Bethlehem Steel of Pennsylvania has been around for over 100 years.  While they are no longer a steel giant, they used to be one of the largest manufacturers in the world.  So what happened to them?  What occurred from the early 1900s through today – when Bethlehem Steel first started manufacturing steel, to the present decade, where the company is all but bankrupt?  After all, this was the company that created the first wide flange steel beam in 1907, used to build 85% of New York’s skyline, and the Golden Date Bridge!  Did Bethlehem ever innovate or get with the times?  Did they use ERP software; or perhaps a CRM system to help organize their business efforts?

The United Steel Workers of America is certainly a great entity, but like anything else in life, it carries both positive and negative impacts.  Before the union, manufacturing and working conditions at Bethlehem Steel were terrible.  Most of the men working in the plant were not making a livable wage or receiving benefits, and time off or “breaks” were unavailable to all laborers.  Many of the men were killed in the early days, victim to faulty machinery, accidents, or the coke works of the factory.  Before unions, an employee could be fired for almost anything; and sometimes, workers were fired for absolutely nothing.  The pre-union days at Bethlehem Steel were very tough.

In the 1940’s, workers finally went on strike, and helped to form the United Steel Workers of America.  Once the union was established, workers would begin receiving comforts such as short breaks during their shifts, and even a washroom to shower off after their workday had ended.  Hours were no longer treacherous, and employees were finally making decent money based on contract negotiations initiated by the union.  The union was a good thing for these reasons, as it established a better quality of life, good wages, and retirement and benefit plans for full time factory workers.

The union, however, had its drawbacks.  Some of these drawbacks actually led to Bethlehem Steel’s demise.  For one, unions tend to strike when they’re not happy – and they did just that in1959.  Richard Nixon helped to end this strike, negotiating with steel companies to get workers better pay and benefits.  While this was all well and good for laborers, company executives felt the pinch.  They were pressured by the government to give in, and reinitiate steel manufacturing processes.  Soon, all steel prices in the Unites States would rise, and cheaper steel imports from rebuilding WWII countries became a viable alternative.  Since US steel was so expensive, steel from European and Asian companies could be imported and utilized at a fraction of the cost.  When prices went up, Bethlehem’s Steels profits tumbled.  With lower profits came layoffs, and a large decrease in workforce.  By the time many of the tenured union workers wanted to retire, it was virtually impossible for them.  Their demands had taken a toll on Bethlehem Steel’s finances, and now, there were six retirees seeking benefits for every (1) active employee.  Paying out pensions and healthcare on a 6:1 ration proved impossible for Bethlehem Steel, and their demise commenced.

Bethlehem Steel could have remained competitive, even amongst the demands of the Union.  Though they had to pay out larger wages and benefits, revenue and profits were still high as ever in the 1960s.  The 60s, however, marked the emergence of the “mini mill.”  The mini mill could produce steel much more efficiently and cheaply than large factories could – using scrap metal and continuous casting processes.  Mini mills soon started popping up across the country.  Bethlehem Steel, rather than updating their processes, continued to operate traditionally.  This meant producing more expensive steel than the competition, and losing out of big contract bids (such as the World Trade Center).  At one point, the company finally restructured and tried to modernize themselves, but it was a last ditch, “smoke and mirrors” type effort.  Had Bethlehem Steel been more innovative and taken mini mills and foreign competition more seriously, they could have overcome any financial burden.

Technically speaking, Bethlehem Steel could have implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to take the burden off of its executives and project managers.  A proper ERP solution could have gone a long way in helping them innovate and separate themselves from the competition.  Again, they had the capital at one time to implement such a solution.  This would have made project management, supply chain, and manufacturing procedures much more efficient and cost effective as they entered harsh financial realities (1990s).

In the end, Bethlehem Steel stuck to conventional methods of manufacturing for too long.  They never innovated or changed their processes, and never adapted with their competition.  The modern age and modern management disenfranchised the company.  Had they been more proactive, and taken initiatives to change, Bethlehem Steel could still be a manufacturing giant today.  It is important to understand the significance of adaptation and change in any industry, and Bethlehem Steel did not.

In this article, obtained from TechTarget, we learn that Microsoft’s CRM Solution will soon be offered to an international audience. Read Below:

Original Source: SearchCRM.com

Microsoft Corp. today kicked off a four-city, 10-day tour of Europe to promote its Dynamics CRM and ERP applications while also announcing that it will make its CRM Online software available in all major international markets in the second half of 2010.

