Archive for 2010

The Impact of the Toyota Crisis

March 15th, 2010 | post a comment

The March 5 Business Matters program focuses on the impact of the problems at Toyota. One thing we haven’t talked about yet is the impact in real dollar terms to the current owners of Toyota’s cars.

When customers loose trust with companies the impact is broad. As we heard in the interview with Tom Asacker, Toyota’s customers are having a bit of an identity crisis. They expected Toyota to have the highest quality, best reliability and great safety. Customers were less concerned about status than practical considerations.

These customers take their time when then buy and don’t like the feeling that maybe they made a mistake

Right now, those what bought Toyotas are finding that the value of their car has dropped since this crisis of confidence began.

According to the recent Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence data, 27 percent of those surveyed that said they were considering a Toyota prior to the recall now say they no longer are considering the brand for their next vehicle purchase.

In addition, 28 percent of those who said they were considering a Scion and 23 percent of those who said they were considering a Lexus prior to the Toyota recalls, now say they are no longer considering those brands.

Now nearly half (49 percent) of the car shoppers who have defected from Toyota say they are not sure if they will consider the brand again, even once Toyota’s problems are resolved.

This shows in quantifiable terms the impact of this crisis of confidence on future purchases. But what about all those Toyotas sold. As Toyota was loosing its focus on customers and paying attention to market share and profits, millions upon millions of Americans were buying their automobiles believing Toyota’s promises.

Again according to Kelly Blue Book,

All Used Recalled Toyota Models: Used-car values have declined between 3 and 6%
New 2010 Prius: New Car Blue Book® Value (transaction price) has dropped by $1,000 – $1,500

“We are seeing a softening of both used Toyota values and the New Car Blue Book values of new Toyotas this week,” said Juan Flores, director of vehicle valuation, Kelley Blue Book. “The softening of values is a product of weakened consumer demand, and the realization that Toyota is going to have to offer lower prices to get some consumers to consider Toyota vehicles again.”

Now I know that we consumers are a fickle bunch and may change our mind at some point. We’ll just have to wait and see.

What I believe is important for all of us is to realize the systemic impact of a break down in trust with customers. In the case of Toyota, the company will see falling profits and possibly losses that may extend well into the future. By some estimates their US dealers are loosing over $2B per month. The manufacturing line has been shut down at two US plants with more closings possible. None of this takes into consideration parts suppliers and the economic impact on all those who either do business with Toyota or provide goods and services to Toyota’s dealers and their employees.

Why is all this happening? While we don’t have the detailed information on the specific problems, we can glean from the Toyota executives’ appearances before congress that it was because Toyota lost sight of what they valued. The old values of quality and customers first were replaced with growth and profitability.

How could this happen? Just look at most crisis and you can find similar stories. Corporate leaders don’t want to hear from anyone who is going to slow down the growth train. Even one of the best corporate systems, such as the Toyota Production System, can be subverted by fear and greed.

Good lesson for us all to remember.

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The Collapse of the American Dream

March 12th, 2010 | post a comment

Since the end of World War II, we have been living in an expanding economy that showed little signs of letting up. The growth in the standard of living in the U.S has been fueled by the desire of many to attain the American dream. A dream that offers each citizen a better, richer, happier life. This dream has played itself out in new and bigger houses, faster and fancier cars and a landscape filled with shopping malls.

A few years ago this dream began to crumble as the economy slowed, housing prices tumbled and unemployment invaded all areas of the country. The winning 2008 presidential campaign was based upon hope. Hope in part that the American dream can be resurrected. The mantra once again was growth.

All the while some keen observers of the American way of life were seeing a different future. They were diligently foretelling of the economic decline long before it was fashionable. Not only did they accurately predict the downturn, they are saying this is only the beginning.

At Business Matters we are committed to offering differing and sometimes controversial points of view about change. Today, we bring you two of the most articulate writers about the decline of the middle class and the collapse of the American economy, who may be the canaries in the mine of our collective future.

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Joe Bageant | Download MP3

Joe’s been in the Navy, an anti-war hippie in communes, a Marxist and a “half-assed Buddhist.” He’s been writing about the American counterculture and third world issues since 1971. He’s lived on an Indian reservation in Idaho as well as in small Central American towns. His newest book is “Dear Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War“. He writes regularly at his blog, JoeBageant.com and at the Huffington Post.

Dmitry Orlov| Download MP3

Emigrating from the Soviet Union at 12, Dmitry Orlov became an eye witness to the collapse of the Soviet Union. These lessons have informed his observations and writing about the collapse of the U.S economy and our preparedness to handle the fallout.

