AES Flashcards
what are the four events that caused the company to fall?
California Crisis
collapse of Enron
fall of the Argentian economy
9/11
-they were not responsible for these but it impacted the industry
what is the 90% club?
90% of the stick was removed from the company
-dropped to $4 from $70 a share
what were their four key values?
integrity
fairness
fun
social responsibility
-they were more interested in what the employees had to say then what the financial statement had to say
at its high, it had how many plant operations, countries, and employees? the percentage at the home office?
179 plants
31 countries
38,000 employees
35-70 ran home office
During the 1990s, how did the company’s performance position it among other firms in the stock market? how much return?
- placed the company among the top-performing firms of the decade in the market
-with returns of 80% a year almost doubling the money
how many plants ran with how much compact compared to the average?
86 plants with a 95% cap compared to an average of 83%
what was their social responsibility?
the company believes that doing a good job at fulfilling its mission is its social responsibility
-that they have a responsibility to be involved in projects that provide other social benefits and have instituted programs like cooperative matching
-planted trees
where do profits fit?
profits are not any corporation’s main goal
-profits are to cooperation much like breathing is to life
-principles to which they strive take precedence over profits
what were their main 2 reason for success?
- the workers they had (very independent)
-an environment in which they worked was very decentralized (responsibility is pushed to the lowest level possible encouraging everyone to take ownership of the project )
what did they not have?
no functional department like HR and no written policies ( they left everything to the employees)
what was an example of decentralized power?
-paul 9mechincal engineer) = had been working their for not very ling and was asked to purchase 1 billion in coal (he had never once negotiated and went around asking for advice)
-martello (chemical engineer) with no experience in pollution and was given the job to buy air pollution credits, later found they were useless but she was still promoted (learned from her mistake)
by the end of the 1990s, how many people were native speakers?
8%
why was it difficult for certain principals to transfer over to other countries? What did they believe?
-principles of equity, teamwork, empowerment and individual incentives were hard in traditional Islamic societies or socialistic heritage countries
- principals were universal and not culturally specific y the west
what was the center of gravity? who did not follow that ? what did they do to change?
-national culture
-youth
-they had to change the people working at the plants (those opposed to change - like managers who would like the idea that they no longer had power)
- the way they required was critical
what did they do in the end about firing or keeping the founders?
-keeping would be idealistic and you’d be following the path of least resistance
-firing them is your best solution because people are looking for change and growth and lost that confidence
= They brought in new management that built legal departments etc (killed the fun, no longer a team thing anymore)
