Monday, February 27, 2012

Restoring Life to a Business: Steve Heyer CEO

Mail-ordering fruits was started by a few companies in the US market, among them being Harry & David Holdings. This American company was established in 1910 with the purchase of a 240-acre-wide pear orchard. At some point, the once thriving business actually began to show little profit, and it took the expertise of the famous Steve Heyer CEO to help it.

Steve J Heyer assumed leadership of the orchard and did some pruning, weeding and fertilizing. The crisis that closed businesses all over North America was also working its rot on the business, which was sinking. To answer the issue, the new chief of the company did away with several of the other executives, hiring in their stead more managers for sales.

This was rather a unique thing to do: he basically removed all those who were not performing properly as executives. The result was that the company managed to save just M shy of M, and all without hurting the salaries of those in the lower ranks. Given the instability of figures for salaried workers nowadays, this is a brilliant move indeed.

The inefficient state of the system was responsible for most of the money drain, said Heyer. The company lacked people willing to initiate changes. Heyer is one business leader who is not afraid to try new things.

When he was still working for Coca Cola, he was already talking about the importance of innovation. According to him, companies had to be willing to make changes every now and then. Heyer thought that the coming years would see consumers demanding more and more customization.

Essentially, he was telling others in the industry that it was high time for a paradigm shift. To illustrate, one may look at Heyer's activities for Starwood to see what he is trying to advocate. He explained that they stopped marketing hotel rooms and began selling experiences and memories.

At some point, Heyer was working for Turner Broadcasting. Heyer happened to be working for AOL Time Warner around that very period too. From 1992 to 1994, he was president and COO of Young & Rubicam Advertising Worldwide.

When he took the leadership of Harry & David, he was surprised to see this huge company in disarray and did not have any representation at the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). Harry & David was not getting enough business because of its reluctance to advertise. The Advertising Specialty Institute too was such a powerful force in business.

Heyer knew what was the matter with Harry & David. He noted that a huge problem had to do with the rift between two of the company's biggest sections. The company, he said, had been mired in the same old techniques for too long.

At the moment, Harry & David is starting to recover, though. The company’s looks and selections have widened; innovation and creativity are once again taking a foothold. This is due to the work of Steve Heyer CEO, when he took time to prune away the rotten branches and sowed fertilizer into this company's soil.


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