On Mon, Nov 02, 1998 at 01:15:31PM -0500, Bob Munck wrote:
> Actually it doesn't, as dollars are the way that we keep score.
> Possibly what you're struggling to articulate is that some costs
> translate very indirectly into money. For example, I believe
> that the downsizing fad was largely a "cashing in" of the
> corporate assets of employee loyalty and knowledge for stock
> price and profit. Losing that loyalty won't show up on the
> corporate books as dollars for some time, and won't appear
> explicitly, but it is a dollar cost.
Yes, you're correct that I'm struggling to articulate it. And your
example is an excellent one, but one that I have never seen anyone
in upper management comprehend. (It'd be a pleasant surprise to do so.)
> I'm relieved to know that you have something to fall back on.
> Before you ask: no, I don't want fries with that.
<chuckle> I've already been there and done that, back when I was
putting myself through college. I suppose I could also try to make
a living as a musician again, now that the Internet helps to solve
a lot of the problems I faced the last time around.
> You don't understand what the word "investment" means and
> you're criticizing managers and bean-counters?
I think I do understand what it means, and I'm simply applying it
in a different sense. I've already acknowledged that perhaps
"good investment" is a better way of phrasing it.
> I got to know Tom Watson Jr., then CEO of IBM, pretty well when I
> was at Brown. I've also know several Nobel Prize winners (Leon
> Cooper (of BCS) was my undergraduate advisor), rocket scientists,
> and many of the best programmers, system designers, and hackers
> of the century. Watson was smarter and worked harder than any of them.
Okay, I believe you. Maybe he *was* one of the people that I described
as a "true business leader" because he was really a leader.
But he's not there now.
More typically you'll find these kind of people:
William Stavropoulos, CEO of DOW: $1.28 million/year, eliminated
15,800 jobs in the last five years. DOW is the world's largest
source of dioxin -- and yes, they still make pesticides that
contain it. DOW is 50% owner of Dow Corning, the leading maker
of breast implants and silicone gel.
Ralph Larsen, CEO of Ortho Pharmaceutical: $2.675 million/year,
eliminated 3,600 jobs, oversaw PR campaign to promote the use
of Retin-A to treat sun-wrinkled skin prior to FDA approval;
when a 1991 grand jury subpoena was served on the company relating
to this campaign, company officials persuaded employees to
shred documents and hide videotapes. In 1995, Ortho pleaded
guilty of obstruction of justice, was finded $5 million and
ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
Jay Phillips, CEO of Philips Electronics, eliminated 70,000 jobs.
Company pleaded guilty in 1995 to defrauding the DoD by falsifying
and destroying records.
William Rutledge, CEO of Teledyne, $1.065 million/year, eliminated
3,000 jobs. Company pled guilty in 1995 to violating the US Arms
Control Act by exporting 130 tons of weapons-grade zirconium to
a Chilean arms vendor. Settled two whistle-blower suits in 1994
for $112.5 million, another in 1995 for $2.2 million plus had to
pay $19 million in related settlements that same year. Let's see...
$2.15 million in 1993 to settle claims over falsified cockpit
electronics systems....$17.5 million criminal fine for defense
fraud involving Teledyne Relays...
And you wonder why I have a very negative attitude about business types.
These are the "leaders of industry"? They're worse than street bandits,
who at least have the guts to face their victims one-on-one.
(BTW, I grabbed some of this from Michael Moore's excellent book,
"Downsize This!".)
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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