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

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

The shape of things to come.(Editor's Note)
December 1, 2003... When times are good and everyone is achieving the right numbers, a CEO can relax his or her grip and decentralize decision-making to a degree. But during difficult times, it seems that decision-making gets "recentralized," or put back into the...

Sony's Nobuyuki Idei.(Darts ...)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... * SONY'S NOBUYUKI IDEI. You were slow to launch Sony into the digital era, Idei-san. Now you're late in launching a three-year turnaround plan. No wonder your American employees think Sony stands for "Soon, Not Yet."

Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski.(Roses ...)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... * TYCO'S DENNIS KOZLOWSKI. You may have raped and pillaged your company and evaded paying more than a million bucks in taxes on precious art, but you sure know how to throw a party. Toga! Toga!

The bunny hits the big 5-0.(media)(Playboy Magazine)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Christie Hefner has a picture of herself as a baby sitting on the lap of her father, Hugh, as he worked on the first issue of Playboy on his Royal typewriter. Now, this month, Playboy is turning 50 and Ms. Hefner, the chairman and CEO of...

Bellsouth's Duane Ackerman.(Roses ...)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... * BELLSOUTH'S DUANE ACKERMAN, for walking away from a $19 billion takeover of AT&T. Kudos for resisting the momentum that would have resulted in buying an overpriced asset. It's damaged goods.

Enron's Ken Lay.(Roses ...)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... * ENRON'S KEN LAY for finally turning over those Enron documents to the SEC. How long did you really think you could keep them buried out in the yard? Oh, and don't think Wite-Out's gonna fool Donaldson's boys...

John Snow.(Darts ...)(Treasury Secretary's policies)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... * JOHN SNOW. For the life of us, we can't figure out what the Treasury Secretary is trying to say. First, he urged China and Japan to make their currencies more expensive against the dollar. But then he started talking up U.S. interest rates...

A victory for shareholder rights?(follow-up)(board member nomination process)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled a potentially historic proposal. Issued in early October, the measure would give shareholders access to the company proxy if one of two triggers occurs: a simple majority vote in favor of...

Leaders show first signs of employment optimism.(CEO Confidence Index)
December 1, 2003... Even as CEOs have slowly regained confidence this year following the Iraq war, recession and corporate scandals, they have sent clear signals that they weren't in any hurry to start expanding or rebuilding their work forces. Now that seems...

On trial: Whither Germany? The trial of Deutsche Bank CEO Ackermann reflects a battle over whether German companies can become more global.(Global)(Joseph Ackermann)
December 1, 2003... The timing couldn't have been worse: As Deutsche Bank CEO Joseph Ackermann reeled off bullish forecasts to a crowd of journalists this past February, an aide handed him a slip of paper. The brief note said he had been charged with breach of...

Catching the diet craze: food industry giants--under fire for allegedly causing obesity--are fighting back by shifting gears and feeding consumer demand.(Management)(marketing healthier products)
December 1, 2003... When it comes to relying on the dietary discipline of the American people, pardon food-industry chiefs if they haven't exactly been bellying up to the table. They remember well the low-fat-product craze of the '90s: It sizzled, then fizzled....

The growth imperative.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... ON RECENT TRIPS to Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, I've been reminded yet again of the critical importance of strong economic development in countries around the world. In Europe in general, and Germany in particular, growth has been anemic...

Taking charge: vision and heart.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... I WRITE THIS OPEN LETTER to my fellow CEOs with all due humility, recognizing that I've been out of the job for more than two years and knowing just how much it has changed in that short period of time. I miss the daily interaction with my...

Beating back protectionism.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... ELECTION-YEAR POLITICS often bring out the worst of economic policies. Politicians, caught between their policy-making duties and their desire to win re-election, frequently deliver sound-bite solutions to complex problems. Most recently, China...

The new market of profitable growth.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... WHERE WILL GROWTH come from in 2004 and beyond? For most CEOs, finding the next wave of profitable growth is at the top of their agenda, along with global sourcing, cost cutting and dealing with Sarbanes-Oxley. Yet, like Olympic athletes...

