Management Today articles from February 2008

Management Today archives from February 2008

Stepping out of the Shadows.
February 1, 2008... We don't go in for politics often in MT: it might lose us friends and readers and alienate people. Last time we had a politico on the cover was Tony Blair, and that was three years ago. We make no excuses for taking the opportunity to quiz...

Contributors.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... HOWARD DAVIES LSE director Sir Howard turns Dr Spock, examining The Logic of Life: Uncovering the new economics of everything by Tim Harford. It's a witty book, he says, but falls short of its lofty ambition. In his MT Diary, Davies covers...

Chartered Management Institute: In My Opinion.
February 1, 2008... Chartered Management Institute Companion Tom Black argues that leaders need to regain control of ever more complex information. With the industrial and mobility revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries behind us, we now find ourselves in...

The MT Diary.
February 1, 2008... How high the Loony?; US's spent consumers; 'epiphany risk' syndrome; leaner times. Ottawa is not necessarily the place I'd recommend for a restorative midwinter break. The climate is, shall we say, bracing: it hovered around minus 15 when...

Ten ways to ... Chair a meeting.(Brief article)(List)
February 1, 2008... 1. Do your homework 2. Write a bullet-proof agenda 3. Stick to it 4. Know who your friends are 5. Pre-empt awkward questions 6. Give everyone a fair shout 7. Keep it moving 8. Have someone take minutes 9. Be clear about the next...

It'll never fly: TV Talent Shows.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Amateur talent shows should have died out with Opportunity Knocks In a 20-year run, the only memorable stars it yielded were Les Dawson, Frank Carson and Little and Large. And Bonnie Langford. Yet the novice has become king of the box again. We...

Dave's Eco-nomics: Stop the paper-chase.(use of paper)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... GREEN ALERT The paperless office has yet to take root, but the paperless desk is only a couple of minutes away. That's how long it takes the printer-happy among us to scoop up the discarded sheets that threaten to engulf us and chuck them...

Earning curve: Children.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... UK children's clothes market, p.a. pounds 6bn Daniel Radcliffe, earnings from playing Harry Potter, pounds 20m Eton, fees per pupil, p.a. pounds 27k Live-in au pair, p.a. pounds 3k Doula, complete birth services pounds 750 Babysitter,...

Workplace rights: Temporary setback.(relationship between employment services, employees and the client company)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Employment agency workers can have a hard time claiming unfair dismissal or redundancy pay, largely on account of the triangular relationship between the agency, the individual and the client company that is the end-user of his or her services....

History Lessons: Nurture Stakeholders - Marie Antoinette.(Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Born Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen in 1755, 15th child of the emperor and empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Marie Antoinette left Vienna at 15 to marry the French Dauphin. Out of her depth in the murky French court,...

Your route to the top: Maintain Momentum.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Find your flow. Set realistic goals that challenge you and you'll tap into what psychologists call 'flow'. Passion fuels momentum, so get excited about what you're doing. Plan ahead. When starting a project, establish who'll be involved...

Why business is like ... Terrace chanting.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Your typical lager-swilling football fan is unlikely to be at the top of any conductor's wish-list of choristers. Yet put 12,000 of them together in the Kop at Anfield and their rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone will choke the hearts of...

Do it right: Working with suppliers.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Set them straight. Brief them properly. They need to know what you want, when you need it, and how much you're willing to pay. Show them who is boss. There's a thin line between a supplier and a friend. Make sure you draw it. That makes it...

Slogan Doctor: Interflora 'the flower experts'.(Interflora British Unit Ltd.'s slogan)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Valentine's Day is upon us, when thoughts turn to flowers, and not the sort you get from petrol stations. It's a busy time for Interflora and its membership of 1,800 florists in the UK. Its current slogan, 'The Flower Experts', dates from...

How does he manage?: Polar Explorer - Pen Hadow.(Interview)
February 1, 2008... WHEN DID YOU BECOME A MANAGER? I led my first trip in 1989. I'd read a book by a German ornithologist, and decided to finish the journey he'd started. I quit my sports marketing job and went to the Arctic Ocean to photograph polar bears. I...

