Chief Executive (U.S.) articles from April 2003

Chief Executive (U.S.) archives from April 2003

The Korean conundrum. (Editor's Note).(Editorial)
April 1, 2003... With so much attention focused on the Middle East, an American CEO could be forgiven for being confused by the headlines coming out of a different part of the world--the Korean Peninsula. There have been anti-American demonstrations in South...

Feedback.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2003... CIOs and Crisis Prevention Perhaps the most important question a CEO should ask his CIO ("Put Your CIO Through the Hoops," January/February 2003) is: "How are you managing our data security risks and planning for business continuity in the...

Everybody involved in the Sprint meltdown. (Darts).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... First, Sprint Chairman and CEO Bill Esrey and COO Ron LeMay got stock options even though their merger with WorldCom never happened. Then, Ernst & Young sold them a suspect method of avoiding taxes. The Sprint board forced out Esrey and LeMay,...

Coca-Cola's doug Daft. (Roses).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Since the death of Roberto Goizueta, Coca-Cola had been wandering in the wilderness. But current CEO Doug Daft seems to be leading the venerable company back onto the path of righteousness. Earnings are up and volume is up. Bottled water, not...

How NEC is gunning for IBM. (Global Business).(NEC subsidiary in North America Niteo Partners)
April 1, 2003... For years, Japanese technology companies have faced twin challenges in the American market. The first is that no major Japanese company has been able to create a U.S. subsidiary headed by an American with real decision-making authority. Partly...

The mood is downbeat. (Ceo Confidence Index).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... We are pleased to unveil our CEO Confidence Index. We have been gathering this data from our CEO readers via email since October and now have sufficient data to begin presenting our results. It's clear that American CEOs felt increasing...

General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner and Ford CEO Bill Ford. (Darts).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Hey, guys, is anybody watching Toyota? While you two are beating each other's brains out with 0 percent finance deals, Toyota just doubled its profit and announced plans to build a pickup plant in Texas. Gentlemen, it's time to rev your...

The mouth of the south. (Darts).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... We harbor some fondness for Ted Turner. After all, he started off with billboards to create a media empire. But let's face it--he lost control of CNN, lost Jane, resigned from AOL lime Warner in a huff and lost billions of dollars of personal...

Corning's Jamie Houghton. (Roses).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... He came back from retirement to rescue Corning from the fiber optics collapse. After having to lay off almost half his employees, Houghton is saying Corning could return to profitability in the third quarter of 2003. Here's hoping the whole...

Forum for Corporate Conscience. (Economy).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Hugh McColl hasn't exactly been coasting since retiring as CEO of Bank of America. He has lent his considerable weight to a conference called, The Forum for Corporate Conscience. It was held in mid-March in Charlotte, N.C. About 150 CEOs were...

A Spring of discontent.(shareholder resolutions will be filed this spring)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... survey says! A Spring of Discontent More shareholder resolutions will be filed this spring than ever before. That's the message from the Investor Responsibility Research Center, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and...

Investment banks pay for the past. (By the Numbers).(2003 off to a poor start)
April 1, 2003... After suffering through the worst equities market in more than 20 years, investment banks were hoping 2003 would be a year of recovery. The answer so far? Don't count on it. According to IPO Monitor, the number of initial public offerings...

Toward more rational CEO succession. (Thought Leader).(business leaders must have business skills not just charisma)
April 1, 2003... The rash of business scandals has raised the question of whether the malfeasance is the work of "a few bad apples" or symptomatic of widespread institutional breakdown. In other words, does the problem lie in the personal character of a handful...

Getting growth in tough times. (Thought Leader).(new growth strategies for corporations)
April 1, 2003... Most smart chief executives know that relying on the inspired efforts of a few mavericks to nurture new-growth opportunities is a recipe for stagnation. What I have learned from these CEOs is that success in creating growth depends on...

Don't get caught without the right talent. (Chief Concern).(severe labor shortages to return)
April 1, 2003... We have cut 3.4 million jobs from the American work force in the past two years. But, my fellow CEOs, when things start heating up and customers begin puffing in orders, will you be prepared to handle the business with the right manpower in the...

Gut instincts or consumer research? (Top Questions for Your CMO).
April 1, 2003... Love your product, but hate your ads." That's just the kind of feedback CEOs hate to hear--and understandably so, given the millions most companies spend on advertising each year. For chiefs with backgrounds in finance, operations or...

