Management Today articles from March 2004

Management Today archives from March 2004

Contributors.
March 1, 2004... FRANK FUREDI As author of The Culture of Fear, Paranoid Parenting and Therapy Culture, the University of Kent's professor of sociology is not afraid to confront society's panics and neuroses. Furedi reviews Gregg Easterbrook's The Progress...

In sickness and in wealth.
March 1, 2004... There is something splendidly Gallic and irascible about Jean-Pierre Garnier, chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline. Last year when he was caught up in one of the worst fat-cat pay rows in living memory, he blithely told critics that 'I am not...

IN MY OPINION: Chartered management institute.
March 1, 2004... Chartered Management Institute companion Penny Egan, executive director of the RSA, explores how institutions can inspire change. David Brent may consider himself to be an inspirational leader, but he wasn't fooling anyone else around The...

THE MT DIARY: Howard Davies - director of the London School of Economics.
March 1, 2004... Our man in Davos finds the US paranoid, the British low-key and the French in retreat. This year's World Economic Forum conference in Davos lacked a great theme. Last year, the imminence of war in Iraq provided a strong focus for...

BRAINFOOD: Ten ways to ... Manage deadlines.
March 1, 2004... 1: Don't agree to ridiculous target dates 2: Ask for more time from the outset 3: Find out what the real deadline is 4: Plan your work ahead 5: Always build in contingency time 6: Start work immediately 7: Ask for help before you need...

BRAINFOOD: It'll never fly - Quorn.
March 1, 2004... It's oddly shaped, shrivelled, beige and odourless until cooked. Quorn, the edible fungus loved by vegetarians but likened by foodies to cardboard, has become the unlikely hero of the meat-free world. Dismissed by the uninitiated as a poor...

BRAINFOOD: Unlikely managers - choreographer Mark Baldwin, Artistic director, Rambert Dance Company.(Interview)
March 1, 2004... When did you become a manager? When I started my own company in 1993. I've been artistic director here for over a year. What does management mean to you? Managing the workflow of all the departments - technical, sound, marketing,...

BRAINFOOD: Earning curve - Architecture.
March 1, 2004... Lord Foster, Foster & Partners (2001-02): pounds 6.1m Daniel Libeskind, Freedom Tower (Ground Zero), fees: pounds 2.8m Principal architect, London, p.a.: pounds 85k Architect, partner or design director, London, p.a.: pounds 65k...

BRAINFOOD: Workplace rights - Working time trials.
March 1, 2004... Working time is sure to be one of the hot pommes de terre in employment this year, thanks to the launch of a major consultation exercise by the European Commission. This is no surprise. The Commission has for some time been making worried...

BRAINFOOD: Look after the pennies - Tightening the belt.
March 1, 2004... It's no longer rare for a company to spend big bucks on redesigning staff uniforms. Alitalia chose Armani, British Airways opted for Julien Macdonald, and Air France invited Christian Lacroix to produce its latest collection. Attitudes...

BRAINFOOD: Your route to the top - Think afresh.
March 1, 2004... Identify your assumptions. The most frequent block to creative thinking is the boundaries we create in our mind before we start. Appraisals don't have to be done by bosses; presentations can be delivered without slides. Allow time. When we...

BRAINFOOD: Words-worth - Extreme.
March 1, 2004... In these difficult times, we must all be on the lookout for extremism. Starting with the marketing department. There, 'extreme' has become a term of approval, used to apply a little spray-on excitement to otherwise mundane products. Your...

BRAINFOOD: Are you suffering from acquired situational narcissism.
March 1, 2004... In classical narcissism the sufferer has a deluded sense of self-importance. A person with Acquired Situational Narcissism develops symptoms (including anxiety and substance abuse) when, for instance, he is promoted to CEO unexpectedly and...

BRAINFOOD: We'd love that job, Wine buyer - Angela Mount, wine buying manager, Somerfield.(Interview)
March 1, 2004... What do you do? I'm involved in everything to do with wine, from the vineyard to the table. I'm responsible for the selection and branding of our wines, including the blending of our own brands. When I first joined Somerfield, my brief was...

BRAINFOOD: Remember this.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... 'The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer' PETER DRUCKER SAID IT 'The real price of everything... is the toil and trouble of acquiring it' ADAM SMITH SAID IT.

BRAINFOOD: Sir John Collins, chairman of Dixons Group - If I had to start again ..
March 1, 2004... I'd love to be a world-class tenor with the talent and passion of Pavarotti. But dream on - I never had the talent; we can discuss the passion! Today, my wish would be to free Zimbabwe, my birthplace, from the tyrant Mugabe and do justice...

