May 2013
92 posts
2 tags
How ING Bank Took Change to Heart
https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/change_management_transformation_how_ing_bank_took_change_to_heart/
Chronicles ING’s combination of two internal banking units. This “merger” was an uncommon one - it was the merger of two internal units that had similar operations and shared many cultural traits.
However, the familiarity actually hindered the merger at first,...
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How ING Bank Took Change to Heart
Case study of ING’s merger of two internal business units. This was an unusual merger, as the internal units had similar operations and organizational cultures.
However, the familiarity actually hindered the merger at first, and crucial integration aspects were taken for granted. ”Decisions that in more conventional mergers would be assessed objectively were at risk of being made on...
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Developing Better Change Leaders (McK)
McKinsey article explores how we can develop/become better change leaders. Gives three examples of how leaders successfully adopted a more empathetic, honest, and open approach to complement their strong technical knowledge. Also proposes that companies do the following to maximize change leader development:
1) Tie training to business goals, so that leaders can immediately apply learnings.
2)...
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Reality television: A case study for...
When the well-known British chef and television reality show host Jamie Oliver arrived in Huntington, W.Va., in early 2009, he had a daunting goal in mind: to alter eating habits. Just a year before, Huntington had been dubbed the unhealthiest city in the United States by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Oliver came to Huntington with confidence that the rightness of his...
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Glencore Xstrata Rolls Out Integration Plan
An example of a company unveiling a clearly articulated 100-day post-merger integration plan detailing organizational restructuring, direct communication about layoffs, and management changes.
-Nikhil Krish
Glencore Xstrata Rolls Out Integration Plan
By ALEX MACDONALD
LONDON—Glencore Xstrata PLC on Friday unveiled an integration plan that puts Glencore executives firmly in control of the newly...
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JPMorgan Shareholders Urged to Reject 3 Directors →
An influential proxy advisory firm is strongly urging JP shareholders to reject the reelection of 3 board members. In an effort to make an example out of the board’s lack of oversight regarding the “London Whale” debacle and to reduce Jamie Dimon’s power, shareholders are being asked to support change.
-Sean Breuner
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Decisions during change
Decisions during change (Bain Insight)-Jimmy Ren Zhao
Good piece about focusing on timeline for key decisions as the roadmap for change. Enabling managers and employees to make difficult decisions (instead of putting them off) is critical to successful change initiatives.
Article below:
Under normal circumstances, making and implementing decisions can feel like juggling several balls at once....
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Link between profits and organizational... →
Link between profits and organizational effectiveness (McKinsey)
-Jimmy Ren Zhao
Nice piece by McKinsey with research showing that investments into “management issues” has a statistically significant impact on key financial metrics. The nine organizational effectiveness areas that McKinsey studied are: 1) Accountability (Reporting relationships and performance measurement ensure that...
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Pimco Prepares for Life After Bill Gross
Managing leadership change at PIMCO, the world’s largest bond investor.
-Nikhil Krish
Pimco Prepares for Life After Bill Gross
By Charles Stein and Alexis Leondis
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-02/pimco-prepares-for-life-after-bill-gross
Pacific Investment Management Co. is becoming less dependent on Bill Gross, its 69-year-old co-founder, as it prepares for an eventual...
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Here's How JCPenney Runs A Social Media Apology...
In case you missed JCPenney’s new commercial, the retailer is really, really, really sorry for its admitted “mistakes” and is begging customers to come back. But the apology tour isn’t limited to the airwaves. This week JCPenney has unrolled a massive social media initiative to try to win loyalists back.
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Succession at Berkshire
Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren Buffett since the mid-60’s, is preparing for a time after he’s gone. Succession was the biggest topic at this weekend’s shareholder meeting, similar to previous years. Once Buffett is replaced (he says by splitting his role into a CEO and an investment manager), Berkshire will undergo significant change, which Buffett is now...
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Newly merged Glencore Xstrata promises aggressive...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/newly-merged-glencore-xstrata-promises-aggressive-cuts/article11727789/
The merged Glencore/Xstrata executives say potential cuts on its administrative staffs and underperforming divisions as a way to pursue cost synergies.
