Paly Pool

Osmose Utilities Services Buys Pole Maintenance Company

0 Comments | Manufacturing Close – Up, Jul 30, 2010

Osmose Utilities Services, Inc, a national provider of inspection, maintenance, and rehabilitation solutions for telecom and electric utility T&D; infrastructure, announced the acquisition of Pole Maintenance Company, located in Columbus, Neb.

In a release, Osmose said that Pole Maintenance Company was formed in 1984 and its services include wood pole inspection and treatment, pole restoration, and joint use services.

Ron Childress, Senior Vice President – Business Development, led the acquisition discussions for Osmose.

“We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to continue to provide outstanding service to Pole Maintenance Company customers and look forward to sharing with them the considerable resources and support that Osmose can offer,” Childress said. “We welcome the Pole Maintenance Company field and supervisory employees who will join our company, and we look forward to developing future growth opportunities with their help,” he continued.

As part of the acquisition agreement, Osmose will become the exclusive distributor in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean for the products currently offered through Copper Care Wood Preservatives, Inc. Copper Care, also based in Columbus, Neb., manufactures and distributes wood preservatives and products targeted to the maintenance of in-service utility poles.

More information:

www.osmoseutilities.com

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

Corporate responsibility is no longer optional

0 Comments | Evening Standard; London (UK), Jun 15, 2010

CAN there be a more damning indictment of BP’s handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? At a one-day conference on corporate social responsibility, the audience of top business and advertising figures repeatedly laughed when they were shown Twitter postings by Leroy Stick, the blogger who has mercilessly mocked the energy giant by pretending to be BP’s global press office. The audience laughed again as they were then shown the front page of Advertising Age, the US trade magazine of the ad industry, which reported that BP was complaining about how Stick, a blogger, was distorting the debate. The company has become a laughing stock, yet this is no joke, as the share price shows.

David Jones, global chief executive of ad agency Havas, who hosted the Who Cares Wins CSR conference in London, believes that the trashing of BP’s reputation demonstrates a key truth for business leaders. “If you are not a socially responsible company, you will be punished,” says Jones, who has worked closely with David Cameron and the Tories since 2007.

Jones, whose agency is also behind Young One World, a campaign to encourage young socially responsible leaders, makes a persuasive case. He says consumers are now so savvy that they will not be taken in by superficial brand repositioning or public-relations initiatives. CSR must be fundamental to the business, not just a tactic.

The Gulf of Mexico spill was always going to be a serious crisis for BP, and its response has been poor. But Jones argues: “What has exacerbated the feeling against BP is they so overtly positioned themselves as a nice company. The whole repositioning was a massive over-claim. It was image-changing, rather than changing the business. When you change your logo to a flower, giving the impression you are one of the greenest companies on the planet and then this happens, people will come up and bite you. It’s a comeuppance.”

Jones claims, in true adman-speak, that we are entering the third decade of CSR. The 1990s were the age of image when, for example, BP dropped its old name, British Petroleum. The second decade from 2000 to 2010 was the age of advantage, where companies such as Whole Foods made ethical behaviour a point of competitive difference.

The new decade is about the age of damage. In the era of online social media, where the public has so much access to information and can share it and comment on it, consumers punish those businesses that don’t live up to expectations. We are all Leroy Sticks now. Companies must demonstrate transparency, authenticity and speed — all qualities that BP has lacked.

“Act before somebody acts on your behalf,” says Jones
how to trade stock options