Only the good die young (corporate corollary)

The Hawaii chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers gave out its annual awards Tuesday at the Hawaii Convention Center, and I was honored to announce them from the podium. What I didn't expect was to announce an award that got me thinking about the way businesses are buffeted by factors beyond their control. The one that got my attention was to Weyerhaeuser, its Honolulu general manager Rob Cundiff, production manager Glenn Masaki, human resources director Lyan Bonn and the rest of the factory team. They were praised for requiring employees to think like owners, ordering them to take action when they see something unsafe, giving them "stop line authority" without fear of reprisal. Result: only one OSHA-reportable injury in 2007 with zero lost workdays. There's just one problem. The Weyerhaeuser plant has closed. Weyerhaeuser announced several weeks ago that it was selling a division of factories, and would have to shut down its Honolulu facility because the buyer wasn't interested in acquiring the old Hawaii facility. The company seemed to express genuine remorse for what it was about to do. There is something poignant about winning an award for running a damn safe factory after the factory has been shuttered. But this isn't the first time this has happened lately. Aloha Airlines, which under its last management was finally able to compete head-to-head with Hawaiian for on-time arrivals, beat Hawaiian to take the nation's top airline on-time spot in the next monthly report to be issued after the total and final cessation of passenger service. Like the Weyerhaeuser plant, Aloha Airlines failed despite objective evidence that it was run well, and you don't have to look far to find the reasons.  Aloha's cash had been drained in the interisland fare war, and massive handouts from investors -- how ever did management cajole them into coming across with so much for so long? -- went straight to jet fuel suppliers. Think of all the businesses that have not failed, but face major crises not altogether of their own making -- Matson, NCL, Hawaiian Airlines, Hilo Hattie -- you could even make a case for this applying to go!, since its parent company's behavior could have unintended consequences.