Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Marching Towards A Mega Growth Global Economy


When I left the newspaper business in 1995, working as a reporter and book reviewer, I didn't realize that I would one day be working for a global corporation based out of St. Paul, Minn., which provides sanitation and hygiene products and services to the hospitality industry nationally and world-wide.

Basically, I got out of the newspaper business because I needed to make more money with better benefits since my wife had left her good manufacturing job as a human resource clerk to go back to work in administration in the medical field. Plus, prior to me going to work for the newspaper, I had worked for a national company for about six months that offers the same type of work that I am doing now where I drove around in a company vehicle taking care of customer's accounts providing service work. The best thing about the type of work I currently do is the freedom and peace of mind that I have along with the financial rewards that it provides me and my family as well as the long term benefits such as the retirement, 401k and stock options. Not to mention the satisfaction of a job well done along with customer appreciation and recognition. This also goes along with the appreciation and recognition I enjoy shown to me by the corporation for my commitment and hard work.

In a recent article in our corporation's employee magazine titled, "Big Trends Point To Big Global Opportunities Ahead," it talks about some shifts and trends in world populations, markets and resources that offer an opportunity for our corporation to expand immensely anywhere in the world wherever our customers need us regarding food safety, sanitation, hygiene and other related services that we provide.


Here are some of the trends revealed in the article.


1.) Emerging economies are growing-fast. "Rapid economic growth in some the world's most populous developing countries, especially Brazil, Russia, China and India, is the fueling the rise of businesses, factories, schools and a growing hospitality industry."


2.) Personal incomes are rising, too. "More people in emerging economies are taking home higher pay." "As incomes rise, more people will move from a grain-based diet to more protein. This is a positive for our corporation's food and beverage division."


3. More people are populating the Earth. "The United National estimates that the earth is currently home to about 6.8 billion people, a number projected to rise to 9 billion in just 30 to 40 years. The implications are, of course, far reaching." "70 percent more food will be needed by 2050 to feed the world, especially as incomes and demand for protein rise, increased demand, more complex supply chains and greater potential for food safety events."


4.) Populations are getting older. "In the hospitality market, as greater number older people find time for travel and they will rely on more health services."


5.) Fresh water is getting scare. "Conservation will be critical across wide areas-and customers know it." "Many customers food and beverage plants don't have the resources to cut water use." "By applying our water care, cleaning and sanitation, and waste water expertise to provide comprehensive water-in/water-0ut solution. Our company can help plant mangers fill the resource and knowledge gap and reach their savings targets while maintaining world-class food safety standards." "Also, 70's percent is used to produce food-most of it for crop irrigation, but significant amounts also for food processing and production."


Although, I only work locally in Southcentral Kentucky for my corporation, it really exciting to think of the unlimited future growth for us that is far-reaching globally and for other major American corporations as well. And a lot of corporations are already hitting that mark such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart, KFC , Starbucks, Google, Coke, Fedex, Kraft Foods and General Motors, just to name a few. As for me, I will continue to do my part here in Southcentral Kentucky to ensure that we as an American corporation march towards mega growth globally.


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

KFC's Secret Hiding Place


One of my favorite things to read in a Tuesday's Bowling Green (Ky) Daily News newspaper is the "American Profile" magazine insert. A particular section which intrigues me the most is called, "Tidbits-Did You Know?" I always pay close attention to this section because it's about my part of the country, the American South.

One week recently the tidbit of information was about my state-Kentucky. Under the headline, "State Of Kentucky," it read, "Col. Harland Sanders' handwritten recipe for his famous original Kentucky Fried Chicken was placed in a new electronic vault last February (2010) at the corporate headquarters in Louisville, Ky. The recipe, on a single sheet of yellowing paper, is protected by an array of high-tech security gadgets, including motion detectors and camera that allow guards to monitor the vault around the clock."

For some weird reason, I was amazed and impressed. The first thing that entered my mind was, "Is this a publicity stunt? Is this for real?" After thinking a few minutes about it, I realized that it must be for real because I have always heard rumors that KFC which is owned by Louisville based YUM Brands Inc. is very protective of their secret recipe just like the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Atlanta is very secretive of their original Coke formula. Colonel Sanders was also secretive about his recipe. I've even heard that Coke also has their recipe in a vault and it is separated and no single person knows the whole formula. It takes two people who has a half of recipe to formulate the Coke.

It's incredible to think of the great lengths that these companies go to in order to preserve their secretive recipes. But I had to realize that the reason that these world famous name brands are being preserve and protected is not only for a financial means (because billions and billions of dollars depend of recipes especially since both are global products) but also for historic purposes as well. When I think of KFC or Coke, I always think about consumers in China eating KFC and drinking Coke. I can also picture Chinese people shopping at Wal-Mart and eating at McDonalds in China too. I wonder what secret recipes or formulas that Wal-Mart or McDonalds is hiding and protecting from the world? Maybe, it's the secret formula for global dominance in their markets.

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