GOOGLE G(L)OATS AWAY

A rather green story out of Google..

Google outsources lawnmowing -- to goats. San Francisco Business Times. Google is renting goats to mow lawns at the Googleplex in Mountain View, according to a blog post from the company (in which it affirms that it is not kidding). Google is renting the goats from a company called California Grazing, which provides the services for the San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego areas. The company says the goats cost about the same as lawn mowers.A herder will bring about 200 goats who stay for about a week, eating and fertilizing the grass.

Till Death Do Us Closer...

My view is that the current ethics crisis trumps all other crises. Another piece of this was in evidence the other day. WSJ reported that "Nabors Industries Ltd., under fire from shareholders for its executive-pay practices, cut its death benefit for Chairman and CEO Eugene M. Isenberg to $100 million in cash from $264 million, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. The Houston oil-drilling concern also said it eliminated tax reimbursements, or "gross-ups," for executives. The reduced death benefit, part of a new employment contract that rejiggered other parts of Mr. Isenberg's pay, still entitles the Nabors chief to one of the largest death-benefit packages of any executive."

This guy got paid more than $60 million in 2008, yet wants a death benefit of $264 million, to be paid to his trust or institution if he dies before 2013? This is beyond gross- it is really killing the hardworking lowly labor.

More stuff...from the WSJ.

Activist investors want to drive nails into what they call "golden coffins" -- generous posthumous payouts to senior management.

Shareholders have submitted nonbinding resolutions to curb rich death benefits at 14 U.S. businesses so far this year. Amid red-hot outrage over executive compensation, the measures are drawing substantial support, including nearly 67% of the votes cast at the Jan. 28 annual meeting of Shaw Group Inc.

Dozens of companies offer generous death-benefit packages to recruit and keep executives. Many allow heirs to collect previously unvested equity. Some promise posthumous severance payouts, supercharged pensions or years of postmortem salaries.

Bucks short at Star....A Study of Luxury that became unaffordable

Starbucks is a popular case study for business students- it makes for an excellent study of product development, word of mouth marketing, corfporate social responsibility, and other areas. Whenever I use the case, I drive students to understand the positioning of Starbucks in consumer minds- a position I refer to as "Luxury that's Affordable." The emphasis is on the Luxury part. Recently Starbucks has been attacked on two fronts- the economic tsunami has made the luxury less affordable for quite a few, and the McDunkins have been drinking away the bottom layers. Starbucks revealed that it is now going to advertise 'value' instead of 'luxury' - quite a drop.

Starbucks, the coffee company that built its business on word-of-mouth recommendations, is to reveal “a long term, multi-million dollar” advertising campaign in the US, as it seeks to combat perceptions that its products are over-priced.

Howard Schultz, chief executive, said the campaign would “define the fact of what's true and what’s not”.

The campaign would use television and newspaper advertising as well as in-store materials and digital content, and will, says Mr Schultz, be focused on “the quality, value, and the values that Starbucks offers”.

A Culture of Intrade

We have been discussing aspects of culture, especially business culture, in our global business course. Today, I showed students the Intrade website, where one can buy futures contract, i.e. bet, on a number of future possibilities. The contract featured on the main page was a bet on swine flu. One student remarked that it was sick to see people betting on other people getting sick. This site generated some discussion on our culture and the sophistication of our legal systems.