 | |
| The Big Idea |  |
| |
 |
- Detroit bailout dies in Senate
A $14 billion loan package intended to save the U.S. auto industry failed in the Senate on Thursday night, sending Asian markets in a swoon. "It's over with," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow." The deal's collapse shows the waning influence of the Bush White House on congressional Republicans, many of whom regret the $700 billion rescue of the financial industry. The sticking point this time was a demand that Detroit lower labor costs to what foreign manufacturers pay in their U.S. plants. Financial Times (free content)
(12/12)      
|
 | The Effectiveness of Modernizing Operations
See how modernizing operations not only helps simplify your merchandising and processing systems, but improves your capabilities for segmentation, pricing, inventory control and replenishment. Learn more about how one company developed a computerized operating system that could track all operations during their rapid growth. |
| |
- Blagojevich case tests Obama crisis strategy
The Illinois governor's arrest has given President-elect Barack Obama a chance to test-drive his scandal-response strategy. Obama has taken three stabs at it in three days, starting with a detached approach and moving to "appalled and disappointed" on Thursday. Mark Fabiani, an ex-White House lawyer, said Obama's initial claim that he was entirely uninvolved was risky because he can't know every contact his transition team has made. "It's something that may turn out to be 100% true, but it's a red flag that has been raised up. And everybody now is shooting at the red flag: the media, the Republicans." Los Angeles Times
(12/12)
- Congress storms the executive suite
Lawmakers, in a vote of no confidence in U.S. corporate leadership, are demanding a say in management decisions and proposing to remodel corporate governance regulations. But is bad governance to blame for the economic crisis? Not entirely, says Wharton management professor Michael Useem. "One has to infer that we also have a combination of leadership and governance problems that can explain why so many companies went south so quickly." Knowledge@Wharton
(12/10)
|
 | Working Green with Digital Libraries - Learn how online tools and content support a green work environment and how technology professionals are working green every day. |
| |
- U.S. executives put faith in Obama
CEOs overwhelmingly supported John McCain for president, but a recent poll shows 74% now believe President-elect Barack Obama will be able to lift the United States from financial crisis. More than one-fifth expect improvements within a year, and more than half expect Obama will produce results within two years. BNET/BNET1 blog
(12/9)
|
 | There's a lot of talk about social media.
How much is worth listening to?
SmartBrief on Social Media: just the news you need – FREE.
Read a sample and sign up today. |
| |
| Innovation and Creativity |
|
- How to create a company of influence
 Dartmouth professor Vijay Govindarajan, GE's new chief innovation consultant, says company size isn't everything when it comes influence. "Who really shapes the agenda? That's the way I view influence," he says. One of the companies he watches is automaker Tata. Its affordable Nano car was agenda-setting by itself, he says, and its response to political pressure actually tilted India's power base toward industry. Bloomberg Businessweek
(12/10)
| | |
- "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,"
by Naomi Klein
 Why did so few of America's 15,000 economists predict the mortgage crisis? Because, according to one dire view, their entire theoretical framework is useless. Investigative reporter Naomi Klein leaves the tepid economics jabber behind and sets out to discover how we got here. What she finds is terrifying, says this reviewer. He calls her work "one of the most brilliant, important, and disturbing books ... that may well be the most important economic book of the decade." Business Lexington (Ky.)
(12/11)
- The ultimate in CEO chutzpah?
Nestle Waters, a $4 billion subsidiary, threatened to sue Miami-Dade County for "attack on the integrity of the company" over radio ads claiming tap water is cheaper and safer than bottled water. Unbelievable gall, says business columnist Anya Kamenetz. "A water company suing the public water department is like Gymboree and McDonald's Play-Place suing the city parks department, or a tanning salon suing the sun," she says. The suit won Nestle Waters CEO John Harris a spot on a "Corporate Scrooges" list. FastCompany.com/Green Day blog
(12/11)
 | [Big firms] are not going to survive long-term by paying their executives $500,000. They're just not going to attract the talent."
|
|
|
SmartBrief delivers need-to-know news in over 100 targeted email newsletters to over 3 million readers.
All our industry briefings are FREE and open to everyone—sign up today!
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
Recent SmartBrief on Leadership Issues:
- Thursday, December 11, 2008
- Wednesday, December 10, 2008
- Tuesday, December 09, 2008
- Monday, December 08, 2008
- Friday, December 05, 2008
| | | Lead Editor: Mary Ellen Slayter
Contributing Editor: Liz Ruskin
Mailing Address:
SmartBrief, Inc.®, 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005 | |
| |
|
| © 1999-2011 SmartBrief, Inc.® Legal Information |
|
