Five Generations

Workplace demographic trends from Michael Dell.

Five Generations Converge in the Workforce

With the holiday season upon us, families gather together to celebrate with their youngest and oldest members and everyone in between. It can be stressful, but it can also be wonderful.

This type of multi-generational coming together is not limited to the home, however. Generation Z, those born in 2001 and beyond, is now heading into the workforce in meaningful numbers and for the first time in modern history five generations will be working side-by-side.

Rather than this adding stress on today’s businesses, Dell Technologies commissioned research shows it can bring them opportunity. The 12,000 Generation Z respondents our researchers spoke with around the globe will revolutionize the workplace, but they will not displace the older generations already there.

Not surprisingly, these young people are confident about their tech skills and they’ll expect cutting-edge technology to be available for them in their future careers. Gen Z’s entry into the workplace will fuel a fresh round of innovation – 68% of our research respondents said they already know how to code. And they are willing to be technology mentors to others on the job.

But they are less confident in the non-tech skills they need to be ready for the workforce and they will be looking to mature colleagues for guidance and coaching in business. Rather than shutting themselves away behind technology, they are eager for human interaction. They expect to learn on the job from other people – not online.

This creates tremendous opportunity for these five generations to work collaboratively and move their businesses forward in the digital age. Rather than fear that younger workers will take their jobs, experienced workers need to mentor them and build on each other’s complementary skills and reap the rewards.

Gen Z does want more than just money in return for their work, however. Much like myself, many of them aspire to build their careers on technology to advance human progress. They are ready to harness tech to help other people and our environment. They want to work for socially responsible organizations and know that their work has meaning and purpose.

It’s a point of view we are all more open to during this season of wishing peace and goodwill to our friends and family, but we shouldn’t let it pass when the holidays are over. Looking forward to the coming year with this insight into our new and near-future employees, we all have reason to be optimistic.

My holiday wish for us all is that each generation of workers come together for the collective good in 2019 and beyond.

Walgreen’s Sames Store Sales Decline

Walgreen’s Sames Store Sales Decline

Walgreens Hit by Dropping Same-Store Sales, Amazon Effect, Offers $10 billion in Financial Engineering, Shares Plunge 10%

Brick & Mortar Meltdown: Dog of the Dow on 3rd Day in the Dow.
It was a melancholic but symptomatic day for the US economy when a once mighty industrial company that manufactures big complex things, such as diesel-electric locomotives, jet engines, and power-plant turbines, was kicked off the Dow after 111 years and replaced by a retailer that sells mostly imported drugs, imported plastic stuff, and packaged junk food. That was Tuesday morning when GE (GE) was replaced by Walgreens (WBA).

Today it became even more symptomatic for the US economy when Walgreens announced declining same stores sales – as part of the brick-and-mortar meltdown – and a $10 billion share buyback program to soothe rattled investors’ nerves, with money it would have to borrow, and its shares, in the morning of their third day on the Dow, plunged 10%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance is the largest “retail pharmacy, health and daily living destination” in the US and Europe, as it says, with 13,200 stores in 11 countries. Back in 2012, it acquired a 45% stake in Swiss pharmacy giant Alliance Boots and in 2014 bought the remainder for a total cost in cash and shares of $10.7 billion.

In its third quarter, ended May 31, Walgreens completed the acquisition of all 1,932 Rite Aid stores, which inflated the revenue comparisons with the same quarter a year ago. Hence the importance of same-store sales (or “comparable” store sales), which only measure revenues at stores that Walgreens operated for at least a year.

Walgreen’s US retail sales rose 5.2% in the quarter compared to the quarter a year ago. But same-store sales dropped 3.8%, “reflecting continued focus on profitability,” as it says elegantly. In plain text, prices are high to fatten up profit margins, but consumers aren’t going for it.

This includes pharmacy sales – accounting for 72.5% of US retail sales – which jumped 19% from a year ago, “primarily due to higher prescription volume from the acquisition of Rite Aid stores.” It sure helps a lot to buy nearly 2,000 stores from a competitor.

But same-store pharmacy sales were flat from a year ago, “as brand inflation was offset by reimbursement pressure and the impact of generics.” Brand inflation… hmm.

Recession Proof Businesses

Tesla Stock Drops After Earning Call

Tesla drops the day after controversial earnings call

• The company’s earnings report on Wednesday showed a narrower-than-expected loss as Tesla continued to burn through cash — but investors seemed to have weathered all of that just fine.
• The stock ticked up a few percent immediately following the report.
• It wasn’t until the company’s earnings call — during which CEO Elon Musk refused to answer what he called “boring bonehead questions” from analysts — that shares tanked.

Tesla dropped as much as 8 percent Thursday, a day after an earnings beat and bizarre call with analysts.

Shares started trading at $278.79 after closing Wednesday just above $301.

The company’s earnings report on Wednesday showed a narrower-than-expected loss as Tesla continued to burn through cash — but investors seemed to have weathered all of that just fine. The stock ticked up a few percent immediately following the report.

It wasn’t until the company’s earnings call — during which CEO Elon Musk refused to answer what he called “boring bonehead questions” from analysts — that shares tanked.

As of Thursday’s open, the stock is down nearly 10 percent on the year and more than 25 percent off its 52-week high.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/tesla-tsla-set-to-open-down-day-after-headline-earnings-call.html

Another Casualty of the Retail Shakeout

Legendary U.S. guitar-maker Gibson files for bankruptcy

(Reuters) – Gibson Brands Inc, the maker of guitars played by the likes of B.B. King and Elvis Presley, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday with a plan to reorganize its musical instrument business under the new ownership of its lenders.

Nashville-based Gibson, whose legendary brands include Les Paul and SG, has been suffering under $500 million in debt linked to the acquisition of its consumer electronics business overseas, where sales have been in sharp decline.

In a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, Gibson said the overseas consumer electronics business will be wound down, allowing it to re-focus on its core guitar-making and audio businesses.

The audio business includes KRK, Cerwin Vega and Stanton headphones, loud speakers and turntables for amateur and professional musicians and sound engineers.

“This process will be virtually invisible to customers, all of whom can continue to rely on Gibson to provide unparalleled products and customer service,” Chief Executive Henry Juszkiewicz said in a press release.

Juszkiewicz acquired Gibson in 1986.

Under a restructuring pact, senior lenders including Silver Point Capital, Melody Capital Partners LP and funds affiliated with KKR Credit Advisors will exchange debt for equity ownership in the reorganized company.

Gibson said sales of its electric guitars grew 10.5 percent to $122 million in the 12 months through January from a year earlier.

Gibson, founded in 1894, makes its electric guitars in U.S. factories in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee and its acoustic guitars in Bozeman, Montana. It sells more than 170,000 guitars annually in more than 80 countries.

It bought the Hong Kong-based consumer electronics arm from Philips in 2014, and started to wind down the unsuccessful business — including formal liquidation proceedings in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and six European countries — on April 30, according to court papers.

Gibson has secured $135 million in debtor-in-possession financing to fund its operations during the Chapter 11 proceedings. It plans to exit bankruptcy on Sept. 24.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/legendary-u-guitar-maker-gibson-files-bankruptcy-151014923–sector.html