the earth. Or it is followed through to a certain step and not everyone has been trained, informed or told so it is not being completely followed through. A company’s employees are one of their biggest assets in order for their business to be successful. Goals, targets, pay performance, reviews, and an effective communication of strategy should all be closely handled by the company to ensure success of their employees and for the company.

A Blue Print for Change

This article is similar to one I posted last week but as I was looking for articles on the Wall Street Journal website the majority I found had to do with women in the workplace. I think this is extremely interesting... it is interesting because people are investing so much time in this research. This particular article speaks about the dropping numbers in women in management and higher positions, while yet more women are graduating and with masters than men. The article also talks about what women and men are judged on when it comes to promotion time. Its interesting to see how much thought is being put into bringing women up in the work force. This article also talks about different countries and what women do to help them move forward. I think its worth a look at!

Which Country Works The Hardest?

I found this article interesting. It's comparing the amount of work done in hours per country. It also compares data of paid and unpaid work. The highest working country is Mexico when combining paid and unpaid(chores, cleaning, etc) work."
In the United States, people spent about 8.2 hours per day on paid and unpaid work, including 4.8 hours each day on the job or studying.
The Belgians seem to have really figured out this work/life balance thing. The researchers said they spend about 3.8 hours each day on work and study, plus another 3.3 hours on other chores."

quote- from the article. While USA is toward the top half of the spectrum it is not nearly as high as some.
Belgium is looking pretty good right now!

Government shutdown threat paralyzes contractors

This article was a good example of the trickle down effect that a government shutdown could going to have on the workforce. Specifically they mention a firm that is contracted to provide IT services for government offices throughout Washington D.C. It speaks of the uncertainty of when and if they will have work for the government, and how it's impacting this particular company's projected business.

The article was interesting, but a government shutdown is going to affect everybody-not just a contractor that works directly within the government. It would be wise for this firm to outbranch their customers a bit, so they don't have all their eggs in one basket. So that in the event of a government shutdown their business can continue at some capacity-until the government can figure things out and come back into session.

Egalitarian Workplace: Pro or Con?

I found this article interesting because of the debate that it entailed. The first section talks about the pros of an egalitarian workplace where the hierarchy is essentially thrown out and there are no "bosses" at all. Everyone is placed on an equal footing regarding job title.

The second section was the con section and mainly talked about how hierarchies are a necessary part of large groups. The section says that hierarchy is ingrained in our very DNA and we need it to function as part of a group larger than a few people.

As fun as the idea sounds I think I would have to side with the con side of this argument. To a certain degree, yes, groups can work as equals but when it comes down to it, someone needs to make a decision and, maybe more importantly, someone needs to be held accountable for the decisions or actions of the group.

U.S. fast-food chains bet on India to drive growth

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110411/bs_nm/us_india_us_food_retail MUMBAI (Reuters) – The scramble by global food companies into India's fast food sector intensified on Monday as several U.S. chains announced plans to enter the country, hoping to tap the surging spending power in Asia's third-largest economy. Restaurants like Denny's Corp (DENN.O), known for serving pancakes and sausages all day, and Rita's Water Ice, which would be the first foreign competitor to local water ice brands like Gola, which operates out of little stalls placed mostly on streets, plan to enter India over the next two years. Pollo Tropical of Carrols Restaurant (TAST.O), known for Caribbean-flavored chicken, Applebee's and Johnny Rockets, known for its hamburgers, are also looking to cash into the Indian quick-service restaurant market worth $13 billion. See above link for rest of article. I found this article interesting because I would not have thought of India being a fast food country. They will have to make a lot of changes on the menus, they would be stripped free of beef and pork, and would focus on fish and vegetarian dishes instead. That is really funny since one of the company's that want to get in ( Johney Rockets)is know for their burgers. It will be interesting to see how they fare.

Walmart ready to do battle

Walmart is bringing back thousands of products that were unceremoniously dumped from stores, saying it is ready to roll up its sleeves to win the lowest-price battle with its rivals. Walmart listened to the customers who are telling them that they want the right products in a one-stop shop at the lowest prices. Customers are still interested in name brands like Hellman's mayonaise, Febreeze and Glade. After a long sales slump the giant retailer is going to try a new tagline "low prices, everyday, on everything. Walmart will now promise to match a competitors advertised price and ring this on the register while the purchase is happening. Other new elements are necessary for the sales to improve and regain the share of the marketplace they once held.

skin bleaching in Jamaica tied to career opportunities

I found this article very interesting, people in Jamaica and other areas using lightening creams to make themselves more attractive to advance in career opportunities, opposite sex, and be accepted into the circle of society. Some go as far to use mercury in their lotion allowing the metal in the mercury to block melanin. This article stated some use dangerous creams on their babies! I thought this tied into our class regarding racial profiling and color prejudice - all to do with identity and race.

