Gleanings TP/06.20.2005

1
GleaningsTP/06.20.2005
2
One More Time The Symantec-Veritas deal is
like all the others in a broad sense It
illustrates why mergers are a dysfunctional cog
in the capital allocation machine. Even though
the deals rarely result in significantly more
profitable companies, institutional investors
vote for them because they are forced into a
corner a no vote usually leads to a big drop
in the stock price. Academic research suggests
that after they are completed, large
stock-for-stock mergers like the Symantec-Veritas
deal rarely produce companies that are
outstanding performers. For that matter, few
mergers of any kind lead to more profitable
companies. Gretchen Morgenson/NYT/06.19.05
The dearth of synergies in the Symantec-Veritas
proposal underscores one of the deals main
problems The two companies products are so
different that they should not be combined at
all. Gretchen MorgensonOne might ask, why
did the management team and board approve this?
This is a classic case of a really well-run
business with a great management team that was
looking around for things to buy for the sake of
being bigger. Greg Taxin/institutional
investment advisor
3
There was no question that whenever Larry
Summers decided to step down as president of
Harvard, he would leave the university bigger,
richer, more powerful, and more influential. The
only question was whether he would leave it
better. Richard Bradley, Harvard Rules
4
Closing/selling Boeings 8,000-person facility
in Wichita was an important decision in moving
forward with Boeings long-term strategy of
becoming a large-scale integrator. The Wichita
Eagle/06.16.2005
5
Faced with the growing competition from Chinas
rapidly expanding fashion industry and Italys
economic challenges, city urban planners and
young business leaders are moving forward with an
estimated 1.3 billion megacomplex called La
Citta della Moda that will serve as a Milano
monument to fashion. Boston Globe (06.18.05)
the complex will include shops, hotels, an
exhibition center for fashion shows, a fashion
museum and a graduate-level fashion university
6
The mass market is dead. Consumers look for
either price or quality. The middle is
shrinking. Walter Robb/COO/Whole
Foods/Investors Business Daily/06.20.05
7
THE NEW INSTANT COMPANIES Cheap Design Tools.
Offshore Factories. Free Buzz Marketing. How
Todays Startups Are Going from Idea to 30
Million HitOvernight Business 2.0/June 2005
(Mary Janes)
8
Lockstep is easiest, but theres a reason you
cannot succumb to it. Because nothing great or
even good ever came of it. Sometimes I meet young
writers, and I like to share with them the
overwhelming feeling I have about our work. Once
youve read Anna Karenina etc., you understand
that there is really no reason to ever write
another novel. Except that each writer brings to
the table, if she will let herself, something
that no one else in the history of time ever has.
That is her own personality, her own voice. If
she is doing Fitzgerald imitations, she can stay
home. If she is giving readers what she thinks
they want instead of what she is, she should stop
trying. But if her books reflect her character,
the authentic shape of her life and her mind,
then she may well be giving readers a new and
wonderful gift. Giving it to herself,
too.Anna Quindlen, Being Perfect
9
Perfection is static, even boring. Imitations
are redundant. Your true unvarnished self is what
is wanted. Anna Quindlen, Being Perfect
10
As many as 98,000 Americans die each year because
of medical errors despite an unprecedented focus
on patient safety over the last five years,
according to a study released today Journal of
the American Medical Association. Nationwide
the pace of change is painstakingly slow. USA
Today/ 05.18.2005
11
Hospital infections kill an estimated 103,000
people in the United States a year, as many as
AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined.
Today, experts estimate that more than 60
percent of staph infections are M.R.S.A. up from
2 percent in 1974. Hospitals in Denmark, Finland
and the Netherlands once faced similar rates, but
brought them down to below 1 percent. How?
Through the rigorous enforcement of rules on hand
washing, the meticulous cleaning of equipment and
hospital rooms, the use of gowns and disposable
aprons to prevent doctors and nurses from
spreading germs on clothing and the testing of
incoming patients to identify and isolate those
carrying the germ. Many hospital administrators
say they cant afford to take the necessary
precautions. Betsy McCaughey, founder of the
Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (New York
Times/06.06.2005)