“Unveiling a management team packed with veteran Glencore executives, the group...
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Cultural Fit May Be More Important For Execs Than...
http://www.pehub.com/200342/cultural-fit-may-be-more-important-for-execs-than-industry-expertise-consultants/
This is an interesting analysis on how the executives of buyout firms can integrate the transition process and what is important during the period. The article maintain that the past levers such as financial engineering and operational improvement may not be the most important factor in...
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Turkish Airlines bans lipstick?! →
In today’s globalized world, airlines are adopting to higher standards, luxuries and appearances to increase their competitive edge. Turkish airlines was one of the airlines to find itself in such change in the last 10 years, winning the most luxury airline in Europe award in the past year… Given the current management direction change in Turkish airlines, banning...
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JCP Uses Social Media in Consultative Approach to...
JCP launched a Social Media campaign on Wednesday to get ideas of what core principles it should bring back in the revitalization effort.
In terms of our class, it is using the consultative approach because:
- Ullman doesn’t know what’s happening with the customers
- With so much change, the problem definition is not clear
- Customer’s buy-in is essential to the success
-...
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Kodak's Uncertain Future
Kodak’s Fuzzy Future
Although the CEO of Kodak believes the company has a “clear path forward” and is positioned for a “profitable and sustainable” future, it remains to be seen if the company can work through the drastic changes it has undergone in the past year. Kodak is expected to emerge from bankruptcy later this year as a much smaller company after selling and/or winding down most of the...
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Here's What Intel's New CEO Needs To Do To Stop...
This article addresses a few key changes that new Intel CEO, Brian Krzanich, can make to shake things up. Suggested changes in the article are bold strokes regarding Intel’s strategic business model and operations, and would likely be very controversial to stockholders.
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-intels-new-ceo-needs-to-do-2013-5
-Matt Leo
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Challenges in Blending Cultures During M&A in...
This article explores the challenges that teaching hospitals, community hospitals, and physician groups face during mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic partnerships. Blending organizational cultures has been recognized as the most difficult challenge, and some executives observe that success ultimately hinges on whether the institutions can work through differences in communication and...
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Yahoo Adds Perks for Parents
After taking heat earlier this year for banning telecommuting, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is proving that her firm can be friendly to working parents by extending paid maternity leave to up to 16 weeks and adding paid paternity leave. Also among the new perks are $500 toward household expenses and lots of Yahoo-branded baby gear (not to mention pet provisions and an eight-week sabbatical every five...
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A recent article titled “Bad to Worse: Why Shareholder Activism Hurts Shareholders” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sanjay-sanghoee/frying-pan-to-the-fire-ho_b_3203935.html?utm_hp_ref=business) was written by a Columbia Business School alum. In it, the author, claims that activism is detrimental because it is pursued by institutions that have different interests than the typical...
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Here is an interesting article on how Kodak’s failure to change and adapt to a new business environment over the past few decades contributed to its ultimate bankruptcy announcement. As the New York Times reports, “When Eastman Kodak emerges from bankruptcy this summer or fall, it will be a shadow of the blue-chip corporate giant it once was … critics of the company also said its...
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Kodak and the Cost of Complacency
Here is an interesting article on how Kodak’s failure to change and adapt to a new business environment over the past few decades contributed to its ultimate bankruptcy announcement. As the New York Times reports, “When Eastman Kodak emerges from bankruptcy this summer or fall, it will be a shadow of the blue-chip corporate giant it once was … critics of the company also said its...
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Investors Push Out Oil Boss
Yet another example of activist investors driving change in organizations through winning the backing of mainstream shareholders such as mutual funds.
One of the highest-paid corporate executives in the country lost his job yesterday, as investors at Occidental Petroleum Corp. made Executive Chairman Ray Irani the latest victim of a rising wave of shareholder activism.
However, activists...
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Glencore Xstrata Rolls Out Integration Plan
This article speaks about drastic integration plans including cost-cutting, restructuring and centralizing operations after merger acquisition. As we discussed in class, process fairness would be important to ensure the morale of remaining employees. With many senior managers already resigning, it remains to be seen how the merged company would perform in the future.