Remember This.(Quotation)
February 1, 2008... 'I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one.' - Brian Clough said it. 'It's only arrogance if you're wrong.' - Anonymous

Are you suffering from: The Streisand Effect.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Why is it that the more we try to hide or repress information, the more it's bound to be known by everybody and their brother? Those super clandestine relationships in the office are always public knowledge; any highly embarrassing and...

Words-worth: Turnkey.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... A 'turnkey' system is one that is ready for immediate operation. It may be as simple as a PC loaded with appropriate software or as complex as a nuclear power station. Or there's a 'turnkey contract', in which the supplier is not paid...

Stat of the Month: Flight from Blighty - 3.81m - Properties abroad owned by British and Irish citizens.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The credit squeeze may have rattled the tiles on the domestic property market, but the winds are blowing more kindly overseas. The market for British people buying abroad is expected to grow at 13% a year between now and 2012. And it was...

How he made his pile: Bono, Musician.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Who is he? The man behind the sunglasses photographed with everyone from the Pope to Kylie. Once a mere rock star, the U2 lead singer now roams the planet persuading leaders to cancel third-world debt. He's worth about pounds 118m. How did...

Peter Erskine: If I had to start again ..(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... I would love to have played football, but I was useless. It's like saying I'd like to fly if I just flap my arms. Opportunism got me where I am. I studied psychology, a bland degree that never led anywhere, but a friend said you got a car...

Crash Course in ... How to tender successfully.(tips in ensuring business deals)
February 1, 2008... Your business could do with winning some nice, juicy contracts. Trouble is, you often seem to hear about them when it's too late. And when you put in bids, you never seem to win. So how do you play this game? Look in the right places....

Masterclass: Entrepreneurialism.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... WHAT IS IT? Hard to spell and say, and even harder to live up to, entrepreneurialism is called for by business leaders and politicians. It is held up as the answer to many of our problems, in both the private and public sectors. It's a slippery...

Decisions: Katharine Roseveare and Tricia Weener - Intelligent Marketing, MD and director of the integrated marketing agency.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... OUR BEST... This differentiated us from our competitors. No other agency at the time claimed that they were able to define key performance indicators in advance of a campaign and then measure against them. We created bespoke tools that...

Behind the spin: Starbucks.(Starbucks Corp.)
February 1, 2008... THE DILEMMA Where would we be without Starbucks? No frappuccinos and no tall skinny lattes for a start. Actually, people are less bothered now about the ubiquity of the coffee chain (founded in Seattle in 1971) than they used to be - at...

Unfashionable character.(personality traits)
February 1, 2008... We judge art, books and wine, but offering an opinion on someone's personal qualities is seen as elitist. So how do we encourage integrity? The first headmaster of Stowe school, JF Roxburgh, wanted to turn out young men who would be...

Books: Sauce for goose and gander.(Why Women Mean Business: Understanding the emergence of our next economic revolution)(Book review)
February 1, 2008... In pondering the persistent failure of women to scale the corporate tree, this book argues that firms need to offer flexibility to both sexes. As we progresses through life, we encounter big questions. Most, we find, are answered with time...

Books: Brilliant insights of the dismal science.(The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World)(Book review)
February 1, 2008... The author finds rational explanations for behaviour patterns that perplex. Howard Davies likes his thinking - up to a point. The Logic of Life: Uncovering the new economics of everything Tim Harford Little, Brown pounds 12.99 He...

Books: Three of a kind - Lessons from the Battle Zone.(The 33 Strategies of War, The Royal Navy Officer's Pocket, Sun Tzu and the Art of Business)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The 33 Strategies of War Robert Greene Profile Books pounds 14.99 The Royal Navy Officer's Pocket-Book 1944 Compiled by Brian Lavery Conway pounds 6.99 Sun Tzu and the Art of Business Mark McNeilly OUP pounds 11.99

Books: It's not the deal but the ideal.(The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World )(Book review)
February 1, 2008... Social entrepreneurs are like their wealth-creating counterparts but their motive is to improve the lot of communities. Ian Wylie hails this study of the phenomenon. The Power of Unreasonable People: How social entrepreneurs create...

