My present company is a case in point.
Until a few years ago when our present management took over, it was run by the Khaitan's of Williamson Macgor.
They are known as the tea kings and we were very small in their overall set-up.
We used to run at a perpetual loss and every now and then our top people used to go with a begging bowl to them and get some dole and our company used to run.
But these same people used to fly in executive class and stay at five star hotels. Nothing less would satisfy their egos.
The company could go to hell for all they cared.
Fortunately, the present maanagement who are related to the Khaitans agreed to take over when the Khaitan's attempt to sell the company failed.
Nobody wanted to buy it.
The present mangement turned around the company by just controlling expenses and we are now running at a profit.
I read during those times, when Infosys was minting money, their MD Mr Narayan Murthy used to travel by Economy class.
In times of difficulty, unless the top mangement leads the way, in cutting expenses, how can any company survive.
Radheshyam
From "The Telegraph"
Washington, Nov. 20: As many as 24 non-stop flights fly daily from Detroit to the Washington area. Richard Wagoner, Alan Mulally and Robert Nardelli, the chief executives of the Big Three automakers, probably should have taken one of them.
Instead, the titans of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler opted to fly their company jets to the US capital for their hearings before the Senate and House — an ill-timed display of corporate excess for a trio of executives begging for an additional $25 billion from the public trough this week.
“There’s a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington DC and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands,” Representative Gary L. Ackerman advised the pampered executives at a hearing yesterday. “It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo…. I mean, couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here?”
The Big Three said nothing, which prompted Representative Brad Sherman to rub it in. “I’m going to ask the three executives here to raise their hand if they flew here commercial,” he said. All still at the witness table.
“Second,” he continued, “I’m going to ask you to raise your hand if you’re planning to sell your jet… and fly back commercial.” More stillness.
“Let the record show no hands went up,” Sherman grandstanded.
By now, the men were probably wishing they had driven — as other members of the House Financial Services Committee weren’t done riding the CEOs over their jets. “You travelled in a private jet?” Representative Nydia M. Velázquez contributed.
Representative Patrick T. McHenry felt the need to say that “I’m not an opponent of private flights by any means, but the fact that you flew in on your own private jet at tens of thousands of dollars of cost just for you to make your way to Washington is a bit arrogant before you ask the taxpayers for money”.
It was a display of stone-cold tone-deafness by the automaker chiefs. In their telling, they have no responsibility for the auto industry’s current mess. The US Congress has at most two days remaining in its post-election session. Without a deal in that time, any bailout is likely to have to wait until the Barack Obama administration takes over in January.
Threatening America with economic Armageddon if the automakers are not given government aid, the Big Three chiefs spent much of the session declaring what a fine job they’ve been doing in Detroit.
“Chrysler really is the quintessential American car company!” Chrysler’s Nardelli boasted.
“We have products that are winning car and truck of the year regularly,” General Motors’ Wagoner proclaimed.
“We are equal to or better than Honda and Toyota,” Ford’s Mulally added. “Every new vehicle that we make, whether it’s small, medium or large, is best in fuel efficiency. The given is safety. And we have more, at Ford, more five-star quality and safety ratings than any other automobile.”
Committee chairman Barney Frank cut him off. “Thank you, Mr. –”.
“And the best value!” Mulally blurted out.
“Commercials can go later,” the chairman proposed.
They would have to go later, because it seemed everybody had a car story to tell.
One Congressman spoke of his Jeep. “It probably has about 150,000 miles on it, and it’s still running doggone well.” Another invoked his Jeep Cherokee: “Small problem with the back hatch staying open; we can talk about that afterwards.”
Lawmakers from Detroit, where the Big Three are based, made passionate arguments that the carmakers had already done what “they possibly can to restructure and become globally competitive”.
But the executives were not helping their own case. When a Congressman tried to find out when GM would run out of cash, Wagoner hemmed and hawed until the lawmaker protested that “I don’t quite understand what the hell you just told me”.
When another lawmaker asked about GM’s outlook for the quarter, Wagoner informed him that “we dont provide financial guidance in earnings”.
So it was hard to feel sorry for the executives when Representative Peter Roskam, late in the hearing, reminded them again that “the symbolism of the private jet is difficult”, and mischievously asked the witnesses whether, in another symbolic gesture, they would be willing to work for $1 a year, as Nardelli has offered to do.
“I don’t have a position on that today,” demurred Wagoner (2007 total compensation: $15.7 million).
“I understand the intent, but I think where we are is okay,” said Mulally ($21.7 million).
“I’m asking about you,” Roskam pressed.
“I think I’m okay where I am,” Mulally said.
And don’t even think about asking him to fly commercial.
LOS ANGELES TIMES-WASHINGTON POST NEWS SERVICE
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