Strategy in TECH...
Emerald Expositions announced this week that Sally Shankland, it most recent CEO who had been hired in June 2019 to replace resigning CEO David Loechner, has died following her month’s long battle with cancer. The company says Shankland passed away at home peacefully.
For several days now, multiple sources have reached out to Strata-gee to report that Doug Cole, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Universal Remote Control – better known as URC – has left the company. I have confirmed his exit, a decision that marks the end of a long career leading the organization’s sales and marketing efforts.
The Coronavirus pandemic has hit America big time. With a head-spinning swiftness, the epidemic swept across the country with ruthless efficiency – first impacting densely populated urban areas (NYC, LA, Chicago), then spreading its tentacles throughout more sparsely populated regions of the country. It has extracted a devastating human toll, striking fear in the hearts of consumers, and brought a once bustling economy to a screeching halt…plunging it into recession.
We have never seen anything quite like this and for business owners and managers…we are truly in uncharted territory. With almost 85% of all Americans now subject to some form of Shelter-In-Place or Stay-At-Home order, everything except essential services, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, has been closed down – and most companies have seen their sales disappear. Will a fearful consumer complicate our recovery from this recession?
A relatively large number of readers and industry sources have reached out to Strata-gee with word of cutbacks and layoffs at various industry brands – as the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) takes its toll on the U.S. economy. As was reported in a post just a few days ago, jobless claims jumped dramatically – by 33% in just one month – only to be exceeded a few days later by a massive jump in claims of 3 million more unemployed workers.
High performance loudspeaker manufacturer Bowers and Wilkins (B&W) sent a letter to their dealers last week addressing issues that have arisen recently, especially as they pertain to the management of the company. As is often the case with this company, the letter answered some questions…but raised others.
When news first appeared two months ago that Frank Sterns was making the move from Sony to Sound United, many folks asked…why? At Sony, he was a top executive with a global CE leader positioned at the top of the industry food chain…a backbone-of-the-industry brand…the inventor of many of the core technologies used in just about every home in America today. Yes, Sound United is a global player as well, but in a much more limited way…and focused exclusively in only one area…audio.
Maybe you’ve heard the buzz about a major shake-up taking place at B&W. Reports out of the U.K. say that Gideon Yu, Greg Lee, David Liu and others have all stepped down from the Board of Directors. There is a link being passed around to a web page for the “Companies House,” which is a government-connected registrar of companies and corporations. The link goes to a page which indicates that several B&W executives and directors have “resigned” their positions. So just what is going on?
I hardly know where to begin, there’s so much to unpack here from a 20-page quarterly report and a 210-page annual report. Emerald Expositions Events, Inc. [NYSE: EEX] has released their fiscal 2019 fourth quarter and full year results…and it’s hard to overstate the level of turmoil exhibited there. What kind of turmoil, you ask? Read on…
By now, most integrators have heard the siren call that they should launch a recurring monthly revenue program (RMR) to add profits and deepen their relationships with their clients. But to many of them, this is an idea that is easy to say…but hard to do. Quite literally, it can be hard to figure out just where to begin.
There are resources within the industry that can step up and help your integration company offer an RMR or service contract program to your clients. Some of them can even offer to take and handle your service calls on a 24×7 basis. However, those services can be fairly expensive. But one service I’ve learned about, MC Group, tells me that they have assisted hundreds of integrators with an affordable program they call “Turnkey RMR.”
Melrose Industries plc, the British turnaround specialist who acquires underperforming companies to improve their operations and management for resale, is now actively considering selling off the bulk of Nortek in a deal that could be worth $3 billion, according to reports from Bloomberg News and the Financial Times. If they actually execute this sale, it will be a relatively early exit from their ownership of Nortek which they purchased in 2016 for $2.8 billion.
