Monthly Archives: February 2008

The pernicious habit of “double-bagging”

February 29, 2008 5:59 pm by John Gapper

I am encouraged to return to the topic of supermarkets and plastic bags by the Daily Mail, my former employer (a long time ago). It has just launched a campaign to stop the proliferation of plastic bags in the UK under the slogan: Banish the Bags.

The Mail estimates that 13bn flimsy plastic bags are handed out by British high street stores each year. It is a classic example of companies and consumers not having to pay the financial cost of environmental destruction and therefore not caring about it. Read more

Posted in Food and Drink | Permalink

Guy Hands versus musical rent-seekers

February 29, 2008 5:34 pm by John Gapper

Guy Hands, the man whose Terra Firma private equity fund took over EMI Group last year, was brutally honest this week about whom he blames for the fact that his acquisition is not going exactly to plan: A&R men.

These mysterious characters (the acronym stands for “artists and repertoire”), who have been responsible for signing acts to music labels, have not been earning their money, and certainly not being held accountable for it, according to Mr Hands:

The power and the decision has sat with the A&R man, who is someone who gets up late in the day, listens to lots of music, goes to clubs, spends his time with artists and has a knack of knowing what would sell.

They were committing money with no sign off, no nothing.

What we are doing is taking the power away from the A&R guys and putting it with the suits – the guys who have to work out how to sell music. Trying to persuade 260 people to give up their power has been hard.

We had labels at EMI that were spending five times as much on marketing as their gross revenues. We told them you could stick a £50 note on the cover of a CD and have the same effect, and we also wouldn’t have to pay them. Those sorts of comments don’t go down too well.

We’re getting there – a little slower than I would like, but I’m always impatient.

Posted in Music | Permalink

Opening the windows on Microsoft

February 28, 2008 4:50 am by John Gapper

My column in the Financial Times this week is on Microsoft’s efforts to make itself more open and the internal obstacles that stand in the way. You can read it here and comment below. Read more

Posted in Finance | Permalink

The benefits of giving Oscars to Europeans

February 26, 2008 3:51 am by John Gapper

It was noticeable, watching the Oscars, that there were a lot of foreigners ascending the stage of the Kodak Theatre to accept Academy Awards.

The show started with Alexandra Byrne, the British costume designer, being given a statuette for her work on the costumes for Elizabeth: The Golden Age and culminated in all four of the main actor and actress awards going to Europeans.

The high profile of foreign talent was as striking as the shift towards independent studios and away from big Hollywood studios in the 1990s, led by Miramax.

It strikes me as admirable that Hollywood has demonstrated once again its openness to foreign actors and off-screen talent at a time when there are fears in other US industries about foreign competition and the outsourcing of jobs.

Hollywood has become perhaps the most open industry in its employment patterns apart from Silicon Valley, which draws software engineers from around the world, and Wall Street, where many different nationalities work in investment banks. Read more

Posted in Entertainment | Permalink

General Electric and the FT redux

February 25, 2008 9:14 pm by John Gapper

I was pleased to see John Micklethwait, editor of The Economist, comparing the Financial Times to General Electric as a training ground of editorial management talent. A shame that he did not credit me but perhaps great minds think alike. Read more

Posted in Media | Permalink

Corporate social responsibility and self-interest

February 25, 2008 4:57 pm by John Gapper

Today being National Corporate Philanthropy Day in the US (the first I had heard of it, I have to admit), I went to a gathering of chief executives whose companies give money to good causes or encourage employees to volunteer.

I had a chance to quiz three of the CEOs there – Jim Rohr of PNC Financial Services, Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon and Sidney Taurel of Eli Lilly – about their companies’ involvement in something that, on the face of it, does not benefit shareholders.

Famously, Milton Friedman argued that “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits” and that a lot of corporate philanthropy was at best misguided, although some could be justified if it served other corporate purposes, such as increasing the loyalty of customers. Read more

Posted in Philanthropy | Permalink

Bob Lutz is not as green as many people thought

February 25, 2008 4:55 am by John Gapper

The other day, Bob Lutz, the General Motors vice-chairman in charge of product development, described global warming as “a total crock of shit”. He went on to say his views on the subject made no difference to his commitment to producing energy-saving cars, including the Chevy Volt electric vehicle.

Mr Lutz did not make clear whether he did not believe in global warming per se, or merely not that it was exacerbated by CO2 emissions. In any case, he said, he believed in reducing energy consumption in order to make the US energy-independent. Read more

Posted in Autos | Permalink

Meghan McCain offsets the old geezer factor with music

February 22, 2008 4:41 pm by John Gapper

I posted yesterday on Barack Obama’s use of the internet for campaigning and fund-raising. It would be remiss not also to mention John McCain’s website, which includes a fun blog from the campaign trail by his daughter Meghan and two of her friends.

Given that 71-year-old Mr McCain is getting stick from the talk show hosts at the moment for looking like a doddering old man, it is rather astute to get his daughter in on the act. Read more

Posted in Entertainment | Permalink