PlantSuccess Newsletter
Volume I, Issue 18
12/26/01
Dear Subscriber:
Like the years
before it, 2001 will be remembered for great moments and for real challenges.
The deadly attack on the World Trade Center and on the Pentagon – respective
centers of the world’s strongest economy and defense capability -- plus the
current, successful war against terrorists, has fundamentally changed our
world. It is most important that we remember how so many have responded to this
very real threat to our liberties.
Sunday morning,
Tim Russert, long-time moderator of Meet the
Press, ended his
program with a film of a 1955 interview with American poet, Robert Frost,
including a recitation of one of my favorites – “The Road Not Taken”. Until I
can get the video or audio clip on our website, indulge my printing the poem
and read it for your own benefit -- a wonderful way to end one year and begin
another.
Please also
accept my thanks for your support this year and my most heartfelt wishes for a
healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. Continue to look to PlantSuccess for
more ideas from and stories about innovative managers in the process industry
who are following the lead of Robert Frost and many others.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
******************
*******************
Trends and
Strategies that Flew High or Flamed Out
The end of each year offers
a unique opportunity for retrospectives and InformationWeek.com delivered an
interesting piece citing the overrated and underrated in a broad range of
categories including Management Skill, Web Feature, Collaboration Tool, IT
Strategy and Emerging Technology. This is a fun piece that relates to all of us
and should give us something to think about. READ FULL STORY.
The lexicon defining the IT
industry changes at an almost incomprehensible pace. Certain words seem to go
in and out of favor and return like old friends. Integration is one of these
terms and most things labeled B2B need all the help they can get. Manufacturing
Systems Inc features successful application integration by Air Products and
Chemicals, Inc (www.APCI.com) in a very
interesting article. READ
FULL STORY.
Performance
Measurement: Market Value Added (MVA) System
At all times, the effective
measurement of performance is a huge issue. When times are good, an accurate
system seems to get less attention. When times are hard, the scrutiny is far
more penetrating, more difficult and the results are not any better.
Chief Executive magazine has
teamed with New York City consulting firm Stern Stewart & Co. to rank CEOs
of the country’s largest companies based on changes in MVA (Market Value
Added). This is an interesting article that focuses on the measurement problem
at the top. Addressing this issue is thought by many to be a precursor to
measuring performance all the way down. READ
FULL STORY.
Tom Siebel, founder and CEO
of Siebel Systems, the world’s leading provider of customer relationship
management (CRM) software recently spoke to a group of Wharton and Harvard
alumni. His advice on how to run a successful company was to "focus on
profit." And how do you do that? "Just figure out how much revenue
comes in, and then spend less than that."
As several people in the
audience frantically scribbled down his words, Siebel added: "Keep it
simple. Become the market leader, but not at the expense of profit." And
cash is still king.
We can probably learn from
those who have failed; we can learn a lot more from those who are successful. READ
FULL STORY.
The PlantSuccess Newsletter
generates a substantial number of visits to our website, we welcome the
interest and the access to previous issues of the Newsletter which are
available there. If you'd like to share this newsletter with a colleague, just
forward a copy. Subscribe or cancel by sending a request to Carl.Howk@PlantSuccess.com
Full links to Volume I, Issue 18 Newsletter articles:
1.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011214S0001
2.
http://www.manufacturingsystems.com/webexclusives/Techtopic0801.pdf
3.
http://www.chiefexecutive.net/depts/performancemeasurement/173.htm
4.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=12&articleid=486&homepage=yes