Google’s Page makes first changes to management

Google’s new CEO Larry Page announced a major reorganization of the six key product groups marketed by the Internet search colossus. This is Page’s first major move since taking control at Google earlier this week. The reorganization places the heads of the major product groups directly under Page’s control. This eliminates the previous bureaucracy that had several layers and slowed product development. The reorganization will help Google to fast track products to market, especially mobile devices and social media tools. Google has struggled with social networking and is feeling the heat from the Facebook, which now has an estimated 500 million members.

It is important for a business to identify the market trends and revise their business model to satisfy the changing needs of their customers. This is especially true with social media and Internet products. Even Google, which generated an estimated $29 billion in revenue last year, is not complacent. Regardless of the size of the business, management must be ready to change the direction of the business to fulfill the needs of their customers and keep pace with your competition. If you snooze, you lose.

Disney Plans Lavish Park in Shanghai

After two decades, Disney is finally allowed to open a theme park in Shanghai. In 2005, Disney opened a park in Hong Kong. This park has not done as well as they had planned. The problem with the first park was that they designed it based on American culture. They neglected to take into consideration the Chinese cultrual norms and what impact Disney plays in their country. The new park to be opened in Shanghai, however, will be designed with less "Disney" and more of what Chinese would want to see.

Hispanic Workforce Growing

http://www.jsonline.com/business/119034319.html I found this article interesting. I am not sure I agree to this article so much. Why do we need to do so much for the hispanics? Why don't we focus on people in general? I have a hard time with the minority issues being over stressed when most of us no matter what our race have similar opportunities depending on the choices we make. What do you all think?

5 ways GE plays the tax game

I found this article to be very interesting and yet made me question many things. General Electric is well known for their tax department inventing ways to pay Uncle Sam less, but yet everything they are doing seems to be legal. GE has been consistently at the top or near the top of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies. General Electric’s tax rate sometimes is even in the single digits when compared to the U.S. corporate rate of 35 percent. Jeff Immelt is the CEO of General Electric and on January 21st it was announced from the White House he would become the chief of the Council on Jobs and Competiveness. In Washington debates occur to make the tax system fairer and a question remains will Immelt’s new role help or hurt the tax advantages that General Electric has been taking full advantage of. The organization of General Electric is something quite interesting as they have structured much of their company it seems in order to reap better tax benefits. How convenient that GE’s tax department has almost 1,000 former government officials. Another factor that makes GE unusual is their practice of recruiting dozens of former tax officials from Washington’s official tax world. A significant tax benefit they reap the benefits of is the “active finance exemption” which allows the income of GE’s overseas lending to remain untaxed in the U.S. This tax benefit alone means hundreds of millions a year in savings and higher profits for GE, thus why they push the need for it to be renewed by Congress. Other tax benefits that GE focuses on to make their success is by moving jobs overseas, get a tax break. The organization of this company, where their business is conducted and the employees seems to be solely based on tax benefits and any breaks that could possibly benefit them. It seems as though GE has this down to a science, but what does that mean now that Jeff Immelt, CEO is chief of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness? Will his decisions and arguments be based on the thought of how it would benefit General Electric?

American Airlines Becomes First U.S. Airline to Launch Daily Nonstop Service Between Los Angeles and Shanghai

This articles about American airlines & it's regional affiliate American Eagle beefing up international flights as well as adding 10 new destinations. American will offer non-stop daily flights to Shanghai, which will mark the biggest global partnership between American and fellow oneworld® Alliance partners British Airways and Iberia Airlines. This will allow easy access for businesses that need to be face-to-face with their Chinese partners or possibly open new expansion opportunities for current U.S. companies. With most business done over the internet or video conferences the 10 new destinations will offer a chance to get back to a more hands on approach for some companies.

LAX is the main hub for the international flights, as well as the main port for flights in the U.S. The move will put American airlines firmly in the driver seat as the leader in global travel. The 20 million dollar investment could pay for itself in less then 5 years, and is unique simply for going non-stop to China. It may be the first, but definitely won't be the last.

Starbucks furthers commitment to Central America with store opening in Guatemala

This week I thought it would be interesting to find an article on Starbucks. Starbucks is well known for doing business internationally. Being an employee, I believe that their mission and cultural behaviors can be seen within their actions. This article is about the commitment that Starbucks has in helping out the communities in which they are apart of. To me this is a good example of what global businesses should be doing. What do you think?

