Management Today articles from July 2004

Management Today archives from July 2004

Contributors.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... ALEX GARRETT Former Observer staffer Garrett, who writes on the pressures directors face, has just started his own firm, FastWords, which specialises in writing for business. 'So far,' he says, 'an invitation to join the IOD has not...

The feminist cause endures.
July 1, 2004... Like most lists, our Most Powerful Women feature makes for great reading. Every time MT publishes its Most Powerful Women list, it is customary for the Editorial to make the point that there must come a time in evolution when the feature...

In my opinion - Chartered Management Institute.(Interview)
July 1, 2004... Chartered Management Institute companion Sir Christopher O'Donnell, CEO of Smith & Nephew, believes in well-managed innovation. Ask six people in a room what innovation means and you're likely to get six different definitions. Perhaps...

The MT diary.
July 1, 2004... Schmoozed by Gordon; it's the economy again, stupid; no escape from that Diarmuid. The Treasury has always been ambivalent about its relationship with the financial services industry. Over the past decade, it has gradually taken over...

Brain food: Ten ways to ensure payment.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Always agree payment terms upfront Send invoices promptly Make sure you invoice the right person Understand your client's payment systems Know the names of its accounts people Always be polite with accounts people Call them the week...

Brain food: It'll never fly - Ikea.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
July 1, 2004... Who'd go to a furniture store that expects you to build its furniture yourself? Who'd spend a Saturday afternoon searching for products that are often out of stock, wait in long checkout queues, lug home unwieldy flatpacks and spend six hours...

Brain food: Unlikely managers - Coach tour guide - Adrian van Hecke, driver/courier, Shearings Holidays.(Interview)
July 1, 2004... When did you become a manager? In 1988 when I first started here and was sent out with a coachload of people. What does management mean to you? It means looking after the welfare and safety of the passengers, and making sure they're...

Brain food: Earning curve - The Olympics.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Global broadcast revenue, Athens 2004 pounds 849m Lord Coe, chairman, London 2012 bid, p.a. pounds 150k Doping control officer, UK Sport, per test pounds 80 Illegal building worker, Athens, per day pounds 10-pounds 20 Sir Roger Bannister,...

Brain food: Workplace rights - Sever with care.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Let's not beat about the bush. It is not uncommon for employers to pay off a member of staff without observing formal procedures or the niceties of employment law. A common way of doing this is to invite employees to a 'without prejudice'...

Brain food: Look after the pennies Captain Hook.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A veteran male nurse from Wolverhampton has come up with an idea that will save the National Health Service millions of pounds and turn him into a rich man. A nurse for nearly 20 years, John Edwards has designed a pounds 14 plastic hook for...

Brain food: Your route to the top make a great start.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Take your time. You don't need to have all the answers immediately, so don't let anyone force you into rushed conclusions. Help people out. Being considerate will make you popular and give you a good sense of what people do and what gets...

Brain food: Words-worth skill set.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Recently, a big property company was in the news when a man it had been courting as chief executive suddenly took a job elsewhere. 'This is a much closer fit to his skill set,' explained one observer. But what is your skill set? 'Skill' is an...

Brain food: Are you suffering from histrionic personality disorder.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Every office has one: he's the guy with the fancy Savile Row suit and a tendency to curse and gesticulate violently. He'll storm out of a meeting when someone objects to an idea, and turn mean if you don't shake with enthusiasm and praise him...

Brain food: We'd love that job - Party organiser - Peregrine Armstrong-Jones, Bentley's Entertainments.(Interview)
July 1, 2004... What do you do? My company runs more than 350 parties a year, ranging from private parties and weddings to company bashes. I was in Barbados last December for a 40th birthday and I've travelled to Paris, Russia and Morocco to facilitate...

Brain food: Remember this.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... 'Most people get ahead during the time that others waste time' - HENRY FORD SAID IT 'Big will not beat small any more. It will be the fast beating the slow' - RUPERT MURDOCH SAID IT.

Brain food: Sir Hugh Collum - If i had to start again.(Brief Article)(Biography)
July 1, 2004... I'd have gone to university. Not going is one of my regrets. I had an opportunity with Lybrand early on and signed up for that. My father probably breathed a sigh of relief and never mentioned going to university to me, but I think I'd have had...

