Sourcing the World

BusinessWeek.com has posted an interesting commentary by one of my clients — Lenovo CEO Bill Amelio.  Lenovo is one of the largest PC makers in the world, an amalgam of the former Legend Holdings of China and IBM’s PC division.  Amelio’s perspective on how today’s global environment and the concept of “worldsourcing” contrast with offshoring and outsourcing has credibility, in my humble opinion, since he’s an American (raised in the Pittsburgh area) now running a company at the fore of the globalization movement.  His leadership team represents the unique cultural composition of Lenovo, with an American CEO based in Singapore, a Chinese Chairman based in Raleigh, N.C., and assorted other executives of different nationalities operating all over the world.  Here’s the link to the piece: 

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080529_101827.htm 
Beyond Outsourcing, to Worldsourcing
We are now in the era of Global 2.0, where successful companies know how to harness ideas and innovations from the fast-growing emerging markets…..

Americana

I marched in the Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., Memorial Day parade yesterday as one of the town’s volunteer firefighters.  My two daughters, Elizabeth, who’s 7, and Julia, 9, also marched with their Girl Scout troops. The scene was right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, with many homes lining the town’s main street adorned with flags and bunting.  The local VFW closed the day with a wreath-laying ceremony to honor U.S. war vets, which included an incredible talk by a local West Point grad, now an Army captain, who has seen service in Afghanistan and Iraq.   He relayed one story about a firefight in Iraq where close air support was called in to protect the soldiers on the ground.  It just so happened that one of the F-16 pilots providing cover that day was one of his closest boyhood friends, a graduate of the Air Force Academy.  It really is incredible when you think about how fate brought these two, who competed as kids in local northern New Jersey baseball and basketball leagues, together years later in battle in a faraway land.  I tend not to get too sentimental/jingoistic, but the parade and ceremony (coupled with incredible weather) really had an impact and made me proud to be an American.   

American Idle

David Cook’s American Idol victory over David Archuleta this week highlights the importance of image and perception.  While most of the music critics cited Archuleta, 17, as the better singer of the two, the public vote illustrates the power of negative media attention.  Most of the publicity on Archuleta during the final weeks of the contest positioned the poor kid (albeit very talented) as a puppet of an “overbearing and controlling” dad who has been grooming his son since birth for music stardom.  (Does anyone else think Dad is the spittin’ image of Danny Bonaduce of Partridge Family fame?)  Cook, meanwhile, at 25, was by far the more laid back of the two who seemed to be enjoying the surprising ride to fame.  This contrast clearly played into the final voting.   

Calling His Shot

A buddy of mine from Norwood, Mass., forwarded me the following link to Eric Wilbur’s sports blog on the Boston Globe website: http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2008/05/23/promo_copy/.  In it, Wilbur reviews the controversy of David Ortiz’s participation in a State Farm-sponsored contest during the 2008 All Star Game to be played at Yankee Stadium.  As part of the contest “Call Your Shot,” State Farm will select a fan to predict where Ortiz where deposit a ball during the home run derby contest.  The Yankees brass is up in arms, according to Wilbur and a NY Times story that he cites, that a Sox hitter and Yankee killer, Ortiz, gets to play Babe Ruth, instead of a Yankee.  Yet another headache for Hank Steinbrenner in what has been a rocky first season to date at the ownership helm. 

Belichick Interview

Finally, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick grasps the upper hand in the media battle over spygate.  While not the best of interview subjects, Belichick at least provides a concise picture of what he understood to be the rules over taping coaching signals in a lengthy online interview with CBS News (www.cbsnews.com).  I’m biased because I’ve always been a huge Pats fan, having grown up in the shadows of the old Schaefer (Beer) Stadium, rooting for the likes of Randy Vataha, Jim Plunkett, Sam Cunningham, Tim Fox, Mike Haynes, et al.  In my mind, Belichick will go down as the greatest NFL head coach in history, and the Pats will land a few more Super Bowl rings under his leadership.  It’s about time he came out of his shell and defended the team, his players, and his legacy.  Check out the CBS interview and make your own determination as to whether this finally puts the lid on the ridiculous debate on the impact of taping what’s long been in the public domain and part of football.  I think it does. 

