Journal of Business Strategy articles from May 1996

Journal of Business Strategy archives from May 1996

At the auction with AT&T and IBM. (downsizing)
May 1, 1996... With much of corporate America still taking the staff-reduction route to boosting profitability, the issue of executive pay has become a focus in the news. So has the issue of managing major downsizing efforts. Facts and figures on IBM and AT&T...

Seven really obvious truths about reengineering. (reengineering at Albemarle Corp.)
May 1, 1996... When Albemarle Corporation was created as a $2.2 billion spin off of Ethyl Corporation's specialty chemical businesses in 1994, president and COO Gary Cook found himself at the helm of a company that lacked viable strategies for growth. Its...

Survival of the biggest? (business consulting)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 1996... After shining the guiding light on virtually every major reengineering project undertaken in the last three years, the consulting industry finds itself managing some change and growth of its own. It's occurring on three fronts in particular - the...

Low cost chemical giant. (Huntsman Corp.)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1996... Jon Huntsman broke the mold in commodity chemicals, building a $4-billion company that is still family run. Is there an IPO in this man's future? Looking for growth? Think you'll find it in a mature, capital-intensive, cyclical industry like...

Dropping the big one on cancer. (Huntsman Cancer Institute at University of Utah)
May 1, 1996... The Huntsman family has committed at least $100 million to genetic research on the causes of cancer, the "seed money" establishing the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University, of Utah in Salt Lake City. As medical research grants go, that's a...

Tactical site selection. (business location)(includes related articles)
May 1, 1996... These days every Important trend In business converges on the decision to relocate. Spotting trends in corporate site selection is, on a certain level, almost too easy. This is because the reason companies relocate never changes. Nor do the...

Boomtown, North Carolina: Charlotte is a top Southeast option. (business environment in Charlotte, North Carolina)(Tactical Site Selection)
May 1, 1996... In the early 1990s, insurer Transamerica Corp. found two of its divisions seriously hampered by time zone differences. With a preponderance of their accounts in midwestern and eastern states, workers in the Los Angeles-based reinsurance and...

The comeback kid: Philadelphia resurgent. (business relocation to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)(Tactical Site Selection)
May 1, 1996... In the early 1990s, Philadelphia, struck hard by the national recession, saw its bond rating plummet to junk levels and its municipal government come perilously close to missing a payroll. Companies in the city's traditional manufacturing sector...

Escape to Spokane: an inland island of commercial sanity. (Spokane, Washington)(Tactical Site Selection)
May 1, 1996... Just what was it that drove Scanivalve Corp. out of San Diego and into Spokane? "Government regulators," is the tormented reply of Ted Bantis, marketing director for the manufacturer of air pressure measurement equipment. "You really shouldn't...

Breaking the Texas paradigm: the University of Texas turns Austin into silicon gulch.(Tactical Site Selection)
May 1, 1996... Though universities are often viewed as commercial assets by surrounding communities, few have played as critical a role as the University of Texas at Austin in shaping the local economy. Its big coup came in the 1980s when the university,...

A downunder option on Asia: Australia offers low cost and a good mix of Eastern and Western culture. (Australia as industrial location of multinational corporations)(Tactical Site Selection)
May 1, 1996... Australia has set its sights on overtaking Singapore as the preferred headquarters location for multinational companies operating in the Asia Pacific region. And the country is closing fast on its objective, now hosting 200 regional headquarters...

Ireland becomes a European beachhead: skilled labor attracts U.S. and Japanese high-tech operations.(Tactical Site Selection)
May 1, 1996... The Republic of Ireland is allowed, under European Union law, to offer more generous area development incentives than almost any other country in Europe. Classified, along with Portugal and Greece, as one of the EU's "peripheral countries,"...

The Mexico paradox: the currency trashed, investment opportunities boom.(Tactical Site Selection)
May 1, 1996... Political and economic changes in Mexico have fostered some major shifts in manufacturing investment and site selection in the country. One big change is that the devaluation of the peso, which effectively halved the value of investments in the...

The other deregulation. (electric utilities)
May 1, 1996... As business and the media devote obsessive attention to the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, they continue to turn a blind eye to another revolution in the making -- one that will have profound implications for business...

The new power brokers. (power marketer)
May 1, 1996... Out of the turmoil and deregulation in the electric industry has emerged a new type of company-the power marketer. These firms buy and sell electricity among utilities, and most are looking to sell directly to businesses. Electric...

Coast to coast and beyond. (Edison International)(Company Profile)
May 1, 1996... If you live in New York and have any doubts that the electric industry is changing radically, you may be lucky enough to catch a television ad by the parent of Southern California Edison that is running in the New York City market. The...

Roll over, pork bellies. (electricity as a commodity)
May 1, 1996... If any single extent has underscored the power revolution, it was the start in March of electricity futures trading by the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMIEX). Now electrity joins corn, pork bellies, gold, and oil in becoming a true...

Documentum crosses the chasm. (includes related article)
May 1, 1996... "I can say that I have successfully landed a 747 at HongKong airport," says Jeffrey Miller. He describes a close pass by the city's skyscrapers -- "You can actually see what people in the buildings are watching on TV!" -- a 90 degree turn to...

Chasing the tornado. (marketing plan of Documentum Inc.)
May 1, 1996... Consultant Geoffrey Moore would call Documentum's marketing strategy a textbook example of the kind of strategy he prescribes. This is not exactly a big surprise. Jeffrey Miller, president and CEO of Documentum, made heavy use of Moore's...

Global codes of conduct.(Ethics)
May 1, 1996... IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY, OVERSEAS SUPPLIERS ARE NO longer out of sight or mind. The practice of sourcing -- using cheap foreign labor to make goods that are sold to domestic consumers has moved up the political agenda, increasing, the pressure...

Another audit in your future? (human rights audit)(Ethics)
May 1, 1996... A new type of audit could soon appear on the balance sheet: the human rights audit. The concept is not new -- Levi Strauss has a global staff of about 50 people who monitor working conditions in the factories of overseas contractors....