February 2004 Flash Points

The Global Razor's Edge(p. 27)
FC article

With 11% of the nation's jobs vulnerable to offshoring, how has outsourcing affected your company? What might be the next industry to turn overseas? Should companies be given incentives to keep jobs in their communities, or are their ultimate responsibility to profit and shareholders?
Develop a list of companies -- local and otherwise -- that have successfully reconciled community responsibility with cost-saving outsourcing and a healthy bottom line. Design a plan for how a financial company (or another type of organization representing your group's interests) can effectively keep jobs in America while still taking advantage of cheaper overseas opportunities.

Fast Talk (p. 45)
FC article

This month's Fast Talk goes behind the process of such inventions as the Java Jacket and artificial heart. Share new products and services from the companies in your group and how they came about. Where did most of the input come from? Was any luck involved? Are there other examples where a good idea was killed because it wouldn't provide a worthwhile return? Discuss how those ideas could still be developed.
At P&G, they made an effort to get 50% of their new ideas from outside the company. Where do most of the ideas at your company come from? How is that indicative of the corporate culture?

Where Are the Women?(p. 52)
FC article

Survey your group members and see what percentage of their companies have women in senior management. Ask the president of the local women's business organization to join the group for a discussion about some of the issues brought up by Linda Tischler's article. How can a woman who leaves a top position avoid the label of the woman who 'walked away?' Do your group members see evidence in their work of men competing 'harder' than women? Are the women who do compete rewarded for their work?
Should a woman feel she is 'letting down her sex' by opting to spend more time with her family? Do the women in your CoF group feel a responsibility to their sex, or do they view it as a burden?

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Flash Points.

February 2004 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps