As the row over the release of convicted Libyan Terrorist Abdel Baset al-Megrahi rumbles on oil giant B.P is preparing to commence drilling off the Libyan coast in waters slightly deeper than those which have been so grossly polluted in the Gulf of Mexico.
Fueling the controversy this weekend it was reported by the Financial Times that “Michel Williams told a U.S government investigator that an important alarm, which could have detected the build up of natural gas, was disarmed so as not to wake people up at night”
In 2007 B.P signed a $900 million deal with the Libyan government allowing it to begin exploration in Libyan waters.
Megrahi was released in August 2009 on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Government having being convicted in 2001 for the bombing of PAN AM flight 103 in 1988 and the murder of 270 people.
He was given only 3 months to live before release but has made a remarkable recovery since returning to Libya, it is rumoured that he has taken up Highland dancing with gusto and is often spotted out and about wearing a kilt.
Interestingly Megrahi abandoned an appeal which would have disclosed a lot of evidence to the public shortly before his release on compassionate grounds.
The debate about whether there is any connection between the release of Abdel Based al-Megrahi and the commercial deals struck between Libya, B.P and the U.K Government will rumble on but……..
If it looks like a turd and smells like a turd……………………..
Have you seen “Undercover Bosses” on Channel 4 ? (9pm Thursdays)
In the series a number of company Executives go “undercover” to see how their business really works.
Last week it was David Clarke’s turn. David is the C.E.O of Hotel chain “Best Western” which doesn’t actually own any hotels but acts as an “umbrella brand” and booking agent.
David explained to his rather bemused board that he was going undercover for 5 days and would report his findings on his return.
David grew a beard and assumed an alternate identity.
He needn’t have bothered really because, despite a 1 million pounds marketing campaign, none of the staff had any clue what Best Western did or who they were.
David met a number of staff most of whom were extremely dedicated despite having to work extra hours unpaid and generally receiving just above minimum wage.
The funniest was the maintenance guy who clearly didn’t give a sh*t !
“Aren’t we going to fix that properly” asked David. “Nahh we’ll just move it to another room” – so that when the Best Western Inspector returned and checked the same room the offending item would be elsewhere and replaced by one from another room. Other shenanigans involved changing the room numbers on the Inspector’s report to confuse him on his return.
David, quite understandably, was not amused.
David returned to the boardroom to announce his findings – The Marketing Director was visibly shocked to hear that the advertising campaign had been particularly ineffective.
At the end of the show David anounced (in Secret Millionaire style) his true identify to the staff he had met during the show.
One Lady had worked for Best Western for 20 years. She earned around 6 pound per hour as a Cleaning Team Leader and regularly worked well over her standard shift for no extra recompense. During the show it transpired that her Son had spent some considerable time in Great Ormond Street Childrens hospital. Consequently David, in best philanthropist style, got out his chequebook. The Cleaner’s lip trembled and a loose tear rolled down her face as he wrote out a cheque for…….two and a half thousand pounds.
Best Western is part of the Interchange & Consort Hotels Group Ltd which is a private limited company and as such its accounts are not readily available in the public sphere in the same way that a PLC’s are. It is however one of the largest hotel chains in the Western world. One would have thought that a more generous donation would have been in order from such a “prestigious” organization rather than this rather tawdry sum.
The program highlighted a number of issues prevalent in many companies today:-
A boardroom in the bunker mentality – completely out of touch with it’s own workforce and the issues it faces on a daily basis.
A CEO living in a “bubble of bullshit” provided by his fellow Directors.
Workers being exploited on minimum wage and working excessive hours.
Workers with such dedication compared to their highly numerated counterparts in the boardroom it makes you seeth.
There is an old Management technique called “Management by walking around” which is exactly what it says on the tin.
Executives need to extract their heads from their own orifices and get out there on the shop floor and find out what the hell’s going on in their own organizations. Get out there and talk but more importantly listen to your own workers.
In the 1980’s Britain was a divided nation in more ways than one.The industrial strife of the miners strike and the subsequent pit closures took a terrible toll on the Economy of the North with high unemployment and social deprivation rife in cities like Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester & Sheffield. No one captured this division better than the comedian Harry Enfield with his cockney character “Loadsamoney” and his Newcastle counterpart “buggerallmoney”.
Whilst these caricatures caused hilarity both North and South they represented real, deep cultural divisions.
Of course the South has always had it’s own problems of density of population, high housing costs, congested roads, increased pollution and pockets of real deprivation alongside unbridled wealth.
In the 1990’s onward there has been tremendous progress in the North. Cities like Newcastle, Manchester & Leeds are unrecognisable compared to 20 years ago. Rather than squander money City councils like Salford have done a tremendous job in bringing new investment to previously deprived areas and building new, modern infrastructure which is the envy of the world.
The massive cuts announced by the coalition Government risk undoing all of that and there is a real danger that their impact will be felt far more sharply in the North where there is a much greater dependency on Government and Civil Service jobs.
This must not be allowed to happen. There must be Government incentives for New Businesses to set up in the North. In these days of electronic communications there is absolutely NO good reason for New Start ups to be located in the South East. Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester & Liverpool all have excellent airports and rail and road infrastructure. There are skilled and educated workers available at a fraction of the cost of workers in the South East.
This is not a plea for sympathy, it is a demand for equality of opportunity.
If we want to avoid another North South divide, with all that entails, we must encourage Business Investment in the North.
Back in 2006 Reflex Semiconductor was a medium sized electronics business with Sales Revenue around $200 million and a respectable Net Profit of around $5 million.
The company had several hundred customers and a diverse and mixed product range.
Unsatisfied with performace the Board decided to appoint a new President of Marketing.
This guy was called Max Cutter (I kid you not) and he summed up his philosophy in his joining speech.
” Guys, I want to re-focus on our core business. 80% of our profits come from 20% of our customers but 80% of our efforts are in supplying the lowest contributing 20%” (He was obviously familiar with the Pareto rule)
“I want to re-focus our business (hang on Max, how long have you been here) by eliminating the lowest earning 20% and refocussing our efforts on the highest grossing 20% and watch this business GROW!!!”
When the clapping and cheering had subsided Max set about his business. Gathering together a multifunctional team of career oriented individuals from all levels of the organization (well, engineer level up anyway)
Pursuing a mantra of ‘All Change is Good’ they set about trimming the companies customer database, removing anyone who contributed less than 0.5% of Total Sales.
This carried on for several months.
The Quaterly results were due to be published when Max announced he was leaving the Company for a better position. Despite much persuassion and the offer of a 30% increase in salary Max left anyway. He did get a nice leaving present of a Rolex watch presented by the CEO.
The Quaterly results indicated that Sales were down to $140 million (-30%) and Profit was now a loss of $1.2 million.
Naturally, a Consultant was brought in to assess the situation and, after one weeks analysis, She reported that NO ONE CUSTOMER REPRESENTED MORE THAN 0.7% OF SALES.
The companies customer base was so diverse and its product range so varied the Good Old Pareto Rule didn’t apply in this case and Max and the team had successfully exterminated 30% of a perfectly good business.
Unfortunately Reflex Semiconductor never recovered and went bust a year later.
Max went on to get a job in investment banking and invented something called the “Credit Default Swap”….
Henry Ford once commented that if he’d asked his customers what they wanted they would have replied “Give me a faster horse”.
