Comments for Tony's Blog http://www.tonybury.com The Bury'ed Treasures Sun, 06 Mar 2011 06:36:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 Comment on Aligning business performance and meeting the needs of the community/society by Tony Bury http://www.tonybury.com/2011/02/aligning-business-performance-and-meeting-the-needs-of-the-communitysociety/comment-page-1/#comment-1613 Tony Bury Sun, 06 Mar 2011 06:36:24 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=766#comment-1613 Leon, This is an extremely interesting perspective, as outside of the financial markets, there is an understanding that profits can increase and decline in order to meet long term goals. Whereas the financial markets price in a premium for those companies that are able to generate quarter on quarter increase in profits that you refer to. The question is how do we manage the power of the financial markets so that they can be realigned. Any views? Leon,

This is an extremely interesting perspective, as outside of the financial markets, there is an understanding that profits can increase and decline in order to meet long term goals. Whereas the financial markets price in a premium for those companies that are able to generate quarter on quarter increase in profits that you refer to. The question is how do we manage the power of the financial markets so that they can be realigned. Any views?

]]> Comment on Aligning business performance and meeting the needs of the community/society by Tony Bury http://www.tonybury.com/2011/02/aligning-business-performance-and-meeting-the-needs-of-the-communitysociety/comment-page-1/#comment-1612 Tony Bury Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:55:24 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=766#comment-1612 I have found an interesting interview of Michael Porter on the subject. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xj0r4. I have found an interesting interview of Michael Porter on the subject. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xj0r4.

]]> Comment on Aligning business performance and meeting the needs of the community/society by Leon Beuyukian http://www.tonybury.com/2011/02/aligning-business-performance-and-meeting-the-needs-of-the-communitysociety/comment-page-1/#comment-1611 Leon Beuyukian Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:27:00 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=766#comment-1611 Tony, indeed a great article. Micheal Porter's book written some 20 years ago titled: "The Competitive advantage of nations" referred to the clusters of core competencies that nations had developed around their core industries by demonstrating for example how the Italian furniture industry was the world leading industry due its clusters of small companies manufacturing different parts of the furniture located within short distances from each other and hence creating the shared value communities that he refers to in this current article. There is no doubt that the current capitalist system must evolve. However one important consideration must be attached to the notion of "time" which he mentions briefly. I have always been amazed how listed companies are able to show profit and revenue improvements quarter after quarter without damaging long term interest of shareholders, employees and societies they live and work in (if ever they had the latter 3 in mind). There is no way on earth, that within this globalized world, where information is being transmitted at nanoseconds, top management of companies can sustain growth in profits and revenues without sacrificing long term goals or applying creative (or fraudulent) accounting techniques. Consequently my greatest concern will be how can we change the notion of "time" from short term to long term of all involved in the corporation i.e. shareholders, management, employees, the environment and communities they work, live and service in? Unless we change the notion of time, we can never achieve what Michael Porter and Mark Kramer refer to as shared values, creating clusters of complementary competencies and creating competitive advantages. Tony, indeed a great article. Micheal Porter’s book written some 20 years ago titled: “The Competitive advantage of nations” referred to the clusters of core competencies that nations had developed around their core industries by demonstrating for example how the Italian furniture industry was the world leading industry due its clusters of small companies manufacturing different parts of the furniture located within short distances from each other and hence creating the shared value communities that he refers to in this current article. There is no doubt that the current capitalist system must evolve. However one important consideration must be attached to the notion of “time” which he mentions briefly. I have always been amazed how listed companies are able to show profit and revenue improvements quarter after quarter without damaging long term interest of shareholders, employees and societies they live and work in (if ever they had the latter 3 in mind). There is no way on earth, that within this globalized world, where information is being transmitted at nanoseconds, top management of companies can sustain growth in profits and revenues without sacrificing long term goals or applying creative (or fraudulent) accounting techniques. Consequently my greatest concern will be how can we change the notion of “time” from short term to long term of all involved in the corporation i.e. shareholders, management, employees, the environment and communities they work, live and service in? Unless we change the notion of time, we can never achieve what Michael Porter and Mark Kramer refer to as shared values, creating clusters of complementary competencies and creating competitive advantages.

