Wednesday, August 11, 2010

U.S. Study Indicates Driver Error In Most Toyota Crashes
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–A government safety examination of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) vehicles involved in crashes attributed to sudden acceleration so far has not yielded evidence of flaws in Toyotas while pointing instead to driver error.

Congressional staff members were briefed on the study Tuesday in Washington. The preliminary report examined 58 electronic recording devices similar to black boxes in airplanes that can provide information about what was happening with a car when it crashed.

The report, which analyzed accidents for which the driver made an allegation of unintended acceleration, draws no conclusions about the data, other than they don’t point to a flaw in Toyota vehicles.

Of the devices analyzed, 35 showed that at the moment of impact, the driver hadn’t depressed the brake pedal at all. Fourteen more showed partial braking, while nine showed the brake depressed at the “last second” before the crash.

There were a handful of other results where the brake was pressed early and let go, or in which both the gas and brake pedals were pressed at the same time. There also was one case of pedal entrapment by a floor mat.

In five cases, the electronic recording device failed to work.

While the agency didn’t make conclusions about the results, the evidence points to a preponderance of cases where people who claimed unintended acceleration were pressing the wrong pedal. That is the same finding reported last month by The Wall Street Journal and attributed to a person familiar with the study.

The study is ongoing and both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are evaluating the software and mechanical systems of Toyota vehicles, as well as their susceptibility to electromagnetic interference.

Source

http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20100811D10JF364.htm

I was at a meeting late last year where VP here in Japan said, “All Coca Cola products are healthy.” I couldn’t believe he could say that with a straight face.

Maybe he considered cancer a healthy condition?

1) Rescind the Bank of Japan law, and bring it under government control.

2) Fiscal Policy- Get away from politically motivated fiscal policy and move to economically motivated policy. Stop playing with interest rates and print money a bit.

3) Abolish the Inheritance Tax. This holds ups a lot of capital from going into the market.

Interesting thoughts to consider for Mr. Hatoyama.

Thank God for Softbank Mobile. Mr. Son has yet brought competition to the market. Ten years ago, Softbank invested in broadband and spent oodles on getting users signed up on Yahoo BB here in Japan. They were very successful and brought the pricing of NTT and KDDI into the competitive arena. Very effective strategy that I believe directly contributed to making Japan the fastest and cheapest internet in the world. Only South Korea comes close to the speed and cost we have in Japan.

Mr. Son initiated a similiar program after purchasing Vodafone’s Japan operation. Rumor is that he went into heavy debt doing that. He rolled out very cheap calling plans trying to mass up subscribers. The famous White Plan is advertised at 980 yen/month with free calls to any other Softbank users (Great marketing idea!). In actuality, they have a number of other fees that take it to over 2,000 yen and put you on a two year contract and tie you into a phone terminal.

From what I understand, SBM only has two operation centers for their mobile network. NTT Docomo has some 50 network centers throughout Japan. Can you imagine the difference in operational costs in staffing those centers? That would definitely give SBM the ability to pass on those savings to their clients.

I think the Softbank strategy is working. To make sure we can support our partners and their IT, I have three mobile phones. I have noticed the connection time on my softbank is lagging. There is a connection delay from yesterday.

Beginning to wonder if they may have oversold their network capacity… If you are in Japan and using Softbank, have you noticed?

I received an order of books and DVDs about two weeks ago from Amazon. One of the hardcover’s bindings was damaged. I sent in a return request as I expect to use the book a long time as it is my second copy. Their automated system asked me to return the book.

This morning, I received an email from Amazon saying keep the book or feel free to give it away, as we will send you another one no charge. Actually, I think about another company called CBD, their customer service is also excellent. I had similar issues in the past and they just sent a replacement copy. That is CS, customer service, at its best. Why? As a customer I was satisfied. I will go definitely go back to them and buy more.

