Footballer helps save pasty company

11 April 2014 Last updated at 18:01 Footballer Danny Mills is among investors rescuing the fast food company More than 250 jobs at the West Cornwall Pasty Company were saved after it was bought by investors including former footballer Danny Mills.

They will buy 35 stores, while another 30 which are not part of the deal will close with the loss of 92 jobs.

The buyer is investment vehicle Enact, a small business fund.

It is backed by investors including former Leeds United full-back Mr Mills and Tim Whitworth, founder of the Republic fashion chain.

Before the deal West Cornwall Pasty, which has its head office in Buckinghamshire, operated 20 railway station-based outlets as well as 45 in other locations.

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Steering a company in a new direction

15 April 2014 Last updated at 00:00 By Katie Hope Business reporter, BBC News Driving change is a crucial part of a chief executive's role

EBay chief executive John Donahoe knew something was up when his firm's security team advised him not to attend a conference for sellers on safety grounds.

A cursory search on YouTube showed him the reason for their concern.

A doctored clip of Holocaust film Schindler's List called "What John Donahoe's doing to eBay" had superimposed his name on to a Nazi guard shooting a Jewish prisoner. The prisoner had been labelled as an eBay seller.

This incident happened in 2008, just a few months after he'd taken the helm and announced dramatic changes to both the charges the online auction site made for listing items and its feedback system for customers and sellers.

"I thought, 'Oh my god this is personal.' That was like one of those gut check moments - is this worth it? It wasn't perfectly obvious at that moment."

John Donahoe was shocked at the reaction to his changes Constant change

Six years on it's easy to say it was worth it. The changes Mr Donahoe made have shifted eBay from being an online auction marketplace to a full blown e-commerce operation.

Last year 73% of the items on its website were sold at a fixed price, rather than via auction.

And over the past five years, its shares have surged by 441%, compared with the Nasdaq's 213% rise over the same period.

Mr Donahoe says if he could go back to 2008, he would have tried to communicate his vision more clearly, but he would still make those changes because that was his job.

"There is always a new normal because the pace of technology innovation is changing and consumer behaviour is changing. So our leaders have to be comfortable that their job is to continuously drive change."

Difficult sell eBay's John Donahoe says chief executives should be the driving force behind change

It is not only tech firm bosses that face this reality. The biggest part of any chief executive's role is to ensure that their firm is able to thrive or at least survive, regardless of external circumstances.

Any change, such as a downturn in the economy or a structural change in the industry in which it operates, means the firm will have to respond and perhaps shift, at least to some degree, how it operates.

In the case of US healthcare services firm Cardinal Health, the entire industry was changing due to a significant demographic shift with the older population expanding rapidly, and sharp growth in some health issues such as obesity.

Five years ago, the firm decided to sell off a significant and lucrative part of its medical products business, leaving it with what at the time was perceived as the less profitable parts of the business - largely medical services and some products.

Cardinal Health has had to react to an expanding older population

Chief executive George Barrett was brought in to lead the firm just ahead of the sale, and had to drive the shift which he admits was "difficult".

"We had to reinvent our perspective and say look, this service business can be innovative, can drive high growth and can be extraordinarily valuable in a system going through a big change."

But it also had to tell investors that as a result of the change, profits would be down in the first year, before growing again.

Despite a tough initial period, Mr Barrett says being so upfront about the changes and communicating their impact clearly helped.

"Getting through that difficult time was easier because people felt that we were taking the actions we needed to take, we weren't going to wait... we were going to move aggressively."

Four years of consistent profits growth and shareholder returns have also helped appease investors.

Wang Chuanfu has made dramatic changes at BYD Steady pace

At Cardinal Health, making such a dramatic change obviously paid off, but it can be hard to judge how quickly to implement change.

After listing on the stock market, Chinese entrepreneur Wang Chuanfu decided to make a dramatic change to BYD (short for Build Your Dreams) - the firm he founded originally to make batteries for mobile phones. He used the funds from going public to expand its remit to making electric cars.

Suddenly instead of selling to companies, it had to start selling to consumers - a completely different proposition.

Mr Wang said initially he moved too fast, opening too many distribution centres, many of which made a loss.

Getting its rate of expansion right took three years to fix, but the firm, which now counts Warren Buffett as an investor, has continued to grow and says it plans to bring four of its models to the US by the end of 2015.

"It was a good path, [I] just had to persevere through it," he says.

This feature is based on interviews by management expert Steve Tappin for the BBC's CEO guru series, produced by Neil Koenig and Evy Barry.

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Custodial death row: Jaitley slams Omar for keeping company with dubious people

New Delhi, Oct 7 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Friday slammed Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the custodial death of National Conference (NC) worker Syed Muhammad Yusuf Shah.

"What kind of people have you (Omar Abdullah) brought around yourself, in your party and around your father? The incident gives message to people, who occupy high offices, what kind of people they should keep distance from," Jaitley told media persons here.

Omar is facing a political storm over the death of National Conference (NC) worker Syed Mohammad Yousuf, who died allegedly in police custody after two fellow party workers had accused him of taking Rs 1.18 crore from them for getting them berths in the Legislative Council.

