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A good employee says, "I know that this is a serious problem, it's hurting our customers and we can do better, but I can't do a thing about it because it's run by a different department."
A version of this might conclude with, "And I don't even know the name of the person who's responsible."
This is a sure sign of systemic failure as well as a CEO who is not doing the job she should be. When smart people who care get frustrated, something is wrong.
This lack of responsibility/communication is not a feature or a benefit that helps customers or shareholders. This is a flaw in the system of the big company, a cost of having a larger organization. The very same system that allowed the organization to become big and powerful is showing serious cracks.
It doesn't have to be this way. But it will unless senior management hires, trains and organizes to avoid it. Is there a more important issue to be worked on?
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Posted: 22 Apr 2012 07:25 PM PDT As expected Francois Hollande and incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy will square off on May 6 in round two of the French presidential elections. However, there was a huge surprise in spot number 3 as extreme right wing candidate Marine Le Pen pulled in 18% of the vote running on a dump-the-euro platform. First Round Totals
Please consider Le Pen voters to arbitrate Hollande-Sarkozy duel The centre-left Hollande narrowly beat the conservative Sarkozy in Sunday's 10-candidate first round by 28.6 percent to 27.1 percent, the Interior Ministry said with 99 percent of votes counted, but Le Pen stole the show by surging to 18.0 percent, the biggest result for a far-right candidate.Can Sarkozy Win Round Two? Unlikely, unless Hollande makes a major gaffe in the debate. He avoided the first major mistake already by only agreeing to one debate, just 4 days before the election, perhaps as most minds are already made up. Given that Le Pen took the opportunity to blast Sarkozy it appears likely that her votes will splinter, probably far more than the far-left candidates. Strange Bedfellows On an issue-by-issue basis it would seem to make more sense for Le Pen to back Sarkozy than Hollande. Certainly Sarkozy is courting Le Pen voters. So what is her game? I think it's easy to spot. The eurozone is likely to splinter apart faster and easier with Hollande as president than with Sarkozy back at the helm. Thus, backing Hollande, and perhaps even winning some real concessions (as opposed to lies from Sarkozy), makes more long-term strategic sense as well as short-term tactical sense. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 22 Apr 2012 11:57 AM PDT The Netherlands government has officially collapsed in a dispute over austerity measures. Elections likely in September. Meanwhile, the Czech government is also on the verge of collapse, for the same reason: austerity measures. The Financial Times reports Dutch government falls over budget talks The Dutch governing coalition collapsed on Saturday when far-right politician Geert Wilders pulled out of budget cut talks, saying it was not in the Netherlands' interest to meet the deficit limit of three per cent imposed by the new European fiscal pact.Czech Government Collapse On the Way Please consider Czech protesters stage anti-government rally The Czech government faces a test of its ability to continue governing after an ambitious fiscal tightening programme splintered the ruling coalition and brought tens of thousands of protesters on to the streets of Prague at the weekend.Slovakia Government Collapse In case you missed it, the right-wing Slovakia government collapsed in March. The Guardian reports Central Europe's centre-right teeters under corruption claims Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and Czech Republic gripped by sleaze allegations involving senior politicians and governing parties.On May 6 the Greek government is likely to collapse, and Nicolas Sarkozy will be ousted as president of France. Meanwhile New "Temporary" Border Controls are tantamount to a Vote of No Confidence in Europe Other than four ousted governments, Troika imposed governments in Greece and Italy, huge budget misses in Spain, increased protectionist measures in France, border controls, bickering between the ECB and the German Central Bank, the Bundesbank proclamation "Not ECB's Job to Tackle Spain's Problems", Europe is holding together quite nicely. