Yearly Archives: 2007

Toyota Reports Best Quarter Ever

Posted on August 3, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota Reports Best Quarter Ever Despite concerns in the industry about sluggish auto sales in the U.S. and Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. got help from a weak yen and cost cuts in its earnings announced Friday for its first fiscal … Continue reading →

Posted in Toyota Production System (TPS) | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #16

Posted on August 1, 2007 by John Hunter

Management Improvement Carnival #16 is hosted by Mark Graban at the Lean Blog. Some highlights include: How Toyota Handles Disaster, by Matthew May at “Elegant Solutions”: “Sometimes the Wall Street Journal has at best one use: wrapping fish. To wit, … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Comments Off

iPhone + AT&T = Yikes

Posted on July 30, 2007 by John Hunter

What a surprise – lousy customer service from a cell phone company. What a shame that it is no surprise at all. Don’t they have tons of MBAs with 6 figure salaries? They do have a CEO paid over $31 … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Multi-Tasking: Why Projects Take so Long

Posted on July 30, 2007 by John Hunter

From a new, interesting, Theory of Constraint blog by Kevin Fox – Multi-Tasking: Why projects take so long and still go late In many companies the impact of multi-tasking is obscured by the fact that in spite of its prevalence … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Theory of Constraints | 3 Comments

TVS Group Director on India – Manufacturing, Economy…

Posted on July 28, 2007 by John Hunter

TVS group companies, based in India, have been awarded 5 Deming Prizes. He discusses Deming and quality a bit. He also discusses their experiences in manufacturing in China and the strengths they have found in each country. And he discusses the Indian economy and manufacturing.

Posted in China, Deming, Economics, India, Management, Manufacturing, webcast | Tagged India, Manufacturing | Comments Off

Amazon’s Amazing Achievement

Posted on July 24, 2007 by John Hunter

I have mentioned I like the way Amazon, and Jeff Bezos, have been managing in several posts. Recently Amazon has added very strong financial results to that portfolio of things they do well. Amazon earnings announcement: Net sales increased 35% … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Investing, IT | Tagged Amazon, internet, Investing, stockholders | Comments Off

New York City Travel Photos

Posted on July 23, 2007 by John Hunter

Photos from my trip to New York City last year are now online. Photos include: The Cloisters (part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – though located far uptown) art and architecture of medieval Europe, the remodeled Museum of Modern … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Travel photos | Comments Off

Google Exceeded Planned Spending on Personnel

Posted on July 19, 2007 by John Hunter

Often people have trouble understanding Dr. Deming’s disapproval of arbitrary numerical targets. What he was trying to prevent is what many see every day, such as managing to quarterly earnings targets. There are several problems with numerical goals but in … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Google, Investing, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, quote | 3 Comments

Gary Hamel on Management Innovation

Posted on July 18, 2007 by John Hunter

I have mentioned before that I think Gary Hamel is one of the leading management thinkers on innovation. Here is an interesting interview (via: brisebois blog) with him – Gary Hamel: management innovation Management innovation is innovation in management principles … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management | 1 Comment

Management by Walking Around

Posted on July 18, 2007 by John Hunter

Management by walking around (MBWA) is based on the concept that a manager needs to actually understand what is really going on – not just view reports in an office. By seeing the actual state of affairs they can better … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management | 4 Comments