Unsolicited advice for Joyce and Clifford.

[allthecoolnamesarego]

It seems there are some mangers and CEO’s out there who have the right idea. Sure there is more to running a business than a catchy quote, but by putting their words into action, it can make a difference to the company and it’s bottom line.


“There’s been a real sea change in consumer behaviour. And those companies that are consumer-based must appeal to the consumer in a different way today than they did two or three years ago. And it’s not all based on value. Cutting prices or putting things on sale is not sustainable business strategy. The other side of it is that you can’t cut enough costs to save your way to prosperity.
The customer today is very well informed. In addition to price and convenience, there’s something else they are influenced by, and that’s what the company stands for and how it treats its employees and its customers. We’ve found that consumers are willing to walk another block and potentially spend a little bit more for companies whose values they truly trust.”
Howard Schultz – CEO Starbucks.

“The people who know the most about the company are the people who talk to the customers. So you have to get management out and talking to these people to get an appreciation for what goes on.”
John Borghetti – CEO Virgin Australia.

I believe in being positive and constructive, and in my experience, if you work hard for people’s welfare, and you empower them and you appreciate them, they’ll follow you to the ends of the Earth.
Angus Houston – Outgoing CDF.


Feel free to add more.....

[Sunfish]

One of the principles of Guerrilla marketing is to find out how much more a customer is willing to pay for goods and services. That is why Starbucks have all those variations on a basic theme of a cup of coffee. Customization cost them virtually nothing and its profitable.

I guess smart airlines, if they aren't doing it already, will one day say:

Front or back?

Window or Aisle?

Exit row?

Near the toilet?

Bags or no bags?

Meal or no meal?

And charge a few dollars more or less depending on what the customer wants.


Guerrilla marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_marketing)

[WoodenEye]

Lessons from Successful Companies

The National Centre for Employee Ownership in the US often writes about"Lessons from Successful Companies". The essence of what they have to say is as follows:
1. The people who have the most expertise in an area should be the ones making decisions about it; this is the most important point. When employee-driven communication becomes institutionalised in the culture of the company, there is freedom for sharing information. This takes the pressure off the manager to be the fount of all knowledge, and gives an opportunity to the worker who ordinarily would not want to air a different opinion to that of their manager.

2. If employees are to participate in decision-making, they need training to develop the necessary skills. This is important because people need to be taught to be participative. In some companies, new employees are assigned a mentor or guide for the first month or year, to familiarise them with the company's culture.

3. The personal commitment of the person at the top of the organisation is essential. Strong leadership is necessary to encourage employee participation and to overcome the natural resistance people have towards change. Commitment from the top is necessary to overcome paternalistic structures and dependency and cynicism from the workforce.

4. A set of written values embodying commitment to employee ownership is an important starting point. This 'value statement' must be more that just a set of platitudes or a public relations exercise. It must be a statement of the basic principles that should be a guide to everyone's actions. This includes guidelines for corporate ethics.

5. Information should flow freely from the top down and the bottom up - not just from employers, about what a good deal the employees are getting, but also employees in regards to workplace innovations and so on. Open door policies or more formal approaches, where employees are represented in decision-making committees and/or groups, are also effective in maintaining this 'information flow'.

6. Participative decisions take more time to make but less time and effort to implement than non-participatory decisions. It takes time to reach consensus, but once everyone is agreed, then implementing the decision is fairly smooth. If a decision is simply handed down from above, its implementation may be delayed by employee resistance. Regretfully, no pat formulas exist for implementing 'ownership theory'. What works in one company may not work for another, or even the same company at a different stage of its development.

For more on employee buy-ins visit: www.aeoa.org.au (http://www.aeoa.org.au)

[Angle of Attack]

Well lots of management speak but I just got my 3rd RM Williams pair of boots even though they cost 3 or 4 times an equivalent Chinese shoe. (maybe 6 or 7 times for the really bad ones) I am happy to pay a premium for a company that keeps all the process of production in Australia. There are other good shoe makers of course but I think the stench with QF is that exact problem, they are off shoring jobs and the public are not exactly sure they are supporting a real Australian company anymore, just my $300 worth (for the price of my boots! :) )

And I wont need another pair of shoes for years and years is another bonus!

