WESTCHESTER COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL
2005
By Stan Rosenzweig
COMMON-SENSE
BUSINESS
Jack Welch
on leadership
There's no end ta th(^ numlxT of
great business lessons you can learn from
reading the b(x>ks by or about Jack
Weich. Twelve are listed on An:ia2on.com.
The newest, "Jack Welch and the
4K's of leadership. How lo Put GE's
Leadership Formula to Work in Your
Organbation," Is by Jelfrey A. Kramcs.
Ihe best-selling author of "The Welch
Way" and other award-winning books on
leadership.
Krames explains the Jack Welch 4Es
of Leadership model and shows how you
can apply it to y{)ur business. The 4 Es
are:
linergy, "Love to go. go. go."
Energizes, "Know how to spark oth-
ers to perform."
Edge. "Know how to make the really
difficult decisions."
Execute, "Know how to convert ener-
gy into action and results."
It sounds simplistic, but this lesson
plan is anything but that. Detailed lessons
include how to hire for passion, sunplify
the organization, ait t h r o u ^ complexity
and red tape, and even how to jettison
pn)du<1s and services that do not fit the
vision for success. It details seven steps of
dealing with change and links change
with energy.
Change, initiatives, focus, energy and
the quality of the idea matter most,
acrxirding in Welch, not the rank or posi-
tion of the person with the idea. Welch
changed the (iE environment and made
training and learning the cx)merstones
for growth.
'Ilie b(x)k is in two parts. Part 1
expltiins the 4Es of leadership and how to
us<^ them, with numerous examples and
checklists, all of which are useM to any
size business. Part 2 is every hit as inter-
esting. Here. Krames follows Jeff Immelt
as he replaces Welch at the hehn and
then follows up with the GE senior man-
agers who didn't get the job to see if
Welch's methods transfer well.
James McNemey went on to reinvent
3M based on the Welch playbook. Larry
Bossidy took the Welch method to AUied
Sigruil and then became chief executive
officer and chairman of Honeywell.
Robert Nardelli left GH to become CEO of
Home Depot.
Stem Roscnziivig, presUh'nt of Office
Tcchnotogy Consuming Inc., Stanford,
Conn., can be reached through
wwuxphonegunLcom or al (203) 323-
6070, exL 82409.
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I I I I I I I I I I
Preventing the falleut frem Kaliina
By B.Z. K1L\SRU
bzk@westfairinc.com
With gasoline prices at
record highs and economists
predicting a definite cooling of
the growth momentum in the
next two quarters, if not an out-
right recession, state officials
need to act promptly to help the
economy hy suspending gasolin<i
taxes.
Georgia has already sus-
pended the 7.5 conLs-a-gallon
gas tax and 4 percent sales tax on gaso-
line until Oct. 1. State lawmakers in sev-
eral states, including Oklahoma,
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, have
either proposed or are considering doing
the same.
All 50 states apply a llat-rate tax on
each gallon of gasoline sold, with an
average of 21.8 cents per gallon, accord-
ing to the American Petroleum Institute.
That's in addition to state sales taxes,
usually between 2 percent and 6 per-
cent, and a federal tax of 18.4 cents per
gallon.
New York leads the nation with the
highest state gasoline taxes, while
Alaska has the lowest, the American
Petroleum Institute said.
On top of New York's state tax of 8
cents per gallon, it charges 8 percent
state sales tax and a Petroleum Business
Tax of 15.2 cents per gaHon. There is
also a spill tax of 0.3 cents per gallon and
a petroleum testing fee of 0.05 cent per
gallon levied on gasoline.
In New York and Connecticut, gaso-
line prices hovered around $3.50 a gal-
lon for regular unleaded as Katrina
struck the Gulf Coast, causing serious
disruptions to refineries. Although prices
have dropped slightly since then, many
businesses in the region say they have
started passing on the higher costs to
customers, a move that may push them
to cut spending, causing further trouhle
for the economy.
Many economists believe that if
prices at the pump continue trending
upwards it would severely hurt the
spending power of American consumers,
especially low- and middle-income
households.
SEPTEMBER 12.
Covering the county's public companies
I I I I I
"Unlike prior hurricanes such as Ivan.
Katrina could inflict a lot of pain on the US
economy, as a whole, because
of the potential for extensive
damage to oil and natural gas
supplies in the Gulf of Mexico,
as well as to the many
refineries in Louisiana," pre-
dicts Nariman Behravesh,
I hief economist with Giobai
Insight Inc., an economic con-
sulting firm.
His hest-case scenario:
Khssru Oil at $70 to $75 a barrel for
a couple of weeks;, gasoline prices above
$3.00 for a couple of months; and the
economy takes a small hit (between 0.5
percent and 1 percent on growth in tbe
third and fourth quarters). And. his
worst-case Scenario: Oil at $100 a barrel
for a month; gasoline prices at $3.50 a
gallon for a few months; and the econo-
my closer to a recession by the fourth
quarter He notes that early estimates
suggest that the worst-case scenario is
unlikely to happen, but we still need to
do all we can to prevent the worst.
IBM ACQUIRES DWL
IBM Corp. of Armonk announced it
has finalized the agreement to acquire
OWL, a privately held company based in
Atlanta and Toronto. Einancial terms
were not disclosed.
With this acquisition. IBM will pro-
vide clients with customer data integra-
tion software that enables a single, inte-
grated view of customer information
spread across multiple product and busi-
ness silos. This capability allows busi-
nesses such as banks, insurance compa-
nies, retailers and manufacturers to
quickly and consistently leverage their
customer data to help address business
challenges such as regulatory compli-
ance, optimizing customer relationships,
or integrating data from mergers and
acquisitions.
The acquisition strengthens IBM's
information management software port-
folio, which includes the company's
existing product information manage-
ment software and enterprise data inte-
gration software.
IBM can now offer one of the most
advanced, real-time, transactional cus-
tomer data integration solutions in the
market today, addressing the key chal-
lenge of delivering relevant customer
information, hoth internally and exter-
nally.
The acquisition also extends IBM's
leadership in master data management
solutions by huiiding on the company's
existing enterprise data integration and
product information management soft-
ware, a key part of IBM's Information on
demand strategy.
GABELLI CONSIDERS NEW
MONEY MARKET FUNDS
Gabelli Asset Manajrement Inc. of
Rye said it is considering the launch of
state specific tax-exempt money market
funds, which would be tax-free at both
the state and federal level to residents
of a particular state. Gabelli Asset
Management beiieves that the market
for state specific tax-exempt portfolios
is an attractive option for customers.
Any offering will be made only by
means of a prospectus and this notice
does not constitute an offer of any secu-
rities for sale.
PEPSI BOnUNG CONFIRMS
EARNINGS GUIDANCE
Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (PBG) of
Somers affirmed its forecast for third-
quarter diluted earnings per share and
projected that its results are likely to
reach the high end of its guidance
range of 76 cents to 78 cents For the
full year, diluted earnings per share are
projected to be $1.82 to $1.88. with
worldwide volume growth of about 3
percent and a net revenue per case
increase of 3 percent.
During the third quarter ended Sept.
3, PBG's constant territory worldwide
physical case volume grew 5 percent.
(Constant territory calculations assume
all significant acquisitions made in 2004
were made at the beginning of 2004
and exclude all significant acquisitions
made in 2005.) Physical case volume
both in the United States and Canada
grew 4 percent in the quarter. PBG's
businesses in Europe and Mexico each
had robust volume growth in the third
quarter, up 8 percent and 7 percent,
respectively.