Apple's success is a lesson in corporate strategy

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Apple's success is a lesson in corporate strategy

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• Publié par: olurosot
• Nombre de lectures: 130
• Langue: Français

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TheEpochTimes

August 15  21, 2007

13 BUSINESS&ECONOMY

Takeovers spell the end of football’s Premiership plc

LONDON (Reuters) – As Eng lish soccer clubs are being taken over by foreign billionaires, the era of stock marketlisted clubs could soon be over with a new wave of owners opting to stay out of the financial spotlight. But if fans, politicians and newspapers take moral um brage at the foreignled takeo vers, few are mourning the end of the publicly listed club. Going public became some thing of a craze for Premier League clubs in the mid1990s. At its peak, fans and investors could buy shares in 10 of the 20 current Premier League clubs. Only a trio of Premier

League clubs still have publicly tradeable shares following the latest buyoutswhich have seen Manchester City purchased by ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and New castle bought by reclusive Brit ish retail tycoon Mike Ashley. Only Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City remain, although takeover ru mours surround all three fol lowing big changes in their ma jor shareholders in the last few months. Heralded in the 90s as a more democratic ownership structure and a way to pump cash into clubs, stock listings

have come to be seen as a mis take by many: unprofitable for investors, unrewarding for teams and costly for fans. “What investors didn’t ap preciate is one of the peculi arities of football,” said Chris tine Oughton, director of the Football Governance Research Centre at Birkbeck, University of London. Making a profit is the over riding goal for most companies, she said: but soccer clubs have the even higher priority of win ning games. They also have to pay out around 60 per cent of their revenues to players. Alan Sugar, the outspoken

former Tottenham chairman and star of TV reality show The Apprentice, claimed run ning Spurs had been a com plete waste of time. He labelled football “prune juice econom ics”, referring to the way rev enue is washed out of clubs in multimillion pound transfer fees and wages. He sold the last batch of his shares in the club for £25 mil lion in June.

Sky’s the limit The big hope for investors in the 1990s was a new lucrative contract with Sky television. While clubs were right that

soaring revenues were just around the corner, the money often did not make it to bot tom line as it was sucked up by spiralling player wages. Share prices crumbled. When American billionaire Randy Lerner bought Aston Villa, the club’s shares were worth just half of the £11 they listed at in 1997, while New castle shares were 30 per cent lower than their IPO price when Ashley scooped them up in June. This despite a more than 1,300 per cent rise in annual TV revenues since 1992. Love for their club makes

fans vulnerable investors. Tot tenham fans would never swap their shares for stock in Arse nal, even if their fierce north London rivals did look set to deliver better profits. Floating on stock exchang es did offer benefits, allow ing teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal to raise capital to invest in stadiums. But the need for financial transparency shackled clubs in the fastmoving and shadowy transfer market. “People who run these clubs ultimately want to have free dom of movement,” said Jim McLean, a soccer financing ex

pert at business advisers Grant Thornton. For some people poor prof itability may matter little and the lure of owning a premier league team remains strong, Thornton added. “They want to enjoy the benefits and the prestige that flows from being involved in a wellknown football club.”

Fans Despite racking up hefty loss es, some fans view the end of the plc era with a touch of sad ness. “They didn’t get a sufficient slice to exercise financial clout

but at least they had a right to turn up at shareholders’ meet ings and ask questions,” said Malcolm Clarke, chair of Brit ain’s Football Supporters’ Fed eration. Clarke said Barcelona, Real Madrid and several German clubs offered the ideal of demo cratic control for soccer clubs where supporters’ associations wield the power. But for now at least, Eng lish soccer clubs have settled on one kind of corporate struc ture. Whether their owners are foreign or domestic, they are nearly all alike in their prefer ence for privacy.