Brain food: How he made his pile - Tom Hunter, Retail Entrepreneur.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Who is he? Scotland's richest self-made millionaire, worth pounds 500 million. He is only 43 years old. How did he make his millions? Hunter started 20 years ago with a pounds 5,000 loan from his greengrocer father to set up footwear...

Brain food: Us and them - Hungary.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Hungary, the home of goulash, is one of eastern Europe's most open economies, having embraced aspects of the free market while still under Communist rule. It joined the EU on 1 May, and about three-quarters of its exports are now sent there, up...

Brain food: Speaking out - Tom Peters, management guru.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... At 61, Tom Peters is the guru's guru. For 30 years he has been touring the world, expounding his theories on excellence in business in the hope that others will succeed. He remains undimmed in his iconoclastic enthusiasm, but cuts a fuller...

Brain food: How to get ahead in infomation technology.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... 1. An IT or engineering degree helps. For your first job, target IT giants such as Microsoft and Oracle, or tech-heavy companies, such as banks. 2. Prove yourself by demonstrating ability and enthusiasm when working on your first live...

Brain food: The slogan doctor - Velvet: love your bum.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Workers in the Velvet toilet paper factory love the spongy, springy rolls so much they like to play around with them. At least, they do in the ad - a slow-motion evocation of softness, to which is appended the slogan 'Love your bum'. Toilet...

Brain food: Crash course in using academic researchers.
July 1, 2004... You have to develop a next-generation product, but your technical department isn't up to it. You discover that the local university has a department devoted to this kind of technology. Time for academic collaboration? Could someone else do...

Brain food: MT Masterclass.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... PRODUCTIVITY What is it? It all depends, as Professor Joad used to say, on what you mean by productivity. You can measure it per capita or per hours worked. Are we talking about manufacturing, or services too? Overall US productivity...

Brain food: Decisions Angus Thirlwell, Hotel Chocolat, co-founder/MD of the luxury mail order chocolate firm.(Interview)
July 1, 2004... MY BEST... The best thing we did was to rebrand ChocExpress as Hotel Chocolat. We'd been ChocExpress since our launch in 1993, but by 2003 we felt the name had shortcomings. The business had changed over the past 10 years, and the brand...

Brain food: Behind the spin - Abbey.
July 1, 2004... THE DILEMMA Life has become complicated for Britain's sixth-largest bank. Abbey (formerly Abbey National) suffered a record pounds 686 million loss last year, caused in part by its disastrous foray into corporate banking - a strategy it is...

M&S [Marks & Spencers] suits: Rose nicely.(Philip Green and Stuart Rose.)
July 1, 2004... The retailer chain's boss contrasts strikingly with the maverick outsider Philip Green. Entrepreneurs do not fit easily into the corporate mould. They take quick decisions and risks that would be judged unacceptable in the conventional...

Symptom of insecurity.(www.cbi.org.uk)
July 1, 2004... The clampdown on 'sickie' absenteeism by some employers will harm staff relations. Breaking news... 'Millions of extra hours are being lost by UK organisations through the carrying out of 'unwarranted' and unscientific studies on absence...

Techno life.
July 1, 2004... With his wafer-thin laptop, Powerpoint-capable PDA and James Bond-style USB wristwatch, AstraZeneca's business engagement director Torben Takle-Jensen is a walking, talking compendium of all the latest technology. And it comes as no surprise -...

Books: Work is a means to an end in pursuit of the good life.(Willing Slaves - How the overwork culture is ruling our lives)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... This polemical book argues against the culture of toiling for ever-longer hours, but the critical issue, says John Knell, is the quality of work rather than the quantity. Willing Slaves - How the overwork culture is ruling our lives;...

Books: On the bedside table of Lindsay Sinclair.(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... 'I'm reading Tommy: The British soldier on the western front - a history of the First World War. I saw Journey's End at the theatre last month and wanted to learn more about the experiences of the ordinary British soldier. Also, the Lonely...

Books: Three of a kind - Getting the better of stress.(The Which? Guide to Managing Stress Steps to Success: Deal with Stress Stress: A Brief History)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... THE WHICH? GUIDE TO MANAGING STRESS; Mark Greener; Penguin pounds 10.99 This extensive guide to recognising and relieving the symptoms of stress provides practical information on living with stress and its effects on health. It also...

