I do get your point, but it also highlights a secondary issue with the current business model used by the west.

A business that has not got the resources to weather a downturn like we are experiencing is probably not that healthy a business. Did the owners put sufficient funding aside, focus on paying of debt and providing a buffer during good times? Or did they go and buy that new Audi S4, or put the extension on the house, or buy that modest holiday home.

I am not talking super excessive “perks”, most business owners I have dealt with wear rose colored glasses.

The priority of the business owner is the health of their business in good and bad times. Focus first on the business, and when it has plenty of reserves so it can keep marketing in difficult times, and is debt free, then the owner can ease off and get a few perks.

Yes, the large corporates are really really bad, but are the smaller businesses any different? I say not. It’s just on a smaller scale.

   0 likes

Wait a minute! Casting corporate honchos as villains sure feels good, and has a degree of merit, but we all share responsibility in making this mess. We were the ones who took out mortgage after mortgage, partying with the accrued equity of our homes. We were the ones who never a a thought to the non-logic of an endlessly expanding economy. We were, and are, the shareholders in the huge corporations you criticize. I agree with much of what you say, but we were not helpless bystanders victimized by ruthless tycoons.

We can change things simply by showing up at shareholder meetings, publicly boycotting products, and living a lifestyle that does not finance the things we find objectionable. But to do that we need to examine our own culpability and change our own behaviors.

Vic Napier

   0 likes

Not to be a pig pile, however many of my “PREVIOUS” co-workers as well as my family and I personally have experienced a small business owner putting on the rose color glasses while several of his employees were trying to advise him that the steps he was taking were self-serving and too costly. All he was concerned with was expanding to hit a number, regardless of the cost. Guess what happened? That’s right ALL OF US were down sized, 100′s lost their jobs. Because the company was privately held, he was also taking cash from the business and hiding it away. . . while not keeping up with payroll nor paying the portion of his employee’s health insurance that was supposedly covered by the company. Many employees found out the hard way. Try going to the pharmacy and during the process of having your prescription filled the pharmacists informs you that your prescription card is not valid. I GUESS SOMEONE FORGOT TO PAY THE INSURANCE COMPANY!!
The real question is How can we prevent these types of so called business people from running companies when the employees are smart enough to speak up? Is this a form of Financial Terrorism?
By the way the company filed chapter 11 to shed the old debt and yes they came out and are still operating. The rest of us are still looking for employment and the taxpayer now has his old debt.

   0 likes

To Vic and Karl,

I’d say you need to be careful where you sling those broad brushes. I do focus on my business. I have not taken a salary since it started operation in late 2005, so what perks are you talking about.

As for mortgages, we amortize ours and will end up paying it off 12 years early.

You may not think that we were victims… but many of “us” were. My wife and I do not live a lavish lifestyle. We work an ungodly number of hours each week to make ends meet and try to get ahead. We don’t have stock in these companies, or believe me, I would have been showing up at the meetings with a bullhorn.

Maybe you are a part of that group who acted so ignorantly, Vic, but I’m not. And yes, I’d gladly apply a little Old West justice to any SOB that pulled in millions of dollars in either salary or a bonus when their company lost hundreds of millions, or billions. When you are at the helm, you should not be the first one to leave the ship and with the biggest life preserver. My years in the military taught me that an honorable leader takes full responsibility for failure and shares the glory for success. The corporate climate in America seems to be focused on leaders not taking responsibility for failure and taking all the credit for the success (if any).

Culpability of the scale that caused such problems as we have now is distributed, certainly, but some people absolutely are suffering far less than others.

These people (CEOs and CFOs and other executives) have no honor, and at this point should have no jobs.

   0 likes

I’m sorry to hear that we are truly beaten down to the point where we can’t defend ourselves. Vic says that we are all to blame. I disagree. The sub-prime bomb exploded because the banking overlords convinced congress through lobbying to loosen or remove regulations. The corner bakery, print shop, or gas station, didn’t have anything to do with it. Sure, unqualified buyers and speculators snapped up the mortgages, but who made it possible for this travesty to happen?

No, we are not all to blame. I didn’t do anything wrong and my business is suffering through no fault of my own. My mortgage is reasonable, I pay my taxes, I’m prudent in my business dealings, and I take care of what is mine. I didn’t make this recession and the ones who are responsible by and large can sit on their bonuses and weather it just fine. What about the rest of us?

