Adidas’ Choice

In a recent Business Week article, Herbert Hainer discusses his choices about the Adidas/Reebok merger. Herbert acquired Reebok in 2006 and has faced criticism ever since. The initiative to withdraw from such retailers as Wal-Mart and Tesco caused sales to decline for Reebok, combine this with the declining economy and Reebok was headed for disaster. Despite all of the failure Herbert Hainer faced he remained strong in the and continually encouraged workers to openly discuss their concerns about the two companies.

According to the class lectures and Herbert’s reflection on this issues it is clear to see there was an over estimation of Reebok. Leaders need to maintain open communication in their organizations regardless of the current state of business such as growth, decline or maturity. Herbert’s only regret was his inability to manage expectations for this merger.

I feel that leaders as more than the center of organization, they are the heart of motivation. There are several theories that place vast amounts of responsibility on the leader. To name only one would be unfair to the entire leadership structure.

Penned by: Drew Alfrey

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_16/b4224088507393.htm

Challenges in the First Week As Google CEO

Just two days after taking over the reins as CEO for Google, Larry Page has run into several challenges. Though the transition from Eric Schmidt to Page is not surprising, as Beecher Tuttle mentions in his article, Larry Page to Face Several Challenges as Google's New CEO, "it does suggest that Google may be looking to alter its direction and image." Page has several ideas in mind, such as having the top executives of Google make several changes to running meetings in order to be more productive and running meetings in public areas to include lower level "Googlers." Page will also need to face the challenges of the recent failures of several new launches, such as Google Wave, and issues with user privacy.

In order to change the image of Google, Page may need to take a transformational leadership approach. In order to create change, transformational leaders model the way for their followers. Page will need to set examples to the top executives of Google for the way meetings should be held in order to achieve higher productivity and include lower level "Googlers," as well as inspire the vision he sets out for the company that will help to change it's image. As mentioned in our textbook, this vision will provide a conceptual map for where Google will be heading, which can help to deal with the competitive challenges in social networking and issues with user privacy.

The company already has a good approach to enabling employees to act and encouraging over 24,000 employees, by providing many benefits and different perks to the job that many other companies to not have. This great support will help Page through the process of changing the image of Google and coming up with a social network that will be able to compete with Facebook and keep Google as a tech giant. Page will also need to focus improving Google's standing in China, which could be the market that will allow Google to become more innovated and open more growth opportunities. This will require Page to challenge the process, and take it one step at a time in order to make Google stand out for years to come.

Tuttle mentioned in his article, "Many industry analysts have speculated that the return of Page is, in a way, an effort by Google to return to its roots and start to think "big" again." If so, this is Page's chance to use a transformational leadership approach to think big again, and remain a tech giant despite the growing competition and new search engine and social network threats that will be against them.

Article Link: Larry Page to Face Several Challenges as Google's New CEO

Post by: Rebekah Pinson

Nokia CEO Is a Man in a Hurry

Nokia has seen a big shift in the way that they conduct business, mainly due to recent advances in technology. These advances have primarily come from competitors such as Apple and Google, whom are developing smart phone technology that has taken off in recent years. This loss of high end market share leads into why Nokia has to change its strategy; and they must do it soon.
Stephen Elop, who took over as Nokia's CEO last autumn, is in the midst of a major change effort. A recent Wall Street Journal article has outlined that several senior managers within Nokia will be leaving the company. These people are leaving as part of the CEO's plans to revamp the company. This is one step in many that will lead to motivating the entire company to reach a common goal.
The path-goal leadership theory can be applied to this situation in the way that basic ideas of the theory are laid out in the few actions that the CEO has taken thus far. A defined goal is apparent in Nokia, to surpass their close competition in the smart phone industry. A clarified path has been outlined by Elop in the way of far-reaching goals and changes to current strategy, especially in the U.S market. Removing obstacles can be attributed to many top managers leaving the company, whom may have been complacent and resistant to change. Providing support is aided by a fourth-quarter report that posted falling earnings, analysts say that this gives Elop legitimacy to undertake such deep surgery on the company's structure. 

The path-goal theory was developed to explain how leaders motivate subordinates to be productive and satisfied with their work. To do just this, Elop is using directive behaviors to map out instructions to subordinates about their task to regain market share within the smart phone industry. One way they will go about doing this is to hire experienced new heads of operating systems and R&D. This can also be seen as a participative leadership behavior because Elop is allowing executive recruiters to do this new hiring. He will support their decision, another leadership behavior, in hiring people to implement steady change. The last behavior of this theory is achievement-oriented, which deals with the leader challenging subordinates to work at their highest level. This will be seen by the CEO in the far-reaching goals and strategy changes he is to outline.

By: Jon Pieper

http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2011/02/07/nokia-ceo-is-a-man-in-a-hurry/?KEYWORDS=CEO+current+news

Warren Buffett's successor?

Serena Ng and Erik Holm wrote an article about Warren Buffett’s current aide David Sokol in The Wall Street Journal. This article presents the facts about a recent trade Sokol made and the negative impacts it has on his future at Berkshire Hathaway.

Warren Buffett as well as many people close to this situation thought that Sokol would succeed Buffet at Hathaway. However, the trade deals that Sokol performed have led to his resignation from the organization. This is significant because due to the amount of trust Buffett had in Sokol. Leaders of today’s organizations need to be careful with their succession plans, despite Buffett selection it all boils down to the candidate. Sokol is not a bad person but this one decision has negatively affected his future.

I feel that this story relates to the presentation Dave Margers made during his keynote speech. “You can win with integrity,” this appears to be a contradiction but the fact of the matter is that today’s business transactions require more trust and integrity than ever before.

Even a great leader and investor like Warren Buffett was blindsided by this transaction, which imposes an extra degree of caution when key decisions are made. We all are exposed to these decisions everyday and it is never easy to win with integrity but it will lead long –term success. While ethics play into this news story I feel that the actions of Sokol may lead to Buffett being placed under further scrutiny. We shall see how this plays out for Buffett…

Penned by: Drew Alfrey

Article information

Serena Ng and Erik Holm, The Wall Street Journal, "Buffett Jolted as Aide Quits" Page A1 3/31/2011