Do large corporations really work?

[tim123]

I’ve ranted about Sodexo before, but now they’ve gone and done something that I find demonstrative of the endemic corporate stupidity that's killing our banks, car manufacturers and in fact our whole economy.

But these simple principles don’t seem to apply at Sodexo and other large corporations. This year, Sodexo slapped a 30% price rise on the square meal option in the canteen. Unsurprisingly, people stopped buying the meals (except for rich barstewards like me). The junior assistant trainee manager told me sales went from 150 units per day to 10 per day, and that doesn’t cover costs. So what have they done? They’ve stopped selling square meals altogether. 0 units per day. I suggested to the Young chappy that the collapse in sales was not due to the economic crisis, seeing as most of the people who eat in the canteen are pretty well paid, but due to the huge price increase, whose justification was questionable in an environment where neither raw materials or labour are becoming more expensive. He was stumped by this and said ‘well, I’m just doing as I’m told’.

Are large corporations actually capable of doing the basics of entrepreneurship?

Does you client not dictate to the sub contract canteen operator what options they should proved? That is how it has worked at every place (with a canteen) that I have worked. Sodexo don't make money by selling meals profitably, they make money by providing staff to run someone elses canteen.

tim

[Mich the Tester]

Does you client not dictate to the sub contract canteen operator what options they should proved? That is how it has worked at every place (with a canteen) that I have worked. Sodexo don't make money by selling meals profitably, they make money by providing staff to run someone elses canteen.
tim

I don't know, but perhaps you've hit the nail on the head. They don't care about giving people good food at a fair price, but just meeting the SLA with minimal effort and investment.

[minestrone]

Sodexo got shoved out of my last clientCo but really I never got anything from them apart from the soup. I mentioned on the last sodexo thread that I noticed one of their staff standing behind the counter with the finger up the nose to the knuckle trying to drag a green one out.

[Mich the Tester]

Sodexo got shoved out of my last clientCo but really I never got anything from them apart from the soup. I mentioned on the last sodexo thread that I noticed one of their staff standing behind the counter with the finger up the nose to the knuckle trying to drag a green one out.

I used to like pea soup before that story. Thank you.

[Moscow Mule]

OK, you can slander my use of buying budget when it suits and defend your use. It will be out my system in 12 hours but in your house for 12 years.

Or less!

I missed yesterday's discussion, but on a point of fact, a hamburger will generally have a longer intestinal transit time than a similar portion of chicken or fish due to it's fat content.

Only if it's been completely murdered in it's cooking (ie not fully cooked from frozen/not properly chilled before cooking) will you get any nasties from it.

This is more likely to happen at a "local" takeaway rather than McDs or BK due to the "Just in Time" cooking processes used in the bigger outlets.

[s2budd]

Reload this Page Do large corporations really work?

No I do not think that they do.
It does not seem to matter what area the corporation is in. defence, local government, Banking. Organisations get to a certain size - say 250 - 1,000 people and then seem to loose their ability to function. I think that it is something to do with not knowing the people that you are dealing with personally and an element of protectionism creeping in to daily work life.

This is from personal experience anyway.

[Moscow Mule]

No I do not think that they do.
It does not seem to matter what area the corporation is in. defence, local government, Banking. Organisations get to a certain size - say 250 - 1,000 people and then seem to loose their ability to function. I think that it is something to do with not knowing the people that you are dealing with personally and an element of protectionism creeping in to daily work life.

This is from personal experience anyway.

It depends on your definition of "work".

Can BT supply and service a national telephone network to an acceptable standard to 90% of their customers? Probably yes.

Can BT do anything about my broadband speed dropping to under 500k for large periods of the day? Probably not.

Sometimes a big corporation is the only way.

[MPwannadecentincome]

How to tell the difference between a cheapo flat pack table and a solid piece of handcrafted wood.

Normally a difference between £100 and £600+!

And there is room in the market for both companies to survive and prosper - provided the cheapo flat pack table is not advertised to last 20 years.

[Mich the Tester]

It depends on your definition of "work".

Can BT supply and service a national telephone network to an acceptable standard to 90% of their customers? Probably yes.

Can BT do anything about my broadband speed dropping to under 500k for large periods of the day? Probably not.

Sometimes a big corporation is the only way.

For some purposes perhaps only a big corporation can raise the capital to do the job, but remember; BT started as a state owned business; the investment that got it started, the national phone network, was made by the taxpayer. In that sense they just climbed into the saddle and rode on.

[expat]

For some purposes perhaps only a big corporation can raise the capital to do the job, but remember; BT started as a state owned business; the investment that got it started, the national phone network, was made by the taxpayer. In that sense they just climbed into the saddle and rode on.

fell off