   0 likes

So what are the guerrilla tactics you are talking about? I have only read that you are upset that companies making or loosing money are paying their employees. Publicly held companies pay their shareholders when there is a profit. If you are own 1.1 billion paying out 14 mil to the ceo doesn’t seem like it is going to tip the scales to shutout the shareholder

   0 likes

Hey Chuck,

The company LOST 1.1 billion dollars AND paid the CEO 14-16 million dollars!

I agree that a CEO’s compensation should, in some way, be adjusted to a companies success/failure. That’s what contracts are for. If it isn’t in the contract the corporate lawyers should be fired for leaving it out and not protecting the company and share holders.

   0 likes

I’m curious about the guerilla techniques as well….I call on some coporate business now and you get, We only go through print brokers. Then you get the broker and they want to low-ball the profit. You then take no profit to just keep presses moving. Hmmmm, wonder why some are struggling???

   0 likes

This economic crisis is the lasting legacy of Baby Boomers’ greed and avarice. You couldn’t retire fast enough.

   0 likes

I don’t like to cast blanket accusations, but at the same time I think there are some appropriate serious charges concerning the economic problems in US business, especially regarding specifically MBAs.

1. In 1970s and 1980s when Japanese cars became successful in the US market, the policies of MBAs, especially “the best and the brightest” was that the US auto makers did not have to make a better car, rather they could market the less quality cars better.

2. In the 1980s marketing, led by MBAs and business school ideology, acted on the basis that quality of product did not matter, it was how the product was marketed. Specifically I remember hearing the VP Marketing of Anheuser Busch say exactly that and I remember myself saying “So that’s why Bud tastes so bad.” We got the “Pet Rock.”

3. In the 1990s the MBAs figured out that why bother having a product. A business plan and venture capital was enough, kind of like “Conceptual Art” in the 1960s. And so we got the internet bubble and bust.

4. The latest one led by CA, instead of trying to convince VC for money, pass an initiative in an election and get your hands on public money, no accountability, i.e. stem cell initiative and sure enough these guys have been spending money with no accountability and I am sure that we shall [see] more of this with “green businesses.”

5. Now we have elected employees with their “stimulus plans.”
Congress people can identify with the “poverty of not being able to buy a third luxury car” but they have no understanding or empathy for people making $50,000 a year who lose their job and house. Even this cash for clunker program the people buying the cars are just delivering
the money to real recipients. When the banks got money instead of finding ways to loan it and get the money into the economy they made getting a loan more difficult and gave themselves bonuses as if they had worked for and earned this money rather than being on public welfare.

6. There are good business execs in this country but there also too many bad ones, and most are MBAs, who view the corporation solely as a tool for their personal benefit. To most MBAs quality of product, reltionship of the corporation to the town or country or community are unimportant things and easily expendable especially in business school ideology.

7. Printing as a business sector especially in marketing materials is going to get a lot smaller. Its sad because printing and printers have played a major role in the development of a free society over the past 300 years with many good printers standing up for freedom of speech. Also as Marshall McCluhan has pointed out, printing was a major factor that enabled the development of science. But right now its an expense that is easily cut from the corporate budget and replaced by publication on the internet.

   0 likes

I have an MBA…I have started 2 companies, one of which I took public, back in the early 80′s. I have busted my a– to accumulate “wealth” so I could send my kids to college without student loans (which I had to rely on), and could look forward to some semblance of retirement so that I would not need to be a “greeter” at one of the big discount stores. To me,the MBA represented a “toolkit”, necessary to accomplish developing and building a business. Yes, many others have started/built businesses without this education, but I guess I’m a “slow learner”. The MBA, per se, is “not to blame”…it is each individual’s responsibility which is the proper focal point. “Making money” is not an evil thing…there are “good ways and bad ways”, just as there are “good people and bad ones”. I’ll also point out that there is a huge difference between ‘greed’ and ‘avarice’….I think Warren Buffet summarized it best on a TV interview”…don’t invest in something you don’t understand, and why would anyone loan money to someone else who they knew could not pay it back?”. I am waiting to see who “goes to jail” for the frauds perpetrated on investors….I wonder if anyone will? In my opinion, we as a society have become too tolerant of so-called “white collar” crime, while our retirment funds have disappeared before our very eyes. yes, I think that MBA programs should include coursework which deals with ethics and morality, but again, you have good people..and bad ones..with or without an MBA.