The CEO trap: how the very nature of the CEO's job can set you up for failure-and how you can steer clear of it. (Cover Story).
April 1, 2003... The year is still young, but already it's shaping up as another brutal one for CEOs. Management gurus may opine on the possible causes of so many corporate melt-downs, but the theorists seem to overlook one common thread--the boss was simply...

Is S&P's pedestal cracked? Critics say the esteemed rating agency should have spotted Enron's woes sooner. S&P's president says 'not so'. (Finance).
April 1, 2003... By now, it's a depressingly familiar litany. Everybody failed to see Enron coming. Then it was WorldCom, Tyco and others, ad infinitum, or ad nauseum, depending on your point of view. Daily headlines screamed about malfeasance and chicanery....

Can you spare a dividend? Bush's tax-break proposal has ignited a debate over how companies use excess cash. (Finance).
April 1, 2003... The political fight over President Bush's proposed tax break for dividends may be small potatoes compared with the boardroom fights that are sure to erupt if it passes. Some experts-predict that if shareholders no longer face a divided tax,...

Managing investors like Warren Buffett does. (Finance).(CEO Mark A. Keller personal conduct of CEOs)
April 1, 2003... Mark A. Keller is vice president and chief investment officer of St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards. He manages a $900 million portfolio, including $400 million in equities such as Berkshire Hathaway. In addition to a company's results, he studies...

Averting disaster: think giving CPR to companies in crisis is hard? Try doing it in the middle of a downturn. (Turnarounds).
April 1, 2003... When Robert "Steve" Miller Jr. pulls open a company's front door, that loud sucking sound you hear is typically a sick firm gasping for air. Companies that call him in are usually in need of emergency surgery. But that's okay with Miller; in...

Tireless in Seattle. (Turnarounds).(Safeco's corporate turnaround)
April 1, 2003... Two years ago, 80-year-old Safeco Insurance Co. came dangerously close to shutting its doors for good. Earnings had plunged to just 9 cents per share, and the stock price had fallen to $22 from a 1998 peak of $56. Management decisions by its...

Firing top guns: why CEOs hate axing their execs -- and often foul it up. (Management).
April 1, 2003... Ask CEOs which part of their job they dread most and the answer isn't making their numbers or keeping Wall Street happy. It's firing their top executives, or even just mulling the idea. Of course, there are some Chainsaw Als out there for...

Is it time for Net2phone? CEO Stephen Greenberg says his company is conquering voice-over-internet. (Technology).
April 1, 2003... Net2Phone was born in 1995 amid expectations that the Internet would replace voice networks run by telephone companies. To do that, the central challenge was to chop the human voice into digital packets, send them out over the Internet and have...

Short spring getaways. (Golf).(Executive golf getaways)
April 1, 2003... Time line was--no more than a couple years ago, actually--when CEOs passionate about golf exercised their executive privilege each spring by making pilgrimages to Scotland or Ireland and playing historic links such as St. Andrews or...

BMW's Boxster beater. (Wheels).
April 1, 2003... I'm behind the wheel of a new BMW Z4 roadster in the remote backwaters of South Carolina. It's a six-speed manual and I can feel the power of the six-cylinder 3.0-liter engine. It offers only 225 horsepower, but BMW's "inline-six" engine is a...

Cadillac gets it. (Executive Life: The Editors Picks).
April 1, 2003... Those who've harbored any fondness for Cadillac have watched over the years as successive waves of General Motors executive proclaimed that they finally got it right -- they finally designed a car for people who aren't ready for the nursing...

The sweater can review our economy. (Flip Side).(will sweater industry revive economy)
April 1, 2003... For at least the past two years, the entire planet has been waiting breathlessly for the revival of the American tech sector -- for without a tech comeback we could all be stuck in the current bear market indefinitely. Yet even as we sit on the...

A call to action. (Editorial).
April 1, 2003... American CEOs are not engaging in the public debate caused by the spectacular series of corporate scandals. They hope greater financial transparency and improved board structures will be sufficient to stem the tide. And perhaps some believe...

Customer profitability: is the customer king - or cost? (CEO Insights).
April 1, 2003... Consumer products companies compete fiercely for the business of large retailers. Customer profitability analysis can ensure that those efforts deliver positive return on investment. WHEN WAL-MART BECAME THE WORLD'S LARGEST COMPANY LAST...