The recent accusation that American business can not be found nor assumed to be viable, if found to run our countries 16 ports, is not a business statement, nor provides a climate for business discussion that want to manage these ports.
The statement is a political statement and not the focus of this web site, however, I will clearly, yet succinctly, try to produce ALL business issues from my vantage.
It appears from what we are learning from the outrage, is that there are Unionized ports or entities thereof, that are Union run. Nothing wrong with that, providing that the Unions, which include their rank and files KNOWLEDGE, are providing the benefits' to those workers' according to Union contracts and Federal Laws pertaining to rights to organize in the United States.
WORKING TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL: Again, I have no problem with Unions when working for worker's rights alongside management are involved. I was a VP of the [ILWU]/AFL-CIO International Longshoremen Warehouse Workers Union in Honaka'a, HI. This was a time when Ghiradelli Chocolate treated the Filipino workers-mostly Hawai'ian Island born, like third-world imbeciles. This is not good for business. Hell, tourists could see right inside the factory that things were not correct. So, can you share in my point, when I express that there is nothing wrong with Unions, if and when they live up to their contracts. And, in this case, the ILWU did. When Unions carry the same vision and work in concert with the company execs. you have an enterprise, a team focused on winning (profits, cash, move products). When you don't have this cohesion you have both sides working against each other, and in the case of the Macadamia Nut company (Ghiradelli), it did not take long, in less than five years they claimed bankruptsy.
AMERICAN SECURITY: To state that no American businesses exists that can handle the management of our ports, is a form of criminal utterance that begs to confuse and further cloud our collective goals as Americans that want and demand American security.
A loosely constructed statement undermines American security by saying to the World, that we (Americans) are not capable of performing management, in any form, let alone on our own [4]-[16]-21 ports. If all of them are deep water ports, these then are extremely valuable to Americans in times of moving commerce and National Security. Is this not in the best interest for the American citizen?
When you are inducted into any branch of the service as a GI (government issue), you are sworn in to uphold The Constitution of The United States of America, to protect America from domestic as well as foreign enemies. These are our 'fighting men and women' of uniform. We have capable National Guardsmen to perform these tasks. Without getting into the nuances here, we have trained border patrol, FBI, Homeland defense mechanisms in place to guard us from foreign invasion. We can do this and must, because as it stands, many systems are still broken and have never been inacted. Management here recieves an 'F' grade from a U.S. commission -
ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW: If we have potential breaches in one or many of these architectures or components, management holds the responsibility to quickly correct, test and perform Quality Assurance on the corrected Process. This is architectural management which includes, process and sub-level forms of Program/Project management. These skill levels as well as processes are scrutinized and tested thoroughly for function to assure that its deliverables and tasks are met, within the allocated budget and time constraint periods. Many of the processes used in America come from the Project Management Institute and International ISO9000 Certification Societies where we hold appointed seats.
SYSTEMS: Our own production and scientific research facilities have produced some of the finest equipment during WWII and presently, today's (public knowledge) war-grade RF Communications. If the plan is difficient and not ready for publication or production, it goes back to the drawing board, specifically, to correct that anomally. Simple as that.
Perhaps too simple. The present container management is broken-containers are coming in (supposedly inspected elsewhere) to our ports with manifests that are grossly in error. Some containers weights are far heavier than the manifests say. So heavy, the cranes have a hard time lifting them up. Does this scenario wave red flags for you? It does too me.
Without going into too much specifics, remember, if you want to venture further into our weapon/technology history, defense companies and others have manufactured systems that have grossly malfunctioned. We should look at the Program Managers and political focuses here and find fault with them, their CEO's and Senior Management for botched projects that kill and maime Federal personnel. They (management) must be held to a higher standard and be accountable. It is an honor to be called into management, therefore it must be treated as such. Not debased with filth , power, and greed.
MANAGEMENT:American Companies' lack the expertise to manage our ports is an incorrect statement as far as ethical performance goes. It is clearly, a fraudulent statement made in haste by our American government where each member took an oath to protect The Constitution of the United States of America. Are they delivering on that promise to the American owned/multinational companies and specifically, the American citizen when statements are incorrectly put?
BUSINESS/GOVERNMENT FOCUS:Is this another business error or management shortcoming? It's not as simple as that because our government was setup in such a way as to not emulate big business because it has a dissimilar functon or core competency than a regular corporation or multinational. Let me explain briefly, a business' core may have its focus on customer support or the customer satisfaction for its services or products.