In 2005, Dmitry wrote Closing the Collapse Gap, about how Russia was much better prepared for the collapse after the fall of communism that America is after the fall of consumerism. `He has also written other articles on culture change include The New Age of Sail , The Despotism of the Image, and That Bastion of American Socialism and Thriving in an Age of Collapse

In 2008, Orlov’s book Reinventing Collapse was published. It has received numerous awards including the 2009 independentPublisher Silver Medal. His website is cluborlov.blogspot.com.

The Toyota Model

March 5th, 2010 | post a comment

We all know about the challenges arising from the Toyota recall, so we decided to look beyond the headlines to understand the implications of this crisis in confidence beyond the numbers of cars involved.

We talked with a customer experience guru to understand the implications of Toyota’s actions on the attitude of customers about Toyota. We found that a “cognitive dissonance” has created a confusion with this loyal base that may be difficult for Toyota to change.

We then find out how Toyota has been doing in managing public perceptions from a crisis management expert. In the process, we get a basic tutorial and the “dos and don’ts” of crisis management.

What many may not know is that Toyota’s approach to manufacturing and business has been adopted by thousands of companies around the world. This week we’ll find out the impact of Toyota’s deviation from their well regarded operational blueprint.

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Tom Asacker | Download MP3

Tom Asacker has been teaching and inspiring organizations and entrepreneurs for over 20 years. Tom specializes in marketplace evolution, customer relationships, branding, and innovation. Companies including Procter & Gamble, UPS, Hewlett Packard, and G.E. have called on Tom to shake up their people, fill them with ideas and charge them with inspiration.

Tom is the author of A Little Less Conversation: Connecting with Customers in a Noisy World and A Clear Eye for Branding. He is also author of the soon to be released Opportunity Screams: Unlocking Hearts and Minds in Today’s Idea Economy.

Jonathan Bernstein| Download MP3

Jonathan L. Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of crisis management – crisis response, vulnerability assessment, planning, training and simulations. Prior to launching what was then known as Bernstein Communications in 1994, Bernstein created and served as the first director of the Crisis Communications Group for Ruder Finn, Inc., one of the world’s largest public relations agencies.

Bernstein is publisher and editor of Crisis Manager, a first-of-its-kind email newsletter written for “those who are crisis managers whether they want to be or not,” currently read in 75 countries. He is also the author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay: A Media Training Manual

Steven Spear | Download MP3

Steven Spear, five-time winner of the Shingo Prize for research excellence and recipient of the McKinsey Award, is a senior lecturer at MIT and former assistant professor at Harvard. A senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, he is the author of numerous articles appearing in academic and trade publications, including the Harvard Business Review, Annals of Internal Medicine, Academic Medicine, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times.

In particular he is well known for his Harvard Business Review article, “Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System”. More recently he wrote the award winner book, Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition and How Great Companies Can Catch Up and Win

In his consulting practice, Spear works with organizations to develop the capabilities of high velocity about which he writes. This involves developing senior leadership’s understanding and training a cadre of internal process experts whose system expertise compliments the functional expertise that exists within specialties and disciplines. His clients span a broad range of industrial, high tech, software, service, and healthcare organizations.

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The Poetry of Business

February 26th, 2010 | 1 comment

On this week’s Business Matters, we’re examining at ways for business leaders to use the power of language to be a more effective. We’ll talk with a poet and a professor of ethics at Harvard, both of whom have explored how language and storytelling can be used in business.

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Joe Badaracco, Author, Question of Character,
Professor of Business Ethics, Harvard Business School |
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Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr., is the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School. He is also Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA Program. Badaracco has taught courses on business ethics, strategy, and management in the School’s MBA and executive programs. Badaracco is a graduate of St. Louis University, Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar, and Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA and a DBA. He has also been chairman of the Harvard University Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility and has served on the boards of two public companies. Badaracco has taught in executive programs in the United States, Japan, and many other countries and has spoken to a wide variety of organizations on issues of leadership, values, and ethics.

Badaracco’s research focuses on business ethics, particularly on leadership and individual decision making, and he has written four books on these topics. These are Business Ethics: Roles and Responsibilities, Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right, and Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing. His most recent book, Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership through Literature, was published in April, 2006. It presents the lessons for leaders suggested by works of serious literature.

David Whyte, Poet, Lecturer, Author, The Three Marriages;
Founder, Many Rivers Company |
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whyte Poet David Whyte is the author of six books of poetry, and two best selling prose books, he holds a degree in Marine Zoology and has traveled extensively, including living and working as a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands and leading anthropological and natural history expeditions in the Andes the Amazon and the Himalaya. He brings this wealth of experience to his poetry, lectures and workshops.

