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

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

Competitiveness, take two.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(Editorial)
March 1, 2005... In the late 1980s, I was part of the great debate about Japan and its inroads into the U.S. That debate about U.S. competitiveness helped create a tangible response to Japan. The key was unleashing technology--the 1990s produced phenomenal...

Kilts payout: the last great deal?(MERGERS)(Gillette Co. and Procter & Gamble Co.)
March 1, 2005... THE $57 BILLION MERGER of Gillette and Procter & Gamble was definitely big news. It marked the end of an era for the 104-year-old seller of consumer products and made P & G the world's largest household goods maker. But Gillette CEO Jim...

Darts & roses.(CEO WATCH)
March 1, 2005... DART... * NEW YORK LAWYERS AND JUDGES. Allowing four porky teenagers to press a lawsuit against McDonald's because it made them obese is just ridiculous. We say round up the legal beagles--and force feed them Chicken McNuggets until they...

Deficits are cause for concern.(CEO CONFIDENCE INDEX)
March 1, 2005... CONCERNED ABOUT the nation's yawning budget and trade deficits and the costs in time and money to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, chief executives are tempered in their outlook on the U.S. economy. At the same time, they say, the...

The advantages of being small and private: big public companies aren't always the smartest.(CHIEF CONCERN)(Column)
March 1, 2005... People who run businesses often dwell on the advantages of large, publicly held companies, whether they are competitors, customers or suppliers. What we often forget is that smaller, private firms enjoy some very significant advantages. ...

Nanotechnology is getting real: after years of hype, it is entering the market.(THOUGHT LEADER)
March 1, 2005... It's been easy for chief executives to dismiss nanotechnology as pseudoscience or just plain hype. After all, scientists and engineers like me have been proclaiming it as the "next big thing" for years now. But very quietly,...

Building corporate cultures: financial controls are fine, but don't forget ethics.(THOUGHT LEADER)
March 1, 2005... A recent survey by Junior Achievement/Deloitte & Touche USA found that nearly one-third of teens believe you have to bend the rules to succeed. One has to wonder how that response was influenced by the infamous wave of corporate breakdowns. ...

The China riddle: to survive, smaller U.S. manufacturers will have to export. Therein lies a dilemma.(SPECIAL REPORT: CHINA-VIETNAM)
March 1, 2005... Once a week, Jay Williams pulls up a spreadsheet on his personal computer and prints it out. It's an eyes-only list, which he updates on the basis of his own intelligence sources, of the major construction sites around the world for plants that...

What lurks ahead? CEOs swept up by "China euphoria" could one day be surprised.(SPECIAL REPORT: CHINA-VIETNAM)(chief executive officers)
March 1, 2005... Chief executives of many major companies, ranging from General Motors to Citigroup and from Motorola to Lucent, are investing billions of dollars in China. To a large extent, they have learned how to engage with the Chinese leadership and, in...

Hello, Vietnam: three decades after the war, U.S. companies of that era are seeking new footholds.(SPECIAL REPORT: CHINA-VIETNAM)
March 1, 2005... Thirty years after the fall of Saigon, there's a surprising twist to the business environment in modern Vietnam: The U.S. companies that were most closely associated with what's known here as the "American War" are being welcomed back by the...

HSBC charges into the U.S.: the London bank sees the U.S. as one of the world's ripest targets.(FINANCE)
March 1, 2005... At a recent HSBC board meeting, Sir John Bond stood up in front of the bank's directors to deliver a detailed report on a subject of considerable importance: the group's record on acquisitions. The HSBC chairman's conclusion was generally...

Will air taxis fly? Once bitter rivals, Don Burr and Robert Crandall team up to challenge the private jet industry.(MANAGEMENT)(Pogo)
March 1, 2005... Until very recently, it probably would not have been wise to seat these two men together on a cross-country flight. Don Burr is the founder of People Express, the celebrated but failed experiment in no-frills travel. Robert Crandall is the...

When work hits home: few CEOs seem to realize that it pays to offer a balance.(WORKPLACE)
March 1, 2005... Pernille Spiers-Lopez, 45, had her moment of truth about work/life balance about five years ago, when she found herself in the back of an ambulance, its lights flashing and siren wailing as it sped to the nearest hospital. Spiers-Lopez, now the...

Creating a blue ocean of profit: CEOs should not merely compete in commoditized sectors. They must break free.(BOOK EXCERPT)(Chief executive officers)
March 1, 2005... The American wine industry is worth $20 billion a year. Competition is fierce and dominated by a handful of key players. Add in stagnant demand and the picture hardly seems appealing, especially if you are a wine producer from outside the...

