COST-CUTTING – Rodenberg Tillman & Associates

Are multinationals at the end of their Company Life-Cycle?

August 1, 2017

The potential hostile takeovers of Unilever and AkzoNobel were a wake-up call for their respective boards of management and boards of directors, providing a reason for both companies to act, however, both moved in the wrong direction, by selling-off parts of their companies, and of course via cost-cutting. Two easily-implemented actions which helped improve shareholder value. The Big Egos at the top were no doubt very proud of themselves to have made a decision. Together with my co-author, Dr. Antoinette Rijsenbilt, we described those too Big Egos in numerous cases in our 2015 book “Big Boys Big Egos and Strategic Intelligence”.

Income inequality will have a huge impact on everything

November 15, 2016

Joseph Rodenberg

A World View, Intelligence Briefings

This statement comes from McKinsey publications in July and August 2016 on ‘income inequality’. This new reality means that a new generation of young people in Europe and the US risks ending up poorer than their parents. From 2005-2014 around 65-70% of the population faced flat or falling incomes. Prior to 2005, this percentage was just 2%. This means that 65-70% of the total population faced a lack of economic progress. The main causes were the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the slow recovery that occurred since then. What are the implications?

Highlights from “It Can’t Be True”

September 15, 2015

Joseph Rodenberg

A World View, Intelligence Briefings

The book “It Can’t Be True”, published in February 2015, was based on 2 years of research from over 200 in-depth interviews in the City of London. In his book. Luyendijk makes comparisons with the world of animals: traders are baboons, investment bankers are tigers, back-office employees are hard-working beavers and the departments of compliance and risk management are ants. The majority of the employees in the sector are therefore beavers and ants whose task is to control the tigers and baboons. Mission impossible!

Strategic crises occur long before management sees them

March 15, 2014

Joseph Rodenberg

A World View, Intelligence Briefings

The result is the rapidly-increasing pressure on earnings which results in cost-cutting and laying-off people. We read stories like this daily in the media, where top management explains that market conditions have changed, that customer behavior has changed, that new competitors with new business models have entered the market, or that a new technology was accepted much faster than initially thought. Who can we blame for this?