In addition to his six volumes of poetry, including his latest volume River Flow: New and Selected Poems, David Whyte is the author of The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity, an audio lecture series and an album of poetry and music. His newest prose book The Three Marriages: Understanding the Essentials of Work, Self and Relationship.

An Associate Fellow at Templeton College and Said Business School at the University of Oxford, he is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development, where he works with many European, American and international companies. In organizational settings, using poetry and thoughtful commentary, he illustrates how we can foster qualities of courage and engagement; qualities needed if we are to respond to today’s call for increased creativity and adaptability in the workplace.

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Is it possible to have successful businesses that are good for everyone?

Can we have successful businesses that are good for everyone?

February 26th, 2010 | post a comment

As I was again listening to today’s program, I found myself thinking of a conversation I had seven years ago with a very successful professor turned corporate guru. During our dinner discussion, he turned to me and said, “I don’t think its possible to operate a successful business based upon love. I wish I wasn’t right about this.” As conversations do, we drifted on to other topics, yet this portion of our conversation has stuck with me like a seed waiting for the right conditions to sprout.

For the past few months germination of this thought has slowly been erupting. You may remember our program of January 15^th where we talked about worker-owned cooperatives. I am impressed by the ability of people to come together in mutual interest and create businesses that seem to be great for everyone.

I wondered if this was a peek into an answer of the question I had been considering, ‘What does it mean to have a business based upon love?” Often we think of love in terms that come from literature or the media. It is soft and feels good and warm. You know, the kind of love that makes great sayings on greeting cards and is filled with emotion. Many business leaders would say that businesses can’t be operated in this emotional backdrop. I agree.

I have never thought this was the find of love that we were talking about at our dinner conversation seven years ago. It felt more like agape, which means selfless love. We have become cynical. We believe that if we don’t take care of ourself no one will. Yet those that are the loudest advocates of this intense focus on self-interest don’t seem any happier because of it.

On February 23, I was driving around tuned in to our local NPR station when I heard a story that was like giving a shot of fertilizer to this notion of businesses based upon love. The story was about Macy’s European Coffee House, Bakery and Vegetarian Restaurant. They are in Flagstaff Arizona and are celebrating their 30^th anniversary.

In the interview, Tim Macy, who himself the caretaker of the business rather than owner, said, “The whole dream was that we wanted it to be a microcosm of the way the world could be”

Listening further to the radio piece, I found that those that work at Macy’s are referred to as family rather than employee and one family member remarked that Tim writes “love you” on every pay check.

Now I don’t know if Macy’s is the model for a business based upon love. I will go there and find out for myself. What this story did, though, is further my consideration that a business based upon love is not only possible, but can flourish. What do you think about that?

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The Business of the Food Supply

February 19th, 2010 | 5 comments

Over the past 30 years dramatic changes have altered the agricultural landscape both here and around the world. Since 1981 we have lost over 750,000 family farms and half of those that are left augment their income from off farm sources.

There is less diversity in our farming (just look a the mile after mile of corn or soybeans on the farms along our highways with no farm animals in sight to see it first hand) that has raised alarms with everyone from environmentalists to economists.

Since the 1950s our government policies have created rewards for farmers who are larger, large agribusiness companies and made it harder to be a family farmer.

The companies selling the essential products in the agricultural food chain like seeds or feed or fertilizer have vertically integrated so that they control things from the farm to the dinner plate. What’s the impact of all this change? In our digging around, we have become alarmed. Many experts are raising concerns about risks we face because of this intense consolidation.

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Mary Hendrickson | Download MP3

Mary Hendrickson is director of Food Circles Networking Project, a program of the University of Missouri Extension. She currently is focusing her work efforts on consumer education and community building as well as connecting farmers with distributors and helping food service source locally produced food. Her work has led to several community-based processing activities, making local food programming a strong priority in the Kansas City and St. Louis urban extension programs.

She is the author of The Global Food System and Nodes of Power. Mary also serves as associate director of Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Program where she works with mid-sized cooperatives in beef and pork processing from initial planning to start-up, researching potential opportunities in direct-marketing to restaurants and establishing connections between distributors and farmers.

Hendrickson was a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellow. She was awarded the 2001 Cooperative Service Award by the National Farmers Union and received the Family Farm Leadership Award presented by the Missouri Farmers Union.

Doug Gurian-Sherman| Download MP3

Doug Gurian-Sherman is a senior scientist in the Food & Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) where he focuses on agricultural biotechnology and sustainable agriculture. He is the author of numerous papers and reports, including No Sure Fix: Prospects for Reducing Nitrogen Fertilizer Pollution through Genetic Engineering, Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops, and CAFOs Uncovered: The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations.

