That's all any corporation run by "MBA" drones ever cares about. That's specifically what they are taught in school as "the one true way". The customer and employee only "count" as far as they contribute to the "maximum profit" and "maximum return" curves. Problem is, the only way you can even get a rough estimation on those inputs is for short term cause/effect, and even that is VERY muddy. This is *part* (and only part) of the reason these SOBs (the only thing on the planet worse than lawyers and politicians IMO) consider 6 months “long term” and really only worry about the next quarter. Their limited understanding of cause/effect relative to customer/employee satisfaction and quality/value says that if they do only the bare minimum to keep things above the flashing red danger level, that this will yield the maximum short term returns. Gutting infrastructure (not only in terms of skills, equipment, but also customer loyalty and business inertia) and using “smoke and mirrors” in order to push the quarterly reports over some arbitrary goal to get the their “performance” bonus is considered not only an acceptable practice, but even ENCOURAGED by the all mighty Board of Directors.
And that as far as their short sited view goes...
In short, given an even cursory understanding of these “educated to be managers with no values learned in the market” makes it completely obvious and predictable how these things are going to turn out. That’s why you see powerhouses that grow to dominate markets built by people who generally understand (and built) things from the bottom up. Then they go public, or second generation “born at the top” nepotism comes in. Those that “know” are replaced with the MBAs educated ONLY to “lead and maximize profits” by “the board” (or the second/third generation incompetents who don’t want to work and don’t know how to run Dad’s/Grandpa’s business). Often times the inertia and merger/acquisition shuffling appears to carry the company to greater hights than ever before. But eventually, that inertia fails, and nothing other than a shell is left to collapse on itself. Dodge was there before the Fed buy out followed by DC, Ford and GM are on the cusp if not already headed down, and you can add pretty much any mega corp care to name (and most all large corps) to that list...
Sorry, hit a nerve. I've worked for small companies that were "rocking the market" when run by those with vision. Then they get bought by mega corps and all that value is as if it never existed by the time the MBAs get through with it...
I think their power tools in the last 10 years are pieces of crap.
I work there---and it is going downhill. the only thing im gonna miss is the super closeout prices that I find in the back thats going to the crusher if it dosnt get sold. Sears as a corporation dosn't care about its employees or its customers. All they want is money---im not saying that because im an angry employee but because the CEO and next man down said it in a politically correct way
Tho I appreciate a good deal, I appreciate quality more... My tools get pushed to the limit daily...
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