Stories by Kathleen Melymuka

Firms Purging Staff with Obsolete Skills

The hungriest information technology labor market in history is a fussy eater. If it wants sushi and all you can offer is quiche, you're out the door quicker than stale bread.

From Straw to Gold and Back to Straw

At the recent annual meeting of the Association of Women in Computing (AWC, www.awc-hq.org) in Orlando, attendees discussed how women can leverage the visibility and status many achieved as year 2000 project managers. Although women make up about 20 percent of the IT workforce, best estimates indicate they handled 30 percent to 40 percent of Y2k projects. Ask a group like the AWC why that's so and you get a sea of knowing grins.

GE Aircraft Engines: A Supersonic Turnaround

Although its business is jets, GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE) has never been known for moving at supersonic speed. Quality, thoroughness and methodology have made it the world's largest producer of aircraft engines, but it moves more like a C-130 than an F-15.

Embedded Chips to Make Packaging 'Smart'

International Paper Co. and Motorola Inc. said last week that they have agreed to manufacture "smart packages" designed to enable manufacturers, distributors and retailers to improve inventory control throughout the supply chain.

Survey finds companies lack e-commerce blueprint

Despite all the sound and fury that's surrounding e-commerce, key managers in most large companies are still unclear about e-commerce strategy, and their people lack e-commerce skills. And e-commerce is causing a lot of upheaval in organisations, but so far few seem to have developed a blueprint for how to handle it. Those are among the findings of a recent survey of more than 300 major companies conducted by New York-based global management consultancy Towers Perrin.

Int'l Paper, Motorola to Produce 'Smart Packages'

International Paper Co. and Motorola Inc. announced today that they have agreed to manufacture "smart packages" that were designed to enable manufacturers, distributors and retailers to improve inventory control throughout the supply chain.

Keeping Your Star Performers

Why does a star performer up and leave the company? James Waldroop says it isn't usually for money or any of the other reasons typically given but rather because the job doesn't tie into what makes the star happy.

Born to Lead Projects

You can train somebody to be a good project manager, but great project managers seem to be born, not made. Excellence depends on certain innate characteristics: Some of us got 'em, and some of us don't.

IT Is Key Driver for Skandia

Skandia AFS in Stockholm didn't jump into the world of intangible asset reporting; it was pushed. In the early '90s, the venerable insurance and financial services company was heavily invested in real estate when the collapse of the Swedish real estate market shook the company's asset column. "Skandia had all these liabilities [insurance contracts], and its assets [land] were going down, so analysts thought we were in trouble," recalls Scott Hawkins, director of intellectual capital communication and development at Skandia USA in Shelton, Conn.

Professor Studies Stress on IT Workers

The business computing instructor at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba is trying to assess the degree of stress that information technology workers are experiencing and the contributing factors. The study was initially targeted at Canadian IT workers but Kaluzniacky is expanding his subject base to all of North America.

A Millennium Agenda for Women in IT

The start of the new millennium (or the close of the old one, if you prefer) seems to be a good time to take stock of where women in IT are and where they'd like to go. So I rephrased the old Freudian question and asked a cross-section of readers: What do IT women want?

The E-gener@tion

They've resisted the dot-com hype and begun their careers in traditional industries.

Priceline Pumps Its Gas Program

Priceline.com Inc.'s new program that will allow consumers to bid on gasoline prices is taking off on May 20 with or without the involvement of major oil companies, the Internet discounter said.

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