Chief Executive (U.S.) articles from January 2005

Chief Executive (U.S.) archives from January 2005

In defense of the dollar.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(Editorial)
January 1, 2005... The debate about the dollar is almost like a religious argument--the subject is so unknowable that we can argue only on the basis of blind conviction. With that caveat, here is my view: It's a mistake to allow the dollar's decline to continue,...

Eliot Spitzer's 'crusade'.(FEEDBACK)
January 1, 2005... I practically had to wipe a tear from my eye after reading your December editorial ("Spitzer's Climate of Fear," Final Word). As a CEO, I didn't know that my peers were being stalked by an avenging, self-righteous, career-stepping politician....

Don't blame the schools.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2005... Craig Barrett's claim that the U.S. is doomed economically because our public schools are failing ("Fixing America's Educational System," Agenda 2005, December) is essentially an update of the charges made in "A Nation At Risk." But repeating...

An empty presidential campaign.(FEEDBACK)
January 1, 2005... I applaud your comments in "America as Third World?" (Editor's Note, November). Until the voting public demands that our politicians address vital issues, such as uneurtailed government spending and rising consumer debt, we will continue to get...

Darts & roses.(CEO WATCH)
January 1, 2005... DART... * FANNIE MAE's FRANKLIN RAINES. A $9 billion mistake and you walk away with more than $1 million a year for life? Let's ask Martha Stewart what she thinks about that. Must make her cranky. ROSE... * CARLOS GUTIERREZ, the...

China's high-tech hero.(GLOBAL)(Liu Chuanzhi, Lenovo Group Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... LIU CHUANZHI, chairman of Lenovo, clearly recalls his early tentative dealings with IBM in 1985. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Liu and a small group of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences had only the year before plunged into...

Darts & roses.(CEO WATCH)
January 1, 2005... ROSE... * HANK MCKINNELL of Pfizer. Tough break on Celebrex. But what an inspired move to donate $25 million worth of medicines and health care products to Asian nations hit by the tsunami. Keep taking that high road. DART... *...

Another M & A frenzy.(CEO WATCH)(mergers in the telecommunications and software industry)
January 1, 2005... COMPANIES HAVE LAUNCHED a major new round of mergers and acquisitions. But just as in previous waves of matchmaking, not every deal will prove successful. Here is our analysis. ...

Hesitant but hopeful.(CEO CONFIDENCE INDEX)
January 1, 2005... CHIEF EXECUTIVES were buoyed by President Bush's re-election. But now that the burst of excitement is over and the serious work of governing is at hand, CEOs seem to be in a waiting and watching frame of mind. Overall CEO Confidence...

Texas tops list of business-friendly states.(SURVEY)
January 1, 2005... CORPORATE LEADERS find a dramatic difference in business conditions among the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on the basis of tax rates, regulatory environments, growth rates, work force attitudes and quality of life issues. By...

Mending transatlantic ties: to prosper, Europe and the U.S. need each other.(CHIEF CONCERN)
January 1, 2005... Recent global political upheaval has prompted the leaders of Europe and the United States to focus on the tremendous significance of the Transatlantic Alliance. The nature of America's relationship with its longstanding European allies also...

How to ensure integrity: proper behavior must be defined and measured.(THOUGHT LEADER)(Column)
January 1, 2005... If you as a CEO truly believe that integrity matters, you should hold your people accountable for it. That means you must define what integrity means for your business in behavioral terms, measure it and then assess people's compliance. Most...

Route to the top: with the demands of the job intensifying, it's a tough slog to the top--and even harder to stay there.
January 1, 2005... Michael Jordan can still make nonscientific heads spin by describing his Ph.D. thesis. The chief executive of the technology and logistics giant EDS, studying chemical engineering at Princeton University as a young man, elected to write about...

Rolls revs up: how Sir John Rose saved Rolls-Royce's aircraft business from the post-9/11 abyss.(GLOBAL)(Rolls-Royce)
January 1, 2005... Rolls-Royce CEO Sir John Rose likes to quote Warren Buffett's aphorism "When the tide goes out, you can see who's wearing a bathing suit." Buffett's observation, he believes, explains Rolls's success in avoiding disaster after the terrorism of...

Japan's elder power: most Western CEOs have yet to discover the nation's imminent spending boom.(GLOBAL)
January 1, 2005... For centuries, Japan's elderly have obeyed the societal dictum "When one gets old, be of service to one's children" and surrendered their life savings to sons and daughters as death approached. These oldsters were seen as offering little value...

Bose's sound strategy: Bose says it's been able to innovate better than public companies.(TECHNOLOGY)(Amar G. Bose)(Bose Corp.)(Company Profile)
January 1, 2005... Screeching tires are not the cool sounds you would expect to hear in the Bose Corp. parking lot in Framingham, Mass. The company known for the music that pours from its world-class speakers is sending cars noisily zipping through pylons to...

Nonprofit muscle: buoyed by billions of dollars in new funding, NGOs are increasingly on CEO radar screens. Are they new pests or constructive partners?(MANAGEMENT)
January 1, 2005... When the world's biggest cement maker, Paris-based Lafarge, wanted advice on how to improve its environmental record, it turned to an unlikely source: WWF International. Lafarge agreed at its own initiative in 2002 and 2003 to set goals and...