Microsoft also said it plans to deliver the fourth service update to CRM Online sometime next month. The update will add a number of new services and capabilities, including streamlined sign-up and what Microsoft officials called “faster out-of-the-box time to value” compared with previous releases of the product.
Over the past year, sales of CRM Online, including both the version hosted in Microsoft’s own data centers and the one hosted through partners and resellers, have increased significantly compared with purchases of the on-premises Dynamics CRM software, according to Microsoft.

“We are seeing a strong uptake over the past year of CRM Online,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Dynamics CRM at Microsoft. “The partner-hosted version grew at 10%. Our business is now a solid mix of the on-demand and on-premises versions.” Wilson added that the mix of Dynamics CRM sales between North America and other regions is now “about 50-50,” although sales have grown faster in North America than overseas this year for the first time in a couple of years, thanks to the increased interest in the on-demand product.

Microsoft plans to hold one-day Convergence 2009 Europe user conferences focused on its business applications in four cities over the next 10 days, starting today in London and ending in Rotterdam on Nov. 5.
At today’s event, Microsoft announced that Play It Again Sam Entertainment Group, a Brussels-based music company, has moved to the hosted versions of both Dynamics ERP and CRM to help with its targeted marketing campaigns and to roll up management information from multiple sources. That process now takes a matter of minutes instead of days, according to a statement from the company’s CIO, Mal Allerton.
Microsoft also announced that the City Of London has upgraded to Dynamics CRM, which officials at the software vendor said has resulted in greater capacity for delivering a number of different services, including event planning and voter management.

Addressing users in his keynote speech in London today, Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS), said that the company will more aggressively position its CRM products in an attempt to better exploit growing trends such as environmental sustainability and social media. Microsoft will also further promote features such as Windows Touch for addressing issues such as regulation and compliance, he said.

Microsoft recently has scored a number of customer wins in the “green IT” market, mainly through its partner network, Tatarinov added. One business partner, Atrion International Inc., a Quebec-based company that focuses on green technologies for manufacturers, has helped several IT shops reduce the risks associated with hazardous materials and ensure better regulatory compliance.

Tatarinov also announced that all Microsoft Dynamics CRM products are now certified to work with the Windows 7 desktop operating system announced last week, as well as with Windows Server 2008 Release 2. The company now has more than 1 million users of Dynamics CRM, he said.

The growth of the city budget shot up from $69 Million in 1999, to $471 Million by 2007 – quite an increase. This caused increased reliance in the city’s finance department, and, accounting practices became less pressing needs.

After two major financial failings last year, however, the city went out and hired an accounting firm. It seems as though the finance office just couldn’t keep up, and, an audit was needed. Auditors arrived this past Monday to start looking at everything from city payments to surprise investment. City leaders, at this point, hope that the audit will identify flaws in the city’s financial state.

It appears as though the failure to keep up with accounting demands is a byproduct of rapid growth. This latest audit follows a problematic one from 2007, where a California based consulting company decided that the city had real, serious financial issues.

City leaders were more hard pressed to order this latest review after two embarrassing disclosures were announced. For one, in July of 2008, the city failed to perform an industry standard procedure, contributing to a $4.5 Million shortfall. Second, the city discovered overpayments to more than 20 former employees; these were severance payments that cost the city about $28,000.

In essence, the city’s system is broken. Cities typically use accounting software specific to their individual size and needs. The system the city uses is in questions. Two years ago the Finance Department told city officials that the enterprise accounting software system was broken and frustrating. Things were never amended. The system was originally installed in 2002 for about $160,000, but it ended up costing the town a lot more in the long run. Finance employees describe the software as cumbersome, not intuitive, and not user friendly. The system takes up too much time and is inefficient, which in the end will cost the city even more – there are steps where data has to be entered, and re-entered in a tedious process, which leads to accounting errors.

As of now, the city has recommended installing a more sophisticated system by 2011. Until then, though, the finance workers will continue using their “Parallel System,” a system that they developed themselves for more accurate reporting. A 2007 Citygate review, however, found that this system tracked purchase orders so poorly that auditors didn’t even know what their fiscal condition was. While parallel systems do exist in some other cities and enterprises, it is almost a fact that they are not cost efficient or accurate enough to be the main financial solution.

Top financial officers still hope to implement a new software solution by 2011, and they will continue to expose and correct problems with the city’s finances. Auditors expect to deliver a primary report by mid December, 2009. Until then, no one will know just how off the city’s accounting and finances truly are.

The Agenda for a Finance Revamp

Original Source: The Wall Street Journal

The repair of the global financial-regulatory system is too important to future prosperity to be left to technocrats and bankers. But the substance is so arcane and complicated that few politicians or informed citizens can grasp the issues, let alone choose solutions.