The MT Interview: George Osborne.(Interview)
February 1, 2008... In their hubris, the Brown gang ridiculed the Shadow Chancellor's youth in 2005. But the boy done good playing a blinder on inheritance tax and the jibes have faded away. As Labour flounders, his challenge is to rise above the scrummage for the...

PE goes into purgatory.(private equity)
February 1, 2008... Last year, this secretive sector found itself attacked by the unions and summoned by Parliament to explain how it made such huge profits yet paid less tax than the cleaner. The game is tougher now for private equity. James Taylor asks if it can...

Pessina's Promise.(Stefano Pessina's acquisition of Alliance Boots)(Interview)
February 1, 2008... Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina followed Alliance's merger with Boots by taking over the whole group in a bold PE-funded pounds 11bn deal. Can the proprietor of Alliance Boots - now a private firm - breathe new life into this 'old faithful'...

Where have all the IT girls gone?(information technology)
February 1, 2008... Only the most determined women thrive in the alien, male-dominated techie corner of the office. But the few who have would like to see more bright young women join them in this fast-moving and well-paid sector Emma de Vita reports, with case...

What's luck got to do with it?
February 1, 2008... Do other people seem to get all the breaks? Well, you should be so lucky. But you'll have to put yourself in the way of opportunity: get out of your routine, talk to people, share your ideas - and persevere Fortune smiles on the brave, says...

Bring back the TV Tycoons.(television programs portraying the business industry)
February 1, 2008... Once, scheming bosses and boardroom battles got top audience ratings. So why, asks John Morrish, have the colourful business characters been written out of the script? The mood in the boardroom is tense. The young man in the chair...

Why do business in ... Bangalore.(City overview)
February 1, 2008... In torrid India, Bangalore has long been renowned for its agreeable climate, a result of its elevation above sea level. With good reason, it is sometimes referred to as India's 'Garden City'. Today, Bangalore is best known as India's biggest IT...

MCA Management Awards.(Management Consultancies Association)(Table)
February 1, 2008... MT joins the Management Consultancies Association again to celebrate the best work of the brightest and most innovative teams advising organisations in both the private and public sectors. The winners will be selected from those listed below....

Motor Mouth.(Product/service evaluation)
February 1, 2008... The Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT Automatic may be rough at the edges, but it's devilishly handsome, says Sathnam Sanghera. Something has happened to the adjective 'executive'. It used to signify 'very expensive or exclusive', but now it...

Table Talk: Where Chris Moore eats ..(Maze)(Restaurant review)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Of all the fine dining options, the chef's table at London's Maze is top of the list. It offers wonderful food, but with all the kitchen action behind the conversation, it really becomes much more of an event. As it's a Gordon Ramsay...

First-Class Coach.(leadership styles)
February 1, 2008... You may be worried about assuming a more assertive style, but you have a lot to gain from it. Q: I've always cared about the people who work for me, but the further I climb within my organisation, the more troublesome I find the conflict...

What's your problem?
February 1, 2008... Today, the use of impenetrable jargon marks an executive out as a second-rater. Q: My department is seriously under-resourced, with further cuts to follow. My team is already running at full stretch and still I've been told to cut budgets....

What's your problem?(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Q: This might sound a bit flaky, but I don't think the company I work for is very fair. It's an intangible thing that I've chatted with my friends at work about, and it's something we all agree on. It's little things like big pay rises for...

What's your problem?(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Q: I work with someone who uses so much business jargon that he's almost unintelligible. He's forever onionising, strategising or monetising. It's irritating the hell out of me. I've gently taken the Michael but to little avail. What do you...

The Sharp End: Good or bad hair day?
February 1, 2008... Edited highlights of Dave Waller's stint as hairdresser's assistant at Vidal Sassoon. As a man who has only paid for a haircut three times in his life, I'm hardly a salon regular. So when MT sent me out to grapple with The Sharp End of the...