Ashburn, GA, (very close to Heaven!) | Corporate America is competitive predatory envioronment to survie in. It doesn't matter who you are, you are nothing more than a "tool" for the stockholder to use to drive his portfolio value up. He doesn't care one thing about the morals, or lack of, in a company doing business.
I remember some 25 years ago, before the tremendous growth and dominance of Wal-Mart, seeing an article on Sears in Time magaizine. There was picture of an excecutive chair behind and executive desk in an plush excecutive office. In that chair was a sign that very vividly read "CUSTOMER." This was a reminder that this company considered the customer to be the boss! You, know, the business that I deal with most pleasantly are those that make ME feel that way, like I am the most important customer they have.
Today's business envivorment rarely promotes such princeples. Large blocks of stock are controlled by investment funds. The fund managers just look at daily closing prices to determine how to invest by buying or selling, and have no or little interest in the actual business of the company, much less the customers of that company. The same mindset falls over to individual shareholders as well. "Mr. CEO, what have you done my stock prices TODAY?" not "What are you doing to better serve our customers TODAY?"
It's a real whirlwind to see them go through de-centralization, mergers, and other major restructuring moves, often not ever saving enough money to count, but they sure make the stockholders think they are doing something productive! This buys them some time, and some more paychecks for the duration. "Don't just sit there, DO SOMETHING! DO ANYTHING, but DO SOMETHING!" "Look Mr Stockholder, we are restructuring! We have changed ad agencies! We are cutting R&D budgets! We have canceled some reseller contracts! We are closing factories! We see sales and margins going up the next three years. We are contracting with Chinese and Indian companies for more of our manufacturing. Isn't that great?"
The mindset of the average consumer is another problem, including those of us in the ag sector. Our margins are tight. Some look to squeeze and save every nickel and dime they can, while ignoring dollars too much. There is very little loyalty, just a "what's your price" mentality. Corporate America can certainly react to such markets and provide cheaper goods, often at some expense to service and quality,
I don't think the problem is so much with Monsanto, as it is with the business environment we are all forced to operate in. |
monsanto
