Jeff Judkins's Profile

My original post was lost somehow so here is a summary.

Thanks for your comment Jenny! It will be hard for any O&G company focused on Shale plays to make money in the current environment from new wells due to the high capital costs. However, the current base production (wells already producing) will be an area of focus to decrease their lifting costs. A depressed oil price environment is one that is ripe for contract renegotiations with service companies which can reduce these costs.

In terms of their high BOED per employee metric, it is likely achieved from reducing hiring and keeping middle management at a minimum. For EOG, their responsibility per employee is likely higher than at larger firms with comparable production rates.

Great post Vicky! In a way I’m both glad and disappointed to realize that U.S. Government sponsored programs aren’t the only bureaucratic messes in the world. I do believe that it has cost far too much money, and has taken far too long of time to implement the electronic payment fare cards. Since they are already being utilized elsewhere, the cost should be lower and the implementation relatively easy. However, this may be a blessing in disguise for the TCC. I would imagine that the fare cards would increase overall ridership of an already stressed infrastructure. I think they need to get the ball rolling on increasing the number of lines, and the quality of trains before encouraging even more ridership. With everything you’ve written, I am very surprised that Toronto has the third most heavily used transit system in North America! I’m definitely staying away from it when I visit…

Great post Lee! I’m always very impressed when large companies find ways to excel in industries, avoiding excess bureaucracy that can slow them down. ExxonMobil is a behemoth in the Oil and Gas industry yet still excels as well. I’m interested in knowing the safety culture at BHP. Being a large operator in an inherently dangerous industry, how does safety permeate their culture? Where do they perform on safety metrics versus some of their competitors? What value do they see in working towards safer workplaces, since it isn’t directly tied to their bottom line.

I’m also curious about the implementation of the internal competition for capital. Some projects inherently generate higher rates of return because they are an easier resource to extract, but somehow the company needs to balance their long term strategic objectives in selecting projects as well so I imaging they cannot completely rely on selecting only the projects with a high rate of return.

Great post Kohei! Nitori seems to truly understand the Japanese market and I can’t see any international company being as successful as they have been inside of Japan. I think its very interesting how they actually have been able to change consumer behaviors inside Japan and have been able to generate excitement for furnishing entire rooms with an overall style theme which wasn’t common in Japan.

I also though it was a very smart strategic move to increase their interior good product line in order to encourage more store visits, and subsequently more purchases. This leads me to ask the question: Do you think they will sell their product lines through other retailers, or keep them selling them from their own store only? I see the potential to greatly increase market penetration if they are able to sell through other retailers.