The fiefdom syndrome: former Microsoft and P & G exec Robert J. Herbold shares secrets on how to bust up bureaucracies.(BOOK EXCERPT)
January 1, 2005... When I arrived at Microsoft in 1994 as chief operating officer, I discovered that the company had great trouble closing its books at the end of every quarter. Starting with the third week after the end of the quarter, Bill Gates would regularly...

The Sixth Annual CEO leadership summit: global forces are transforming the U.S. economy. Wise policy will be essential to maintain competitiveness.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)(chief executive officer)(Panel Discussion)
January 1, 2005... The U.S. economy is poised at a particularly historic crossroads: huge competitive pressures and global financial imbalances are buffeting it at the same time that it retains the power to innovate and adapt. Whether the economy gains strength...

The U.S. health care crisis: can CEOs turn up the heat on Washington for solutions?(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)(Chief executive officers)
January 1, 2005... When chief executives say that something strikes fear in their hearts, chances are they're talking about something truly awesome. And what is scaring CEOs these days? The nation's health care crisis. "It's frightening what this could do to our...

Getting a grip on information technology: CEOs are learning how to manage their CIOs.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)(Chief executive officers, Chief information officers)
January 1, 2005... Remember how a simple technology called the Universal Product Code, the zebra stripe labels now affixed to just about every product and package, powerfully streamlined the distribution and sale of goods? FedEx Chief Executive Fred Smith said...

Manufacturing pain: urgent action is necessary for the U.S. to maintain its muscle.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)
January 1, 2005... Gary Cowger, president of General Motors North America, argues that manufacturing is in trouble--and that's bad for the overall economy. Here are excerpts from his remarks: * "For every dollar of manufactured goods, an additional $1.43...

Unintended consequences: it was meant to help, but Sarbox is wreaking havoc on the bottom line. Will CEOs take it laying down--or push back?(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
January 1, 2005... To the architects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the sweeping reform was a quick cure-all for what was ailing Corporate America's moral structure. But as public companies struggled to get their hands around compliance, and particularly onerous...

Building diversity: more than just a policy, getting true diversity is about execution.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)
January 1, 2005... Eugene McGrath is chairman and chief executive of Con Edison. One might assume, with one of the most diverse candidate pools in its backyard, Con Edison wouldn't need to work much at diversity. But McGrath still views it as a building process....

The K-12 dilemma: what can be done? Joel Klein, at the frontier of schools reform in New York, urges CEOs to lobby Washington on behalf of public education.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)(chief executive officers)
January 1, 2005... As U.S. companies struggle to compete in the global marketplace, many find themselves at a fundamental disadvantage: America's pipeline of young, well-educated workers pales in comparison with those of other nations. Simply put, the country's...

Going for growth: capturing technology to spur top-line growth.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)
January 1, 2005... Once upon a time, achieving top-line growth was relatively simple. "Back in the late '90s and even 2000, growth was everywhere," recalls Pat Russo, CEO of Lucent Technologies. "You could place lots of bets and most of them paid off because...

Romancing the West: beach house? They'll take a Big Sky ranch.(EXECUTIVE LIFE)(Montana Ranch)(Grand River Ranch)
January 1, 2005... When David Leuschen describes his Montana ranch, it sounds as if he's exaggerating. He owns about 200,000 acres of snow-covered peaks and gaping canyons outside Yellowstone National Park and runs 2,000 head of cattle on one of the larger...

The estate tax lives: here's how to minimize its impact on your heirs.(NET WORTH)
January 1, 2005... Think the Republican sweep at the polls spells a swift demise for the so-called death tax? Think again. While President Bush is pushing for a permanent repeal of the estate tax, financial gurus fully expect the resulting tug of war only to...

Upwardly mobile: with its new A6, Audi earns full luxury status.(WHEELS)
January 1, 2005... It seems hard to imagine, but less than 20 years ago Audi made middle-class automobiles of doubtful reliability. They were known in Europe as "burgher cars": good enough for small-town businessmen, better than Volkswagens, but hardly on a par...

Data fatigue--go figure: we're all growing immune to large round numbers.(FLIP SIDE)
January 1, 2005... A study commissioned by the Business Software Alliance estimates that the annual losses from global software piracy are in the neighborhood of $29 billion. This is quite a staggering figure, but it seems almost paltry when compared with the $60...

It's time to revise Sarbanes-Oxley.(EDITORIALS)
January 1, 2005... THE EVIDENCE is now overwhelming that Sarbanes-Oxley has gone too far. Enacted in a moment of urgency in 2002, following the meltdowns at Enron and WorldCom, the legislation was perhaps necessary at the time. But even Rep. Michael Oxley,...

The feds must open, link databases.(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 1, 2005... CEOS WHO ARE at the very heart of deterring terrorism have a simple request to the feds: Tell us who the bad guys are. Larry Johnston of Albertsons is worried about the security of the global food supply system. He has 237,000 employees and...