The governments' focus is many-fold and not about profits. But when distilled, it boils down to one core competency and that we are that core; 'we the people' must always remember-that everything revolves around 'WE THE PEOPLE'. Security, National Security, Foreign Policy, Internal Infrastructure (highways, roads; dirt, gravel, concrete, blacktop. Utilities; electrical, water, sewers. Shipping lanes. Oil and gas distribution lines and ports), are all high terms that act as umbrellas to protect, provide for and guard the CORE of These United States of America, 'WE THE PEOPLE'.
TAXES: Nevertheless, the person or person(s) making these statements and/or condoning that America can't manage its own ports, is undermining my protections granted to me as a citizen and our American Security...business, et al. Period. Businesses pay taxes for commerce infrastructure (trucks, air, ships, railway), and should-they expect their payload to travel from one point to their destination safely, and should. They depend on the U.S. Government, a.k.a. U.S. Coast Guard to protect them-once out in International waters, other protections take-over.
WE THE PEOPLE: Furthermore, our national collective conscious and focus after 9/11 promised to strengthen our security of our ports...another exclamation from business and the citizenry. We assume that the United States knows of or has several American Companies that are capable and willing to provide port management, but because of other focuses, it has been verbally stated that none exists. Why? Isn't America the Greatest! Yes! Because of 'THE PEOPLE' and its diversification.
If none exists (American port management companies), then MY government for similar programs, in the past, has opened several venues to train and produce the 'best of class' programs that have addressed these other shortcomings, and can perhaps do the same for this issue in the United States. After going on four years, since 9/11, if we have not addressed these many shortcomings that (WE THE PEOPLE) are not aware of, I ask, what has management been doing? What does the board say?
GLOBAL ETHICS AND INDIVIDUAL POLICING:Today, in executive business boards across the U.S. and overseas, address issues that are more directed to their governance boards' and policies. I like to think that they are driven from a foundation of ethics, which include global ethics. Some companies do this-AHEAD of and in concert with monetary gain, but you seldom here about them.
PROCESS MANAGEMENT: No! American Business Management for Our Ports, is not a business statement but an agenda with a different name. Business issues are solved through collaboration and integration, utilizing processes which use metrics, a viable form used for producing analysis by reaching the bottom lines of financial goals.
POLICY-TECHNOLOGY:Technology is a very helpful tool and will solve 85%-99.9% of the problems, but it is the 14.9% or .9% that I worry about. This less than 1% of the equation if systems are almost perfect, is the failure of the human component to excercise his or her's 'free will', to 'think out of the box', to act apart from the daily politics by following a set of guidelines and procedures. These can only be assertained - produced from a security panel that has the American peoples' interest as their goal.
Within these guidelines and procedures, a deliverable of this panel is to produce a working outcome that promotes efficiency through tehnology use. This has to come from that government panel who also draw their expertise from consultants whom have U.S. American security clearances. This means NO foriegn entities allowed. Why? Because inorder to draft a stable, viable and thorougly efficent system, those that plan the process will have to know U.S. process lines which maybe secret.
These 'secrets' can come in the form of where and how do escalated issues that may come from 'storage' or 'unloading' areas, as examples, receive immediate remedy? Once these are established, potential candidates have to declare that they meet the guidelines, have the monetary wherewithall to perform technically. Which means simply; SAFETY! And trucks, lifts, fuel containers, service crews, including IT such as computers, scanners, sensors, databases, secure wireless, redundant servers, firewalls, and backup apparatus have to be in place in secure locations, off site, tested and ready to go, at a failure rating of 99.99% to 100% within 6 months after starting.
SIGNUP: Where can American businesses gain access to view the requirements needed, if they themselves deem that they pass the test with the required knowledge and financial stability, to perform on a competitive basis? But instead, we are told that (WE), don't exist?
EQUAL OPORTUNITY:Can we have a match or contest of business competitive management vying for these slots? Should it include businesses which are driven by executive women managers', and what about American ethnic minorities? How will they compete? Equally burdened or is there room for favoritism? If there is room for unethical behavior, then there exists a considerable breach of policy and must be repaired immediately!
Somehow, I believe it will never happen, but strangely enough, if it does, there are past and present guidelines in place because, it's in the LAW!
