Friday Oct 23, 2009
One of my favorite Yogi Berra quotes is, "You can see a lot by watching."
I grew up in Motown and my dad worked for General Motors for more than 30
years. We were worried when there were strikes. We were pleased when there was overtime. Dad always provided for the family.
GM has learned some big lessons in the past 5 years that are not lost on colleges and universities.
Of the failures of 3 major GM auto lines, perhaps the biggest lesson comes from the shutdown of Saturn. That effort was to be different in several ways: cars built to order, a no-haggle price policy for dealers, labor and management were to be partners, and the focus was to be on customer service.
In retrospect, it seems obvious that GM should have taken these innovative ideas and applied them to its existing lines, rather than add a new one without adequate focus and financing. With too many GM brands, Saturn found itself competing for survival within GM as much as it was competing for customers.
Here at GGU we have always had an eye for the needed and new, but we also have
excellent "models" already in existence.
We have the largest and one of the best taxation programs in the country. We have
a national reputation in environmental law. But we have also blazed the trail in new
programming and new methods of delivery.
Do you agree with that Saturn failed because GM had too many brands and was unable to differentiate or focus on the brand?
(Source: "Lessons from Saturn's Fall." USA Today. December 2, 2009)
Category: Economy
Friday Sep 04, 2009
The US economy is in a deep 2-year tail spin, unemployment is at a national level of nearly 10%, California unemployment at almost 12%, senior citizens are
losing their retirement security, thousands of others have lost their homes, 18 million people don't have health insurance, and thousands of Americans are living in poverty.
And last week someone paid $ 4.6 million to purchase the crypt above Marilyn Monroe.
The purchase was made via eBay with an auction value starting at $500,000. Her final resting place is in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. She died in 1962.
Let's stop and think about this for a moment.
In terms of educational opportunity the drop out rate is far too high, expensive state of the art technology is lacking, and thousands of college students can't get into classes this fall.
One university has recently offered to add a class this spring for every $6,000 donation.
For the money this individual paid to be buried above Marilyn Monroe, he could have sponsored 767 university classes. How about an investment in jobs, food for the hungry, or some other higher priority?
What is a higher priority? Almost ANYTHING else. The buyer probably purchased the crypt for bragging rights. Am I missing something? Where are people's priorities?
Update: The winning bidder backed out of the deal, so the seller has emailed the 11 other bidders who bid at least $4.5 million, giving them 24 hours to submit new offers.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-marilyn14-2009aug14,0,2135061.story
Category: Economy
Friday Jun 05, 2009
This week a United Way survey reported a dire message for our area: One in every 3 Bay Area nonprofit organizations are worried they will not survive until the end of the year.
San Francisco has over 7,000 nonprofits and the Bay Area has close to 50,000. We all know the big ones such as United Way, but almost half of these organizations that do vital and needed work have small budgets.
20% of these organizations have laid off staff in the past 6 months and 30% are considering layoffs.
Even the San Francisco United Way has experienced salary and staff reductions.
Times ARE tough. We all know that.
That makes it even MORE important to support our nonprofits!
Source: SF Business Times, May 29, 2009 p 6.
Category: Economy
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