Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Meltdown

We and the corporations who serve us have lost sight of what a corporation does. Everyone knows that a corporation takes raw materials, combines these with energy and creates a product. Where we have failed is in our definitions. All companies use the same raw material, the same energy, and produce the same product. Corporations are failing because management is unaware of this. The only raw material is people (employees, providers, customers, investors). The only real energy is information. The product is a culture - the Chrysler culture, the Bank of America culture, the Apple culture, the Viagra culture, etc. If management has a strong idea of what their company's and their products' cultures are and if all decisions are made based on how they affect the cultures, companies will prosper and shareholder value will increase. If the companies continue to treat their products as commodities, if they continue in their failure to watch over their cultures, the corporations will fail. If managers do not establish the culture and commit themselves and the company completely to it, they and their companies will fail. Chrysler will never rise again unless it truly means something to be Chrysler.

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