David Paul Morris/Getty Images Friday Apple’s slackers costÞrms success is £50m a year a lesson in LONDON (Reuters) – Busi nesses are losing more than £50 million a year because of corporate The top excuses for start employees leaving work early on Friday, according to a re cent survey. ing the weekend early are a long lunch, doctor’s appoint strategy that more and more workers ment and an outofoffice meeting near to home. “Our evidence suggests are seeing Friday afternoon as an unofficial holiday,” said Pam Rogerson, head of per sonnel at Employersafe. By HEIDE B. MALHOTRA 2002, its stock hovered around “We have estimated that Epoch Times Washington Staff $14 (£6.90) a share. It jumped this is costing British business to around $65 (£32) a share by just over £50 million a year, the end of 2004. At the end of which all goes to form part of Apple Inc. is riding high. In the2006, Apple was trading at $85 the overall £13 billion cost of last quarter, it shipped almost(£42) a share, eventually mov workplace absenteeism.” 1.8 million Macintosh computing up to more than $120 (£59) The company has devel ers, sold 9.8 million iPod muby May of this year. oped a software system which sic players and its iPhone—a detects patterns of absence revolutionary new product thatTaking the hint ICONS: Apple’s latest iMac and iPhone are the most recent additions to a range of modern technology icons and symbols of Apple’s business success and recommends appropri went on sale in June after an alHarvard Business School has ate disciplinary action. Robert Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images most hysterical media blitz—isfollowed Apple’s fortunes the dumps, everyone said that ferent strategies in the 2004 membership in chipmaker Inretail stores are often crowded Employersafe also said the expected to reach sales of more and misfortunes since 1992 they saw it coming, but when it “Where Does Apple Go from tel) to throw in the towel onwith customers. When the lat “Friday Feeling” trend has than 1 million within the nextand included the company as was doing well, students were Here?” article. The most dras its own OS, license Microsoftest product, the iPhone, hit thebeen reinforced by motoring three months, according to a rea case study in its MBA cur confounded when Yoffie point tic change was to “build their Windows and become a bigmarket on June 29, media re cent Apple press release.riculum. The case has been re ed to problems in the making. business off of the digital home, ported long lines in front of Aptime computer manufacturer. Apple also claims that it hasvamped five times, including a “More and more “Student opinion of Apple the iPod, iTunes, iPhoto, etc.,” ple stores of consumers waiting Jobs, who assumed the CEO sold more than three billionvideo lecture from John Scul tends to be excessively posi said Yoffie. He also suggested position in 1997, must have folto buy the phone. The lines had songs—downloaded from itsley, former Apple CEO (1985 workers see Friday tive or excessively negative, that Apple restructure from lowed the Harvard discussionsformed a few days before the iTunes music software—and – 1993), going over blunders he depending on the company’s a computer manufacturer to closely. Apple went innovativeevent and people had brought afternoon as an has five million songs, 550 telshould have avoided. current fortunes,” suggested a consumer electronics firm. mattresses and food, just sounder his leadership, as it in evision shows and 500 movie“This is a case where you unofÞcial holiday” Yoffie. He proposed to use Macintosh troduced the iMac, iPod, andthey would be one of the first to titles for purchase, more thancan focus on strategic success The case study’s latest ver computer sales as a cash cow iTunes. The OS X operatingget the iPhone. those offered by Amazon.comas well as strategic failure,” and Target.said Harvard Professor David “When Apple sion, “Apple Computer, 2006,” and build up the other products. “Apple brings several thingssystem and iPhone appeared organisations which report discusses in detail the strategiesAnother suggestion was toand sourcing chips from Intel[to the market]: really sleek that the Friday rush hour “We are thrilled to reportB. Yoffie, in the article “HBS was in the used by former Apple CEOs,once again start licensing thepanned out. At the same time,cool hardware, great software now starts around noon. the highest June quarter revCases: The Evolution of Ap the reasons behind the strateMacintosh operating systemto emphasise the new direcand a cool hip image,” said Research by the Confed enue and profit in Apple’s hisple,” published last month. He dumps, everyone gies and why a given strategy (OS), which was stopped aftertion as a consumer electronicsEric Clemens, professor at theeration of British Industry tory, along with the highestcontinued, “There aren’t many said that they was ineffective.Jobs took over the CEO posimanufacturer, Apple ditchedUniversity of Pennsylvania’s (CBI) suggested earlier this quarterly Mac sales ever,” saidinstances where you have both “The company always lookstion. A window had openedthe word “Computer” from itsWharton Business School in a year that managers believe CEO Steve Jobs in a recentsides so nicely paired [the ups saw it coming” a little different, yet many of into the software market, with official name.recent Wharton publication. one in eight of all workplace press release.and downs of a company].” the core issues that pose chalMicrosoft products becomingAdditionally, Apple is theabsences are due to staff fak Alongside the company’s reThe Apple case study reso lenges for it remain constant,”pricey for consumers.Customer voicescurrent frontrunner as a “tech ing illness and the favourite surgence, Apple’s stock (NASnated well with Harvard stu indicated Yoffie.Lastly, Yoffie suggested outApple’s products are some ofnology leader of the digital liv days to do so are Fridays or DAQ: AAPL) has also enjoyeddents and generated deep dis Yoffie suggested three dif the most soughtafter, and itsof selfinterest (he held boarding room,” Clemens added.Mondays. high returns. At the end ofcussions. When Apple was in
      Business Briefs  Learntoplay BoE signals one flects continued strength in production of capital goods: may be needed seso rB“sitinihstdusrymsee thepiano more rate rise those bought by other firms


for investment purp. LONDON (Reuters)  In to have raised its game: terest rates will probably there’s some underlying im

 need to rise one more time provement going on here,” Covent Garden piano for inflation to hit the 2 per
 said Ross Walker at Royal teacher welcomes cent target in two years, the Bank of Scotland.


 The Office for National ADULT BEGINNERS Bank of England signalled last Wednesday. Statistics said manufactur The central bank’s for private piano and ing output rose by 0.2 per quarterly Inflation Report cent in June, taking the an music theory tuition

showed CPI inflation frac nual gain to 0.9 per cent. tionally above the 2 per From Bach to Bacharach,Handel to Haydn, Both readings were in line cent target in two years if Mozart to Monk,Tchaikovsky to Chick Corea - with analysts’ forecasts and interest rates rose in line whatever your musical preferences,private piano there was little market reac  
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