Glencore Xstrata PLC on...
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Glencore Xstrata: starting the integration
After the merger of Glencore Xstrata, discussed in other postings, managment has started to unveil i its integration plan. It is clear that the Glencore culture will reign, rather than a true integration of the two companies. This is supported by the fact that of 14 the new Glencore Xstrata senior management team, 12 are from Glencore and just 2 are from Xstrata. At least 6 senior Xstrata managers...
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Investors Push Out Oil Boss
Activist investors voted to remove Mr. Ray Irani, the chiarman of Occidental Petroleum Corp., with 76% of the votes cast opposing his re-election at the annual meeting of the Los Angeles-based energy company. The move was due to the fact that chairman realized too much compensation vis-a-vis the company earnings. Mr. Irani earned about $1.1 billion through paycheck and compensation while he...
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JC Penney Reintroduces Fake Prices (and Lots of... →
JC Penney has been trying to woo back customers via “Come Back to JC Penney” ads and yes, sales. To do so, the company has quietly been raising prices so that they can be discounted later.
This article is interesting because it frames the Johnson fiasco in a way that highlights consumer psychology and irrationality rather than Johnson’s failings:
“the prices of certain...
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Downsizing at BB&T
BB&T is undergoing a restructuring effort aimed at cost reductions. This article summarizes a public statement describing the layoffs. I was interested in this article because of the relatively vague manner BB&T outlines its priorities, not identifying a cost-reduction target figure, or other specific goal for the restructuring effort. However, they were much more specific about...
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Why Companies Need to Change The Way They Change →
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Elliott Management's Attempts at Transforming Hess
From yesterday’s WSJ, this is the recent update on the “transformation” occurring at Hess. While Hess has attempted to commit to various transformations through the years, they have recently been spurred to change by the activist hedge fund Elliott Management. Elliott in the last 6 months has taken almost a $1billion stake in the company and demanded change via, among other...
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How can a technology company survive for a hundred... →
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The FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration claims the sequester spending cuts are forcing it to delay some 6,700 flights a day, but rarely has a bureaucracy taken such joy in inconveniencing the public.
Though the FAA says it is strapped for cash, the air traffic control agency managed to find the dollars to update its interactive “command center” tool on its website so passengers can...
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Intel's New CEO
Intel Corp. INTC +0.31% named internal front-runner Brian Krzanich as its sixth chief executive, and simultaneously elevated a dark-horse candidate who helped devise a new strategy to reinvigorate the chip maker.
Enlarge Image
Bloomberg News
Brian Krzanich, Intel’s new CE0, was chief operating officer.
Mr. Krzanich, a manufacturing expert named chief operating officer in...
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How to Lose Great Leaders? Ask the Army →
This is an interesting piece that examines one of the major handicaps that the Army has when it comes to the retention of talented junior officers: career management.
One of the major reasons that I resigned my commission was the fact that I had certain milestones that I would have to complete before I could progress further in my career, regardless of my potential or performance. The Army can...
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WatchInteresting interview with UBS’s CEO about the success thus far of the strategy change in terms of allocation of resources to Wealth Management (increased) and Investment Banking (down to 2/3 of what it was previously). Specifically found the question around 4:30 about headcount interesting. UBS declared that 10,000 jobs would be cut before Christmas and the interviewer wanted to see if due to...
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To avert layoffs, public defender retires early
This is an extreme case of a higher level person dealing with the consequences of a struggling organization. One of the things we spoke about a lot was having leaders share in some of the hard times and being seen as genuine and fair in their decision making. Ray Conrad has gone above and beyond that with this move. After several budget cuts, the top public defender in Western Missouri retired...
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When Attackers Become Defenders, Innovation Is...
This interview with Steve Case, chief executive of the investment firm Revolution and a founder of America Online, covers Case’s views on leadership, executing a vision, and why the AOL-Time Warner merger was unsuccessful. Case discusses the merits of replacing existing executives with a new team and emphasizes the importance of building trust among employees who remain after a merger.
...