[assasin8]

There will always be people who are willing (and able) to pay a premium for SERVICE!

Qantas has always profited from this customer base... QF offer the "service" and there are sufficient customers who will part with their hard earned cash to enjoy such service...

As an aside, I remember watching a doco about Concorde... The aircraft was bleeding money for BA and so a team of senior captains were tasked with turning the division around...

One of the things the team did was to ask the passengers how much they thought a ticket cost... As most of the passengers were business people, their staff took care of purchasing tickets, so they had no idea... Turns out, most indicated a significantly higher ticket price than what was charged...

So the simple solution, to turn around Concorde's profits, was to increase the fare!

Take it easy trolls, I'm not saying Qantas should increase its prices! What I am saying is that not all customers want to fly the Jetstar way!

Problem is, management has concentrated so much on the LCC that the premium service has been seriously neglected!

What's a customer to do then? Well, it doesn't take someone with an MBA to work out that they'll take their business elsewhere... and so, we find ourselves in our current situation.

It's a real shame that the powers that be don't have the metal to recognise their mismanagement and set the course right!:ugh:

Instead they continue along the path of cost cutting, which is very much to blame for the position we are in, (certainly good for KPIs and management bonuses:rolleyes:), but WILL NOT TURN THE COMPANY AROUND!

EARTH CALLING MANAGEMENT, ARE YOU LISTENING?

[emal140]

Perhaps someone might ask Mr Joyce what his preference of airline is for flying....Jetstar or Qantas !!

[rodchucker]

"Mr Joyce in these dire financial times will you forgo your bonus this year to help turn this place around"

If not, why do you expect staff to accept below CPI increases in your EBA negotiations.

[packrat]

Singair....he knows Q and J are crap...he helped make them that way

[Feather #3]

WoodenEye has shown me where we've been wrong all these years.

Point 2 of his quote shows that we who worked for QF for many years should have been showing these contract blow-ins what QF stands [stood??:rolleyes:] for and mentoring them.

So, in the end, it's really the long-term employees fault!!:ugh:

How did I know it would come down to that?????

G'day ;)

[allthecoolnamesarego]

How about this - not a 'kamikaze' comment in sight....?

A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said the airline was disappointed by the result but that talks would continue to try to find a solution.
"We have made an industry leading offer to BALPA that is double the national average for a UK business.
We value our pilots enormously and that is why we have offered three guaranteed pay rises in the next two and a half years and a share of company profits.

[Howard Hughes]

Old business adage..."nobody wins a price war".

[Fly_by_wire]

There will always be people who are willing (and able) to pay a premium for SERVICE! Well maybe they should stop giving all the new tin to J* FFS.

[WoodenEye]

Apologies #3. Sorry for the confusion. If you visit NCEO's website at www.nceo.org (http://www.nceo.org/) , you will see that what they are on about, is how to create high performance, participative companies like Southwest, Etc.

[QSK?]

I saw a program on TV the other night that detailed WestJet's (a Canadian Airline) approach to its customers and staff.

I was absolutely enthralled at their approach and can highly recommend it to other airlines. I have taken some lessons on board for my own company.

Go to: Great jobs (http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/jobs.shtml) for a little insight.

If I can find this program, I'll post it on here.

[unionist1974]

In all the starry eyed euphoria over JB at VA ,it might be easy to forget he was a significant player in QF International , he pushed for lower maitennance costs continually . Don't be fooled he supported outsourcing.

[porch monkey]

Yeah, ok, he has since been quoted as disagreeing with the direction he saw qf going in, which helped him make up his mind to leave. So, with his commitment to "Australianising" as much of VA as reasonably possible, he has either done the bidding of his masters while at QF, (Likely), or he's seen what happens when you run a company the way the morons at qf are doing it, or he's a liar. Which one is it unionist? I know who I'd rather have running my company at the moment, and it isn't the lying sacks of **** that QF have......

[Jetro6UL]

In all the starry eyed euphoria over JB at VA ,it might be easy to forget he was a significant player in QF International , he pushed for lower maintenance costs continually .....

.....and we all know the best way to achieve that, don't we?

Buy new jets.

That's what he's doing at VA (A330's the exception).