BRAINFOOD: How she made her pile - Ann Gloag, Co-founder and non-executive director, Stagecoach.
March 1, 2004... Who is she? Gloag and her brother Brian Souter (together now worth pounds 159 million) founded public transport concern Stagecoach in 1980. How did she make her millions? They took over small city bus firms and priced rivals out of...

BRAINFOOD: Us and them - Turkey.
March 1, 2004... Turkey's government has had a difficult task maintaining economic stability since a growing trade deficit and serious weaknesses in the banking sector tipped the economy into crisis in late 2000. An agreement with the IMF and tighter fiscal...

BRAINFOOD: Speaking out - John Sunderland, Chairman, Cadbury Schweppes.
March 1, 2004... Charismatic Sunderland is not. However, it was clear he had reflected on who his audience were: HR directors from leading UK companies and members of the HR 100 Club. There was no smile, no fireworks and a rather halting start. But little by...

BRAINFOOD: How to get ahead in Management consultancy.
March 1, 2004... 1: Consultancies are either generalist or niche, and will cover different areas (eg, strategy, outsourcing). Choose your target firm carefully. 2: Top recruiters include Accenture, Bain & Co and McKinsey. Apply for summer internships and...

BRAINFOOD: The Slogan Doctor - Halifax; Always giving you extra.
March 1, 2004... The roots of this slogan go back to 1979, when Halifax plc was the Halifax Building Society. Back then, it wanted a slogan that emphasised its name: how many other British towns end in X? From X came Xtra, then 'Get a little Xtra help'. And...

BRAINFOOD: Crash course in ... Data protection.
March 1, 2004... A letter has arrived from a customer demanding a copy of your records on her. She's got a bee in her bonnet about the Data Protection Act, and reckons you've breached it by selling her details. Alarm bells ring: you've no idea what the Act...

BRAINFOOD: MT Masterclass - Synergy.
March 1, 2004... What is it? We all love synergy. If you can work the S word into your business presentations you'll surely win the admiration of colleagues. Synergy occurs when two or more business units combine with super efficiency, producing better...

BRAINFOOD: Decisions; Lizzie Vann, Baby Organix - The pioneer of organic infant food reviews her choices.
March 1, 2004... MY BEST... Deciding to go with babies as our customers for our organic food brand was probably my best decision. In 1992 a friend and I were discussing food sectors for Organix. We considered different types of groceries, from breakfast...

BRAINFOOD: Behind the spin - WH Smith.
March 1, 2004... THE DILEMMA WH Smith - what's it for? It's the existential crisis that new chief executive Kate Swann is currently grappling with. On the one hand, WH Smith possesses a name recognisable to every high street shopper (70% of us use an...

Bonuses of contention.
March 1, 2004... The British would accept high executive pay if they could see the country benefitting. Business leaders just want to be loved. There they were, gathered together at the QE2 Conference Centre in London to help Gordon Brown in his quest to...

Enough of the T-word.(teamwork)
March 1, 2004... The truth about teamwork is that individual members must be allowed to shine. NATP is the ultimate contemporary workplace putdown: 'Not A Team Player'. All performance management systems contain a section on 'ability to work in a team'....

Techno life.(Simon Nixon, Moneysupermarket.com)(Interview)
March 1, 2004... Simon Nixon, National Business Award-winning CEO and co-founder of mortgage and credit card comparison website moneysupermarket.com, is choosy about technology. His mobile is often switched off, he uses a paper diary and has thrown away his...

BOOKS: If things are getting better, why do we feel so anxious?(The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... The Progress Paradox: How life gets better while people feel worse; Gregg Easterbrook; Random House, USdollars 24.95; MT price: pounds 15.99 (see panel, p34) - This book looks to positive psychology as the path back to happiness But...

BOOKS: On the bedside table of Gerald Corbett.
March 1, 2004... 'I'm reading Lend Me Your Ears by Boris Johnson, Roy Jenkin's Churchill biography, First Light by Geoffrey Wellum, a personal account of a spitfire pilot, and The Courts of the Morning by John Buchan, a favourite author. I'm also reading Does...

BOOKS: Three of a kind - The not-so-gentle art of persuasion.(How to Negotiate Effectively)(Fierce Conversations)(Essential Negotiation)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... How to Negotiate Effectively; David Oliver; Kogan Page, pounds 7.99 - Here's a book that covers the basics of effective negotiation without being boring. The negotiation tips will see you through business meetings and commercial...

