As most of you know, the Canadian Auto Workers union were negotiating to save the jobs at the Caterpillar plant in London, Ontario. Negotiations went so well that Caterpillar shut down the plant and moved the production to Indiana where workers were willing for work for 50% less. Say whatever you want to say about [...]
economics
Can a responsible adult please take over RIM
Company says it is taking a $485 million charge because they are selling the Blackberry Playbook at around $200. The good news is that they are actually selling. The bad news is that they are sold about about a $150-$200 loss per unit. A $485 million writedown for the discounting, along with costs related to [...]
Will Heathrow become irrelevant
The coalition government and Labour withdraw their support for a new runway at Heathrow, an airport that is already running at 98% capacity. As the Economist sees it. The language both politicians used shows how keen they are to move the focus of British aviation policy away from Heathrow’s third runway. But I fear they [...]
Moving more with less
The Eleonora Maersk, is designed to carry one of the world’s largest payloads with only 19 crew on board. It can be run with as few as 13 people but with extras and cadets, it carries around 24. The vessel is specifically designed to ply the world’s most important trade route, the Asia-Europe run: this [...]
The ethics of bankers
Thomas Friedman in the New York Times Citigroup is lucky that Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed when he was. The Libyan leader’s death diverted attention from a lethal article involving Citigroup that deserved more attention because it helps to explain why many average Americans have expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The news was [...]
Killing the Abraham
Caterina Fake has a great post on the role of Abraham in a company. I call the founder, founders or founding team of a company “The Abraham”. The Abraham influences all that follows, sets the vision and direction for the company, and the Abraham’s mores, habits, preferences, flaws and prejudices are often built, consciously or [...]
What a mess
The Mountain West and Conference USA are merging to form a really big mediocre conference. The Mountain West and Conference USA are planning to join forces to secure their future in the rapidly changing college football landscape. The two leagues expect to merge their football operations into one mega-conference that will probably have between 20 [...]
Hiring American is harder than it sounds
From the New York Times Mr. Harold, a 71-year-old Vietnam War veteran who drifted here in the late ’60s, has participated for about a decade in a federal program called H-2A that allows seasonal foreign workers into the country to make up the gap where willing and able American workers are few in number. He [...]
The Lost Generation
America’s lost generation The world has seen a number of lost generations in the past century. Gertrude Stein first coined the term in 1920s in reference to the Europeans who grew up during World War I, but it’s most recently referred to Japanese youth who grew up during that country’s recession in the 1990s. In [...]
HP spent over $80 million to get rid of it’s CEOs
From Slashdot "Analysis published today shows that Hewlett-Packard has shelled out over $80 million to get rid of three CEOs since 2005. The first CEO to take her expensive exit, Carly Fiorina, received over $42 million, once stocks, options, and pension are factored in. Mark Hurd, after just four years, received $12.2 million to take [...]
How to get a job in America
Good article from Fast Company We all know that finding a job these days isn’t easy, and it isn’t much like how your parents found jobs. Depending on how you count it, the unemployment rate is stubbornly stuck somewhere between 9 and 16 percent. To get ahead, and get in the right slot, you need [...]
