The
Radin Report
Published monthly,
our free e-mail newsletter contains sensor industry news and career
commentary. To subscribe, simply
send us your e-mail address.
The Future is Now
Will technology experience
20,000 years of growth in the next century? Futurist
Ray Kurzweil thinks so.
Tribute to a Sensor Industry Giant
When
Emory Farr handed over the keys to Sensortronics in early 2002, a
generational torch was passed—and with it, leadership qualities that are
absent in today’s corporate culture.
Crash
Diets: The Cure for Overweight Companies?
Given the enormous costs of recruiting and training employees, it’s
surprising that so many companies are purging themselves so quickly of their
valuable talent resources.
How
Effective is Your Capture Strategy?
In the war for talent, you may
know how to wine and dine the talent you need. But as a manager, are you
able
to actually
consummate the deal?
Intelligence
Failure Costly to Employers
If
the syntax used in the employment game could be improved, employers would
save millions of hours—and
dollars.
Merger
Mania Hits the Sensor Industry
Sensor companies may lack
celebrity status, but they’re no less active than the highest profile
companies when it comes to shuffling the deck.
|
Merger
Mania Hits the Sensor Industry
By Bill Radin
If
high-profile mergers are all the rage, then H-P’s recent acquisition of
Compaq must have reached the stratosphere, in that it achieved both merger
AND rage.
Sensor companies may lack celebrity status, but they’re no less active
when it comes to shuffling the deck. Since my April 2002 newsletter, Druck
has decided to join the GE family, along with its newly-adopted sibling,
General Eastern. Meanwhile, Vishay continues to gobble up every load cell
and strain gage company in sight, announcing its intent to add Tedea
Huntleigh to its ever-expanding sensor empire.
Unfortunately, the U.S. government lags behind private industry in the urge
to merge. So in the spirit of public interest, I’d like to propose a
merger idea that’s sure to improve efficiency, reduce paperwork and save
taxpayer money.
Since the Office of Homeland Security periodically issues vague terrorist
alerts from uncorroborated sources—-and the Council of Economic Advisors
publishes monthly economic forecasts based on conflicting
statistics—-it’s obvious we’ve got a match made in heaven.
By merging the two agencies, the federal government could unify its data
sources, analytical capabilities and public relations functions. That way,
when an unusually high level of “chatter” is detected, the Greater
Unified Economic & Security System (GUESS) could broadcast a single,
color-coded mega-advisory:
*
* *
For Immediate Release (Color Code YELLOW)
* * *
A
LEVEL THREE ALERT has been declared for economic recovery. Expect an
elevated risk of disagreement among government bureaus, media pundits and
Wall Street analysts regarding the date and durability of the recovery.
Sudden demand for products, services and delivery may coincide with a rapid
reduction in inventories and unemployment. WARNING: Banks and other
financial institutions may be targeted for attack by the Federal Reserve,
resulting in erratic interest rate fluctuations.
* * *
* * *
* * *
What have we got
to lose? Government predictions of economic recovery are starting to sound
like terrorist warnings anyway, in that no one can tell us what will happen,
when it will happen, or what we should do to prepare for it.
Personally, I’m glad that Beltway bureaucracies care enough about my
well-being to gather intelligence information and issue forecasts. Their
constant insistence that “it’s a matter of when, not if” must mean
they know what they’re doing.
I just wish they could be a little more specific.
|
