A Wall Street Journal Roundup
This is what some of the world's corporate leaders have said
recently on issues ranging from Covid-19 to the evolution of
tech.
POST-PANDEMIC
Clorox Co. CEO Linda Rendle:
"Simplification is our mantra, and we're seeing the benefit of
focusing on fewer [stock-keeping units], which we expect to
continue beyond the pandemic.
We've taken the opportunity to simplify our portfolio to help us
run faster in many of our businesses, and that's panned out really
well for us -- actually, really well for retailers. And so they're
going to continue to drive simplification." ( Feb. 4)
Peloton Interactive Inc. President William Lynch:
"What's clear is the shift into the home is not a Covid-led
phenomenon. It has accelerated it. But we see, if anything, as we
emerge to whatever the new normal is that the norms haven't
changed. There is a secular shift into fitness in the home." ( Feb.
4)
United Parcel Service Inc. CEO Carol Tomé:
"We don't think e-commerce sales as a percentage of retail sales
will decline, which means continued supply and demand
imbalances.
"[Retailers are] hoping that their stores will reopen because
they've got a huge investment in that real estate, of course. But
from a demand perspective, there's no one out there that thinks
that the demand is going to change. We were in a new normal. Even
my relatives who are older are shopping online, before they would
never do that." ( Feb. 2)
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. CEO Brian Niccol:
"There's still a lot of unknown. Luckily every day seems to be
better with the whole Covid issue, both vaccine rates seem to be
going up and Covid cases seem to be going down, and luckily less
and less people are ending up in the hospital so I'm optimistic." (
Feb. 2)
Chevron Corp. CEO Mike Wirth:
"Energy is the lifeblood of the global economy, and reliable,
affordable energy will be fundamental to the recovery from the
pandemic in the short term. And in the longer term, it will be
fundamental to lifting people out of poverty around the world, and
we have to remember that. And today's energy system is not the
enemy. Lower emissions are what we should be focused on. And that's
what we as a company are focused on." ( Jan. 29)
United Airlines Holdings Inc. chief commercial officer Andrew
Nocella:
"Demand will increase sharply at the point where vaccines have
been widely distributed, and border restrictions are eased, and not
prior. Expect that in the second half of 2021, possibly sooner, if
vaccine distribution improves. Leisure demand will recover quickly,
likely in a few months, driven by pent-up demand following the
vaccine. Business demand will take 18 to 24 months to recover." (
Jan. 21)
Starbucks Corp. CEO Kevin Johnson:
"As markets around the world work tirelessly to vaccinate
billions of people, we are prepared for what can only be described
as the great human reconnection." ( Jan. 26)
Boeing CEO David Calhoun:
"We're encouraged by the speed of vaccine development and
efficacy rates. These trends bolster our medium-term outlook and
support our belief in the long-term trend....We expect it will take
around three years for travel to return to the 2019 levels and a
few years beyond that to return to our long-term growth trends." (
Jan. 27)
ECONOMY
Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Darren Woods:
My expectation is the second half of the year will look a lot
better than the first half. But exactly where we end up on that bar
[of how quickly fuel demand recovers], I think it's tough to tell.
I think eventually, we'll get back there, if not back into this
year, sometime into next year and potentially see an
overcorrection.
"It's not a question of if that's going to happen but when...and
our view is, we should recognize it's coming but not build a plan
based on the hope that it does. ( Feb. 2)
Caterpillar Inc. CEO Jim Umpleby:
"We do expect 2021 to be a better year than 2020 for us. We
expect higher sales, but just given the uncertainty around the
pandemic, the rollout of the vaccine, the resulting impact on the
global economy -- although we expect it to be a better year -- it's
difficult for us to quantify how much better it will be just based
on the pandemic.
"It isn't so much a concern about downside as it is uncertainty
as to how much better things will get this year." ( Jan. 29)
McDonald's Corp. CEO Chris Kempczinski:
"Concern for economic uncertainty is by far the single-most,
single-biggest concern that exists with our consumers, which again
gets back to why we think affordability is going to be one of the
things that all of us need to stay focused on in a prudent way in
2021." ( Jan. 28)
Mondelez International Inc. CEO Dirk Van de Put:
"We are in a category like McDonald's, where when people have
more disposable income, our categories benefit. We see it in our
sales almost exactly when consumers get their stimulus checks." (
Jan. 28)
Boeing Co. Chief Executive David Calhoun:
"In the commercial market, while many of our key long-term
fundamentals remain intact, we continue to see near-term market
pressure due to Covid-19.
"Despite solid progress on the vaccine front, the next six to
nine months will remain very challenging for our airline customers
and the entire industry. Covid-19 case rates continue to be high,
and travel restrictions remain in place, putting significant
pressure on passenger traffic." ( Jan. 27)
FUTURE OF WORK
Kilroy Realty Corp. executive vice president Rob Paratte:
"The conversations we're having with our tech clients and other
large tech companies are: Some have advanced plans to begin opening
in...mid-2021, when they were actually looking at the end of 2021.
So I think there is a lot that's going to unfold here in the next
three months to four months.