In December, I bought a Tumi bag for work. It is my third bag from them. I remember, the first bag’s shoulder strap wore out and was looking a bit tacky and worn after about a year. I went to get a replacement, but was told I would be charged. I used the bag a bit longer and then decided to trash the bag. In the six months I’ve had the new bag, it’s ‘revolutionary’ zippers got caught on my suit pants twice. Unfortunately, the second time it ripped them as it got caught on the belt loop.

I was on the train for 30 minutes with a bag caught on my trousers. I got back to the office, to get someone to help me carefully remove the caught bag. All the way, with a Tumi bag stuck on my shoulder. (Now you know how those pack mules that go into the Grand Canyon feel). In the process, my suit got ripped as someone at the office tried to release me from the bit of this bag. I was very disappointed.

My PA (personal assistant) took the bag to the nearest Tumi store in Marunouchi. She explained the situation and explained that the boss was not too pleased with how easily the zippers caught on clothing. The store attendant said she was sorry to hear about it (this is common in Japanese) but clearly didn’t plan on doing anything about it. My PA said she needed to give me a report and wanted to know what Tumi would plan on doing about it as her boss concluded it was a design flaw that cost him a suit. The store attendant reluctantly promised she would get back to her.

Yesterday the woman called and said she and the store manager concluded that the problem occurred because of the “customer’s misuse of the product… “ What a great way to make your customer feel good.

Excuse me? I didn’t realize you could run windows on a Tumi bag or change the settings and damage the hardware. This is a bag with a shoulder strap you put over your shoulder.

I was literally “ripped off” by Tumi’s pathetic customer service person. You say, what do you mean? They could have done a number of things to make the customer feel good. But all they did was insult a repeat customer. The kicker is they said they would fix the bag with a new zipper that would not catch on clothing. Is that an admission of guilt or what?

Is Tumi a bad company? Absolutely not. I am sure they are a good company, otherwise they would not have made it this far. However the point is one of your CS people can not only kill your business, but if it becomes a prevalent attitude, they can destroy your brand.

Were they expected to pay $900 to replace a suit? No, not really. However, they dropped the ball as a customer service firm. While dropping it, they actually lost a repeat client in the meantime. They could have made a special arrangement for the purchase of another bag, given a brand new bag without these ‘revolutionary’ zippers, refunded the price of the bag , or any number of other things to keep their client.

Customer Service is essential to building your brand. It is not just about losing business. At this point they lost a fan. If your CS team is doing this to one customer, you can be assured they are doing it to others. That is why every customer facing person in your organization is so important to your business future. They can make or break you.

I know Coach Japan has an awesome customer service team that is clearly well managed. It looks like I better stick with someone I know and get my Coach briefcase out of the closet.

We have a new media business. As I was talking with a friend at a large advertising company, we talked about managing engineers vs managing creatives. We talked about how is a bit like herding cats sometimes. He told me about this hilarious commercial of years past (below). Reminds me of me how great it is to be in IT.

It is great to be a part of the work at AINEO. We work very hard and do a great job for the smart firms that select AINEO to do their IT.The year 2007 was a great year for us. We delivered product or services in every major city in Japan, and a lot of minor ones to boot. Our weakness has always been that we are an engineering company… our strength is that we are an engineering company.AINEO client satisfaction levels are the highest of our history in 2007. Of course, we are Asia Pacific’s best IT firm. We also continue to be the best Nortel reseller (distributor) in Japan. The number of NEC, Avaya, and Cisco PBX (or IP PBX in many cases), continues to increase.Due to the increase in hardware and software business, we have become the top buyer of HP, Dell, Microsoft, Canon, Polycom, Panduit, Lenel Systems, Rittal, and just about anything IT. With our business volume, we have been able to become the IT purchasing department for many Japanese and Multinational firms. We can get great prices for our clients. We are in the 10 ten shops for business volume in Tokyo now.Probably the most exciting area is a new service we will be launching in April. This product is designed specifically for out customers. We have named it AINEO Secure. Very excited about this as we have many people waiting for its introduction.Many thanks to the great AINEO team, and the AINEO partners. Without are partners and their faith in us in outsourcing their IT departments, entrusting their moves and other projects, and enlisting AINEO consultants to clean up their IT departments, we would not have the success that we have.