CEOs and foreign policy.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... AS GLOBALIZATION has been effected by earth-girdling corporations, many CEOs have metamorphosed into something resembling heads of state. With sales greater than the budgets of many nations, these CEOs find it easier to arrange meetings with...

CEOs can ease strife.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... AS LEADERS OF COMPANIES, when we think about our opportunities around the globe, we tend to focus on promising markets. We don't spend much time looking at war-torn territories. After all, there's no commerce to be done there, and settling...

Tech: what comes next.(CEO Agenda 2004)(information technology outlook)
December 1, 2003... Some CEOs may think the technology opportunities of the late 1990s were just hype, and that it's time to go back to business as usual. I respectfully disagree. In coming years, information technology, applied thoughtfully, will unleash a major...

CEO: the soul of today's brands.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... To be a CEO today is to worry--worry about profit and loss, worry about the productivity of R&D, worry about balancing fixed costs and expansion strategies against quarterly market expectations. Although difficult, these are tangible problems...

Fixing the legal system.(CEO Agenda 2004)(litigious climate hurts economy)
December 1, 2003... EVEN THOUGH growth is picking up, the U.S. economy is suffering greatly because of the nation's tort system. With the explosion of litigation, our legal system is out of control. Courts are clogged with frivolous lawsuits. According to the most...

The real governance challenges.(CEO Agenda 2004)
December 1, 2003... A major challenge to CEOs in the coming year will be to assure that their companies meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the new listing standards of the stock exchanges. Doing that will be costly and time consuming, and the...

Companies be nimble: developing true agility is tougher than it looks. After years of hard work, CEOs are still searching for the best way to pick up speed.(RoundTable)
December 1, 2003... The casual business observer might conclude that after a decade devoted to reengineering, restructuring and realigning, CEOs must have achieved their ideal business models. But in truth, a great deal of painful work lies ahead. The ultimate...

Corporate moguls: in Jackson Hole, a ski camp for overachievers.(ceo extreme)(Steep and Deep Ski Camp)
December 1, 2003... Do you see this snowflake?" asked ski instructor Christoph Schork, pointing to a quartz-like shard glimmering in the sunshine. We were standing on the deck of Corbet's Cabin in Jackson Hole, at 10,500 feet. A sea of puffy clouds lay below us,...

Wide-screen TV.(Holiday Gift Guide)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Television technology has exploded in recent years, and nowhere is this more obvious than with high definition TV. If you're opting for HDTV, you ought to combine it with a big screen. Plasma and LCD sets offer" impressive viewing quality in...

Laptops.(Holiday Gift Guide)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... While on the road, you might as well travel in style. In a laptop, you want the greatest number of functions in the most portable, attractive package. Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion zd7000, top left, ($2,843 fully loaded), packs a punch in terms of...

Home audio.(Holiday Gift Guide)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... There's a world of options for home audio systems, from high-end stereo to surround sound. To fully appreciate your finest recordings, you need top-notch speakers. And if you have a home theater, you want surround sound to complete the...

Time for an exchange of ideas.(selling of the American Stock Exchange)
December 1, 2003... Like many Americans, I was devastated when news got out that the American Stock Exchange was up for sale. From a traditionalist's perspective, it was the worst news since Rockefeller Center was taken over by a Japanese buyer years ago. The very...

The best defense: going on offense.(meeting challenges ahead)(Editorial)
December 1, 2003... At long last, it seems the cycle is turning. Both Lucent and Cisco, those key barometers, have reported good quarters. Semiconductor sales are up. The stock markets are up, and Google is heading for an initial public offering. Economic growth...

Rediscovering Japan.(Final Word)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
December 1, 2003... We can't help but be amused by the media's sudden recognition that Japan possesses huge competitive strengths. The Wall Street Journal, for example, recently ran a front page story with the headline, "After Long Decline, Japan's Economy is...