According to the government version, the accused was summoned to the camp office of the chief minister where he was confronted with the allegation about taking money.

Jaitley further said the passage of anti-graft Lokpal law wouldn't end corruption because many reforms were needed.

"The passage of Lokpal law is not enough to end corruption. In our country, if somebody commits corruption he should be punished within months. He should be probed fairly. Is our judicial system in a position to do so?" he said.

Jaitley mentioned that objective of the upcoming nationwide anti-corruption campaign-led by senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani was to set a political agenda and issues of political discourse of the country.

"It is obvious that our organisation would be strengthened where ever it (anti-corruption campaign) passes through. Big programmes will take place, organisational activities will increase and our organisation will benefit. But also the objective (of the campaign) is to set the political agenda of the country and the issues of political discourse," he added.

The BJP has chosen the birth anniversary of Jayprakash Narayan on October 11 and his birthplace Sitab Diara in Bihar as the venue to launch the yatra.

However, many political parties have claimed that Advani's procession was motivated by the upcoming general elections to be held in 2014. (ANI)

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Ford Motor Company opens its’ vault to offer more than 5000 images for license and sale.

DEARBORN, Mich., Feb. 4, 2011 – Thousands of images dating to the earliest days of Ford Motor Company are being hauled out of the Ford archives and licensed for sale for the first time.

FordImages.com features more than 5,000 images for sale including commemorative and limited-edition prints, vintage signs and advertisements. The site launched in January.

Hundreds of more images are being added weekly with another 5,000 to be added by the end of 2011, said Betsy McKelvey, marketing manager, Global Brand Licensing.

The purpose is to create brand awareness and preserve the Ford legacy using the millions of existing images in the archives.

“The entire world of Ford culture is here,” said Dean Weber, manager, Ford Archives. “These images represent the very special place Ford has in not only American history but world history.”

The new website receives about 500 visitors daily. Car enthusiasts and dealers are some of the biggest early customers, McKelvey noted.

“The Ford brand is one that almost everyone can identify with in some way,” said McKelvey. “This website gives people a way to strengthen that identification.”

FordImages.com is managed by Rick Weedn, an official Ford licensee, whose company licenses and sells archival images for other companies as well, including Harley-Davidson Inc. and The Henry Ford.

How it works
There are millions of photos contained within the roughly 16,000 boxes, 75 file cabinets and hundreds of CDs at Ford Archives in Dearborn, Mich., Weber said. For preservation purposes, the oldest images are stored in coolers using guidelines recommended by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Weber and his team have been poring through the files to find the best images to offer.

The subjects of the images vary. There are portraits and photographs from press releases, events, factories, motorsports and product development, just to name a few.

“There is a ripple effect that started with Henry Ford’s vision that continues to this day,” said Weedn. “These images tell that story and let people identify with what Ford really is.”

Once Weber and his team find images that support the purpose of FordImages.com, digital versions are created through a scanning process. More than 15,000 images have been identified in the last six months. Weber said that having digital versions of the images is another reason Ford moved forward with FordImages.com.

Weber then sends the images to Weedn, who handles marketing, sales and production. The Ford marketing team must give final approval of what and how Ford images are put up for sale. Weedn sets the prices, which start at $24.99.

McKelvey said one of the most popular sellers so far has been a reprint of the ad that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1925. The ad was titled “Opening the Highways to All Mankind” and featured images that reflect the company’s goal of making safe and efficient transportation accessible to all. Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally cited the ad at the 2011 North American International Auto Show.

In addition to prints such as the 1925 ad, the site has another offering.

Available for purchase are custom-made vintage-style wood signs. For example, a newer car dealer could get a sign made to look like it has been in business for decades. Weedn said dealers love the signs.

In fact, dealers are some of the biggest customers, Weedn said, because they are buying images to give away to customers or decorate showrooms. The “Opening Highways to All Mankind” reprint is being sold for half price, $24.99, at the Ford display during the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention & Expo, Feb. 5-7, in San Francisco.

FordImages.com will continue adding new items to the site, McKelvey said, particularly images of products that are not yet represented and images from other information repositories around the world so that FordImages.com truly reflects Ford’s global presence.

February 5, 2011
Categories: Ford, Industry News, mustang . Tags: 2011 North American International Auto Show, AC Cobra, alan mulally, assembly line, Betsy McKelvey, boss mustang, concepts cars, Dean Weber, events, factories, Ford Archives, ford blog, ford concepts, ford flikr, ford image library, ford images, ford mustang, ford news, ford poster, ford racing, ford.wieck.com, FordImages.com, Global Brand Licensing, kar kraft engineering, linkedin, Model T, motor city muscle cars, motorsports, National Archives and Records Administration, National Automobile Dealers Association Convention & Expo, official Ford licensee, press releases, product development, Rick Weedn, Shelby Dayton Coupe, spy photos, thunderbird, Wieck Media . Author: maritimedriver

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Bad company 2 dlc….

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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