]]> Comment on Aligning business performance and meeting the needs of the community/society by Tony Bury http://www.tonybury.com/2011/02/aligning-business-performance-and-meeting-the-needs-of-the-communitysociety/comment-page-1/#comment-1610 Tony Bury Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:10:03 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=766#comment-1610 Great input, KK... Interesting concept to attach a moral value to them by creating a Corporate hierarchy of needs akin to or derived from Maslow's hierarchy. This works well with a human being as we have a "soul". How could this apply to a corporate? Whilst a corporate is made up of human beings, the legal structure and responsibilities of a Corporate are solely to the shareholders and not to any other stakeholder. The only way to effect this change would be to create the Corporate hierachy of needs and then make it a legal requirement!!! Great input, KK… Interesting concept to attach a moral value to them by creating a Corporate hierarchy of needs akin to or derived from Maslow’s hierarchy. This works well with a human being as we have a “soul”. How could this apply to a corporate? Whilst a corporate is made up of human beings, the legal structure and responsibilities of a Corporate are solely to the shareholders and not to any other stakeholder. The only way to effect this change would be to create the Corporate hierachy of needs and then make it a legal requirement!!!

]]> Comment on Aligning business performance and meeting the needs of the community/society by Tony Bury http://www.tonybury.com/2011/02/aligning-business-performance-and-meeting-the-needs-of-the-communitysociety/comment-page-1/#comment-1609 Tony Bury Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:08:18 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=766#comment-1609 Thanks for your input, Daniel. My greatest concern in that within the pyramid of the three Values:- Shareholder, Customer and Employee, that corporations in order to achieve their shareholder value are resorting to a dilution of customer and employee value to achieve the increase in shareholder value which distorts the balance within society. Furthermore, it is much easier to achieve and therefore becomes the "easy" option for executives and management to meet their goals for which they are compensated. So fundamentally we need to ensure that "legally" a company has responsibility for all their stakeholders. Thanks for your input, Daniel. My greatest concern in that within the pyramid of the three Values:- Shareholder, Customer and Employee, that corporations in order to achieve their shareholder value are resorting to a dilution of customer and employee value to achieve the increase in shareholder value which distorts the balance within society. Furthermore, it is much easier to achieve and therefore becomes the “easy” option for executives and management to meet their goals for which they are compensated. So fundamentally we need to ensure that “legally” a company has responsibility for all their stakeholders.

]]> Comment on Aligning business performance and meeting the needs of the community/society by Daniel Martineau http://www.tonybury.com/2011/02/aligning-business-performance-and-meeting-the-needs-of-the-communitysociety/comment-page-1/#comment-1608 Daniel Martineau Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:38:50 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=766#comment-1608 Thanks for sending this to me Tony. As you say, this condenses many of the moral principles of business that are too easily or too often overlooked. Reading this gave me shivers of recalling some of the horrors of working for a bank some years ago when the war-cry "shareholder value" was all the rage. Under that banner, which looked relatively attractive as a concept (what can be wrong with trying to be a more effective company for the benefit of its owners?), members of the Executive Committee (who incidentally, were highly incentivised to find and implement shareholder value) quickly alienated the most important constituents in delivering the company's products and services; clients and employees! Please let us hope that corporations will strive to a more enlighted (and less greedy) future. Thanks for sending this to me Tony. As you say, this condenses many of the moral principles of business that are too easily or too often overlooked. Reading this gave me shivers of recalling some of the horrors of working for a bank some years ago when the war-cry “shareholder value” was all the rage. Under that banner, which looked relatively attractive as a concept (what can be wrong with trying to be a more effective company for the benefit of its owners?), members of the Executive Committee (who incidentally, were highly incentivised to find and implement shareholder value) quickly alienated the most important constituents in delivering the company’s products and services; clients and employees! Please let us hope that corporations will strive to a more enlighted (and less greedy) future.

]]> Comment on Aligning business performance and meeting the needs of the community/society by Krishna Kumar http://www.tonybury.com/2011/02/aligning-business-performance-and-meeting-the-needs-of-the-communitysociety/comment-page-1/#comment-1607 Krishna Kumar Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:52:13 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=766#comment-1607 The amazing part is that it sounds so obvious, but the reality is far removed. Recently, the head of one of India's largest political parties tried to downplay the unseemly actions of the Chief Minister of Karnataka (Bangalore is the capital of this State), who happened to belong to his party, but stating that while his actions "were immoral they were not illegal." A rather strange choice of words from a lawmaker if we were to construe that laws are legislated based on strong moral principles. The traditional definition is that politicians are meant to work for the public good and business for their private benefit but the definition is getting blurred as is well brought out this article. As Corporations, like human beings are considered to be legal entities, perhaps we should attach a moral value to them by creating a Corporate hierarchy of needs akin to or derived from Maslow's hierarchy! The amazing part is that it sounds so obvious, but the reality is far removed.