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Point of No Return: "Australia is Screwed" Posted: 22 Apr 2012 09:19 AM PDT Point of No Return My friend "Brisbane Bear" from down under says ... Hey Mish,"No One Is Borrowing" Brisbane Bear passed along this article on The Age by Ian Vettender: Banks playing risky game with rates Put yourself into the shoes of thousands of Australians who own small businesses across the country right now.Misunderstanding Fundamental Laws of Economics Vettender bemoans "lending has run counter to the most fundamental laws of economics". Mish says, what a bunch of nonsense. Australian banks will not admit so, but they are capital impaired or soon will be (and they likely know it). I suggest banks have loans on the books that will not be paid back and they do not have adequate loan loss provisions. Vettender notes: "a drop in lending for new housing and for business, falls to levels not seen in decades, sometimes of a magnitude never before recorded. No-one is borrowing." Mish Theory of Unsound Businesses and Unsound Minds Yes indeed "No-one is borrowing". Vettender cannot figure out why. I offer this explanation to Vettender: Any Australian businesses in good shape (and in sound mind) would be out of their freaking mind to expand now. And they aren't. However, desperate businesses deep in the hole as well as businesses struggling to stay afloat, just might want loans. The sad reality is many of those businesses will not survive, and some would not survive even on interest rates of zero percent. Raising rates is the smart thing to do because only unsound businesses or unsound minds want loans! Unfortunately this surge in rational behavior by banks is too little, too late, exactly the opposite of what Vettender proposes. Australia is Screwed In short, Australian banks are screwed, retailers are screwed, home owners are screwed, home builders are screwed, those long Australian stocks will be screwed, and those expecting strong commodity prices to bail out Australia will also be screwed. For more on the latter, please see 12 Predictions by Michael Pettis on China; Non-Food Commodity Prices Will Collapse Over Next Three to Four Years; Nails in the Hard Landing Coffin? Note that things would be worse, not better, if banks listened to Vettender, because at this point the greater the lending, the greater the losses. So, if you get the general idea that "Australia is Screwed" then you have come to the correct conclusion. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 21 Apr 2012 11:02 PM PDT I keep pleading for someone, anyone to put Greece out of its misery. Greek voters have a chance on May 6th to do just that. Please consider Greek ruling parties to get wafer-thin majority The two main parties in Greece's ruling coalition would together get just a one-seat majority in parliament if elections were held now, a poll showed on Thursday, less than three weeks before the May 6 vote.Lovely Isn't It? Somehow 37% of the vote will translate into a tad over 50% of the parliament, just enough for the Troika imposed clowns to retain control. Deadlocked Elections However, Evangelos Venizelos, the former Greek Finance minister most responsible for selling Greece down the river, now admits Elections are Leading to Deadlock PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos admitted on Saturday that next month's elections are leading to a deadlock and promised to ask for an extension from two to three years for the application of the measures to collect an extra 11.6 billion euros.EMU Fed Up With Greece (and Vice Versa) Venizelos can push for the moon but that does not mean he is likely to get it. Brussels is plenty fed up with Greece. Moreover, any thinking Greek citizen should be fed up with Brussels. Those of us waiting for the inevitable are fed up with the delays getting to the inevitable. What if the Coalition Holds? Inquiring minds note the IMF Sees Greece Deficit Over 7 Percent in 2012 The budget deficit this year will be greater than the Greek government has forecast, according to a report published on Tuesday by the International Monetary Fund, which also stresses the need for additional spending cuts of at least 15 billion euros (7.7 percent of gross domestic product) between now and 2017.First Task of New Government is More Spending Cuts Assuming the Troika sponsored coalition holds (or even if it doesn't), the first task of the new government will be more spending cuts, more firings, more pension cuts, and higher taxes. Is that going to fly? EIB Inserts Drachma Clauses in Loans to Greek Firms While the election drama plays out, EIB Inserts Drachma Clauses in Loans to Greek Firms in preparation for a hard default and Greek return to the drachma. The European Investment Bank is hedging itself against a Greek exit from the eurozone by inserting drachma clauses in the loan deals it signs with Greek enterprises.Laughable Clauses Pray tell what good are clauses if there is a total default? The proper course of action is to prepare for the inevitable and stop making loans to Greece at all. Moreover, the proper course of action is for every Greek citizen to pull all of their money out of Greek banks immediately. Greece is going down, and going down soon. It makes no sense to pretend otherwise. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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The sign in front of the breakfast bar at the hotel says, "from garden to table."
