Chief Executive (U.S.) articles from April 2006

Chief Executive (U.S.) archives from April 2006

CEOs vote with their feet.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(Chief executive officers)
April 1, 2006... We are witnessing what Andy Grove used to call an "inflection point." Dell's decision to double its work force in India to 20,000 people and Wal-Mart's announcement that it would hire 150,000 people in China came at roughly the same time that...

A clarification on "mandates".(Correction notice)
April 1, 2006... In the article entitled "Can Technology Heal the Health Care Industry?" (March 2006), you attributed a quote to me that was taken out of context and may give some readers a wrong impression. The issue was federal mandates, and for the record, I...

Best states, and worst.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... In the January/February 2006 issue, you published a brief report noting that 339 of your readers ranked California as the worst state in which to do business. Perhaps you would be interested to know that in a survey by the Bay Area Council, a...

Reaching the young.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Ohio State President Holbrook's solution to the education dilemma ("Thought Leader," March 2006) simply will not work. As the world's top expert in the science of disruptive technobusiness systems, and as a former professor of electrical...

Making innovation happen.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I want to respond to your ideas about innovation ("Editor's Note," November 2005) and what there is still to be learned. As a fan of innovation, I have seen many organizations stunted because their people are not ready to let go of the...

Why Johnny can't export.(FEEDBACK ONLINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Here is an abridged online posting from the editor, and how readers reacted. For the full exchange, go to www.chiefexecutive.net. You'd think that with U.S deficit in goods and services hitting $725 billion in 2005 that a great debate would...

We don't need help.(FEEDBACK ONLINE)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... We manufacture blenders for both the commercial and the household markets. We first started seriously exporting beyond Canada in about 1995. We used a letter of credit with our first major order from Japan. Unfortunately, the individual in our...

You got it all wrong, pal.(FEEDBACK ONLINE)
April 1, 2006... Who are you and what gives you the right to trash all the organizations that are so vital to helping entrepreneurs and small businesses do business with the world? You are the person who needs a good swift kick in the backside to understand and...

Infrastructure antiquated.(FEEDBACK ONLINE)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Despite potentially enhanced profits, a large portion of America's exportable raw materials are sold at mine site, or Freight on Board (FOB) rail and less often FOB port of loading. This is due to lack of logistical sophistication and often to...

Amen, on dealing with banks.(FEEDBACK ONLINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... I stopped trying about eight years ago. It is impossible for anyone below the Fortune 500 to get the necessary business credit lines to effectively compete. The last time I checked the SBA gave out about 70,000 loans a year, with about 800 for...

Controlling technologies.(FEEDBACK ONLINE)
April 1, 2006... The vast majority of the systems we make are sensitive, restricted or classified. We export all around the world--including the Middle East and the former Soviet Union--and we have never found munitions control agencies to be anything but...

Should CEOs take public policy stands? Novartis's Vasella thinks so. He challenged Condy Rice.(GLOBAL)(chief executive officers)(DR. DANIEL VASELLA)(Interview)
April 1, 2006... DR. DANIEL VASELLA, CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, attracted attention at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos by challenging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on U.S. government policy during a live video conference. Here...

Darts & roses.
April 1, 2006... DART... * LARRY "The Mouth" SUMMERS. Okay, the Harvard libs got you. But you made it easy. Don't take a new job in genetics. Or Russian studies. How about Conversational Skills 101? ROSE... * ED WHITACRE at AT&T. Veni, vidi,...

Samsung: more love?(GLOBAL)(Samsung Group)(Reprint)
April 1, 2006... MONEY CAN'T BUY YOU LOVE, the song goes, but Samsung is trying. And so far, the South Korean conglomerate's attempts to donate its way out of controversy have been met positively at home. South Korea's biggest and most successful chaebol is...

Darts & roses.
April 1, 2006... DART... * Google founders LARRY PAGE and SERGEY BRIN, and CEO Eric Schmidt. The hype got ahead of the reality, big time. Now the bloom is off. Time to start actually managing a business. ROSE... * REX TILLERSON, the new CEO of...

CEOs debate the merits of private vs. public.(CEO CONFIDENCE INDEX)(chief executive officers)
April 1, 2006... CORPORATE LEADERS grew more confident in March, but they are sharply divided on the merits of managing publicly traded vs. privately held companies. The CEO Confidence Index increased by 3.1 points to 175.6. The Index currently stands a...

A better way of looking at compliance: use it to grow the business.(CHIEF CONCERN)
April 1, 2006... The crisis of trust in business is impossible to ignore. Corporate scandals have provoked public and shareholder protest, and sparked legislators to pass laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley. Yet even with these safeguards in place, does anyone trust...

