Showing posts with label CEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CEO. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Do you have the curiosity to explore the unknown?

Staying in your comfort zone is dangerous when it comes to business, mainly because what works today can easily fall flat tomorrow

4Ps Business & Marketing, in a strategic alliance with the New York Times Service, presents a column by howard Schultz, Chairman, President and CEO of Starbucks corporation

Inspiration and fresh ideas can come from unexpected places. The trick is having the curiosity to explore the unknown.

It’s easy to forget this. Rather than veering off into unfamiliar territory, many people stick in their own lanes because it feels safe. But staying in your comfort zone is dangerous when it comes to business, mainly because what works today can easily fall flat tomorrow. There is always something to learn, especially with consumer behaviour changing at light speed, spurred on, in part, by constantly developing technologies.

I recently joined the board of directors for Groupon, the daily-deal consumer website, for just that reason. At 58, I believe I can glean a great deal from a younger generation of Internet entrepreneurs, particularly about the seismic shifts taking place in consumer habits.

Leaving one’s base of expertise is not easy. It requires vulnerability and the willingness to admit what you do not know. But there are comfortable ways to start. Read articles about companies – or biographies about people – that you may not be inclined to follow. Sit next to a stranger at a dinner party or meeting. Initiate conversations, always listening more than you talk. Walk down streets you routinely pass and, when traveling, venture out instead of sitting in the hotel. Above all, be open to the unexpected.

I have always tried to do these things myself, which is why, on a business trip to Italy in the early 1980s, I was meandering the streets of Milan when I serendipitously discovered the espresso bars that served as inspiration for growing Starbucks. Now, when I visit cities around the world, I leave unscheduled time to pop into other coffee shops as well as stores that have nothing to do with coffee.

A few years ago, I walked into a small, unassuming shop located on one of Milan’s most fashionable streets. The Coltelleria G. Lorenzi sold a mind-boggling assortment of handcrafted knives, razors and cutlery.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Destroy age-old perceptions!

CEOs have ripped apart shareholders’ wealth globally under the guise of M&As; Indian firms more so! B&E’s Manish K. Pandey, Deepak R. Patra and Karan Mehrishi undertake the most radical analysis of the recent past and destroy age-old perceptions!

Charles Prince is an equal, if not better peer for these heroes. He, as the Chief Administrative Officer, engineered the utterly disastrous $140 billion merger of Citibank with Travelers Group ten years back. Then he ensured the company jumped into the mortgage black hole. Till date, Citigroup has been forced to write off almost $41 billion because of Prince’s royal exigencies! He was “eased out” in November 2007! Apart from his wholly owned $94 million vested stock holdings in Citi, he got $28 million further stock options, (not forgetting the $53 million during his last four years as Group CEO), plus a pension of $1.74 million; and this apart from a $10.4 million “bonus” that shareholders were made to pay him. [Citi has now recruited Vikram Pandit as the CEO, paying him a cannon ball destroying never before seen signing bonus of $241 million! Since he has arrived, Citi stock prices have tumbled by 25%!].

December 31, 2007, saw Richard Parsons resigning as the greatest CEO of Time-Warner. Greatest, because he joined the board in 1991 [became President in 1995] and oversaw the supernova of a merger between Time and AOL. The companies had a combined value of $247 billion during the deal. Today, the combined entity is worth a mind numbingly low $58 billion. Parsons earned on an average $10.64 million per year. By the way, he’s now the Chairman of the group!

With $37 billion involved, Dieter Zetsche, then on the Daimler Benz board, squeezed through the merger with Chrysler. In 2007, CEO Zetsche made Daimler Chrysler part ways with a deal worth only 21.5% ($7.4 billion) of the total acquisition value! Millionaire Patricia Russo, CEO Alcatel-Lucent, has a history of destroying shareholder wealth. At the time of the merger of Alcatel and Lucent, the entity had a share price of $15.4 (March 31, 2006). July 24, 2008, the price is $6.09 (62% fall). CEO Meg Whitman, who ensured eBay bought off Skype, also ensured eBay’s price fell from close to $40 (September 9, 2005), to $25 (July 24, 2008). Shareholders be damned; she donated $30 million of her personal wealth to Princeton in 2007 to start the Whitman College!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Friday, October 19, 2012

GENERAL MOTOR CO.: FAILURE

...and the shareholders get their pants walloped! 

Swing & Miss #3: GM’s premature focus on hybrids cost the company too much. Despite being in the news for over 15 years now, hybrids only contribute to about 2.15% of all vehicle sales! Then there are reports which prove how by 2020, oil production will cross a smashing 1,600 million barrels annually – 6667% more than what was produced in 2003! In other words, hybrids are not required in the near future year, but Wagoner still believes it, for he has to swing!

Swing & Miss #4: Wagoner’s confused branding strategies have ensured that high-end sports cars (like the Corvette Z01) & small cars (like the Spark) are sold under the same tag, Chevrolet? Apparently, he skipped branding management lectures too! Swing & Miss #5: During his tenure, this “easy-going” CEO destroyed a blood-freezing 98% of GM’s Mcap, shaving-off of a clean $90 billion of shareholder wealth. And just before he was booted-out by the Obama administration last month, he had the most wonderful gift for all at GM – a record $52.8 billion in losses for FY2008!

Well, today, Wagoner’s out, but GM has to live on. But will it? “A lot of things depend on the survival plan that GM will present but filing for bankruptcy makes sense as of now,” claims Christian Breitsprecher, Industry expert, Sal Oppenheim. Well, June 1 is not far away. Fingers crossed...


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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