Sex education
A life of royalty Vs sexuality
In a rambunctious commentary, the vociferous Ratan Lal Bhagat of 4Ps B&M gives a bare-all-dare-all sectoral update on where do America’s so-called erstwhile best stand today?
From being the world’s first superpower economy to having an autocratic say in every aspect of global concern, the capitalist United States of America has stamped its authority in various spheres for decades. And the rogue mob of US ‘Fortune’ (500) hunters had held the yankee brand in good stead, topping global rankings time and again for ages. Well started, surely. But US Inc. seems to have taken the ‘well started is half finished’ ideology quite literally one guesses – at least if one were to see the corporate mayhem post the recessionary Wall Street crash. Uncle Sam Inc. had to go through the pain of being a helpless witness to the death of its corporate legends; Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, AIG, et al. Not only did 52 banks shut shops since the collapse, but now to add to the predicament, many existing American conglomerate giants are slowly but surely losing what previously was unquestionable leadership in various segments. Here’s the latest run-through!
At the top of the news block comes the Anglo-Dutch oil and energy behemoth Royal Dutch Shell PLC. For years, ExxonMobil and Walmart used to lead the Fortune 500 list, fighting for the number one or two position. This year presented a coup of sorts, with Royal Dutch Shell jumping to the coveted number one position, with sales at a mind numbing $458 billion! The sorry financial state of the ‘Big Three or Detroit Three’ automakers viz. GM, Ford and Chrysler is no secret. The ‘Asian Four’ (Toyota, Hyundai, Honda and Nissan) have all raced well ahead of American automakers. In the same pitch, the France based aircraft manufacturer Airbus has become the market leader in its industry by grabbing a clear 57% of the market pie from Boeing [Christian Scherer, Executive Vice President-Head of Airbus Strategy and future programmes told 4Ps B&M, “Over the last decade, we have gained market leadership from 20% to the 50% plus market shares now.”].
Stephen Byrne, Director of Strategy at Diffusion tells us, “You only have to look at the downfall of Lehman Brothers and GM to see how much they have tarnished the reputations and performance of many other companies...” Then what have been the non-American companies doing that Yankee spirit seems to be missing? Malcolm Gladwell writes in his New York Times Bestseller, Outliers (#1 on NYT right now!) that outstanding mastery of any field/task can be achieved basically if one practises that particular task for 10,000 hours! Amusingly, in the case of US firms, it’s just that they’ve been practising the wrong task for 10,000 hours! Diffusion tells us, “You. Royal Dutch had planned out a restructuring plan much before the worst of the slowdown hit. Not many would know that the multinational petroleum company’s upstream activities are actually managed and controlled under three separate organisations viz exploration & production, gas & power, and oil sands. And even this is now being logically trimmed down to two entities. “This new structure will increase accountability in the company, and improve our performance on delivering new projects and developing new technologies,” explains Peter Voser, the newly appointed CEO of Royal Dutch.
Similarly, one of the basic reasons for the failure of century old American car manufacturers is the fact that they have been reluctant to diversify their product portfolio (and stuck to the tough truck American ‘dream’). Compare this to – as Masahiro Takedagawa, President and CEO of Honda Siel Cars proposes to us – their Asian peers, who’ve not only diversified into various car offerings (for example Toyota, from the fuel efficient Prius to the luxury dream Lexus), but also into other products ranges (from bikes that have been there since the start in many Asian firms’ cases, to even robots and flying
jets). To add to the mis-Fortune list is the fact that many American firms regularly play the ‘vapourware’ trumpet; promising to offer products that either never reach or reach too late – Boeing’s much hyped 787 Dreamliner being a screaming example.
But most critically, US firms have never seen the potential that lies in emerging markets like China and India. If the past was evidence, the present is the final nail, as even now, there have been no talks about increasing investments or reach within these markets. Look around emerging markets and names like Daiichi Sankyo, Hyundai, Suzuki will resound profitably time and again Diffusion tells us, “You Diffusion tells us, “You Diffusion tells us.
Ratan Lal Bhagat
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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