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

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

China: let's face reality.(Editor's Note; economy)
October 1, 2003... There's been a whiff of pathos in the appeals of Treasury Secretary John Snow that China allow its currency to float higher in value. Acting at the behest of some U.S. manufacturers, Snow seems to believe that tinkering with the renminbi will...

Barron's begs to differ.(Feedback; employment forecasts)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Editor's note: Barron's has argued that if the U.S. economy were to grow at a sufficient rate, about 3.8 percent, the country would stop losing jobs. So in an article in late August, it took issue with Chief Executive's findings. Excerpts: ...

'The Trophy Wife Trap'.(Feedback)
October 1, 2003... I was pleased to read the quote from Jonathan Klein, CEO of Getty Images, in your April cover story ("The CEO Trap"): "You can be a god at the office, but at home you're just the schmuck who takes out the garbage." Good for him!...

Good humor.(Feedback)
October 1, 2003... After reading, Joe Queenan's "In-Flight Madness" (Flip Side, August/September 2003), I decided he needs to get a life. I live in a community that relies heavily on Southwest Airlines. And while Southwest flight attendants' humor is not always...

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.(Darts ...)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... * BILL GATES AND STEVE BALLMER. Okay, guys, the weirdos creating all these worms and viruses are bad dudes. But part of what they seem to be saying makes a lot of sense--fix the software!

Freddie Mac's board.(Darts ...)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... * FREDDIE MAC'S BOARD. This group of directors--many of whom have served more than a decade and are well into their 70's--has had to fire yet another inept CEO. Oh, there's Sleepy. And there's Dopey. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho...

Intel's Craig Barrett. (Roses ...).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... * INTEL'S CRAIG BARRETT. The professorial CEO isn't exactly known as Mr. Sex Appeal. But when he revised Intel's forecast for third quarter sales upward, the markets swooned. Way to go, Craig, baby!

Michael Dell.(Roses ...)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... * MICHAEL DELL. See Michael run. See Michael steamroll the AM competition. He's cutting prices by 6 percent on desktop PCs and as much as 22 percent on network servers. Word to the wise: Get out of the way--or get flattened!

A tale of the tubes.(global; toothpaste containers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... By now, we're accustomed to seeing manufacturing get shipped overseas, much of it to China. And we're used to watching as business processes and technology functions are moved to India. But here's a strange new twist. An Indian company...

The world according to Big Mac.(CEO Watch)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Economists at Swiss bank UBS have done an intriguing analysis of prices and purchasing power. Call it the Big Mac Index (right). The economists analyzed the price of a Big Mac in relation to average hourly pay across 13 occupations. You'd think...

Some top multinationals.(CEO Watch)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Some Top Multinationals aren't as international as one might suspect. Karl Moore of McGill University and Alan Rugman of Indiana University did an analysis which revealed that only a handful of the largest players earn more than 50 percent of...

Confidence climbs higher, but not for Q4 growth.(CEO Confidence Index)
October 1, 2003... CEO confidence in the nation's economic recovery continued its steady climb this month, with many top executives beginning to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Yet most corporate leaders predict fourth quarter numbers will be...

Finding the will to grow.(Chief Concern; management)
October 1, 2003... It's been tempting to play defense lately. We witnessed the first global recession in more than a decade. September 11 shocked us all and was followed by more violence, war and political unrest. Corporate scandals drained investor confidence...

Getting the offshore equation just right.(Thought Leader)
October 1, 2003... First, it was about moving facilities from high cost areas to lower cost areas within the United States. Then it was about moving the same facilities to countries with lower labor costs. Over the past 30 years, businesses have consistently...

Gutting the CEO's power.(Thought Leader)
October 1, 2003... The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and new securities-exchange listing requirements may be removing the "chief" from chief executive. In many ways, these stricter rules are emasculating the role of the CEO. Not that some CEOs shouldn't be knocked off...

Is the role of COO obsolete?(C-Suite Confidential; chief operating officer)
October 1, 2003... Though not quite headed for endangered species status, the title of "chief operating officer" is becoming more difficult to find on organizational charts. Readers scanning the list of the" Business Leadership Team" at Microsoft, for example,...

In search of leaders: Whatever their strategy, CEOs are convinced that grooming top leaders is absolutely key to their companies' ability to compete.
October 1, 2003... Johnson & Johnson has a clear management challenge. The 117-year-old company consists of more than 200 distinct operating units, most led by a president or managing director. That gives each of these leaders operational autonomy. Yet at the...

Revving up the pipeline: Swiss-based Roche Holding is betting heavily that George Abercrombie can revive its American drug subsidiary. The patient is showing some signs of life.(Turnaround)
October 1, 2003... George Abercrombie, Roche Holding's top guy in the United States, has been administering first aid to the troubled drug company's American operations. "Roche has turned around," Abercrombie declares. "There's a noticeable, palpable feeling, a...

Pitney goes for growth: CEO Michael Critelli is determined to steer Pitney Bowes, the 83-year-old postage-meter company, into the digital age.(Profile)
October 1, 2003... Visit Michael Critelli, the chief executive of Pitney Bowes, in his office and ,you'll learn a lot about the man and the company. For starters, Pitney's six-story headquarters in Stamford, Conn., is not in the fanciest part of town. It's tucked...

Shareholder democracy: Led by an unlikely activist, the years-long push for shareholders' rights is suddenly gaining steam. Is CEO clout in the boardroom seriously at risk?(Corporate Governance)
October 1, 2003... In the annals of corporate reform, there may be few more unlikely crusaders than Robert A.G. Monks. Son of New England aristocrats, former Reagan administration official and former chairman of The Boston Company, a global asset-management firm,...

GM's pension gamble: like many other companies, General Motors has a huge pension problem. But are "co-cos" the way to solve it? The answer is: "it depends.".(Finance; contingent convertible bonds )
October 1, 2003... Baby boomers are thinking about their golden years, but American CEOs are wrestling with the soaring and potentially lethal pension liabilities that go along with that. U.S. corporate pension plans have pledged to pay out $1.5 trillion to...

Japan's landlord: for years, Minoru Mori has been transforming the Tokyo skyline. Now he has his sights set on even bigger projects.(Global)
October 1, 2003... Minoru Mori is not nearly as high profile as Donald Trump. But his impact on commercial real estate is arguably farther-reaching. While little known in the United States, Mori is famous in Japan as a master builder. President and CEO of...

Top 10 cars for CEOs: Chief Executive and Edmunds.com choose the best.(Wheels)
October 1, 2003... Best Sedans BMW 760Li By William J. Holstein It's not often that I find myself walking around a car wanting just to touch it. Indeed, to engage it with all senses. But those are the kinds of feelings the BMW 760Li inspires. It's...

Email hell.(Flip Side)
October 1, 2003... Spam has been much in the news lately. If the experts are to be believed, the drudgery of deleting unsolicited email--frequently of a libidinous nature--is now impairing the nation's productivity, requiring otherwise hard-working employees to...

A new assault on management.(editorial)
October 1, 2003... The battle for control of the American corporation is by no means over. The movement to introduce more "shareholder democracy" into the boardroom seems to be gaining. (See story, page 44.) The idea, which has received an apparently sympathetic...

Invisible CEOs: Why not speak out?(Final Word)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Which brings us to a related question: why are CEOs so invisible in our society? When we at the magazine invite CEOs to be speak out on an issue, we often hear answers like this, "I'm just going to let my numbers do the talking. The minute I...