What CEOs worry about

The greatest concerns of U.S. CEOs
(% citing challenge as of “greatest concern”)

1. Sustained & steady top-line growth (41.3%)
2. Excellence in execution (39.6%)
3. Consistent execution of strategy by top management (38.5%)
4. Profit growth (29.9%)
5. Customer loyalty/retention (25.6%)
6. Finding managerial talent (20.9%)
7. Top management succession (20.1%)
8. Corporate reputation (19.7%)
9. Stimulating innovation/creativity (19.2%)
10. Speed, flexibility, adaptability to change (18.2%)

———-
Base: Survey of 409 U.S. CEOs
Source: The Conference Board “CEO Challenge 2007” (4 October 2007)

Three problems with state plans for a flu pandemic

The plans are written by public health officials, so they focus on disease detection and control. That’s fine as far as it goes, but the plans fail to cover topics outside of that scope, such as “assuring surge capacity in the healthcare sector, the continuity of essential services, or the integrity of critical supply chains.” So the plans “may require stronger engagement by emergency management officials and others in planning.”

The U.S. government tends to give state governments wide discretion and flexibility in planning for emergencies such as hurricanes, earthquakes or terrorism, because the effects may vary by state. But “a flu pandemic is perhaps unique in that it would be likely to affect all states at nearly the same time, in ways that are fairly predictable. This may argue for a more directive federal role in setting pandemic preparedness requirements.”

“[T]he matter of what the states should do to be prepared for a pandemic is not always clear. For example, uncertainties about the ways in which flu spreads, the lack of national consensus in matters of equity in rationing, and a long tradition of federal deference to states in matters of public health, all complicate efforts to set uniform planning requirements for states.”

———-
Source: Adapted from “Pandemic Influenza: An Analysis of State Preparedness and Response Plans,” report RL34190, U.S. Congressional Research Service (24 September 2007); posted by OpenCRS

Related: Pandemic disaster planning: IT and security managers give themselves a grade of C-minus, and that’s generous

Gee-whiz technologies being developed for homeland security

Government contractors are whipping up a slew of quasi-military technologies for “homeland security” purposes, such as the following:

• License plate recognition systems — infrared cameras that quickly match images to police databases — already are stopping criminals in cars in New York City, the District of Columbia and 23 states.
• New satellites that can daily collect up to 750,000 square kilometers of imagery, allowing analysts to pick out suitcase-sized objects.
• Biometric scanning devices that can read fingerprints from about five meters away — all 10 prints.
• Under development: The remote-controlled “nano air vehicle,” which resembles the seed of a silver maple tree, can be outfitted with a payload the size of an aspirin. For example, it can be used for chemical or biological detection. Or, swarms of the winged devices could fly over a disaster area to detect signs of survivors.

———-
Source: Reuters, via The Boston Globe (21 September 2007)

Are you a simplifier or a complexifier?

Management consultant Tom Peters has a lively rant — here — against “systems thinking,” planning and other pet peeves. But what I found most interesting was this two-by-two matrix for categorizing analyst/consultants:

Years ago, in my McKinsey days, one of my bosses was bemoaning the help we were getting from an “economic genius.” He said, “Tom, consider a matrix. One axis boils down to ‘simplifier’ vs ‘complexifier.’ The other is ‘smart’ and ‘dumb.’ Thus we are dealing with a 2X2 matrix. The analyst-from-heaven is the ‘smart simplifier.’ The analyst-from-hell is [the] ‘smart complexifier.’ He is, in fact, worse than the ‘dumb complexifier,’ who you can simply ignore, and the ‘dumb simplifier’ who might actually be of help.”

So, are you a simplifier or a complexifier?

Intelligence briefs

An eclectic collection of discoveries & developments:

A new biosensor developed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute can detect avian influenza in just minutes. In addition to being a rapid test, the biosensor is economical, field-deployable and sensitive to different viral strains. — Georgia Institute of Technology

Brazilian food companies recently made two cross-border acquisitions: JBS (Latin America’s largest beef processor) bought Swift & Co.; and Perdigão (a leading Brazilian food company) bought Plusfood Groep BV in Europe. “While only two data points, we wonder if this foreshadows additional cross-border acquisitions by Brazilian companies in the increasingly global food industry.” — GE Commercial Finance industry newsletter

Sixty percent of Americans are pessimistic about the state of the environment and want prompt action taken to improve its health, according to a national opinion poll. The survey found that 52% of Americans expect the world’s natural environment to be in worse shape in 10 years than it is now. An additional 8% said the environment is in poor or very poor shape and won’t improve. — Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University / Associated Press

India could challenge the position of China as the manufacturing center of the world in the next three to five years because China is becoming too expensive. Labor costs are surging on China’s eastern coast. — Capgemini / ProLogis

Starbucks has always insisted that the company doesn’t market its caffeinated beverages to children and teenagers. But company officials acknowledge that they’re considering introducing drinks and drink sizes suitable for the under-18 set. — MSNBC (10 September 2007)