December 17, 2008

What Readers Want to See in MDM’s Pages in 2009

Free, Management, Strategy, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

We asked in the MDM Reader Survey recently what special topics you wanted to see covered by MDM in the next year. Here are some of those answers, with in some cases, links to recent premium content articles on the topic:

Consolidation
Enhancing distributor profitability (Pricing for Profitability)
International Trends (Anixter Follows Customers Overseas)
A closer look at whether distributors doing multiple acquisitions are successful
Has private equity been good for distribution?
…

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How Executives Can Show Employees: We’re All in This Together

Free, Human Resources in Wholesale Distribution, Management, Operations, Strategy, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

BNET (www.bnet.com) says one way that companies can boost employee morale in a time of budget cuts and layoff fears, is to sacrifice executive pay to send a message down the ladder that “we’re all in it together.”

The article cites $37.5B foodservice distributor Sysco Corp.’s experience. Apparently the distributor’s top 15 executives announced last summer they would voluntarily take a 5% pay cut. The rest of the executives got a pay freeze for the next year. Everyone else got a 3% pay increase -that is 50,000 employees.

A Sysco spokesman is quoted in the article as saying:

“We wanted to show our people that it was a tough economic time, but that the corporate office was going to take the first hit.”

And …

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More Manufacturers Announce Cost Cuts

Free, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

More manufacturers reported cost cuts this week, including Gibraltar Industries Inc., Buffalo, NY, and Regal Beloit Corp., Beloit, WI. Regal Beloit is a $1.8 billion manufacturer of mechanical and electrical motors and generators. It’s closing a Leeson Electric plant. Baldor Electric is cutting jobs an estimated 900 by next June through attrition and retirement.Gibraltar Industries will close its Enterprise, MS, facility and consolidate its operations into two other existing facilities. Since the start of 2007, Gibraltar has streamlined its operations with 24 facility consolidations and the reduction of work force by nearly 20%. Gibraltar’s president and COO said: ‘Business conditions have deteriorated sharply in the last month. Due to the very tight credit market, many of our …

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Survey: Most Companies Not Taking Drastic Measures Despite Economy

Economic Trends, Free, Management, Research & Analytics, Strategy, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

Mercer Consulting reported results of its recent Snapshot Survey, where more than 1,000 organizations in the first two weeks of November told about the challenges they face as a result of the current economic turmoil.

Despite all the bad news, according to Mercer, most appear to be “refraining from taking drastic actions.”Here are a few benchmarks:

Nearly three-quarters of respondents say they are somewhat or very likely to reduce their 2009 pay increase budgets, but far fewer are somewhat or very likely to freeze salaries across the organization. Nearly two-thirds are not planning to reduce work forces by “significant levels.”

…

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Canadian Economy Poised to Follow U.S. Into Recession

Economic Trends, Free, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

Canada may follow the U.S. into a recession, according to an economist interviewed for a recent article in MDM, Forecast: Canada Faces a Rough First Half.”Demand for Canada’s products in the U.S. continues to fall despite a weakening of the Canadian dollar. About a third of Canada’s GDP is based on exports to the U.S.

What’s more, commodity prices and demand for raw materials have softened, putting a damper on the historically strong resources sector. And though Canada’s banking system has not seen the same turmoil as in the U.S., more businesses are reporting tighter credit conditions in the final quarter of the year.

Read the full story on Canada’s economy.

Motion Industries …

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December 17, 2008

What Readers Want to See in MDM’s Pages in 2009

How Executives Can Show Employees: We’re All in This Together

More Manufacturers Announce Cost Cuts

Survey: Most Companies Not Taking Drastic Measures Despite Economy

Canadian Economy Poised to Follow U.S. Into Recession

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