I can't say this company wasn't begging for it, since it was awfully stuck in its ways, it seemed to me. I briefly was dropped in the midst of their maelstrom of stubbornness with a glimmer of hope of helping to create change. They were changing, but only by a matter of a few degrees, it would seem. I don't mean the workers, really, were so stubborn, as they can generally only do what the managers -- often lifers -- tell them to do. I mean the managers were career paper goods people -- it was generally an industry-centric (kinda closed to outside vitality) company, it seems to me.
There were initiatives under way in early 2008 (and earlier, I think) to allegedly streamline operations and logistics in the company. I will not comment on whether those were of the specious type of initiatives where the executives were putting on a good show and merely throwing money at a problem. I recall reports that they were going to save serious bits of money in the comparatively short run (a few years). (Front end costs for getting a system engaged will eat you up, too, though. Costs are costs.) Of course, as with most of the dying companies this year, this one faces the Grim Reaper of a stunned -- like a frying pan to the head stunned -- financing industry.
Management's concern for their workers was suspect at one location I know of, that's for sure. One is treated as a bad plantation slave, as inconvenient -- just imagine a shrill and shallow regard for humans and an insincere interpersonal habit by upper managers, and you'll get it -- if one must attend to serious family matters, serious health problems, or death in the family. What's more, you might as well just write your own ticket out the door if all three are occurring at the same time. This was THAT kind of comapny, sadly.
It's rather humbling to see a company whose managers treated you like an unwanted stepchild, effectively, be on the verge of bankruptcy, when most of their leaders have been in the industry, and in cases the very company, for many decades. You'd think that would make them highly tuned in to what processes can be adjusted, where to cut slack, etc. But the apparent fact is, at least to an evident extent, that made them stubborn. Some people just hate change. Some people resent those who look at every situation as something that could be open to a change, a new approach, a fresh marketing idea. I think Smurfit-Stone may well be such a company.
Smurfit-Stone Container shares down 83 percent - Forbes.com
I wonder who'll get to buy all the pieces: International Paper or Georgia-Pacific? I had some further thoughts on the Forbes site, a case similar to the stubbornness in big media: Smurfit-Stone Container sick with old-fashioned lifer types - comments - Forbes.com
- Jonny O
Management's concern for their workers was suspect at one location I know of, that's for sure. One is treated as a bad plantation slave, as inconvenient -- just imagine a shrill and shallow regard for humans and an insincere interpersonal habit by upper managers, and you'll get it -- if one must attend to serious family matters, serious health problems, or death in the family. What's more, you might as well just write your own ticket out the door if all three are occurring at the same time. This was THAT kind of comapny, sadly.
It's rather humbling to see a company whose managers treated you like an unwanted stepchild, effectively, be on the verge of bankruptcy, when most of their leaders have been in the industry, and in cases the very company, for many decades. You'd think that would make them highly tuned in to what processes can be adjusted, where to cut slack, etc. But the apparent fact is, at least to an evident extent, that made them stubborn. Some people just hate change. Some people resent those who look at every situation as something that could be open to a change, a new approach, a fresh marketing idea. I think Smurfit-Stone may well be such a company.
Smurfit-Stone Container shares down 83 percent - Forbes.com
Shares of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., the largest producer of cardboard box materials in North America, plummeted more than 80 percent Thursday on reports it hired bankruptcy lawyers.The company wouldn't reply to the Wall Street Journal report, but the market sure did.
The Chicago-based company, which owns timberlands as well as wood-products production facilities, recently engaged a law firm and financial advisers with expertise in bankruptcy filings, The Wall Street Journal said, citing anonymous sources.
The company, whose spokesman declined to comment on the bankruptcy report, is struggling to repay its debt, which at the end of the third quarter was $3.5 billion - nearly half its yearly revenue of roughly $7.5 billion.
"The (company's) market cap has fallen below $100 million, and the bonds are trading at less than 20 cents on the dollar," Deutsche Bank - North America's (nyse: DB - news - people) Mark Wild wrote Thursday in a client note. "This reflects its high debt levels, difficulties in refinancing, and deteriorating
fundamentals."
I wonder who'll get to buy all the pieces: International Paper or Georgia-Pacific? I had some further thoughts on the Forbes site, a case similar to the stubbornness in big media: Smurfit-Stone Container sick with old-fashioned lifer types - comments - Forbes.com
- Jonny O
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