Innovation and Best Practise, Droughts and Guns, Dunedin

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The past few days I've dedicated much of my time to completing two assignments, one for Managing Innovation, where I concentrate on the need for software development in GPGPUs just as Robert Faber has a great article on the same thing. It hasn't really entered into popular consciousness yet just how important how China's ascendancy to hold the most powerful computer in the world using a GPU-based cluster is. The second assignment on Organisational Best Practise involved making some fairly useful technical and administrative changes to our help-desk process.

It has been rather wet in Australia, indeed sufficiently wet to cause a a number of deaths and dozens missing. Spare a thought in memory of the 1100 who died in Pakistan recently due to flooding. Our alternative Prime Minister, showing typical acumen and sensitivity, has taken the opportunity to suggest that the country builds more dams. Apart from engaging in crass popularism, he appears to be ignorant of how flood plains actually work.

Much has been said about the recent shooting in Arizona where the apparent intended target, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords seems very likely to survive, not so for six others however. Meanwhile sixty are killed in Sudan during their historic vote for independence, whilst fifty are killed in Tunisia as the the crackdown on anti-government protests continue. Just to put it in context, you understand. In any case, one thing is certain. Giffords's would-be assassin was not a part of a well-regulated militia by any stretch of the imagination.

Deposited a sizable sum of money into a trust account for the Dunedin retirement home, leaving me rather cash poor. Took weeks to wrangle a simple international account details out of agents making me wonder if Piggy Muldoon's famous quote didn't have the nationalities around the wrong way. Amazingly, rather than provide such details they sent me a deposit slip for a NZ bank without a branch in Australia. Twice.

Comments

Re: Nice to see you & Thank you for Posting

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

It is from such experiences we get "making out like bandits"....

The Australian Financial Review, possibly the best conservative newspaper in the country, many years ago did an article entitled "Well Paid for Poor Performance". I rather wish that they made it into an annual article... I rather hoped to do so at the time with a usenet post entitle "Capitalist Pig of the Year (2000)"

Whilst working men and women of Australia are scraping together their
pennies and paying off their credit cards following the festive season the
bosses will without a doubt once again request that any wage increases be
equated with productivity performances.

Fair enough. But when are the CEOs and senior managers of Australian
businesses going to stop ripping off the own companies with their own
excessive salaries. Imagine linking performance pay claims with the likes
of these nominees of the "Capitalist Pig of Australia" competition for the
year 2000:

Bob Muscat: CEO of the media company PMP. Despite a 43.6% drop in the
companies share price, Bob clocked in a healthy $1.125 million salary and
$1.9 million in options. Well done Bob. Kids got some nice presents for
xmas, we presume.

Rod Chadwick: CEO of Pacific Dunlop. Another top performer, with Rod's
management skills Pacific Dunlops share price dropped 31.7%. Rather
sensibly, he cut his own salary by $20,000 to a trifling $957,547 and
$1.896 million in options. Such restraint is boggling.

David Hearn: CEO of Goodman Fielder. Excellent management David, only a
7.9% drop in the share price for this company. That warrants a $433,700
incentive payment to bring one's total salary to $1.84 million $11.2
million in options.

Jodee Rich: Joint managing director of One.Tel. Hey, it doesn't matter if
the company posted $291.1 million loss. You're worth that $7.46 million
annual salary and $31.2 million in options. And you've worked so hard for
it. I mean, where would the world be without you?

Phillip Weickhardt: CEO of Orica. While resisting a Westfarmers takeover
last year, Orica shares fell 8.2%. Such successful management of the fort
justifies Phillip's $841,000 salary and $2.7 million in options.

Bob Dalziel: Of Maynes Nickless, Bob is the clear winner of  the
"Capitalist Pig of Australia" award for the year 2000. After a year of
skillfully over-promising and under-delivering without any strategic
direction Bob was finally given the sack - with a $1.2 million termination
payment, bringing his annual salary to a paltry $2.4 million. Sleeping in
a comfortable bed tonight, Bob?

Making Out Like Bandits

[castleclear.livejournal.com]

I share your wish that the Australian Financial Review published an annual article such as the one you posted. It's a bit disheartening to learn that the same shenanigans and disparity exist in your fair nation as plague my own.