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RadioShack CEO Resigns
xzvf writes to tell us Forbes is reporting that RadioShack CEO David J. Edmondson has resigned. Reeling from a 62% drop in fourth quarter net income the company has announced a sweeping restructuring plan. From the article: "Edmondson said in a separate statement Monday that new leadership was needed so the company's turnaround plan would have the best possible chance to succeed. The revamp announced Friday prompted mixed responses from analysts, who indicated the plan might be successful but, at that time, they doubted Edmondson's ability to pull it off after it became clear he had lied about his education."
"became clear he had lied about his education"
It seems like you hear about this more and more in the business world. Don't they even bother to check people out?
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"You have questions...we have cellphone plans."
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
Example: In this month's Make Magazine...there's an article on how to receive free (not illegal) satellite channels by using inexpensive materials. Radio Shack should be the source for this material for those who don't want to scrounge!
I know this has been a huge plug for Make Magazine...but for goodness sake, when I used to need some obscure part, I knew it could be had cheaply at the Shack...now you have to order a lot of parts.
For years now I've associated Radio Shaq with overpriced items... I only go there if they have something I can't get somewhere else and by that I mean something I need right this minute. That's like 3 times in six years for me.
Plus, what few things they have are all across the board. I always wondered what they held in common, now I see that it was profit margin. A slim range of digital cameras, handheld radios (do people still use these?), stereo wire and connectors and radio control cars (like its a place you bring your kids to?). For each of these if that's what I'm looking for there are other places that come to mind first. Even audio connectors I'll go to some local contractor electronics supplier who can make a custom cable if I need it...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Big box consumer electronics retailers have usurped the role of the neighborhood consumer electronics store. Remember that not long ago, this was Tandy Leather Company. Although the company has changed over the years, each of their markets has big competition:
- Cell phones and 2-way phones are in the big box retailers
- Fry's and others have edged the electronic components and tech tool offerings
- TVs, computers, stereos, and others are the domain of Best Buy, Circuit City, etc...
- Tech toys have also been gnawed on by a slew of retailers
So it's no fun to be Radio Snack, as my uncle calls them. Closing 700 stores is only the first step on a long journey back to health for these guys, as they try to find identity and appeal in the major and tiny markets they once did well in.
Getting smeared because of their ex-CEO's dubious credentials is just another nail in the coffin if they're not careful.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
I personally find little reason to go to RadioShack much anyways, they no longer have as much as the stuff I really wanted. Things like Audio and Video Adapters and cables are getting more and more slim, There IC selection is becoming non-existance. I can't find things like a basic Cable Tuner, Null Modem adapters and other adapters. When you walk in there are TVs Surround sound systems, Cell Phones, as their primary which I could get a better choices at a Circuit City, Best Buy, Rex, etc... stuff heck I had to hunt around until I could find a basic calculator. People go to radio shack for hand made electronics and custom configuration of their technology. I should be able to go in there and easily find a Stereo Splitter. So my old 5 speaker Surround sound system for my computer will work on my normal Stereo TV with all the speaker for 4 speaker Stereo. Or If I need a Cable Tuner to get an Old TiVo working like new again they should have some in stock. That use to be Radioshack value add. People may stop in once in a while to get Computers, Cellphones, or TVs for the bulk to their profit but the small stuff keeps many of the more technical people coming back and get the low end stuff and perhaps they will get an other High Margin product in the future.
Also customer service has went to crap. While they are friendly and everything, when it comes to ask about stuff in the far corner like Is there any RJ45 Connectors aka Cat 5 connectors, I will get a Blank Stare. In the old days the people were far more knowable about all the products then just the top sellers.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Are you nuts? People are too busy being at the mall or watching TV to do anything by themselves. Tinkering has become the pastime of penny pinchers and weirdos who can't or don't want to do what a good citizen does: CONSUME!