Keeping U.S. leadership in engineering: one key is training students to think globally.(THOUGHT LEADER)(United States)
April 1, 2006... There is a lot of buzz these days around words such as outsourcing, innovation, competitiveness and globalization. A lack of engineers and security restrictions are generating buzz as well. The general tone is that outsourcing and security...

Preparing for avian influenza: companies need a plan in place.(THOUGHT LEADER)
April 1, 2006... The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the avian influenza has infected more than 180 people and killed about half of them, according to the most recent World Health Organization estimate. It is a versatile and hardy virus--infecting more types...

Man with a mission: A.G. Lafley wants Procter & Gamble to serve the world's consumers. Yes, it's more than lip service. He's serious.(Cover story)
April 1, 2006... When A.G. Lafley went to Brazil not long ago, he went on walking tours through the tough barrios of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to see how consumers were buying and using Procter & Gamble products. Just to be on the safe side, he hired some...

On developing markets: Lafley sees huge upsides in new markets, both for corporate profits and international harmony.(Q&A)(Alan G. Lafley)(Interview)(Cover story)
April 1, 2006... A.G. Lafley says P&G's experience in Japan helped it crack China and other emerging markets. Here are excerpts from our interview: Q. What was your experience like in Japan? I spent eight years in Japan, three years with the Navy and...

High stakes on K Street: CEOs must use finesse in the world of lobbying and sleazy favors.(LOBBYING)(cheif executive officers)
April 1, 2006... With his matching black fedora and trench coat set off by an arrogant scowl, Jack Abramoff easily played the role of the bad guy. The Washington lobbyist, who pled guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in January, shamelessly parlayed...

McCain to CEOs: be careful.(Q&A)(chief executive officers)(John McCain)(Interview)
April 1, 2006... Mark C. Thompson, coauthor of Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters (Prentice Hall, September 2006), interviewed Sen. John McCain, who has been a critic of lobbying efforts. Here are excerpts: Q. How would you counsel...

Think Southeast Asia is taking a backseat? Think again: Singapore, Malaysia and the rest are booming by exporting to China.(REGIONAL REPORT: SOUTHEAST ASIA)
April 1, 2006... Dell, the world's biggest personal computer maker, recently began building a new plant in Asia on a sprawling site adjoining an existing big plant. The two plants, where 95 percent of Dell's total global notebook PCs are assembled, aren't...

When Directors Don't Make the Grade: self-evaluations could be the key to removing bad apples in the boardroom.
April 1, 2006... The lead director of a major financial services firm was about to do the unthinkable: He was going to ask a board member to resign for not pulling his weight. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For three years, the director--a high-profile CEO of...

The incalculable value of building brands: CEOs say it's not just about advertising, but about everyday operations, too.(ROUNDTABLE)(chief executive officer)(FedEx Corp.)(United Technologies Corp.)(Discussion)
April 1, 2006... United Technologies and FedEx have profoundly different approaches to developing and maintaining their brands. As a multi-industry conglomerate, UTC has a portfolio that includes Otis elevators, Carrier air conditioners, Sikorsky helicopters...

Defending a brand isn't easy: even when the brand is Steinway.(ROUNDTABLE)(Steinway and Sons)(Discussion)
April 1, 2006... When Bruce Stevens moved from Polaroid to become president and chief executive of Steinway & Sons in 1985, the 40-year-old Iowa native took charge of an iconic American brand that had been in existence for 132 years. From Manhattan to Moscow,...

Winding down on Abaco, where a golf oasis awaits: CEOs can find that a big new idea sometimes just takes getting away from it all.(EXECUTIVE LIFE)(chief executive officer)
April 1, 2006... Ted Boylan was cruising at 13,000 feet toward an island in the Bahamas just after Christmas when his mind turned toward year-end business matters. As the founder of Admiral Building Products in Woburn, Mass., a 125-employee company that...

Two-seat roadsters for $20k: you don't have to spend a lot to have fun. The Pontiac Solstice vs. the Mazda Miata MX-5.(WHEELS)
April 1, 2006... Whewwww, that is one sweet bird." It's the parking attendant wowing over the new Pontiac Solstice I had just pulled into the lot. He's right--it's a beautiful car. And he's not the only one whistling at it. While waiting at stoplights,...

Keep up the heat on Sarbox.(EDITORIAL)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act)(Editorial)
April 1, 2006... CHIEF EXECUTIVES of large public companies have dealt with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and moved on. But nearly 80 percent of all publicly traded companies, accounting for 6 percent of total U.S. equity market capitalization, are still...

Congress: getting real on China.(FINALWORD)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... THE REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED CONGRESS has taken a nasty protectionist turn. Last year, it blocked the Chinese acquisition of Unocal and it recently blocked a Dubai-based group from acquiring American ports. Both were wrongheaded moves. Senate...