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By Paul Losch
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About this blog: I was a "corporate brat" growing up and lived in different parts of the country, ending in Houston, Texas for high school. After attending college at UC Davis, and getting an MBA at Harvard, I embarked on a marketing career, mai...
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About this blog: I was a "corporate brat" growing up and lived in different parts of the country, ending in Houston, Texas for high school. After attending college at UC Davis, and getting an MBA at Harvard, I embarked on a marketing career, mainly in the Bay Area with different companies. My former wife went back to medical school after we had been married a few years, and we moved into married student housing at Stanford, had our two now adult children while she was a medical student, and moved into Palo Alto when she started her Residency. Been here ever since. As my kids were going through the Palo Alto schools, I was actively involved in their activities, most notably head umpire for Palo Alto Little League and 9 years as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, among other activities. My kids both are grown, my son teaches 5th grade locally, and my daughter, fluent in Mandarin, is working in China. I sold the business I owned and ran for 8 years in 2012, worked on the Obama campaign, and am consulting for non-profit organizations, which gives me a nice, flexible schedule. Lots of stamps in my passport, and for fun, I like live performances &emdash; theater and music - and of course the Giants!
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Local Employers Levi Strauss & NUMMI
Uploaded: Jul 13, 2009
Good news and bad news. Levi's will remain HQ'd in San Francisco for at least 10 more years. GM has pulled out of the joint venture with Toyota at the NUMMI plant in Fremont.
I do see a connection. Both at their core are "creative" companies, and create value because they attract and foster creativity in their work forces.
Neither is a high tech Silicon Valley type company where creativity is highly sought, but both are among the most creative in their respective markets, both of which date back to the 1800's.
This part of the world is very good at fostering innovation, and sometimes we forget that it is not just IT related.
It is not clear just what will happen with NUMMI, but since it became a joint venture inherited from GM, it is a very profitable and successful auto plant. Whether that is enough for Toyota to fully take it over remains to be seen. Nearly 5,000 people work there.
Much of Levi's production is now off-shore. I am of the opinion that "off-shoring" creativity in a brand like Levi's is a more daungting and risky challenge, and I am glad that Levi's management came to a similar conclusion, and will remain here, and attract the types of creative minds which endow the Bay Area.
We need your support now more than ever. Can we count on you?
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