From 2004 to 2006, Dr. Gurian-Sherman was senior scientist at the Center for Food Safety in Washington, DC. Previously, he was founding co-director and science director for the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. He also worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where he was responsible for assessing human health and environmental risks from transgenic plants and microorganisms and developing biotechnology policy. Before joining the EPA, he worked in the Biotechnology Group at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Gurian-Sherman served on the Food and Drug Administration’s inaugural advisory food biotechnology subcommittee.

Dr. Gurian-Sherman holds a doctorate degree in plant pathology from the University of California at Berkeley. He conducted post-doctoral research on rice and wheat molecular biology at the U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Albany, California.

Union of Concerned Scientists

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.

UCS began as a collaboration between students and faculty members at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969 is now an alliance of more than 250,000 citizens and scientists. UCS members are people from all walks of life: parents and businesspeople, biologists and physicists, teachers and students. Their achievements over the decades show that thoughtful action based on the best available science can help safeguard our future and the future of our planet.

Vandana Shiva | Download MP3

Dr. Shiva is a physicist, ecofeminist, philosopher, activist, and author of many books, including: Water Wars, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge and Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply and Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis.

She founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology. This institute is dedicated to high quality and independent research to address the most significant ecological and social issues of our times, in close partnership with local communities and social movements. Vandana Shiva is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization, (along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, Jeremy Rifkin, etc.), and a figure of the global solidarity movement known as anti-globalization movement.

Vandana is the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) “…For placing women and ecology at the heart of modern development discourse.”

The Food Crisis – Abroad and at Home

February 15th, 2010 | post a comment

Bettina Luescher is a former CNN International anchor who made a life changing decision. Rather than continuewith the career climb in the broadcast industry, she chose to become a spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Program. In this role, she witnesses, first hand, the depth and breadth of the challenge of feeding those who are hungry.

The UN World Food Program is the world’s largest international food assistance organisation combating hunger in underdeveloped nations with severe food shortages. The frontline stretches from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East to Latin America and Asia & the Pacific. They help:

Victims of natural disasters like the 2006 East Africa drought, the Pakistan earthquake and Hurricane Stan in 2005, the tsunami disaster and Bangladesh floods in 2004, the Iran earthquake in 2003 or Hurricane Mitch, which affected one million people in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatamala in October 1998.

Displaced People – both refugees and internally displaced persons to leave towns and villages in places like Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia.

The world’s hungry poor, trapped in a twilight zone between poverty and malnutrition.

The World Food Program serves in two ways. First it mobilizes food assistance for delivery to natural and man-made disaster areas. Second, its rapid response team draws-up contingency plans designed to move food and humanitarian assistance fast into disaster areas.

Truly they are an unheraled champion that deserve our appreciation and support.

Interview with Bettina Leuscher | Download MP3

Part 2: Interview with Janet Larsen | Download MP3

Part 3: Interview with Sharon Astyk | Download MP3

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Violence in the Media

February 12th, 2010 | post a comment

Periodically our attention is brought to the possible impact of media violence on the behaviors in society. This usually happens when there has been some human tragedy such as Columbine or Virginia Tech. Then we are searching for answers and we then wonder if violence in the media isn’t a contributor to the terrible situation. There will be hearings and reports. This is on top of the 50 years of every kind of psychological and physiological study imagined. We will solemnly agree that media violence should be addressed and then we move on to the next high profile crisis.

Yet, with all this evidence and public support as voiced in numerous studies and surveys, we continue to spend increasing amounts on media that is deemed violent. This week we find out about why this disparity exists and what we can do to help children make the best media choices.

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James Potter| Download MP3

For over 25 years, Dr. James Potter has been studying the impact of violence in the media. Jim is a Professor in the Communications Department of the University of California Santa Barbara. His seminal book, 11 Myths of Media Violence has been studied across the US He is a former editor of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media as well as the editor of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Media Violence. He has published numerous scholarly articles, book chapters, and 13 other books. He is currently at work on a general of theory of the mass media in which he plans to integrate the theories and research findings about the mass media industries, their content, audiences, and effects into a unified system of explanation.

Michael Mann| Download MP3

Michael Mann is an award-winning storyteller, author, training consultant and speaker, bringing a variety of educational programs and workshops to children and adults. Michael has been an active advocate of the mission of the National Institute on Media and the Family since 1997, originally as a media rater for the MediaWise® KidScore® program.