An invitation from the minister.(The Ubiquitous Society)
March 1, 2005... It is a great pleasure and honor to invite you to the first annual World Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Summit 2005 to be held from June 9-11 in Seoul, Korea, under the theme, "Toward the Ubiquitous Society." It will be held in...

KT Corp.: the broadband king.(The Leading Companies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The world's eighth largest telecommunications service provider is no old-line telco. KT Corp., formerly Korea Telecom, is now one of the world's biggest broadband companies with more than 3.3 million ultrahigh-speed Internet subscribers. Just...

SK Telecom: mobile data giant.(The Leading Companies)
March 1, 2005... As Korea's dominant cellular phone company, SK Telecom ranks as one of the world's biggest mobile data service players along with Japan's NTT DoCoMo. Mobile data accounts for nearly 25 percent of its revenues. SK Telecom was the first in the...

LG Electronics: suddenly top tier.(The Leading Companies)(Company Profile)
March 1, 2005... Its smiley logo is now ubiquitous--from airport trolleys in Asia to billboards on European autobahns. That's just the way Kim Ssang Su, CEO of LG Electronics, wants it. Long seen as an also-ran in consumer electronics, LG is now a formidable...

Samsung Electronics: the dominant player.(The Leading Companies)(market share )
March 1, 2005... Just a decade ago, Samsung Electronics was a follower. Today, it's a world-class leader that even Sony want to emulate, judging from the joint venture it recently inked with the Korean company. Samsung Electronics is the world's No. 1 memory...

Home networking.(The Key Technologies)(future and it's usage)
March 1, 2005... As you move from your bedroom to the kitchen or the living room in the morning, radio frequency ID sensors start a chain reaction that gets gadgets in your home to start working. The lights and the air conditioning come on as you enter a room,...

System-on-chips.(The Key Technologies)(Core Logic )
March 1, 2005... Core Logic is a small a company with just 90 or so employees housed in a tower block in southern Seoul. It isn't what you'd expect of a leading Korean technology company like Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics or even Hynix. It doesn't have...

Telematics: vehicle internet in overdrive.(The Key Technologies)
March 1, 2005... Your car has broken down or you have been in an accident in a remote part the country. Rest assured--someone will be there to help. General Motor's OnStar has been a leader in such roadside location-based service for years. Germany's...

RFID-ubiquitous sensor networks.(The Key Technologies)(Radio frequency identification)
March 1, 2005... On Jan. 1, Wal-Mart began requiring its suppliers to equip their merchandise with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The technology will allow retailers and distributors to keep a close check on inventories and supply chains. Last...

WiBro: mobile communications.(The Key Technologies)
March 1, 2005... Imagine a portable Internet service that provides high-speed wireless Internet connection anytime, anywhere, even at high speeds inside your vehicle. This is an old dream by now, and everyone knows that there have been bumps along the way....

How to revolutionize your business: sometimes the only way to avoid stagnation is to force your company in a direction it doesn't want to go.(ROUNDTABLE)
March 1, 2005... Everybody has a war story to tell. In fact, any CEO who's been in business for any length of time has likely led a radical strategic redirection at least once. Unfortunately, that doesn't make it any easier the next time around, according to...

Baja or bust: beyond the beach and the links, the adventures begin in the brilliant waters off Los Cabos.(EXECUTIVE LIFE)
March 1, 2005... The baggage carousel at Los Cabos International Airport reveals just a sampling of the outdoor activities offered throughout the sun-soaked Baja Peninsula: Hard plastic cases cradling golf clubs and zippered totes in the shape of tennis rackets...

Acura's RL goes for the top: Honda's luxury division heads upscale.(WHEELS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 1, 2005... Earth to BMW: You have a new competitor and it comes from an unlikely direction--Honda's Acura division. The new Acura RL with a V6 engine and 300 horsepower is aiming straight at BMW's 530i sedan. And priced at $49,470, Honda claims a $5,000...

All hail the upper crust: as one economist sees it, we should all invest in luxury stocks.(FLIP SIDE)(Column)
March 1, 2005... Every once in a while, someone advances a theory that should strike terror into the hearts of all sentient beings. Just such a theory was recently set forth by economist A. Gary Shilling in his Forbes column. In it, Shilling, president of an...

Trade: a better path to freedom.(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 1, 2005... WE'RE HEARING A LOT about "freedom" these days and how it requires a major escalation of military spending to achieve it. In some cases, that may be necessary. But an important part of the debate is missing. The question is, Freedom from...

Just the beginning for Sarbox change.(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 1, 2005... IT'S POSITIVE that the Securities and Exchange Commission is holding a roundtable discussion on Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in April. Chairman Bill Donaldson is signaling that the SEC may agree to relax or extend Section 404...