Professor Elam

UNT Dallas Leadership Series

Laura Smith of the Student Development Office has crafted an excellent series of speakers for the UNT Dallas Fall Leadership Series.  You can access the line up by clicking here. The lead off speaker is Grant Teaff, Coach of twice SW Conference Champs Baylor Bears and currently Director of the American Coaches Assoc.  This is an honor to have a speaker of this reputation here.  In that regard any of my students will obtain a ten point quizz grade by attending or obtaining notes from an attendee and submitting a written paper bout the leadership thoughts of Coach Teaff.  Note that we will also have two other business speakers, Oct 10 and Nov 7 from 4-6 PM in room 224. 

Coach Teaff will speak at 11 AM - 2 PM Sat Oct 7 in Room 224. Tickets for students are ten bucks including lunch, such a deal!

From Russia,With Blood

Despite all the predictions of a new era for the Soviet Union, it pretty much looks like the old eras, which is to say lots of violence orchestrated by brutal bosses and dictators.  Peter the Great  did not have much luck linking Russia to Europe.  Nikita K never buried us.  Gorbachev found that there is no such thing as ' a little openess.'  And so discovering that 'other folks don't live like this' a consumer revolution (my opinion) brought down the Berlin Wall and the Old Communist Regime. But instead of spawning a new consumer entrepreneur culture the whole place, as JIm Rogers  observes, has plunged into a lengthy civil war.  On Sept 13 Russian Central Banker Andrei Kozlov  died of a Mafia style hit, no one has been arrested.  The killers of American journalist Paul Klenbnikov, shot two years ago in Moscow, have not been found.

Russia spans some twelve time zones but no consumer zones.  This post WW II semi power has yet to produce a single popular consumer good, other than vodka and the AK 47.  Worse, Putin seems to be just what he always was, a KGB operative who only understands central control.  We'll pass on Moscow investing.

DLE

All You Have is Your Reputation

Obviously accounting has been in the headlines the last few years for the wrong reasons-to say that Ken Lay et al were ethically challenged is an understatement.  What amazes me is how often people lie when the truth might well serve them better, here are two cases in point.

Recently the President of Radio Shack resigned. It seems he had claimed he possessed two college degrees from Heartland Baptist Bible College of all places.  It turns out he never graduated.  He had been hired at R/S because of his innovative ideas.  Wouldn't it have been a better idea to find a school in the DFW area and finish as an incentive to his employees?  Or point out that one can rise to accomplishment with out a degree, though having one is a great idea? And while I am on the topic, if one is engaging in an outright lie, why like about a  college that few people have ever heard of anyway?

As you are working and paying for your degree, I trust I do not have to outline just how maddening it is for someone to falsify their record to match yours if in fact you have a degree. R H Donnelly Corp boss

Here is another example from the latest Forbes magazine.
David Swanson does not have th degree attributed to him on the company website.  HE claimed  a BS from Minnesota St Cloud State University, another minor league school quite frankly.  Donnelley did not resign bu issued a statement taking "full responsibility" for the regrettable situation.  He made $4.5 M in 2005 and the stock is up 85% while he has been CEO.

Well Radio Shack was not doing so well when the truth came out about Edmondson, while apparently Donnelley is in good shape.  But the R/S Board issued a statement that it was a matter of ethics and integrity, apparently the Donnelley Board did not feel the same way.  Now thought questions.

What does it mean that Swanson 'takes responsibility' I mean he is the one who perpetrated the lie, how does 'responsibility make it any less of a lie?

What do you think of someone who does this and then shrugs it off as, regrettable, or like Swanson, initially blamed outside contract publicists?  If they lie about their degree knowing it to be a lie, where does their line of 'thou shalt not go' stop and start? Is there such a line in this person's life?

I teach the Accounting Ethics class or did at A & M San Antonio.  We discuss such topics in the class. You will note I have made an effort to include ethics cases in the cost and intermed and statement analysis course as well.

Which Board showed the better judgment?  Do such transgressions matter? Do you think it matters to shareholders? Should it?  What standard is each Board broadcasting for the employees?  Would Swanson put up with an employee who lied to him on his or her resume? I wonder....

