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

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

Learning about innovation.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
November 1, 2005... The word "innovation" is everywhere these days, just like "quality" used to be. You'd think there would be a clear, well-defined set of best practices for chief executives. But innovation is a vast subject, filled with mystery, as I've...

Darts & roses.(CEO WATCH)
November 1, 2005... ROSE... * HOWARD STRINGER of Sony. Congrats on starting to clean up the place. Long overdue. Just watch out for those guys with sharp blades who come in the night. DART... * LARRY ELLISON of Oracle. Okay, bully boy, you bought...

Nestle picks former P & G executive.(GLOBAL)
November 1, 2005... NESTLE HAS ADDED to the list of potential candidates to succeed Peter Brabeck as chief executive with the surprise appointment of a former top Procter & Gamble manager as its next chief financial officer. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The...

Darts & roses.(CEO WATCH)
November 1, 2005... ROSE... * LEE SCOTT of Wal-Mart. What a great stroke sending in your trucks to help out with Katrina! The new mantra: Wal-Mart is good, not evil. Stir and repeat. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DART... * FERDINAND PIECH, head of...

CEOs concerned with energy.(CEO CONFIDENCE INDEX)
November 1, 2005... ALTHOUGH THEY SEEMED TO shrug off Hurricane Katrina at first, corporate leaders now appear to believe the disaster revealed problems in the economy, particularly its energy sector. Although still at relatively high levels historically, CEO...

Can China create global companies? Chinese enterprises are determined to emerge.(THOUGHT LEADER)
November 1, 2005... The acquisition of IBM's personal computer division by China's Lenovo and the aborted bids for Maytag and Unocal have heralded the arrival of a new player on the global business scene--the Chinese multinational enterprise. To be sure, these...

How to create an intelligent corporation: the riddle is getting the right data to the right people.(THOUGHT LEADER)
November 1, 2005... The problem CEOs face today is not acquiring and storing data. Rather, it is turning that data into useful insight that enables them to better manage their businesses and seek competitive advantage. So how do you go about creating an...

McDonald's salad days: despite the death of two CEOs, the company has been able to dramatically remake its menu--and spur new sales.(Cover Story)
November 1, 2005... When Jim Skinner was promoted to vice chairman of McDonald's in 2002 by newly appointed Chief Executive Jim Cantalupo, he was thrilled at the chance to help his old colleague try to revive their lifelong employer. They hatched what they called...

Best companies for leaders: P & G's A.G. Lafley is No. 1 for 2005.(Interview)
November 1, 2005... Somewhere out in the global sprawl of 160 countries where Procter & Gamble sells its products is a 35-year-old manager who, one day, will be CEO. And the company's current chief executive, A.G. Lafley, sitting at headquarters back in...

Wanted: real CEOs; Private equity firms are no longer just content with financial reengineering--they want operating savvy.(PRIVATE EQUITY)
November 1, 2005... Jack Welch does it. Lou Gerstner does it. So does Colin Powell's son, Michael, the former Federal Communications Commission chairman. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] These are just a few of the boldface business names that have entered the...

Japan's new clout: Japanese companies have made impressive gains in many manufacturing sectors.(GLOBAL)(Company Profile)
November 1, 2005... It is not often that a company's public relations department publicly contradicts the chairman of the board, but that is what happened at Toyota Motor this past April. The episode began when Chairman Hiroshi Okuda hinted that the Japanese car...

Philips' big idea: can Gerard Kleisterlee and his team make Philips Electronics the leading player in health care technology?(MANAGEMENT)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... After years of earnings disappointments, Royal Philips Electronics is attempting a transformation it hopes will catapult it into a leadership role in the U.S. health care technology market. CEO Gerard Kleisterlee and his management board sat...

Novell bets its future on Linux: CEO Jack Messman hopes open source software will take a bite out of Microsoft.(TECHNOLOGY)(Company Profile)
November 1, 2005... In the early 1980s, a Utah-based start-up called Novell Data Systems announced a new line of personal computer hardware--but it came just one month before IBM released competing products at a quarter of the price. Novell's offering obviously...

Trench fighting: former business leaders are trying to fix our troubled schools.(EDUCATION)
November 1, 2005... Back when Don Gaetz was running a health care company with annual revenues of $500 million, school buses were never an action item. But on a drizzly Friday this past August, the school superintendent of Okaloosa County, Fla., was preoccupied...

The CEO's role in innovation: can a leader personally drive new ideas? Yes.(ROUNDTABLE)
November 1, 2005... With new technologies constantly threatening to upend old strategies and business disruptions occurring so frequently that Moore's Law is beginning to feel like a snail's pace, innovation has become an imperative for most CEOs. "It's a word...

Getting the axe: guitar collecting can rock your investment portfolio.(EXECUTIVE LIFE)
November 1, 2005... Anyone who's ever heard a Jimi Hendrix solo knows that guitars can produce fantastic sounds, and anyone who's ever ogled the curves of a Fender Stratocaster will tell you they're mighty stylish as well. But the instrument's appeal goes well...

Sour mash supreme: learning to savor premium bourbons.(EXECUTIVE LIFE)
November 1, 2005... Bold and fiery in its most generic form, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey is jokingly referred to as an uncouth and coarse swig for banjo-infatuated rabble-rousers. But at its best, America's only native spirit is, in fact, a deliciously...

Does absence make the heart grow fonder? Missing work doesn't always serve the greater good.(FLIP SIDE)
November 1, 2005... Lately, we have seen a disconcerting spate of articles in the press about the wonderful things executives and their underlings can achieve when they are not actually in the office. A recent Wall Street Journal article gushed about the rising...

Turning the tide on workers' comp: while workers' compensation costs have risen dramatically in recent years, new approaches and legislation are opening the door to real change.(CEO VOICES)
November 1, 2005... In 1993, then-Governor Pete Wilson of California signed a high-profile bill that reformed the state's workers' compensation system. That system was seen by many as a costly burden that was prompting businesses to leave the state. With the...

Fighting costs with culture.(SPEAKING OUT)
November 1, 2005... In the fight to control workers' comp costs, the $40 billion Albertsons grocery chain works on two fronts, says CEO Larry Johnston: "The development of a safety culture inside the company, and working with health care providers to manage costs...

Paying attention to the basics.(SPEAKING OUT)
November 1, 2005... At Hyatt Hotels, workers' compensation is a vital issue in part because of the size of the workforce and in part because of the nature of the work involved. The Chicago-based chain operates 123 hotels in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean,...

Looking at the big picture.(SPEAKING OUT)
November 1, 2005... As important as it is, workers' compensation is just one aspect of the skyrocketing health care costs that businesses cope with today. To tackle the issue on a broader scale, companies should take a more holistic view of employee health, says...

The CEO's role in reengineering health care.
November 1, 2005... Private health insurance and occupational health (which includes workers' compensation) cost U.S. businesses more than $1 trillion annually, but employers now have the opportunity to take control of these burgeoning costs. [ILLUSTRATION...

Let the energy debate begin.(EDITORIAL)
November 1, 2005... JUDGING FROM our latest CEO Confidence Index, energy woes worry corporate leaders more than any recent disaster that has hit the U.S. economy (page 10). So it's pretty remarkable that the country is not even engaging in a credible debate...

Word of advice to the UAW.(FINALWORD)(United Automobile Workers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... IT'S A PIVOTAL MOMENT for U.S. manufacturing. Delphi's bankruptcy decision and General Motors' tentative deal with the United Auto Workers to reduce health care costs appear to be opening shots in the Big Three's efforts to radically alter...