Money Talks

I watched Shark Tank last night and one of the sharks said to three young kids that "Money is everything. If you don't have it you are nobody and when you do have it you just want more." I found this comment to be the truth. The world is driven by money. It is hard to do anything these days without signing contracts or being hassled to lower your final price to make a sale.

I found an article that talks about International Bribery and how a company from California bribed a Mexican company by buying their CEO a yacht and a Ferrari. This was done in order to win a bid and be awarded a contract for 5.4 million dollars. Not a bad investment if you ask me. Cost of bribes is around a 1/2 mil for 5.4 mil worth of business. It turns out though that this is against the law due to international bribery laws. My question to that is what is considered a bribe? Would it be considered a bribe if I would bid a job but then throw in a 30% discount if they give me their business and allow me the chance to bid all future jobs? According to the laws "Any means of incitement used in order to secure financial gain" would be considered a bribe. This seems awfully open for interpretation. Every request for proposal that my company bids out includes a discount or incentives for people to use us over our competition. We could offer anything from a 30% discount if balance is paid in full before work begins, to a 10% discount or finders rewards if we get additional work from the original source and or any of their friends. So now I ask the question again, is this bribery? My company offers a discounts in exchange for financial gains.......so another words we are inciting people to use us by giving them money.

The problem I have with this is that this is a norm for any transaction that happens within a business. People are always haggling for more money off or perks, but within the US it is okay to do this. When a business does this overseas it becomes a problem.

Personally I think this is a waste of money and resources to monitor these actions. A company needs to do whatever it can to ensure it's survival. If it takes a new Ferrari then so be it. That just shows that the winning company was willing to give more to get the job. I will admit that I do not know every aspect of the law for international bribery, but the nutshell version seems that it is open to interpretation and I feel that this is a law that should be thrown out.

Coaching Urged for Women

This article talks about women in the workplace and the lack of leadership mentoring they recieve. It touches base on the statistics of men and women in management positions. Women are far less seen as top management in fortune 500 companies than men. This article talks about why this is. Research has shown that is all comes down to the lack of leadership training and mentoring. It talks about how companies need to groom women to climb the corporate ladder to add diversity to top management. This article is focused on companies that want diversity, but what about the ones that don't? They should just be able to ignore the fact that women don't recieve the same training or mentoring, or that they are put into positions that will never lead to a CEO position? Its an interesting article but I don't think it should be expressed only to companies looking for gender diversity.

Social Security not mailing statements

Beginning this month the Social Security Administration will no longer be mailing the 4 page statement to individuals. This is a move to conserve funds, it costs about $70 million dollars to print and mail the information. It appears the move will be great way to help send funds back into the system. As people become more involved on the internet a sample of their statement is available to review on an annual basis for accuracy and updates to help with retirement planning. Sounds like a fantastic way to save on unnecessary spending. My only suggestion would to be sure the public is aware of the change and fully understands how to secure the personal information when needed. Each individual can make a choice to print or not giving the environment a break also from the killing of all the trees.

McDonald's takes aim at "McJob" with U.S. hiring spree

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110404/bs_nm/us_mcdonalds;_ylt=AnUw3LAGHRVD6B3ebD0L2_uyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJkdTVpczhuBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwNDA0L3VzX21jZG9uYWxkcwRjcG9zAzMEcG9zAzgEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDbWNkb25hbGQzOXN0 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fast-food chain McDonald's Corp announced a one-day spring hiring spree aimed at fighting the use of the term "McJob" as shorthand for describing low-wage, dead-end work. The global restaurant chain said it plans to hire as many as 50,000 new U.S. employees -- ranging from restaurant crew to managers -- on April 19. The move would increase the hamburger company's U.S. workforce by 7.7 percent to 700,000, but such hiring is typical in the lead up to the busy summer months. "Our total hires are similar to past years, but the goal of hiring 50,000 people in one day across the U.S. is unique," McDonald's spokeswoman Ashlee Yingling told Reuters. The April hiring event is preparation for the busy summer months. "But these are not just seasonal jobs. It's a mix of permanent and temporary jobs," Yingling said. I thought this was an interesting way to hire can you imagine the HR nightmare this is going to be. But the fact that they are hiring is good; they had a 2.7% increase of sales in Feb. I'm not sure why they think this is going to dispell the myth of it being a dead end job but good for them.

China dairy producers

China halts nearly half dairy producers in quality crackdown

I found this article interesting; not sure I agree with the China government's answer to tighten up on regulations and quality by having fewer but larger players in the dairy industry. The government feels they can control and watch over a smaller amount of producers.