DLE

   

Coachbuilding for the Rich and Famous

The latest issue of B/W features an article on Fisker Design

Fisker is famous for designing the BM Z8 as well as the Aston Martin V 8, He quit those jobs to start his own coachbuilding firm.  Back in the heyday of the Dusenburg, rich individuals would buy a chasis from Duzy and then have a coach builder make a custom one off design for them, a unique car.  And these coachbuilders also specialized in their own designs.  Well wealth being what it is, the super car market is now a $6 BILLION business.  So Fisker went out on his own.  In classic fashion his first two cars are built on a Mercedes AMG chasis and a BMW coupe chasis.  I mean who wants a run of the mill $100 K BMW or Aston when a $200K that has a limited production run is available?

How does this relate to Chapter 3 and 4 in the cost class?  Well this would be a combination of job order costing and process costing. The chasis will have to be negotiated at a known cost. The very expensive carbon fiber bodywork will require careful cost control so as not to exceed the budget.  Interestingly spare fenders are made in case of a collision.

THis also points out how the market for really expensive items continues to expand worldwide.

DLE

Social Network Analysis / Network Cartograhpy

A continuing topic in Acct 3270 is customer satisfaction- the cornerstone of Deming's TQM, CQM, and Six Sigma.  Now Procter and Gamble and Target are looking for  who is in their customer base, supply chain, and field of influence.  Check out labs.dig.com.  Here are visualizations of what people are bookmaking on their computers. 

I think the best example of this is amazon.com.  After you make a purchase, amazon will e mail you with other suggestions to buy in much the same category.  Clever, and all done by computer, no human intervention necessary.  Do you see that is a way to reduce the cost of marketing and zero right in on the customer preference.

Attention entrepreneurs, this would allow a niche player in say embroidery to target folks interested in that topic.  Success on the internet is all about finding your audience.

Design as an Emerging Philosophy

The recent covers of Automobile, Men's Journal, and Fast Company all featured issues on Design.  I am seeing more and more on this topic.  The current 9/25/06 issue of Business Week has a 41 page insert on Innovation, I would not be surprised to see it spun off as a separate publishing piece. It is now a quarterly feature.   The ads at the back of the magazine feature schools that highlight design as their mainstream focus. Indeed I have suggested that UNT Dallas make Design a focus of its efforts.

In class last week one student made the point that her family had an iPod and a competitor's model, and yes the competition was less expensive but the family was much more smitten with the IPod. The Innovation section highlights the iPod noting its materials, fit and finish, lack of screws, and no sticker with the serial number, instead it's elegantly etched on the bottom of the back side.'

I suggest you check it out at B/W Innovation.   Just click on the hyper link.

DLE

Mobility Key to US Success

The current Business Week points out that unemployment in the US is 4.7% compared to Germay at 8.2% and France at 8.9%.  Now remember that unemployment never goes to zero.  People are always between jobs, moving, students come and go from the workplace, and frankly some folks don't want to work. The 4.7% is as low as it has been for some time.  So from the standpoint that say 4% might be as low as one could go, the unemployment rate in Europe is staggeringly high. How come?

The same issue details that McDonald's has a new program to allow its 2225,000 European workers to get jobs anywhere in the EU.  THe rpoblem is the lack of labor mobility.  Only 1.5% of Europeans live and work outside their own coutnri3es.  60% say they would not make such a move even if they were jobless.  uch a conclusion would be impossible without of course the extensive welfare benefits in the EU countries.

Add to this the fact that there has been no net job creation in Europe since the 1970s, the US has created millions of jobs and lost less than created. I think the difference is in the tax system, here is you make money you get to keep a lot of it, that is not the case in Europe.  France in particualr has really obnoxious laws that harrass small business.  This was detailed in B/W in a recent issue.

So it's no wonder that U Haul is thriving and doing well in the US, we are on the move.

DLE

Hey Prof, Which Job Pays More?

We had an interesting question occur in one class this past week.  A student anticipated moving to the accounting dept in his present company. When I asked if anyone wanted to work for a CPA firm, the response was, which pays more money?

Such a question is imposible to answer, and besides that is not the point of finding your ideal job.

Let's take the fact that the question cannot be answered.  Who makes more money, Reba McIntire or someone at the local watering hole singing on the weekend hoping to be discovered?  Who makes more money, the head of Goldman Sachs, or your local Edward Jones broker?  Obviously Reba and the guy at Goldman make the big bucks.  The point is, one cannot predict the future or how things will play out.  The best one can do is arm oneself with an array of skill sets and then pick the field that interests you.

