I have been following a lively discussion amongst the members of the LinkedIn "Retail Industry Professionals" group. The dialogue centers on a deceptively simple question "What Is Everyone’s Biggest Challenge In Retail?" The group’s members represent a wide range of retail experience, expertise and geography. Their answers are an enlightening insight into a complex industry that is in a continual state of stress and change. Honest and compelling, the responses provide sophisticated views on what it takes to be a good retailer… or even to just simply survive.
It struck me that the challenges cited are as relevant to the retail industry as they are to many others; charities, manufacturing, professional practices, communications, etc. So, as you read my summary of the responses, regardless of what area you work in, ask yourself…
Is your organization meeting these challenges?
To read the remainder of the article, click here.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
CATHERINE COOK IS MADE SHAREHOLDER AND DIRECTOR
Mark Olson, President and CEO of Osborne Group Contract Executives Corp, is pleased to announce that Catherine Cook of Calgary has become a shareholder and director of the company. Ms. Cook (CMA, B.Comm) has been a Principal with Osborne Interim Management since 2007 and has successfully completed a number of senior financial assignments in the agricultural and not-for-profit sectors. She was previously CFO of Hallmark Tubulars and a Controller with the Atco Group of Companies.
"On behalf of our other shareholders and directors, we are thrilled that Catherine has chosen to make this level of commitment to our company. What Catherine has brought by way of value to Osborne’s clients will be a tremendous asset as we take our organization to the next level. One of our real strengths is that our strategic direction is determined by individuals who have had success within our model and continue to work with clients in the markets we serve."
"On behalf of our other shareholders and directors, we are thrilled that Catherine has chosen to make this level of commitment to our company. What Catherine has brought by way of value to Osborne’s clients will be a tremendous asset as we take our organization to the next level. One of our real strengths is that our strategic direction is determined by individuals who have had success within our model and continue to work with clients in the markets we serve."
Thursday, January 12, 2012
ANOTHER SIDE OF THE SUPPLY MANAGEMENT DEBATE IN AGRICULTURE
Canada’s supply management system for the dairy and poultry industries has been very much in the business news in 2011. Canada’s future economic success is largely being tied to the Pacific Rim and the European Union. But Canada’s attempts to gain access to the emerging Trans Pacific Partnership trade group are being resisted because Canada refuses to budge on its supply management system.
Canada and the European Union have been negotiating a comprehensive economic and trade agreement with the aim of concluding in 2012. Not surprisingly, Canada’s supply management system is a point of contention. Critics of supply management are quick to point out that Canadians pay too much for dairy, poultry and egg products. The system shelters a small group of farmers behind tariffs that restrict imports, manages supply and demand with production quotas and sets minimum prices.
What the critics do not talk about is how the rest of the Canadian agriculture sector is supported by the Canadian consumer. Over the past ten years, Canada’s federal and provincial governments have spent an average of $6.3 billion annually to support agriculture. Of that expenditure, income support to the Canadian farmer, excluding those under supply management, amounts to an average of $3.7 billion. Canadian dairy and poultry farmers receive their income entirely from the marketplace.
Supply management is transparent. The farmer has the chance to earn a fair market return – paid for directly by the consumer.
To read the remainder of the article, click here.
Canada and the European Union have been negotiating a comprehensive economic and trade agreement with the aim of concluding in 2012. Not surprisingly, Canada’s supply management system is a point of contention. Critics of supply management are quick to point out that Canadians pay too much for dairy, poultry and egg products. The system shelters a small group of farmers behind tariffs that restrict imports, manages supply and demand with production quotas and sets minimum prices.
What the critics do not talk about is how the rest of the Canadian agriculture sector is supported by the Canadian consumer. Over the past ten years, Canada’s federal and provincial governments have spent an average of $6.3 billion annually to support agriculture. Of that expenditure, income support to the Canadian farmer, excluding those under supply management, amounts to an average of $3.7 billion. Canadian dairy and poultry farmers receive their income entirely from the marketplace.
Supply management is transparent. The farmer has the chance to earn a fair market return – paid for directly by the consumer.
