|
 |
MAKING HEADLINES
The
St. Louis region and its companies often make national news. This
column highlights some of the most recent headline grabbers.
|
Hospitals
& Health Networks Names Sisters of Mercy Among Most Wired
Above:
Hospitals and Health Networks, a journal of the American Hospital
Association, listed Sisters of Mercy Health System as one of the
nation’s 100 Most Wired in their July 2001 issue.
Not only is St. Louis a “most wired” city, the region’s healthcare
systems are being recognized for their connections as well. Hospitals
and Health Networks, a journal of the American Hospital Association,
listed Sisters of Mercy Health System as one of the nation’s 100
Most Wired in their July 2001 issue.
The recognition is based on the publication’s third annual survey
developed in conjunction with Deloitte Consulting and McKessonHBOC.
The eight-page survey, sent to every hospital in the U.S., asked
about use of Internet technologies to connect hospitals with patients,
physicians and nurses, employees, payors and health plans. Hospitals
& Health Networks received more than 280 responses out of 1,177
hospitals and health systems.
This year, the magazine took its analysis one step further. “We
took the Most Wired data and asked if there is any benefit
to being a leader,” says Alden Solovy, executive editor, Hospitals
& Health Networks, Chicago. “Along with higher credit ratings,
the Most Wired have greater expense control and more productivity.
These correlations aren’t surprising, but they’re extremely important.
This is the first analysis that compares overall financial performance
with IT investment.”
With more than 24,000 employees and nearly 4,000 physicians, Sisters
of Mercy Health System operates 17 acute care hospitals and one
psychiatric hospital, physician practices, outpatient facilities,
health plans, home health programs, skilled nursing services, long-term
care and other health and human services in an eight-state area.
St. Louis Ranks as 10th Most Wired City
As the St. Louis
region completes its Information Technologies (IT) Industry Cluster
Strategy, it received some strong validation of the region’s IT
strengths in FacilityCity ranking St. Louis as the 10th most
wired city in the nation. FacilityCity, the top Web site
resource for corporate site selectors and facility manager, commissioned
a national study to rank the top 15 cities in the country. At #10,
St. Louis is ranked ahead of high-tech powerhouses such as Boston,
Denver, Salt Lake City and Seattle. In the top three slots are Washington,
D.C., San Francisco and Dallas.
Citing St. Louis in their Top 10, the report notes: “…in St. Louis,
exceptional bandwidth and connectivity accommodates dot-com speed
and growth, thanks to the presence of several major telecommunications
companies. The City has more than 400,000 feet of fiber plant installed
by the new entrants alone—with the majority of that downtown—fostering
choice and competitive prices.” The article concludes: “…although
there is no clear evidence that merely providing access to telecommunications
infrastructure will generate economic development, at least it is
a prerequisite for competition in attracting and fostering new businesses.”
The St. Louis IT Industry Cluster Strategy, being developed in conjunction
with the St. Louis Industry Cluster Strategy is developing an action
plan for positioning St. Louis in information technology.
Three in St. Louis Rank Among Top Healthcare PR Firms
PRWeek’s
annual review of healthcare Public Relations agencies includes three
based in St. Louis. Ranking near the top at #5 is Fleishman-Hillard.
KPC Public Relations, a division of Kupper Parker Communications
Inc., moved up to #40. Coming in at #50 is The Standing Partnership.
PRWeek is a leading magazine for professionals in communication
and Public Relations.
Principia College Project Makes Cover of Contract
The cover of Contract magazine recently featured the award-winning
Watson Science Lab addition at Principia College in Elsah, Ill.
The inside story revealed why the Mackey Mitchell design team earned
an AIA/CPC Honor Award for Sustainable Architecture earlier this
year.
Renowned architect Ralph Bernard Maybeck designed the campus and
buildings, now listed on the National Historic Register, during
the 1920s and 1930s. Mackey Mitchell’s challenge in designing an
addition to the science lab was creating a state-of-the-art facility
while retaining the original concept of the 60-year-old building,
which sits comfortably in its rural setting along Mississippi River
bluffs.