Michael was a nominee for the Anne Richardson Reading is Fundamental national award and is currently working in the area of storytelling and emergent literacy. As a founding member of Cygnus Storytelling, he worked with the families and staff of the Waldorf Schools to develop a family storytelling curriculum. He is past president of the Northlands Storytelling Network, and on the artist rosters of COMPAS Global Arts Presentations, Artists to Go, and the Minnesota Story Alliance. Michael is an active member of the National Storytelling Network, where he participates in the “Stories in Organizations” special interest group.

For Your Consideration | Download MP3

A challenge to parents to increase their involvement in their children’s media choices.

Links:

Get a copy of the Kaiser Family Foundation study, “M² Media in the lives of 8 to 18 year-olds.”

Business Matters Dialog: Innovation

February 5th, 2010 | post a comment

What’s written about the economy seems to change daily. Today it’s good news and tomorrow there are storm clouds fast approaching. Most economists missed the downturn and yet they continue to predict the future like they now know what’s going on.

To help educate our listeners about what really caused the biggest economic dip since the Great Depression, we devoted our first Business Matters Monthly Dialog to the topic of the innovation and the economy. To help get to the truth in plain English, we invited Michael Mandel, the former chief economist of BusinessWeek, to be our guest. During this one hour dialog, 20 invited callers were able to ask Michael penetrating and sometimes uncomfortable questions. These questions ranged from “how is it that you and your colleagues missed the warning signs” to “how can innovation help get us back on track”.

Michael is well qualified to be our guide during this live conversation. While at BusinessWeek, Michael was responsible for formulating BusinessWeek’s coverage of economic policy. Prior to that, Mandel was economics editor for the magazine. Michael is the author of several books, including “Rational Exuberance”, “The Coming Internet Depression”, and “The High Risk Society”. Michael recently started South Mountain Economics where he writes his blog, Mandel on Innovation and Growth.

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For Your Consideration
This week, a possible explanation for how Fox News has become the “most trusted” media source.
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The Accountability of Business

January 29th, 2010 | 1 comment

This week on Business Matters, find out if accountability is possible in world of complexity and political expediency. When you talk to people, they wholeheartedly want accountability. When you ask if they want it in their own workplace, they begin to worry if it is just another way to be blamed when things go wrong.

We explore the adoption of accountability in organizations from three perspectives. First we look at it from the eyes of an academic. Then we talk with the author of the most popular book on the subject. Finally, we talk with a CEO who not only believes in accountability, he practices it big time.

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Joe Badaracco, Author, Question of Character,
Professor of Business Ethics, Harvard Business School |

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Roger Connors
Author
The Oz Principle: Getting Results through Individual and Organizational Accountability

Download MP3 Roger Connors is a principal and founder of Partners In Leadership, Inc. Over the last twenty years, Partners In Leadership has become a widely respected international leadership and management consulting firm that has implemented consulting and training services in a myriad of organizations ranging in size from small “start-ups” to Fortune 500 companies. Roger has assisted scores of management teams in successfully Accelerating The Cultural Transition(R) in their organizations to a Culture Of Accountability. He has significant experience in helping management teams facilitate large scale Cultural Transition. In addition, he has worked with numerous management groups to assist them in building teams and in building greater accountability at all levels in the organization. Roger holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Brigham Young University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Brigham Young University He is the co-author of the best-selling book, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual And Organizational Accountability. He is also co-author of Journey To The Emerald City: Achieve A Competitive Edge By Creating A Culture Of Accountability. In 2009, Roger co-wrote, How did that Happen: Holding People Accountable for Results the Positive, Principled Way.

Shawn Boyer, Founder & CEO, SnagAJob.com
2008 National Small Business Person of the Year |
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bio_shawn1 Shawn Boyer founded SnagAJob.com in 1999, and since then, he has taken the company from being a start-up to the nation’s largest part-time and hourly job-posting site. In 2008, Shawn was named the nation’s Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. That same year, he also saw one of his most ambitious goals for the company come true when SnagAJob.com was named a Best Small & Medium Company to Work for in America by the Great Places to Work Institute.

Prior to starting SnagAJob, this big thinker and passionate leader was actually a transactional attorney for Brown & Wood LLP (now Sidley Austin, LLP) and Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, LLP. He holds a Master of Law in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center, a Juris Doctor from Washington & Lee University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the College of William and Mary.

Aside from mowing lawns in middle school, Shawn’s first hourly job was in a retail store in his sophomore year in high school. “From day one, that job taught me that the customer is absolutely the organization’s lifeblood, that they drive the business, and that you need to bend over backwards to wow them.” That same philosophy is embraced throughout SnagAJob.com today.

For Your Consideration

A personal challenge to be accountable for everything.

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