Chief Executive (U.S.) articles from December 2007

Chief Executive (U.S.) archives from December 2007

Identifying leaders.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
December 1, 2007... Sometimes we are prisoners of other people's paradigms. The problem with most companies, even those with strong management, is that there are few mechanisms for bottom-up renewal. As a result, change happens in convulsions usually involving a...

Why the atom is the answer.(FEEDBACK)
December 1, 2007... Regardless of the true underlying causes of global warming--whether man-made, or natural cycles in the earth's atmospheric and weather patterns--we are confronted with a massive problem that needs our urgent attention. As you point out ("The...

Chief executive worriers.(FEEDBACK)
December 1, 2007... I recently read your survey of 180 top CEOs showing business confidence to be at a four-year low (October/November 2007, "CEO Confidence Index"). While that certainly is not good news, I did want to give you credit for providing insight from...

30 years on.(FEEDBACK)(Malcolm Watson donates all his Chief Executive subcriptions)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... If Chief Executive is 30 years old, then I have 30 years of some very good business reading behind me (September 2007, "Editor's Note"). I still enjoy the magazine even though I am now retired. I saved each issue because I thought it was a...

Capital ideas.(CEO CHRONICLES)
December 1, 2007... With the U.S. economy reeling from the triple threat of defaults among subprime mortgage holders, a housing market correction, and market volatility, most lenders are tightening purse strings, if not running outright for the hills. But not GE...

Property pursuit.(CEO CHRONICLES)(AMB Property Corp.)
December 1, 2007... With manufacturing moving to developing economies and world commerce sending everything from computer chips to miniskirts scuttling across the globe, one thing is clear: Companies need places to park their stuff. In fact, they need bigger,...

Excellent executor.(CEO CHRONICLES)
December 1, 2007... Harriet Green was enjoying a 12-year tenure at Arrow Electronics, when the London-based firm Premier Farnell came calling. The electronic component and industrial products distribution company's former CEO, John Hirst, had stepped down in July...

Debunking disruption.(CEO CHRONICLES)(Jean-Marie Dru of TBWA Chiat/Day Inc. gives a more positive connotation of the word disruption )
December 1, 2007... Hear the word "disruption" and you probably imagine something negative. After all, the term was once used to describe a particularly gory method of execution. These days, it's often business-speak to downplay disappointments such as a...

Stock ownership guidelines on the rise.(INbox)
December 1, 2007... A growing number of companies are adopting stock ownership guidelines for executives, according to a new study by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm located in Redwood Shores, Calif. In 2006, 75.5 percent of Fortune 250 companies...

INfact.(CEO CHRONICLES)
December 1, 2007... Information begins with facts, which can be assembled to identify trends. Put it all together to derive knowledge. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. Percent growth, in the past 12 months, of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar | + 19.6 ...

Breaking on through.(CEO WATCH)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... Keith McFarland's tenures as CEO of two top technology firms and associate dean of Pepperdine University's business school taught him a thing or two about what it takes to achieve extraordinary performance. But the founder of McFarland Strategy...

Thorns & Roses.(CEO WATCH)
December 1, 2007... ROSE... To France's president NICOLAS SARKOZY, for abruptly ending a 60 Minutes interview dubbing it "stupid" and a "big mistake" and refusing to answer questions about his wife, Cecilia, with whom he is now divorced. "If I had to say...

CEO confidence continues to decline.(CEO CONFIDENCE INDEX)
December 1, 2007... HITTING THE LOWEST LEVEL SINCE JULY 2003, CEO confidence continued to decline in October, falling 2 percent to 127.5 points. This month's polling, which was conducted among 536 C-level executives, highlighted the divergence between the stock...

The numbers.(CEO WATCH)
December 1, 2007... What do you think are the chances of a recession within the next 18 months? [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Chance of a recession within 18 months 0-25% 223 26-50% 177 51-75% 90 76-100% 39 Note: Table made from bar graph.

Investing in integrity: it's not as easy as it sounds, but it's worth the work.(CHIEF CONCERN)
December 1, 2007... It's now three years since Hospira, the company I am privileged to lead, spun off from Abbott Laboratories. During those three years, we have done some things wrong, and more right, I hope, in growing our specialty pharmaceutical and medication...

Are you going gray? Pirates may be siphoning profits from your value chain.(THOUGHT LEADER)
December 1, 2007... CEOs have tremendous power to control the gray market--piracy that robs firms of profits, brand integrity, channel viability and customer satisfaction. Yet few companies aggressively attack "gray market" piracy. This type of piracy is...

The Gulf's financial tidal wave: the Persian Gulf and China are driving a game-changing tectonic shift in global power.(UNCOMMON WISDOM)(Company overview)
December 1, 2007... I write from Riyadh, near the center of Saudi Arabia, having driven across the Saudi desert following meetings and a wonderful lunch at the headquarters of Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world. I drove to Dhahran, which is in...

Agenda 2008; The next year--and the decade to come--promise to be full of challenges for the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. So Chief Executive asked business leaders from a wide range of industries: what issues or challenges will be uppermost in your mind, for you, your industry and the economy in general, as you face the next 12 to 18 months?
December 1, 2007... Power Over Poverty Hector Ruiz, chairman and CEO, AMD "Global business has rarely had greater influence than it does today. As leaders of those businesses, CEOs have a special responsibility to ensure that influence is used not just to...

Stars and Keepers: how do you retain key talent amid merger mayhem?(HUMAN CAPITAL)
December 1, 2007... About half of all mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver value, depending on what study you're reading. This high failure rate has persisted despite the fruits of experience, such as today's emphasis on faster, smarter integration and better...

Measuring the black box: how to design and implement innovation metrics.(INNOVATION)
December 1, 2007... More than two decades ago, management guru Tom Peters penned an editorial titled "What Gets Measured Gets Done." Indeed, one of the findings from the research that Peters summarized in the 1982 business classic In Search of Excellence is that...

A prescription for health care: what can be done to improve the cost and quality of medical care.(ROUNDTABLE)(Company overview)
December 1, 2007... The numbers are shocking. The U.S. spends $2 trillion a year on its health system--50 percent more per capita than any other nation. Yet, as many as 90,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors during hospitalization, reports...

Best companies for leaders: in CE's third annual ranking, GE again eclipses P & G for top honors ... but only just.(LEADERSHIP)
December 1, 2007... Peter Drucker was quoted as saying that "the army trains and develops more leaders than do all other institutions together--and with a lower casualty rate." Not to be outdone, some corporations have developed good leadership programs that are...

Are we having fun yet? Fox's new strategy focuses on froth.(FLIP SIDE)
December 1, 2007... The day the Fox Business Channel debuted, the normally abrasive talk show host Bill O'Reilly advised anchors Neil Cavuto and Alexis Smith to "have fun with it." Since then, the news team has taken the advice in the spirit it was offered,...

The board bungled it.(EDITORIAL)
December 1, 2007... FOR ONE PRE-EMINENT FINANCIAL organization to lose its CEO is a misfortune, but for two prominent companies to lose their CEOs begins to look like carelessness. When Citigroup's Charles O. Prince III and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s E. Stanley O'Neal...