   0 likes

“Wait a minute! Casting corporate honchos as villains sure feels good, and has a degree of merit, but we all share responsibility in making this mess. We were the ones who took out mortgage after mortgage, partying with the accrued equity of our homes. We were the ones who never a a thought to the non-logic of an endlessly expanding economy. We were, and are, the shareholders in the huge corporations you criticize. I agree with much of what you say, but we were not helpless bystanders victimized by ruthless tycoons.”

excuse me BUT … how did i share in making this mess? I know how I will and AM paying for the mess but personally and specifically I did NOT share in making the mess. I have always lived within my means, ie: if i don’t have the money don’t buy it. paid my mortgage off in 15 years, sacrificed new furniture and stuff along the way, raised my kids, paid their way, paid my way. worked since i was 14, paid my insurance, added to my 401k, paid my taxes, all that jazz– how in the world do you REALLY think i am responsible for making the mess. GREED and GREEDINESS without care for the morals of what was being done is what caused this. Total thoughtless selfish behaviour. in my humble opinion.

   0 likes

All I read is “me, me, me… poor me”. Let’s quit blaming others and start focusing in the solution instead of the problem! What companies are doing their homework? How and why are they successful? What can we do to follow new trends and adapt? Recommendation: instead of complaining use that time to read the book “Who moved my cheese?”, by Spencer Johnson. Easy book that many printers and suppliers should have in their bookcases.

Note from Bill Ruesch, You can check the right side bar of my blog and buy the book “Who Moved My Cheese” if you don’t have it.

   0 likes

I have one general comment and an uplifting (if old) story.

There actually ARE some people out there who earn seven figures by hard work, dedication and taking chances that most of us would never take. I have a great deal of respect for anyone who would open his/her own business whatever the size; if successful, they provide employment for the rest of us. It’s a win-win situation. Having said that, I am fully and completely aware that many people earning huge salaries do not deserve them and have not earned them. Some are even crooks, like Mr. Madoff. I know many people who lost their jobs because of him and institutions, including community service and charitable institutions, who are suffering because of his scam. Your evaluation is right on when it comes to those people.

The uplifting story goes back several years. It has to do with the guy who invented Polar Fleece and then went out and mass-produced it. This was someone who actually EARNED what he made. He had several hundred (perhaps thousand – I’m not sure) employees, until … his plant burned down. What he did was continue to pay his employees their salaries while rebuilding his plant. I saw an interview with him in which he asked the question we all seem to be asking nowadays when it comes to all the super-rich people in this world, “How much money does one person need?” He pointed out that, without their salaries, his employees wouldn’t be able to pay their mortgages or rent or feed their families, and as for him, how much money did he need? He was not in danger of being out in the street.

I’m convinced that such people are out there now, as well; I only wish they’d make themselves known a little more.

   0 likes

Dear Bill,

I’ve been in the printing industry for nearly 20 years. During half that time I sold commercial printing for a large printing firm. I was worked nearly to death; selling, managing my accounts, standing by presses 24-7, and who got rich? My employer. Finally my employer sold out to an even larger company; why? Greed. They let their entire staff, some 25 year vets go, and management retired like fat cats.

You don’t like printing in China. You say the workers don’t get rich, but the owners do. What is the difference here?

For the past 11 years I’ve been a print broker, mostly in China, and my clients have been very pleased with the results.

You are sorry the printing industry in this country is suffering. Why are they suffering? Because in many cases they don’t take “pride” in their work like they used to. Because big labor forces companies to pay people for work that is often sub-standard. I’m sorry, too, because I used to use American printers until they 1) became too expensive and 2)I had to attend too many press checks and bindery checks to be sure the operators got it right. Should I need to do this? In this case yes, because if I didn’t, the finished product all too often did not come close to the proofs.

For nearly 10 years, at the initial request of my clients, I’ve been printing in China. The Chinese know manufacturing, and have invested in good equipment. Their people are highly skilled and take pride in their work. I’ve never attended a press check (though I’ve visited their clean factories), yet in all these years I have had less than a handful of complaints about the printing quality. In every case, the printer re-printed the job immediately at their own expense.

I hope the printing industry in this country takes notice and turns itself around, so they can once again compete with China. It is analogous to the car industry; when cars were expensive “schlock,” consumers looked overseas to buy. I think the auto industry is changing, so there is hope that American workers will quit watching the clock and pay more attention to increasing their skills and productivity.

   0 likes