BOOKS: How bosses got it wrong.(Bad Company: The Strange Cult of the CEO)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Bad Company: The strange cult of the CEO; Gideon Haigh; Aurum Press, pounds 6.99. - This writer offers telling insights into company failings, reports Philip Augar. Alfred Sloan was the first CEO to make it to the cover of Fortune...

BOOKS: How elastic is your brand?(Brand Stretch)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Brand Stretch; David Taylor; Wiley, pounds 19.99. - Sound advice on how to extend an asset profitably is welcomed by Robert Jones. If you've ever had a Mars ice-cream, you've tasted brand stretch. The idea is simple: take something...

THE MT INTERVIEW: JP Garnier, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.(Jean-Pierre Garnier )(Interview)
March 1, 2004... The French-born CEO of GlaxoSmithKline has been pilloried for his huge salary demands, but he's not sorry. He and his executives will have earned their high rewards, he insists, if they deliver vital medicines to a world in dire need....

China dreams.
March 1, 2004... The sleeping giant has awoken at last and is doing brisk business. And Heathrow-Beijing club class is perennially full. Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics, and his colleague Linda Yueh investigate the possibilities. ...

How to make creativity contagious.
March 1, 2004... Companies may identify fresh thinking as a core value, but this doesn't square with a corporate strategy in which minimising risk is seen as a virtue. How can an organisation adapt its culture to embrace innovation? Stefan Stern reports. ...

Football's most effective manager.(Charlton Athletic)
March 1, 2004... Charlton Athletic's rise through the ranks is no fluke: it is the story of a model club with, in Alan Curbishley, a model manager. Ian Wylie reports on a tale of long-term planning that is paying off. Haven't you been listening to a word...

Data Goldmine.
March 1, 2004... Information is power, and doing the numbers is big business these days. From corporate databases to credit agencies, more companies know more about their customers than ever before. Andrew Saunders reports. In the climactic scene of The...

THE MT EXECUTIVE CAR OF THE YEAR AWARD: The Fabulous 5 Series.
March 1, 2004... As MT's first-ever motoring laurels go to the latest offering from BMW, the uncrowned king of the business class market, Stephen Bayley deconstructs the success of the German car-maker's blue-and-white roundel. The most remarkable machines...

MT SURVEY OF SURVEYS: Hotels.
March 1, 2004... In this business, size matters. With war and pestilence testing the luxury end, operators have focused on budget brands. But, as recession fades, the chains can tap revived corporate demand, says Gillian Upton. Remember when rooms at the...

MT BUSINESS TRAVEL: Room service where Michael Cunnah stays ..(The Landmark at Marylebone in London.)(Gleneagles at Auchterarder in Scotland.)(Hotel Review)
March 1, 2004... FOR BUSINESS I attended a two-day conference at The Landmark at Marylebone in London about 14 months ago, so it made sense to stay there overnight. The main characteristic of this well-established station hotel is that it's a very old...

MT BUSINESS TRAVEL: On the road.
March 1, 2004... Say it out loud: Maserati. The very name resonates with romance, glamour and the promise of speed. Even if you don't know what a Maserati looks like - quite likely, because they are rare beasts - the implied allure of this very Italian name...

MT BUSINESS TRAVEL: Frequent flyer - Mark Bowman's guide to Dubai.
March 1, 2004... HOW TO GET THERE I fly with Emirates direct from Manchester to Dubai International. The flight takes about seven hours. AIRPORT TO TOWN If you fly business class with Emirates, the airline provides a courtesy car into town, as do...

What's your problem?
March 1, 2004... Q: My father wants my brother and me to share the running of the family stationery business when he retires, but I think it will be a disaster. We're completely different characters. My brother is popular with the staff, but doesn't...

First-class coach.
March 1, 2004... Q: I've been in business with a friend for four years and I now feel I am carrying her. I do two-thirds of the business, but we split the proceeds equally. I have ambitious plans for the company, but she wants it to stay small. She's not...

MT BUSINESS LIFEFORMS: The Retiring Chairman - Sir David Saunders, chairman of Ammco plc.
March 1, 2004... Now portly and florid, with a bluff Yorkshire manner, Sir David Saunders has been the chairman of retail giant Ammco for as long as anyone can remember. Until recently, he was one of the FTSE's few remaining executive chairmen. Then pressure...