Let's face it. Making stuff yourself gets out of fashion. Remember, kids, only commies make stuff themselves, a good consumer buys it!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The reason why they probably never checked his education is because It was not not the most important part of his Resume. In real life Education is only a minor factor, especially when you get more experience. When you are staring out Education is a major factor because you don't have much to go on. But when you go further it becomes less important, unless you plan to switch paths, like say you have a BS and you want to get into management so you get an MBA. That way you can show the hirers that you are not just a Tech Egg Head and you have some business knowledge as well. But If you were able to work your way up in a company with a GED and proved yourself valuable (Bill Gates never graduated from college) then you could be work more then a person with degrees up to the kazoo. Sometimes I see people who may Flash their PHD in Engineering at me to show how smart they are, except they call me to fix the problem with their primary program when windows is putting up a little bubble on the screen saying you have loss network connection. So I tell them the program doesn't work without a network connection, then they just flash their degrees at me.
In Business degrees and education usually says the person was able to stick it out for at least 2,4,6,8 years and get a degree and they have the building blocks to learn to do the job. But when you start getting experience then that counts for so much more.
As for Lying about your education what that does is makes it easy to fire you for lying on your Resume if they don't want you. But they are not going to take the effort and check it unless they need a good reason.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
That, combined with the trend in consumer electronics to go from expensive but repairable to cheap but unfixable (can't get parts, can't get service manuals), means that where I live we've gone from two competing "parts houses" (where service technicians used to get tubes and transistors and such) to none.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
If you want to turn around profits, then stop selling the house-brand crappy electronics that are made in China that you can buy at a Dollar Store for a buck (but RadioShack sells for $20). People recognize quality when they see it, and RadioShack doesn't represent quality.
Even the name brands they sell tend to be the low end economy models that Sony, Panasonic, etc will sell at Walmart or grocery stores, of course for a far cheaper price then RadioShack.
There may have been a time when you can pass off a cheap Chinese boom box for $100, and that is when RadioShack raked in the money, but these days people are a little more discriminating in the quality of electronics they buy, and RadioShack hasn't offered those better quality products. They still insist on selling that cheap Chinese boom boxes for $100.
RadioShack should simply refocus on selling batteries and remote control cars, its about all they do well. Stop trying to sell cheap home theater and stereo equipment and televisions, drop computers period, and focus on smaller electronic gadgets that you can't find elsewhere. Either that, our start offering high end stuff you can't find anywhere else, open up a niche market that walmart, Best Buy and Target can't touch.
Just, don't go on as business as usual. It obviously isn't working, and those no-name brands you keep carrying and selling for the same price as name brands are not making you money.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
That USED to be the beauty of the place, a long time ago. Fry's has taken what little electronic hobbist store business there is, and the rest is all by catalog, sadly. I don't think there are enough electronic hobbists in the U.S. today to support a nationwide chain of stores catering to that. Someone or ones in Radio Shack management came to that conclusion back in the 80's after the PC market consolidated (remember the Trash-80?), and the chain has tried to remake itself into a mass market cheap electronic gadget distributor ala Best-Buy and P.C. Richard, replacing employees who knew how to fix and build things with the "You want fries with that?" crowd. It has to date failed rather miserably at this task, which relys on massive stores with room for both inventory and selection of "consumer electronics" and doesn't give a rat's ass about hobbists any more.
At least, that's my perception of them here in New England and in my frequent visits to Texas...
...Radio Shack had parts and adaptors and other things that you just couldn't get anywhere. There were zillions of times I went to Radio Shack to get some bizarre audio adaptor - and not only would they have what I needed, they'd have three different types that would do the job.
Ever wired a commercial audio job at some remote site in East Belt Buckle [insert state here]? In the middle of the job, there was always some part needed, or something that would not work right - and even East Belt Buckle would have a Radio Shack - problem solved...
Spin the time machine to the present... the CEO isn't quite what was sold to the company... The product line is thin, cheap, and out of step with the times. The sales clerks demand your life's personal information if you want to buy a $.25 resistor or some wire, or if your wife just went there to buy an odd-size battery. They are not in the consciousness of the public (along the lines of CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City, et. al.). Their prices are not anything to write home about. Their hours are generally not as flexible as the Huge Mart stores against which they compete. And to top it all off, the cool little DIY parts are getting so thin that you can't go to RS and dream up a little cool electronic thing any more.
Earth to Radio Shack: Do more than get rid of one or two brass... Figure out what America is after and then adapt to that. I don't like to nay-say the health of a company, but even I can see that Radio Shack has become the Kodak(TM) Instant Film and the 8-Track superstore that no-one needs it to be.
