Why GM Matters

Why GM Matters PDF Author: William Holstein
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0802777732
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Get Book Here

Book Description
In November, GM CEO Rick Wagoner appeared before Congress to ask for $25 billion to bail out the struggling Big Three automakers. To critics like Thomas Freidman and Mitt Romney, it was a sign that the American auto industry should be led out to pasture; if the Japanese are better at making cars, they said, then we should let them do it. To defenders, the loss of the country's largest manufacturing sector would be an incomprehensible disaster. Nearly every day, the debate rages on the op-ed pages. Billions of dollars and millions of jobs hang in the balance. In Why GM Matters, William Holstein goes deep inside GM to show what's really happening at the country's most iconic corporation. Where critics say that GM has sat on its hands while the market changed, Holstein demonstrates that GM has already radically retooled its entire operation, from manufacturing and cost structure to design. Where pundits say we'd be better off without GM, he shows how inextricably linked GM and the nation's economy still are: The country's largest private buyer of IT, the world's largest buyer of steel, the holder of pensions for 780,000 Americans, GM accounts for a full 1 percent of our country's GDP. A dollar spent on GM has profoundly different consequences from a dollar spent on Toyota. Following a diverse cast of characters-from Rick Wagoner, the controversial CEO, to design director Bob Boniface, to Linda Flowers, a team leader on the line in Kansas City-Holstein examines the state of GM's health and builds a persuasive argument that GM is essential to our nation's well-being and, with the right economic climate, ready to compete with Toyota as one of the biggest global automakers.

Why GM Matters

Why GM Matters PDF Author: William Holstein
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0802777732
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Get Book Here

Book Description
In November, GM CEO Rick Wagoner appeared before Congress to ask for $25 billion to bail out the struggling Big Three automakers. To critics like Thomas Freidman and Mitt Romney, it was a sign that the American auto industry should be led out to pasture; if the Japanese are better at making cars, they said, then we should let them do it. To defenders, the loss of the country's largest manufacturing sector would be an incomprehensible disaster. Nearly every day, the debate rages on the op-ed pages. Billions of dollars and millions of jobs hang in the balance. In Why GM Matters, William Holstein goes deep inside GM to show what's really happening at the country's most iconic corporation. Where critics say that GM has sat on its hands while the market changed, Holstein demonstrates that GM has already radically retooled its entire operation, from manufacturing and cost structure to design. Where pundits say we'd be better off without GM, he shows how inextricably linked GM and the nation's economy still are: The country's largest private buyer of IT, the world's largest buyer of steel, the holder of pensions for 780,000 Americans, GM accounts for a full 1 percent of our country's GDP. A dollar spent on GM has profoundly different consequences from a dollar spent on Toyota. Following a diverse cast of characters-from Rick Wagoner, the controversial CEO, to design director Bob Boniface, to Linda Flowers, a team leader on the line in Kansas City-Holstein examines the state of GM's health and builds a persuasive argument that GM is essential to our nation's well-being and, with the right economic climate, ready to compete with Toyota as one of the biggest global automakers.

GM Crops and the Global Divide

GM Crops and the Global Divide PDF Author: Jennifer Thomson
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
ISBN: 1486312667
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Get Book Here

Book Description
Attitudes to GM crops continue to generate tension, even though they have been grown commercially for over 20 years. Negative sentiment towards their development limits their adoption in Western countries, despite there being no evidence of harm to human health. These unfounded concerns about genetically modified crops have also inhibited uptake in many countries throughout Africa and Asia, having a major impact on agricultural productivity and preventing the widespread cultivation of potentially life-saving crops. GM Crops and the Global Divide traces the historical importance that European attitudes to past colonial influences, aid, trade and educational involvement have had on African leaders and their people. The detrimental impact that these attitudes have on agricultural productivity and food security continues to be of growing importance, especially in light of climate change, drought and the potential rise in sea levels – the effects of which could be mitigated by the cultivation of GM and gene-edited crops. Following on from her previous books Genes for Africa, GM Crops: The Impact and the Potential and Food for Africa, Jennifer Thomson unravels the reasons behind these negative attitudes towards GM crop production. By addressing the detrimental effects that anti-GM opinions have on nutrition security in developing countries and providing a clear account of the science to counter these attitudes, she hopes to highlight and ultimately bridge this global divide.

Sixty to Zero

Sixty to Zero PDF Author: Alex Taylor
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300158882
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
The collapse of General Motors captured headlines in early 2009, but as Alex Taylor III writes in this in-depth dissection of the automaker's undoing, GM's was a meltdown forty years in the making. Drawing on more than thirty years of experience and insight as an automotive industry reporter, as well as personal relationships with many of the leading players, Taylor reveals the many missteps of GM and its competitors.

The Moves That Matter

The Moves That Matter PDF Author: Jonathan Rowson
Publisher:
ISBN: 152660387X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
'A nuanced and witty meditation on confronting the challenges life throws at us all' Oliver Burkeman Jonathan Rowson's competitive success as a chess Grandmaster and work as an applied philosopher have given him a unique perspective on why the great game is more important than ever for understanding the conflicts and uncertainties of the modern world. In sixty-four witty and addictive vignettes, Rowson takes us on an exhilarating tour of the game of life, from the psychology of gang violence, to the aesthetics of cyborgs, the beauty of technical details, and the endgame of death. Chess emerges as a singularly powerful metaphor for the thrills and set-backs that invest our daily lives with meaning and complexity.

The Seven Deadly Chess Sins

The Seven Deadly Chess Sins PDF Author: Jonathan Rowson
Publisher: Scotland's Youngest Grandmaste
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book Here

Book Description
"A British champion discusses the most common causes of disaster in chess"--Cover.