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Glencore Xstrata CEO: Expect Big Layoffs →
In an interesting interview with Glencore Xstrata’s CEO Ivan Glasenberg, he explains the challenges the newly merged firm will be facing as it moves ahead. He is very upfront and blunt in saying he expects to fire a large amount of Xstrata’s middle managers in the near future. I found it especially interesting that Glasenberg himself visited every major Xstrata operation and was able...
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Glencore Xstrata Merger
Interesting article on how Glencore’s CEO views the Xtrata deal, and how he is choosing to shape the combined companies.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324766604578458910329071572.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
-Jason Yang
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New Der Spiegel editor tasked with print/online...
The New York Times wrote earlier this week about the new editor of the leading German newspaper Der Spiegel, who will integrate print and online operations for the first time. He comes in as a unifier after the two heads of the print and online businesses were dismissed three weeks ago.
“The German news magazine Der Spiegel on Monday appointed a new editor, naming Wolfgang Büchner, the top...
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How eBay Keeps Founders After Acquisitions
eBay CEO John Donahue recently commented on how he retains and incentivizes the startup teams that eBay acquires. This is a great counterpoint to our discussion of layoffs! Acquired teams go through a comparable period of organizational change, and acquiring companies can do a lot to keep those teams happy and productive.
“Currently, fifteen of the founders that joined eBay and PayPal after...
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Rutgers: How NOT to Manage Organizational Change →
Robert L. Barchi, president of Rutgers, has alienated faculty and students despite being appointed by New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie, to reorganize higher education in NJ. Instead, Barchi has alienated students and faculty. The article talks about succesful organizational changes at Ford and Chrysler by using external players, and contrast their success with the case with Rutgers.
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Change Management vs. Change Leadership: What’s...
http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2013/04/change-management-vs-change-leadership-whats-difference/62729/
It is often hard to accurately define terms and concepts. This article shows that change management and change leadership is clearly different; the former means task and the latter means the vision.
“Change management is task oriented and focused on managing the...
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School Turnaround in Dallas →
For anyone interested in public education reform – namely, school turnaround – keep an eye on what’s happening in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). Within a few weeks, DISD Superintendent Mike Miles will let go of up to 60 of the district’s 200+ school principals who have consistently underperformed on their accountability plans. For months Miles has been taking heat from all many...
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Diplomatic Power →
This article discusses type of power countries use in their interactions to influence outcomes of negotiations. It specifically discusses China’s and Russia’s use of “hard” power while outwardly encouraging “soft” power use. Soft power is convincing people of your point via inspiration and credibility. Hard power is the use of force and direct statements.
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Big changes all around: Intel names new CEO as it... →
As Intel prepares for a passing of the torch in a couple of weeks — it announced today that COO Brian Krzanich will take over for Paul Otellini on May 16 — there is plenty of speculation about what the move means for the world’s largest chipmaker.
A couple of key questions:
- Is it more of the same…?
- What about mobile..?
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Reinventing the wheel: How Guardiola... →
Guardiola has built on Barca’s pure football principles with a totalitarian approach to “tiki taka,” a style reliant on short passing and dynamic movement, and the results have helped an already successful unit transcend a higher plane.
Guardiola’s vision has been enshrined by fellow disciples of Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth academy, players like influential...
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Open letter by academics opposing the use of MOOCs...
This letter, recently published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, outlines the resistance of academics to the use of an online course to replace existing courses that have been taught in person at San Jose State University. In this letter, the academics argue that universities should adopt a more gradual approach to integrating technology and online interaction to teaching, rather...
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SAC Beset by Scandal Toughens Oversight With...
Olga Usyk
An interesting article on strengthening compliance and changing compensation structure at a hedge fund following settlement of inside-trading allegations:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/sac-beset-by-scandal-toughens-oversight-with-clawbacks.html
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Intel names Brian Krzanich new CEO →
Intel has named Brian Krzanich, the company’s current chief operating officer, as its new CEO, effective May 16, 2013. Intel has historically dominated the PC market, however the company has experienced difficulties transitioning into mobile phones and tablets. Krzanich, who has been with Intel 31 years, will need to find a successful way to lead this change in company direction.
-Mallory Kirsh