Boston Herald Fiasco

John Tomase of the Boston Herald — not a very good journalist. Just look back at my Sept. ‘07 post on the Herald’s “Point After” blog after one of Tomase’s colleagues moved on. I recognized Tomase’s shoot-from-the-hip, lack-of-credibility reporting style long ago. His extrapolations on bits of info gleaned from questionable sources are so far-fetched.  The following is my reaction to his story speculating that Randy Moss was about to be cut before playing a single game for the Pats. The rest is history. Moss went on to post a single-season record for TDs, helping the Pats to a perfect regular season. My crazy rant last fall to Tomase’s so-called story follows. It’s still archived on the Boston Herald site.

Comment by rabidgolf – September 2, 2007 @ 10:46 pm I only trusted your posts. The baloney about Moss being cut only reinforces my fears about John’s news sense. Plus, his bio on the Herald website is vague. For whom did he cover the Red Sox before taking the Pats beat at the Herald? I know he likes Grogan for his playing collar, but I’m uncomfortable with his football acumen. Albert, who seemed to be the only one with energy to keep the blog up to date, will be missed. I’ll defer to Reiss at the Globe.

 

Dig Well When You’re Not Thirsty

Bill Holstein, the respected long-time business journalist, provides a good overview of ways to build productive working media relationships in a recent BNET Business Network column, http://www.bnet.com/2403-13068_23-194647.html?tag=nl.e713.  He contends that a number of CEOs show benign neglect (even outright indifference) to business media, which ultimately hurts their companies’ external positioning (since no investment is made in getting their messages out via this critical venue).   One of Holstein’s tips encompasses what I call “digging your well when you’re not thirsty.”  In other words, the most effective and credible working media relationships are built over time, where trust is gained on both sides via open and honest communication.  The worst time to start a media dialogue is in time of crisis or need. 

Holstein argues the long-term approach is even more critical today, given the instantaneous impact of media coverage.  To get a feel for the instant nature of communications, look no further than Stephanie Clifford’s excellent piece in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/business/media/07adco.html?_r=1&sq=stephanie%20clifford&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=4&adxnnlx=1210781532-UgiLbjSJb4liDhJ2/2LETA on the aftermath of the Kentucky Derby.  Yum Brands’ CEO was interviewed immediately following the race as title sponsor.  Obviously unaware of the tragic euthanization of second-place finisher Eight Belles, the CEO went on to say what a great day it had been for racing and for Yum Brands.  The episode shows how easily a CEO can be caught off guard, through no fault of his or her own (nor the media).  But the harm to the Yum brand was instantaneous as blog postings literally raced across the Internet, contending that the CEO’s comments reflected those of an uncaring company and business leader. 

Recession? Measure Hair Length.

I’ve been asking local business owners in northern New Jersey about what they’re seeing in terms of demand in my less-than-scientific look at economic signals to confirm if we’re, indeed, in a recession.  One landscaper says demand for regular yard maintenance remains as strong as ever but that competitors more dependent on landscape design and construction, not surprisingly, are hurting.   A Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., barber says business is good (since hair growth isn’t impacted by economics) but has noticed that regular customers are going somewhat longer between cuts.  He also has kept the price of regular haircut at $19 for the past two years.  On a more positive note, a local distributor of Trane air conditioning systems can’t seem to hire enough help to keep up with demand from large corporate customers.  

The Economy

David Leonhardt of The New York Times wrote one of the more fascinating takes I’ve read in some time on the state of inflation http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/business/07leonhardt.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=leonhardt&st=nyt&oref=slogin.  The piece ran May 7.  In it, he examines the odd juxtaposition of tepid overall price increases (based on slight upticks in the reported CPI) versus what consumers are seeing everyday at the gas pump and in grocery stores.  The column looks at how prices of a number of goods like electronics, cars and women’s clothing have remained fairly steady (or even declined) over the years, offsetting the impact of price increases that are more obvious to consumers due to the frequency of such purchases.

Blog Origins

My wife actually posted the inaugural May 5 entry to this blog that relays an off-the-cuff comment I made, circa 1990.  Based on my outlook at the time, there’s really no more to be said as to why I’m neither a millionaire nor prescient investor.   My blog header, Which Way to Fenway, harkens back to my Boston University days (and two years thereafter), when I worked for the Boston Red Sox, calculating the home attendance for each Sox home game during the 1981-1987 seasons.  I was hired by NYNEX in 1987, which eventually moved me to New York corporate headquarters in 1989, and my career as a New York-based PR strategist (such as it is) was born.