But I personally just think you can't make a film at home. You
can't collaborate on software or a complex problem solving from
home. And so, as we said, there are going to be various times
people are working from home, but you're going to have large teams
needing to be in office space using the technology that office
provides. ( Feb. 1)
Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella:
"There will be more flexibility in terms of time, where they
work, even the sites people work because I think the expectations
have changed. We're obviously not going to have the same
constraints going forward, so I'm not at all assuming that we just
remain as is all the way going forward. But at the same time,
there's no return to January of 2020. So, therefore, what I think
is key for us is to really maintain flexibility.
"We have laid out our policies, which give more flexibility. And
it will be different by function, different by geography, different
in time. So that's how we expect essentially work to evolve." (
Jan. 26)
W.R. Berkley Corp. CEO W. Robert Berkley Jr.:
"We are actively looking at what does return-to-work look like
for us. We certainly expect that people will be back in the office,
but will the travel be the same? Or will there be opportunities to
learn through this period of time where maybe travel will not have
to return to what it once was? ( Jan. 26)
BankUnited Inc. CEO Rajinder Singh:
"We still are working remotely, and we expect to do that for at
least the next two or three months, and then make a decision beyond
that at that time....The strategy going forward, again, we're
waiting very anxiously for economic activity to pick up and for us
to start participating in the next business cycle, which as we
speak is beginning right about now. ( Jan. 21)
EVOLUTION OF TECH
Match Group Inc. CEO Sharmistha Dubey:
One thing I do see that 2020 has done, in particular, is a real
step-change in user behavior, not the least of which is how much of
our lives and activity has moved online. And while I do think as
the world gets back to normal, some of this online/offline behavior
will rebalance, but parts of this online shift is definitely here
to stay. ( Feb. 2)
Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel:
"We see a tremendous opportunity to innovate in e-commerce,
which to-date has been largely driven by utilitarian benefits such
as price, selection and convenience. As we have learned from our
progress in providing new ways for people to try on and interact
with products using augmented reality, improvements in the shopping
experience to make it more entertaining and immersive can lead to
powerful downstream results in terms of conversion. ( Feb. 4)
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. CEO Lisa Su:
"In the last year, we have all seen firsthand the essential role
high-performance computing now plays in our daily lives, and we
expect adoption to accelerate over the coming years as we enter a
high-performance computing megacycle, driven by the growing
adoption of cloud-computing services, accelerating digital
transformation of industries and experiences, the transition to
exascale supercomputing, and the mainstream adoption of AI." ( Jan.
26)
Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella:
"What we are witnessing is the dawn of a second wave of digital
transformation sweeping every company and every industry. Digital
capability is key to both resilience and growth. It's no longer
enough to just adopt technology. Businesses need to build their own
technology to compete and grow." ( Jan. 26)
LEADERSHIP
Merck & Co. CEO Kenneth Frazier:
"The problem with large transactions -- and I think if you look
at the history of this industry -- is that they are really
difficult for our research organizations to respond to and recover
from. And so that's the main reason I oppose those mergers is
because I think they're highly disruptive.
And then at the end of the day, when you get through your cost
synergy, you still either have a pipeline or you don't. And what
we're focusing on right now is developing that pipeline. ( Feb.
4)
Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk:
"I expect to be CEO of Tesla for several years, so I think
there's still a lot that I'm super excited about doing, and I think
it would be hard to leave a lot of these great projects halfway or
part way done. So I do expect to be running the company for several
years into the future. Nobody is or should be CEO forever. So I
don't expect to be." ( Jan. 27)
International Business Machines Corp. CEO Arvind Krishna:
"Since I became CEO, I've talked at great length about the
importance of culture and the need to instill a growth and
entrepreneurial mind-set. As part of that, we are encouraging more
business risk-taking and ensuring a higher tolerance for failure
across the business. This should allow us to more quickly respond
to clients, seize more opportunities, and drive better business
outcomes." ( Jan. 21)
PRESIDENT BIDEN
Mondelez International Inc. CEO Dirk Van de Put:
"The business friendly tax measures we hope will remain...We
want to be careful with the requirement of most countries to pay
for their stimulus, will they try to pay for it with higher taxes?
That's our biggest worry." ( Jan. 28)
American Express Co. CEO Stephen Squeri:
[On the possibility of increased banking regulation under
President Biden] "Well, it's kind of hard to figure out at this
point what they will do, what will be done from a consumer
regulation perspective.
"We will comply, and we will do what we need to do. And I don't
think it's going to be a major deterrent to us running our business
in any way. I mean, look, have we added more compliance people over
the years? Yes. Do we spend more time with regulators? Yes. Could
that be more? Yeah, it could probably be more. But when you think
about the underlying economics of our business, I really don't
think it's going to impact our spend." ( Jan. 26)
Steel Dynamics Inc. CEO Mark Millett:
"I don't see the Biden administration changing the trade
environment materially, at least not in the near term. They
recognize that China is a massive threat. Their approach [to China]
might be different than the Trump administration. They will likely
ally with our friends in Europe and in other places. But I think
they will be very cognizant that there needs to be trade controls.
And there are underlying legislated trade constraints in place that
aren't just an executive order. They're going to be there for years
to come." ( Jan. 25)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 05, 2021 12:02 ET (17:02 GMT)
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