Many thanks to everyone involved with AINEO!

Clearly, there are some good folks to hire out there. However, the chances of recruiting ineffective and/or trouble-making employees is a high probability. You never know what you are going to get, especially since you cannot reference the current employer for performance feedback.
If you are working for someone, as most of us are. The true way to success is to be consistent. Consistency is the key to success. If you want to be successful in business you need have to be doing the right things every day. One of the first things you can do is get along with your boss. Learn how to impress him or her so that they know they can trust you. Let us give some suggestions on how to do just that.

1) Demonstrate that you are honorable.
Honor is doing the right thing when no one is looking. There is a saying, ‘when the cat is away the mice play’. There are many offices out there that when the boss is in everyone looks so busy and works so hard. When the boss is out, people start slacking off. Show that you honor the boss’ investment in yourself.

2) If you are asked to do something, do it.
If you don’t agree, a good boss will have an open ear and mind to suggestions. However, keep in mind that in most cases the boss was entrusted with management responsibility because they are competent. Too much questioning is a good way to hurt your standing with the boss.

3) Give the job 110% effort.
So many times we do our jobs halfway and send our resumes out there hoping for another job opportunity with pop up. Managers are not stupid. If they are any good, they are connected to the market and know a lot of people. Before you could imagine, they will know when someone starts putting out that resume (CV) and stop entrusting you with any new things. Work hard. But also, don’t forget to work smart.

4) Be sincere.
Good bosses are always founded on experience. A good technical service manager is good because they know both technology and how to deal with people. If one of their staff is having trouble, there is no doubt they will read that from customer results, other player feedback, or judging other factors that they have been dealing with in the business for years. If you have issues that you are not sure how to deal with, be sincere with your boss. They will respect you for it.

5) Always respect the time of others.
When you are supposed to be at meeting, always be at the site, at least 5 minutes before commencement. Always be to work on time. It is wrong for one person to be habitually late to a 9AM office start when everyone else is there drinking coffee 15 minutes before.

6) Be positive and proactive.
“Oh, that customer is this, that supplier is that. Why do you want me to do that? The boss is not a good such and such. I don’t want to learn about that.” No one likes to be around pessimists. The world is full of critics and no office needs negative voices. You were hired to do a job. No matter what happens, see ‘trouble’ as challenges. See ‘change’s as opportunities. As things happen throughout the week, be always open-minded. Bring ideas not dark words to a situation. If you help your boss resolve issues (especially ones that he has no exact experience or time to handle), you will prove your contribution to the team. Positive people are winners. Everyone loves to be around winners, not losers and quitters.

7) Be a good communicator.
It sounds amazing, but wars can be started by not communicating well with others. Good communicators are lacking in pretty much every company.
- People show up to do work and can be frustrated by sales people who haven’t told them the whole story about the site.
- Someone goes on vacation and neglects to give their manager or coworker information on what the consumer wanted from the shop. Both coworker and consumer get frustrated when the consumer comes back into the store.
- The logistics person ignores the email and sends the site foreman the wrong building materials in spite of the request. The customer care representative receives no new product information for something that was hit the retailers’ shelves a few days ago.
At AINEO, in our new player indoctrination (employee orientations) we always teach our incoming new team members to ‘set expectations’. If you are asked to do something, let people know when you anticipate you will be done. Think ahead. If you can’t do something, let the boss know and get some additional help.

In Closing
These seven steps are the most important ways to impress your boss. We’ve found if you can work well with people at the office, chances are you are going to be getting along well with people at home as well. Most divorces are caused by financial worries but more often than not, miscommunication. If you make an effort to apply these words of wisdom to your corporate life, you will find that these good things will spill over into your personal live as well. Life will be so much easier because you will be easier to work with, and even easier to live with.

(c)2007, Patrick Wolfe

Originally posted at

http://www.aineo.com/insights/entry/seven-ways-to-impress-your-boss/