Books: Robinson's casebook.(I'll Show Them Who's Boss! the Six Secrets of Successful Management )(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... This work of two halves seems to suffer from schizophrenia, says Francis Beckett. I'LL SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS - THE SIX SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT By Gerry Robinson; BBC Books pounds 16.99; MT price pounds 14.99 Gerry...

Books: China - danger, handle with care.(Mr China)(China: The Race to Market)(The China Dream)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... These books warn potential investors that this landscape is littered with the wrecks of failed joint ventures, says Alan Kemp. In Mr China, Tim Clissold tells the story of a private equity fund that invested in 20 Chinese companies. He was...

Britain's 50 most powerful women: The definitive list.
July 1, 2004... MT's new roll call has no room for those on the margins of business: the leading females listed are all in the thick of corporate life, providing hope and inspiration where a struggle is often still required. Rebecca Hoar reports. It's 22...

So you want to be a director?
July 1, 2004... Tighter rules on corporate governance and the risk of personal liability for executives at rogue firms make a boardroom seat less inviting, reports Alexander Garrett. For nine former board members of insurance company Equitable Life, it is...

The first Earl of speed.(Motor sport and Goodwood stately home.)
July 1, 2004... Motor sport is just one of the events that - thanks to the enterprising Earl of March - gives Goodwood a glorious future. Stephen Bayley reports. This is the first MT article to be written in a hermit's cave. But then it's about Goodwood,...

Diary of an MBO.(Julian Hough of newly independent advertising agency WCRS shows Dominic Mills his.)(Interview)
July 1, 2004... For executives dreaming of escape, buying the company they work for is a popular route to self-determination. But what's it like? Julian Hough of newly independent advertising agency WCRS shows Dominic Mills his. As he cycled in from...

The MT interview: John Gieve, Home Office.(Interview)
July 1, 2004... As the civil service's head at the Home Office, he runs a government department under relentless media scrutiny in key areas such as policing, prisons, immigration and security. Can he really bring better focus and efficiency to what critics...

Corporate entertainment.
July 1, 2004... UK companies are thought to spend pounds 750 million a year on the business of hospitality. Where does the money go, and is it well spent? Mike Fletcher has the statistics. Nelson Mandela once said: 'Sport unites people in a way politics...

MT [Management Today] business travel: Room service where Lynne Brindley stays.(The Island Hotel in Tresco, Isles of Scilly, and The Algronquin Hotel in New York.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... FOR BUSINESS My favourite is the Algonquin Hotel in New York. As it's in mid-town Manhattan, you can walk to everywhere and see the city. The hotel is unique because of its history. It has always attracted writers, including Simone de...

Manangement Today business travel: On the road.
July 1, 2004... The Rolls Royce Phantom is a haven, the engine barely heard, bumps balmed away. Take a tour of the new Rolls-Royce factory in Sussex and, if you're vaguely patriotic, you might feel creeping disappointment. You're likely to be impressed by...

What's your problem?(Organization.)
July 1, 2004... Q: After 28 years in business and commercial IT roles, I've moved to the public sector. My new boss is one of the most disorganised I've ever had. Meetings overrun, start late or are forgotten. Time management is dismissed as a 'load of...

First-class coach.
July 1, 2004... Q: I've joined a new firm in a very visible key role. To my frustration, the company is hidebound by tradition, everything is decided in (long) meetings, and the bureaucracy is unbelievable. How can I make it clear that I find this approach...

MT business travel: Frequent flyer - John Drummond's guide to Sydney.
July 1, 2004... HOW TO GET THERE: I usually fly with Qantas or KLM from London, but it's all much of a muchness. The plane has to stop en route as it's such a long flight, and I like to break the journey in Singapore. If I've got time, I'll spend a couple of...

MT business lifeforms: The eternal middle manager - Peter Hall, manager of new accounts, Standard Mutual.(Biography)
July 1, 2004... Somewhere between 9.23 and 9.27 every morning, Peter Hall arrives at the office, puts down his coffee and, after opening a battered, anonymous briefcase with fussy care, switches on his computer. He offers those around him a cheery 'Good...