Illuminating Social Life

Illuminating Social Life PDF Author: Peter Kivisto
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
ISBN: 1412978157
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 457

Get Book Here

Book Description
Illuminating Social Life has enjoyed increasing popularity with each edition. It is the only book designed for undergraduate teaching that shows today's students how classical and contemporary social theories can be used to shed new light on such topics as the internet, the world of work, fast food restaurants, shopping malls, alcohol use, body building, sales and service, and new religious movements.A perfect complement for the sociological theory course, it offers 13 original essays by leading scholars in the field who are also experienced undergraduate theory teachers. Substantial introductions by the editor link the applied essays to a complete review of the classical and modern social theories used in the book.

Why Pride Matters More Than Money

Why Pride Matters More Than Money PDF Author: Jon R. Katzenbach
Publisher: Crown Currency
ISBN: 1400049857
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 227

Get Book Here

Book Description
The book that turns our understanding of motivation on its head . . . and shows why most companies get it wrong. There are few people with more experience and accumulated wisdom about the inner workings of business and how people can work together more effectively than Jon Katzenbach. His groundbreaking research has resulted in several important books, including The Wisdom of Teams and Real Change Leaders. Over the past several years he has turned his attention to one of the perennial questions of leaders everywhere: How do I motivate my employees? Most everyone frets about how to devise schemes that will keep the troops revved up. Conventional wisdom—or at least the practice at most companies—often centers on money as the primary motivating force. Many also rely on intimidation, which like money generally has a short-term impact. But what Katzenbach has found in his research at many organizations is that both of these practices do little to build the long-term sustainability of an organization. For that you need a powerful force that has been—until this point—understood by few managers and implemented by fewer still: pride. From the front lines to the executive suite, most people are motivated by feelings of accomplishment, approval, and camaraderie. It’s why the best employees strive well beyond performance levels that will yield them higher pay and why most true professionals relentlessly avoid retirement. Why does Southwest Airlines consistently turn in the highest levels of performance and profitability of any company in the airline business? What can the U.S. Marines teach us about individual commitment that can be used in the for-profit world? How is General Motors overcoming its history of labor-management enmity through the efforts of “pride-builders” from both the union and the management side? By drawing on what he has learned from these and many other organizations, Jon Katzenbach provides a practical program for understanding the role of pride: • Money is not the motivator most people think it is: Katzenbach shows why pay-for-performance programs by themselves result in employees who focus on self-serving behavior and skin-deep organizational commitment. • Money tends to be a short-term motivational device and works best during times of growth, but pride works in bad times as well as good. • Cultivating pride is an investment that yields high returns on workforce performance over time and is not nearly as costly as relying solely on monetary compensation and the turnover risks that accompany a “show me the money” culture. Katzenbach shares unique insights and specifics about how the best mid-level pride-builders take advantage of the world’s greatest motivational force even in environments as challenging as General Motors and Aetna. He shows how managers at every level are missing a powerful lever if they are not instilling pride as a primary force for building their organization. Also available as an eBook.

Neurogastronomy

Neurogastronomy PDF Author: Gordon Shepherd
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231159110
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Get Book Here

Book Description
Leading neuroscientist Gordon M. Shepherd embarks on a paradigm-shifting trip through the "human brain flavor system," laying the foundations for a new scientific field: neurogastronomy. Challenging the belief that the sense of smell diminished during human evolution, Shepherd argues that this sense, which constitutes the main component of flavor, is far more powerful and essential than previously believed. Shepherd begins Neurogastronomy with the mechanics of smell, particularly the way it stimulates the nose from the back of the mouth. As we eat, the brain conceptualizes smells as spatial patterns, and from these and the other senses it constructs the perception of flavor. Shepherd then considers the impact of the flavor system on contemporary social, behavioral, and medical issues. He analyzes flavor's engagement with the brain regions that control emotion, food preferences, and cravings, and he even devotes a section to food's role in drug addiction and, building on Marcel Proust's iconic tale of the madeleine, its ability to evoke deep memories. Shepherd connects his research to trends in nutrition, dieting, and obesity, especially the challenges that many face in eating healthily. He concludes with human perceptions of smell and flavor and their relationship to the neural basis of consciousness. Everyone from casual diners and ardent foodies to wine critics, chefs, scholars, and researchers will delight in Shepherd's fascinating, scientific-gastronomic adventures.

My Years With General Motors

My Years With General Motors PDF Author: Alfred P Sloan
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618863991
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 552

Get Book Here

Book Description
Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. led the General Motors Corporation to international business success by virtue of his brilliant managerial practices and his insights into the new consumer economy he and General Motors helped to produce. Sloan's business biography, My Years With General Motors, was an instant best seller when it was first published in 1964 and is still considered indispensable reading by modern business giants.

Genetically Modified Organisms in Food

Genetically Modified Organisms in Food PDF Author: Ronald Ross Watson
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128025301
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 517

Get Book Here

Book Description
Genetically Modified Organisms in Food focuses on scientific evaluation of published research relating to GMO food products to assert their safety as well as potential health risks. This book is a solid reference for researchers and professionals needing information on the safety of GMO and non-GMO food production, the economic benefits of both GMO and non-GMO foods, and includes in-depth coverage of the surrounding issues of genetic engineering in foods. This is a timely publication written by a team of scientific experts in the field who present research results to help further more evidence based research to educate scientists, academics, government professionals about the safety of the global food supply. - Provides the latest on research and development in the field of GMOs and non-GMO safety issues and possible risk factors incorporating evidence based reviews for a better understanding of these issues - Covers various aspects of GMO production, analysis and identification to better understand GMO development and use - Includes definitions, a brief overview and history of GM foods from a global perspective and concise summaries with recommendations for actions for each chapter