Recently, the head of one of India’s largest political parties tried to downplay the unseemly actions of the Chief Minister of Karnataka (Bangalore is the capital of this State), who happened to belong to his party, but stating that while his actions “were immoral they were not illegal.”

A rather strange choice of words from a lawmaker if we were to construe that laws are legislated based on strong moral principles.

The traditional definition is that politicians are meant to work for the public good and business for their private benefit but the definition is getting blurred as is well brought out this article.

As Corporations, like human beings are considered to be legal entities, perhaps we should attach a moral value to them by creating a Corporate hierarchy of needs akin to or derived from Maslow’s hierarchy!

]]> Comment on What is the similarity between the 2018 Football World Cup and Major Capital Project Business Development? by Fred McMurray http://www.tonybury.com/2010/12/what-is-the-similarity-between-the-2018-football-world-cup-and-major-capital-project-business-development/comment-page-1/#comment-1600 Fred McMurray Fri, 10 Dec 2010 09:48:12 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=747#comment-1600 So there you have it. If you don't know ALL the rules don't play and if you play and loose on a technicality, learn the rules.If you don't like the way the game is played don't bleat about it but get into a position where you can change the rules. So there you have it. If you don’t know ALL the rules don’t play and if you play and loose on a technicality, learn the rules.If you don’t like the way the game is played don’t bleat about it but get into a position where you can change the rules.

]]> Comment on What is the similarity between the 2018 Football World Cup and Major Capital Project Business Development? by SAO http://www.tonybury.com/2010/12/what-is-the-similarity-between-the-2018-football-world-cup-and-major-capital-project-business-development/comment-page-1/#comment-1599 SAO Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:06:19 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=747#comment-1599 This logic can only come from the udisputed Master of BD process. i think you are right. This logic can only come from the udisputed Master of BD process. i think you are right.

]]> Comment on What is the similarity between the 2018 Football World Cup and Major Capital Project Business Development? by David http://www.tonybury.com/2010/12/what-is-the-similarity-between-the-2018-football-world-cup-and-major-capital-project-business-development/comment-page-1/#comment-1598 David Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:26:55 +0000 http://www.tonybury.com/?p=747#comment-1598 Despite the apparently opaque nature of FIFAs decision-making, I agree with Martin that Russia was a sensible 'business' decision. England is a saturated market so far as football is concerned and already has a developed infra-structure in terms of stadia. England saw that as a strength of their bid but from FIFA's perspective of developing the world game further perhaps that was a weakness? Maybe, Russia building new world-class football stadia was a bigger plus? Futhermore, Russia will potentially bring in new sponsors. I also agree with Tony that England may have misjudged the 'political' weighting (or perhaps the weight attributed to and what was meant by world development. One point I would make though, is that the weightings may not in reality be capable of being published in advance odf bidding? I believe the relative weightings given in arriving at the decision will be dependent on the actual bids received. The Qatar decision is more puzzling, although if viewed in the light of further developing the game (perhaps by appealing to the expansive Islamic world) it makes sense. As someone wrote in the Press earlier in the week - FIFA have taken a positive view on the global economy, raw material and especially oil prices up to 2018! Last time the oil price dipped significantly Russie defaulted on its debt. Despite the apparently opaque nature of FIFAs decision-making, I agree with Martin that Russia was a sensible ‘business’ decision. England is a saturated market so far as football is concerned and already has a developed infra-structure in terms of stadia. England saw that as a strength of their bid but from FIFA’s perspective of developing the world game further perhaps that was a weakness? Maybe, Russia building new world-class football stadia was a bigger plus? Futhermore, Russia will potentially bring in new sponsors.

I also agree with Tony that England may have misjudged the ‘political’ weighting (or perhaps the weight attributed to and what was meant by world development. One point I would make though, is that the weightings may not in reality be capable of being published in advance odf bidding? I believe the relative weightings given in arriving at the decision will be dependent on the actual bids received.

The Qatar decision is more puzzling, although if viewed in the light of further developing the game (perhaps by appealing to the expansive Islamic world) it makes sense.

As someone wrote in the Press earlier in the week – FIFA have taken a positive view on the global economy, raw material and especially oil prices up to 2018! Last time the oil price dipped significantly Russie defaulted on its debt.

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