How Four Rookie Ceos Handled the Great Recession

These four CEOs took the reins of their respective company's during the hardest and at a time when every move was scrutinized. "A record 1,482 chief executives resigned, retired or stepped down from public and private U.S. companies in 2008" (Jones & George, 2011). Success was very unlikely as both shareholders and board members were watching closely on what the managers of the company were doing. These four used a variety of different methods to find success and results. Each one of these company's, eBay, T. Rowe Price, Blue Nile, and Molson Coors have survived and become strong competitive companies.

1. All four of these CEOs had many challenges when they took over. The most difficult part was that these managers took over when that every step they took was viewed very critical as the economy was in a recession. EBay was facing competitive advantages. Their major competitors Amazon and Craigslist were both fast growing and taking away from their profits and customers that used them. EBay had to find a way to continue to keep its customers. All companies need to be aware of competitive advantages since each competitive company is trying to win the customers business and showing why they are the preferred choice. Innovation is something that both T. Rowe Price and Blue Nile really showed to excel at. T. Rowe Price "ratcheted back on growth and trimmed expenses, such as hiring, advertising, and IT" (Jones & George, 2011). Blue Nile created both a new website and custom help in choosing a diamond for the customers budget. This "process of creating new or improved goods and services that customers want" (Jones & George, 2011) shows how innovated Blue Nile is. Turnaround Management "is the creation of a new vision for a struggling company using a new approach to planning and organizing to make better use of a company's resources" (Jones & George, 2011). Molson Coors did this effectively. One idea was to have the managers from the different countries get together to talk about the ideas and suggestions that each other had. This allowed a more uniformed approach to the company, as now the different counties could understand one another.

2. The approach that each manager took was successful. John Donahoe from eBay took the way of reorganizing the company. This included layoffs for the first time as well as acquisitions. His steps at first where criticized. However, in the long term they have proven to be very successful. James Kennedy used planning to keep T. Rowe Price successful. When one of the top financial companies filed for bankruptcy, many different firms dropped, including T. Rowe Price. However, because of Mr. Kennedy's planning, T. Rowe Price was the fastest to make a profit from all of its peers. Diane Irving used strategy in her decision-making. When she took over, she had to inform all that her company,