A Passionate Independent Musician
OTOH why they'd care that the company's CEO had or hadn't a degree in theology is completely beyond me.
What did they expect him to do, exorcise the financial reports ?
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They just can't have a store in every shopping mall.
If they would consolidate their stores and put one or two in each metro area, focusing on the hobbyist by providing the integrated circuits, connectors, switches, project boxes, breadboards, and so forth, they would be in good shape. How much would you pay for a handfull of 10k resistors if you needed 3 for a project? Talk about profit margin! They won't make money on cell phone plans, TV sets, cordless phones, or Tandy computers. They have a reputation for selling junk. But for parts, it's the place to go (except that they quit selling the cool parts...)
Heck, they used to have some cool project books. They could send people project ideas by e-mail and put them up on a web site. They could milk it for all it's worth...
Oh, but I forget! We don't care about science (and to some extent, engineering) in this country. It's all about short-term gains, next quarter's profit, and so forth... Grumble, grumble.
So yes, they could be cool if they wanted. I don't think they really want to earn my business.
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NO CARRIER
I stopped going to RadioShack very often when it became a cellphone store.
You would go into the store, and the one or two people working there would be on the phone busy trying to get someone's cellphone service working. You would wait for 20 minutes to check out. They didn't care if you were buying $10 of stuff, since they were in the process of selling $100 cellphones plus the monthly service.
The ironic thing is that despite leaving the chip selling business, RadioShack is one of the few places you can drop by and pick up a wire wrap tool and wire wrap wire. But I need to do that once or twice a year.
R/S has no differentiator now. If you want a cellphone, the carriers have their own stores that are better staffed and more familiar with the products. If you want home electronics, it is hard to beat Best Buy, and for that matter the low-end stuff is at Target as well. The one differentiator of R/S in the past was the electronics parts, which have been gutted.
educational background has little relevance to one's capabiltiy of doing many corporate jobs.
The problem is not that the guy didn't have whatever degree he said he had.
The problem is that he lied to the company about it.
A long time ago, there was someone who had blogged about applying for some kind of very sensitive job at the FBI (or maybe it was the NSA) posting about the interview process. The point is that they asked all kinds of seemingly senseless questions, mixed with questions that he considered invasive and not relevant to the job. "Have you ever put a finger inside your anus for sexual pleasure" and things like that. Someone else said that they were familiar with the process and the interviewer didn't really care about the answers -- they just wanted to see whether when the person was under intense pressure, they'd start trying to lie. So a failing response to "have you ever had sex with a dog" would be "Err....heh...well, not as such" with the lie detector going off and a passing one "Hell, yes. I fucked a Chihuahua five years ago in Mexico City and it was *great*!"). If the interviewer's take is that the candidate is lying on any of the questions, they pass on them. I've no idea as to the accuracy of the posts; however, it certainly struck me as an interesting approach.
If someone starts lying to their employer when they think it's to their benefit to do so, the employer loses the ability to trust them. Better to have a slightly worse employee whose statements can be trusted than one who might do a good job but produces useless status information when backed into a corner. Because there *will* be times when people are scared to tell the truth "Is this project done?" "Are you going to make deadline?" etc but it really, really matters that the people above them get accurate information from them.
His lack of success as CEO can just as easily be explained by a) inheriting a mess, b) lack of board support, and c) not the right man for the job.
Or just that CEOs are used as scapegoats. They know about this when getting hired, and this is why the golden parachutes.
As long as the company does well, the CEO can interview with Fortune and so forth to build his reputation. However, if it goes downhill, the company *will* blame things on this one guy, fire him, hire another CEO, incur steep "one-time restructuring costs" to "implement the new guy's ideas", and with the costs they've shifted to that quarter, be able to report profitability immediately after getting the new CEO.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
There's a H U G E market for cheap 8 bit microcontrollers now that you can get a little computer for the price of a latte', and you can do a lot of near things with them very easily. There's loads of related things like robotics that they missed out on too - how many people have any idea where to get a motion controller, or a servo motor?
Makes you think.
Then there's the whole embedded linux thing!
Radio Shack turned their back on hobbiests; I probably owe my EE degree to Forrest Mimms and his great books that radio shack distributed in the 80's. Now they sell cheap crap from China and Cell Phones.
..don't panic