To read the remainder of the article, click here.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
THE NEW AGE WORKER
The days when careers started and ended in retirement with pension packages have all but dissolved.
While this is not a revelation to many of us, it’s the fallout and emerging new norms we all face.
A few moments spent researching industry trends, forecasts, and the brave new world illustrates the need to both understand and react to the realities of the 21st century. While not entirely new, the terms mobile worker, flexible and interim have gone from prognostication to reality.
The recession of 2008 has had a profound impact on the acceleration of these new realities. Tighter budgeting, the volatility of the downturn and prolonged recovery have many employers reluctant to hire full time, but their needs for expertise and specialization remain a corporate necessity.
Did the change begin with the disenfranchised worker who suddenly found their career job was eliminated through merger/acquisition or rightsizing or the realities of a global workforce where competition comes from every corner of the world? Was technology the catalyst? Or perhaps it was a more pragmatic economic view of how today’s corporations remain economically viable. Regardless, two things started to emerge - the experienced worker and the now undermanned corporations struggling to make do with less. Enter the new age workers: skilled, capable, and more than ever wanting to be in charge of their destinies.
To read the remainder of the article, click here.
While this is not a revelation to many of us, it’s the fallout and emerging new norms we all face.
A few moments spent researching industry trends, forecasts, and the brave new world illustrates the need to both understand and react to the realities of the 21st century. While not entirely new, the terms mobile worker, flexible and interim have gone from prognostication to reality.
The recession of 2008 has had a profound impact on the acceleration of these new realities. Tighter budgeting, the volatility of the downturn and prolonged recovery have many employers reluctant to hire full time, but their needs for expertise and specialization remain a corporate necessity.
Did the change begin with the disenfranchised worker who suddenly found their career job was eliminated through merger/acquisition or rightsizing or the realities of a global workforce where competition comes from every corner of the world? Was technology the catalyst? Or perhaps it was a more pragmatic economic view of how today’s corporations remain economically viable. Regardless, two things started to emerge - the experienced worker and the now undermanned corporations struggling to make do with less. Enter the new age workers: skilled, capable, and more than ever wanting to be in charge of their destinies.
To read the remainder of the article, click here.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
HOW INTERIM MANAGEMENT IMITATES BASEBALL'S RELIEF PITCHER
Writing as an unrepentant baseball fan, I was watching that glorious Game 6 World series game and Tony LaRussa’s Merlin-like mastery of his relief pitchers’ for specific challenges in order to gain the pivotal win. As a reminder, LaRussa designed and used the entire bullpen with speed and aplomb to meet specific challenges, where the relief pitchers were used for particular needs (i.e. using a left hander to get a left handing hitter or bringing in a sinker ball pitcher to get a double play). It struck me that the relief pitcher was in effect a forerunner of the use of interim management. The use of the relief pitcher to the degree LaRussa did in a key situational role in this World Series has rarely been seen, but will be in the future. Thus we saw in baseball a major paradigm shift of game management strategy that will be adopted in order for the team to "seal the win", which is the objective in both baseball and business.
Business leadership has traditionally looked to interim management when faced with unexpected business situations, much like a baseball manager uses relief pitchers to deal with an immediate issue. The model for interim executive management is to fill short term vacancies, take on projects or mentor staff. This should now be looked at in a much broader and strategic way in that the interim managers can be used to aid the company in delivering situational skills and experience by upgrading the executive team on a short term basis without having a short term event trigger the hire of an interim executive. This role can be titled Executive Advisor and can be aligned where the work is focused.
To read the remainder of the article, click here.
Business leadership has traditionally looked to interim management when faced with unexpected business situations, much like a baseball manager uses relief pitchers to deal with an immediate issue. The model for interim executive management is to fill short term vacancies, take on projects or mentor staff. This should now be looked at in a much broader and strategic way in that the interim managers can be used to aid the company in delivering situational skills and experience by upgrading the executive team on a short term basis without having a short term event trigger the hire of an interim executive. This role can be titled Executive Advisor and can be aligned where the work is focused.
To read the remainder of the article, click here.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)