With having producers adding melamine and illegal leather protein powder to gain protein readings - is inhumane. I would fear the larger producers would find a way to cheat readings of protein if they wanted to take the risk. An extreme penalty should be enforced if producers are found guilty of lacing food consumption products that causes harm.

More Customers Exposed as Big Data Breach Grows

This is an article about a breach in security with online marketer Epsilon that occurred last week. The fear is that this could be the most extensive breach in Internet security in U.S. history, and although it did not expose personal financial information or social security card numbers, it did include names and e-mail addresses of information from many well know credit card companies. I am currently taking a criminal justice class and this is a topic that we have discussed in that class as well, so that is probably why it caught my attention. Although Law enforcement agencies are investigating the breach, it is not clear at this time how many customers have been exposed.

"Shut Your Cyber Mouth"

I found this article very interesting, because it's a topic very relevant in my life and work. What can you say on social networks? It's becoming more difficult to maintain a balance between Employer's rules and Employee's Freedom of Speech. Everyone has to be careful of what they say even when outside of work. Is this right? I understand both sides of the issue. A company wants to protect it's image and reputation and therefore does not want employees to say hurtful things about the company or other employees. Also, a company may not want an employee that makes hostile  or derogatory comments, either at or away from work. On the other side, an employee wants the freedom to go home and rant about work and decompress. I'm not sure which side I take more than the other, however I do know that it is a fine line to walk and when looking for a new job, you have to take into account what you look like on the internet. Can people find what you've said? Questionable pictures? A frustrated but misconstrued "tweet"? It's becoming more and more difficult to navigate the waters of work and social media.

Thoughts?

Deere Enhances Focus on Russia

Deere & Company recently announced that the company would double its sales by 2018. Last year, the company’s sales and revenue totaled $26 billion with earnings of $1.87 billion. To reach the 2018 goal, Deere plans include global expansion, especially in Russia, China, and India.
Deere’s Russian expansion will focus on agricultural products. Russia has 9% of the world’s arable land and plans to double their wheat production to react to worldwide demand. It can be a struggle for foreign companies to operate in Russia, due to the volatile political climate. In the past, the Russian government has enforced policies that have stopped foreign equipment manufacturers from distributing their products. Current Russian policies are favorable for Deere’s expansion, but there is a considerable risk of a flip-flop of these policies. Deere has mitigated this risk by opening a manufacturing plant in Russia and high-level government negotiations.
Deere’s expansion into China and India is focused on construction products. The rapid expansion of infrastructure and urbanization in China and India has fueled the demand for excavators and bulldozers.
As domestic demand for Deere’s products is flat, the company has moved their focus to the global market. This is an excellent example of the global nature of business today. I applaud Deere’s approach to the changing global environment, which shows great promise for its stockholders, employees and vendors. As an employee of one of Deere’s vendors, I am happy to hear of Deere’s planned expansion. I have witnessed firsthand the growth in our Deere business. Deere’s growth provides me with the peace of mind that my employer’s business will be stable for the near future.

The Ford Family

I found this article really interesting because it is talking a lot about the slow restructuring of the Ford family at the highest levels. Many of the senior members are slowly but surely passing their vast amount of shares in the Ford Company to more junior members of the family like Bill Ford, Jr.

William Ford, Sr (Henry Ford's last surviving grandchild) owner 13.3% of the Class B shares last year and is now down to 9.5%. On the other hand, Bill Ford, Jr increased his stock from 5.8% last year to 6.9%.

Ford stock has recently been trending up so it will be interesting to see if this affects it in a positive or negative way. Since the family itself isn't actually selling off any of their stock overall I don't think it would be seen negatively necessarily. It seems to me that the older generation is just getting ready to pass the torch in the next few years. The only reason I could see this going negatively is if the younger generation is not seen as the best thing for the company. Since I don't follow the Ford Company I can't really weigh in on that argument.

Supply woes, high prices changing chocolate treats

The symptoms are high prices and supply woes but the cause are organizational management challenges. The short term tactics used by the producers to compensate for the high cost of cocoa are meant to buffer the consumer from the volatility and high cost of the commodity. The solution however lies in addressing the global challenges and pressures such as political unrest, futures contract pricing, increasing global demand, stagnant yields, land cost, shortage of future farmers, government policies or lack thereof and even international infrastructure to name a few. Opportunity is also affected by the global nature of this industry, for example: the frustration of coordinating multi-national organization and cooperation to increase yield is a challenge with tremendous potential for profit. Even chocolate can benefit from international organizational attention.