To achieve this, the design team used archival records about the
Watson Science Lab and the campus. The result is a building now
four times larger with classrooms and labs for 10 different science
departments, faculty offices, a greenhouse and a 200-seat auditorium.
“Despite constraints coming from all directions, Mackey Mitchell’s
restrained solution is anything but a compromise,” states Jean Gorman,
writing for Contract. She adds the design team gave appropriate
honor to the original architect’s vision with materials, detailing,
and building techniques.
Joining Mackey Mitchell on this project for the only Christian Science
college in the world were: Alper Audi, structural engineer; William
Tao & Associates, mechanical/electrical engineer; S.M. Wilson &
Co., general contractor; Hercules Construction, construction manager;
and Lam Partners, lighting designer.
Nationally-syndicated columnist Joel Kotkin Spotlights St. Louis
and Biobelt
Joel Kotkin, one of the nation’s top public policy experts, and
a syndicated columnist for both The New York Times and The
Wall Street Journal, has written an article for Reis.com Insights
examining the St. Louis region. The article, “St. Louis: On The
Way To Somewhere?,” http://www.reis.com/learning/insights_crossroads_art.cfm?art=1
puts forth both challenges and opportunities for the metropolitan
area.
Kotkin, who at the invitation of the RCGA addressed regional business
and civic leaders in St. Louis in March 1999, notes that the region
has “seized upon its biotech, plant and biotechnology strengths.”
Kotkin cites some of the region’s BioBelt assets, such as: the Danforth
Plant Science Center, the Sigma-Aldrich Life Science Center, and
the new biomedical engineering center at Washington University.
Kotkin also discusses the bargain represented by the region’s real
estate assets, which has prompted several inquiries from the national
real estate investment community.
WSJ Features Old Fashioned Success of Edward Jones
The August 8,
2001 issue of The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page feature
on John Bachmann, managing partner for Edward Jones. Reporter Susanne
Craig seems to expect readers to raise eyebrows and gasp when she
reveals the St. Louis securities firm vows it will never offer online
trading and that Bachmann shuns cell phones and almost never uses
the computer on his desk.
The WSJ article goes on to explain Jones, the seventh largest
securities firm based on number of brokers, is thriving on its philosophy
of serving customers face-to-face. Craig describes Jones brokers
operating in solo offices, visiting potential clients in person,
even door-to-door. Rather than sending e-mails, Jones brokers send
personal, often handwritten letters to clients by mail. This works
because Jones caters to the conservative, cautious investor who
typically holds a mutual fund through the firm an average of 20
years.
According to the article, Jones opens about four new offices each
business day and has a plan for continued growth through the next
decade. Since Bachmann took over the firm in 1980, Jones has grown
from 300 brokers to well more than 7,500. Last year, the privately
held partnership posted a healthy pretax profit of $230 million
on net revenue of $2.1 billion.
Jones is not without technology, just not using technology as a
marketing tool. In fact, Craig sees Jones at a technology crossroads,
in the process of replacing an extensive satellite system that reaches
thousands of brokers in both urban and remote locations across North
America. As the firm has shifted from mostly rural offices to mostly
urban offices in the past decade, the technology needs of those
brokers is changing as well. Jones sees its challenge as updating
technology to serve the brokers’ offices without disrupting the
old-fashioned culture of the firm.
Included in the article is an insightful profile on Bachmann, who
started with Edward Jones in 1959 at the bottom, literally, as an
intern whose responsibilities included sweeping floors in a local
office. He opened the company’s 15th office in Columbia, Mo. Craig
says people who know Bachmann, both inside and outside the company
describe his lifestyle as modest and conservative.
Craig closes with a clever quote from Bachmann, “We love the Internet.
We just aren’t going to use it to trade stocks.” |
|
|
|
|
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
