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Project Management 411

Archive for June 2008

June 10th, 2008

Emerging Market Prejudice?

Strategy+Business proposes more attention be given to “emerging markets“:
Many corporate leaders recognize this opportunity, but few are developing the capabilities or the management focus that they will need to realize its full potential.
That’s a legitimate comment based on some of the facts involved. But they then go on to assume that they know what these [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 9th, 2008

California Catching Up with Netherlands Global Warming Taxation

My California Assemblywoman, Sharon Runner, keeps me up to date on my home state politics in her “Runner Report” - click here for a subscription. In it she reveals that California is leading the charge in attempting to pass taxes related to global warming. These bills have successfully made it through the Assembly and await [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 8th, 2008

Assess Your Greeness

By now you know that I’m not a fan of some of the rationale behind global warming, the effect it has had on some industries, and the programs and projects that are being spun off. However, it’s here to stay and we all are going to have to deal with carbon footprint measurement, regulatory changes, [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 7th, 2008

Derrie-Air! The Global Warming Airline

Go and see a hilarious spoof website at http://flyderrie-air.com/. Many are posting on this in our business channel. I’m surprised at the sensitivity, or insensitivity, to fat people. This is NOT about fat people. IT IS about the ridiculous lengths that governments and corporations are going to satisfy the ideas of “green”, “global warming”, “sustainability” [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 7th, 2008

“Fewer, More Successful Projects”: The New HP

I had to laugh at the headline from Manufacturing Business Technology:
Focus on Innovation: HP expects restructured labs to produce fewer, more successful projects
MBT went on to say, in an almost sad way, that HP consolidated its research to focus on 20 to 30 large research projects from about 150, with, lo and behold, a strategy [...]

By Bob Turek -- 2 comments

June 6th, 2008

Did the Fed Contribute to Poor Risk Management by Banks?

CFO’s article on risk management brought up a fascinating point about how the Federal Reserve policies contributed to poor risk management in banks during the subprime mess. CFO makes a shaky link to Alan Greenspan’s role. Banks had been shedding, instead of managing, risk for years by passing it on to investors. They claim that [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 5th, 2008

Risk Management Problems Are Culture Problems

“Risk was not integrated but split between a credit risk officer and a market risk officer, both of whom reported to the CFO, who then reported to the CEO. That may work at a place like Goldman, where decisions are made collectively among executives. But at a firm with a strong-willed CEO, like Merrill, it [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 4th, 2008

Risk Management: What Can We Learn from the Sub-Prime Crisis?

CFO magazine covered how poor risk-management techniques, and more importantly, organizational culture and structure, contributed to the subprime problems:
“the inability to properly manage risk, and the failure of stress tests have so far resulted in global bank losses of $265 billion. With a few notable exceptions, bank CFOs seemed willfully ignorant of snowballing risk.”
The worst [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 3rd, 2008

Innovation Needs a Formal Governance Structure

CIO Insight’s piece on innovation led me to try to find some gold nuggets. After wading through the article I did! Page 4 reveals a comment about governance models when talking about FedEx:
“You won’t find FedEx’s innovation-driven culture at most companies. McKinsey’s research points to one obstacle to innovation: While a vast majority of corporate [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments

June 2nd, 2008

Just Thought You Should Know: Europe Leads in Tracking Carbon Emissions

For those of you who believe that your carbon emissions won’t be tracked, just look at what Manufacturing Business Technology is reporting:
David Simchi-Levi, cofounder of LogicTools and now an ILOG consultant, says companies in the European Union, which has agreed to abide by the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gases, already have a financial incentive [...]

By Bob Turek -- 0 comments