I visited with Greta Davis our Student Development Officer about this.  Greta quickly noted that many students confuse money with picking the right job.  Here is an example. I had a female student at Texas State. She had a six year old and had recently re married. They lived north of San Marcos in Kyle.  That is 50 miles from downtown San Antonio.  I suggested she consider working for a local CPA in San Marcos. Her first reaction was, what does it pay?  My reaction was, what does that matter?  To me the issues before her were involvement with her son ( working in San Marcos it would be easy to go to a school function) and her new marriage.  Let's spend some quality time on Mr. # 2 after the first marriage failed, right?  Wrong, she took a job in downtown San Antonio for more money.  This requires long hours, a long commute, and less time with her new  'family.'  A bad lifestyle choice if you ask me.  The probably $10,000 difference in money will be eaten up in money spent on gasoline, dry cleaners, and most important, the opportunity cost of not being with her new husband.

Okay, we don't know the future.  But we do know this.  Pity the  poor soul whose office or cubicle sports the now famous sign, Thanks Goodness It's Friday.  The implication here is that he or she trudges all weeek long through dreary tasks just waiting for the weekend and presumably the chance to do something else-enjoyable that is.  Folks, this is no way to live.  Happily I have landed at UNT Dallas, and I love it.  I genuinely like what I do. I come in on days I don't have to because I would rather do this than just about anything else.  That makes life worth living. 

And, show me someone who is doing a job for the money only, say working on an offshore oil rig with no friends or family in site beacuse the job pays well,  and I will show you someone who is miserable most of the time.  The chance that you will make more money is heightened when you are doing something you enjoy.  Hence you do more of it, think more about it, and try to improve.  You will not mkae more money simply waiting for Friday no matter what the job pays.

Studies show that most follks are reasonably happy making $50,000 per year. That pays the bills.  And you should hit that level in pretty quickly assuming you really do exit college with a skill set, you are working on the skill set, right,?  I mean when the interviewer asks what you can do for the company you will have a ready answer, right?

DLE

PIzza Drivers Unite and Unionize!

The Saturday9/23/06 Dallas Morning News DMNrepots on page 2D that one Jim Phole has managed to unioinize the first eleven drives as preisdent of the American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers Inc at a Pensocola franchise of Domino's.  The franchise refused to pay the minimum wage saygin the were tipped employees.  This may well open the foor to other organizing attempts. 

The way this works is that one petitions the National Labor Relations Board for recognition as a  union. Then one petitions to hold an election. If the workers vote for union representation, bingo the union represents the workers.

This is no small matter.  Union membership has been declining for decades.  The entire auto industry has migrated from union shop states ( where a worker can be requried to join the existing union whether he votes to or not) to right to work states in which union membership is not compulsory.  Previous to this, such jobs as fast food could fill their ranks with other young workers.  However as these jobs are increasingly taken by older and often dispclaced workers, that trend is changing. 

Mr. Pohl is apparently not a UNT Dallas candidate.  He delivers pizza because and I quote 'he likes to sleep late, smoke on the job, and listen to the radio.  But then how many Mr. Pholes are out there?

With auto ranks being thinned, this may be the unions next best chance.  Most of you are too young to remember the days in the 1960s when George Meany would appear on the Sunday talk shows threatening to shut down entire industries with a strike.  Those were the glory days for unions. This may be the first re awakening of opportunity.

DLE

Fall 2006

To the Class of 2008!

Welcome to my blog.  I realize that all of you are busy working, raising families, going to class, studying, and hopefully having some fun in between.  I wish that each and everyone of you could have had the residential college experience that I had, on the other hand, you won't be eligible for the draft so maybe that's a far trade off!

Here is what I hope to do with the Blog.  As you may have noticed, I like to relate the class to what is going on in that famous cyberspace known as the REAL WORLD.  In that regard I will quote from the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes, and maybe poke fun at Willie Nelson getting a ticket for Mary Jane.  It is my aim to bring us all together in cyber space so that we can visit much more often than just on class days. I am delighted that many of you have chosen to subscribe to the WSJ, I have already had many constructive questions and observations from those of you reading the WSJ.  Great, this way we can correspond seven days a week, but don't expect much from me late in the evening, late for me would be if Leno has started his monologue...

Okay, do not hesitate to post your thoughts, as long as they are constructive I have no objection.  Which reminds me to be constructive also.  I will have my digital camera at school so I hope to document our first semester togther in photos as well.   WEB CT is good but this allows all of us to go to one spot and I don't have to log on to four different WEB CTs.

Okay, more later, this is the first post, I will see you at the Help Session Friday 9/22 at 10:00 AM

DLE