That puts a premium on public-spirited insiders who think and speak clearly enough for the rest of us to understand, even if only to disagreewith their diagnoses and remedies. It is that talent that makes Adair Turner, chairman of Britain’s über-regulator, the Financial Services Authority, worth listening to.The U.K. didn’t, as Lord Turner puts it, have “a good war.” A couple of its big banks and several smaller ones imploded. It had a housing boom and bust. Its people ut savings in Icelandic banks that collapsed. Its economic engine, finance, is sputtering. Its recession was deAnd what had been seen by many in the U.S. as a model — a central bank that stuck to setting interest rates and a single regulator that oversaw banking, securities markets and insurance — is discredited. The rising Conservative Party wants to undo the structure built a decade ago by now-Prime Minister Gordon Brown and would fold financial supervision into the Bank of England.

The head of Britain’s Financial Services Authority says too much debt and too many transactions contributed to the U.S. economic collapse. WSJ economics editor David Wessel says Adair Turner’s ideas could prove a role model for others on financial regulation.

Lord Turner, 54 years old, a Cambridge-educated former Merrill Lynch executive and McKinsey consultant, didn’t arrive at the FSA until September 2008, well after FSA mistakes that contributed to the crisis. That liberates him to preach without first confessing sin, and preach he does. In a conversation in the London offices of the Climate Change Commission, which he also chairs, he was animated, even passionate, even though he had flown overnight from Washington. The word, according to Lord Turner:

One, finance got too big. “We must be more willing to ask…whether the financial system is delivering its vital economic functions as efficiently as possible, or whether parts of it can, and before the crisis did, swell beyond their economically efficient size,” he said in a recent speech. He clearly favors the latter view: There was more “clever finance” and more trading than desirable to keep the world economy humming. Hence his willingness to consider a global tax on financial transactions, to the horror of many of his peers and the banking establishment.

Two, there was too much debt in the system. “There is a huge bias in the tax system towards debt,” he said, largely because companies can deduct interest payments before computing taxable profits. “If we can’t change that, then the regulatory approach needs to lean against that.” Hence all the talk of reducing the leverage of financial firms. While U.S. and U.K. households and businesses did borrow more during the boom, the big run-up was in borrowing among financial firms matched by a huge increase in trading relative to the value of underlying economic activity, he observes. When bankers bellyache, he refers them to point one above.

HR Compliance Made Easy With the Right Combination of Tools and Advice

Original Source: Reuters

LAFAYETTE, Colo., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ — HR compliance can be time consuming and difficult.  HR advice can be expensive and there are few legal firms that specialize in the unique needs of auto, truck, and equipment dealers.  Yet non-compliance with state and federal HR regulations all but guarantees costly fines and employment litigation.  The Society for Human Resource Management(SHRM) reports that there has been an exponential increase in employment related lawsuits in the last ten years.  According to SHRM companies are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees.  HotlinkHR(TM) simplifies the HR compliance process and reduces the risk of litigation through a combination of forced compliance through automation and on demand HR advice.

HotlinkHR(TM) includes HR advice by phone or by email. The request is routed to one of two of the nation’s leading law firms with experience in the auto, truck and equipment dealer market, Fine, Boggs and Perkins LLP, and now Ford & Harrison LLP.  Ford & Harrison is a labor and employment law firm with a national practice in all aspects of labor and employment law.  More than 200 labor and employment lawyers in 18 offices across the country strive to provide clients with sound legal advice, practical counseling and excellent client service.  Chambers USA 2009 ranked Ford & Harrison LLP, as one of the top labor and employment firms nationally.

“We are elated to partner with Ford & Harrison to offer our clients access to one of the foremost labor and employment firms in the country through HotlinkHR(TM),” said Vane Clayton, President and CEO, KPA.  “Having not one but two law firms for on-demand HR advice increases the level of expertise available to clients.  Ford & Harrison has more than 25 years of experience working with dealerships and many of the attorneys are members of the National Association of Dealer Counsel.”

Jim Hendricks, a partner with Ford & Harrison LLP in Chicago, and recently named one of the Top 100 Labor Attorneys in the United States for 2009 by the Labor Relations Institute, Inc. adds, “The HotlinkHR(TM) system’s ability to force HR compliance through automation can significantly reduce the risk of employment related litigation for clients.”

A free recorded webinar on the Essential of Wage and Hour Law for Dealerships presented by Jim Hendricks is available on the KPA website.  The webinar is part of KPA’s EHS and HR monthly compliance webinar series.  To register for any of KPA’s webinars go to http://www.kpaonline.com/webinars.