Really? Virtually every item I see has been processed four times, steamed, stored and steamed again.
Marketing pitches are finely tuned to resonate with the audience in mind. Too often, though, the marketer is only in charge of the pitch, and someone else in the organization has to make the thing.
So the marketer brags about how tasty the food on the airplane is, or how reliable the cell phone service is or how magically transporting the aromatherapy of the soap is--and then someone else, someone under different pressures and constraints--has to deliver. And they rarely do.
They rarely do because the paying customer isn't their customer. Their customer is the quality control department, the accounting department and the "don't-rock-the-boat" department.
Marketers need to spend less time making promises and more time keeping them.
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Posted: 21 Apr 2012 11:57 AM PDT The Netherlands has been one of the staunchest proponents of forced austerity on Greece. However, now that Brussels has demanded the Netherlands hit its fiscal targets, Dutch politicians can't get the task done and the government is poised to collapse. New elections are coming up. The Washington Post reports Dutch prime minister says government austerity talks collapse The ruling Dutch minority government was on the brink of collapse Saturday after anti-EU lawmaker Geert Wilders torpedoed seven weeks of austerity talks, saying he would not cave in to budget demands from "dictators in Brussels."Kiss Netherlands' AAA Rating Goodbye The Netherlands can kiss its AAA rating goodbye within a week or so. More importantly, this vote coupled with demands for border controls and protectionist legislation in France shows just how tenuous the Merkozy accord is. For more details, please see New "Temporary" Border Controls a A Vote of No Confidence in Europe; In France, Old Protectionist Idea Reawakened; Disastrous Global Trade Wars Coming Up. The Merkozy agreement held together with rubber-bands, paper clips, and broken promises is about to splinter to smithereens. Pencil in May 6 for the date. That's when Greece holds new elections and also when French president Nicolas Sarkozy is ousted in the second round of French elections. The ouster of Sarkozy will end any chance that France signs off on the agreement "as is". Since the Netherlands won't abide by the agreement either, just how much of an agreement is there? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 21 Apr 2012 10:24 AM PDT New border controls are another sign of increasing protectionism in European states. It was not supposed to be this way, yet these controls represent a Vote of No Confidence in Europe Germany and France are serious this time. During next week's meeting of European Union interior ministers, the two countries plan to start a discussion about reintroducing national border controls within the Schengen zone. According to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and his French counterpart, Claude Guéant, have formulated a letter to their colleagues in which they call for governments to once again be allowed to control their borders as "an ultima ratio" -- that is, measure of last resort -- "and for a limited period of time." They reportedly go on to recommend 30-days for the period.Border controls are not the only form of protectionism rearing its ugly head. The New York Times reports In France, Old Protectionist Idea Reawakened An old French idea is blossoming again in the Paris springtime.Disastrous Global Trade Wars Coming Up The New York Times article stated "the drift toward protectionism has no support in Germany, France's vital partner in E.U. leadership." It appears the author needs to read Der Speigel article on border controls at the top of this post. More importantly, once Sarkozy is booted, there is not going to much left of the German-French alliance. The Times also states "The Socialists' U-turn on trade is largely driven by domestic politics, and while it resembles positions taken by the Democratic Party in the United States, it has little support so far in other European countries, except perhaps Italy." "Except perhaps Italy" is quite the exclusion. France and Italy just happen to be the second and third largest eurozone economies. The last thing Europe can afford is a disastrous round of increased protectionism on top of insane tax hikes, yet insane tax hikes are the norm and signs suggest more protectionism is on the way. Moreover, Mitt Romney has stated on numerous occasions that if elected he would declare China a currency manipulator. Such an act coupled with increased protectionism in Europe would likely start a disastrous, unwinnable, global trade war. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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