Mad at Mgmt

My son has a great manufacturing internship. He really enjoys it. In many ways, he is living the life that his Wisconsin schooling prepared him for. He sent out four e-mails requesting a spot, and got an offer after a few weeks. The family-owned company that made the offer is doing well, so they agreed to take on a student. Full Story 

I have been doing turnarounds for over twenty five years, and along the way, I've accumulated certain prejudices about what types of businesses are easiest to fix. Wholesale distribution and retail/restaurant chains are among my favorites, because there are usually enough profitable parts of the business — a core product or very profitable locations — so that the survival of the business is assured.

Construction firms are among the harder cases. Why? Well, usually there is an issue not only in the company, but in the market. Full Story 

I recently argued that auto dealers need to reconfigure their marketing to be delivery points for an active direct marketing and Internet business. Dealers also need to reduce their financial risk profile.

It is not as if the car companies have made it easy for them. As a matter of fact, the car companies are prime contributors to the weak position many dealers find themselves in. Full Story 

We know the problems of auto dealers (and their lesser-known big brothers, truck dealerships) all too well. Low sales, collapse of financing markets and a seemingly inexplicable urge of car companies to decrease, rather than increase, the number of dealers' outlets. These are the problems that have hit the news, but a vibrant auto dealership sector (if we are ever to have one) will need the dealers to implement serious management changes. They can't just hope for a quick reversal in business conditions. Full Story